Dust, and what is in it
The lowest-status cleaning task, and the conservation guidance treats it as preventive maintenance for three specific reasons.
What this area turns on
Dust is not a material. The federal definition lists loose soil, sawdust, pollen, combustion by-products, textile fibres, hairs, flakes of dead skin, dust mites, insect bodies and food particles — which is why it is simultaneously abrasive, hygroscopic and edible. It scratches if pressure is applied during removal, it attracts and holds moisture, and it feeds both insects and mould. That last connection is the one nobody draws: accumulated dirt is named among the conditions that accelerate fungal growth, so dusting is a mould measure.
Assessed and found wanting
Widely repeated techniques in this area that the evidence does not support, or supports only in part.
Freezing kills mould
Does not workWidely believed and specifically contradicted: freezing DEACTIVATES spores without killing them, and warming reactivates what survived.
Killing the mould solves the problem
Does not workThe assumption behind every mould product. A federal agency states plainly that killing mould does not eliminate all health hazards, because inactive mould still causes reactions.
Furniture polish feeds the wood
Does not workA finished piece of furniture is sealed, so nothing reaches the timber to feed it — and the majority of polishes leave a residue that survives stripping.
The records
Dust
Stain or problemMostly textile fibres and skin, held by static as much as by gravity — which is why a dry cloth on a plastic surface makes it worse.
Pollen
Stain or problemA seasonal particulate that is part of ordinary dust for most of the year and overwhelms it for a few weeks. Dry removal first, because wet pollen stains.
House dust mites
MicroorganismNot a hygiene failure and not removable by cleaning alone. They live on shed skin in soft furnishings, and humidity governs them more than vacuuming does.
Dusting
MethodThe lowest-status task in cleaning and the one that prevents the most damage — because what is being removed is abrasive, hygroscopic and edible.
Dust mop
EquipmentThe stone trade specifies one and adds three words that change the product entirely: clean, non-treated and dry.
HEPA filter
EquipmentA defined standard rather than a marketing word: at least 99.97 per cent of particles 0.3 microns and larger. Below that, the claim means nothing in particular.
Vacuum cleaner
EquipmentThe tool that removes what no liquid can, and the one whose attachment choice does more damage than any cleaning product on soft furnishings.
Wet-and-dry vacuum
EquipmentThe right machine for standing water and the wrong one for fine dust. A federal conservation leaflet ranks it explicitly below dry HEPA filtration.
Static and dust
ScienceA dry cloth on a plastic surface charges it, and a charged surface pulls dust straight back. Wiping can leave a surface dustier than before.
Two surfaces in the same room accumulate completely different soil, and the pattern is predictable rather than random.
Mould fungi
MicroorganismThe organisms behind the marking. Around 1.5 million species, each with its own conditions — and killing them does not end the exposure they created.
Spraying cleaner onto a screen or keyboard
Claim or techniqueEvery manufacturer instruction read here says the same thing: put the liquid on the cloth, never on the device. A spray goes where the nozzle points and also where it does not.