Knocking down walls

[geraldthehamster]

This weekend or next, I will be knocking down two internal block work walls. One is not load-bearing, and the other used to be, but there is now a steel doing the work.

I want to minimise the dust getting into the rest of the house, and had thought of screening the work by fixing some kind of sheet floor to ceiling, with battens, a couple of feet into the neighbouring rooms, that form an L around the room I will be working in.

As I'm not well-equipped with old bed sheets, can anyone suggest what I might use, by way of plastic sheeting or similar, and where I might buy it at a reasonable cost?

Cheers Richard

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not sure that sheeting makes much difference. Fine dust gets everywhere sheeting or not..wait till you have grit blasters in..:-)

I think the best approach is do it slow and take out BIG chunks, and maybe wet it all first.

DO NOT USE ANGLE GRINDERS!!

And don't use a Dyson to clear up, either. Filters will clog in picoseconds.

I have never found a solution to building dust, other than wait till the job is done, and spend 50% more time cleaning up.

[geraldthehamster]

Yes, there's no way I will contain it all. I've already removed a redundant wall between one of the neighbouring rooms and a former loo, carefully, loosening each block at the mortar joints with a rotary hammer and lifting it out, but the place still filled with dust, which soon found its way past my casually nailed up dust sheets: a combination of mortar dust and fragmenting plaster.

Unfortunately I will have to use a grinder to cut the 18 inch nib that has to remain under one end of the steel, but I'll do that first, while the room still has walls and a door.

I've now been to the Screwfix website and seen how (relatively) cheap dust sheets are, so I might just go with those rather than fart about looking for plastic. This time I'll fix securely to floor and ceiling with battens, and just leave an overlapping door to get in and out.

I think SWBC (that's "Consulted") is resigned to mess, but there are possible brownie points in mitigating it.

This isn't a job I'm looking forward to doing, particularly. The enjoyable part of demolition is hitting things and making them fall over, but this is going to be more carefully loosening and lifting away.

Cheers Richard

Cheers Richard

Cheers Richard

[geraldthehamster]

This is all render and skim as well, so there's also concrete dust.

Cheers Richard

[Skipweasel]

FreeCycle and ask nicely.

Poundland and get plant-fleece - it's quite large and though not strong would do for the few hours you need.

Open a window and point as many fans as you can out of it - it makes quite a consierably difference (provided there isn't an adverse wind) if you can keep the air flowing into the affected room through the door and out through the window. If you're really fancy you can even make a snood for a big fan as part of your dustproofing.

[TheScullster]

"geraldthehamster" wrote

This is all render and skim as well, so there's also concrete dust.

Cheers Richard

I've finished most of the really dusty jobs in this house, but I was told (once I'd finished) that dampening the dust sheets helped considerably - maybe use like a kitchen spray to lightly mist the surface of the sheet(s) before starting.

Phil

[Tim Watts]

geraldthehamster ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Wednesday 09 February

2011 13:33:

I would go with plastic - B&Q sell *very* thin large area sheets for "painting". Thye are in fact useless for painitng as they either slip on the floor or tear.

But for taping up an opening they are great as long as you can avoid touching them.

For an angle grinder inside, you really do want to seal off the area with plastic, taped 100% all the way round including floor.

As the plastic is light, double width masking tape is generally strong enough.

[geraldthehamster]

Thanks, I'll try that.

Cheers Richard

[Skipweasel]

Three cheers for Richard!

[Mike P the 1st]

On Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:01:56 +0000, Tim Watts gently dipped his quill in the best Quink that money could buy:

Dulux decorator centres (and others no doubt) sell the thin plastic. I use it for decorating and place under dust sheets as they do not contain heavy splashes. The stronger stuff is the plastic builders lay under concrete ,, vis screen ?

Mike P the 1st

[Ian Jackson]

In message , Skipweasel writes

I doubt if plant fleece (horticultural fleece) is very dust-proof. Neither are many bed sheets (especially nylon and similar). Thick cotton isn't too bad.

Duct tape is good for sticking plastic sheets together, or to the walls and ceilings - but it will probably rip the paint off when you remove it. This can probably be minimised by the gentle application of a hot air gun as you peel it off - but you will undoubtedly still have to some restoration work.

[Lobster]

Actually it's very useful having one of those sprays to hand - not sure about spraying the sheets, but certainly just spraying a fine mist around the room at ceiling level is very effective at clearing the air and bringing down dust quickly. Particularly useful if you want to leave the dusty area and want to avoid contaminating the rest of the house!

David

[geraldthehamster]

Oh, the shame. SWMBO (that's "obeyed") has decided that she wants a day of mess rather than a week of mess, so next week the walls will be taken down quickly by (whisper it) a builder.

Cheers Richard

[Ian Jackson]

In message , geraldthehamster writes

Even more reason to provide your own anti-dust precautions!

[geraldthehamster]

"obeyed") has decided that she wants a

Absolutely.

Cheers Richard

[Theo Markettos]

Skipweasel wrote: [dust sheets]

Visit the local charity shop. If they don't have anything on display, ask if they have anything out the back (and say you'll pay: they get some pennies from the rag-man for unsaleable stuff so they often get sniffy if they think you want stuff for free)

Theo

[Tabby]

I had this very problem, and fixed a cyclone vac nozzle to the sds drill depth gauge (not a dyson). Magic, problem solved. Saved ages in cleanup.

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

Not so. The very first job my DC04 was used for 10+ years ago was sucking up all the plaster/mortar/brick dust from demolishing a wall. You get about 6 canisters full of dust before the filter needs a rinse, and that's only because it's too tempting to over- fill the canister each time so there's no space left in the cyclone.

The things to watch out for are: The dust will sand-blast the inside of the canister so it's not clear anymore. That has no effect on operation, but if you care about the appearance, you might be concerned. The weight of a canister full of brick/plaster/mortar dust is much more than the handle was designed for, so don't carry it with just the plastic handle. (I haven't broken it, and it may be stronger than it looks, but I don't chance it.)

This machine is now 10+ years old, and has only been used for DIY (although it wasn't originally bought for that at all). No dust has made it through to the post motor hepa filter, which is a testament to how well they filter.

[geraldthehamster]

I vote for Henry. My Henry is getting on for 20 years old and has been used for building dust in large quantities of up to 10mm chunks and all domestic uses and is still doing fine. Oh, the handle rattles.

Cheers Richard