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Seal off with plastic
Dust goes everywhere air flows, so the key to stopping dust is stopping airflow. A loose curtain of plastic hung with a few strips of tape won’t do the job. Instead, make your dust barrier as airtight as possible. Completely seal the top and sides with tape. Taping to walls is usually easier than taping to woodwork. If you can’t seal the bottom edge with tape, lay a board across it. Light plastic (1 mil or so) is fine for most jobs. But if you need to pass through the dust barrier, use heavier 4- or 6-mil plastic and add an adhesive-backed zipper.
Adhesive-backed zippers are available at home centers for about $9. Or have a pair sent to you for about $12: Protective Products, (800) 789-6633. www.protectiveproducts.com
Cover up air ducts
Construction dust sucked into return air ducts can plug your furnace filter. Even worse, small particles can pass through the filter and coat every room in the house with a blanket of fine dust when the blower turns on. Air supply ducts can be a problem too—dust that settles inside will come blasting out when your heating/cooling system starts up. You can close the damper on a supply register, but it won’t seal out dust as effectively as plastic and tape.Note: Turn off the heating/cooling system while the ducts are covered. Operating the system with restricted airflow can damage it.
Avoid masking tape hassles
Painters go through miles of masking tape, and every pro has a horror story: the flimsy tape that tore into a million pieces during removal; the cheap stuff that left a trail of adhesive behind; or worst of all, the too-sticky tape that took the finish right off the woodwork. Follow three rules to avoid the hassle.
Use a medium-adhesion tape for most jobs. These tapes have names like “Safe Release” or “Clean Release.” There are also low-adhesion tapes for delicate surfaces like wallpaper, and high-adhesion tapes for hard-to-mask surfaces like brick. A painting store often has the best tape selection.
Remove the tape as soon as possible. The adhesive bond strengthens over time. Depending on the type of adhesive, masking tapes are meant to stay in place from one to 14 days. Check and heed the label.
Forget about price. Cheap tape won’t seem like a bargain if it takes hours to remove or pulls the paint off the wall. And no tape will perform well if it has sat on your shelf for a year or more; buy a fresh roll.
Drive dust outside with a fan
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A fan blowing out the window helps to keep dust levels down, and it creates a slight vacuum in the work area. That way, any gaps in your dust barrier will let air flow into the work zone, but dust-laden air can’t sneak into surrounding rooms. This works so well, in fact, that you may not even need a dust barrier for light-dust projects. Just be sure to close large gaps around the fan with cardboard or plastic so wind gusts don’t blow the dust right back inside. For good airflow, you may have to crack open a door or window on the opposite side of the room.
Vacuum without raising more dust
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The exhaust stream from a shop vacuum can raise more dust than the vacuum sucks up. And small particles (like drywall dust) can sail right through the vacuum filter to form a fine dust cloud. You can solve both problems with some extra vacuum hose: Connect a hose to the exhaust port and run it outside, or set the vacuum outside and run the hose inside. If you want a filter that traps even the tiniest dust particles, try a high-efficiency version such as the CleanStream filter. These filters are pricey ($25 to $35), but they’re easy to clean and last for years.
Ten feet of 2-1/2 in. vacuum hose costs about $20 at home centers. CleanStream filters are available at Sears, Lowe’s and Menards. For other dealers, see www.cleanstream.com or call (800) 758-6755.
Shield floors from scratches and dents
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Carpeted floors are easily protected from snags and stains with a heavy canvas dropcloth. Safeguarding hard flooring isn’t so simple. A hammer knocked off a ladder can dent wood flooring, chip ceramic tile or even puncture vinyl, and heavy foot traffic will grind grit into the floor. For protection against falling tools (and just about everything else), cut sheets of 1/8-in. hardboard to fit the room and duct-tape them together at the seams. Also tape around the perimeter with masking tape so grit can’t get underneath the hardboard and scratch the floor. For quicker protection of hard flooring, use strips of rosin paper taped at the seams and around the perimeter. While rosin paper can’t match the impact and puncture protection of hardboard, two or three layers of it provide good defense against scratches and spills.
A 4 x 8-ft. sheet of 1/8-in. thick hardboard costs about $7 at home centers. A roll of rosin paper costs about $8 and covers about 400 sq. ft.
Protect stairs safely
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Protecting stairs is tricky because you don’t want to use anything that will cause a slip or trip. Rosin paper is a good choice for wood stairs because you can crease it over the edge of the tread and tape it securely around the entire perimeter. You can also tape separate sheets to the risers. For carpeted stairs, use a long, narrow dropcloth (called a runner). Secure the runner by driving small nails right through the carpet and into the treads.
A 4 x 12-ft. runner costs about $18 at home centers.
Wrap doorways for bump protection
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Remodeling means lugging tons of big, clumsy stuff through doorways and tight spaces and around corners. Even if an object isn’t heavy, it’s best to have a helper to steer big stuff through tough spots. With or without a helper, cardboard is a good defense against accidents. You can wrap door jambs with it, cover up wall corners, or even shield large sections of wall along main pathways. To make sure the cardboard stays in place, crease it thoroughly to fit corners and don’t be stingy with the masking tape. Doors can take a beating during remodeling too. The best protection is to remove them from the work zone. If removing a door isn’t practical, clad it with cardboard.
Cover baseboard with cardboard
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Whether you’re moving a ladder or stacking 2x4s, it’s all too easy to bang up baseboards. But protecting them is simple: Just cut strips of cardboard about an inch wider than your baseboard, set them against the wall and tape them top and bottom (also see the bottom photo on p. 64). If nearby walls are at risk, don’t hesitate to tape cardboard over them as well. It’ll save you from having to spend a weekend repainting.
Art Direction • DAVID FARR and HOPE FAY
Photography • BILL ZUEHLKE
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