Dust never stops. Here is how to slow it down.

Houston homes fight dust on two fronts. The windows stay shut 8 to 9 months a year, so the same air runs through the AC over and over. And the ductwork lives in the attic, where every leaky joint pulls in attic dust. Both can be fixed. Most of the products sold for "dust," though, don't touch either one.

Here is the order we'd work in.

Where the dust actually comes from

Household dust in a typical Pearland home is a mix of a few things:

• Skin cells and fabric fibers, plus pet dander. People and pets make most of this inside the house.
• Outdoor particulate such as pollen, soot and road dust. It gets in through doors and windows and any gap in the house.
• Attic and duct contamination: insulation fibers, old construction debris, dust pulled in through leaks. This is the part HVAC fixes go after.
• Dust mites and their waste, concentrated in beds and soft furniture.
• Smaller amounts of mold spores and smoke, cooking residue, candle soot and the like.

Mechanical fixes move the attic-and-duct share. The skin-and-fabric share you fight with a vacuum and a rag. Most homeowners put too much effort into the second and too little into the first.

Fix 1: Stop pulling attic air through leaky returns

For most Pearland homes this is the biggest dust project there is, and hardly anybody talks about it.

Return ducts are supposed to pull air from inside the house. If the returns in your attic leak, and they very likely do, they also pull in 130-degree dusty attic air. That air then goes out every supply register for as long as the AC runs.

To find out, have us run a duct leakage test. In the systems we test, most of the leakage is on the return side, up in the attic.

Aerosealing fixes it from the inside, sealing the leaks with a pressurized aerosol. Most people notice less dust within a few weeks, and the utility bill usually comes down too.

Fix 2: Upgrade the filter (carefully)

Most homes run 1-inch fiberglass filters that let most fine particulate straight through. A pleated MERV 8 to 11 catches a good deal more.

Higher MERV filters restrict airflow more, though. Slap a 1-inch MERV 13 into a system built for fiberglass and you'll starve the blower. The coil ices in summer, the heat exchanger runs hot in winter, and eventually something expensive breaks.

For most 1-inch slots, stay at MERV 8 to 11. If you want MERV 13 or higher, move to a 4-inch or 5-inch media filter in a proper cabinet, where the bigger surface area keeps the pressure drop low. We retrofit those for $600 to $1,200, and you change the filter once or twice a year.

Fix 3: Filter discipline

Whatever filter you have, change it on schedule. Once it's loaded it catches less and restricts more, and it can start shedding captured dust back into the system. Put it on the calendar:

• 1-inch fiberglass: every 30 days during cooling season, every 60 days otherwise
• 1-inch pleated MERV 8 to 11: every 60 to 90 days
• 4-inch media MERV 11 to 13: every 6 to 12 months

Fix 4: Run the fan continuously (or near continuously)

If your thermostat has a "circulate" mode, set the fan to run 25 to 35 percent of the time, even when the AC isn't cooling. Air keeps moving through the filter, and less dust settles on the furniture.

Pair it with a good filter. With a poor one, you're just moving dust around.

Fix 5: Whole-house air purification (selectively)

Add-on air cleaners fall into three groups.

HEPA bypass cleaners. A small fan and a HEPA filter running alongside your main system. They work well, but they move air slowly and they cost more.

Electronic air cleaners (EAC). These catch particulate with a static charge and work well, but the collector cells need cleaning every month. Trane CleanEffects is a well-built one.

UV-C and PCO devices. These are aimed at biological contamination. We don't recommend them for dust. They have a place for mold and viral concerns.

In most homes where dust is the complaint, a 4-inch media filter handles it. Whole-house purifiers are for households with severe allergies or asthma.

Fix 6: Source control on the cleaning side

Things you can do this week without a contractor:

• Vacuum with a HEPA-bag or sealed-system vacuum. Cheap vacuums blow the fine stuff back into the room.
• Dust with a damp cloth. A wet rag picks it up, and a dry one just stirs it.
• Wash bed linens weekly in hot water. It takes 130 degrees or more to kill dust mites.
• Over time, swap heavily trafficked carpet for hard floors. Carpet holds dust.
• Put down a doormat and ask people to take their shoes off. A lot of outdoor dirt walks in.
• Bathe and brush pets on a schedule. There is dander in the dust even when you can't see it.

Fix 7: Address the worst leaks at home envelope

Can lights poking through the ceiling into the attic pull dusty attic air into the house. So do an unsealed attic hatch and a fireplace damper that doesn't close tight. Newer Pearland homes have less of this. Homes built in the 80s and 90s have plenty.

The fixes are cheap. Gasket the attic access door, cover the can lights with insulation contact-rated covers and weatherstrip the damper.

What doesn't help much

• Standalone "air ionizers." Most make ozone and don't cut dust in any meaningful way.
• Salt lamps. Decorative.
• Houseplants. They get marketed as air purifiers but don't work at any practical scale.
• Duct cleaning with nothing else. We offer duct cleaning, and it's worth it when the ducts are dirty. But if the leaks aren't sealed afterward, the ducts pick the dirt right back up within months.

Order of operations for a typical Pearland home

1. Move to a MERV 11 pleated filter and set a 60-day reminder. About $50 a year.
2. Set the thermostat fan to 30 percent circulation. Free.
3. Damp dusting and a HEPA vacuum routine. Free.
4. Get a duct leakage test.
5. If leakage is high, aeroseal the system.
6. For an asthma or severe allergy household, retrofit a 4-inch media filter or add a whole-house air cleaner.

The first three steps alone make a visible difference in most homes. Sealing the ducts adds a lot on top.

Dust you can see usually starts in ducts you can't. We'll measure your leakage and show you the fix. Call 281-992-7866 or book online.