Decorators dust sheets

bobhawke

I have a lath and plaster ceiling that is ready to come down, I was going to get a plasterer in to sort it out but after seeing their prices I have decided to do it myself.

I need some advice and some recommendations on which dust sheets to buy
The 2 rooms are 4.1m x 3.5m and 3.5m x 3.1m and the ceilings aren't high.

Thank you.

ormus

doing that job will ruin normal dust sheets. better to get some industrial polythene sheet such as visqueen.
from about 10/12 quid a roll. 3m wide and various other widths.

olias

What do you want them for? If it's to protect a floor covering like carpet, then forget it. Far better to take up the carpet and relay it afterwards. If it's to protect something like a nice wooden floor, then forget it, the lumps of wood and plaster will just puncture it and 'ding' the floor underneath. In this case, I would buy cheap hardboard and lay it over the existing floor, taping it well. If it's to cover door and window openings, then do as ormus suggests and use visqueen. Easier to seal it with tape as well to provide a more effective dust barrier, otherwise you will be sweeping dust up throughout the rest of your house for weeks.

Olias

bobhawke

olias wrote: »

What do you want them for? If it's to protect a floor covering like carpet, then forget it. Far better to take up the carpet and relay it afterwards. If it's to protect something like a nice wooden floor, then forget it, the lumps of wood and plaster will just puncture it and 'ding' the floor underneath. In this case, I would buy cheap hardboard and lay it over the existing floor, taping it well. If it's to cover door and window openings, then do as ormus suggests and use visqueen. Easier to seal it with tape as well to provide a more effective dust barrier, otherwise you will be sweeping dust up throughout the rest of your house for weeks.

Olias

It was to cover the windows and doors so dust doesn't go through rest of house. My house is quite small and I have a lot of stuff in the rooms so it if possibly I was wanting to protect the carpet / furniture and make it easier to clean up by just pulling it all down on to the sheets and wrapping it up rather than moving everything out of the rooms.

olias

Do not underestimate how much mess this job entails. You cannot leave anything in the room. Strip it out, including carpet, Then seal opening with visqueen and tape, and get to work!. Don't forget some really good quality dust masks and goggles, and either heavy duty rubble sacks or flexible rubber buckets to cart it all outside - you will not be able to just wrap it up in whats on the floor and carry it out. Easiest way of clearing it up is with a shovel

Look at this video starting from 2:10 to see how much mess you are talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrmUTjib9EI

Or this one - and that's just the plaster!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPCn89MZEkM&feature=related




HTH

Olias

Ebe_Scrooge

I'm not sure how effective against dust it would be, but one option would be to pop down to a local charity shop / jumble sale and pick up a load of old bed sheets and quilt covers for pennies ?

DVardysShadow

bobhawke wrote: »

It was to cover the windows and doors so dust doesn't go through rest of house. My house is quite small and I have a lot of stuff in the rooms so it if possibly I was wanting to protect the carpet / furniture and make it easier to clean up by just pulling it all down on to the sheets and wrapping it up rather than moving everything out of the rooms.

Having stripped a whole house of lath and plaster, I can assure you that Olias is right about this. The dust and accumulated filth will ruin anything left in the room. Use the dust sheets to protect everything in the other rooms in the house.

diable

Can't you just batten it and lay a new plasterboard ceiling?

ormus

aye. you only do this job the one time. after that you always overboard any other ceilings.

bobhawke

diable wrote: »

Can't you just batten it and lay a new plasterboard ceiling?

I could maybe do that in one room, the other room the whole ceiling is ready to collapse though.
I'm going to buy some polythene and tape today, will empty the room this weekend, and start wrecking :beer:

ic

olias wrote: »

Look at this video starting from 2:10 to see how much mess you are talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrmUTjib9EI

Or this one - and that's just the plaster!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPCn89MZEkM&feature=related

Those are clean jobs! When I ripped down a ceiling in my house, it brought down 100 years worth of dust and *soot*. Despite sealing the doors it still managed to coat the entire house and destroy the carpet in two other rooms + knock a few years life out of my hoover. Funnily because I'd put down sticky back plastic stuff on the stairs themselves, the carpets there are OK.