Dust Mites
You might not be able to see them, but guaranteed all over your home and are literally a scourge to allergy and asthma sufferers all over the world – dust mites.
Dust mites are in your carpets, furniture, bedding, pretty much any fabric including your children’s stuffed animals. Dust mites are incredibly small really only visible under microscope, but they leave behind waste that is highly allergenic.
In the course of the life of a dust mite it can produce up to 200 times its weight in waste material which causes the allergic reaction’s including nasal congestion, itching and watery eyes.
Although completely illuminating dust mites from your home is virtually impossible there are many steps you can take to reduce their numbers and virtually eliminate their threat.
Here’s a list of tips for reducing the amount of dust mites in your home:
- Wash your bedding regularly. A bet is a warm,dark and humid place that makes perfect breeding ground for dust mites. Make sure that you wash with a hot cycle and consider adding an anti-dust mite additive to the wash cycle. This will eliminate their fecal matter and skin flakes. Try to do this on a weekly basis.
- Use an anti-allergy mattress cover. Even the cleanest of mattresses are teaming with these microscopic vermin. Since it’s impossible to make a mattress completely dust mite free using an anti-allergy mattress cover that can be taken off and washed is the best option. Not only does the mattress cover stop your skin from coming in contact with the dust mites but it also stops your skin flakes from adding to their food source.
- Have your carpets cleaned regularly, like bedding carpets are great place for dust mites to accumulate. Having a proper professional carpet cleaning will kill the dust mites, in between cleanings make sure to vacuum your carpet’s regularly at least two times per week using a dust mite control product. Dead skin and pet dander are an excellent food source for dust mites.
- Control the temperature and humidity in your home. Dust mites love living in an environment that is warm and humid. If you keep your temperature close to 21°C and the relative humidity less than 50% it will help control the dust mite population by reducing their reproduction.
- Keep pets off beds or completely out of the bedroom of people that suffer from dust mite allergies. Dust mites love to feed off the dander up your pet, having a pet in your bed increases the temperature, humidity and provides a great food source for dust mites.
- Get rid of curtains and cushions or at least have them cleaned periodically. Dust mites love this type of fabric and will thrive in that environment. You can contact our gear pros division and have your curtains and cushions professionally cleaned at a very reasonable price. You can replace your curtains with blinds and your cushions with hypoallergenic products. This also applies to stuffed animals, make sure to wash and thoroughly dry stuffed toys often. If you can’t wash and dry the stuffed animal put it in a plastic bag and throw it in the freezer for 24 hours to kill all the dust mites.
- Use a steam cleaner, steam cleaners are an excellent alternative to products that will not fit in the washing machine. You can use the steam cleaner virtually anywhere including carpets, curtains, cushions and all sorts of soft fabric surfaces. The steam will kill bacteria, loosen dirt and kill the dust mites.
- Clean regularly, this might seem like an obvious tip but cleaning your home regularly will help control the dust mite population. Cleaning of your homes ductwork will also help control this population, have the ductwork fogged with a dust mite control product that is non-flammable.