How to remove building work dust?

[Deleted User]

Came back from holiday last week after builders had been in whilst we were away (various jobs, such as a total rewire of the house).

Over a week later, we're still waking up with sore throats and coughing regularly due to the dust. We've wiped down every surface possible, wiped down windows and frames (curtains weren't left up); shampooed carpets; and, thanks to the warm weather, are able to leave all the windows open and the garden doors, all day. But it's still a problem. (Builder has left dust covers on the heat and smoke alarms "until the dust settles").

Anything-else we could do? Wondering about hiring some kind of air filter? Anyone any experience of this problem? Thanks.

Norman_Castle

Tried vacuuming the walls? Have doors and windows open when vacuuming so any disturbed dust hopefully goes outside.



Unless the dust is still visible in the air I would remove the covers from the smoke and heat alarms.

Mistral001

Have you made sure that the vacuum cleaner is thoroughly clean after removing the heavy build up of dust?

ANDY597

Youd think the windows being open would probably help, except dependant on the air flow in the home it can also do a great job of keeping the dust airborne and circulating around.

Sounds a bit counter intuitive but try this and see if it makes a difference:

Seal off a room at a time, tape up the doors, close the windows, close the window vents essentially get rid off all air flow, give it a day or two for the dust to settle then go wild with the hoover, duster etc.

Normans advice of hoover the walls is also excellent, this helps a LOT.


Worth noting that anything fabric holds a lot of dust, get an old carpet beater and go john cleese on the sofa, rugs etc etc.

Hope this helps,

Cheers

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone. Some really useful advice.

FreeBear

One thing that I find helps a lot - A hand held spray bottle - Fill it with water and mist the air in the affected room. As the mist settles, it picks up the airborne dust and drops to the floor. Misting the floor also keeps the dust down as you hoover it up.

Use a bagless vacuum cleaner (such as a Dyson), wash the filter before and after.

coffeehound

Ionisers will also have the effect of making fine dust fall out of the air by neutralising any static charge, but might be more appropriate later once the main cleanup is done.

cybervic

FreeBear wrote: »

Use a bagless vacuum cleaner (such as a Dyson), wash the filter before and after.

DON"T USE DYSON for construction dusts. The dust is too fine and will get into motor causing it overheating.

cybervic

Close your window when cleaning the dusts. so it won't go back to the air.
Wipe All surfaces with wet clothes starting from ceiling, light fixtures, coving, then clean all the walls, doors (including frames around it), skirting board. above curtain rail/pole. Literally all the surfaces that was exposed to air when the rewire was done need to be cleaned.

onomatopoeia99

cybervic wrote: »

DON"T USE DYSON for construction dusts. The dust is too fine and will get into motor causing it overheating.

Yup, killed my DC-01 with building dust.