Worried About Having a Bad Duct Cleaning Experience?Is Your Home Infested with Allergy Causing Dust Mites?
Dust Mites and Allergies in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News Areas of VA
People with chronic allergy problems often find that they are dust mites living in their air ducts, carpet, and even bed. Dust mites are small enough that you need a microscope to see them, but they are all around your house living in the dust. 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. Dermatophagoides farinae is the latin name for house dust mites, which is abbreviated HDM. They are know to be one of the most common causes of asthma, not just in America, but worldwide. The mites have 6 legs when in the larval stage and then grow a fourth pair when they become adults. The males are short lived, around 19-30 days on average. Unlike the males, females can live 60 days, half of which they spend laying eggs.
Symptoms of dust mites does not include bites, as they do not directly affect your skin. Dust mites main food is particles of shed human skin and hair. The mites then feed on the 0.3 to 0.45 Kg (0.5 to 1 lbs) of skin that people shed each year. The moisture from you sleeping, sweating, and breathing on your sheets and bedding, make your bed an ideal place for dust mites to live. As one of the biggest sources of home allergens, dust mites have been know to cause conjunctivitis, asthma, rhinitis, and dermatitis. The microscopic feces that dust mites leave all over your house and floating in the air contains DerP1, an enzyme that causes allergies.
Not as many dust mites live in your air ducts as you may think because of the lack of moisture. Air ducts do however greatly contribute to the dust, and other particles in your air. Duct systems then use a fan to move these dust particles all over your house. The constant re-circulation of air leaves plenty of food for the dust mites.
Use these tips to prevent dust mites from getting out of hand in your house:
- Replace your standard vacuum with a HEPA filtered one.
- Dust heavy use surfaces daily.
- 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.
- You can have your carpets replaced with vinyl or hardwood.
- Allergen resistant bedding can be bought at home stores.
- Children's stuffed animals can be frozen to kill mites living in them.
- Although it may be hard to do, keeping the humidity below 70% will make it much harder for mites to live in your house.
No one thing is going to completely remove dust mites from your home, but following the above instructions will help considerably.
Well, that wraps-up our dust mites article. Hopefully you have a better take 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 already at your home cleaning your air ducts, will save you money.
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