DC for sheet rock dust?

[Ed Taylor Greensboro NC]

Just about to complete my new workshop. I've got dry wall hung and taped, so I've got a lot of finishing to do. I'm planning on buying the Steel City 1.5hp DC at Woodcraft while it's on sale. I've thought about connfiguring it to gather drywall dust while I'm doiing the finishing. Concerned about whether it would be suitable for this work (clogging, fire hazards, etc.)

Has anyone used their DC for drywall work... if so, your recommendations.

Ed

[Jim Becker]

Not recommended...you're going to really clog the filters. A shop vac with disposable filters is more suited to this if you must clean up after sanding drywall mud. IMHO, of course.

Scrape your joints with your mud knives to knock down the ridges and minimize your sanding. If you get the technique down, you really will have almost no sanding.

[Eric Roberge]

What Jim said!
I have also seen where drywall installers (after sanding) will use a regular household mop, the ones with the foam head and run it up and down the walls. Rinse it out, ring it and hit the wall again. Does a great job removing all the dust that sticks to the new drywall.
A small damp sponge and some elbow grease will also smooth out any rough areas of mud.

[Ed Hazel]

Shop vac with a dust deputy works good

[Chip Lindley]

Gypsum is not flammable. Fire hazard is not an issue. BUT, all the fine dust clogging DC filters IS! Use a shop vac with HEPA paper filter bags....AFTER you have swept up as much as possible with broom and dust pan!

[Matt Edwards]

+1 on what they said. Sand it, let it fall and spread some floor sweeping compound and broom and dust pan. After that, shop vac and you are golden.

ME

[Jason Roehl]

DON'T use a shop vac without a drywall filter bag. All that will happen if you don't is you will quickly clog the plaited filter, and you can burn up your shop vac that way. Not to mention, you'll be frustrated by the performance without. I've done it before, and suction drops off by a huge amount after vacuuming the length of a 12' wall. This after the drywallers had swept most of the dust.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I've used very successfully my shop vac with a Cleanstream filter. These filters are expensive, anywhere from $30-40, but use a microporous teflon filter membrane which is washable. I've had one on my shop vac, actually a Sears, for 15 years. When it gets clogged and you start to lose suction you remove it, take it outside to the hose, and wash away the gunk.After letting it air dry, you reinstall it and you're good to go. When I used it to sand drywall dust, not a single bit of dust made it into the air.

[Thomas Bank]

The best way I've found to deal with this is the Porter Cable Drywall Sander. You can see the setup at Porter Cable - hooks up to a shop vac.

Although I still wear a respirator when using it, it GREATLY diminishes the dust involved. I was able to rent one for about $60 a weekend plus cost of sanding discs from the local rental yard. With a number of renovation projects, I was able to pick a system up off eBay for under $200 for the sander and vac unit.

[phil harold]

Porter-Cable 7800 is a dual filter vacuum desighned for drywall sanding

if you tape and mud correctly there is little to sand...

[Don Abele]

When we finished our entire basement last year, I bought the Porter Cable 7812. It was designed to be coupled with the rotary sanding head they make, so it's perfect for drywall dust. It uses a HEPA-grade bag (which acts as the first filter) as well as a standard exhaust filter. Absolutely NO dust makes it back into the air.

I installed over 125 sheets of drywall and used 6 buckets of mud to do the entire basement. All the sanding dust went into ONE 10-gallon filter bag. Worked like a charm. Never saw a decrease in suction or performance.

As a side benefit (and another reason I purchased the 7812), it has a built-in power-on outlet. So when the tool comes on, the vac does (then stays running for 10 secs or so to clear the line after you turn the tool off). When it came time to trim the basement out, I hooked it up to my miter saw and it, again, performed superbly. It caught about 80% of the dust thrown off the blade.

It's much quieter and lighter than my Ridigid shop vac and is now my initial go-to vac.

Be well,

Doc

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

I have always WET sanded my drywall. ZERO dust and a lot smoother.

Bruce

[David G Baker]

I use one of those 5 gallon buckets with water in it designed to collect the dust and a shop vac. It seems to work fine and there isn't much dust on the vac filter when done.
Like Bruce wrote, wet sanding is really a good way to sand without the dust and it really is a much smoother surface when done. I use the wet sponges with a fine grit surface.

[Robert Payne]

ClearVue CV06 Mini Cyclone mounted on an empty drywall compound bucket and then to ShopVac with a HEPA filter. The CV06 is very efficient. Got one and love it.

[Ed Taylor Greensboro NC]

Thanks to all for the input - pretty much confirms what I had thought. Sounds like the answer for me is a combination of the suggestions: a filter bag for my shopvac for knocking down the seams, followed up with wet sponging of the seams for final smoothing.