Drywall Dust Clean Up Guide: How To Remove Dust When It's ...

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The best way to remove drywall dust from any surface in your home

HOW TO

Best Way To Clean Drywall Dust

We have done tons of projects around here that have required new drywall.

Our first One Room Challenge guest bathroom makeover, which is the first time either of us had even touched drywall ourselves, and it was a beast.

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Not to mention the entire first flip house, Beverly and now Archie have had to have new drywall in the whole home.

And now throw in our new kitchen renovation we are in the middle of, and we have had our share of experience with drywall dust.

But how do you clean it up? Well, I’m so glad you asked.

Table Of Contents

1. How To Clean Dust Off Drywall After Sanding
   • Containing Drywall Dust
2. Drywall Dust on Doors, Windows, and Ceilings
   • Hard surfaces – Ceilings
   • Wood floors/tile or baseboards
   • Carpet
   • Detailed cleaning
3. FAQs
4. Conclusion

How To Clean Dust Off Drywall After Sanding

Containing Drywall Dust

If possible, regardless of the size of your project, it is beneficial to at least attempt to contain the dust in the working area.

If not, you’ll run into the issue that we did (even though we contained it) and have it travel everywhere.

To contain the dust, we recommend using Zipwall. You can zip up this plastic to get in and out, but it helps keep the dust at bay.

You can also just use painter’s plastic and tape it up, but the problem is that if it gets on you or your shoes, it will absolutely travel.

We had it from the laundry room (which is attached to the kitchen), and it somehow ended up upstairs, simply from us having to traffic through the mess before we went upstairs.

Drywall Dust on Doors, Windows, and Ceilings

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Depending on where your drywall dust is, you’ll want a few things on hand to help you clean things up:

• Shopvac
• Zipwall or painters plastic
• Face mask
• Broom and dustpan
• Microfiber cloth or tack cloth
• Surface cleaner (this can be something like my favorite scented Clorox wipes or a more natural solution like a DIY homemade cleaner)
• Mop (I prefer a Swiffer, but you can use any kind of mop like this super inexpensive microfiber mop from Amazon that I love!)
• Optional: Spot cleaner for rugs or fabric furniture

If you don’t have a shop vac, now is a good time to invest in one! We got ours at Harbor Freight for next to nothing, but you can try Home Depot or Amazon if you don’t have a Harbor Freight.

Here are some highly-rated options if you’re in the market for a shop vac:

Hard surfaces – Ceilings

The best advice I would give is to work your way from the top down.

Use a microfiber mop or a microfiber cloth on the end of a mop to get dust from the ceiling and walls.

Wood floors/tile or baseboards

The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure all the big pieces are off the floor.

When working with drywall dust, you’ll most likely have chunks of drywall or drywall mud that you’ll need to sweep.

Sweep all the large pieces into a pile and use your Shopvac to suck it all up.

Then go back in with a microfiber or tack cloth to remove more.

Pro tip: Be careful using a tack cloth on cabinet surfaces because sometimes they can leave a residue that is hard to clean off of some cabinet surfaces.

Carpet

While we didn’t have carpet inside of the place where we had drywall installed, we have rugs in all of our bedrooms.

Drywall dust travels very easily, especially if you’re going to be walking a lot in the areas. It will suit you best to either pull up the rugs in rooms or make sure you have a good spot carpet cleaner on hand.

We have and love our Bissell Little Green Steamer, which you can use for quick spot cleaning.

If you have full-blown carpet, just make sure it’s covered as much as possible. I promise you, it’s going to be a disaster.

Detailed cleaning

It’s detail time after you’ve done the bigger pieces and gotten most of the dust.

I like to use some type of Clorox or Lysol wipe for hard surfaces that allow.

I also have a secret weapon:

A dryer sheet.

I find that after I use a microfiber cloth, it acts as a tack cloth a bit but doesn’t leave the residue.

My dryer sheet was able to pick up this much dust in one tiny area after using a shop vac and a microfiber cloth.

To finish off, I prefer a Swiffer wet mop for floors or this fantastic microfiber mop from Amazon.

It may take a couple of times to mop before it comes clean, but I promise you, there is an end in sight.

FAQs

How long does drywall dust take to settle?

Once the sanding is done, the dust takes only around 5-10 minutes, but when you begin cleaning it up, you will learn that it is stirred up very easily because it is so fine.Especially if you’re using a regular broom, you will find this dust gets into the air quickly, so I recommend wearing a mask when cleaning up the drywall dust.

Is dust from drywall a fire hazard?

Drywall is made up of a material called gypsum that is essentially in between thick pieces of paper.The drywall itself is not flammable, which means the dust is not a fire hazard. If it were flammable, you would have houses catching on fire way more often because most homes have drywall.

Is drywall dust toxic?

Luckily, drywall dust is not toxic.However, because it is so fine, it can really get in your nose and mouth when you’re trying to clean it up and make you cough and sneeze your head off.Ask me how I know.It’s super important that you wear a mask when cleaning up drywall dust. Not only will it help with the coughing and sneezing, but it will also help keep as much of the dust out of your lungs as much as possible.

Is it okay to vacuum drywall dust with a regular vacuum?

Technically yes, you can. I just highly recommend using a shop vac as opposed to a regular vacuum.When you use a regular vacuum cleaner to collect fine dust, the bags and filters block quickly, resulting in the vacuum sending dust back into the air.If a regular vacuum is all you have or it’s not in the budget to buy or rent a shop vac, make sure you use a heavy-duty HEPA filter on your regular vacuum to clean drywall dust effectively and safely.

Can drywall dust be wet mopped, or will that make a mess?

You can wet mop drywall dust, but I would only recommend doing that once you’ve done a good few sweeps with a shop vac and a microfiber cloth first. If not, you’ll be in a situation like we were where we had sort of a drywall paste that was harder to clean up.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to actually clean up drywall dust, it’s time to do that very unfun part of starting to do it. Make sure you have all your supplies gathered beforehand and be as thorough as possible when cleaning.

Take your time! Once you’re finished, you can admire the hard work of your freshly drywalled space.