I have scrapped the popcorn is down in a bedroom and bath. Not too bad really–followed advice on previous posts. Now I have sanded and tried to smooth some divits with joint compound. My question is this. The ceiling is very dusty with dry powder everywhere. Do you have to get rid of all of this before priming? Is there a wet-sanding step that needs to be done or just basically “mop” the ceiling. Or is it really necessary to do anything at all about the drywall dust? Sure hope not–my neck is stiff! But, I do want it to look nice when I finish.

I have all ways cleaned all the dust off. I don’t think the primer will adhere properly if there is a layer of dust between it and the surface. What I do is first brush of the area with a wide brush 4″ or bigger; then wipe with a damp rag rinsing it out often; and last buff the area with a terry cloth bath tall. If I still get dust on my hand or a rag when I rub the area, I repeat the damp rag wipe and towel buff until no more dust comes off.

Now I want to ask if this can be done with wet sanding. The dry sanding after all this was horrifically dusty! Any experience with wet sanding or any other means of controlling the amount of dust during the sanding process?

As for as wet sanding joint compound, I have found that once the area dries it still has a powder that needs to be cleaned off.

I can not take credit for it, I believe it was Dale that posted on here, but I “wet sand” with a cut up terry cloth bath towel. First, you knock down any big bumps with a mud knife. Second, I use a sanding screen and lightly sand the area. Last, I wet the towel and finish smoothing out the area. The wet towel works great and really helps me feather out the edges. Even when I have just used the wet towel or other wet sanding, when the area dries it still has a fine dust on it that needs to be cleaned off. It is not as much dust as dry sanding leaves, but it is still there.

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