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Kathryn
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| Posted: March 20 2013 at 5:44pm | IP Logged
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We just moved about 7 months and I am beyond overwhelmed with the volume of dirt and dust in this new house. The house isn't much bigger however it is on one acre but has only laminate/vinyl floors thru-out and carpet in only 2 rooms. We have numerous throw rugs and rugs by the doors but someone can sweep and literally 15 min later it looks like nothing has been done. Every baseboard seems to accumulate dust faster than rabbits multiply and I'm trying to figure out why and how to resolve it. Also, I think they used a flat or matte paint on the baseboards instead of a semi or high gloss so that could also be attracting the dirt from what I read.
Our old house had a lot of ceramic tile so I'm assuming dust collected in the grout. We also had carpet so again, I'm assuming stuff gathered in the carpets as the experts say. So these laminate floors (and I guess wood too) has NO WHERE for the dirt to go so it just sits on top and scoots under the couch, under the bed, on the baseboards, on the furniture etc. At this point, I'd rather have tile w/ grout and carpet so at least I'm not looking at this stuff 24/7! Anyone else have this experience? I've done a lot of reading on-line and while wood is supposedly better for allergies, every single time someone walks by or a door gets open or a window, it makes the stuff airborne and hence the allergies. At least in carpet and grout, it's there, it's buried and it's not as much of an allergen until one vaccuums.
I'm not a neat freak but this is wearing me out because it makes the entire house look filthy...constantly. There is no way we have the time/energy to be sweeping every hour. Should we just switch it out to my comfortable tile/carpet through-out? Of course that's an obvious big expense and hassle but I guess I'm just wondering if that's why there is sooo much dirt and dust bunnies.
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 20 2013 at 6:09pm | IP Logged
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how much dirt is flying around outside? are there plowed/dirt fields in the vacinity that will soon be covered in growing plants? Do you have mats outside and have people knocking dirt off outside before they step in?? If shoes are holding a lot of dirt it can be worth it to have them take off their shoes on entering.
Basically, is there some fairly minor changes you can make or is it just a season that will pass soon?
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: March 20 2013 at 6:23pm | IP Logged
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Maybe the vents/duct work for the heating/cooling system need to be cleaned. This would be expensive though. I have a very dusty house too and I can blame it on a few reasons. I don't think carpet is the answer. Is your new house on a gravel road or near? This makes for dusty houses. Where is the garage and is it open a lot? This is a big problem for us. Our garage is in the basement, but our basement is completely open and getting cars and kids in and out causes a lot of stuff to blow in which easily makes it upstairs because of lack of walls in the basement. Our heating/cooling system is also in the basement and all the duct work is in the floor of our house and the basement is unfinished. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I believe it allows dust junk to get into our system which makes more dust upstairs. I think all of these things makes my house extra dusty. Just some ideas.
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Cassie
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Servant2theKing
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| Posted: March 20 2013 at 9:00pm | IP Logged
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I share Jodie's ideas. Using good quality mats (think commercial), both inside and outside entranceways, AND having family members remove footwear when entering the house can really cut down a great deal on the amount of dirt that gets tracked inside. We live on a very dusty dirt rural road, down a very long dirt drive, with 20 acres of "rustic" land surrounding our home ~ the level of residue coming in is greatly reduced by the simple rule, "Take shoes off at the door"! It's also helpful to designate a single entrance for dirtier than usual traffic ~ when we have an abundance of snow, rain or mud, or kids have friends over, they use our basement entry ~ cuts down on reminders to shed shoes or boots, or even the need to do so, since the unfinished cement floor in the basement removes the bulk of the mess. We're don't usually ask guests to remove their shoes, but those who know us well tend take them off when they see family members doing so. It's something we're accustomed to ~ "Kick your shoes off and stay awhile"!
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guitarnan
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| Posted: March 20 2013 at 9:05pm | IP Logged
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Our cats contribute an amazing amount of fur/dust/etc. to our laminate floors.
We've not found a good way to cut down on the amount of dirt that gets tracked in through the front door. We can't put down mats/rugs because of our male cat.  I've learned to live with the mess on rainy days, because it all gets tracked in and we just have to blot it up somehow. Snowy days are worse, as we have to balance places to put shoes with places our male cat won't mark.
Our dream is to have a mini mud room near our front door...can't happen now, but some day it will be a place where we can take off and store shoes and house slippers.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Kathryn
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| Posted: March 20 2013 at 9:43pm | IP Logged
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It's def. not a seasonal thing as we've been here since last August and we're not around any dirt/gravel roads. However, the one acre wasn't well maintained with grass or anything so it is a pretty "sandy" lot which could contribute to it. We did add sod last year around the house and are going to add some more and have planted a garden too. Now there are a TON of mature trees here too so with all the Fall leaves STILL blowing around, that prob. doesn't help but it's not leaves coming in so much but I guess the dirt from the leaves. ?
Re shoes...that's possible but I've never had the "shoes off" rule mainly b/c the kids come in/out so much. But they did so at our other house too. And we had a LOT more neighbor kids coming/going as well and yet that house just did not have the qty of dirt this one does. I guess b/c *I* wouldn't want to take my shoes on/off as many times as I come in/out, I've never asked them to do that. Doesn't that get annoying to constantly be taking shoes on/off?
It's true that our "old" house was newer and had the a/c units in the attic so the vents were in the ceiling where this is actually an older house with the units inside the house and the vents at the floor. ???
No animals (aside from the 2 legged ones) contributing to dander. 
I'm ready to break the bank and buy a $300+ Roomba to save my sanity! My mom bought me this super cool battery operated sweeper and it works great and much quicker than sweeping but still would need to be operated full house at least 2x a day.
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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kristinannie
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| Posted: March 20 2013 at 9:50pm | IP Logged
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Don't get carpet. The dirt is still there. It is just hidden. You should have seen how nasty the carpet was when we got ours removed. I agree with the no shoes in the house rule. Buy some shoes that are easy to take off and put on (like crocs). My kids love to swiffer.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 21 2013 at 12:55am | IP Logged
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I mainly do the shoes off in the house at certain seasons.. winter.. most snow boots are easy on/off at least for the kids.. and again when things are muddy.. and rain/muck boots are easy on/off too.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: March 21 2013 at 7:21am | IP Logged
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Here is Auntie Leila's advice, which is pretty much what has been said here, she just offers visuals 
I think that the quality of the mat is key. We have a mat like the one she pictures outside the front door, but our entry ways are rather narrow, so we have a smaller "scrubby" mat--the really scratchy, brown sort inside the doors. I guess we kind of did it backwards  , but it is how things fit
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SallyT
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| Posted: March 21 2013 at 9:25am | IP Logged
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A good heavy-duty, possibly indoor-outdoor runner rug is a good thing, too, whether you have an actual entrance hall (or mudroom), or a door opening right into the living room or some other room. I inherited a runner from my mother when she moved, and it's now just inside my front door, which opens into the living room, so it makes kind of a "path" to the hall. It's a very pretty rug in its own right, with strong, darkish colors that don't show dirt, and on a good non-slip pad it's very stable. We have a good-quality bristly mat outside the front door as well, but I notice that with the runner, a lot less seems to be tracked inside (i.e., the runner absorbs it). Unlike a carpet, the runner can be not only vacuumed but taken outside to be shaken at intervals, which helps get the dirt outside the house once and for all.
I also put some straw carpeting -- again, a roll left over from my mother's breakfast room -- in our back porch/mudroom, in addition to doormats. And I've gradually added heavy, good-quality area rugs to various high-traffic areas (again, thank you, Mom, for moving to a smaller house and not having room for things . . . ).
Also, I dust-mop, which can be done quickly and easily. I use a Swiffer mop with a real dust cloth held on by the little grips, and with that I can quickly swish under the couch, along the hall walls, and other places where it's hard for the vacuum to reach without moving things. On my stairs, which collect an enormous amount of dirt and dog hair, I use a Dustbuster -- again, two minutes and it's back on the charger, as opposed to dragging out the whole vacuum cleaner. Our house is old and has a lot of woodwork that catches dust; I just had my 9-year-old go over the whole house with a cloth, wiping not only furniture but baseboards, chair rails, mantelpieces, windowsills . . . all those beautiful features which so quickly build up a layer of funk if you're not on top of it.
A bed skirt on a bed hides a multitude of sins, including dust bunnies . . . and if your trim is showing a lot of dirt because of flat paint, as you suspect, that might be worth remedying. I'm wishing I had painted my entire downstairs in kitchen-and-bath paint, as well as semi-gloss enamel on the trim. The kitchen and bathroom walls are SO much easier to clean than, say, the wall by the stairs, which already looks unspeakably dingy, despite having been painted only a year ago. That's a side issue, not to do with dust, but it is amazing what a difference paint finish makes in the appearance of dirtiness or cleanliness in a house.
I have asthma sufferers in my house, and my battles with dust are far from adequate, I admit, especially upstairs, where my children's rooms are. The less said about the upstairs of my house, the better. But having had carpet, I would never ever choose it -- the dirt and dander aren't gone, ever, and the smells that get trapped in carpet from the various dramatic episodes of life with kids. . . urk. Of course, we only had carpet with really little kids, and potty training, and entire gallons of milk dropped in carpeted areas . . bleah. I just can't even think about it any more.
Still, dirt I see is dirt I can do something about, and I prefer that. Our house probably needs the ductwork cleaned, too . . . not this month, however!
Good luck. I know what you mean about that feeling of dirt . . . I feel I'm fighting a losing battle all the time!
Sally
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Kathryn
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| Posted: March 21 2013 at 1:01pm | IP Logged
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I'm off to check out some of those industrial mats! Even if just outside the front and back door and in my laundry room, that would help. I have one in front of garage door into hallway but it prob. does need to be shaken.
We prob. will put tile throughout the kitchen, laundry and hall areas as we really don't like this laminate anyway but for time, $$ etc. we're going to wait. At least some good quality mats should hopefully help. I had a swiffer at one point so might check that out again too. I just liked it better at my old house where I didn't have to clean near as much! 
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Kathryn in TX
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 21 2013 at 1:13pm | IP Logged
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I have some of the heavy rubber mats that are open work so that the dirt falls through them. like this or I have one that's a solid piece with rows of circle openings.. but I have these outside the door and then I have the industrial style mats inside the doors.. and don't set them nice and neat centered on the door.. most people don't open the door fully and then enter from the center.. they get the door open enough to walk in and come in at an angle if there's any room for that.. so putting the mat where the pathway actually is and dealing with the offset look will work better than keeping it looking all nice and centered. And the bigger the better.. they walk on it longer that way. Little mats can practically be walked over without being used.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Wood (laminate), tile or carpet
