Look at all this dust!
12/7/2007

The way floor dust travels and disperses in the indoor environment, as shown by Computational Fluid Dynamics studies, is revealing surprising facts:

 

These include:

 

   •  Where those tiny particles go

   •  What they may do to your health and labor budget

   •  What you can do to profit

 

For example, while carpet advocates have long claimed that carpet acts as a filter for dust –– and thus assists in maintaining IAQ –– there is now scientific evidence to validate this view.

Dust in the wind

 

Researchers Bradley Cicciarelli, David Davidson, Edward Hart and P. Robert Peoples, of Solutia, Inc. in Cantonment, FL, examined the effect of walking across carpet versus hard floors, on dust particles 2, 5, 10 and 20 microns in diameter.

 

According to their study cited by the Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) and titled “CFD Analysis of the Behavior of Airborne Allergens in Carpeted and Uncarpeted Dwellings,” they found when people walk across a carpeted floor, less dust is driven airborne to enter the breathing zone than when they walk across hard floors.

 

These results would also reasonably apply to carpet-type barrier matting versus un-matted hard floor areas.

 

According to researchers, CFD simulations on a room with and without carpet indicate that there’s a significant impact of floor covering on airborne particle concentration, which is lower if the floor is carpeted as opposed to a hard surface.

 

This difference can be great since the carpet traps particles that collide with the carpet fibers, due to the greater surface area.

 

The difference is striking but not completely surprising:

 

   •  Carpet behaves much like a fibrous filter, retaining airborne particulates until they can be removed by vacuuming

 

   •  A hard surface can’t retain the particles and they remain airborne at much higher concentrations, increasing airborne allergen concentration

 

Traffic report

 

Another study, “Cleaning and Foot Traffic Emissions Analysis,” performed by Professional Testing Labs, Dalton GA, demonstrated that vacuuming carpet with an efficient vacuum cleaner –– especially one with a CRI Green Label –– creates less airborne dust than dust mopping a hard floor.

 

There’s also clear empirical evidence that vacuuming hard floors as opposed to dust mopping provides bottom-line and health advantages.

 

(Read “If the shoe fits, wear it” in the sidebar to see another study on dust mopping and vacuuming VCT floors.)

 

Look at the benefits

 

   •  Since the porous fibrous surface of carpet, including matting, traps more dust than hard surfaces and prevents it from becoming airborne, having well-maintained carpet and large entrance mats may improve IAQ and decrease dusting, according to a recent study.

 

   •  Vacuum carpeted surfaces regularly with an efficient vacuum to clean your floor’s “air filter,” the carpet or matting.

 

   •  Vacuuming carpeting with an efficient vacuum is better from an IAQ and dusting standpoint than dust mopping a hard floor, according to a CRI study.

 

   •  Empirical data show vacuuming a hard floor with an efficient vacuum removes more dust than dust mopping, while lowering dust in the air and on surfaces. This makes floor finish last longer while lowering overall maintenance costs.

 

Jim Harris, Sr. owns Albany, NY-based contract cleaning firm Janitronics. An industry consultant, Harris also conducts CM Expo seminars on team cleaning in conjunction with vacuum manufacturer ProTeam, Boise, ID. For more information, visit www.cmexpo.com.