A major part of owning a home or apartment is upkeep.
You’ll often find yourself having to vacuum, sanitize, and dust.
In some cases, you may find that you need to dust more than anything else.
It may make you wonder why your apartment gets as dusty as it does.
From knowing where the dust is coming from to taking the correct measures to remove dust from your apartment, here are five reasons why your apartment is so dusty and how to fix them.
Why Is My Apartment So Dusty? (5 Reasons, How To Fix)
1. Outside
One of the main culprits behind dust in your apartment is the outdoors.
There are tons of debris out there that you bring into your apartment each time you open the door.
Everything from pollen to particulates ends up floating inside.
This is also true if you have opened windows.
The dust in the air ends up getting inside your apartment.
Even if you don’t open your door that long or keep your windows closed, you’re still going to have dirt and pollution from outside get into your apartment.
That’s because it falls on your clothes and shoes while you’re outside.
It collects on the fabric of your clothes, then when you enter your apartment and move around, the dust moves from your clothes to your apartment.
That problem becomes even worse if you wear your shoes in your house.
Your shoes spread everything from dirt to bacteria in your home.
2. Dirty HVAC Air Filter
Another reason your apartment is dusty is that your HVAC air filter is dirty.
Your HVAC system has a filter that helps trap dust and other dirt from passing through the air.
Your HVAC system starts by sucking in the air from your home.
Depending on if you have the air conditioning or heat on, the air then gets cooled or heated.
Then the system pushes that air back out through the apartment via the vents.
The filter sits right where the air gets sucked in or right where the air enters the system.
Its job is to catch dirt and other messes before it passes through the HVAC system and out your vents.
Doing so helps reduce how much dirt and dust end up spreading throughout the apartment.
However, your filter gets clogged over time.
If you haven’t changed it in a while, it’s probably full of dust.
When a filter gets full of dust, it’s no longer able to do its job as well.
The dust ends up passing through the filter and getting spread throughout the apartment.
In most situations, it’s up to your maintenance crew provided by the apartment to change out the filters every six months.
If your apartment complex isn’t providing that service, you may notice a lot of dust.
3. Fiber Breakdown
Dust is a combination of different things.
One of those things is fibers.
Your apartment is sometimes very dusty because certain fibers in it are starting to break down.
This usually happens with old carpets.
When you have an old carpet in your apartment, any time you walk on it, it could be releasing broken fibers into the air.
Those fibers then settle back down as dust.
Your carpet isn’t the only culprit either.
If you have old window curtains, those fibers could be breaking down.
Even your clothes slowly break down with time.
If you noticed that your clothes are starting to fade, grow thinner, or have loose threads, their degradation has started.
Those fibers don’t just disappear.
They end up becoming dust.
The more fabric that you have in your apartment, the dustier it’s going to become, especially as those fabrics age.
4. Skin Cells And Hair
Besides fibers, skin cells and hair also make up dust.
If you have a lot of dust in your apartment, it’s probably because you have a lot of skin cells and hair around.
Skin cells die naturally.
It’s an ongoing process that the body performs to ensure that skin remains healthy.
The problem with this process is that it leaves dead skin cells everywhere.
If you don’t wash them off your body, a few things can happen.
The first is that they stick to your skin.
They might form acne or other skin irritations because dead skin cells can cause healthy skin cells to become infected with bacteria.
They can also get wiped off.
Even just sitting against something with your bare arms touching the object can wipe dead skin cells onto it.
As a result, they collect there and form dust.
Hair is the other reason behind a lot of dust.
Your lost hair collects dust and forms large dust bunnies.
You shed hair normally.
It’s a way that your hair keeps its follicles healthy.
If you have a lot of hair, you’re likely going to shed a lot of hair.
The problem with shedding hair is that you rarely notice that it’s happening.
You may pull away some strands now and then, but it’s usually occurring without your notice.
As such, your hair falls to the floor and ends up condensing with dirt and other things to form dust bunnies.
You may have a lot of dust in your apartment because of dead skin cells and hair.
5. Pet Hair
If you have pets, then you may find that your apartment is dustier than those without pets.
The major reason behind this is pet hair.
Like your hair, pet hair can also form dust bunnies.
They shed even more than humans because they have more hair to shed.
Some species of pets also shed more than others.
That’s why, even among pet owners, you may notice that your apartment is still dustier than someone else’s that has a different pet than you.
Like yourself, pets can’t do much about shedding.
It’s a natural process.
The hairier the dog is, however, the more they tend to shed.
If you have a short-haired dog, for example, you may notice a bit less dust than in apartments with long-haired dogs.
As your pet sheds, its hair collects with other dirt and debris to form dust bunnies.
The more pets you have, the dustier your apartment is going to become.
How To Fix Dusty Apartments
No one wants to live in a dusty apartment.
Not only does it look unpleasant, but it can affect your quality of life, too.
The more dust in the apartment, the harder it can be to breathe.
That’s because dust can conflict with your lungs.
To improve the air quality of your home, here are a few ways to fix a dusty apartment.
1. Vacuum
One of the best things that you can do is vacuum your apartment.
This is especially important if you’re just moving into the apartment.
You can’t be sure how well the people before you cared for the carpet.
Not every apartment replaces the carpets in the units, after all.
Vacuuming gets rid of dust because it sucks the hair, dead skin cells, and other dirt out of the carpet’s fibers and into the vacuum.
An important part of vacuuming is to be careful where you unload it.
If you unload it inside of the house, there’s a chance some of the dust is just going to escape again.
A better solution is to take the vacuum outside with a garbage bag.
Empty the vacuum into the garbage bag, then immediately throw the bag into the dumpster.
Do not take the bag into the house.
Otherwise, you’ll just send dust flying everywhere again.
By carefully vacuuming with a good vacuum, you can limit how much dust is in your apartment.
2. Microfiber Cloth
You can also fix your dusty apartment by using a wet microfiber cloth when you’re dusting.
A feather duster only moves dust around.
You want to pick it up and get rid of it.
A microfiber cloth is a great option because it can carry a lot of dust.
While you can always use the cloth on its own, if you want the most effective results, you need to get it wet.
There are several polishers or dust solutions that you can buy online.
You simply spray the can onto the surface that you want to dust or onto the cloth, itself.
The moisture helps ensure that the dust sticks to the cloth.
Then you can either throw the microfiber cloth in the trash, hose it down and recycle it, or simply toss it into the washing machine.
The washing machine can clean the cloth which allows you to get a few more uses out of it.
By using a microfiber cloth, you can effectively dust your apartment.
3. New Air Filters
Another important step to take to make your apartment less dusty is to get a new air filter.
Some apartments don’t let you remove the intake vent on an HVAC system, so you’ll want to check in on that first.
If you can remove the vent, you can simply unscrew it, then take a look at the filter.
If it’s dirty, then you’ll want to carefully remove it and put it in a garbage bag.
Then you can get a filter of the same size and replace it.
If you’re not able to remove the vent, you’ll want to call maintenance.
They can remove the vent and replace the filter for you.
By replacing the filter, you can ensure that the HVAC system doesn’t simply push dust throughout the apartment.
Instead, it will catch the dust and keep it from going anywhere.
This is an effective way to keep your apartment less dusty because it means there’s less dust flying around.
4. Air Purifier
An air filter can only get you so far.
If you want to remove dust from the air, you’re going to need an air purifier.
Choosing an air purifier isn’t always easy.
Many of them use filters which you’re going to need to replace often.
Otherwise, the air purifier won’t be able to do its job.
Some don’t use filters.
They use heat or another type of technology to zap away the dust in the air.
These are great because you never have to worry about changing out filters.
They do tend to be pricey, however, so it’s a good idea to buy an air purifier only if the dust problem worsens.
Otherwise, air purifiers are a great way to get rid of dust and improve the quality of air in your apartment.
5. Deep Clean Carpets
Sometimes vacuuming your carpet isn’t enough.
Dust can settle deep in your carpet’s fibers.
Unless you have a particularly strong vacuum, it isn’t going to be able to reach the dust down there.
As such, it’s a good idea to have someone deep clean your carpets every other month
A deep clean means that a professional comes in and shampoos the carpet.
They’ll remove all the dirt and dust lurking deep within its fibers.
Because they’re shampooing it, it’s a lot easier to get the dust out of the carpet.
Your carpets will come out looking newer, feel softer, and have far less dust in them.
Conclusion
Having a dusty apartment can be a real problem.
Several sources could be causing the problem.
Luckily, there are also several solutions you can use to get rid of the dust in your apartment.
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