Reduce or eliminate any fabrics like rugs, carpets, draperies, upholstered furniture. Dust and wipe down all hard surfaces regularly. Sweep and mop floors. Fabrics attract and hold dust particles and odors. Do laundry in a well vented enclosed room and keep lint filter clean.
The accumulation of dust can usually be reduced by vigorous air circulation, keeping door and windows closed, maintaining the seals for the windows and doors. and regularly changing the filter on your furnace/AC system. If you have pets that shed hair, de-shed them regularly as needed.
Leaky windows and doors are common culprits in dusty houses. Gaps and cracks around these areas allow outside dust to enter, increasing indoor dust buildup. To address this, it's important to seal and insulate windows and doors properly.
All you need is vinegar, olive oil, and a touch of soap to recreate my grandmother's dust-repellant spray recipe. The coating the spray leaves helps more dust propel off surfaces and onto the floor, which means you'll have to clean those hard to dust places a little less.
Make dust spray:
Pour 1/2 cup of white vinegar, 2 cups warm water, and ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil into a spray bottle. Shake until the ingredients are combined.
Turn on your HVAC systems fan.
Kick up dust without lifting a finger. The fan gets the air in your house moving, until eventually it makes its way to the intake where your air filter can trap and store dust. (You don't actually get to call this “dusting”—it's more of an assist.)
Around 60% of the dust inside your home actually comes from outside*6. Pollen and soil, as well as outdoor pollutants, are carried into your home through your shoes, clothes, and hair. As you'd expect, they also come in through cracks, windows and doors*7.
The short answer is yes, most air purifiers on the market are designed to remove large dust particles from the air. Many feature mechanical filtration, which is a method of capturing pollutants on filters.
The Impact of Open Windows on Indoor Air Quality
One study by the University of Arizona found that opening windows increased dust and pollen levels in homes. In addition, the study found that when windows were open, dust and pollen from outside could enter the home and settle on surfaces.
The first thing to do is keep all windows closed at all times. Vacuum with a hep-a filter vacuum. Use good filters on your heating and air system, and invest in good air purifiers like the Air Doctor. Dust free is impossible in our normal homes but you can keep it down with good clean filters and air purifiers.
How to Make Dust Repellant Spray. To make the spray, she combines 2 cups of water, 1 cup of vinegar to disinfect and cut through grime, 2 tablespoons of olive oil to polish and keep dust away for longer, and a drop or two of dish soap for extra cleaning power.
Skin flakes and mold. Considering the average household collects around 40 pounds of dust per year, that's a lot of food for mites.
Vacuuming. We recommend that you vacuum at least once per week. Even if you live alone, weekly vacuuming helps pick up the dust that falls on carpeting and reduces health hazards. However, you may need to vacuum more often than this, depending on the number of people and pets in your home.
Dust is an accumulation of pollen, dead skin cells, pet dander, mold, bacteria, dust mite droppings, and other particles. Outside air can add to indoor dust in your home, too. Soil, sand, chemicals, and germs can enter your home from cracks in the doors and windows or from your clothes, shoes, and pets.
There are thousands of portable air purifiers that can help, but the best room air filter for dust is a HEPA filter. Unlike home air filters for an HVAC system, highly efficient HEPA air filters work very well in a standalone air purifier. A HEPA air filter traps 99.97% of particles in the air.
It is often dirt, skin cells, or fabric fibers, but could be more or less anything that could dry and flake off. Books, carpet, rugs, upholstered furniture, fireplaces, and pets all contribute to the dust load. Dirt, pollen, smoke, exhaust, sand, and many other things may bring in dust from outside.
Air purifiers assist in eliminating household dust by helping clean the air at home. These machines are engineered with technology that traps dust before it settles on your furniture and floors. Opt for a HEPA air purifier that captures 99.97% of dust and particles as small as 0.3 microns.
There are many potential sources of dust including open windows and doors, pets that shed fur or dander, carpet fibers, clothing, shoes and more. If these are left unchecked, dust can accumulate rapidly.
Should you dust with a damp cloth? We at Castle Keepers find dusting with a plain, slightly damp microfiber cloth the best way to remove dust from the home, much superior to dusting with oils or sprays. “Damp dusting” is also much easier than dry dusting and more effective because it catches more dust.
My #1 tool for dusting is a good quality general purpose microfiber cloth—but the real key here is using it DRY first! As soon as you wet your cloth or surface, dust turns into a paste-like substance that you'll just smear around, and in the end, it becomes much more challenging to clean off.
The white dust you describe may be from several sources and also may be a little bit from each. If there is any carpet in the house there will inevitably be dust from foot traffic which usually shows up as “white dust.” Opening the windows for spring and summer breezes are a substantial source of dust as well.