Sealing dust in a new build

stiofan85

Looking for a quick bit of advice: We got keys a few weeks ago to a new build without floors upstairs or down. We've bought the flooring and have had it acclimatising for a couple of weeks, but the floor layer has let us down. We've no idea when he will come, if at all.

We need to move in next week but there is a lot of dust on the concrete floor downstairs and on the plywood upstairs. I am asthmatic and we have two small children. We're not in a position financially to extend our rental (it's an airbnb and pricey, and we are already there 2 months longer than expected).

I was thinking of painting the plywood upstairs with some cheap white emulsion to seal in the dust, and using a "dust sealer" like this one. Would this work with my asthma? Also, would the dust sealer affect glue on the floor downstairs (it is solid herringbone and must be glued)?

Thanks for any advice.

awec

Is your asthma very sensitive? I'd be very reluctant to do either thing if it were me and I'm not sure painting would make a big difference. A really good sweep and a good hoover, then some cheap rugs or something.

lgk

How long ago was the house finished? Be careful of sealing concrete floors that are not fully dry.

Ply shouldn't be giving off any dust unless it's subject to abrasion.

awec wrote: »

...then some cheap rugs or something.

The floor protectors decorators use might be a cheaper option, most builders providers supply them.

Squatman

go into any carpet sellers, and get their offcuts, you will be able to cover 2/3s of the room for a tenner. and get a fwe off cuts for each room, should tide you over till you get floor laid... you could also try laying the floor yourself, not that complex now that you've the floor acclimatising. just dont go too tight to the walls

uch

If the concrete is bone dry you could polybond it to lock in the dust


https://www.woodies.ie/polybond-universal-250ml-503015

disposableFish

First thing I'd do is get rid of the dust.
If you hoover every surface to get rid of the dust you might find that's enough.
Maybe putting down fabric dust sheets after that would stop new dust being created without hindering further curing (I'll defer to others on this bit).

Pop out to Lidl - they have shop-vacs at the moment for €80.
With a new build you're going to be dealing with a lot of dust and junk, a hoover that can handle all that stuff will make your life a hell of a lot easier.


They're dead handy for lots of messier stuff around the house and garden - I use mind for everything from cleaning the car to cleaning the gutters.

Shaunoc

lidl vacs are a waste for dust of a concrete floor. I have been there, tried and failed.

ended up sealing with a polybond mix and rolling it on. helped well enough.
got free off cuts of lino and carpet from the carpet supplier who ended up getting our order. that made a big difference.
however nothing like when we got laminate downstairs and carpet properly done upstairs. even so, still dust months later

Send kids away to relatives for a few months

_Brian

uch wrote: »

If the concrete is bone dry you could polybond it to lock in the dust


https://www.woodies.ie/polybond-universal-250ml-503015

We did this when we moved into our house and it worked a treat.

stiofan85

Thanks for all of the helpful replies.

Concrete has been down for over a year. House was very delayed so should be fully cured. I have a humidity sensor though so will test it tomorrow.

corks finest

As a painter for walls cheap emulsion well watered,prior to use hoover, hoover, hoover

disposableFish

Shaunoc wrote: »

lidl vacs are a waste for dust of a concrete floor. I have been there, tried and failed.

Really, I've done it too and was delighted.

The fine dust does mean you do have to go clean the filter regularly though(this isn't specific to it being lidl). It's handy enough, just take it outside take out the filter, change the hose round so it's blowing and blow the dust out of the filter.

Shaunoc wrote: »

Send kids away to relatives for a few months

Good advice at the best of times. It'll really cut down on the Christmas shopping.

listermint

Erm.


Simplest solution. Find another floor fitter.ask around or check the local noticeboard or Facebook and ask for references.

Any yes obviously vacuum ..you should be doing that anyway before the flooring goes down.

stiofan85

listermint wrote: »

Erm.


Simplest solution. Find another floor fitter.ask around or check the local noticeboard or Facebook and ask for references.

Any yes obviously vacuum ..you should be doing that anyway before the flooring goes down.

Insightful. Thanks

listermint

stiofan85 wrote: »

Insightful. Thanks

I thought it was. Your fitter let you down so your talking about painting your floors for a few months...

Madness man.

Just get someone else to fit them. There's flooring guys in all corners of the country.

If he can't do it all then do essential rooms first. This isn't rocket science man.

stiofan85

listermint wrote: »

I thought it was. Your fitter let you down so your talking about painting your floors for a few months...

Madness man.

Just get someone else to fit them. There's flooring guys in all corners of the country.

If he can't do it all then do essential rooms first. This isn't rocket science man.

Not months. Just a days/weeks. I'm guessing you haven't tried to hire a floor fitter lately. I have and they are not taking on work readily and when they do, they have long lead times. Same as every trade.

I'm asthmatic and can't sleep in dust. The question was fairly can I mitigate the dust in the short term easily while I figure out the fitter situation? I can throw down polybond/whatever in a couple of hours tomorrow, while the floors are clearedand move my family in next week. Not madness.

and use the vacuum... and phone around other floor fitters

listermint

stiofan85 wrote: »

Not months. Just a days/weeks. I'm guessing you haven't tried to hire a floor fitter lately. I have and they are not taking on work readily and when they do, they have long lead times. Same as every trade.

I'm asthmatic and can't sleep in dust. The question was fairly can I mitigate the dust in the short term easily while I figure out the fitter situation? I can throw down polybond/whatever in a couple of hours tomorrow, while the floors are clearedand move my family in next week. Not madness.

and use the vacuum... and phone around other floor fitters

I fitted my own floors.

And yes you should be vaccuming.

As I said get essential rooms done then if they can't do it all. If it's only days then your wasting you're time and lungs sealing it. You dicking around with the floors and sealers will raise more dust than leaving it alone for the few days

GreeBo

as above get a hoover and hoover repeatedly (B&Q do a shop vac for €45)
and then consider getting an air purifier for your bedroom, if you are asthmatic then you would probably benefit from one anyway.

sligojoek

Try tiling primer mixed with 1/3 water put down with a roller. You'll be able to walk on it after about 40 minutes

okane1

Get a dust mask

Muahahaha

Thread has me a bit nervous as Im in the middle of a renovation myself with concrete floors currently exposed. The tradesman has been hoovering most days keep it clean. But Im wondering even with hoovering does dust from construction still tend to linger months later? He is laying the laminate floors on Tue/Wed, even though he has been hoovering is it still a good idea to cover the concrete floor with the polybond linked above? Concrete is years old so already fully cured.

awec

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thread has me a bit nervous as Im in the middle of a renovation myself with concrete floors currently exposed. The tradesman has been hoovering most days keep it clean. But Im wondering even with hoovering does dust from construction still tend to linger months later? He is laying the laminate floors on Tue/Wed, even though he has been hoovering is it still a good idea to cover the concrete floor with the polybond linked above? Concrete is years old so already fully cured.

Once floors are down dust is not an issue.

Muahahaha

Thanks awec, so no real need to seal it? Or is there another benefit to sealing besides dust protection. I presume it was sealed when initially constructed but I cant be certain of that either.

Sleepy

Honestly, there's not much more work in laying a laminate floor than there is in painting the floor. It's a very straight forward job and well within the abilities of a DIY'er. Loads of guides to doing it on-line.

stiofan85

Sleepy wrote: »

Honestly, there's not much more work in laying a laminate floor than there is in painting the floor. It's a very straight forward job and well within the abilities of a DIY'er. Loads of guides to doing it on-line.

Thanks I've laid a laminate floor a couple of times before and I'm completely fine to do it. If it's taking a professional fitter 2 days, it'll take me 3. Painting the floor with a sealer would take an afternoon, but anyway, it's less about the upstairs floor as it doesn't have as much dust. Sealing the concrete is the bigger question.

Anyway, I've been given a cheap, quick and simple solution so all good.

Cheers

awec

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks awec, so no real need to seal it? Or is there another benefit to sealing besides dust protection. I presume it was sealed when initially constructed but I cant be certain of that either.

No need to seal it.

Give the place a sweep before the floor fitters come and that's about it.

lgk

listermint wrote: »

sealers will raise more dust than leaving it alone for the few days

Curious, how do sealers raise dust?

lgk

stiofan85 wrote: »

I have a humidity sensor though so will test it tomorrow.

Humidity sensors tell you the humidity level in the air, not the moisture content of floors, etc.. You can get moisture meters to test the moisture content of materials, but most of the cheaper ones are often only suitable for testing wood.

listermint

lgk wrote: »

Curious, how do sealers raise dust?

in the full context of my comment, him doing all the sealing work would raise more dust than leaving it be for the floorer to come in and do his work.

i.e do nothing.

lgk

listermint wrote: »

in the full context of my comment, him doing all the sealing work would raise more dust than leaving it be for the floorer to come in and do his work.

i.e do nothing.

But that's a little impossible when they need to move in.

listermint

lgk wrote: »

But that's a little impossible when they need to move in.

This conversation is pointless from what we know the floors are being done.

There was no need / requirement to seal the floor. Doing so would create more dust in the process and also aggrivate their asthma which they were on about.

Anyway this thread ran its course. ive no idea why you decided to rack the coals..

lgk

listermint wrote: »

Anyway this thread ran its course. ive no idea why you decided to rack the coals..

Oh, didn't realise you were the a moderator...

I was amused by your suggestion that sealing a floor would causes more dust when at that point to OP said they were struggling to get a date for fitting and needed to move in. Others read these threads for advice, always good to correct the record.

listermint

lgk wrote: »

Oh, didn't realise you were the a moderator...

I was amused by your suggestion that sealing a floor would causes more dust when at that point to OP said they were struggling to get a date for fitting and needed to move in. Others read these threads for advice, always good to correct the record.

Lets correct the record i never suggested that. So if you are going to take things up incorrectly at least read the entire post. You are being disingenous which is evident. Did you win today?

stiofan85

Update: floor fitter showed up. Upstairs nearly done. Downstairs (concrete) delayed until next week/week after. Moving lots of boxes and furniture on unsealed concrete creates lots of dust. Dust everywhere. Sealing floor with floor fitter's primer/sealer stuff.

Asthma is well enough controlled to do the sealing but I couldn't live there, it would ruin me. Also, baby cannot crawl on dusty concrete floor, not to mention toddler dropping food on it and picking it up and so on. The sealer is a cheap and simple solution when combined with rugs and other coverings.

Thanks for the input.

stiofan85

lgk wrote: »

Humidity sensors tell you the humidity level in the air, not the moisture content of floors, etc.. You can get moisture meters to test the moisture content of materials, but most of the cheaper ones are often only suitable for testing wood.

Sorry meant to say moisture meter. Brother had a damp problem and has one but anyway, fitter measured the moisture and gave the all clear. Thanks for your advice.

lgk

listermint wrote: »

Lets correct the record i never suggested that. So if you are going to take things up incorrectly at least read the entire post. You are being disingenous which is evident.

You said:

listermint wrote: »

You dicking around with the floors and sealers will raise more dust than leaving it alone for the few days

That just isn't true when someone needs to move into a property. The act of sealing could not possibly raise more dust than moving into a space even for a couple of days with all the movement a typical house move for a family entails.

listermint wrote: »

Did you win today?

Didn't realise it was a competition, but viewing a number of your other posts here, you clearly seem to think it is.

lgk

stiofan85 wrote: »

Sorry meant to say moisture meter. Brother had a damp problem and has one but anyway, fitter measured the moisture and gave the all clear. Thanks for your advice.

No prob. I've seen people use the wood specific meters on concrete and brick where they'll read very much on the high side (some of the shady damp operators use them to back up claims of rising damp.)

listermint

lgk wrote: »

You said:



That just isn't true when someone needs to move into a property. The act of sealing could not possibly raise more dust than moving into a space even for a couple of days with all the movement a typical house move for a family entails.



Didn't realise it was a competition, but viewing a number of your other posts here, you clearly seem to think it is.

Still winning I see. Woohoo.

And refering to someone's post count as to the quality of their knowledge is moronic.

But sure you get all sorts in here.



Seems the op got the fitter in exactly the timescale I suggested. So leaving it alone was sound advice. But he had the fitter do upstairs first when his problems according to him where downstairs. But sure look. Who listens to advice on the internet when you have the answers coming in.

stiofan85

listermint wrote: »

But he had the fitter do upstairs first when his problems according to him where downstairs. But sure look. Who listens to advice on the internet when you have the answers coming in.

Listermint, I'm not sure what your agenda is here but since you've addressed me directly I'll respond directly. I asked for advice on a sealer, not on the sequencing of installing floors. Rest assured, the sequencing is optimised for the availability of the fitter and also for getting my family in (i.e. upstairs first because it's where I spend most time in the house (sleeping) and also the furniture (beds) is harder to move around to give space to the fitter).

Advice given was welcomed and listened to, in no particular order:

Don't paint floors. - Done, thanks
Use a vacuum - Done, thanks
Get a fitter in - Done, he showed up, thanks
Try Polybond - Nearly ended up doing, fitter advised not to
Measure moisture content of floor - Done, thanks
Try cheap coverings - Not done, fiter can use sealer, but thanks

etc...

So look, I think it best that you park it. The thread has run its course. If you want to speak with me directly, send a PM.

Cheers

ToxicPaddy

OP, we had the same issue. New build but but had chipboard upstairs instead of plywood.

The dust was embedded into the chipboard and we were concerned about some family who visit and are very sensitive to dust.

It took about a week of hard graft but we solved it by using a hand wire brush on the wood and hoovered as we went with an industrial hoover we hired with a number of bags specifically designed for builders dust.

You will definitely need some very good dust masks which you need to change daily as you will be covered in dust but it made a massive difference.

For plywood, maybe a light sanding may work better.

Downstairs on the concrete, a decent hard brush will get most off and again hoover as you go.

Once you have finished the sanding, sweeping etc, give it a day or two to settle and hoover again. We hoovered about 5 times in total, all surfaces (floors, skirting boards, door frames, doors, wardrobes, window frames).

We were very sore after it all but when the floors were being put down, not a puff of dust was seen, the flooring guys even commented how clean the place was.

stiofan85

ToxicPaddy wrote: »

OP, we had the same issue. New build but but had chipboard upstairs instead of plywood.

The dust was embedded into the chipboard and we were concerned about some family who visit and are very sensitive to dust.

It took about a week of hard graft but we solved it by using a hand wire brush on the wood and hoovered as we went with an industrial hoover we hired with a number of bags specifically designed for builders dust.

You will definitely need some very good dust masks which you need to change daily as you will be covered in dust but it made a massive difference.

For plywood, maybe a light sanding may work better.

Downstairs on the concrete, a decent hard brush will get most off and again hoover as you go.

Once you have finished the sanding, sweeping etc, give it a day or two to settle and hoover again. We hoovered about 5 times in total, all surfaces (floors, skirting boards, door frames, doors, wardrobes, window frames).

We were very sore after it all but when the floors were being put down, not a puff of dust was seen, the flooring guys even commented how clean the place was.

Hi Paddy,

Thanks for the note, sounds like hard work. I should've said chipboard not plywood and yeah that's what I meant - the dust seemed to be lodged in the fibres, hence asking to seal it rather than trying to raise it and sweep it up. But anyway, all good there - floor is in upstairs, but downstairs has to wait.

I sealed the concrete downstairs using the fitter's primer - it's a runny, honey like stuff, that sets hard like epoxy without the smell. It set really quickly and I got the whole of downstairs done in 2 hours. Double coat over the more heavily trafficked areas. Brush around the edges getting as close to the skirting boards as possible, roller on the end of a long stick and no problems. Then I put rugs and kids play mats over as much surface as possible and we were good to go.

Sealing it did raise some dust but the not much. I have to say, for anyone reading this in the future, the sealer worked a treat. It's some Polish or Czech branded stuff, but there seem to be equivalents in builder's providers.

So now we have no more dust coming up and a perfectly workable surface downstairs and it was very easy and cheap. From moving boxes and so forth from before we sealed it there is dust on every other surface so my recommendation would be to seal before that point and it saves having to move stuff around as well as preventing dust.