Worried About Having a Bad Duct Cleaning Experience?What Allergy Problems do House Dust Mites Cause?
Dust Mites and Allergies in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Areas of IL
Dust mites can live in your air ducts, carpet, or even bed, but what do they do? One of the reasons most people do not know much about dust mites is because they are so small you cannot see them, and they live in dust around your home. The dust in your home is actually made up of millions of tiny particles of skin, hair, and fecal matter, that the dust mites feed on. While the home dust mite's true name is dermatophagoides farinae, allergists often refer to them as HDM. These dust mites are a frequent cause of asthma. Larval stage mites have 6 legs while the post larval ones have 8. The males are short lived, around 19-30 days on average. The females, who live twice as long as males, are the ones who lay the eggs.
Dust mites will not bite your sting you. Dust mites eat the dust from discarded human skin cells. The average person loses up to over a pound of skin in a year, which provides plenty of mite food, especially in a family. Dust mites like to live in beds and sheets because there is a lot of moisture from people's sweat, perspiration and what not. Even though they do not bite, do not think that dust mites cannot harm you because they are a source of the allergens that can cause asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and dermatitis. Dust mite poop contains an enzyme that causes allergic reactions of the skin,, lungs, and other body functions.
The dust mites usually live in the most humid parts of your house, which is not generally the air duct system. Air ducts are a huge source of the dust particles that the mites live off of however. Your air duct system is responsible for moving these dust particles all over your home. By just re-circulating air, these vent systems deposit new food for the mites and fling their allergy causing fecal matter into the air where you breath it.
The following are all good ways to control dust mites:
- Replace your standard vacuum with a HEPA filtered one.
- Practice regular dusting.
- Any fabric in your house that could trap dust and moisture, such as sheets, carpets, drapes, and upholstery should be sanitized on a somewhat regular basis.
- Not only would replacing your carpets with vinyl flooring help reduce dust mites, it also makes cleaning easier.
- Put allergen proof mattress covers on all of your beds.
- Children's stuffed animals can be frozen to kill mites living in them.
- By keeping the humidity in your house under 70% you will make it unsuitable for mites.
Now you should be able to live a much more allergy free live, with nearly so many dust mites in your home.
Well, that concludes our dust mites article. Hopefully you have a better handle on what the technique involves and what you might look to in an duct cleaning company. Since most air duct cleaning companies also clean dryer vents, you might want to read our dryer vent cleaning tips article as well. Having your dryer vent cleaned while the technicians are still at your home cleaning your air ducts, will save you money.
Local Articles Related to Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Dust Mites and Allergies
Local Illinois Air Duct Cleaning Companies and Government Links
