dust & dirt

[wagoneer]

It's not dirt its sand and dust what does dirt imply? that you're dirty? It's pieced from the surface of the earth. Too busy to trip on that. You won't like my rig I got pieces of the earth all over the floor good reason to travel alone.

 

[closeanuf]

I'm with Wagoneer.  I love to be close to nature, and alone works better for me too.

 

[QinReno]

It's not dirt its sand and dust what does dirt imply? that you're dirty? It's pieced from the surface of the earth. Too busy to trip on that. You won't like my rig I got pieces of the earth all over the floor good reason to travel alone.

Ha, reminds of many years ago backpacking with a friend for the purpose of climbing Mts Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn in Colorado. There was a band of 20-something kids who were out for a week with Outward Bound, and were running Uncompahgre as fast as possible. Talking to a few, we found that the guys badge of honor was to get as dirty as possible, while the gals stayed as clean as possible. Choose your group, LOL. 

With 12-weeks of living in very dusty terrain this year in my van, I'd say the amount tracked in on shoes far exceeded that blown in by the wind. So the key was to create a scheme to leave as much dust at the door as possible.

 

[Dingfelder]

FYI I've seen those gardeners kneeling pads at the dollar store sometimes. They are usually cut smaller than some of the nice big ones, but hey, for a dollar ...

My dog tracks in all kinds of dust and dirt, and he is not ashamed to show me his new sticker collection several times a day. Why dogs favor places full of stickers when the other 95% of an area is sticker-free, I'll never know.

I decided I like the warmth and softness of carpet, but not how hard it is to clean once you get it wet or really dirty ... the stains soak through to the padding and never really come out, even when repeatedly steam-cleaned. So I got some throw rugs, runners they call the narrow ones that come closest to fitting the narrow free passage my trailer has. I can take them outside and shake them out like cracking a whip. That always gets a rug much cleaner than even a really strong vacuum. I'd recommend that to people with allergy problems -- just wear a mask before you do the shaking?

My mother replaced the carpet in her living/dining area with artificial wood just a couple of months ago. She put throw rugs under some furniture. She gets massive amounts of dust and hair every day from her four dogs and vacuums every day with a hugely expensive vacuum cleaner.

About two months later, just to see what might have been left behind, I took her battery-powered leaf blower inside and blasted the throw rugs with it. Clouds of dust flew up high enough to settle thickly over door jambs, on the top of a ceiling fan, all over her shelves, etc. Big clean-up, but wow did that remove (eventually) a ton of dust.

So even if your carpet is new and you have a $400 vacuum cleaner that you use every day, yeah, your carpets will get full of dust really fast -- and keep it!

 

[MrNoodly]

I approached the whole vandwelling thing as if I'm camping rather than living in a micro apartment or something. Among other things, that includes accepting a certain amount of dirt and dust -- in the van and on me. I don't need to be any cleaner in my van than I am out of it. And even at its dirtiest, the inside of the van is cleaner than where it's camped.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Those of you who spend a lot of time in the windy plains/desert, doesn't your dwelling get a lot of dust/dirt in it? How do you deal with it?

IMO dust and dirt are two different things:  dust is wind carried, dirt is mainly brought in by us.  Of the two dirt is the easiest to reduce.  Everyone has their own tolerance for how much of each they can live with.

For dust the only solution I know works is to filter or block it out before it gets in.  Impractical for mobile, off-grid living.  Otherwise clean before it gets to your tolerance level.

For dirt I use rubber backed carpet in the camper cut to the size and shape of the floor.  The carpet holds the dirt and it doesn't filter through to the floor underneath, so I can remove it and shake it out or hose it off to clean.  The black/grey/brown entry mats are the worst as dog hair and the like get woven in and is difficult to remove.  Open (non-looped) carpet is the easiest to clean.

I have found that the astroturf (plastic grass) entry mats remove a lot of dirt from the beagle's paws (and my boots too).  I have a mat at the entrance and on the steps leading into the camper.  I was surprised the first time I removed the steps for travel at how much dirt was captured in the astroturf.

 

[captain]

A plain and simple answer to eating dust, avoiding high winds, and not having the life sucked out of you on a consistent basis do to low humidity would be to limit your travels to the east coast where there are trees and turf that actually clean the air.

jack..being from North Carolina, I can relate. Is this what you do?

 

[bob91yj]

We are full timer's with two dogs (both have short hair), I'm a believer in vinyl floors and throw rugs. The throw rugs are easy to clean via shaking or a good water cleaning with a hose. Worst case you throw the rugs away and get new ones.

Some of our RV is carpeted for some unknown reason, When the (cheap) carpet wears out I'll probably tear it out and live with the vinyl flooring that is under it. (I've verified that there is the same vinyl flooring under the carpet).

 

[bullfrog]

"Goat head" is a local term for a seed of a weed that looks like a small version of a kids toy jack with needle sharp points. If you walk through an infested area then walk on pavement it sounds like you stepped on a bunch of tacks. once they get in carpet you will be finding them for months. Sorta like stepping on a 1/4" needle that has to be pulled out. If your pet starts to limp check between their toes and get some thick leather booties for them. Most people think their flowers are pretty so they don't pull them up untill they realize what a pain their seeds are.