Can you hang curtains of plastic around the work area? If yes, then leave only one entrance - then open a window in the area and put a fan in the window & turn it on - then open up the entrance a little to let air flow into the work area. It will get sucked out the window by the fan. The dust will go out the window too!

Moving out was very tempting, indeed. Can you hang plastic over the entry/exit areas of the kitchen to minimize what gets out? It helped us some. I hate to say it, but if tile hasn't come out yet, and you have any walls getting torn apart, it is going to get worse.....

{{!gwi}}

Make you feel any better? Hang in there!!!!!

Yup - Dust is just part of the process. This picture was taken after two days of no work in the room - you can still see the dust in the air!

We covered both interior entryways into the kitchen with plastic. Still dust sneaks everywhere. The best advise I could give is to move anything you remotely care about into the room that you think will be the least dusty (spare bedroom, attic). Cover everything that is left with clean drop cloths and sheets. And mop and dust often - sometimes we would mop the hardwood floors in the rest of the house 2-3 times in a row just to keep the dust from spreading throughout the house. At one point I even stood next to my DH with the shop vac on while he was doing demo. Last piece of advise that should be obvious - don't empty the shop vac canister in the house - yes we did this!

Dust is a mighty foe - and it takes a multi-prong approach to keep it at bay - BUT the results are soooo worth it!

Awwhhhhh Suzie.. I can certainly relate. I posted a rant awhile back when I was in that stage too. You might find it interesting reading, just so as you don't feel alone!
Good luck - there's not really anything you can do but clean clean clean.... and do you best to be patient. It will come to an end, and you'll have a nice prize at the end.
---Boxie

Here is a link that might be useful: Sick of people in my house

We had plastic sheeting taped around the doorways, tarps for the guys to walk on, and the dust from the demo/new drywall/floor sanding still managed to permeate the entire first floor and the stairwell to the second floor. Even our cat, who was locked in the basement, was covered with grit. Now that we're in the cabinet phase, it is truly a manageable amount of dust each day...not like the DustBowl of the first two weeks. Muscat....WHAT is that man doing in your picture? He looks like he just was shearing some sheep on the ranch! :)

Yeah, its incredible how much dust can be created - getting ready for it in my home - its going to be tough with the layout.

A friend who redid their kitchen in a new home a couple years back closed off the entire area with plastic as there was a secondary entrance which worked out quite well. (old house without internal air - so that wasn't a concern for spreading dust).

Deedee- that is all insulation that fell out of the walls and mostly ceiling. Though it was not the original plan, the ceiling came down when the soffits came out. We went to 'plan B'......

And the thing is, I think the dust sticks around for a LONG time. When we first moved into this house, it was brand new. For at least a year I think I had to dust daily. We have a lot of black painted furniture and the top of our smooth top stove is black, I still have to dust those items pretty much daily...at least!

Just pray they don't have to do any grinding of granite inside. They didn't cut the hole in our bathroom granite wide enough for the sink drain (it's a vessel sink) at the shop and had already installed it. When I figured it out they came back and had to grind it down in the tiny little powder room. There was white dust ALL OVER THE PLACE and they even had one guy holding a shopvac hose right there while they were doing it. I was concerned with breathing it all in!

Good luck!
Robin

OMG! Don't forget to plug up the heating vents/duct work!! And REALLY the fan in the window with the little openning across the way helps tremendously (force of negative pressure). Oh, and shop vac after every day and interday after you do any sanding.

Egads, the dust was awful!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Eventually Almost Mostly Finished Craftsman Kitchen

Hopefully just passed the last really dusty phase in my remodel. I feel your frustration. I never would have believed it if I hadn't been there myself. The thing that bugged me the most was when I would spend over an hour sweeping and wiping the place clean and come in the next morning before work had even started to see another layer of dust everywhere that had settled out of the air.

ditto ogoopogo on changing the air filters. Keep the rooms you're spending time in really well ventilated, also - I don't know for sure, but would it be helpful to have one of those Allergy "HEPA" air filters in key rooms? They're not cheap, but might provide some relief.

Lastly, take extra care when old ceiling or wall insulation is being messed with or removed (like in muscat's picture). That stuff is nasty! I made the mistake of not wearing my dust mask once because I was only removing just 4-6 sq ft of ceiling. Had a sore throat for 4 days - learned my lesson.

I read about a trick a few years ago, in Fine Homebuilding, if I recall correctly, that should help with the dust a little (but I haven't tried it yet). It was a poor man's dust collector. The contributor used a 20'' box fan and fixed a 20 x 20 furnace filter to the intake side. I think he used some vinyl J molding attached to the fan on top & bottom edge to hold the filter in place...not that there is anything 'wrong' with using duct tape. ;)

Wouldn't be perfect but should help some, esp. in seasons when you can't, don't want to keep all the windows open. And you can't argue much about how much it costs!

Probably should remember to leave the fan running on low over night.

Muscat--I got buried in an avalanche of rock wool when I tore my soffits down a few years ago, too--Gads, that stuff is worse than drywall dust.

Isolate the room(s) being worked on.

Block off HVAC supply/returns to that space. Keep the system off if possible during work. This is a prob. if the weather is really hot or cold.

Get a negative air machine to run while work is taking place, you didn't choose the lowest bidder did you? These are $$$$$$$$$$$ to buy or rent so you'll have to pony up sooner or later.

Sweep, vaccum at the end of each day.

A filter to run after work to scrub the air works sometimes, other times it spreads the stuff around more than it eliminates it. A 3 stage filter is best. The box fan idea might work in certain situations, but it might just stir things up.

MOST IMPORTANT - this is a worksite, not a hospital operating room or computer chip manufacturer. What ever gave you the notion/expectation things would remain clean and dust free?

Yes the dust is unbearable- isn't it?
Just a tip- don't pledge your floors in an attempt to get rid of the dust, I learned the hard way. I still slip on some areas of my hardwood floors.

antss - you're right of course about it being a a worksite. But speaking as a first timer - It isn't like I expected things would remain clean and dust free. I just severely underestimated how much dust there would be and how pervasive it can be.

My sink is going to be cut on site (a compromise between the fabricator and I) next week. He did warn me that the downside is a lot of dust. DH & I already decided to put tape over the drawer slides to keep them clean and to move a lot of stuff into the adjoining room (kitchen will be poly'd off) and the kitchen porch.

Luckily DH is very experienced at cleaning dust. He owns a business that has contracted with many large corporations, 3M included. 3M has him clean rooms that cannot have a spec of dust in them as they were manufacturing magnetic recording tape to send into space. The downside is that he can't use all his professional equipment in my house! But I'll leave the clean up to him (as I always do, LOL!)

All workers have been out of the house for 2 weeks and I'm still getting a daily build up of dust. Does it make any sense to get the ducts cleaned?

-Margie

Neesie, can you rent out your DH? :)
By now I've become a dust connoisseur -- drywall dust, concrete dust, sawdust, granite dust, regular (pre-remodel) dust...I've seen it all.
Margie, probably yes (at least change the air filter). Drywall dust in particular gets everywhere and it moves around as you dust, but I'd wonder about dust 2 weeks later (except in my case hehhehheh).

Hmm... now I'm starting to worry. We will be starting a partial remodel in about a week and I have not been thinking about putting up plastic barriers etc. Since we are keeping our original cabinets and hardwood floors, how much dust will I have to deal with when only the formica countertops on the 2 counters, island and desk are removed? Plus we will pull down the old tile backsplash and relocate some electrical outlets in the drywall. I will be removing all items in base cabinets and from the counter surfaces to store in another room until after granite is installed. They will have to make the cutout for my cooktop on site. Do you think I will need to buy some rolls of plastic and expect lots of dust through the house?

Lmalm:
Yes, affirmative, positive, agreed, absolutely, etc.
Removal of countertops & tile backsplash = fragments of construction debris going everywhere = dust.
Relocate elec outlets in d'wall = cut holes in d'wall = more dust.
Onsite cutouts = sawdust/granite dust everywhere = well, you get the picture.
If you have a GC, s/he should take care of the plastic barriers.

Well... since I am my own GC and my neighbor (electrician and professional rehabber) is doing the demo, guess I better look into getting some plastic sheeting! Glad I read this thread.

I am in the middle of it too. I couldn't figure out why there was so much dust one day when I came home from work. Lots of dust and some wood splinters in my laundry room. The contractor cleaned up really well after my demo. I couldn't figure it out.

It finally hit me today (sorry, boyfriend's parents are here from Florida, boyfriend is nuts, work is insane, and my house which is my sanctuary is torn up, just restarted working out at the gym to deal with the stress as there is not enough chocolate in the world!--so it took me 36 hours) It was the plumber who went through the attic crawl space in my laundry room to install the gas line for my new dual fuel range. I have been breathing insulation dust!

No wonder my throat feels tickly. I figured it was from the 50 plus mile per hour winds we were having that is blowing everything in site therefore we have extremely bad air quality too boot! Ugh!

Please, please, please tell me today is Friday and I have a three day weekend ahead of me and only have to deal with an upside down house, crazy boyfriend, his parents, plumbers coming to fix leaky valves in my laundry room and a toilet that doesn't work right and at least I don't have to deal with the insanity at work as well! Just another 24 hours till the weekend.......

Everyone--I feel your pain! Especially in my throat and lungs at the moment.