Really bad builders' dust

morganlefay

I hope that someone on here can help me. We have just had six months of builders, knocking two rooms into one big kitchen, and completely gutting two bathrooms. All the plaster had to come off, and yesterday they finally moved out, leaving me a lovely new kitchen and two excellent bathrooms. Lucky us !
BUT after the first few weeks I just gave up on the dust which just kept coming, sometimes pink, sometimes grey but always getting into every room. Now I have to attack the whole house, every surface, all the ( many) shelves of books , everywhere. I have tried those supposed to be impregnated with something to collect dust things on handles, but they don't really work. My OH says use a spray like Pledge and an ordinary duster but I think that just makes a dirty dusty sludge which you wipe about. Please can an expert tell me how to really shift this dust which doesn't seem to want to go, whatever I do :eek:

ravylesley

Instead of trying to wipe it off have you considered vacuuming the worst of it off and then you can try with a damp cloth?? When we had our Kitchen refitted I used the upholstery brush on the surfaces and it did quite a good job and if the dust on your surfaces is dry then it should work for you

captainhindsight_2

I think its a bit unfair to call them really bad builders because they created dust whilst knocking plaster off the walls. There is only so much anyone can do to stop dust whilst carrying out this kind of building work.

morganlefay

Actually they were lovely. Three builders and three plumbers. All of them really nice, cheerful, neat, tidy, interesting men. What was/is really bad is the dust. Which is really, really bad. And I don't blame the nice builders at all; they were just doing their job. But now I want the really bad dust gone.

evie451

its plaster dust for the most part by the sound of it and thats very fine.......its too easy to stir up and effectively just move around when you are cleaning 'dry'... I am afraid you need to trap this stuff...i wouldnt use pledge try filling up one of those squirt bottles with a fine mister spray on it with water, go round the house spraying the air with the fine mist.

It catches the fine plaster dust in the atmosphere and makes it fall with the water and it can be cleared up as you wish, though it might be too mucky for you

[Deleted User]

The dust will be in the air for quite a while and the best thing to do is vacuum lots and afterwards use a damp duster, no pledge as that will cause static and make the job a whole lot worse

mollythewestie

We've just been through similar after having the whole house rewired - which required holes and channels cut into walls in every room of the house . The dust was horrendous

It takes weeks to get rid of (And I am still finding bits now 4 months later). But I found that the best course of action was little and often.
First of all vacuum up what you can, using the nozzles for high up shelves, light fittings, curtain rails etc.
Each time you clean, it just churns up the dust more, so let it settle in between cleans.
Like you I found getting it wet turned it to sludge, so dry microfibre cloths were used on all surfaces at first. Then once the dust had almost gone, used a wet cloth over everything.

We have lots and lots of books (1000s of them) and I had to meticulously clean each one, one-by-one. It took me a couple of days, but it was worth it in the end.

Edited to add: we had black dust all over our ceilings and walls and found the brush attachment on the vacuum nozzle was most effective at removing the majority of the dust.

sillysid

to re-iterate what others have said - plaster dust - it takes ages to settle, hoover, damp dust. Rinse and repeat, for yonks. Even after that, ours never went till the decorating was done, as every time you accidentally brushed past bare plaster walls more dust came off.

Dunno if you are doing your own decorating, (we did) Diluted coat of thin emulsion to seal bare walls and I found by trial (mainly error) prior to painting woodwork - white spirit was good at removing the dust residue.

iris

We have just refurbished our kitchen (knocking two rooms into one).


I used an old vacuum every day after building work had finished to suck up the worst dust/bits of plaster etc and then cleaned as best I could.


It has taken me weeks to get on top of the housework. I can't really offer any advice, other than to attack one room at a time and do it thoroughly.