Do Some Houses Produce More Dust? Yes! (Here’s Why)

When cleaning your home, it can feel like you can never get it as clean as you want.

This is especially true when removing dust from your home, as it sometimes seems to keep popping back up.

Dust can do much more than add some mess to your house. Extensive dust collection can hurt your health, especially when it changes the air quality.

Did you know that some houses produce more dust than others, which may be why you can’t seem to rid your home of it?

Here is what we learned about why some houses are more prone to collecting dust than others:

1. Pets Can Greatly Increase Dust and Dander

Since animals, like dogs and cats, don’t get bathed every day, all the skin and hair they shed only adds to your dust collection.

Another thing to remember about having furry little friends in our homes is that they can spend a lot of time outside. When they happily return to the warmth and comfort of the home, they also bring along all of the polling, dust, and dander they collect outside.

However, this doesn’t mean you must sacrifice between your beloved pets and a spotless home.

One way to help reduce the dust caused by your household pets is to brush them to help reduce shedding and give your home a quick vacuum each night.

While you will still get plenty of dust collecting from your pets, you can greatly reduce the number of times you have to dance around with a duster.

2. Your Home Is In a High-Pollen Region

The area in which you live has a lot to do with whether or not your home is more prone to dust than others.

Almost every place has to deal with some sort of allergy pollen. Most commonly, pollen from plants can find its way into our mouths and noses, which can cause us to have allergic reactions.

While most places with pollen can get some relief in the rainy and winter months when the pollen gets washed away, residents that don’t experience all four seasons have a harder time with allergies and dust.

Pollen and “fuzzies” that float in the air don’t only affect the quality of the air outside, but they can greatly change the air quality in your home.

Pollen easily attaches to clothing, hair, and even our pets to find its way into the home. This is especially true if you like to leave your windows open to let the fresh breeze in.

While pollen does a great job of making us sneeze, it also will eventually land on surfaces, increasing that pesky layer of dust in the home.

The problem with pollen increasing the dust in your home is that it can be very invasive, so the only real way to help keep your air quality healthy is to break out that duster more often.

3. Homes That Have Carpeting Collect More Dust

Did you know that carpets in your house are one of the main reasons your home collects far more dust than normal?

This is because even though you may be cleaning your carpets daily, the way that carpets are weaved allows for micro-dirt to get trapped deep into the fibers of your carpet.

Even vacuuming can exasperate the amount of dust in your home. This is because the dirt and danger buried deep in the fibers are only getting launched into the air by the power of the vacuum.

They eventually land back into the fibers or even on your home’s surfaces. But it isn’t only your carpet that is doing you no favors when it comes to the increased amount of dust in your home.

Any type of furnishing you have in your home that is fibrous will collect much more dust. This includes couches, area rugs, and even fabric curtains.

So, while it may be adding more work to your day, properly cleaning all fabrics in your house will help to reduce the amount of dust that will collect.

4. Older Homes Have Leaky Ducts and Pipes

Dust will also find its way into your ducts, including heating and cooling ducts that circulate air.

Older homes with outdated duct systems will collect far more dust than others. This doesn’t mean you must move to rid your home of dust.

Washer/Dryer Ducts:

Clothing dryers are meant to collect lint, hair, and dust that is on the clothes you are cleaning.

Everyone knows they need to clean their lint traps to properly dry their clothes and keep their home safe from fires caused by lint.

However, did you know that it isn’t only the lint traps that need your special attention?

Exhaust Ducts

Exhaust ducts that are connected to your home’s dryer are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to having an excess of dust in your home.

When your ducts are leaky, this lint, dirt, and dust escape from the duct system and find their way to your home’s surfaces. To help reduce this, it is imperative to give your ducts a deep clean at least once every three months.

Using either a long hose vacuum or a “snake duster” to clean out those pipes will help to reduce the build-up that will only lead to more dust all over your house.

Is There Less Dust In Apartments? (We Checked)

5. Using Ineffective Methods To Remove Dust

It has been proven that old fashion dusters, like feather dusters, don’t do much to clean up the dust. These dusters do little more than just spread the dust around.

This is because dust won’t get trapped in those types of fibers, and instead of just getting tossed back into the air, and will eventually land again on your surfaces.

So, make all your hard cleanings matter using a more modern-style duster.

Most notably, microfiber dusters do the best job attracting dust using static electricity and trapping it deep in fibers so it won’t blow away.

The best part about microfiber dusters is that they can be easily cleaned and reusable.

Use slightly damp microfiber towels for extra measure because this can trap up to 50% more dust than a dry cloth.

6. It All Comes Down To Your Habits

If you wear shoes inside your home, you drag all that dust onto your floors, eventually finding a way to your surfaces.

Even something as simple as wearing your coat for an extended time after entering the house can greatly affect the cleanliness of your home.

But you can’t be expected to spend hours each day disinfecting your coat and shoes whenever you walk in the door.

Making small habit changes in your home is a great way to help reduce the amount of dust.

Simple changes like always removing your shoes at the door and even giving your coat a quick shake-off before going inside will help you to reduce the amount of dust and dirt you are dragging in.

We are all human, and dust is going to happen. But, taking small steps to keep the outside dirt outside can save you hours a month on dusting.

Sources:

Why Is My House So Dusty?

Reasons Why Your House Is So Dusty and How To Improve It