Reducing dust mite allergies involves executing a comprehensive cleaning plan. If you own carpet, a major part of the dust mite battle starts there. Between hay fever, asthma and allergies, our family deals with dust mites almost every day of the year – winter, spring, summer or fall, not just allergy season.

You may already know this – when people say, “I’m allergic to dust,” they really mean that they’re allergic to the feces and body parts of the dust mites. It’s gross, I know. This means that you can’t just kill the little fiends, you’ve got to get all of their leftover presents (and presence) out of your house.

The easiest way to find out if you may have these living in your carpet and other places in your house is to honestly assess your current health.

Dust Mite Allergy Symptoms

• Sneezing and wheezing
• Eyes: red, itchy, and/or watery
• Nose: stuffy, itchy, and/or runny

If you have these symptoms, you may very well have dust mites. Some other environmental factors are:

• Do you and your pets have skin? I know this is an obvious “yes” but it’s interesting to note that you, yourself shed enough skin in one day to feed about one-million of these little critters.
• They like humid places – about 70-80 percent. If it’s dryer you’ll kill them, but you’ll still need to get rid of them.
• They like temperatures around 70 degrees or higher. Cold kills dust mites.

Are you doing a lot of concerned nodding? Then you’ve probably got some unwanted house guests.

If you have asthma like me, dust mites are a concern. They are the most common trigger for asthma. If they’ve been ever-present in your house or apartment, you may have just accepted the labored breathing or tightness in your chest while you’re at home. This doesn’t have to remain. Kill those little buggers!

How to Kill Dust Mites

• Sunlight! Yes, they’re like little vampires so shed a bit of old fashioned sunlight on them and they wither away and die.
• Dry them out! Use a dehumidifier, air conditioner, or open windows to get the wetness out of your house.
• Cool them off! Stick your pillows or chidrens’ toys in the freezer to kill them, then wash to clear out the residue (you’ll have to eat the ice cream first, guilt free.)
• Hot water! Steam or water over 130 degrees Fahrenheit will do the trick. Use that “hot” setting on your washer.
• Get rid of your carpet or get it regularly steam cleaned! Professional steam cleaners have amazing suction and hot water (yes, above the magic number of 130 degrees) to kill and suck these creatures out.

Regular Carpet Cleaning for Better Health and Fewer Dust Mites

Of course, you probably guessed that this article would lead to professional carpet cleaning being a solution. Many of you reading this love having carpet in your home – I know we do. Hard wood or tile floors are great in some settings, but in the cold Minnesota winters our carpet keeps our feet and toes warm in the cold months, but then harbor dust mites in the humid, hot summer months.

Ideally, getting your carpets professionally cleaned twice a year will keep the dust mite population to a minimum. A clean once in the winter after all of your dust mites have died and once mid summer to knock them back is what we recommend. This coupled with regular vacuuming with a HEPA filtered vacuum along with the other suggestions above will drastically improve your dust mite population and the air quality in your home.

Many of you will have your own home steam carpet cleaners and these can be a great tool to continue that air quality improvement. However, some of these don’t heat their water to 130 degrees and can sometimes cause the adverse effect that you want. Instead of killing the dust mites, you can be creating the ideal moist, wet and warm environment they’ve been looking for. Upkeep and testing of your home unit are highly recommended, and perhaps an annual visit from the pros will round out your air quality improvement.

Carpet Cleaning Deals for Minneapolis

After all that suggestion about professional carpet cleaning as a solution to your dust mite problem, we’d better offer you a deal!

If you ask for the “Dust Mite Prevention Program” on our first visit to your home or business, we’ll give you free protectant AND a 20% or better discount on a follow-up cleaning visit within six months.

How can we do this? We know that a visit within six months isn’t going to require the same amount of work to achieve the same level of clean, especially with the application of our protectant. If we don’t have to use our heavy equipment on our second visit and just use our green pre-treatment and super hot water/steam clean, it’ll may be even cheaper than that 20% off the first clean. That’s the “or better” part of our deal above.

And, we are doing this because we encourage you to have the best air quality you can in your home. It’s your sanctuary and we love to help you keep it that way.

Call us up and let us know if we can help you kill some dust mites and remove them from your home! (612) 709-3219

 

Speak soon,

Justin Arndt, Arndt Carpet Care

 

Need more information? Use my sources:

• The Dust Mites Center: How to Kill Dust Mites
• Gaiam Life: 10 Ways to Deal with Dust Mites and Get Allergy Relief