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JustMe July 1st 06 05:48 AM

Removing 100 years of dust & soot from attic
 
In my attic is an accumlation of 100 years of dust and soot - the kind of
stuff that you don't want to get in contact with anything else cos it'll
stick to everything and keep you cleaning up every nook and cranny, forever.
It's trapped beneath and over the fibre insulation which rests between the
joists, on to which is affixed a lattice+plaster ceiling from below. I
figure I'll need to remove and bag up the insulation for the bin and then
clean out the dust from the lattice and the joists before laying new
insulation.

I've been trying to work out a way of effectively cleaning the dust up
without fouling up the rest of the house. I've hired an industrial cleaner
from HSS which was OKish for part of the job, but I found it worked no
better than a Henry (losing suction very quickly), it just had a larger
capacity. Further it's too big to access most of the space that needs
cleaning. Also the bags kept bursting/tearing, which meant I had to use a
second vacuum cleaner to clean up the first and that didn't keep the dust
under control to the degree I wanted.

I know it's a tall order, but is there a solution that will provide me with
a long hose (minimum 10 metres from main unit if no larger than an HSS
"medium duty" vacuum cleaner, or longer otherwise) through which I can
extract (vacuum) a heavy accumlation of dust (it's up to 10cms thick in
places), along with occasional loose lumps of plaster from the lattice,
whilst keeping that dust sealed up and contained for easy disposal, without
having to do messy bag empties every five minutes. I don't mind spending to
get this done right, so long as that buys me a solution that will keep the
dust contained, once it's lifted.

Otherwise, what professional/industrial cleaning service should I be
seeking?

TIA.



Franko July 1st 06 09:16 AM

Removing 100 years of dust & soot from attic
 

"JustMe" wrote in message
...
In my attic is an accumlation of 100 years of dust and soot - the kind of
stuff that you don't want to get in contact with anything else cos it'll
stick to everything and keep you cleaning up every nook and cranny,
forever.
It's trapped beneath and over the fibre insulation which rests between the
joists, on to which is affixed a lattice+plaster ceiling from below. I
figure I'll need to remove and bag up the insulation for the bin and then
clean out the dust from the lattice and the joists before laying new
insulation.

I've been trying to work out a way of effectively cleaning the dust up
without fouling up the rest of the house. I've hired an industrial cleaner
from HSS which was OKish for part of the job, but I found it worked no
better than a Henry (losing suction very quickly), it just had a larger
capacity. Further it's too big to access most of the space that needs
cleaning. Also the bags kept bursting/tearing, which meant I had to use a
second vacuum cleaner to clean up the first and that didn't keep the dust
under control to the degree I wanted.

I know it's a tall order, but is there a solution that will provide me
with
a long hose (minimum 10 metres from main unit if no larger than an HSS
"medium duty" vacuum cleaner, or longer otherwise) through which I can
extract (vacuum) a heavy accumlation of dust (it's up to 10cms thick in
places), along with occasional loose lumps of plaster from the lattice,
whilst keeping that dust sealed up and contained for easy disposal,
without
having to do messy bag empties every five minutes. I don't mind spending
to
get this done right, so long as that buys me a solution that will keep the
dust contained, once it's lifted.

Otherwise, what professional/industrial cleaning service should I be
seeking?

TIA.

Horrible job !!!
When I cleaned the filthy loose-lay insulation from my loft last year I
bought a huge roll of 500 gauge polythene tubing which i could cut to
length, tie up one end with string and hang down from the loft hatch. I
could then keep scooping up the debris with a dustpan and pour it in without
making a mess of the rest of the house.
When full, I just tied up the other end and folded the sausage into my car
to take to the tip and cut a new length to start again.
Muchly recommended by the wife for keeping the house clean :)

Franko.



Richard Downing July 1st 06 09:26 AM

Removing 100 years of dust & soot from attic
 
JustMe wrote:

I know it's a tall order, but is there a solution that will provide me with
a long hose (minimum 10 metres from main unit if no larger than an HSS
"medium duty" vacuum cleaner, or longer otherwise) through which I can
extract (vacuum) a heavy accumlation of dust (it's up to 10cms thick in
places), along with occasional loose lumps of plaster from the lattice,
whilst keeping that dust sealed up and contained for easy disposal, without
having to do messy bag empties every five minutes.


In my workshop I have a workshop vac, it's wall mounted and has a large
bag for the wood dust and a sub-micron filter that stops the dust being
recirculated. The feed pipe is 4 inches in diameter, and I have a run
of over 20 meters of it. This is powerful enough to suck up a lot of
wood-chips and dust. I can imagine such a machine 'outside' of your
house with a long 4-6 inch flexy tube going in a window and up into your
roof-space. On the end you put an adaptor for a standard vacuum-cleaner
nozzle (I have one of these for cleaning my machines).

The point is the vacuum source and the venting of dust is outside the house.

If I had your job to do, that's how I'd do it, and I imagine that's what
a contractor would do too.

R.

RedOnRed July 1st 06 01:03 PM

Removing 100 years of dust & soot from attic
 

"Owain" wrote in message
...
JustMe wrote:
In my attic is an accumlation of 100 years of dust and soot - the kind of
stuff that you don't want to get in contact with anything else cos it'll
stick to everything and keep you cleaning up every nook and cranny,
forever.
It's trapped beneath and over the fibre insulation which rests between
the
joists, on to which is affixed a lattice+plaster ceiling from below. I
figure I'll need to remove and bag up the insulation for the bin and then
clean out the dust from the lattice and the joists before laying new
insulation.


I would just lay new insulation on top of the old, but if you really want
to do this ...

I've been trying to work out a way of effectively cleaning the dust up
without fouling up the rest of the house.


Erect scaff tower up side of house. Open up roof by removing tiles/slates,
battens and sarking. Seal up loft hatch. Access/egress loft area from
outside of house at all times.

You can get chutes to run down the access tower to take stuff from the top
down to a skip. Covering in polythene, and using water sprays, should help
settle the dust.

You can hire dirty-shower-clean changing room trailer units, of the sort
used by asbestos removal people, to avoid taking dirt into the house on
your clothes. Otherwise it's a quick dash across the garden in your
boxers.

Owain



That all sounds a bit drastic.



[email protected] July 1st 06 02:31 PM

Removing 100 years of dust & soot from attic
 
The 4" dust extraction unit suggested by Richard should work well -
I've used mine for general clean-up - but bear in mind it's meant for
woodshavings/wooddust - not bits of plaster etc, which may shorten its
life as well as making a hell of a noise when they (sometimes) hit the
fan.


Broadback July 1st 06 03:15 PM

Removing 100 years of dust & soot from attic
 
wrote:
The 4" dust extraction unit suggested by Richard should work well -
I've used mine for general clean-up - but bear in mind it's meant for
woodshavings/wooddust - not bits of plaster etc, which may shorten its
life as well as making a hell of a noise when they (sometimes) hit the
fan.

which could well be interpreted as the S H 1 T hitting the fan. :-)

JustMe July 5th 06 11:41 PM

Removing 100 years of dust & soot from attic
 

"Broadback" wrote in message
...
wrote:
The 4" dust extraction unit suggested by Richard should work well -
I've used mine for general clean-up - but bear in mind it's meant for
woodshavings/wooddust - not bits of plaster etc, which may shorten its
life as well as making a hell of a noise when they (sometimes) hit the
fan.

which could well be interpreted as the S H 1 T hitting the fan. :-)


Thanks for all your replies - some good ideas that I hadn't considered. The
external extractor with large dust collection and long hoses sounds best.

From where could I hire such a setup? Can't see anything close to it from
HSS.




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