Patching and Plastering - A less dusty way to sand drywall

Now keep in my mind I am only an amatuer. But I am now doing my skim coating. Thanks to all the great advice here I was able to fix my corners. I found that the amount of dust released into the house was significantly reduced by placeing a box fan blowing outward in two of the windows. Now keep in mind that I still needed to wear a mask, and to tape off the large entryway opening, but with the kitchen door closed all of the dust either settled on the floor or flew out the window, keeping my house alot cleaner.

Exhausting the dust out of the house is a good idea for a diyer. You should also make sure your heating/cooling system is shut down while sanding as well. You can also use the sanding sponges and soak them in water before use, wet sanding will significantly reduce the dust as well.

Here's what us pros use for sanding, the most dreaded of all tasks :cool:
http://www.all-wall.com/acatalog/Dustless_Drywall_Sanding.php

That sure is a bad a** system. Little pricey for the doityourselfer, but probably a neccessity for the pros.

Yeah it's way cool as my son would say. :D Definitely pricey, but it makes short work of sanding a new house top to bottom in a day. They also make a little hand sander model that attaches via hose to most household shop vacs, never tried one.

Your box fan idea is a good one though, we use the same concept when doing alot of rotozip work in new construction.