empty rooms that can't be sealed off. seal all of the doorways but one with opaque black plastic, for homeowners privacy. install black plastic with a zipper in one of the doorways as an airlock.

we use dust less sanding tools attached to hepa vacs I know it won't contain all the dust . we also tent off areas with thick mil plastic and add zippers and for foot dust we use 3m sticky door mats at the exits of the containment. we have brought in air scrubbers before and hosed it out a window. nothing is 100% but we try .

I am still dusting after a bath reno. It never really goes away. I vacuumed the paper on the floor, the work areas and dusted everything every day after the crew left. It helped somewhat.

No crew would ever be as diligent as the homeowner...

Stop cleaning until project is finished!

Wash the walls. Steam shark the floors. Close doors. Plastic over the doorways. Dust covers washed weekly.

My contractor bent over backwards to contain the dust but I learned the hard way that it pays to be proactive. I spent a small fortune on dry cleaning after the remodeling project was finished. Second time around I took down all of the draperies, curtains and shades in the house, and put them in sealed bags in the basement. I also removed and stored throws, table runners, decor items -- anything exposed. I covered upholstered pieces with sheets and kept doors closed as much as possible. I cleaned up the big gobs every day, especially during demo, to limit tracking dust throughout the house. Still, in the end, every nook and cranny in the entire house was covered with fine dust -- I don't think there's any way to avoid it. But at least I didn't have to have my window coverings professionally cleaned, and I was able to pull the house together a bit more quickly. Construction . . . ugh.

My remodel involved swapping kitchen and study. It included taking out part of a 25 cm solid brick wall and lots of other masonry work (plumbing, electrical, modifying a huge window). Beforehand I took screens and curtains down, removed ceiling fan blades, covered the motors with plastic bags, covered the furniture and appliances that I couldn't move outside, but the dust still got into everything, even closed boxes and drawers in rooms with closed doors. Gray dust, red dust, white dust, brown dust. I simply stopped thinking about it. The room where I spent my days was next to the work area and had no door, so I nailed an old plastic car cover over the doorway, which helped some. But it cut off ventilation, and the weather was hot, so I had to open it between sledgehammer-and-concrete cutter sessions. Every evening the work crew swept up before leaving. After they left, I swept again, then mopped the tile floor usually three times. Even so, my dog and I had our feet full of it and tracked it all over.

You may want to get a hotel during the toughest parts of your project. Save your sanity. =0)

Great question! We know its hard to believe but there is a solution. It's called livable remodeling and If you have a clean contractor, they'll have you covered! Insist that they have a dust control plan, including the latest technology, like the BuildClean Dust Control System that helps eliminate up to 90 percent of hazardous job site dust from your home. This means no clean up for you afterwards and it keeps your family safe throughout the entire remodeling process. All the tips you'll need can be found here: http://buildclean.com/homeowner/

Feel free to reach out to us if you'd like to contact a clean contractor in your area. Thanks Emily!

We produce a professional contractor dust control system -- not a consumer DIY product -- called Curtain-Wall. It seals work areas off much more effectively than simply hanging plastic film or tarps. It's crucial that your HVAC system ducts are sealed off from the room (preventing dust from entering the system and spewing out all over the home) and you'll save a lot of trouble in the long run. Also our TackMat product will strip the dust off the contractor's shoes so it won't be tracked to other parts of the home. Curtain-Wall is designed to work with pro-grade HEPA vacuums and ducts to remove the dust entirely, but even without special equipment, sealing the work spaces from the rest of the house will pay off in spades, and be much safer for your family as well.