Should I Hoover or Dust First?

Keeping the home clean is a constant task, one that people want to get through quickly but do it well enough that it looks and feels clean afterwards. 

One of the biggest culprits of making a house feel dirty is the ever present dust which is constantly generated and can make you feel down seeing it again so soon after a clean. 

There are many ways to get rid of dust; by using a duster, a dust cloth, or by vacuum cleaning - but which one should you do first and why?

What is dust and where does it come from?

House dust is a combination of dead skin cells, pet dander, pollen and hairs. Dust is constantly generated as we ourselves constantly shed skin, as well as our pets. The same with hair.

Because it is constantly generated, it will continually appear in the home or office - at first the particles will be small and ‘invisible’ but as it accumulates it will group together turning into the dust we can see - ‘dust bunnies’.

Most of the time, dust is present in the air and it can stay in circulation by being disturbed through movement - this is especially true in high traffic areas such as the living room.

This is the reason that, despite your best efforts during a deep clean - it will return. Regular cleaning, however, can keep it at bay. 

So, should you Hoover or dust first?

You should use a good duster before using a Hoover, to pick up the dust that the vacuum cleaner can’t reach. 

However, be sure to use a microfiber cloth to capture rather than a feather duster or a cotton cloth - the latter tends to release more back into the air than it captures. 

Alternatively, you can use a cordless vacuum cleaner such as the HF500 in handheld mode or the dusting brush attachment on an Upright 300. We recommend the Upright 300 due to the inclusion of a HEPA filter, which traps the dust so that it can’t be released again.

Any dust that then falls on the floor can be picked up by the vacuum cleaner’s main head. 

For homes with pets we recommend a model with a pets brush which can pick up stubborn pet hairs and stops them from grouping together into the pile of dust.

A third option as previously mentioned is to use a Hoover Air Purifier - this device senses and captures the fine dust that floats in the air, preventing it from reaching a surface in the first place and will reduce the amount of times you need to use a duster OR a vacuum cleaner.

Does a vacuum cleaner release dust back into the air?

As long as your vacuum cleaner is fitted with an adequate filter, such as the HEPA H13 - found on a wide range of Hoover models - then dust should not be released from the vacuum cleaner once it has been picked up.

Some older vacuum cleaners were great at sucking up larger pieces of dirt, but did not do a great job of keeping it in. 

However, Hoover offers a wide range of vacuum cleaners with a HEPA filter installed which traps dust and never lets it back out again, a great example of one of these models is our lightest and most steerable upright, the Upright 300.