Dry Sanding
Dust, Dust and More Dust
You will need to use a dust mask for drywall sanding as there is a LOT of dust created. During the sanding, turn off the furnace and block the heat register and cold air returns so dust won’t go down into the ventilation system. Cover up everything that you don’t want dust on, or remove it from the room. Cover up the carpet and flooring if you are in a remodel situation where the flooring is already down.
Sandpaper
Use a fine mesh screen or fine grit sandpaper (150 - 220 grit) and sand the drywall compound smooth , Use a "pole sander" for the large areas of drywall. Pole sanding is done in two way direction (up and down as opposed to a circular motion) rather than in a circular motion. Trim the sandpaper with scissors where it overhangs the sides of the pole sander. Sand the nail spot fills, outside corners, seams and inside corners. You will need to follow up on inside corners with a sanding sponge for best results.
Radius 360 Sander
A new design of the pole sander is the Radius 360. Using a 360 degree circular sanding head and special circular sandpaper, the 360 sander allows you to sand horizontally and vertically interchangeably with less flipping of the sanding head. Rectangular sanders are prone to flipping and scaring with the square corners of the sanding head. The round head eliminates both of these issues.
High Walls
Pole sanders come with a 4’ poles. There will be times when the 4’ pole won’t reach, in which case you will need to use a telescoping pole in lieu of the standard wood pole. With most (but not all) pole sanders, the pole will unscrew from the sanding head. It is not as simple as screwing in the telescoping pole to the sander head. For some reason, the poles sanders use a finer thread than the standard acme thread that is on broom stick and painting poles. In order to adapt the sanding head to a painter’s telescoping pole you need to use a sanding head adapter made for this very conversion. See links to the left margin or go to The Internet Paint Store in the drywall tools section , you should find one or two types there. These adapters are cheap, but absolutely necessary for pole sanding. Sooner or later you will need one.
If you can, you are MUCH better off vacuum sanding the drywall to eliminate the dust at the point of generation.
Dust Containment
Drywall sanding creates lots of dust. The dust will remain suspended in the air floating around from room to room. If you are not vacuum sanding, you will want to contain the dust by blocking off the room or work area.
Zip Wall Containment System
Cleaning up the Sanding Dust
Use a Shop Vac with a fine dust collection bag and a fine dust filter (preferably a HEPA filter). If you use a shop vacuum without bagging and fine filtering, you may end up blowing out the dust through the exhaust, and/or be forced to deal with constant clogging of the filter (using a fine filter without the dust bag).
Wet Sanding
You can control dust if you can keep the surface wet. Wetting down to control dust is done with industrial cutting and grinding operations. With drywll sanding this is done by using a damp cellulose sponge for "sanding"
Drywall compound will dissolve when rubbed with a damp sponge. To improve or speed up the process, a scour sponge with a scour pad on one side, and regular sponge on the other side is often used.
The problem with the wet sanding method is that it is hard to “feather” the edges of the wet drywall compound. Usually, you get a blunt edge that needs further (dry) sanding. It is better to use the damp sponge for an initial rough sanding, then after the compound dries out, follow that up with a light dry sanding.
Vacuum Sanding
You can use your Shop Vac for dustless sanding. You will need a:
- Fine dust filter
- Dust collection bag (fine dust)
- Vacuum sander attachment
(The "Magna Sand" wet filter system allows you forego the use of the collection bag with their system the sand drops down into a bucket of water.)
Vacuum sanding eliminates the dust - at the point of creation, by sucking it through the special sander head into the vacuum, ultimately into the collection bag, with the final cartrige filter preventing any dust from coming out the vacuum exhaust. The three items used to convert a standard shop vacuum for fine drywall dust is minimal.
Collection Bags
You must collect the dust in a vacuum bag upsteam from the final fine filter. If you don't, the vacuum will only last a few minutes before a clogged filter causes a loss of suction.
Fine Dust Filter
This filter prevents any vacuumed debris from blowing back out into the air through the exhaust. There are fine dust filters (acceptable) and HEPA filters (better), for this purpose. Some are for dry vacuuming only, others for wet or dry vacuumng
Vacuum Sanding Attachments
Pole Sanders
You can get pole sanders that will attach to a vacuum The vacuum pole sanders are a bit cumbersome, and for that reason many (probably “most”) drywallers do not use them for whole house sanding in new residential construction. They are used in remodeling where the home is occupied and the construction area is confined to smaller areas, and the dust must be controlled (or eliminated).
High ceilings can be reached with a telescoping pole in conjunction with the Hyde
Hand sanders
Hand sanders are handled sanders which kind of look like the gymnastics pommel horse handles attached to a flat padded sander which secures the sandpaper in much the same way that the pole sander does, by clamping down on it.Hand sanders are used for spot repairs on drywall. Typically you can do a circular or straight sanding motion. Flipping is not a concern with hand sanders. .
Unlike the vacuum pole sanders, the vacuum hand sanders are not too cumbersome and are easy to use. I rarely use anything else inside a customers home. You can use as much vacuum hose as needed and sand all the repairs in a room dust free. The vacuum hand sander is an inexpensive attachment and used with a properly filtered shop vacuum makes drywall repairs a pleasure to do. I used to hate doing large repairs in an occupied home knowing the dust that would be created. Not any longer. The vacuum hand sander is an economical solution to a really BIG problem - drywall dust.
If you need to set up a quick barrier the Zip Wall system is quick to set using plastic sheeting and easy release tape (or 15 or 60 day masking tape if you are going to leave the barrier up). You can create a barrier with an entry door using a special zipper to keep the dust contained to the work area. Be sure to turn off the furnace or air conditioner during the sanding and block off the heat ducts and cold air returns in the room to prevent dust from getting down into the ventilation system during the sanding. See Zipwall Containment System
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Sanding Sponges
A final clean up of inside corners with a sanding sponge is needed for a good clean, square corners. Sanding sponges are firm rectangular sponges or parallelogram shaped sponges. They come in coarse, medium and fine grits. Use the fine grit for drywall sanding. Sanding sponges can get into corners and tight areas better than the pole sander.
Wipe Down the Walls
Follow up the sanding with a wipe down using a micro fiber tack cloth attached to the same pole sander, or by vacuuming (See Filtering Your Shop Vacuum for Drywall Dust) to remove the sanding dust. The micro fiber tack cloth can be attached to the pole sander just like sandpaper, and used to “mop” the dust off the wall. Give the tack cloth a shake outside or vacuum it clean from time to time to maintain its effectiveness.
Drywall Sanding Tips
Tools and Techniques for
Sanding New Drywall
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