is there a way to tame the dust?

Angelraesunshine

Ok my Kitchen / 3 room downstairs extention is finished, the plaster is drying and will be ready for painting a white wash over it this week.

Problem is dust there is masses of it everywhere, within and hour of hoovering and dusting its coated again and every morning its thick layer is everywhere.
There are doors shutting downstairs off but it is very dusty upstairs as well. What i really need is an army of cleaners to blitz the house at the same time but thats not gonna happen so HELP how do i keep it clean ? also i run out of polish :mad: let the kids go dust their owns rooms and they managed to use 1/2 a can and it was the good stuff not the cheap brand.

i did try a stardrop & fabric conditioner water in the front room that helped but left it quite dull.

any ideas welcome as its getting ridiculas

Angelraesunshine

just bumping as gone 3 pages back and i have done my 2nd lot of dusting & hoovering for the day lol

kethry

hmm. i'd think you need to do "wet" dusting, which i think is why your kids have used half a can of polish!! the good news is that you can do the same thing with a damp cloth. However, as you've noted, it does leave some furniture dull. I wouldn't try this with old furniture (as in antique and expensive) but i have read that you can use oil, like olive oil, just a little bit, on the cloth and rubbed into wood to help bring up the sheen.

I'm also thinking that by doing a twice a day (or more) dusting and just being around the place (air movements etc.) you're inadvertently sending the dust up into the air again. Would it be possible to take the kids out for the day, maybe to grans or something. leave the house for the day, to allow the dust to settle, then come home *earlier* than the kids, just to let you get in there to clean, work top to bottom, trying to disturb as little as possible. that way, hopefully, you can wet dust all the dust that has settled and not sent it up into the air to resettle again?

HTH

keth
xx

Fruball

As lots of the dust will be airborn, fling open the doors and windows as much as you can bear in this cold weather.

Placing a de-humidifier in the room will help the plaster dry out much more quickly - did this in our lounge last year

Essex-girl_2

I always find that it is continually dusty until the walls are painted. We had this earlier in the year when we had 3 rooms downstairs replastered. Basically we just kept dusting and hoovering until eventually it was gone.

Angelraesunshine

well the windows have all been open as i did not want to spend money on a de-humidifier but today it looks like that it is all but dry, just a few corners to go.
The windows being open has only helped the dust a little as in its not as bad today as it was say on friday.

Thanks Kethry i have several microfibre clothes and the kids go back to school tomorrow so it will be just me and my 3 year old in the afternoon so i am going to wash all the clothes in the morning so when i get back from work after lunch i have 2 hours to get them out he machine nice and damp and start tackling the dust again.

Not sure about trying the oil, the main problems was things like the TV but using the stardrops/ fabric condition solution though has made it look dull did not have half the dust the sideboard did. so maybe i should live with the dull till the extention dust has gone and we are back to normal. that or until i go to the shops and get more mr sheen, and cheap stuff for the kids to use lol.

Angelraesunshine

Essex-girl wrote: »

I always find that it is continually dusty until the walls are painted. We had this earlier in the year when we had 3 rooms downstairs replastered. Basically we just kept dusting and hoovering until eventually it was gone.

thanks thats promising Dh should be buying the white paint some point this week (means i might have to do some painting though lol)

Penny-Pincher!!

I would go for the damp cloth too.

PP
xx

Pitlanepiglet

Right I've got a day off today and I really need to move some of the dust in the kitchen.

By way of background we are building an extension on to the side of the house so the old kitchen door now leads into the new extension. This means that the kitchen is getting filthy as there is a big gap under the door so all the dust comes in.

Obviously we keep the work surfaces etc. clean but the pots that don't get used very often and the contents of the spice rack etc have a layer of dust on them as do the tops of the fridge, freezer etc. There is no point doing a "proper" clean as this is going to continue for a few more months.

What's the best way to do a quick clean - I fear a duster is just going to redistribute the dust but I don't want to pick everything up and wipe it with a cloth as it will take too long and just be a pointless exercise.

I've got a steam cleaner but I'm not sure that this will be useful, I'm temped with the hairdryer to blow everything off!

I suppose the hoover with a soft brush on it might work?

Sorry to sound slummy, but I'm only home at weekends at the mo so I don't want to spend too much time of this as it will be just as bad in two days time....

Help please!

Gingernutmeg

I'd be wary of using the hoover - don't they always warn against using domestic ones for building dust? I'd hate for you to do that and then end up forking out for a new hoover because it's got clogged up and died ... The best way to get rid of dust is damp dusting, tedious though that is (been there, done that ). Maybe you could wipe down the stuff you don't really use and stick in the in the cupboards or box it up for a few weeks, rather than have to reclean it all?

the_cat

I used a damp cloth over everything, which picks up the dust rather than redistributes it.

Needs a couple of goes over time as it settles, but def works well

Oh, and put away absolutely everything you can before they start!!!!