Worried About Having a Bad Duct Cleaning Experience?Could Home Dust Mites be Causing Your Allergies?
Dust Mites and Allergies in the Memphis Areas of TN
Dust mites can live in your air ducts, carpet, or even bed, but what do they do? Dust mites are microscopic creatures that live in normal house dust. Even if you keep your home very clean, skin, hair, food, and fecal matter are still present in your ducts for the mites to feed on. Home dust mites, or HDM as allergists usually call them, are scientifically know as dermatophagoides farinae. Asthmatics should be aware of dust mites, because they are one of the most common causes of asthma. Dust mites have to stages in their life cycle, the larval stage with 6 legs, and the adult stage with 8 legs. Dust mites live only a very short time, with a male having an average 19-30 day lifespan. The females, who lay eggs, can live up to 60 days.
At least the mites do not bite or have any sort of poison. Cells of human skin that are shed are the main food of dust mites. The mites then feed on the 0.3 to 0.45 Kg (0.5 to 1 lbs) of skin that people shed each year. 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. Mite droppings have been found to contain DerP1, an enzyme that has been shown to complicate allergies.
Not as many dust mites live in your air ducts as you may think because of the lack of moisture. However, your air duct system does trap a lot of skin, hair, and fecal matter that is floating around your house. Air duct systems also use fans to circulate air all over your home. The constant re-circulation of air leaves plenty of food for the dust mites.
The following list of steps can decrease dust mites in your home:
- Purchase a HEPA filtered vacuum and use this to clean your home on a regular basis.
- Dust heavy use surfaces daily.
- Have you carpets, drapes, upholstery, and air ducts professionally cleaned, at least twice a year.
- Have all the carpeting removed from your home.
- Beds and pillows can all be covered in allergen proof fabrics.
- You can clean kids toys of mites without chemicals by freezing them overnight.
- Keeping the humidity constantly below 70% does wonders for mite control.
Having learned about dust mites, you should not be able to live a healthier life.
Well, that wraps-up our dust mites article. Hopefully you have a better grasp of what the approach involves and what you might look to in an air duct cleaning company. Since most ductwork 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.
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