A haboob can coat a house in minutes, and everyday desert grit never really stops. Here is how dust gets into a Tucson home, what to do during a storm, and how to clean up afterward.
Desert dust comes in two forms. One is the slow daily kind, which leaves a fine layer on a dark table by the weekend. The other is the monsoon wall of brown that rolls in on a July afternoon. They call for somewhat different responses.
This guide covers both, along with what a cleaner can do, and what is better left to someone with a ladder and a caulk gun.
Tucson averages only 10.61 inches of precipitation a year, and 2020 was the driest on record at 4.16 inches. Pima County lists coarse PM10 particles as including wind-blown dirt, dust from roads and farming, plus pollen, mold and spores. Its Department of Environmental Quality issues Dust Action Days when PM10 pollution is expected to be high.
Then there is the monsoon. The National Weather Service says haboobs are more common early in the season and can cut visibility to near zero in seconds. Monsoon dust storms usually last a few minutes and up to an hour at most, with gusts of 40 to 60 mph likely. Haboobs frequently occur in the Arizona desert, including around Tucson, Yuma and Phoenix.
Some areas see more of it. Marana's farms grow cotton, wheat, barley, alfalfa and pecans, and fields, unpaved roads and new construction add local dust on some days.
The moment you see one forming, there are a few simple things to do. Afterward, resist the urge to start cleaning until the wind has dropped, since a door opened too early just brings more in.
Go from high to low, and use damp rather than dry. Start with fans, then shelves, then sills and tracks. A dry cloth just lifts fine grit into the air, where it settles again a few minutes later. For window tracks, vacuum first with a narrow attachment, then wipe with a damp cloth.
Floors come last. Vacuum before you mop, because mopping over loose grit grinds it into the finish. Pima County notes that vacuuming can stir up particles during smoke events, so run it with windows closed and a clean filter, and change your HVAC filter after a heavy stretch. Finally, wash screens from the outside if you can, as they will have caught a lot of it.
Most dust comes in through small gaps. Door sweeps, weatherstripping and window seals do more than any amount of extra dusting, and those fixes are worth having a handyman or contractor look at. They also help with bark scorpions, which can get through a gap about 1/16 of an inch wide.
Keep a mat outside and another inside each entry. Older homes usually leak more: about 51.7 percent of Tucson's housing predates 1980, and about 22 percent predates 1960. Newer homes in places like Marana, with a median year built of 2008, tend to seal better, though nearby building sites add dust of their own.
Pima County advises keeping windows and doors shut during wildfire smoke, closing the air conditioner's fresh air intake and keeping the filter clean. The same habits apply on Dust Action Days. A home closed for months, as with a snowbird house, will have much less dust than a lived-in one, but what does settle stays there undisturbed, so plan one good clean before you return.
A Recurring House Clean keeps daily grit from building up, and most homes do well on a bi-weekly plan. A One-Time Deep Clean after monsoon season covers fans, vents, blinds, tracks and baseboards in one visit. Interior windows can be added. Sealing gaps, servicing HVAC equipment and repairing storm damage are outside any cleaning service. Starting prices for each size are on the cost page.
The questions Tucson homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
TotalCare Cleaning will service Tucson and surrounding areas with background-checked cleaners and is insured up to $1 million. Re-clean guarantee: if we missed something, tell us by the end of the next day and we come back to fix it. Beyond Clean. TotalCare.
