How to Get Rid of Dust Mites: What Actually Works

You cannot get rid of dust mites completely. The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) is clear that no vacuum cleaner, spray or cleaning process removes them entirely, whatever the product claims. What you can do is cut their numbers and reduce your exposure to the allergen they produce.

The measures ASCIA recommends are:

• washing sheets, pillowcases and bedding weekly in water hotter than 60 °C
• covering mattresses, pillows and quilts with dust mite resistant covers
• vacuuming carpets and soft furniture weekly, ideally with a HEPA-filter vacuum
• keeping indoor humidity down
• reducing soft toys, sheepskins and other mite-friendly items in the bedroom

Asthma Australia notes these measures work best done together and regularly, not one at a time.

It is worth being honest about the limits. The National Asthma Council's Australian Asthma Handbook notes that combined dust mite avoidance measures may give a small benefit for children with asthma, but have not been shown to improve asthma outcomes in adults. Reducing dust mites can still make a home more comfortable, but it is not a substitute for medical treatment.

This article is general information, not medical advice. If you think dust mites are triggering asthma, hay fever or eczema, see your GP first. Allergy testing can confirm whether dust mites are really the cause.

Dust mites are microscopic relatives of spiders that feed on the skin cells people shed every day. According to the National Asthma Council Australia, they do not bite or sting. The problem is their droppings and body fragments, which can trigger allergic reactions in some people.

They live mainly in soft furnishings: beds, bedding, carpets, upholstered furniture, soft toys and clothing. They thrive in warm, humid conditions, and the Council notes that mould also encourages them.

A note for Canberra. ASCIA says dust mites are more likely in coastal cities and towns, where the air holds more moisture, than in drier inland areas. Canberra's inland climate may work in your favour, but it does not make a home mite-free. What matters is the humidity inside your home, which is where the next sections come in.

You spend about a third of your life in bed, so ASCIA's advice focuses there first:

• Hot-wash bedding weekly. Wash sheets, pillowcases and other bedding once a week in water hotter than 60 °C. This kills mites and washes away the allergen. If you cannot wash hot, ASCIA suggests a laundry product containing tea tree or eucalyptus oil formulated to kill mites, or drying bedding outside and then tumble-drying on hot for at least ten minutes.
• Use mite-resistant covers on the mattress, pillows and quilt, and wash the covers at least every two months. ASCIA notes that some health funds offer a rebate on these. The Australian Asthma Handbook notes that covers used on their own, without other measures, have not been shown to improve asthma control, so treat them as one part of a routine.
• Remove sheepskins and woollen underlays from the bed and bedroom. ASCIA describes them as an ideal environment for mites.
• Cut back soft toys in the bedroom. Wash them hot regularly, or put unwashable ones in a bag in the freezer overnight. Freezing kills mites but does not remove the allergen, so wash afterwards if you can.

Dry cleaning kills mites but, according to ASCIA, does not remove the allergen they leave behind.

ASCIA notes that carpets can hold large amounts of dust mite that vacuuming cannot completely remove. Here is what the experts recommend.

Vacuum weekly, and do it the right way. ASCIA and the National Asthma Council both recommend vacuuming carpets and upholstered furniture weekly, ideally with a HEPA-filter vacuum. There is a catch: all vacuuming, including with a HEPA filter, stirs up allergen into the air. If you are the one with the allergy, ASCIA suggests asking someone else to vacuum, or wearing a mask, and staying out of the room for about 20 minutes afterwards.

Keep humidity down. ASCIA advises a dry, well-ventilated home. It specifically warns against water-cooled (evaporative) air conditioners and unflued gas heaters, because both add moisture to the air and can raise dust mite and mould levels. Air bathrooms and kitchens, and deal with any damp or leaks.

Damp-dust hard surfaces weekly. A damp cloth or electrostatic cloth catches dust rather than spreading it.

Blinds are easier to keep clean than curtains. If you keep curtains, choose washable ones.

Should you pull up the carpet? Expert advice differs. ASCIA suggests considering hard floors such as timber, tiles or vinyl where it is practical and affordable. The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne describes the effect of removing carpet as controversial and does not generally recommend it as a first step, noting that it is expensive and a major disruption for families. If you have a confirmed dust mite allergy that is hard to control, that is a decision to make with your doctor or allergy specialist, not a cleaning company.

The honest answer is: it can help as part of a routine, but it is not a cure, and the research is narrower than many carpet cleaners suggest.

The studies we could find tested dry steam, a vapour machine, rather than the hot water extraction most professional carpet cleaners use:

• In a 2001 study of homes with high dust mite allergen, both intensive vacuuming and dry steam cleaning plus vacuuming significantly reduced allergen in carpets. Levels were back near where they started within about four weeks with vacuuming alone, while the dry steam group stayed lower for up to eight weeks.
• A 2009 study of 50 homes found repeated HEPA vacuuming alone cut carpet dust mite allergen by about 81%. Adding dry steam raised that to about 86%, which the researchers described as a modest gain.

Two things follow from this. First, thorough vacuuming does most of the work, and it is the part you control every week. Second, any benefit from a deep clean wears off over weeks, so it supports a routine rather than replacing one.

We have not found good studies on hot water extraction and dust mites specifically, so we do not claim our carpet cleaning removes dust mites or their allergen. What a professional clean does do is remove the built-up dust and soil in the pile that regular vacuuming leaves behind.

One important caution: drying. Mites and mould both like moisture. Any wet cleaning of carpet, professional or DIY, should be followed by fast, thorough drying with good airflow. ASCIA's mould advice is to dry, remove or replace wet carpets. A carpet that stays damp for days works against you.

Most of the work against dust mites happens at home, every week: hot-washing bedding, vacuuming and managing humidity. A professional clean is a useful addition to that routine, not a replacement for it.

Our carpet steam cleaning uses hot water extraction to remove the built-up dust and soil deep in the pile, and we make drying a priority so the carpet is not left damp. Our upholstery cleaning does the same for couches and armchairs, which are another place mites live. You can see our rates on the carpet cleaning prices page. We clean across Canberra and Queanbeyan; see our carpet cleaning service for Canberra homes for details.

We will not tell you a clean will cure an allergy. If someone in your home has asthma, hay fever or eczema that you think dust mites are triggering, the most useful first step is a visit to your GP.