A Dust free Bedroom for the Allergy Sufferer

Here are our tips for attaining a dust-less and dust-mite free bedroom for the allergy sufferer.

1. Clear out your bedroom of all surplus objects. Aim for that "Spartan" bare look. Less objects collect less dust.
2. Keep your humidity level at less than 50 percent. A cheap humidity gauge available from Sears for about $20 will do the trick. Remember, dust mite allergen does not thrive in drier air.
3. Eliminate all the dust with a good quality hepa vaccum cleaner such as the Miele or Eureka . This means using the special onboard tools to get into those hard to reach places such as tops of pictures ,door headers, corners, blinds, lampshades, underneath the bed or furniture. Use the hepa vacuum twice weekly. Do not use a cloth dusting rag, it just redistributes the dust and aggravates your allergens. .
4. Use a 'Swiffer' or 'Grab It' to keep down the dust bunnies on hardwood floors in between vacuuming. You will be surprised at how much dust they can pick up, even on a daily basis.
5. Take out as much carpets and draperies as you can possibly stand, they are a prime harbinger of dust mites. Just use a little washable cotton rug by your bedside to save your feet from freezing in winter.
6. Wash your bedclothes weekly in 140 degree water [turn up your water heater setting] to kill dust mites. You can add tannic acid or use one of commercial cleaners containing tannic acid to eliminate the dust mites. Just look on the label for the ingredients.
7. Use very fine wafer thin filtration material at point of entry to your bedroom for forced air heating systems. This keeps allergens from entering the bedroom. If you use fabric that is too thick the air will not be able to pass through effectively and your bedroom will be cold.
8. Have your duct work professionally cleaned every three years. Be careful and choose a certified duct cleaner. All duct cleaning services are not made equal.
9. Don't forget to change the filters for your room air-conditioner. Do you really want to breathe in mold and dust allergens blown out by a dirty air conditioner?
10. Change the allergy control filters on your furnace once per month. Use the pleated disposable kind such as put out by 3M or the better electrostatic filters. These filters will catch a lot of dust at the point of entry into a house.
11. Close your closet door. Clothes are collectors of dust and particulates.
12. Cover your bed with dust mite covers, and vacuum the bedding on a weekly basis. You want bedding that is impervious to the dust mites and just does not allow the dust mites to breed-plain and simple. Much to our surprise there is quite a variation in effectiveness between products from different vendors - pore size is critical. You can see our detailed comparison of dust mite covers on our website.
13. Use a vapor steam cleaner on your bedding to assist in killing dust mites between washes. One of the new vapor steam handheld devices like the Hot Shot by Eureka is ideal. It is hot enough to kill dust mites. Take advantage of the freezing weather. Put pillows, stuffed toys, any thing that could host dust mites into plastic bags and put them out side in the deep freeze. Yes, the frost kills those little bugs.
14. Use a high quality hepa filter to filter out allergens. Find one that will do the job at low frequency so that you do not have to live with noise of a filter at high speed. Several good air cleaners can be found at The AllergyBuyersClub.