Dust Mite Habitats

Carpeting

Carpeted rooms are the perfect breeding ground and habitat for house dust mites. By some estimates there can be approximately 100,000 dust mites living in a square yard area of carpet in your home. Controlling dust mite populations in carpetted homes can be done by vacuuming regularly or even removing carpet and replacing it with tile or hardwood. Dust mites are particurally more active in flooring in Autumn and late Summer.

Furniture

Dust mites also love upholstered furniture such as the couch in the picture to the right. The reason a couch would be an area with a high infestation level is because it is usually a high-traffic area. People tend to eat from couches, pets may lay there, and dead skin cells will also be left behind from humans sitting or laying down on couches. You can reduce the population in rooms where couches or similar furniture would be located by replacing fabric upholstered furniture with leather or even wood (generally furniture that does not have a lot of padding). Also, you should have as little possible furniture in areas where a dust mite infestation could be potentially high.

Smooth Surfaces

Again, dust mites are everywhere, even in the dust on the smooth surface shown in the picture. In addition to dust mites, dust contains substances such as cigarette ash, mold spores, and cockroach droppings which can cause allergies. To control dust mite populations in areas such as the one shown, it is important to damp dust regularly. Cluttered surfaces are also another breeding ground; it is recommended you keep smooth surfaces, such as the desk shown, uncluttered and clean to prevent the accumulation of allergy causing substances.

Beds

Your bed is probably the second best habitat for dust mites, and attention should given to make sure the infestation level here is low. Anywhere from 100,000 to 10 million dust mites may be living in your bed, but there are several things that can be done to reduce the population in your bed.

Vacuuming your mattress set and at the base of the bed is an easy and more cost-efficient way to control dust mite populations, but if you want less maintenance then we suggest buying dust-proof mattress covers.

Bed Linens

While you sleep, your skin sheds leaving behind scales for dust mites to feed on. Research shows that putting fitted sheets on your bed helps indirectly reduce dust mite populations by reducing the accumulation of skin scales. Also, washing your sheets every week in hot water will kill them; it is recommended that blankets that use non-synthetic materials be used or placed on the bed.

Pillow covers/cases require as much attention as the rest of the bed linens. Wash your pillow cases once a week in hot water with the rest bed linens to kill dust mites living on your linens. Replace pillows that have feathers as a filling material with cotton or synthetic materials. Alternatively, you can put allergen-impermeable covers over your pillows, but these covers are only available at speciality stores. One other tip is to remove the pillow cover from the pillow and shake it to remove some of the accumulated skin scales.

Dust mites can never be eliminated from the house, but steady maintenance can keep population numbers low.