Dustless Drywall Sander

In a situation where you have a large renovation project and you're at the stage where you need to sand drywalls smooth in readiness for painting or of course wall papering, then there are one or two options that you might want to take into account to get the job done.

Of these, the first is to use a regular drywall sander that will be afequate for the good job but it will kick up a lot of dust and take longer to complet ethe job.

The other option is a dustless drywall sander. This piece of equipment uses a vacuum system that literally sucks up all the dust long before it gets a chance to scatter itself into the atmosphere. It is this second option that we're going to look at here in this article.

Using a Dustless Drywall Sander

There are of course several advantages and disadvantages to using a dustless drywall sander. Also covered will be some timely advice on the best way to make use of this machine to tackle what can often turn out to be a fairly tough job.

The main advantages of dustless drywall sander are its ability to remove all the dust the sanding process created long before the machine operator has a chance to breathe any of it in. A job like drywall sanding has by nature a requirement for the machine operator to wear a dust mask and safety goggles as protection for his eyes. However, even with these safety measures taken, there would otherwise be so much dust that a regular drywall sanding machine will create. On top of this, the dust crested is extremely fine and is capable of getting past most industrial dust masks. Usually it gets in at the sides or through small gaps around the nose and this is because they never really are a perfect fit.

On the contrary, a dustless sanding machine can negate this hazard by sucking almost all the dust into its powerful vacuum system. This prevents it from getting into the atmosphere in the room you are working in where it can do a lot of harm to your lungs and respiratory system. Another advantage that comes with a good quality, professional grade dustless drywall sander, in this instance such as the Porter Cable Drywall Sander, is one of being able to get the job finished in much less time than a lesser machine could do. This is mainly due to its aggressive sanding action.

The main disadvantage of a professional grade dustless drywall sander is its weight. This is one heavy puppy and the Porter Cable Drywall Sander for instance weighs a hefty 8.5 pounds (4kg). Now that might not sound all that heavy, but when you've been holding it at shoulder level for a while, your arms are going to start to ache as the problem of muscle fatigue sets in. So it might be faster, but it'll mean taking several breaks to rest between bouts of heavy sanding.

The final choice is always up to you of course. If your intend tackling a big job of sanding many drywalls, a regular domestic DIY sander may be cheaper and easier to use than a larger, heavier professional machine. However, it will take longer in order to complete the job plus any vacuum system will be less efficient than that of a professional unit. At the end of the day, the final choice is yours and of course your budget options.

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