cleaning interior after builder, cement dust etc?

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NOAH

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Finally, my builder has removed all his gear from the rooms in my refurbuished bungalow, tonight I started sweeping up and was amazed with the amount of cement dust, it is everywhere. I had ceilings replaced and skimmed in every room, some walls replastered, chasings filled in after plumber and electrician, new floors in the new bits, and so on.

Is there something I can hire that will suck up all this dust as I want to get walls etc ready for painting? It is a nigtmare. Should I wash down walls and what do I use?

Thanks

noah
 
Re: cleaning interior after builder, cement dust etc??

Firstly a damp cloth for the walls and ceilings, then after getting the big dust up with a bit of water (a spray gun of some sort should help) and sweeping brush if you are man enough to get on your hands and knees with a cloth and white spirits the place should be gleaming. Keep a window open when using the white spirits if you don't want to choke yourself. I've heard elbow grease works well with it too!!!:D
 
There is really no alternative to water, cloths and elbow grease; which is why builders never really leave a project "ready to move into". If it were my new build/ refurb I would wipe all walls down with warm water and cloths, changing water regularly. Invest in a pretty cheap vacuum cleaner (or hire one!) for the floors. If you still feel new floors are very dusty you can seal concrete with a watered down PVA solution. Concrete dust is very abrasive, depending on the fines so it is well worth removing as much of it as you possibly can; it will prevent wear and tear on new floor finishes later. You shouldn't need to use white spirits, unless there are oily residues.
 
thank you and there was I thinking there was some fancy machine that would do it all for me.

white spirit, ugghhhhhhhhhh. but if it works then so be it.

noah
 
PVA solution is polybond. Water it down a bit and apply it like paint.

If you have a very bad dust problem, I would advise that you hire an industrial vacume. It shouldn't cost you more than €40 for a day but will really shift that debris and dust for you. The problem with a domestic hoover is that it makes most of the small dust just fly around the room. The suction on an industrial vacume will be much stronger too. By getting an industrial vac with a long hose, you can put the vac outside, hose through window and hoover all that mess away. The will also work on wet floors if you want to damp down the floor before you start.

Make sure you hoover down the walls before you start to decorate.
 
Hire an industrial vac with a good hepa filter this will remove most of youe dust.Vacuum walls as well as floors.A good quality flat paint thinned 10/15% will normally suffice for priming walls, or you could use unibond thinned with 20% water.
 
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