Ways to Reduce Household Dust and Improve Indoor Air QualityNo matter how much you clean, dust has a way of making a comeback every few days. Fortunately, you can reduce household dust, give yourself a bit of a reprieve from continuous cleaning, and improve your indoor air quality by following a few thoughtful tips.

First, though, it helps to fully understand what dust consists of — tiny particles of hair, pet dander, dirt and skin flakes, as well as fibers from paper, carpets and rugs. Some people are allergic to dust, and coming into contact with it can trigger asthmatic attacks and aggravate respiratory conditions. You can’t keep dust completely out of your home, but you can control it by establishing some regular and thorough cleaning procedures.

How to Reduce Household Dust

Keeping dust out of the home is the first line of defense. Ask people to remove shoes before entering the house. Seal leaks around windows with caulk and add weatherstripping around doors. Then try the following:

  1. Use a good HVAC air filter. A pleated filter rated with a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) between 8 and 12 is recommended to keep dust from re-circulating in your home.
  2. Install an air cleaner. Air cleaners are available in a variety of models, but for best results, have a whole-house model installed in your HVAC system. Electronic and electrostatic air cleaners do a good job of attracting dust particles to a filter with a static or electric charge.
  3. Wash linens weekly in hot water.
  4. Clean your home often. Use a vacuum with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter on carpets and upholstery, and use  a damp mop on floors with hard surfaces and a damp or electrostatic cloth to clean furniture.
  5. When vacuuming, turn on the HVAC system to capture dust that you’ve stirred up.
  6. Avoid clutter. That means not allowing toys and magazines to collect on the floor, and keeping furniture and other surfaces as free of figurines and decorative “dust collectors” as possible.

If you need expert advice on how to reduce household dust, contact the experts at Stack Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electric. We’ve served greater Cleveland since 1976.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Cleveland, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about indoor air quality and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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