best way to clean drywall sand dust off of painted walls/ceilings?

[purbeast0]

i've finished patching up some holes that i had to cut from the wall of a finished room, with painted walls/ceiling. there are about 10 holes total.

now there is drywall dust on the walls around the patched holes from me sanding it down after putting the mudding filler in the gaps.

it is also all over the carpet in a lot of spaces, but i ran my vacuum over some areas to test it out and it got the stuff up just fine, so getting it off the floor won't be a problem.

i am wondering though what the best way to get it off the painted walls, without messing up the paint on the walls and leaving any marks on them. anyone have any experience with this and wanna suggest the best way to do this?

this is the first time i've ever done anything like this so i'm a noob to it.

 

[ManBearPig]

Maybe a lint roller?

 

[sdifox]

damp microfibre cloth.

 

[purbeast0]

damp microfibre cloth.

i do have a few of those that i use to dry my car with. by damp you mean just get it wet then totally ring it out? so that shouldn't leave any streaks or anything on the wall then?

 

[DrPizza]

You must have an upright vacuum, not one with a hose? I'd use a longer hose on the vacuum & a soft bristle vacuum head. With a vacuum, you have to pay close attention to the air it's blowing out. Sometimes, that very fine dust makes its way through if you don't have good filters.

 

[bignateyk]

Damp sponge (the big ones that you use for grouting)... rinse and repeat. Unless it's a textured ceiling...

 

[purbeast0]

You must have an upright vacuum, not one with a hose? I'd use a longer hose on the vacuum & a soft bristle vacuum head. With a vacuum, you have to pay close attention to the air it's blowing out. Sometimes, that very fine dust makes its way through if you don't have good filters.

its a dyson dc24 animal vacuum. i didn't notice it spitting any dust out as it vacuumed up the dust. i only did one area that had the dusting from 2 patches that were close by in the ceiling. like a 4x4 area. it seemed to do a really good job.

 

[Blackjack200]

Damp sponge (the big ones that you use for grouting)... rinse and repeat. Unless it's a textured ceiling...

This.

I don't even think it should matter if its a textured ceiling as long as its painted. Spackle is water soluble, dried paint is not. Should wipe right off.

BTW, I'm assuming you sanded the spackle and not the drywall.

 

[bignateyk]

This.

I don't even think it should matter if its a textured ceiling as long as its painted. Spackle is water soluble, dried paint is not. Should wipe right off.

BTW, I'm assuming you sanded the spackle and not the drywall.

Those textured/popcorn ceilings will tear a sponge apart like a cheese grater.

 

[purbeast0]

This.

I don't even think it should matter if its a textured ceiling as long as its painted. Spackle is water soluble, dried paint is not. Should wipe right off.

BTW, I'm assuming you sanded the spackle and not the drywall.

yea sanded the spackle to smooth it out.

and no the ceilings are not textured they are smooth.

think i will go to HD at lunch and get one of those sponges for grouting and use that if that is the best way to do this, thanks.

gonna snag one of these

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...&productId=100173109&R=100173109#.UPgqW6MZLJg

and one of those big orange buckets

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...&productId=100087613&R=100087613#.UPgqeaMZLJg

 

[twinrider1]

If you foresee additional drywall/painting work in your future, I'd pick up one of these.

If not, I'd go with the vacuum/damp cloth method.

 

[purbeast0]

If you foresee additional drywall/painting work in your future, I'd pick up one of these.

If not, I'd go with the vacuum/damp cloth method.

nah i don't see any of this in the future. it was to do some in-wall wiring on a finished area. now that it's done, hopefully i never have to go back in there!

 

[purbeast0]

one more quick question...

i'm assuming i should wipe over the actual area i'm going to be painting as well correct? again noob here who's never done this, so while this may be obvious to everyone, i just want to verify before i start applying the paint.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tack_cloth

 

[purbeast0]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tack_cloth

so would you use that JUST for the area you are painting? or also the rest of the wall to get the stuff off?

 

[SheHateMe]

Maybe I'm lazy...but I just use a new paintbrush to brush the dust off the wall before I paint.

 

[purbeast0]

Maybe I'm lazy...but I just use a new paintbrush to brush the dust off the wall before I paint.

you aren't going to get the dust off the wall doing that. this isn't just every day dust, this is joint compound dust from sanding. if you brush it, it will get some of it off but smush the rest into the wall leaving a white haze on it.

 

[Imp]

its a dyson dc24 animal vacuum. i didn't notice it spitting any dust out as it vacuumed up the dust. i only did one area that had the dusting from 2 patches that were close by in the ceiling. like a 4x4 area. it seemed to do a really good job.

It's your money, but I wouldn't risk such an expensive vacuum cleaner on large amounts of dust as fine as drywall dust.

 

[purbeast0]

It's your money, but I wouldn't risk such an expensive vacuum cleaner on large amounts of dust as fine as drywall dust.

not sure what you mean. what is bad about vacuuming it up? and btw this is on carpet, not hardwood flooring.

 

[ManBearPig]

I still like my lint roller idea.

 

[bignateyk]

I still like my lint roller idea.

It would probably take 50 disposable rollers worth of that sticky paper to clean a wall of drywall dust.

 

[Imp]

not sure what you mean. what is bad about vacuuming it up? and btw this is on carpet, not hardwood flooring.

None at all, just that when we vacuumed drywall dust using our old vacuums, they died. However, they used filters so maybe it's different. A Dyson is a pretty hefty investment, so I'd baby it a bit.

With our vacuums, the dust ended up clogging the filters and probably other parts. This stressed and killed the motor. We tried cleaning it, but drywall dust is very very fine to the point that it'll get through tiny cracks in large amounts.

A shop vac might be able to handle it, and those are relatively cheap.

 

[purbeast0]

ah i gotcha. yea i mean it seems to be sucking it up just fine for the areas i tried it. it also isn't like A TON of dust in the sense that it will have to empty the canister like 3-4 times or anything.

i just went and got a sponge and the tack cloth at hd so i'll give it a go tonight, thanks.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

so would you use that JUST for the area you are painting? or also the rest of the wall to get the stuff off?

Anywhere, really. I just painted my office and used tack cloth to remove all the dust that was on the wall from sanding drywall spackle. One cloth goes a fairly long way, and they are cheap.

 

[sdifox]

i do have a few of those that i use to dry my car with. by damp you mean just get it wet then totally ring it out? so that shouldn't leave any streaks or anything on the wall then?

yeah. vacuuming helps too, but I guess the hose might get a little heavy