Keeping dust down in a Reno high-desert home

Why Reno homes get dusty so fast

Reno sits in the high desert. The air is dry, it is often windy, and there is plenty of open, dry ground around the Truckee Meadows. Fine dust rides the wind and finds its way inside through gaps around windows and doors, on shoes, on pets and through the HVAC system. Low humidity means it stays light and airborne, then settles on every flat surface.

You can't stop it completely, but you can keep it from building up.

Dust the right way

• Use microfiber, slightly damp. A dry duster or feather duster mostly lifts dust into the air, where it settles again an hour later. A lightly dampened microfiber cloth picks it up and holds it.
• Work top to bottom. Ceiling fans, shelves and tops of door frames first, then furniture, then floors. Whatever falls gets picked up last.
• Don't forget the places that collect it: baseboards, window sills and tracks, blinds, lampshades and the tops of cabinets.
• Vacuum after dusting, ideally with a vacuum that has a good filter, so the fine dust isn't blown back out.

Stop it at the door

• Put a rough mat outside each entrance and a soft one inside.
• A shoes-off habit at the door keeps a lot of grit off the floors.
• Wipe pets' paws on windy days when you can.

Filters and air

• Change your furnace or HVAC filter on the schedule the manufacturer recommends, and more often during windy or smoky stretches.
• Check the weatherstripping on doors and windows. Visible light around a closed door means dust can get in there too.
• On very windy days, keep windows closed.

A routine that keeps up

In a dusty climate, little and often beats a big clean once a month. A quick damp-cloth pass over the main surfaces each week, and a vacuum of the busiest floors, stops dust from becoming a layer. Window tracks and baseboards can wait for a deeper clean every few months; our guide to how often to deep clean has a simple yearly rhythm.

Regular cleaning from Tracy's Tidy Homes covers dusting, vacuuming, mopping and surfaces in the rooms you use most, on a weekly, every-two-weeks or monthly schedule. Tracy sees each home before giving a price. Request an estimate.