Worried About Having a Bad Duct Cleaning Experience?Home Dust Mites 101: Allergy Prevention
Dust Mites and Allergies in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Areas of AZ
People with chronic allergy problems often find that they are dust mites living in their air ducts, carpet, and even bed. Common household dust is the home to microscopic dust mites. There is a lot of hair, food, skin, and other particles in the dust of your hose that dust mites feed off of. North American dust mites scientific name is dermatophagoides farinae, which is often abbreviated HDM by allergists. Dust mites can cause serious respiratory problems, particularly asthma. The 6 legged dust mite larva turn into 8 legged adult dust mites. Male dust mites have a 19-30 day lifespan. The female egg layers can live up to two months, probably because they lay eggs for the second month.
One concern people don't have to have about dust mites is that they do not bite. Cells of human skin that are shed are the main food of dust mites. The average person loses up to over a pound of skin in a year, which provides plenty of mite food, especially in a family. Dust mites are commonly found living in people's beds because they like the moisture (perspiration and saliva) from people sleeping there. Even though they do not bite, do not think that dust mites cannot harm you because they are a source of the allergens that can cause asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and dermatitis. The microscopic feces that dust mites leave all over your house and floating in the air contains DerP1, an enzyme that causes allergies.
Dust mites prefer humidity, and because of that not many live in your air duct system. Air ducts do trap more skin, hair, and fecal matter particles than anything else in your house. Another thing air duct systems do is circulate air around your home. Daily use of your vent system cause fresh food to be flung into the air for the mites.
Here are a number of great ways to reduce and control dust mite growth:
- Replace your standard vacuum with a HEPA filtered one.
- Routinely dust your house.
- Have you carpets, drapes, upholstery, and air ducts professionally cleaned, at least twice a year.
- You can have your carpets replaced with vinyl or hardwood.
- Get allergen proof covers for your pillows and even furniture.
- You can freeze your kids stuffed animals.
- The mites cannot thrive if humidity is under 70% in your home.
Now that you know a lot more about dust mites, you will be better able to prevent them from affecting your health.
Well, that concludes our dust mites article. Hopefully you have a better handle on what the operation involves and what you might look to in an ductwork cleaning company. Since most air duct cleaning companies also clean dryer vents, you might want to read our dryer vent cleaning tips article as well. Having your dryer vent cleaned while the technicians are already at your home cleaning your air ducts, will save you money.
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