What cleaning does about dust mites, and what it does not
House dust mites are microscopic animals that live in soft furnishings and feed on shed skin. Their droppings and body fragments are among the most common indoor allergens. Some people in a household react to them and others in the same unit do not.
A cleaning visit is physical work on fabric. Vacuuming lifts loose dust, hair and skin debris from the surface and out of the seams. Hot-water extraction wets the fabric, agitates it and draws the water back out with suspended soil in it. That removes material from the item on the day we attend.
We do not claim that the work treats, prevents or improves allergies, asthma or any other condition. We do not quote a percentage of mites removed, we do not sanitise or disinfect, and we do not apply anything sold as a mite killer. If symptoms are the reason you are asking, start with a doctor. The NHS page on allergies gives a plain account of how allergies are assessed and managed, and a clinician can tell you whether house dust mite is involved in your case at all.
Treat cleaning as housekeeping that runs alongside medical advice. It makes a mattress or sofa demonstrably cleaner. It is not a diagnosis and it is not a treatment.
Why Manila humidity and your aircon both matter
Relative humidity in Metro Manila stays high through the year. Dust mites draw moisture from the air around them, so damp indoor air suits them. That is the background condition in a Makati condo, and no cleaning visit changes the weather outside the window.
Air conditioning pulls the picture in two directions at once. A cooled, closed room is usually drier than the air on the balcony, which works against mites. The same closed room also recirculates dust, keeps the windows shut and holds condensation around the unit. Fabric that never meets moving air or daylight dries slowly after any wetting.
That shapes the method. Soaking a mattress in a sealed, humid bedroom is poor practice. Extraction has to be controlled, and the room has to be able to dry afterwards. We work with the aircon running, bring air movement to the item and agree the drying window before we start. Our guide to drying time in a Makati unit covers what lengthens or shortens that interval.
What a mattress clean actually involves
We strip the bed, then dry vacuum the whole mattress: the sleeping surface, the sides, the piping and the seams, and the underside where the mattress can be turned safely. Seams and piping hold the most debris, and they take the longest.
Hot-water extraction follows on the surface, with wetting kept to what the fabric and the filling can take. The machine puts water and agitation into the top layers and draws it back out. Air movers then run on the item to support drying before the bed goes back together.
The limits are worth stating plainly. The work reaches the top layers of the mattress. It does not open the mattress, reach the foam or spring core, or restore a mattress whose filling has broken down. If the cover is torn or the mattress sags, cleaning will not fix the complaint you actually have. Our page on what to expect from a mattress clean sets out the sequence and the access we need, and the mattress cleaning service page covers sizes and scope.
Sofas, armchairs and the rug under the bed
Upholstery collects the same skin debris and dust as a mattress, concentrated where people sit. A three-seater used every evening, with cushions that are never lifted, holds more in its crevices than the surface suggests. Vacuuming and extraction work on upholstery the same way, within whatever the care label permits.
Fabric codes limit method before anything else. A label that restricts water rules out extraction on that piece, however much dust the vacuum recovers. We check the label, test an area and tell you if the piece is vacuum only. The sofa and upholstery page explains how we assess a piece from photographs and the label.
Rugs matter in a bedroom because they sit where feet and bedding shed. A rug under or beside the bed is worth including in the same visit. Booking the mattress, the sofa and the rug together disrupts the unit once instead of three times, and the travel is included in Century City, Rockwell and Salcedo.
What you can do between visits
Routine housekeeping carries more of the load than an occasional deep clean. None of the following is medical advice, and none of it is a claim about symptoms.
- Vacuum the mattress and the sofa with a suitable upholstery attachment as part of your normal room cleaning.
- Launder bedding and washable covers at the hottest temperature the care label allows.
- Use a washable mattress protector, so the layer that collects the most is the layer you can put in a machine.
- Run the aircon or open the room rather than leaving a bedroom shut and damp all day.
- Deal with spills and pet accidents when they happen instead of waiting for the next booking.
- Keep the floor clear enough that the rug beside the bed can actually be vacuumed.
If a doctor has given you specific instructions about bedding or soft furnishings, follow those. Tell us about them when you book, and we will work around them.
Prices, scope and the guarantee
The work is owner-operated and done inside your unit. A single mattress is ₱2,400, a queen ₱4,700 and a king ₱5,500. An armchair is ₱2,400 and a three-seater ₱3,900. The minimum order is ₱3,000, so a single item below that is usually combined with a second piece. Travel is included in Century City, Rockwell and Salcedo. The full list sits on the price list.
Our guarantee covers workmanship correction within 48 hours. If an agreed surface was missed or the finish is not what we described, tell us inside that window and we return to correct it. The guarantee does not promise a drying time or a health result, because neither is ours to promise.
To get a quote, send photographs of the item, a photograph of the care label and your Makati area through the contact form. Say what you want addressed, including anything a doctor has advised, and we will tell you what the method can and cannot do on that piece.
Questions about dust mites and cleaning
Will cleaning my mattress stop my allergies?
We make no such claim. Cleaning removes dust and debris from the fabric. Whether that affects how you feel is a medical question, and a doctor is the person to answer it. Ask them what they want done about bedding and soft furnishings, then tell us, and we will work to that.
How many dust mites does hot-water extraction remove?
We cannot give you a figure, and we would distrust anyone who does. Nobody counts mites in a condo bedroom. What we can describe is the scope: which surfaces were vacuumed and extracted, how long the work took, and what came out of the fabric.
Does running the aircon mean my condo has fewer dust mites?
Lower indoor humidity works against mites, and a cooled room is usually drier than the outside air. A closed, recirculating room also holds dust in place and dries fabric slowly. We cannot test your unit, so treat both effects as real and keep up the routine vacuuming either way.
Should I book the mattress or the sofa first?
Book them in one visit where the budget allows, because the minimum order is ₱3,000 and one appointment disturbs the unit once. If you want a single item, start with the one you spend the most hours on. Send photographs through the contact form and we will price both options.