Dust mites can be a problem in even the cleanest house. They’re impossible for a person to see with the naked eye, but their body parts, protein, and feces make up the most common household allergens. Dust mites can appear in many unexpected places such as your bed, carpeting, and drapes, significantly altering the allergy conditions in your place. If you find your skin breaking out in anything like a rash and pimples, or if people are experiencing reactions or symptoms such as runny nose or watery eyes, these could be due to an infestation of dust mites in your home and furniture.
We’ve collected valuable health information on what makes dust mites reproduce and thrive, and in this article we have some advice on the best ways to get rid of this microscopic menace. This includes simple changes that require little household adjustment — like using dust catchers or increasing the amount you use a vacuum cleaner on your carpets — along with solutions that require outside equipment, like anything involving steam cleaning. These defenses guarantee control in the ongoing fight to kill dust mites and remove allergens from the home.
Changing the Climate
It is important to note that house dust mites like spaces and climates that are dark, warm, and moist. They especially love soft fibers, including mattress covers, upholstered furniture, pillows, and pillow covers. Of course, this means that the bedroom is the space most prone to infection. A mattress and box spring provide all the necessary components for dust mites to live and grow: darkness, humidity, and a steady influx of dead skin cells to eat. Decreasing the humidity is important to limit allergen issues and reactions such as coughing and wheezing.
Dust mites are also found commonly in carpeting and upholstery. You may dust and vacuum your carpets and rugs regularly, but unless you’re cleaning effectively you’re not doing everything you can to prevent the growth of these household allergens. By steam cleaning your carpets, rugs, mattresses, furniture, and other furnishings throughout your home, you can ensure that the bedrooms remain safe and clean, that allergens are mitigated, and your environment is healthy and free from dust mites. To accomplish these items, we recommend a consistent vacuum, cleaning, and dusting schedule.
Airing the Space to Remove Allergens
For more specific information, dust mites love temperatures ranging from 75°F and 80°F and humidity levels around 70-80%. So a test and solution that’ll slow the reproductive rate of dust mites could be as simple as keeping your household thermostat at a temperature of 70°F or lower – a temperate level that’ll combat growth and eliminate allergens without much discomfort around the house. One of the reasons is that a slight reduction in temperature will eliminate the infestation without turning your home into a freezer.
In a similar fashion, allergens can be greatly reduced if you keep humidity under 50%. You can do this through an air conditioner, air cleaner, or dehumidifier. If you don’t want to use your air conditioning units, you can create a similar effect through fans and opening windows to provide air circulation. A device like an air purifier with a strongly rated high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter will also help you combat dust mite allergens and other airborne pollutants such as dust or tobacco smoke, giving relief to the allergy sufferers in your home. While open windows and the use of fans are great entry level methods, using a HEPA filter will provide greater relief for family in all parts of the house.
If you notice that allergic reactions are becoming more common in your home, it may be time to reevaluate the air quality within each room. An example of an allergic reaction could range from a stuffy nose and mucus to lots of sneezing, congestion, coughing, wheezing — even signs of asthma and other adverse health conditions. Some report skin spots or a body rash, all possible warning signs that you have exposure to allergens as well as mites, and other pests. Reducing humidity and improving air quality are two essential steps to reducing allergies and making your home safer for your family.
Clean the Carpets
In addition, another source for bedbugs and dust mites comes thanks to your pets. The reason is that pet hair can appear in your carpets, pillows and pillowcases, curtains, on beds and sofas, even on unexpected areas like tile and wood floors, wool and vinyl surfaces, and linoleum flooring.
Although they cannot be seen without a microscope, millions of insects, arachnids, dust mites, and other creatures could be attracted to the flakes and even the droppings left behind by your pets. This can lead to allergens in the bedrooms and trouble for everyone in the family home, but especially for someone who experiences a body health condition such as allergies.
Fortunately, there are treatments and information that folks can use in order to keep their houses clean and allergy free for their children, friends, family, and any older age adults who may come to visit. You should wash an item from each area of the home on a weekly basis to remove potential mites. For example, you should wash in high heat your curtains, blankets, and other items including linens, fabrics, and clothes. This can significantly reduce dust mites and allergens from your bedding and furniture.
One of the doctor recommended strategies is to keep plastic bottles of Lysol sprays to disinfect countertops. You should also use special products on leather, furniture, and vinyl and a mop, rag, or cloths to remove allergy causing pollutants anywhere on hardwood and tile. Choosing to use a vacuum daily to remove surface carpet and hardwood contaminants, mites, and any possible droppings is also a good idea.
It is important to have a professional wash the carpets, furniture and other important items in your home, as they can achieve a lasting impact and their work is often backed by a warranty. In this case, the company or business can also provide you with helpful answers and care tips. Some may even offer additional information and website links with advice on battling mites.
They bring experience to the job site, regardless of its complexity, and they use effective measures that will get your carpets and curtains cleaned in the rooms and any number of surface locations. Some exterior cleaning companies will also use adjustable heat power washing equipment to wash your exterior surfaces like wood and concrete, a service that provides another thing to get rid of mites.
You will be content after receiving professional carpet cleaning services. Most professionals take before and after pictures, and the difference between a washed carpet and an unwashed one will be noticeable immediately. However, you will truly see the difference when the allergens dissipate, your body skin allergy clears, and your family quality of life improves. Even if you vacuum the carpet with care regularly, an occasional carpet steam cleaning is recommended.
Removing Pollen and Other Allergens
Another potential threat to your home that an allergist or doctor of immunology references in a list of things to avoid, is pollen. Unfortunately, pollen can be difficult to manage. It comes from flowers and is often carried into homes, getting into the everything: furniture, carpet, blankets, clothes, and throughout the bedrooms — even in the attic.
It travels through the world on the breeze, coming into the vents and attic space in addition to coming through filters and blinds like a fine dust. With a lot of pollen in the house, many times a doctor of immunology will have to prescribe medication or recommend medicine to help your family deal with the immunology problem such as allergy symptoms.
Not only do pollen, dander, and mold affect your breathing, but they also attract bugs including dust mites. Some are more dangerous than others, including mosquitoes, whose bites will draw blood and could result in serious illness. To kill dust mites and other bugs, we recommend that our readers consistently remove clutter and knickknacks that can attract pollen, vacuum regularly and steam wash items such as any blanket and carpet, bedding, clothing, throw rugs, furniture, and fabrics such as wool on account of their susceptible nature to pollen.
Vacuums can help remove the surface dust from the carpeting, but any expert should both vacuum and wash the carpet and blinds, using desiccants that serve as a dryer and remove all moisture from the area. Indoor flowers and plants can increase humidity as well as pollen. Another strategy to get rid of dust mites is to remove dust, feces, and mold spores from common surfaces like upholstered furniture, the bed, mattress covers, and box springs. Steam cleaning with heat is an easy method to get rid of the house dust mite and keep your house and bedding clean.
Adjust Your Bedding Habits
There are several methods for cleaning and managing your bedding to prevent the growth of dust mite proteins. The first, and probably easiest strategy to implement, is to wash bedding, covers, and sheets in hot water (with a temperature of at least 130 f to 140 f) once every week or two and dry them in your dryer at similar temperatures. Using a washing machine with hot water is one of the easiest methods to kill dust mites and get rid of residue that produces the common dust mite allergy. It is also an effective way to eliminate bed bugs, as high heat is something that will prevent them from coming back and creating a breeding ground in your mattress or box spring. Adding a bit of tea tree oil will also help the process, as tea tree is toxic to dust mites.
Between washes, it’s also important to get your family on the same page and not make the bed first thing in the morning. Humans perspire and exhale 40 grams of water an hour during sleep, which leaves dust mites with substantial amounts of water to absorb. It is important to note that leaving your bed unmade for the first few hours in the morning allows some of that moisture to dry, eliminating dust mites in your home by eliminating their food supply. If you use cleaning products that are desiccants, even better. They will reduce your exposure and allergen risk by removing moisture from the air.
It will also help greatly in the long run to invest in and use a dust and dust mite proof mattress cover and bed covers. This will put a fabric barrier between your bedding and the dust mites, and with no access to food sources they’ll eventually starve to death. It’s worth buying higher-grade, allergen proof mattress covers, on account of their longer lifespan and ability to protect your mattress and pillow. Electing to use a higher-grade cover offers greater protection against dust mite feces as well as common particulate air matter in your bedroom, such as pet dander and dust — contaminants that provide food to the dust mites population and can lead to numbers of health problems, decreasing the quality of life for people in your home who are allergic to dust mites.
For decorative pillows, stuffed animals, or stuffed toys, regularly washing them in the washing machine is recommended for getting rid of any dust, particles, dust mites, and residue, creating a mite proof and allergen proof environment for the people in your home. Another idea to get rid of bed bugs and eliminate dust mites is to use diatomaceous earth, a non-hazardous, natural product that will keep dust mites from your home and bedroom setting. Use it on your mattress covers, pillow covers, stuffed toys, and bedding for a safe treatment against dust mites.
Dust Effectively and Consider Steam Cleaners
Frequent vacuuming and dusting are effective to limit the population of dust mites. But are you combating dust and allergens with the best technique possible? If you need some guidance, here are some easy ways to get rid of dust, mold spores, and other airborne contaminants that contribute to a stuffy nose and dust mite allergies in your home.
Before relying on dry vacuuming, you want to make sure that you have a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA-filter. If you don’t have that on hand, a better and more effective option to reduce allergens would be to use a steam cleaner for your carpets, throw rugs, fiber surfaces, and drapes, using hot water that’ll get rid of the problem in seconds.
For dusting, you want to use a damp cloth and remove dust from higher surfaces to lower ones, like from the shades to the floorboards. A dry cloth will simply move the dust around, but spray cleaner and a damp cloth work well on everything. You also want to ensure you’re cleaning with a spray product that won’t leave a residue bound to attract more dust back in an instant. Simple home remedies can be made by mixing one part water and one part fabric softener in a plastic spray bottle for an aid that’ll actually repel dust. Adding a drop or two of tea tree oil will increase its effectiveness against dust mites as well.
Whether vacuuming , cleaning, or dusting, working to rid a room of household dust will inevitably leave an amount of it airborne, inadvertently increasing dust allergies. Because of this, you should consider the use of a dust mask and something to protect your eyes. If you don’t have a mask or filters, make sure to wait 24 hours before sleeping in a bedroom after vacuuming and cleaning to create a safe sleeping environment and limit the risk of asthma or body health issue related to inhaling unhealthy particles.
Breathe Green: A Stronger Solution
Even if you’ve done your part, many times you might be looking for an extra line of defense against dust mites. There are plenty of insecticides to choose from, but a majority of them are intense chemicals that could harm family members, pets, and plants in your home. If you’re in need of a safe and all-natural alternative — supported by the environmental protection agency — Breathe Green Mite Fighter might be what you’re looking for in your battle against mites.
Breathe Green Mite Fighter comes in pairs of small sachets (a little bag) that contain at the bottom a variety of insect-repelling essential oils like Citronella and Lemon Eucalyptus Oil. These oils will work to expel dust mites while also destroying remaining eggs that may be buried in your fiber surfaces, such as your fabric sofa or other furniture. It also works well to kill mites on leather, vinyl, fibers, and plastic surfaces.
All you have to do is place a bag in high-infective areas like the rug or under your mattress and pillow. You’ll notice an improvement in sleep and symptoms within a matter of days, and you won’t have to think about replacing them for two months. in addition, the bag can be used on flooring, carpeting, rugs, sheets, drapes, and your bed, thanks to its small size and powerful impact. It can even be used in your car for added protection against dust mites and allergens. And if someone in your family suffers dust and allergy issues, they will find relief with these simple steps.
The habits listed above will help eliminate dust mites across your home, and they’ll do all that while reducing your risk for allergy or asthma by keeping your air cleaner and fresher. If you’re looking for a secure, safe, and restful sleep, it’s worth the chance to buy the Breathe Green Mite Fighter. It’s a small bag, but it’s guaranteed to bring a big change against dust mites, especially compared with other spray brands. And if you have other questions about ways to prevent dust mites, their customer service agents are available to offer information, books, and related articles to help you control the dust mite population and eliminate allergen issues in your carpeting, rugs, pillows, and floors.
We hope that this article with important information covering easy steps to get rid of dust mites and allergens has been helpful. Check back again soon for updates and advice, news and information, and words of wisdom regarding how to eliminate dust mites as well as keep your home clean and allergen free.