Tips on cutting down on Dust/dust mites/mold

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

So we finally got our air ducts cleaned and our vents/basement are being treated for mold. Prior to the cleaning, i could literally see the dust being blown up from the vents, I even looked in one and it looked very clogged. Ds has seasonal allergies that I fear are turning into constant allergies. I need to know your best tips on keeping dust at bay, realistically speaking, my home is massive with way too many shelves, So I don't think daily wiping down of all surfaces is feasible in addition to other household tasks and taking care of ds. The house is mainly uncarpeted with the exception of the stairs, and ds's room and the office. We currently wash sheets every other week and blankets monthly. I am going to focus mainly on the bedrooms/carpeted rooms. The kitchen/foyer seem to have little dust because i clean them the most. I have a little stick vaccum I plan to run everyday on the downstairs level and how often should i vaccuum the carpets? Daily? Every other day?

I am trying my best to get rid of as much unwanted clutter as possible to make cleaning up easier, we don't have tons of clutter, but i am really trying to pare down to help my routine.

And I suppose extra large stuffed toys should go as well? They seem to collect dust and would be hard to fit in the washer.

Thanks for any tips

[Multimomma]

Most important is keeping your AC filter clean. When we had one child, we changed it once a month, now that ten people are living in our house, we have a permanent one that we wash every week (so if we had a paper one, we'd change it every week )

We have allergies, and can't have the windows open. Not only does it let the allergens in, but dust can blow in as well.

[MsBirdie]

We have the allergy guard covers for all our box springs, mattresses, and pillows for bed. I then wash all the blankets, shetts, and bedding in super hot water and super high dryer every two weeks. Those two things have cut down on DDs allergies big time. I also make sure I am vaccuming under the beds.

[JessicaS]

We don't have carpet. I have a vacuum with a HEPA filter and dust covers for the pillows and mattresses. We clean the filter pretty regularly.

I have bad dust allergies.

[jrpbrown1]

Originally Posted by MsBirdie

We have the allergy guard covers for all our box springs, mattresses, and pillows for bed.

Yes, this has helped me tremendously. Good luck!

[bandyr]

So, where have you found good quality mattress/box spring encasements? We've been looking but want to find something that isn't plasticky. Any one use tea tree oil in the wash for mites? I'd love to hear tips about mold.

[BetsyWetsy]

Dust = Nasty!

HEPA filters are one of the best things you can do to get rid of dust, especially if you have allergies. Perhaps even better than that (and this is not fun) is to tear out all of your carpeting. Carpeting collects and holds dust like crazy. Those are probably the two best things you can do, but if you want a few more ideas, have a look at this dust cleaning page.

BW

[MaryMarg]

Kind of a dumb question here but for those of you who have used the zippered pillow and mattress covers, do you typically buy new pillows or just put the covers on the old ones?

[MsBirdie]

I put them over the old ones. Figured anything in there would be trapped inside.

[zebaby]

Anyone use any type of air purifiers? Do they work without having to buy an expensive one for each room in the house?

[momofmine]

OP, how are you treating the basement for mold? We are fixing our dirt cellar and the contractor wants to first treat it with a product called Benefect. It looks like it is thyme oil. But I was wondering if anyone else had heard of it and knew anything about it. He wants to spray the product on the wood down there before doing the other things to the area.

[e13lorena]

Sweep the Carpet as often as you can - you might want to get a better vaccum or rip up the carpet. We have 2 rooms in our house with carpet - both are DDs bedrooms. One has dustmite allergy. I sweep the other day, after my DH sweep the night before, and got tons of dust out of the carpet - I swept it 3 more times and each times got dust in the can (bagless).

When you are dusting make sure you are using a damp cloth or mircofiber cloth that the dust will stick to - not a feather duster that just moves the dust around.

You can vacuum out your vents too. Keep most surfaces clear of its and it will be easier to dust them. Put pictures in frames on walls - not shelves.

~Erin

[marimara]

I'm battling my dust mite allergies myself right now.  We moved to an apt where I can't remove the carpet, but let me tell you, if I owned the house I would rather have concrete floors than carpet.  It's the most disgusting thing ever and causes the vast majority of the dust problems.  I do have a HEPA filter for my bedroom because I have the severe allergies in the house and it has helped a lot.  I also have a dyson that sucks really good.  My opinion from having these allergies my whole life and living in carpeted and non carpeted houses, lose the carpet.  It's the number one thing, until you do that you will only be doing damage control.