Expanding or renovating your home is an exciting time if only it weren’t for all the mess! When you’re working with drywall, you’re especially likely to create a disaster that can leave your house looking like it’s been blanketed in volcanic ash. This powdery dust can get into everything and it’s tough to clean up and worse yet, it’s dangerous to breathe. For your next project, reduce your drywall sanding dust with one of these four techniques.
Isolate the Room
Before you begin sanding, cover everything that you can’t move. This includes furniture and appliances. You should also block off the room and keep whatever dust you’re producing isolated to the immediate area. Cover your doorway with plastic and seal around the edges. While some dust might still get through, it’ll be nothing compared to the disarray you’d have if you left it wide open.
Use a Drywall Vacuum
Another excellent solution to keeping dust down is by using a vacuum sander like a DrywalPro. This type of machine will sand while eliminating the dust through an attached vacuum before it ever has a chance to hit the air. It also has a heated blade that will leave the surface smoother and more beautiful than you could ever achieve with regular sandpaper.
Choose Low-Dust Compound
When choosing the type of compound to use on drywall, you can also opt for a low-dust formula. This method still requires you to sand, but the dust that’s produced is much heavier than ordinary compound. This causes it to clump up and drop instead of flying through the air. You’ll find clean-up a lot easier with this type of compound.
Try Wet-Sanding
You can also choose to wet sand your drywall compound. Wet sanding is just like it sounds except that it’s done with a sponge instead of sandpaper. When you carefully pass a wet sponge over the dried compound, it begins to dissolve and smooth out. This prevents a dust storm in your home, but you’ll need to rinse your sponge often with this method.
Avoid the Clean-Up
Working with drywall compound can produce beautiful results, but getting there can be a sloppy journey. Luckily with little effort there are several ways to keep dust to a minimum. The use of a drywall vacuum, sealing off a room or wet sanding can save you from breathing in harmful dust and save you a lot of cleaning.