If you’re like most homeowners, you probably have a bucket list of repairs, maintenance tasks, or DIY projects you’d like to tackle around the house one of these days. Some tasks, especially the messy ones, tend to create nearly as much cleanup time as it takes to complete the projects, themselves. Fortunately, most potentially messy projects can be headed off at the pass with an easy trick or two. If you’re a diehard DIYer, you won’t want to miss the following tips and tricks, which are guaranteed to reduce the mess and the time it takes to clean up after your projects.
By Glenda Taylor – Bobvila
Swap a Sanding Pad for a Sponge
When it comes to DIY projects, virtually nothing creates as much mess as sanding drywall compound. Just a few sanding strokes and the entire room is billowing with clouds of white dust that settles everywhere, making it a chore to clean up. To avoid the mess, try wet sanding by using a large damp silicone sponge instead of a sanding pad. It takes a little longer, but the room will remain dust-free.
Catch Drywall Drilling Dust
Hanging a picture on the wall is simple, but drilling a hole for the fastener creates powdery white drywall dust that scatters to the floor—and everywhere else. Next time you drill a hole in the wall, try folding a Post-in note in half horizontally and sticking it right under the spot where you’ll be drilling, or cut a notch in the Post-it and fold it into a cupped position, as shown here. The drywall dust will fall on the creased note, which you can simply fold up and toss away when you’ve finished your project.
Foil the Mess
Regular household aluminum foil makes a great liner for paint trays. Just smooth the foil evenly into the bottom the tray and tuck it tightly around the top edges. When you’re done painting, just wad up the foil and toss it out—no tray to wash.
Tape for Clean Caulk Lines
Caulking a seam, such as the gap where the bathtub and tile surround meet, can be a messy prospect, creating caulk smears that require wiping or scraping to remove. To make cleanup easy, line both sides of the gap (1/4” away from the center of the seam) with painter’s tape before caulking. Then, apply a bead of caulk, smooth it with a wet finger, and pull away the tape to reveal a perfect caulk line and no mess.
Beat Scuffs with Plywood
Sliding out a heavy refrigerator or stove to work behind it can leave scuff marks or gouges on your floor. Keep your floor clean and protected during the project by placing a sheet of 1/4” plywood on the floor in front of the appliance and then sliding the heavy fixture on the plywood instead of across the floor.
Pie Tins Make Great Paint Catchers
Paint can slosh out of a full paint can but it won’t make a mess if you glue a disposable pie tin to the bottom of the can before you start painting. The pie tin should be a couple of inches larger than the paint can. You’ll be able to pick up the can and move it from spot to spot without worrying about making a mess.
Double the Plastic Sheeting
Drywall sanding dust is insidious, filtering through even the tiniest cracks. You already know you should hang lightweight plastic sheeting over doorways when sanding drywall, but you might not know you can keep a greater amount dust from filtering out of the room if you hang another layer of sheeting on the other side of the door as well.+
Use a Hairdryer to Remove Stuck-on Tape
If you don’t get around to removing painter’s tape within a day or two after painting, it tends to become brittle and the adhesive hardens, making it difficult to get the tape off without scraping. If worst comes to worst and you don’t remove the tape in a timely manner, a hairdryer works wonders. Set the dryer to “Hot” and direct the air to the stuck-on tape. The heat will soften the adhesive, making it easy to remove it.
Use Lotion to Make Personal Cleanup Easier
If you’re like most DIYers, house painting can result in nearly as many paint drips on your skin as the ones on the old clothing you wear to cover yourself. You won’t have to scrub smears from you skin, however, if you apply lotion to your face, hands and any other exposed skin before painting. The drips will rinse off easily when you’re done.
A Box Fan and Filter Remove Workshop Dust
Sanding woodworking projects creates lots of wood dust that settles on everything in your workshop, leaving you with a mess to clean. The solution is to position a box fan on the counter next to where you’re working with the back of the facing you. Duct tape a standard HVAC filter to the back, and turn on the fan. The fan will suck the air—and the dust—right through its holes, trapping the dust in the filter.
Cut Carpet in Strips to Protect Walls
Tearing out carpet is a real chore, and if you’ve ever tried pulling it up and rolling it away from the edge of the floor, the rough backing of the carpet probably scuffed and scratched your walls. To remove carpet, use a hooked carpet knife to slice the carpet in rows, and then pull up one section at a time (away from the wall) and you’ll be able to keep the carpet from causing damage or scuffing.
