I was helping my brother patch a wall in his old house and realized something about dust

We were sanding a seam in his 1920s bungalow in St. Louis, and the room was just a total cloud, even with a fan in the window. I went to grab a drink and saw a perfect, clean rectangle on the hardwood floor where a rug had been. It hit me that all that fine dust settles everywhere, not just the immediate area. The next day, I started using a cheap plastic drop cloth from the dollar store, taped down with painter's tape, extending a full 10 feet out from the wall. It adds maybe 5 minutes to setup but saves an hour of cleanup. What's your go-to method for containing the mess in a lived-in house?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_kevin10d ago

Drop cloths are good, but plastic creates static.

ben_nguyen9d ago

Wait, static is the big worry here? Not the fact that plastic slides around like it's on ice if you step on it wrong? That stuff is a death trap on a ladder. Give me a heavy canvas drop cloth any day, at least it stays put. The static is the last thing on my mind when I'm trying not to eat floor.