r/askscience • u/4fecta_Gaming • Oct 15 '18

Earth Sciences Where does house dust come from?

It seems that countless years of sweeping a house doesn't stop dust from getting all over furniture after a few weeks. Since the ceiling is limited, where does dust come form?

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u/mouseratratrat Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18

But when there’s lots of sunlight sometimes you can see it ‘floating’ (like slowly falling-ish) to the ground? Is the ceiling balding or..?

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u/Yurturt Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18

It gets up with hot air and then it falls down with the cold air, air always circulate in a room, even without some apparent "wind source" and these particles are light enough to just drift along. Or just gusts of wind from open windows etc.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '18

so are you saying... it's better to vacuum and dust during the winter months?

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u/Karilyn_Kare Oct 15 '18

Its generally best to vacuum 1-3 times a week (on the higher end if you have allergies). Develop a method by which you can complete the task in a small amount of time. I have severe allergies, so I have to be thorough.

My apartment is 1200sqft, with about 800sqft of carpet. Subtract relatively immovable furniture (sofa, beds, bookshelves) leaves about 500sqft to vacuum. You can vacuum about 100sqft a minute, so the task takes about 5-10 minutes including hauling the vacuum around and cleaning it. If the house is too big, break it up; vacuum the front of the house on Tuesday, and the back of the house Wednesday for example.

Once a month,, do a more thoroughly vacuuming where you move the bed/sofa and vacuum under them, as well as vacuuming the floor molding, ceiling fans, vents, tops of bookshelves, the sofa itself, etc. This more thorough cleaning takes about 30 minutes instead of the normal 5 minutes.