All about dust – what it is and how to get rid of it
February 6th, 2013
The other week I was helping to reorganise someone’s sizeable CD collection; a collection large enough to take up three floor-to-ceiling racks from a certain Swedish furniture company. One by one, we removed the CDs from their old homes, dusted off their cases, and put them into their new order.
As most of the collection had previously been digitised, not many of the CDs had been listened to in recent years, meaning the whole lot was covered in an impressive layer of dust, which soon ended up covering us as well.
I spent the following two days in what felt like an endless cycle of coughing and sneezing. Most unpleasant.
To prevent something like this from happening to you, here’s a short guide to dust and how to rid yourself of it:
What exactly IS dust?
Honestly; a bit of everything.
While we’ve all heard the story that dust is mostly made up of dead human skin cells, this is only partly true.
In addition to skin cells, dust is also understood to include (according to the all-knowing Wikipedia):
- plant pollen
- human and animal hairs
- textile fibres
- paper fibres
- minerals from outdoor soil
- burnt meteorite particles
…and much more.
And that’s just INDOOR dust. The outdoor dust that is kicked up by car tyres and forms dust storms can include anything from soil to volcanic rock particles and pollution.
Why dust is bad
Firstly, it’s not a great look when your home is covered in dust, unless you’re going for the “Haunted Mansion” look.
Secondly, dust is bad for your electronics. When dust stars clogging the exhaust ports and air holes of your computers and AV equipment, their efficiency is impaired and they may even be at greater risk of fire.
And thirdly, there’s dust mites. These near-microscopic arachnids are found almost anywhere there is dust, subsisting primarily on dead human skin cells. They also tend to be the catalyst that sets off dust-based allergies and hay fever.
But it’s not just the allergy-prone who are ate risk from dust mites. Being living, biological beings, dust mites and their faeces are capable of harbouring harmful bacteria that can make any of us sick if left unchecked.
How to manage dust
Get rid of it
The most obvious way to deal with dust would be to get rid of it. Investing in a good-quality vacuum cleaner with a motorised brush head should help get even ground-in dust out of carpets, and a small portable cleaner can deal with dust on shelves, ornaments, and in tricky corners.
Clear the air
For airborne dust, use an air purifier and/or air conditioner to filter your home’s atmosphere. They won’t get dust out of your carpets or off your shelves, but they should help prevent you from breathing in too much of the stuff. Look for a model with HEPA filters that can also eliminate the bacteria that so often accompanies dust, and regularly change the filters to keep them operating at peak efficiency.
Stick to smooth surfaces
It may not be as comfortable (especially when the weather gets cooler), but swapping out your carpet and upholstered furniture for floorboards and other smooth surfaces should reduce the number of locations where dust can become trapped in your home, making the whole place much easier to keep clean. Steam mops and steam cleaners are especially handy for cleaning hard floors of dust.
Get rid of or hide your ornaments
I love knick knicks as much as the next person, but leaving something with lots of nooks and crannies to sit still for months or years at a time will lead to a major dust build-up. Unless you’re willing to regularly and carefully dust off your ornaments or move them to new locations throughtout the home, keep them in a display cabinet, which is much easier to dust in itself.
Don’t forget pets
Pusskins or Fido may be adorable, but the hair they shed breaks down and decays to further add to you home’s dust problem. Try to keep your pets well-groomed (or vacuumed) and vigilantly clean up their hair after them.
Avoid fires where possible
Put out your fireplace, stub out your cigarettes before you come indoors, and avoid using incense. The sooty smoke will contribute to your home’s dust problem. If you love the look of fire, you could grab a Dimplex fire effect heater that gives you the look and feel of fire without its drawbacks, or one of those fireplace Blu-rays for an HD TV that looks bigger and better than real life.
Do lots of laundry
Pay particular attention to your sheets, pillowcases and other bedclothes – the relatively warm and damp environment created by sleeping bodies tends to make these a haven for dust mites, so clean them regularly in your washing machine – preferably one with an antibacterial setting.
Good article. 🙂