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by PokerPaul on January 11th, 2006

PokerPaul

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What is dust made of?

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  • by lynnenorth on January 15th, 2006

    lynnenorth

    Actually, there are three main components of dust: first, dead skin cells, second, the dried feces and dessicated corpses of dust mites (lovely thought, eh? When people develop a house-dust allergy, this is usually the component they are reacting to), and the last component by volume is tiny fibers shed by clothing -- cotton is bad for this, and jeans are the worst. This is for ordinary house dust. (Incidentally, dust mites are not generally visible, except with a microscope; they are 200-300 microns long, they eat dead skin cells and live in bedding, carpets and soft furnishings. Always. Trust me on this, anything a year old or more has a good population of them.)

    In the case of a new basement, on the other hand, the primary component of dust is likely to be the obvious: concrete. Elsewhere in a brand-new house plaster and plasterboard both "shed" copiously over the first few weeks.

    And outdoor dust is fine particles of soil and stone dust (composition dependent on location and prevailing winds), with a hefty component of pollen and other plant material.

    So it does depend on where you are.

    Comments

    • Okay, then why is there so much dust in my basement where I seldom go - new house and no visible insects.

      Grandma Roses - my avatar is my real dog

      by Grandma Roses - my avatar is my real dog on January 15th, 2006

    • Very good answer. You forgot to mention the extra added dust from having indoor fuzzybuttz!

      MyKinKStar

      by MyKinKStar on April 7th, 2006

    • Dont forget lead. If your home was built before 1979 it likley has lead in the dust.
      Lets say your house was built in 1940.
      Back then lead was used to make the paint more durable and last longer. Sometimes paint was 1/2 lead(50%) and most homes were painted with it. At some point, say in 1950 or 1960 the owners decided to repaint the house. Maybe the old paint was peeling or maybe they just wanted a new color. So they scraped and sanded the old paint creating huge amounts of dust in and outside of the home. Then repainted with yu guessed it lead paint. lol This was repeated several times over the years and still occurs today. Although today paint has no lead in it.
      but dust is created when old paint is sanded or scraped. Not to mention deposits in soil from leaded gasoline that remains even though it has been banned. So if you live near a busy road or in an older home you have plenty of lead in your house hold dust. I recommend taking off your shoes before entering the home, don't sweep. Use a wet mop or a heppa vacuum that is rated 99.97 micron.

      Jswift

      by Jswift on January 29th, 2011

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