# Drywall dust everywhere!



## bleecker (Sep 20, 2010)

I had a handyman remodel a room next to the garage (previously storage/hvac), about 120 square feet, with two windows. He put all new drywall in.

The entrance is off the interior of our garage (used to be carport, enclosed by previous tenants, home built in 1954, canyons of LA). Instead of draping a sheet of plastic over the door, he left it open. There is now a sheet of drywall dust all over my shelves which line my garage....I store books, kids soccer "participation trophies", old toys, etc...

My handyman just wants to take a high pressure air blower and clean it off....but won't that just move the dust around, and it will settle on other stuff? Do I need to wipe every item? Some of them (like old electronic cords etc) are going to be a total pain to clean, and probably take at least a day? Also, shouldn't he do the cleaning?

Thanks...this is our first remodel, and I'm learning the hard way along the way!


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Prevention would have been key with this job.
Why not take the stuff outside and blow it off, a shop vac with a drywall bag over the filter will get the bulk of it up.
Open up the windows remove the screen and have a cheap box fan blowing the dust outside.
Yes he should be cleaning this up, next time he may figure out a way to prevent it from happening again.
I run a shop vac while I'm sanding so it catches most of it.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

In defense of your handyman, even with plastic up, drywall dust still gets everywhere. Also helpful is blocking duct work (cold air returns) and warm air outlets (probably don't run 'em much in CA). Dust gets down into those as well and every time the HVAC system kicks on, the dust blows all over the place.


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## Wildbill7145 (Sep 26, 2014)

Not to rain on your parade, but it could be worse. I painted for a couple several months ago when they were having their living and dining room redrywalled. The guy they had do it didn't cover anything. Not a single thing during the whole process.

Got mud ALL over their hardwood floors, furniture, everything. Then didn't protect a single thing during the sanding. Didn't block off doorways whatsoever.

Strangely enough, he did a pretty good drywall job.

Younger couple. Not very smart. Spent a week scraping the mud off their floors with a mud knife, pretty much ruining their floors.

He also left all of his tools on their kitchen floor beside a wall for a month after he was done because he "had another job coming up in town pretty soon."

They'd never had work like this done before and just figured that's the way it goes.


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## blackjack (Oct 21, 2015)

wow....hope he's as handy at cleaning as he is at making a mess.
However, my first question is whether or not he has an actual business?
Is he licensed, bonded and insured?
Does he have verifiable references?
Is he "the cheapest"? (NEVER HIRE THE CHEAPEST, EVER.)
These are just a few questions that need to be asked before work begins.
It is not fail safe, however it does filter out quite a bit of grief.

in the future, protections are one of the first things a quality contractor will provide prior to work commencing. protection of contents, flooring and anything else that needs protection. If you don't see protections in place, inquire about them. first thing to be protected should be your floors.


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## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

With any luck, you learned a lesson. Next time apply it.


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## mathmonger (Dec 27, 2012)

For most people, the garage is the one place where it is kind of okay to make dust. If it were my job and you wanted me to come back and spend a whole day wiping down old toys, electronics cords and participations trophies, I would think you're a nut too. It sounds like a bunch of garbage. 

There definitely should have been better communication before the job started. Opening up the garage door and blowing out the dust with compressed air seems like a reasonable suggestion. I wouldn't beat the guy up too much.


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## Arlo (Jan 17, 2008)

The best way to dust a garage is with a gas leaf blower. Don't close to doors and be mindful of CO fumes. It makes quick work of dusty shelves. I've fantasized about using it in the house. I hate to dust.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

The only way to get him smart enough to not do this is to make him clean it up. Yes with plastic up unless you do it right there will still be some dust but it would be minimal. 

A little story about putting a fan reversed in a window. I did this when I was starting out and it did a pretty good job, finished that night. Got a call next day went out and looked at the side of their brown house and guess who spent the next day pressure washing the house.


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## Jmayspaint (May 4, 2013)

Drywall can be done with little to no dust. 
There are a multitude of ways this can be done. Everything from dustless power sanders like this










To dustless sanding sponges 










I wish more drywallers would catch on to this. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

I agree with Toolseeker and jmays. I have the second tool jmays posted. I don't have the first one, but then I don't do large drywall jobs. I do have a random orbital that I bought a vacuum hose for, for larger jobs. They both reduce dust by 80-90% I'd guess.

Yes, the guy should clean it up. And how isn't your problem. I do like joe's idea of taking the stuff outside to blow it off. Then your garage door can be opened and everything blown out. Then later, when the remaining dust has settled, damp wipe all the shelves and put everything back.

Plastic would have helped greatly. Between the plastic and the vacuum system, approximately 98% of the dust would have been removed, I'd guess. Your handyman needs to live and learn, just like I did.

Another way to reduce dust when you have a window in the room, is to open the window and put a box fan in it. If it doesn't fit perfectly, you need to stuff towels or something in any free space around it. Then open a window somewhere else in the house. The exit fan should be more powerful than the input fan. Assuming the fans are fairly powerful, almost all dust will be blown out the window.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

jeffnc said:


> I agree with Toolseeker and jmays. I have the second tool jmays posted. I don't have the first one, but then I don't do large drywall jobs. I do have a random orbital that I bought a vacuum hose for, for larger jobs. They both reduce dust by 80-90% I'd guess.
> 
> Yes, the guy should clean it up. And how isn't your problem. I do like joe's idea of taking the stuff outside to blow it off. Then your garage door can be opened and everything blown out. Then later, when the remaining dust has settled, damp wipe all the shelves and put everything back.
> 
> ...


Again, better check what's outside that window, and how close you are to the neighbors house or car.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

ToolSeeker said:


> Again, better check what's outside that window, and how close you are to the neighbors house or car.


Yes. In general I don't worry as much, since the next rain will wash it away, but still, yes.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

By the way, the top picture of jmays is the one you want for large jobs, the bottom one is the one you want for small patches, and this is the one you want for medium jobs. It uses the sanding screens.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

I personally use that one also. Have used it for years and feel it does a good job. Not as good as say Festool but doesn't cost a couple grand either.


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## ddawg16 (Aug 15, 2011)

Dust? You haven't seen dust.

Next week is going to be ugly for us. I'm sanding the floors and repairing some drywall. We are doing it all at once because we 'know' it will be bad.

I'll block off the rooms I can. For everything else.....what I can't cover with drop cloths will get blown off with the leaf blower.


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## Jmayspaint (May 4, 2013)

ToolSeeker said:


> Again, better check what's outside that window, and how close you are to the neighbors house or car.



One way to combat that problem somewhat is to use a furnace filter in front of the exhaust fan. You can get filters that are about the size of an average box fan. 










This does reduce air flow somewhat, but catches a lot of the dust that would otherwise be pulled outside. 

I will often use fans even with dustless sanding techniques to deal with the small percentage of dust not captured at creation. 

IMO, airborne dust is the worst part of drywall work. It's worth it to me to minimize it anyway I can. 

It's perhaps not such a big deal for DIYers, only occasionally being exposed to dust like this. But as a professional, doing it day in day out, I try to avoid even small amounts of dust in the air.


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