We have owned our home 6 years. It was a fixer upper and smoked in previously. It seems like dust collects in our house, on tv and pictures etc very quickly. Would having our vents cleaned help? If so, who do you recommend...we live in the Overland Park, KS area. Any other ideas about keeping dust from collecting would great!
Hi Peggy,
I still seem to have dust, but especially if you are living in a fixer upper/previously smoked in, cleaning the ducts will help with even just some allergies, even if you don't think you have any. Our home's previous owners had a ton of pets including a bunch of birds. There were feathers, bird seed and other bird stuff all over this house. I know it made a difference for us.
My dear sweet husband and I "discussed" having our ducts cleaned for years because a friend of a friend said it was a scam and a waste of money. But working 6 years in pulmonary (lung) medicine, we used to recommend it all the time for our patients. So I finally just scheduled it to be done.
We used Midwest duct cleaning (I think) and were very happy with them.
Good Luck and In good health,
Lori K
Hi Peggy! I live in a new house, we had it built last year. If I dont dust everyday you can see it! But I think most dust just comes from people. I notice the rooms that we are in less there is less dust! It is estimated that humans lose 30,000 – 40,000 dead skin cells each and every minute. Furniture fabric, bedding, and clothes release fibers every time they are used or disturbed. Pets also contribute to house dust by shedding skin cells and hair. If your home is carpeted, there are even more fibers being released into the air. Though the air in our homes appears clear and clean, unless you are using an air purifier or some other means of filtration, the air coming in from outside brings in a tremendous amount of dust. However, that's just part of what makes up house dust.
Im ALWAYS dusting!
Good Morning Peggy. Our first home was a fixer upper too many yrs ago. We bought it in 1975, for $12,800.00. Laughing our house payment was 89.00 and we thought we were going to be in a bind forever!!
Our son was 9 months old. It was on a small dirt road in a small ks town. Railroad tracks ran beside the property. Fun but scary!!
Our house always had dust, we covered windows, replaced doors and windows, put more insulation in, caulked to seal gaps, put on vinyl siding etc... Still dusty! We had AC/ Heating unit put in, nothing seemed to help. Some old houses are just dust magnets. :))
I did a google search and came up with this.
http://www.simplyjoyous.com/search.aspx?drdv5=air%20duct%20cleaning
God Bless and Good luck Peggy
Karen Nana of 5
My mother was just diagnosed with several allergies and her doctor told her to buy a air purifier with a HEPA filter and put it in her bedroom. She did this and said the first thing she noticed was that the room looked as if she had dusted it after she had used it a couple of days! Our house is always so dusty, I thought about trying one for that benifit alone LOL! Also if you've never used a Swiffer duster they're awesome.
Don't know much about duct cleaning, we've always talked about it too, but never done it.
Peggy, some houses can be dustier than others. Are you changing your furnace filter regularly? That can help alot. Also, remember that electronics (TV's, stereos, etc.) attract dust, making them and anything close to them dirtier. This is a really good duster http://flylady.net/pages/FlyShop_Duster.asp that is well worth the money. Both of your kids are old enough to spend 15 minutes dusting - and 15 minutes once a day isn't much. You'll be surprised at what a difference it makes.
Sorry to say, I had my ducts cleaned and saw absolutely NO difference in the amount of dust!!! Money wasted.
However, I did learn recently that burning candles in my home gives off a lot of junk..now, I only use soy candles.
I also made the best purchase of my life...a Venta air purifier. Not only does it purify the air very simply with water, it adds moisture to the house at the same time. The engineering of the Venta is pure genius. I found mine on sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Good luck!
Hi Peggy,
Yes, if you have an older home, the ducts have probably never been cleaned and it can never hurt. Also invest in a good furnace filter, and change it regularly, you won't believe the difference it will make in the air quality. Also hubby and I both have some issues with allergies so we use an air filter in the bedroom at night, not only does it cut down on the dust, the air really even smells cleaner.
All that being said, no home is going to be dust free. Swiffers really do make dusting easier and when you use one they DO NOT kick the dust back up into the air.
Good luck!
Nancy
I would imagine getting your vents/air ducts cleaned could help. I don't know about that part, but for keeping dust down, I've got an idea for you. We have a daughter with asthma/allergies. We bought two IonicAir purifiers for our home. They seem to help. One for upstairs and one for down. They aren't perfect, but they do help. Of course, dusting your house on a regular basis also helps greatly. Also have a good filter for the furnace also helps. Check out www.IonicProTurbo.com to see if this may help you. GOOD LUCK!!
Hi Peggy!
One other thing you might look at is your vacuum cleaner. If there is a layer of dust on it, then it's because the vacuum is not sucking all of the dust in, but rather re-releasing some of it while you use it. Better vacuums pull all of the dust in as you use it (I have a Dyson and love it).
Good Morning,
Duct Cleaning can help reduce how often you must dust. Big dust problems happen when a new, more powerful furnace is installed and it blows out the old dirt the older, weaker allowed to build up.
Also, sheet rock and floor sanding really fowl air ducts and become a problem.
Smoking makes the dirt in the air ducts stink and the dirt looks rather orange in color from nicotine.
There is a Mom-Owned duct cleaning business here on Mamma Source. They have A+ reviews on Angie's List and nothing bad reported to the Kansas City BBB. Here is the website: www.cleanducts4kc.net
Call them and they can better answer you questions.
Traci
I thought my home was dusty when I lived in MS because of the dirt around my very treed acreage but in Kansas I guess its the wind bringing it in the air, love Kansas wind though. I agree swiffers are great for dusting and have thought about using an air duct cleaner also, but we need to know exactly what they do clean. My mom was almost ripped off because they came out and only cleaned the covers of the vents before my brother in law got involved and the company eventually came out and cleaned them appropriately. I'd love to do away with carpet but have no hardwood under them,I know people who have done that also. Let me know if you find a good air duct cleaner
A couple of years ago we had Stanley Steamer come out and look at our ducts. They used a scope with a camera on it and we got to see what our ducts looked like, and I must say it was gross!!! We still haven't had ours cleaned b/c of the cost. We are currently trying to get out of debt so paying to have them cleaned is not an option right now. I bought from Walmart some vent filters. You cut them down to the size of your vent and place them in the inside of the vent. It has helped some with the dust, but not a whole lot. It is something we are willing to live with until we can afford to pay to have our ducts cleaned. After seeing what was in our ducts it helped me understand why our house was so dusty. Good luck and God Bless.
P.S. Stanley Steamer didn't charge for that service, they left us an estimate of what it would cost to clean the ducts.
Hi Peggy, I have had luck with cleaning the air ducts in our home. Plus I purchased vent filters, little filters that fit in your vent covers, I make sure to change mine every 2 months. It took about 2 weeks before I saw a significant difference. But now, the air is great and I do not have to dust nearly as often.
HTH,
Rachel
www.abetteru.2freedom.com
My son has asthma and Stanley Steamer cleans our ducts once a year.
I also put cheese cloth behind all the vents. It collects the dust before it gets into the house and it's cheap! I change the cloth once a month and it has helped. I also spend a little more on the Hepa-filter for the furnace.
Hi,
We recently had our air ducts cleaned and I would definitely recommend it. We cleaned ours because my son was recently diagonosed with a dot/cat allergy and the previous owners had pets so we wanted to "clean" our air a bit. I actually learned a lot during the process. Our house is newer like yours (about 9 years old) and builders unfortunately use your vents as their trash can. Because of this, a lot of newer homes have tons of saw dust living in their air duct system. I was amazed at the saw dust that they pulled out of our air (not to mention the dust!). My house wasn't all that dusty before we did this, so I don't really have a good comparison but I am so relieved to get that junk out of my house and know that we're not breathing that in!
We used Midwest Air Care and they were very professional. They usually have coupons in the ValPak. They were very knowledgable and walked me through the process and educated me on what they were doing and why it was important. They also gave me helpful hints on keeping dust out of your house and what type of filter to use on your heating/cooling unit. I would recommend it. Good luck!
Michaela
I haven't done it to our home yet because when we moved in the central air system was only 2 yrs old (it's a 100 yr old home)...but my mom did spend the money on her house that was nearly 30 years old and it was SPECTACULAR! She was shocked because where she was needing to dust nearly every other day beforehand...afterwards she didn't need to dust for weeks! And she said the whole house just smelled and FELT clean. I would HIGHLY recommend it.
You said you have owned your home for 6 years, was it new when you bought it? Some places are just not sealed up well so take that in to consideration to. You may need to look into having seals around the doors and windows replaced. What about a fireplace? If you have one, make sure that is shut up tight because extra dust accumulates that way too.
Good Afternoon Peggy,
My mom used to put cheese cloth on the vents when I was a child, since my sister had asthma and allergies. The allergy doctor suggested to my mom to use the cheese cloth and change as necessary!
I hope this tip helps!
Gail
You identified your home as one you are fixing up. Likely you generate constryction dust in the process. You should have your duct work cleaned by a professional service and consider purchasing the higher cost but superior pleated type furnace filters in the future.