two drywall questions

[MatD]

First, the nails in the cealing appear to be working their way out of the beams in my house. I used drywall screws to re-fasten the drywall in the ceiling and pounded the nails back in but after about three weeks they are starting to work their way back out. What is the best way to deal with this?

Also, What is the best way to clean up the dust that seems to get everywhere (and I do mean everywhere) after sanding a wall texturing job? I have already tried pinesol and water three times and it is still leaving a haze on the floor.

Thanks,
Mat

[dicklaxt]

I saw the guy on this old house I believe it was,float a fabric screen ware on the ceiling with spackling...that might be your only option unless you install a bunch of sheetrock screws and then pull all the old nails then do a complete patch and refloat

dcik

[Frank]

Carefully pull the nails out, get a syringe and fill with poly glue, and squirt a little in each hole. Now the nails should stay in.
Or, you could replace the nails with screws.:7
As for the floor clean up, just use clean water, and change the water often. If you have access to a floor cleaning machine that sprays down water, then vacuums it up again, that would be best. The problem you have is that you are picking up the "dust" and putting it back down again. It's a real PITA, but part of the job.
Hope this helps!:7

Frank

[TDHofstetter]

Mat,

The nails at this point are serving no purpose other than to cause you trouble. Clearly they are not holding the sheetrock (oops, almost spelled it illegally) in place. They may have rusted to a smaller diameter. Yank them out and patch over with spackle or joint compound. Every one that "heads out" should be pulled.

As to the dust - ain't that nasty? Clear water is about the best thing I know of to clean it up. It's possible a surfactant of some kind might "float" the talc and gypsum up to where it can be picked up, but there's some risk of dissolving those minerals and redepositing them as a film that will NOT pick up - ever.

The spray / vacuum idea is compelling. I wonder how a Rainbow vacuum would work combined with a water spray? A shop vac?

-- Tim --


E Lignus Unum

[Grandad]

>Yank them out and
>patch over with spackle or joint compound.

Just don't ever use spackle.

That ##### does not sand. You need to use your chisels to work it when it dries, and even those have been known to break in half when hammered against spackling compund. I hear they use it on the space shuttle as the tiles that keep it from burning up on re-entry. It also might be used to patch holes in bullet proof vests. Come to think of it, I think it is what they make BPVests out of.

Seriously, that ##### sucks. You can buy pre-mixed joint compound very cheap and throw away what you don't use, or keep it in case you ever need it in the future. $3 or $4 is not too bad.