How to Clean Plaster Dust from Laminate Flooring

[Holly64]

Hi

I had my ceiling and bay window area plastered yesterday. The plasterer used dust sheets over my laminate floor, but loads of dust still got through.

I cleaned the floor last night - was some dried on plaster dabs, removed these with a scrapper. Washed my floor and it was nice and clean last night. Got up this morning to a very unsightly dusty floor.

Is there a product I should be using to clean if off properly?

Many thanks
Holly

 

[JohnD]

You should hoover it up dry, several times, first, but don't use your domestic vac, plaster dust is liable to damage it.

Can you afford £50 or so for a cheap builders vac?

You need a good fine filter and preferably fleece bags in the vac to catch the dust and prevent it being blown out.

If you are going to damp-clean, use an old towel and rub the wet floor so it catches some of the dust, then rinse out the towel in your bucket and do it again (and again). Mopping will be pretty ineffective. One you have damped the dust it will tend to stick down and the vac will not shift it.

If it is a tiled floor that stands up to wet, you can scrub at it and use the wet-and-dry builders vac to suck up the dirty water. Dirty water that dries will leave the film of plaster. Warm water and a little detergent. Flash or Fairy. Not much. You can use sugar soap if you want, but plaster dust is not greasy and comes off easy.

The dust will also be lodged on the tops of doors and frames, on lampshades etc where you wouldn't usually need to clean. Vac it off first before any wiping, which will spread the dust.

Don't use a duster.

if you have any electronic equipment such as TV, hifi, computer, use the vac with small soft brush to clean away loose dust all over it, and especially the ventilation grilles and holes. Plaster dust is very damaging.

 

[opps]

Did the plasterer mix the plaster in the same room (resulting in plaster powder on the laminate floor) or was it the case that you ended up with some splatter that ended up under the (seemingly inadequate) dust sheets.

Assuming the latter...

To remove the dusty sheen, I would recommend using an old dry towel to rub the laminate flooring. Then hoover up any residual dust. JohnD is correct that plaster dust can damage domestic vacuum cleaners but from your description it sounds like you are removing a minimal amount of dust. After giving your mop a thorough rinsing, re-mop the floor and wipe away any water with a clean, dry cloth.

Then send the plasterer an invoice for your time

 

[Holly64]

Hi

Thank you for the replies. Luckily I do have a George Hoover, wet and dry. The plasterer mixed up outside, I guess his dust sheet was just a bit in adequate - they were a twill and looked to have a plastic backing, so not sure what went wrong. My TV and furniture was covered in plastic dust sheets and when I took them off, I did hoover round the back of the tv.

Well, I'm off to hoover again, then again and I shall then go down on hands and knees with an old towel and warm soapy water.

Many thanks again.

 

[opps]

Fair play

Not a criticism, more of an observation... Certain types of dust are a mare. Cement/plaster/cement based fillers/red brick dust are often best dealt with by thorough vacuuming with a brush attachment before using a mop (which often results in pushing the dusty film over a much larger area).

That is a clumsy way of saying that if you had used a clean wet rag locally over each of the dobs of plaster, the rest of the floor would would have been film free.

Sorry, if that sounds condescending, it is not intended to.

 

[Holly64]

Doesn't sound condescending. I removed all the small splatters with a scraper, then hoovered up before washing the floor last night. Its just a light dust to about half my floor - just looks yuky but I will get there now I know what to do