So much dust!

October 15, 2019 10:11 AM

How do you clean the dust on your floors and furniture?

I live on a main artery (2 lanes of traffic both ways) on a busy intersection. The bus stops at my building which is 3 floors down. I get a lot of dust! I should probably clean twice a week but it gets away from me. I feel like I have tried all of the microfiber cloths on amazon, swifter, cloth mops, vaccumming and I still have dust on my floors. Here is my routine: sweep with dry asian broom then mop with a wet microfiber cloth. As I'm mopping, I also have a microfiber cloth under each foot to avoid footprints. Once I'm done, I still have those dust lines after dry and wet mopping. It makes me wonder if I am doing this wrong as there is still dust and dirt left. I go over them with a clean microfiber cloth. Is there a better way or a better product?

posted by ColdIcedT to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

Rather than sweeping first, you might need to vacuum instead. It will get a lot more dust and debris up so that when you mop, you're cleaning the floor instead of moving around the dust. I use this mop/bucket and it has really made a difference in how clean my floors are. The heads are machine washable and last a long time. I mop with a small amount of multipurpose cleaner diluted in water and then mop again with plain water.

The other tip is lots of mats - one outside your house and then one right inside the door. They collect a lot of stuff so you don't bring it inside with you.
posted by XtineHutch at 10:22 AM on October 15, 2019 [3 favorites]

I also live on a bus line street and get more sticky black dust than I want, but not that bad. Do you know how it’s getting into the house? Could you use air filters instead of insect screens, if your windows are open?

I mop about the way you do and get no lines, it sounds to me like a quantity problem. The outside of my front door gets lines when I wash it.
posted by clew at 10:22 AM on October 15, 2019

For me the only things that actually pick up & remove dust are disinfecting wipes for surfaces and swiffer wet pads for floors. In my experience if it's dry and/or re-usable it's not doing anything about dust.
posted by bleep at 10:45 AM on October 15, 2019

Do you have a central furnace with a filter? Is the filter due to be changed, and can the furnace be set to automatically circulate? Air filtration will help capture dust before it settles. You could also try a plug-in air filter.
posted by a halcyon day at 10:58 AM on October 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

For keeping your floors clean, I cannot recommend a robot vacuum enough. I run mine 3x/week and can happily walk around barefoot. My sister, who has two cats, runs her daily and has no problem with cat fur.
posted by carrioncomfort at 10:58 AM on October 15, 2019 [5 favorites]

I recommend these frequently here on Ask Metafilter, but the best tool I've found for capturing dust without just moving it around are these Baby Soft Dusting Cloths. They are washable and reusable, although over time they become less soft and better suited to tasks like cleaning the window blinds.
posted by DrGail at 10:59 AM on October 15, 2019

You are just pushing the dirt around not removing it. Vacuum first then use something like a Hoover Floormate to actually pick up the dirt. Works amazing. You'll be horrified when you see how much comes up.

I have two now, the cordless one for quick use and the old heavy corded one for monthly deep cleaning.
posted by fshgrl at 12:23 PM on October 15, 2019

Strong co-sign on vacuuming and rugs and mop buckets. I have a sheddy dog and terrible dust allergies and used to live on a high traffic street, which is where I perfected my system.

I love my vacuum cleaner. I don't have the model in front of me but it's an upright Miele with a HEPA filter. I think I paid for a Consumer Reports membership when I was doing my research, but also relied heavily on The Wirecutter's recommendations.

I have a few small rag rugs in the kitchen and bathroom -- I wash them every week or two. I also have a doormat outside the door to clean feet on and a floor pad inside the door that also collects dirt.

I use an industrial/janitorial style string mop and wringer bucket. I sometimes have to change the water four or five times while I'm cleaning. I mop about every other week. I very intentionally got a mop with washable and replaceable heads. I don't think I've ever replaced the mop head but I have put it through the washing machine.

I switch between sweeping, vacuuming and using microfiber cloths on my dust mop (it's a sh-mop, but Bona makes something similar) to clean floors between mopping.

And then basically any time I'm on the phone I grab a microfiber cloth and detail a surface or ten.
posted by amandabee at 4:19 PM on October 15, 2019

I never heard of that kind of broom before, but Google tells me it's soft. What about using a harder, broomstraw, broom for the first pass? Or a push broom. Those will get up the larger pieces of things and you can scrub at hard to remove spots. Second pass with a dust mop, either a traditional one, occasionally sprayed with a bit of End dust, or a microfiber one like the ocedar dual action. This should get most of the dust. Because you already swept, it will not get messed up with crumbs. In dusty places, I'd do that daily. Also would do it before anyone who acts like a walrus gets water on the floor while washing up.

Can your floors handle wet mopping? Try the two bucket method: one bucket holds the clean solution, the other bucket is where you squeeze the dirty solution. You never dip the mop back into dirty water. Personally, I wouldn't do this daily, maybe weekly. Depends on how much you care about the floors being perfect.
posted by SandiBeech at 8:13 PM on October 15, 2019

Hi - I feel your pain - I live in an old (1890's) flat with unsealed, old wooden floors, on a relatively busy road and have allergies.

Just wanted to add to the advice above - vacuuming is the best approach. I dust down surfaces with a microfibre cloth and regular polish at least once a week and then vacuum with a Miele canister - I find that the 'bagless' hoovers are not great and the Dyson ones are over-engineered and clunky. A relatively compact canister hoover with good suction with help pull up all the dust. About once a month we move the beds, couch etc. and hoover behind them where the dust builds up. I mop about once a month too. Hope that helps!
posted by sedimentary_deer at 12:56 AM on October 16, 2019