Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dust

Too much dust in apartment

Aanidaani — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:13:24 -0800

Dust, dust, everywhere! I recently moved to a new apartment on the 12th floor of a high rise building in Philadelphia and find that dust accumulates all over everything like crazy. Is there something I can do to slow it down? I generally keep my windows open all day, which I'm sure contributes to my problem. I've looked at a few room air filters, but I don't know about their efficacy--has anyone else had experience with this?

Looking for a dustrpoof pillow cover that isn't annoying.

Fleebnork — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:27:35 -0800

Allergyfilter: Need recommendations for a dustproof pillow cover. I used to have a dustproof pillow cover, but a couple years ago, we got a king sized bed with king sized pillows, and I haven't bothered to get a dustproof pillow cover sized for king sized pillows.

One of the things I never liked about my pillow cover in the past was the "crackly" stiff fabric. It made noise and crackled when I moved my head, sort of like a muffled paper bag.

Can anyone recommend a brand of dustproof pillow cover that isn't "crackly" like this? Do they exist, or is it simply the nature of the dustproof covering?

Dinosaur extinction due to space dust?

OneCrayon — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:40:39 -0800

Could large land animals have died out due to the Earth's gravity increasing over millions of years? Every year around 40,000 tons of mass are added to the earth by way of space dust. Perhaps when the massive dinosaurs walked the earth the earths gravity was in "golden window" that would allow such creatures to exist. Over the hundreds of millions of years they existed, could it be possible that the accumulation of dust and the increased gravity that mass brought with it have grown to the point where such giant beasts simply could no longer grow to the sizes they had in the past?

Or, is 40,000 tons of mass, even if it may have been higher in the early solar system, still insufficient to appreciably raise the mass of the earth to a noticeably higher gravity level?

This is something I've wondered about for years but never read anything that may have posed this question.

Mystery dust.

prefpara — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:29:11 -0800

A mysterious gray film/residue is appearing on all of the plastic in my apartment. What is going on? It's on the ice cube trays, the tupperware, the coffee maker, my printer, the dishwasher, etc. It's all over a plastic grocery bag that has been lying in the living room for only two days (close-up). My roommate and I have never seen anything like it before. Is it mutant dust of some kind?

If anyone can identify this substance, we would love to confirm that it is not going to kill us.

Kill my orbs! Please!!!

dpcoffin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:38:15 -0800

Digital photo filter (-orbs, please!): What's with the light blotches that have suddenly started appearing in my pix of very dark things? You can see that they appear in the same place on subsequent pix (examples 1,2, 4), but then in another session (3), they'll be in different positions, sometimes circular, sometimes not. No flash is involved; tripod and long exposures w/high f-stops. Canon 10D. Sensor dying? Lenses dirty? Sensor dust makes dark spots, not pale blotches, right? Bonus points for a good Photoshop fix (can't send camera out before finishing current project!); simple dodge/burn tool use not quite cutting it... Thanks!

accident involving lots and lots of soot-like dust and my bedroom...

krautland — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:01:04 -0800

accident involving lots and lots of soot-like dust and my bedroom... my landlady has a bunch of guys converting the loftspace below her roof into a proper attic she can store items in. one of them broke through the floor and into my bedroom below. we're talking a big hole here - he actually landed in my bed.

the whole room is covered in 2cm of soot-like fine black dust. it went into all the cupboards and closets. all my clothes are severly blackened. it looks sort of what you'd imagine the inside of a chimney to be like and the stuff it itchy and makes me cough.

if you have dealt with this kind of problem before, would you mind giving me some basic info on what to do? I'm not talking financial issues here, obviously that needs to be worked out but my questions at this point are more basic:

how do I clean that kind of mess thoroughly?
are all my clothes ruined or can I get that stuff out?
is this something dangerous beyond just a hassle or nothing to be too worried about?
I'm also not sure what to ask her to do before I go back and sleep in there again. the mattress is covered, the sheets are ruined, do we need professionals to clean this or how do I do it?

one more thing on the soot: I washed my hands four times now and I still feel it all over them. this stuff does not go away easily.

Which air sterilisers/purifiers work?

rose selavy — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:02:50 -0800

Do you use an air steriliser or purifier? Does it work? Tell me about it please. I've just moved house and it has become very clear that the previous occupants actually never cleaned the place. At all. (I found a bus ticket from 1951 in the skirting board!) There's dust and grime everywhere, and as much as I've been scrubbing away, it's an old house so I know more is lurking in the exposed floorboards, the old furniture etc, and when I wake up, I find I have a really bad sinus headache and a sore throat. The air is always full of dust and it settles everywhere.

So I'm thinking of getting an air purifier. These AirFree sterilisers caught my attention because they have no fan or filter - so are presumably quiet and easy to maintain. But they're pricey. Can anyone offer personal experience with these, or recommendations with purifiers in general? I've heard HEPA purifiers are good, but are they noisy? And if you live in London like me, where did you get yours?

AhhhhCHOOOO!

Phalene — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:00:22 -0800

Cleaning Filter: Help me make an oasis of clean in my bedroom, to fight back the chaos in my household? The mess in my house is driving me nuts. Short of moving out (I’ve applied to transfer universities in the fall, so I’m saving my pennies), how do I deal with a family who is disorganized to the max when I function much better in a peaceful, orderly area?

We are five humans and three cats. Everyone is allergic to said cats, me included, but my mother believes the pets are family too and will not be parted with them. We’re similarly all allergic to dust but the house is as a rule, one giant dust bunny beneath all the clutter. Family has been about the same for the past 22 years of my life, so it’s fair to say that family isn’t going to change.

However, while I’m not very good at cleaning, and I don’t think I can tackle the whole home, I want help creating a little fortress of cleanliness to withstand the tides of mess that wash past my bedroom door, and maybe keep the downstairs bathroom clean too. And get all that lint and pet hair off my clothes!

I’m not a very clean person. After a childhood where the floors gave me black feet, I have trouble remembering not to litter or track in mud. Part of my question is based on asking: How can I develop clean habits before I drive my future roomies insane?

Also: How can I keep my bedroom and bathroom clean and dust/pet hair free? What’s your best clutter busting advice or resources?

I don’t have much money, so buying an air filter or something is out. I have mop, broom, all purpose cleanser, shop vac, windex, cheap paper towels and a dishevelled duster at my disposal, as well as candles in my favourite scents and essential oils to kill the smells. I suppose if there’s a miracle product I'm missing out there, I can buy it, as long as it's not $50 a bottle and only available in Mississippi. Also, what sort of cleaning rag/sponge/cloth should I use?

The good news is that I’m not completely hopeless. I can and do clean my room, it’s just that the dust never goes away and the clutter is back in a day. So, tips, tricks, help?!

Dust spots? Water marks? Crud on film?

Geckwoistmeinauto — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:59:57 -0800

Why am I getting blotches on my black and white negatives? What are the marks? Are they dust? Water spots? How do I fix this? I'm a relative newbie when it comes to film photograhpy, but I've been doing digital photography for a few years. I develop my own black and white film at home, and I've been less than pleased with the results when I scan my film. I have the dreaded 'crap on the negative' issue. It's started off so bad that I couldn't even print my negatives using an enlarger due to the amount of junk on the negs. Exhibit A - a crop at 100% of a corner of a negative.

Here's how I develop, and what I've done so far to fix this:

I mix all my chemicals using tap water. I'm using the standard Sprint developer and quick fixer, and stop my film using plain ol' tap water. I do a first rinse using tap water. This is all deemed fine by general consensus of photography dorks everywhere. I am using a plastic 2 135 roll development tank, capacity for two rolls of film 650ml.

I dry my film hanging from the shower bar, after the hot water was run to make the room nice and steamy and left to clear. The bathroom isn't dusty, and there hasn't been any dust on any surfaces, really, since we moved in. I make sure no one cleans the bathroom at least I24 hours before I hang film to dry. I determine dryness by curl (towards emulsion), and if the curl is correct, I test a 'spare' area of film for tackiness. Once I deem the film dry, I cut and place the negs in new archival sheet holders.

The first few rolls I developed came out disgusting, with obvious spots, water marks around the sprockets, and other disgustingness.

After much discussion with the guys at the darkroom I use to print my photos, they felt I should try a squeegee for my film. I also decided to use distilled water for a final rinse, about half a gallon of water. When I asked about a wetting agent, they claimed that it will cause more problems than it solves with regards to spots.

My negs were slightly cleaner, but still spotty and I could see a few nasty, large water spots here and there. Also, I have noticed some gnarly scratches that may have been caused by the squeegee OR the archival sleeves I put my negatives into once dry.

So, please, take a look at that shot, and let me know if you think those are dust spots or (more likely) water spots. Should I look into photoflo, or another wetting agent? Is the squeegee the cause of the scratches, or could it be more likely my negative holder sheets? I'm starting to get sick of fixing dust scratches in the gimp, and I'd like to make some nice analog enlargements of some of my negatives!

Thanks!

Health risks from neighbors' hardwood floor installation?

cybercoitus interruptus — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:35:05 -0800

Upstairs neighbors had hardwood floors installed. I think they've gone on vacation while the installers did their work (stage 1 was Monday, stage 2, yesterday). The paint-fume smell in our condo is awful. What kind of health risks are there to ourselves or our cat? We opened the windows on the evenings of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (not overnight though because outside has potential burglars, freezing temperatures, and we're both sick with a nasty cold). The smell in the building was almost back to normal on Thursday, but then the installers came back yesterday. We opened the windows again yesterday evening, shut them overnight, opened them again today for a couple hours (but shut some of them again because it was too cold). Are we risking serious health problems by closing the windows overnight? (I realize now I should have asked this yesterday, but I wasn't thinking straight yesterday.)

Also, the installers vacuumed the main floor lobby carpet, but not the carpeted stairs leading to the basement units (one of which is ours). There's a thick layer of dust, I assume from sanding, on the banisters and the stairs. Googling turns up references to sanding resulting in carcinogenic dust. Does this mean I shouldn't use my little (non-HEPA filter) canister vacuum on it? If not, how do we get the dust out of the carpet?

Dust Buster?

aspenbaloo — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:32:14 -0800

Has anyone paid to have their air ducts cleaned? We've got quite a bit of dust in the house and are considering having someone come and suck all the dust and debris from our air ducts. If you've had this done how much did it cost and did it help with air quality and dust in the house?

Air purifiers, are they any good and how do I know which one to buy? Anyone know the "real" deal on these things?

Carialle — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 12:46:50 -0800

Air purifiers, are they any good and how do I know which one to buy? Anyone know the "real" deal on these things? I recently adopted two cats and I have minor allergies to cats. Also, am pretty allergic to dust and mold. I also have mild asthma. My boyfriend has the dust and mold allergies and moderate asthma.

We are looking to buy an air purifier to help reduce allergens, however it is overwhelming to try and understand what type of air purifier to get. I don't understand this carbon thing and some are class II certified and some are $800 and some are $150 amd some have replacement HEPA filters at $80 and some for $200. Does anyone actually know the real difference and what key things to look for? I am about to just vacuum more often and be done with it. We have hot water heat in radiators so at least we don't have forced hot air, but we are in on the second floor of an old house that seems to get a lot of dust. Also, with the cats has come the litter, which I think maybe myself AND the cat are allergic to, its clay litter.

I am feeling itchy thinking about it all.

Drywall dust nightmare

zenpop — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:39:10 -0800

Drywall dust has seemingly ruined my new couch -- and health. We're at the tail-end of a major remodel. Stupidly I unpacked our new couch a month ago, to have somewhere to sit in the living room. It was left uncovered.

I'm noticing now that whenever I sit or lay on the couch I develop what must be an allergic reaction to the drywall dust and other effluvia that's been floating in the air during the last month, and settling into the couch fabric. There's been drywalling, painting, sanding, cutting, sawing, etc.

I've tried vacuuming the entire couch several times, but that doesn't seem to be helping much. My vacuum is just a regular home type machine. The fabric around the couch DOES come off (it's a very well-desgined velcro set up). But I can't see how dry cleaning it would help. But maybe I'm wrong.

I'm thinking of having my house cleaner take the cushions outside to beat them. And then vacuuming again, after that.

Any tips, professional advice, previous experience tales, etc. for remedying this situation?

Out, out, damn dust!

minervous — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:48:14 -0800

City dwellers! How do you dust? I live in New York City, but I assume this issue can be found in any big, dirty city.

I'm the tidy sort, and I generally dust and vacuum and clean 3-4 times a month. But the dust that accumulates in my apartment is a whole other kind of dust than what I'm used to. There is a lot of it, which I expect. But ... it's black. And it's sticky - for example, when I wipe my windowsill with my usual method of damp, clean rag, the dust doesn't get picked up, it's just smears around at most. It takes persistant attacking with cleaner, numerous rags, and sometimes, for goodness' sake, scrubbing. What is this madness?

I've tried Swiffers - no better (and I don't like paying for them). I've tried vacuuming first - not great. And keeping my windows closed is a winter-only option, as I would much rather dust more often than use an air conditioner. I just want a better dusting option.

Any and all help - different materials, home-made ideas, etc - much appreciated. Thanks!

Motar Dust on my neighbor's house

retro88 — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:40:55 -0800

My chimney was in need of repair so i am having part of it re-built/ new caps and re-tuck pointed. The contractors created a lot of dust grinding out the old motor joints. Some of the dust landed on our neighbor's house and she is complaining about the damage it has caused to her in progress paint job. We are working on a solution, but who is responsible for this? What legal responsibility do i have if she discovers permanent damage in the future? Would the contractors be held responsible after I have paid them? Here is the re-cap:
-Neighbor is painting a newly sided house herself. It is currently partly primed and partly unfinished wood.
-day 1: contractor talks to neighbor about potential dust problem. Talked about postponing work for a month, but neighbor thinks dust on finished paint job would be worse. Both contractor and neighbor put up tarps around work area and on side of house to prevent any problems.
-day 2: Dust generation is more than neighbor expected and ends up getting on house anyway. Contractor works out a solution to pay to pressure wash neighbor’s house to remove dust. Also complaining about good painting days lost due to dust.
-day 3: pressure washer shows up, neighbor "did not see eye to eye" with pressure washer so sent him away. neighbor felt pressure washer did not have an adequate solution to cleaning unfinished wood. I talked with neighbor and she is currently trying to find a different pressure washer that can do the job.

This is where i stand right now. I am confident that we can come to a solution. (I don't think it would be hard to clean mortar dust off a house) and the contractor currently is ok with paying for the solution. I am worried that neighbor might want reimbursement for the partial paint job, or claim there is permanent damage. What can i do more than talking with the neighbor to prevent any legal responsibility in the future? I haven't paid the contractor yet, should i wait till the problem is resolved before I do?

How to clean a point-and-shoot image sensor?

virga — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:37:00 -0800

DigitalCameraFilter: I think my Canon point-and-shoot has a dirty sensor. How to clean? So I have a Canon Powershot S80, and there is consistently a dark spot in the same location on all of my images. It is larger if the lens is zoomed (I think...may be the other way around). I've thorougly cleaned the external lens elements as best I can with cleaning clothes, etc but to no avail. You can really only see the spot if I'm shooting a landscape and the background is common and consistent. Of course, I can photoshop out said dot, but for a lot of photos it becomes quite cumbersome.

All this said, is it possible to (relatively easily) gain access to the CCD sensor and clean it, or does a 'professional' need to do it? This thing seems pretty sealed up, so I'm surprised a speck of something landed on the sensor, but such is how it is. If this were an SLR, no problem. Per normal, any advice is good advice.

Smeary sheen of sheetrock sand, be damned!

desuetude — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:25:58 -0800

Home Renovation Filter: How do I get the last lingering residue of smeared sheetrock/joint compound dust off of my wood floors and ceramic tiles? I followed all conventional wisdom found on the internets for making this Sisyphean task as painless as possible -- I brushed dry powder off of all surfaces, swept well, shopvac'd dry, and repeated after airborne dust resettled.

So, time to get the last of the dust up with damp mop/sponge. Mopped with water/pinesol. Five times, maybe ten. The tiles in the bathroom and the wood floor are still smeary.

I've now anthropomorphized the dust into a small army of itsy-bitsy organisms who pretend to be vanquished by my sponge or mop and then, when I turn my back, are laughing, laughing, laughing.

Anyone hit upon a cleaning product or technique that has special powers on this stuff?

Will raising my computer up off the floor really help?

Sean Meade — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:03:07 -0800

Some tech guy once told my wife that leaving your computer tower on the floor will destroy it. His solution was to raise the tower up an inch or two off the floor. That's the part I doubt. I know computers suck in a lot of dust. Does raising them up that little bit really help much? I found these ask.mefi references, [1] [2] but they were fairly oblique.

What causes dust build up and how can we keep it to a minimum?

JPigford — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 07:36:44 -0800

What causes dust build up and how can we keep it to a minimum? My wife and I have lived in our apartment for a little over a year and we've always had a pretty bad problem with dust building up all over the apartment.

I'd like to think we're a clean couple of folks. We vacuum every week or two amongst other cleaning.

Is this an issue with an air filter of some sort? What is it that causes all the dust to build up in the first place? What could be a solution for this?

Refresh my sofa

cillit bang — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 23:55:02 -0800

My sofa has been in a cupboard for a while. It stinks of dust. How do I clean it? A couple of weeks ago I dug a sofa out of the back of a storeroom in my flat (no idea how long it had been there). It's clean and in good condition, but it still smells like the back of a dusty cupboard when you get too close. What can I do about this?

This sucks

bilabial — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:40:56 -0800

Why won't my Shark HEPA vacuum roller spin on it's own any more? The last time this happened we fixed it by getting rid of all the people hair that had twisted around the roller, which was at the time keeping it from spinning. Now, it only spins for a few seconds after I flick it into action. Currently, there is no obstruction, on the roller or the little spinner thing that seems to move the roller. The hose seems to suck just fine now that we've cleared the giant hairball/ plastic bag combo that one of my old roommates left for me to find.

The machine makes no ungodly noises, and I've checked out some other AskMe threads, notably this one. I have also not done any upkeep for this machine besides banging out the filter with each use (which I know is counterintuitive with my allergies). It's clearly time to order another Shark brand filter from the internet, but I have to wait for a paycheck on that one.

Because we've lived in this apartment with cats for almost 2 months without using the vacuum, I'd like to take care of this.

Diamond Dust Mirror

attercoppe — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:39:29 -0800

What can you tell me about diamond dust mirrors and how they were made? Apparently "diamond dust" mirrors were fairly popular around the turn of the 20th century, but I can't seem to find any good info on them. I've got one search result that defines "diamond dust" as an effect that's caused by the mercury backing on the mirror degrading, but no other sites seem to agree with this. I've found tons of results talking about, describing, or even with pictures of diamond dust mirrors, but none have much information as to what actually qualifies a mirror to be called a diamond dust mirror, whether actual diamond dust is really used to make them, and if so, how.

And if you really want to know, this is for a historical reenactment event - a guided tour of an old mining town. I'm playing a local saloonkeeper, and reports say his saloon featured a large diamond dust mirror behind the bar. In fact, one of the more colorful stories about the saloon and its patrons involves the mirror, and the source of this tale stresses that it was a diamond dust mirror, but doesn't explain what that means.

Notebook repeatedly restarts after a second or two.

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 19:18:17 -0800

My notebook repeatedly restarts after a second or two. Anything I can do before next week's repair, if possible, to save some cash? I've got a problem with my Compaq Presario 2199us notebook. My laptop has been overheating and so I decided to use an air can to get the dust out. I took out the screws and partly disassembled the laptop in order to blow out the dust. I put it back together, but now when I press the power button, the laptop powers on for a second or two and then shuts off; then it turns on again, shuts off and repeats. I pressed the reset button to stop the on/off cycle, but I'd like to know what I can do to remedy the problem before taking it in.

HP online support told me it was a virus problem, and when I said that the power didn't stay on nearly long enough to be a system problem, they told me it was the LCD monitor. I don't consider myself a computer expert, but I know it's not either. Did I knock something loose in there?

I have an appointment for an in-store repair a week from today (it's the soonest I can get in) but I want to know if there's anything I can do in the meantime.

PS: Are they going to wipe my hard drive when I take it in?

How to get dust out of my Razr (phone)

c:\awesome — Tue, 30 May 2006 13:44:45 -0800

I carry my cell phone in my pocket (front right), and they have all suffered from "dust under the screen" syndrome. I thought the problem would be solved by switching to a clam shell (my trusty Razr), but no... it still persists. How can I get the dust out from behind the screen? Should I stop carrying cocaine in the same pocket as my phone? Seriously, my pockets aren't that dirty, so I don't even know where the mysterious dust is coming from. Hope me, please!

dusty fans!

BSummers — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 07:15:55 -0800

how do fans get so dusty? so fans are always very dusty how does a moving object collect so much dust? i know they come in contact with more air because thats what they do but the only thing i could think of is a static electricity type of attraction