Help With Dust Problem

[DRBUZZ0]

Hi.

I've got a rather annoying problem for which I have been unable to come up with a good solution. My current home is very very dusty. It's annoying, because I don't tend to like to clean and there is a layer of dust over everything which has not been moved in a week or so.

From the nature of the dust, I think it may be (partially) left over from the drywalling. This is a new house (4 years old) and the builder was not exactly a perfectionist, so there verywell could be plaster dust left behind the walls and such. Also, I do a lot of work from home and tend to spend a lot of time in the same small room (thus, skin cells). I have two dogs (dander). The cement floor in the basement has not been sealed/painted. It would be a huge task to do so, given the amount of stuff down there.

so far, I've done the following:

1. Vacuumed everywhere. Even in crevises and behind walls where the studs are exposed in unfinished areas. (Got a new vacuum cleaner with a filter)

2. Had the entire duct system professionally cleaned

3. Replaced the forced-air systems standard filter with a high grade filter and an electrostatic filter, whcih can be resued.

4. Sealed the garage floor.


These steps have really reduced the dust a bit. The most noticable step was the duct cleaning. As I had suspected, there was a lot of gypsum dust in them.

However...though they have made a very noticable difference, I still have more dust than any resitence I've had before. My cousin has ashma and every kind of alergy you can think of, and he can't really come to my place, because he practically chokes.

I think the solution may be some kind of system which will filter the air. However, I doubt those ionic towers will do much of anything and I'm not really an expert on filters in general. I've seen some big hepa-type units that claim to take care of this type of thing. However, I'm wondering if I'll have to be changing the filter a real lot and how expensive that could be.

Anybody have any advice?

By the way, I'm currently living in a suite above my famlies house, (it was supposed to be for a few months, but you know how it goes). The area I live in is two rooms roughly 20X25' each. The rest of the house is about 4000 square feet. Although this part is somewhat seperate, they both draw air from the same system and are not isolated by any airtight doors or anything.

-Steve

 

[Mephisto]

GOOD LUCK, DRBUZZ0!

That's all I can say. I live in the nation's cat box and windy season (it's what we get in lieu of spring rains) is coming up. To top it all off, there is road construction near me and a fifty year old main street is now a dirt road. Dust is everywhere and ever-present. Not a particularly good time for all the black lacquer (our home is styled Japanese) furniture either.

 

[rjh01]

Employ someone to clean the house once a week. Or find a wife.
Throw out the carpets.
Could be dust coming in from the air.

 

[Vitnir]

The major contributor for indoor dust is combustion with smoking as a good example, if we are talking about bigger dust particles your dogs is a good source and with two of them the need for vacuuming increases. Large surface areas covered with textiles like wall to wall carpeting and curtains also have a big impact as have the surface area of horisontal surfaces where dust can settle and then be resuspended by you or your dogs. I have looked into the air filter buisness from a semi-pro perspective as my PhD-work is closely related and most of them are not needed and can even be a health hazard since they produce ozone if not handled just right. However, a cost effective alternative if you want to get rid of airborne dust particles is an electrostatic dust collector. The filter section with metal plates in parallel should be easily removable so you can wash the plates, otherwise the contraption WILL produce ozone when it gets too dirty. Such a device can be effective for removing particles down to the 1 mikrometer mark but it cant get to the submikron particles that are produced by combustion (indoors and outdoors) and traffic. HEPA filters are good in theory but if you dont change them often enough you will get microbial growth in them which results in an increased concentration of mold in the air as well as mold odor.
The major reason that I dont like active filter systems is the risk for ozone which is a insidious compound, the air concentration indoors is always lower than the outdoor concentration if there is no indoor source of ozone like laser printer/copyer. Your own nose is an unreliable detector for ozone since moderate concentrations of ozone smells "fresh" and your nose gets used to high levels and gives you no warning that the air is unhealthy.
And when you replaced the ventilation systems filter, did you consult someone? A more efficient filter has a higher resistance that the fans may not be designed for.