How much dust does a loft conversion generate.......be honest

[Madblondedog]

So we start Thursday, an 8-10 week project.

There will be a wall knocked down downstairs for the stairs to go in later on but that will take a few weeks to happen. So how dusty will the house get? Some people have said they barely knew the extension was going on but I feel like they're trying to make me feel better about things. I'd rather an honest opinion.

I'm guessing the wall being knocked down and when they come through the ceiling will be the worst of it.

Please help me make sure my expectations are realistic.

lots.

it will get into cupboards and wardrobes and curtains and carpets and books.

Your TV, computer and other electronic things should be wrapped or put in their boxes. The static attracts dust and the grit will get inside.

I recommend that you buy a wet-and-dry canister vac, with spare filter and some bags (it can be used without, but the bags delay clogging of the filter). Hide your domestic vac or get a neighbour to look after it, it will be ruined by the grit. Hide the hoover attachments in a different place.

When you unwrap your belongings clean the boxes and wrappings before you open them, or the dust will fly off.

You can buy rolls of thin decorators polythene sheet. You can hang curtains of it in front of doorways. Keep all the doors closed all the time.

Put an old bathtowel by the bed so you can wipe your feet clean before you get in.

Get a box of disposable dustmasks with a plastic valve on the snout. Don't get the ones with no valve.

We're not doing the work ourselves I should point out. Will the builder not put plastic sheeting around?

it's not his house.

He's used to being covered in dirt and grit.

Not very much at all until they broke through the ceiling to make the gap for the ceiling. Then there is LOTS of dust but you have it easy for the first few weeks. Some builders will put down plastic etc, it depends what they think they can get away with .

Not as much as I thought, but our builders basically wrapped everything in cling film and hoovered every night before they went home.

OK, so basically I need to be clear to him of our expectations regarding hoovering daily (with his own hoover!) and I will buy lots of plastic sheeting if he doesn't

The reviews of him I've seen state he's tidy so fingers crossed.....

More than you could believe, especially when they take down the wall and old lath and plaster ceilings.
Shut all the doors, keep them shut while work is being done, and expect to replace your stair carpets at the end of the job. But that bit of the work should only be a week at most, after which you will gradually stop tasting brick dust in your tea.

Luckily the carpet below needs replacing so they can trash it to their hearts desire.

Going to buy a tonne of plastic sheeting though and tape it all down everywhere and make curtains for all the other rooms.

A week I'm sure I can handle......might put a tent in the garden

I would say it depends on your builders! Ours was great - before the work started I said how worried I was about the amount of dust, but they were brilliant at warning us of when big jobs were happening so we could plastic wrap everything downstairs and when they did a particulalrly messy bit they actually sealed off the downstairs with plastic sheeting over the stairway. They also hoovered pretty thoroughly every day.

I'm hoping our guys are the same. I've told them if they do a good job they can do the other refurbishment work which needs doing. Fingers crossed that's motivation enough for them