Shamal season: budgeting for desert dust
UAE dust is not ordinary household dust. Shamal winds, most active from roughly May to August, carry fine mineral dust that gets through window seals, coats balconies in hours and resettles on every surface within a day of cleaning. It is abrasive too — walked-in grit is what puts micro-scratches in polished floors long before anything else does.
Cheap mitigation beats paid remediation. Door draught strips cost AED 20–60 per door, a proper entrance mat traps the grit that would otherwise sand your floors, and rinsed balconies stop dust migrating indoors. Households that do this genuinely need fewer paid hours per month.