Dust mites cause allergies and you need to get rid of them now, right? Well, getting rid of dust mites from your home isn’t that easy. Apart from the fact that you cannot see them, they also adapt very well to the humidity and warmth found in homes. They also breed fast and if you happen to have pets in your home, then they become carriers as well as hosts for dust mites.
Dust mites in their lifetime produce waste that is over 200 times of its own body weight. That is not good news for us because our bodies are allergic to their waste. It causes itching, breathing difficulties, nasal congestion, watery eyes, and coughing. Finally, the allergies cause you to experience poor sleep because you find yourself waking several times during the night. To honest, you can never eliminate them from your home. However, you can take several steps to keep their numbers at a minimum.
Tips for Getting Rid of Dust Mites
1. Wash Bedding
Warm and moist bedding are one of the best habitats because of the dead skins we shed while in bed. The dust mites find these dead skin flakes to be a great source of nutrition. The good news is that dust mites do not like it when you expose them to dry air, high temperatures, or low temperatures. Machine-washing bed sheets at 60 degrees Celsius or 140 degrees Fahrenheit is a great way to do that. Next, if you got a tumble dryer, you can spin-cycle them until they are fully dry. If you do that on a weekly basis, you will have dealt the dust mites a major blow.
2. Anti-Allergy Mattresses and Covers
Most experts estimate that a mattress on average is home to over 10,000 mites and in extreme cases, over a million. Irrespective of the exact figure, you can be sure even the cleanest mattress will have some dust mites has these tiny monsters. It's just not possible to keep a regular mattress free of dust mites. However, there are measures that you can take to make sure your body is not exposed to their decaying body matter and feces.
That is where a hypoallergenic mattress or anti-allergen mattress comes in handy. The hypoallergenic mattress is designed to kill the dust mites that come to live in it. The more affordable ant-allergen covers create a barrier between you and the mattress. They prevent your body's dead skin flakes and sweat from getting into the mattress. That starves the dust mites and keeps them from breeding excessively. It also helps act as a barrier separating your body from the dust mites in the mattress.
3. Don't Make Your Bed
Did you know that making your bed in the morning aids the dust mites to survive? Well, I guess that's good news to those of us who do not like to make our beds in the morning. Leaving the bedding as they are when you wake up allows the moist air that was trapped inside and in the fabric to escape. Since dust mites absorb their water from the air, it means forcing them to live in dry bed sheets dehydrates them fast. They will either migrate to more moist environs or die.
4. Don't Use Feather Pillows and Duvets
Feather pillows are comfortable and that is why we easily rest our heads on them for eight straight hours. Unfortunately, they are not easy to wash, the dust mites love the comfortable, and moist environment the feathers provide. To have a greater control on the dust mites, we need to invest in a hypoallergenic pillow. The same goes for a feather duvet. It's comfortable for you and the mites. If you want to give the dust mites a hard time and make their number plummet, you need to get rid of the feather duvets. Replace them with hypoallergenic duvets that are inhabitable to dust mites.
5. Cleaning Carpet or Using Hard Flooring
Carpets are one of the biggest breeding grounds for dust mites. Apart from the fact that they are mostly warm and dump, they are also full of pet dander and dead skin, which is food for the dust mites. The solution to minimizing the presence of dust mites in carpets is to vacuum it regularly. Do it at least every two weeks and use HEPA, (High-Efficiency Particulate Arresting) Vacuum filters to protect you. The HEPA are not 100% effective against dust mites but they can help to protect you. The other alternative is to use sprays and treatment to kill the dust mites periodically.
If you want to eliminate dust mites, you should consider using hard flooring. Dust mites hate the feel of the cold hard floor because it is both dry and cold. They have nowhere to hide and cleaning the guard flooring even with a mop soaked in detergent is enough them. Dump the mite invested carpets and replace them with hard flooring in the trash and you will have rid your floors of dust mites.
6. Control Humidity and Temperature
Something you need to know about dust mites is that they enjoy living in places whose temperature range between 24°C to 27°C (75°F to 80°F) with a relative humidity of 70% to 80%. If you subject them to anything outside of that, they may not die but they will be forced to look for another comfort zone.
In that regard, you can try to keep your home temperature to about 70°F (21°C), which is normal for humans. Unfortunately, for dust mites, that is a little bit cold. You will save money as well as keep the dust mite population low. Next, you need to keep the humidity of your home to less than 50%. Dust mites love it when it gets closer to about 70%. Use an electronic humidity monitor and use a dehumidifier or air-conditioning units to bring humidity levels down to 50% relative humidity.
7. Pets
Pets are the biggest culprits when it comes to spreading dust mites. They lie on the carpets, jump onto seats and run into your bedroom. It can be difficult to control dust mites even with through cleaning if you cannot control the pets. Make sure you wash the pets regularly and keep them away from the bedroom. Train them to keep off seats, especially the dogs. If possible, make a kernel for them to sleep in the garage.
Conclusion
Overall, dust mites can be controlled if you keep the carpet clean. You can get professional carpet cleaners to do the job for you. To make the whole dust mite control campaign successful, do it all at once. Clean the bedding, carpets, pets, and curtains. If you believe the infestation was massive, get rid of soft furnishings and cushions. That will allow you to get a head start. Otherwise, one item can easily transfer the dust mites to the rest, more so if you have pets at home. We hope this article has been informative and you now know what to do.