Dust

[Cocoa]

There is a lot of dust in old houses, isn't there? Where does it all COME from?

A few likely culprits are from in between the floorboards and from down the chimney (even though that's been swept). But I can't fathom how, if I don't go into a room for 3 weeks, that there has built up a 1/4 inch thick of grime on surfaces that I know I wiped down fairly recently!! :shock:

On top of that, I have some really dusty jobs coming up - knocking down gypsum plasterboard, sanding down the floorboards, and prepping all the flaking stuff off the hallway walls prior to skimming (or, several coats of distemper. I'm currently considering whether the latter is an option that would be less hard work but with just as good results). I dread to think how it will take for the dust from all that to settle!!

 

[MatthewC]

I found the same thing in my house, but doing plastering and brickwork repairs made it obvious where most of it came from - and of course a lot is moved around on feet and dirty clothing. It was a great feeling when we started to get rooms done finally, from the upstairs down, and made places off limits to boots etc as we carpeted and furnished. However, after moving in (4 years ago this week!), the same dusty feeling continued so we just kept on sweeping and vacuuming until suddently, after some months, we found that it was now OK. Well, almost OK, as I look at a dusty woodburner in the kitchen...

 

[88v8]

Our house must have a dust-generating gubbins somewhere. Every surface, and it's not as if I'm doing any internal work atm.
Fortunately, we have a lot of spiders and their webs catch much of it. I could send you a few in a matchbox if you like.

Ivor

 

[Cocoa]

However, after moving in (4 years ago this week!), the same dusty feeling continued so we just kept on sweeping and vacuuming until suddently, after some months, we found that it was now OK.

Gulp. Please don't tell me it took 4 years for the dust to die down! Well, the good news I seem to pick up is that a substantial part of the dust / grime / disgusting filth (the description depends on how up-beat - or otherwise - I am feeling at any given moment) is generated by the rennovation works. Excellent - although that brings me back to daily choice of how to spend my evenings / weekends:

(1) cracking on with said DIY, and getting it over with sooner
(2) cleaning
(3) occasionally going out / cooking / kicking back and relaxing, and doing something entirely unrelated to the house

My poor Dyson has died, so I am considering investing in a sturdy Henry to address the worst of it. I hope it picks up rubble. I am also wondering whether any of the following would be a worthwhile purchase:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swiffer-Refill-Dusters-Multi-Pack/dp/B00HVAKQEC/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1437041472&sr=8-17&keywords=swiffer
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001AH7BXQ?keywords=wooster%20dust%20eater&qid=1437041590&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2

Fortunately, we have a lot of spiders and their webs catch much of it. I could send you a few in a matchbox if you like.

Very kind of you, Ivor! I have a considerable & well established community here, however, and I would worry how they would treat any newcomers. I keep coming across substantial cobwebs hidden in dark, inaccessible places, and I genuinely can't imagine what they are can possibly catch there that's worth eating. I'm not sure I even want to know!

 

[xanthe]

Never known an old house that didn't have dust.

My parents have been in theirs (1630 timber framed) for 30 years and there is always dust.

 

[Cocoa]

Hmm...my parents also live in an older property, albeit Victorian and a good deal younger than 1630! Growing up, and before their finances stretched to a complete refinish, there was a lot of dust which my allergy-prone siblings struggled with. (a couple of flea-ridden collies probably didn't help, tbh). When I go round now, it never strikes me as a partiularly dusty house.

I'd just like to put a book down and pick it up again a day or so later, without feeling that I then need to go and wash my hands! Grr....

 

[xanthe]

My husband has major allergies and dust is a bad one (hooray, lets buy a 1580's house) - we keep the dust down by getting rid of things like carpets. Our cleaner also has some system that pulls the air through water so it holds the dust rather than blowing it out again. Amazing how filthy the water is everytime.

A large part of the problem for my parents was active deathwatch and woodworm. The beetles been dead for a good 20 years now but there is still lots of strass.

 

[Lime]

There is a lot of dust in old houses, isn't there? Where does it all COME from?

A few likely culprits are from in between the floorboards and from down the chimney (even though that's been swept). But I can't fathom how, if I don't go into a room for 3 weeks, that there has built up a 1/4 inch thick of grime on surfaces that I know I wiped down fairly recently!! :shock:

On top of that, I have some really dusty jobs coming up - knocking down gypsum plasterboard, sanding down the floorboards, and prepping all the flaking stuff off the hallway walls prior to skimming (or, several coats of distemper. I'm currently considering whether the latter is an option that would be less hard work but with just as good results). I dread to think how it will take for the dust from all that to settle!!

Draughts are the main cause of dust but any sort of solid fuel fire will create a massive amount of extra dust. Even though I like an open fire the dust it creates far outweighs my feelings.
25 years ago I devised a portable window dust extraction fan that I use when decorating or any major repairs are carried out.
It can fit any of the large sash windows of my house.
The construction of the extractor is simple.
I cut an oblong sheet of plywood that exactly fitted into the smallest window opening when open at the bottom.
I made a large hole in the board to take a fan.
The board is placed into the window opening and the sash is lowered onto it to make a seal.
In my case I used a 12 inch car radiator fan screwed to the board originally run off an old car battery (since converted to mains) but any large fan will do.
For different rooms/windows the board is lengthened/extended by another piece of plywood big enough to fit the largest window opening in the house.
It is screwed to the fan's board (2 screws) in various positions so that the fan will exactly fit the opening of all the other windows.
It is switched on throughout the time work is done except at night when the window is shut.
The extractor fan keeps every bit of the dust, fine or coarse, out of the rest of the house.

I would not be without it.

Additionally, a long dust sheet is laid outside the room in the house to take tread.

 

[88v8]

What an excellent idea.
I did that with a redundant Vent Axia when I was decorating the hall stairs & landing in our previous house. IIRC it worked pretty well, but I never thought to continue it in the rest of the house. Ideal with sash windows, not so great with casements unless they can be unhinged
(like some members of this forum )

Ivor

 

[angrybird]

Dust drives me bonkers! but with 3 open fires a woodburner,solid fuel Rayburn,2 dogs,2 cats,chickens if they feel like popping in! what do I expect? :roll:

 

[Cocoa]

The fan idea doesn't sound completely beyond the realms of my DIY capabilities! I shall consider... I will definitely be more particular about keeping dust sheets down when DIY works are in progress. After the major stuff is done, I'll concentrate on plugging gaps - in between floorboards, skirting boards, architrave &etc &etc

Although I have an open fireplace, it isn't in use. When I first moved in, I cleared 2-3 large buckets of debris out of the grate, and then had it swept. Black gritty 'stuff' continues to descend, so I shall probably stick a chimney balloon up there at some point to stop any more coming down.

After that, it sounds like a few years worth of regular vaccuming and dusting, until it's better in control. After all, I have a few months off work (hurrah!) to focus on the rennovation project, and after that it will ALL be done and I will have LOADS of free time on my hands to devote to cleaning. That is how it works, isn't it? :?

 

[Zebra]

My poor Dyson has died, so I am considering investing in a sturdy Henry to address the worst of it. I hope it picks up rubble. I am also wondering whether any of the following would be a worthwhile purchase:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swiffer-Refill-Dusters-Multi-Pack/dp/B00HVAKQEC/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1437041472&sr=8-17&keywords=swiffer
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001AH7BXQ?keywords=wooster%20dust%20eater&qid=1437041590&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2

Henries are brilliant. Mine is a firm friend, and has been a sturdy companion during any rubble production activities. It'll happily pick up anything that will fit down the spout. I bought some of these for mine,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/400583566386?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&rlsatarget=&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108
so I don't have to buy new bags, although I think bags are actually better at filtering dust.
Regarding dusters, it took me several years to get my house to the stage where there seemed to be any point at all to cleaning, whereupon I bought one of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EXTENDABLE-TELESCOPIC-MAGIC-MICROFIBRE-CLEANING-FEATHER-DUSTER-EXTENDING-BRUSH-/161658849911?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item25a39e4a77
and it's brilliant. Telescopic so I can wave it about the ceiling, and then bash it on the wall outside to get rid of all the dust.
You might find this thread some comfort:
http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13285&hilit=clean

 

[Flyfisher]

We're also firm Henry fans. However, I'd say the main problem with most domestic vacuum cleaners is that their filtration is not too good so they actually create a lot of fine airborne dust. I say this because I also have an 'industrial' hazardous waste vacuum cleaner which includes a HEPA filter and the exhaust air is noticeably cleaner. Furthermore, the outlet has a hose connection, which is not only handy for blower applications but it also means that I can easily connect a suitable hose and direct it outside through a window or door.

It's not overly convenient for normal cleaning but when I have a project on the go it's ideal. I park the cleaner near a suitable door or window and use the standard 3m hose on the exhaust to the outside. I then use an 8m hose to keep the work area nice and clean and dust-free, and the hose arrangement ensures no dust is distributed inside the house.

If only Henry had a hose connector for the exhaust air then it would be perfect, instead of only almost perfect.

Having said all that, we tend to regard dust in the same way as weeds - once accepted, the 'problem' seems to go away :lol:

 

[Cocoa]

Henry wins over Shopvac?

 

[Cocoa]

Zebra - thank you for pointing me in the direction on the thread about 'clean'. Very restorative! Good to know it's not just me...

 

[Flyfisher]

Henry wins over Shopvac?

That looks like a good tool. I'm assuming they use 'shop' in the American sense meaning 'workshop'?

If I didn't already have one of these, I'd be seriously tempted: http://www.janitorialdirect.co.uk/numatic-hazardous-materials-vacuum-hzq-370-2-705.html

 

[livias]

The most absolutely horriblest messiest job is opening up an inglenook because inordinate quantities of fine black greasy dust go everywhere. I am planning to learn by my mistakes and this time round I will investigate the inglenook as my first project, NOT leave it until I have decorated upstairs

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Even in our 1986 build we have dust--the only difference being that we no longer live near a road so the dust is not sticky and black! Another interesting annoyance (minor) is waking p in the morning and finding that a cobweb has appeared across the pillow, the odd beetle falls off a lampshade, pretty moths flutter around, and the corners of the rooms are full of those very thin spiders enjoying their prey! That is all because we live in the country!

 

[a twig]

Henry Xtra with the fabric HEPA bags for us - spot on!

Weirdly the HEPA bags can be found cheaper online than the paper ones, so seems daft not to! Was invaluable when opening up and cleaning out chimneys etc, just sucked up the whole lot

Also, Henrys are eminently repairably for even the most ham fisted DIYer and parts are readily and cheaply available.

 

[LadyArowana]

Be thankful for your dust, spiders and beetles in the house, they could be snakes, scorpions and poisonous centipedes ( I have only found 2 out of those 3 nasties, and luckily found them before they found me! ).