Question:

We live in town yet my home accumulates a lot of dust. I don’t know where it all comes from. We have recently had all our windows and doors sealed, and we still have dust everywhere. It seems that as soon as I’m finished it needs it again. Do you have any suggestions on how I can cut down on the amount of dust we get in our home?

Answer:

Absolutely! I understand how you feel. It’s as if the dust is growing and multiplying on its own. Even though sealing your doors and windows may help cut down on your dust, in reality, it probably did very little good for that purpose. The good news though is that you helped the energy efficiency of your home. The answer you are looking for will address your dust problem as well as increase your home’s efficiency. As a matter of fact, it could cut your utility bills by as much as 40% depending on the age and construction type of your home.

The dust you are seeing is most likely coming from your attic. That’s right, I said your attic! Let me explain. When your heating and cooling system comes on, the air in your home begins to move around. It is looking for somewhere to go. It goes into your attic and outside if there are tiny openings through the exterior of your home. You’ve most likely taken care of the outside problem by sealing your doors and windows. The air goes through every opening in the sheetrock of your home such as electrical outlets, light switches, holes in the ceiling where lights are, around vents and under your baseboards. It then travels up through the walls behind the sheetrock and into your attic. If you have light carpet, have you ever noticed that the carpet about an inch out from the wall is darker than the rest of the carpet? Why is that? It is because this is working just like an air filter sifting dust out of the air that is getting sucked under the wall and up to the ceiling.

Now the air in your attic, which is full of dust, has to be displaced. What can’t get out of the attic fast enough through your roof ventilation goes, guess where? You got it, into your home. It comes in through all of the places in your ceiling where a hole has been cut in the sheetrock. The dust comes in through all of the lights, heating and air vents, bathroom vents and such.

So what’s the solution? It is really very simple. Most hardware stores carry foam gaskets that are already cut to fit behind your switch and outlet cover plates. They cost only a few cents each. All you have to do is remove the cover plates and place the precut gasket behind the plate and put it back on. It takes only a couple of minutes. As for your lights, you can also find precut insulation to put under the base of the light to seal it. Be sure to ask your hardware representative if the insulation they are giving you is fire resistant. Glass wool insulation works best. As for your vents, you simply take off the cover plates and seal around where the vent meets the sheetrock and install the cover plate. You’re done!

I’m sure you will see the dust in your home diminish greatly. If any of you would like additional information please feel free to email me and I will be glad to call all that I can and explain it further. I can also suggest someone to you that can do all of this for you. Most importantly, be sure the electricity is off first for safety reasons before attempting any of these repairs yourself.

Kirk Minter is an Austin real estate expert and has more than 30 years experience as a high-end custom home builder and remodeler.