In the midst of hanging our bedroom curtains last week, I snapped some pics of a little trick I use to control the mess of drilling holes into our walls (in this case to make room for curtain rod anchors). Some of you probably already do this, but I figured I’d pass it along to those who might not be in the know since we only joined the tape trick club about a year ago. And not many people think cleaning up drywall or plaster dust scattered below their work area is a fun way to pass the time. Including me. Anyway, the trick is crazy simple and looks a little something like this:
It’s just a piece of painter’s tape folded in half and stuck like a tiny temporary shelf below my “drill here” marks on the wall (I recently heard someone recommend doing the same thing with a post-it note, in case those are handier in your house). Either way, when your drill spits out a pile of dust, it gets caught neatly on the little tape “shelf” below. Which is better than landing all over the floor and whatever objects you didn’t bother to move below. See?
I debated switching to the post-it technique for a larger “shelf” surface, but decided to stick with tape (pun intended) because its sticky-all-around surface holds onto the dust more tightly (I’m klutzy enough that I’d probably dump all of the dust sitting on the non-sticky part of a post-it right onto the floor while removing it- but tape holds onto that stuff pretty well).
Plus I’m not gonna lie. My favorite part is wrapping up all the tape-trapped dust into a little burrito so I’m confident that the mess is permanently contained until I toss the little packet o’ dust in the trash.
There ya have it. Easy, right? I’m sure I’m not the only one to use some deviation of this method when it comes to avoiding clean-up, so feel free to share any alternate techniques for dealing with drill dust. Or any other quick tricks that you’ve used to make your projects easier, faster, or less messy. Speaking of messy- Sherry took on quite an unusual project today. Details soon.
Pssst- Best spam comment to date (well, maybe besides this one) left by some jumbled url under the name BuyLinks: “Man if I ever saw two raccoons fighting over a blog it’d be this one. Nicely done my friend.” Awesome.
Jessica says
If you have 2 people we just hold our shopvac up near the drilling to suck it all away!
Brenda says
Congrats over on Apartment Therapy for being a finalist, I am voting!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Brenda! We’re just happy to be nominated among such awesome fellow bloggers!
xo,
s
Simon says
Great tip, guys! We have a vacuum cleaner with a flexible hose that stretches easily to any hole we are drilling. If you can manage handling both, using the vacuum while drilling also creates no mess and you save the tape!
Cheers,
Simon
susan says
I am sending this tip to my hubby. I had never seen it before. Thanks! susan
Paige of Midwest Darling says
This is a much better idea than letting my crazy dog find all those fun peices of concrete wall later!
kim says
That’s a good idea, but I’m too cheap to waste the good tape on that trick. I’d just use the cheapest tape I had.
Paula says
Genius! :)
Jenn(ifer) says
I just use this little plastic-pice that you stick on the vacuum and than you can use that trick without a second person to help you… It works great for any kinf of wall, brick, drywall even reinforced concrete…
I baught mine for 2,99, it looks something like this
http://www.lotex24.de/product_info.php/info/p119_Staubsauger-Bohraufsatz-Trockenbau-saugen.html
Erica S says
Good idea. When we are drilling & working together, we hold our vacuum attachment under the drill bit and suck up the dust and debris. It works well, but usually requires another hand for help.
Beth says
Amazingly simple. Amazingly GENIUS!
Thanks for sharing!
anne says
brilliant! i am filing away this trick for future projects!
Allison says
I love tips like this! Thank you for sharing! I’ll be sure to pass along to the master driller/sander (a.k.a. my husband) in our house.
CasaCullen says
ahhhhh…this is SUCH a genius idea, y’all! hubby just replaced all our cruddy yellowish sockets in the whole downstairs so there are little piles of gunk underneath them all now, ALL OVER THE HOUSE, ha! we could’ve def used this tip for that…next time!
Michelle Lynne says
This is a piece of BRILLIANCE…especially going to be useful on projects in client’s homes. Thanks for sharing!
Claire @ Claire K Creations says
The best tricks really are that simple. Thanks for the tip!
Nicole says
Brillant! Am tucking that one away…
Emily says
I have read that a dryer sheet will really effectively pick up any drywall/plaster dust that has made it to the floor. Although I haven’t tried that, a Swiffer sheet worked well for me last time we drilled :) Of course, neither of these is as clever as a tape shelf!
susan says
Nothing short of brilliant.
Janee Lookerse says
BRILLIANT!! I’m going to use this lovely trick next time I need to drill a hole. So smart…
xoxo
Janee
yellowbirdyellowbeard.blogspot.com
Cynthia says
I used to work at a museum, and a wonderful fabricator showed me the same trick, but using an ordinary envelope taped below the drill area. This way, you’re pretty sure to catch everything and you can just chuck out the envelope when you’re done.
Kristina says
I have a tip! What if you’re drilling a hole in the ceiling? HGTV taught me this one: cut a plastic water bottle about 2″ from the bottom and drill through the bottom of the leftover “cup.” Leave the cup on the drill while you make your hole in the ceiling and it catches all the mess for you! Might even save you a trip to the eye doctor :/
YoungHouseLove says
SO SMART! Love it.
xo,
s