Eliminate drywall repair clean up by controlling the mess Part One

I have some bad news for you. Doing a perfect drywall repair where there is no indication of the former damage can get you in real trouble. The look on your wife’s face could range from sad resignation to hatred, if the work area and beyond is covered in drywall dust. If you want to be a real hero and get all those sexy hero points you are going to have to do the clean up yourself.  The good news is that I can tell you how to eliminate the clean up. 

We have all heard the saying “you can pay me now, or you can pay me later”. That’s the deal with doing not only drywall repair projects, but all projects. The secret weapon is painters plastic. I am going to tell you how to catch all the dust and debris from your project by spending 2-10 minutes using some very easy methods to erect plastic drop cloths and dust barriers.  When you are done all the dust and mess will be sitting on the plastic waiting to be rolled up and tossed out. Under your plastic will be a clean surface just like before you started. You can either make a big mess and then clean up the mess. Or you can quickly put down a plastic barrier to catch the mess. The plastic barrier for most drywall repairs is just light weight painters plastic. If you are like me, you will soon find yourself tagging plastic on the garage floor before you start a project or bring the car in for a repair.  A blue tarp on the lawn before digging a hole leaves no dirt in the grass. The applications are endless. I shouldn’t admit this, but  have a roll of wide Kitchen plastic wrap I run down the counter when I cook. I just leave my meat scraps, egg shells etc at one end and roll the plastic up when I am finished so I don’t have to wipe the counter.

My go to method for a basic wall repair is one I call  the waterfall. It takes less than three minutes to install and catches all the dust before it can get to the floor.  If I am working on a wall I run a strip of 2″ wide masking tape across the wall 2-3 feet below the repair. I run it out 3 feet on each side of the repair if nothing is in the way. I cut the plastic long enough that it will come down the wall to the floor and cover the floor 3 or 4 feet. I lift up the lower edge of the tape on the wall and tape the plastic to the wall  and tag the other end to the floor. Keep it loose or it will pull off when you walk on it. Now Any dust, scraps or mud blobs have to end up on the plastic. There is no seam at the floor, so nothing escapes.

Next time I am going to show you how to erect a quick inexpensive dust barrier to take your dust control to the next level, which you can use for a ceiling repair.  After that I am going to show you how to cut a perfect fitting patch in less time than it takes to cut a poorly fitting patch.