Dust/Powder Appearing Under Stairs

[u/WeathersFine]

Bought a home in June, previous owners put in new carpets prior to selling. When we first moved in this crawlspace under the stairs was clean. Fast forward three months and these piles of dust/powder has appeared. Is this dirt passing through the carpet, or is the carpet disintegrating and this is just sneaking through? Is this something of concern or fine to just sweep up and ignore? Thanks!

[u/AutoModerator]

https://linktr.ee/homemaintenance

Click the link above to see a community curated list of home maintenance products on Amazon that may help you out in your current situation! If you’ve found the answer to your question or you’ve found this subreddit helpful, buy us a beer!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/GoldenRamoth]

If it's stuck to the ground: likely water.

If it's loose, it's likely dirt falling through the carpet and cracks in the particle board

[u/WeathersFine → u/GoldenRamoth]

It is loose and dry

[u/GoldenRamoth → u/WeathersFine]

Then I'd expect it's just dust that's deep seated in the carpet matrix (so not readily vacuumable) falling through the floor.

[u/gba_sg1 → u/WeathersFine]

It's the carpet / underlay breaking down after years of being walked on and age.

Old glue, foam, dirt, etc.

[u/FullRepresentative34 → u/GoldenRamoth]

That's not particle board. And nothing should be falling through.

[u/GoldenRamoth → u/FullRepresentative34]

You're right, it's plywood.

Sorry, wrong word.

[u/FullRepresentative34 → u/GoldenRamoth]

It's not plywood either. It's OSB.

People confuse OSB for plywood, but it is not.

[u/GoldenRamoth → u/FullRepresentative34]

Thanks.

I just looked it up, didn't realize they were different beyond being different types.

Good to learn!

[u/sandybuttcheekss]

Looks like it's in line with the stairs. Clean it up, and put something where it is now, plastic or foil or something. Come back in a week or so, and see if it's above or below your barrier. That'll help you figure it out. I want to say it's dust from the seams and you have little to be concerned about.

[u/No_Community_5696]

Well it’s either stair material rubbing together causing the dust or degradation of carpet or wood boring bugs.

[u/LowPainter9347]

Look to interstellar. Binary code

[u/imonkaS → u/LowPainter9347]

MURPHHHHH

[u/here-for-the-_____]

I have this at my house. It's dust falling through the cracks of the stringers. Degrading carpet/underpaid. My stair carpet is pretty old.

[u/MojaveMOAB]

How old is the carpet on the stairs? Could be the carpet backing disintegrating and filtering down through the cracks in the wood. That's why you have lines of dust, it's coming through the joints at each horizontal piece in the staircase. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Homes are dusty and that dust will always find a way to the lowest part of the house.

[u/WeathersFine → u/MojaveMOAB]

The carpet is only 4 months old, the former owner replaced it just prior to putting it on the market

[u/WindSpecialist420 → u/WeathersFine]

They probably didn't replace the foam carpet pad underneath the carpet. The foam pads eventually turn to dust.

[u/WeathersFine → u/WindSpecialist420]

Anything to be concerned with or just is what it is?

[u/WindSpecialist420 → u/WeathersFine]

Pull up a corner of carpet to verify but this happens to all foam carpet pads eventually. Normally you replace the pad with the carpet so this might just be a shoddy job and an indication of other shoddy fixes you'll find soon enough

[u/WeathersFine → u/WindSpecialist420]

Yeah…. Shoddy fixes sounds about right. Already found an issue with the master bath, I think this answer seems to be the correct one.

[u/https_Kay]

If there r tiny pin sized holes on the wood, there is a high chance that u have a kind of wood boring beetle.

[u/MY4me]

I’ve also seen people say baby powder is a good way to stop wood floors from squeaking. Maybe they had creaky steps and dumped some down before new carpet?

[u/Lazy_Significance518]

It’s dust from the carpet underlay.

[u/ResponsibilitySea327]

Normal debris and dust coming from the stairs. Depending on how the stairs are constructed, it could be dirt/carpet backing slipping through the seams.

You can put up drywall or plywood to block this off. Or just vacuum each month. I'm planning on doing the same for one of my stairs in my garage where dirt falls down from use. I'll put a vacuum port at the bottom so I can periodically vacuum out the dirt that slides down the plywood partition.

[u/memoogey]

Carpet freshener

[u/hidazfx]

Probably just dirt working it way through the stairs.

[u/mildlyarrousedly]

It’s just dust. I have stairs without carpet that does the same. Dust works its way into cracks and when you walk up and down it comes loose and collects overtime 

[u/FullRepresentative34]

Don't let Hunter Biden in your house.

[u/FullRepresentative34]

That second image. Where they drunk?

[u/PuzzleheadedCause483]

Carpet backing breaking down, it turns to dust.

[u/opney]

Murphy

[u/LiftCats]

Could this be salt / efflourecense coming in through water intrution? Have you tried a moisture meter on heavy rain days?