Home Particles in General
The most common dust particles in homes are clothing fiber,
skin flakes, and
paper fiber. These all appear as "white dust". The
relative
contribution of each of these three will vary depending on the size of the home,
the number of people in the space, and the habits of the
individuals in that space. Skin flakes tend to dominate in apartments or homes
of smaller volume occupied by two or more individuals.
Clothing fiber may dominate in homes where frequent laundering or drier vent
issues may be present. Paper fiber may dominate where tissues
are frequently used, newspapers are read, etc. Pet debris, road debris, plant
material, insect debris, fungal debris, spider and mite debris,
cleaning residues, combustion products, construction debris, etc., begin to
individualize each home environment. The contribution of dusts
from pets includes dander, hair, fecal material, flea debris, pet powders, food
debris, cat box debris, etc. Road debris includes natural
minerals, tire wear, wear metals, soot, cenospheres, tailpipe emissions,
nitrates, etc. The relative contribution of these materials is
dependent on the types of roads close to the home, the amount of truck verse car
traffic, the total amount of traffic, the outdoor/indoor
exchange rate (high with open windows), the presence of an attached garage and
how it is used, etc. Plant material, including pollen, can be
a good indicator of the outdoor/indoor air exchange rate. Pollens are good
indicators of the time of year (time of dust accumulation) as well
as infiltration rates and particle persistence in the environment. Insect debris
includes outdoor insects that are visitors as well as those
that make their home in your home. The ones that live in the home tend to be the
most bothersome from a health perspective, though some are
potentially beneficial. Fungal debris often enters the home with pollen and
other outdoor plant material. It is a problem if growing indoors
and indicates a moisture control issue. Moisture management is the ultimate
solution. The mite population in a home is generally of greater
health concern than the spider population. There are in excess of one hundred
types of mites that may live in the home. Most of these generate
powerful allergens. The Dermatophagoides are the most common but certainly not
the only mites of concern. Testing only for the
Dermatophagoides allergens is not an effective test for the presence of mites.
Cleaning residues includes a wide variety of particle types.
They range from the agglomerates that are created as well a residual detergents,
fresheners, etc., that add to the chemical background in the
home. Combustion products include soot from candles, smoking, fireplaces,
leaking furnaces, wood stoves, vehicle emissions, cooking emissions,
house fires, backyard burning, etc. These particles can be indicators of serious
carbon monoxide exposure issues in the home. Construction
debris may be from the original construction or from remodeling. In either case,
if not done properly it can be a source of irritants in the
home that may persist for years.
These are Human Skin Flakes with Phase Contrast Illumination. Notice the
tendency to be roughly polygonal. When viewed with polarized light the
cells can show
stress birefringence.
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Clothing fiber, as used here, refers to any textile fiber regardless of use.
Environments both inside and out contain large
numbers of these fibers. Most of these fibers are derived from clothing but
carpets and other cloth surfaces also contribute
to the environment.
This is an image from an environmental tapelift collected in a home. There are a
number of different types of fibers in this image. The fiber
running diagonally in the upper left corner is wool. The fiber bent in
a "V" on its side in the lower center of the image is a linen
fiber.
The reddish fiber snaking through the image is a rayon fiber dyed red.
The blue fiber running from the upper center to the center right is a mercerized cotton
cotton fiber dyed blue.
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These are paper fibers viewed with circular polarized light.
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Bird Debris

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Cat Debris
Dog Debris
Guinea Pig Debris
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Mouse and Rat Debris
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Rabbit Debris
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Natural gas fired fireplaces introduce relatively small amount of soot
and other particles into the home but they do contribute some. Heat
modified glass fibers, the mock ember bed, may also be introduce into
the living space.
The dark shading that forms behind picture frames on walls, at the
baseboard, on walls at the ceiling, above incandescent lights near the
ceiling,
and other locations are due to the diffusional deposition of very small
particles, typically dominated by combustion particles such as soot.
Humans generate as much as 5 million skin flakes per minute in the home.
Humus is a broad category that includes degraded biological materials
that come in on shoes, on pets, or from animals in the environment.
There are over 120 different types of mites that live in homes. Most of
them can cause health effects in sensitive people. Typical allergen
testing is sensitive to only two types of mite and these two are often
not the most common in a home. Mite allergens are in the frass (feces)
as well as
the body parts of the mite.

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Starch is a very common particle in all environments but can be very high
in homes. Starch is used in cosmetics, body powders, as a powder on
elastomers and plastics to prevent sticking, in some carpet fresheners,
food, etc. Bathrooms, bedrooms, and the kitchen tend to be the rooms
with
the most starch. The last set of three photographs show the same field
of view with different analytical lighting.
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Cigarette ash has a very high crystalline ash content due to the
potassium nitrate and other additives to the tobacco. Cigar ash and
other plant
ashes have much less optically active ash. There is generally some
charred plant residue that can be used to identify leaf or other plant
parts.
These particle are an indication of the intrusion of exterior air or
track-in debris into the interior space.
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Spores
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These particles are the result of exposure to smoke from fires inside or
out side the home.
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Particles
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