Canadian Transformers News and Discussion Forum

[Omegatron]

Originally Posted by ngnaw

How do you control the dust?

Thanks for asking and yes the question of dust comes up a lot. So let me put my museum professional hat on for a moment and say that the best way to deal with dust is to do your best to prevent it from happening in the first place. In other words reduce the dust you generate.

The second best way to deal with dust is to learn to live with it. Dust is gross but unless you have an allergy it’s not usually dangerous. Around 90% of dust is generated by living things, you, your family, your dog, your cat, etc., so its dead skin cells and thus not a threat to human health or to toys made of plastic and metal. You run the risk of breaking your toys every time you dust them, so if you can live with a little dust, do so.

Obviously this won’t work forever so eventually you have to dust. My best advice then is to use no cleaners but instead a combination of water and a damp cloth along with a dust wand that uses static to attract dust. Then it just takes time and patience.

So how to prevent dust, here are some ways:

1) Control access to the room, don’t bring your pets in and close the door when you leave. The reason for this is simple, less people = less dust.

2) Close the window so dust from outside does not get into the room.

3) If you can, close the forced air vents in the room and find another way to heat it. I have found one of the biggest sources of dust is dust from elsewhere in the house being moved around by the furnace.

4) Use a humidifier. Dust sticks to your toys through static. Dry environments create static so humidify the air to prevent the dust from building up. Don’t over humidify though or you create the environment for mould.

5) Use cabinets with glass doors. This won’t prevent dust build up but will slow it down. I did not do this because I couldn’t find a good shelf I liked that fit the room and had a glass door and because, while it’s effective, it’s less effective than you think.

6) Don’t use carpets. Use a solid floor, preferably non-porous, like a linoleum, vinyl or ceramic. Dust attracts dust (static electricity again), so if it can get into the pores of a wooden floor or build up in a carpet more dust will also be attracted. Sweep your floor regularly.

7) Use non-porous shelving, metal, plastic or glass, for the same reason as the floor.

8) Take your shoes off when you enter the room.

That’s about it and will only work so far but some of these changes are easy to make so by all means try them if you wish.