The dirt on dirt

What is House Dirt Composed Of?

(Geyser Vacuum Center)

The dirt in most people’s homes comes from three primary sources, two of which are unpleasant and one of which causes allergies. The allergen is pet dander. Cat fur is notoriously bad for causing a buildup of what we think of as dust and dirt. That is because the particles in cat dander are very tiny, and vacuuming along, especially without a HEPA filter, will not get cat fur out of your carpet. Even if you don’t have a pet, the dander is so fine that it may float into your house, or you may have picked it up from a co-worker with a pooch.

The second source of dirt is what causes the problem for most vacuum cleaners. It is bits of crushed rock. While we don’t often think of rock getting into our homes, it gets in fairly easily. You may have a rock on your shoe. One may have gotten into your son’s book bag. Your daughter may have had one caught in her hair from playing outdoors. Most of this gravel is very small, and you may not pay much attention to it. As you walk over it, the rock gets crushed and becomes sand. This sand then grinds into your carpet and becomes a buildup of dirt over time. Waiting longer to clean your carpets means that you are permitting more dirt to pile on top of each other. The dirt becomes compacted in your carpet and then begins to harden, making it even harder to remove.

The third component of dirt and dust is human skin. Some estimates are that human skin amounts to 80 percent of the dust and dirt residue in people’s homes. Even at much smaller percentages, human skin that has sloughed off through daily life makes up a good portion of the dirt in our homes. Getting rid of the dirt in your home will mean that you have vacuumed up these skin cells. Human skin is very light, which means that it floats. It often settles on bookshelves, furniture, and mantles instead of the floor. When you dust, however, you are pushing some of the dust onto the carpet, where it combines with the pet dander and rock already forming a layer of dirt.

These three components are not the only components of dirt. If you baked cookies, bits of flour and sugar may have gotten into the air. They become part of the dirt in your home when they land on the ground and are crushed into the flooring. Thinking about dirt and how it affects our health and our environment should be encouragement to clean often. Allowing the dirt to build up in your home means permitting allergens into your house. You are risking your immediate health the longer you leave dirt in the floors.

Cleaning more often also is better for your appliances because they don’t have to work as hard to get rid of two days’ worth of dirt instead of two weeks’ worth of it.