Loft debris

[Gervase]

At the risk of severe thread-drift, I've given up on Dyson (after having three of them) and am now a convert to the Henry. It's far more robust and seems more than capable of dealing with any amount of attic dust, plaster debris and wood shavings.

 

[Nemesis]

I am not going to tempt fate... maybe ours has lasted for a number of years through underuse!

 

[Carissa]

I've just finished doing a similar job - although we had to lift all the existing loft floorboards to be able to put insulation in (there was none at all). The boards were fairly sooty on top, underneath it was much worse! At the sides of the roof were piles of the old lime mortar from the original roof - we took 17 black bin bags out. Throughout the whole loft, the ceiling was covered in soot, dust, old nails, bits of lime mortar.

The whole job of clearing it out and making it clean enough for Thermafleece insulation has taken quite a few days. I borrowed a friend's Henry - it was brilliant, vacummed up anything and everything without a problem, including (accidentally) the occasional largish chunk of lime mortar that we'd missed on the first brush and shovel attempt.

 

[skier-hughes]

Our Dyson filter clogs quickly with building dust.

We had a Dyson tech guy out to repair ours, and for £50 they will replace any item that needs to be, except for filters.
We had a new flexi tube, new small end fittings, new handle, new casing for the filter, new roller thing in the bottom and he fixed it.

Knocking it down stairs to a tile floor doesn't do it much good.

So if you can pick up a non working one for a few quid it can be reconditioned for £50 by Dyson, in your house.

 

[CHRIS]

You can ponce about with home vacs but the ideal thing for the job is the type that fits onto drywall sanders, if it can deal with the fine dust of tape jointing it can deal with attic dust. I have used it for tons of truly nasty jobs and it works every time very well and all you do it tip it out into the bin and no messing with bags etc. You could hire one for the weekend and if you plan it right you could do all the nasty jobs in one go by having the floors open and insulation away etc.

http://www.hss.com/g/5231/Drywall_Sander_Kit.html

If you have never seen a drywall sander it is a beast! and is amazing as it creates nearly no dust at all.

 

[MdB]

I nabbed a non working Dyson off freecycle and took it to bits. It took a couple of hours to remove the bits of paper jammed in it and has been working fine since.

I have taken off the handle so I just have the flexible tube for picking up dust / small rubble which makes it easier to use but a little harder to move around. I bought a cheap wall chaser to fit the new electrics and connected the Dyson to the dust extraction port with a bit of tape which works great.

As others have said, the filters block up in seconds with builders dust so I have had to remove those. The releases a small amount of dust back into the atmosphere when in use but for DIY type jobs it works great. The collection tube thing is getting a nice sand blasted finish though...

 

[Lime]

When we had our roof redone a few years ago the loft was already in a filthy state.
There was soot everywhere together with about an inch of fibreglass insulation between the joists.
I was told just to lay another layer of insulation and cover it up but I couldn't. Lying in bed with the thought of that lot above me did not fill me with pleasure.

So I decided to throw everything out and clean it.
Taking the old insulation out, put in about the 60s, was bad enough but the amount of soot (3-4 inches in most places), nests of all different sorts and debris was daunting.
I had a filter bucket between the retired dyson 01 that caught most of the rubbish. It was connected by several lengths of hoover hose (not dyson!) so I was able to get everywhere.
It took many days to remove the worst of it and then I did it all again much more thoroughly.
Starting from the highest point, I used fine brushes to clean off all the soot from the beams and bricks and then carefully cleaned around the plaster ceiling keys with a paintbrush.

Eventually it was clean to the touch everywhere.

It gave me the opportunity to study the condition of the loft in detail fortunately with few surprises.

I'm pleased I did it. Now when going in the loft it is spanking clean and not the dirty, dusty place it once was.

 

[NT]

If youre going to buy a cyclone, dyson is probably the worst of them all.


NT

 

[Penners]

I've given up on Dyson

I agree. Had one - wouldn't have another. It worked well for about a year, then (just out of warranty) started to fall apart and lose efficacy.

 

[skier-hughes]

If youre going to buy a cyclone, dyson is probably the worst of them all.


NT

You can't say that without giving the best and a reason or two, surely

 

[NT]

If youre going to buy a cyclone, dyson is probably the worst of them all.

You can't say that without giving the best and a reason or two, surely

Havent a clue which is best, and dont really care, just know to avoid the diesoons. Reasons why have already been covered.


NT

 

[skier-hughes]

:roll:

 

[gerrysw]

I have just finished a similar job. I've put new 3"x2" joists across at right angles to the old ones - roughly the same number, at similar spacing - and screwed them at all the intersections. A tedious job, bit it's made the ceiling strong enough to take weight without flexing. Three of the old 4"x2" joists have also been replaced, as they were rather worm-eaten, and I think not precious original fabric. As mentioned in a previous post, the old ceiling has actually come down, and my next job is to re-do the lath & (lime) plaster. Seems foolish to the rest of the world ("why not plasterboard?"), but I feel sure greeted with sympathy by the contributors to this Forum.

I had the same problem - should I plasterboard or lath? In the end I purchased "reed mat" from Ty Mawr Lime supplies" in Wales. Much quicker and much cheaper than laths, enviromentally PC, and took lime plaster really well

 

[NT]

:roll:

I could say the same.

 

[NT]

but i tried being polite instead.

 

[Nemesis]

Reed mat - as used by Gervase and seen on telly:

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/article042.htm

 

[Nemesis]

Reed mat - as used by Gervase and seen on telly:

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/article042.htm

http://www.horganandwebb.com/

 

[skier-hughes]

but i tried being polite instead.

Sorry,

I just thought after your statement you were going to come out with some reason for saying Dyson was the worst cyclone and give us the best one, with a reason why, being as 4 people use them and three pepole don't was your reason for them being the worse confused me.

I should thing you must know my views on posts without authority, so I'll say no more.

Graham

 

[Nemesis]

Oh well - I'm an authority on Dysons as I own one. I have even been known to use it on occasions. I can tell which part is the plug and where the filters are housed. I even know how to empty it, although I appreciate that is getting a bit technical for fluffy female brains.

It's still going strong after more than five years (fingers crossed). It may even be longer but I've lost count.

 

[Gervase]

I'm probably not an authority on Dysons, as I can't seem to keep the wretched things alive. As I said earlier, I've had three die on me. I love the idea behind them, but feel a bit let down by the reality, as they do seem to be rather more flimsy than some cleaners. The plastic from which they're made appears to be very brittle in comparison with other brands.