Strange Dust Problem

Could be residue left from cleaning the grout that is imbedded in the tile, also dust left from sanding the sheet rock also imbedded,There is a product call TCP it comes in a box and you mix it w/water it is the best cleaner I have ever used, Homedpot sells it so does Lowes,Give it a try can't hurt and you will have a very clean floor,it not expensive at all.

Hope it helps

Fred

Fred, after I posted this my wife told me that the guy who put down the tile told us to wait one week and then wash it again. I don't remember him saying that but I never did it. So you may be 100% correct. I will try your suggestion but does the TCP make a bad odor? My wife hates anything that smells bad. Thank you very, very much.

Have you checked your furnace filter? If you have ceiling tiles see if any dust built up on top of them.

franktrain 

There is no order with TCP it is a power and you just mix it w/water at the strength you want it will clean anything,Sounds like the grout is coming off?

Fred

If you really suspect that it is the grout a phone call to the tile guy might help. I'm sure if he has any experience he can give you some help

 

Good luck!

How long has it been since the work was done in the room?  You might want to get a couple of air cleaners to run nonstop for a week or so to get everything out of the air.  Drywall and tile work make for some super fine particles and they will stay air born for weeks and weeks, slowly falling out.

Are you sure you don't mean TSP? That is a cleaning agent as described here.

Mark

I love a good mystery. A good question is whether the dust or residue is restricted to the floor or coming from above so that it would settle on the track. Try this, get to or three small tables or bar stools or something that will be about the same height as your table and set a piece of glass or something else on them where it is easy to see dust like a mirror. Leave overnight. I would be willing to bet that you'll find them clean in the morning. This means that there is something happening -- maybe grout related but is restricted to the floor and won't get up to table level.

 

If it's in the grout then it is curing or chemical related and will stop eventually. If the basement is well ventilated that will help. Plus it serves you right for having all that wonderful room to build your layout. I'm jealous .

Hudson J1e.

I made a mistake on the name of the product I told you about, It is called TSP NOT TCP, Sorry if I caused you any confusion, Again there is no order just mix w/water w/the direction on the box for different cleaning jobs, I used it to clean baked on cooking grease from the walls in a restaurant and it took all the grease off. Maybe the grout was not completely dry when you started to wash it down.

Again sorry for any confusion

Fred

 

Hudson: Some of the dust is in the air, dry wall dust will hang around a long time and will static cling to everything. Run an air filtering machine in the room and it may take out the dust also.

From the photos it looks like your tile is grouted with a white or near-white grout. That's your white dust.

 

The last step when grouting tile is to wipe the tile down with a slightly wet sponge before the grout sets.  This smooths out the grout in the cracks.  Unfortunately it also distributes a very thin layer of diluted grout over the top of the tiles: it is so thin it is hardly visible, especially since the tiles are a similar color to the grout; but it leaves a slight haze of highly diluted grout on top of the tiles.  

 

When this dries, this haze does not adhere well to the glossy glazed tops of the tiles. Since it is dried grout, it will not readily sweep or vaccum up, and it will not re-dissolve in water so mopping won't get it.  But it also does not adhere all that well to the nonporous tile glazing.  The result is that it rubs off on your shoes.  Get down on the tile with a rough rag and scrub the heck out of one spot on the tile.  You will produce a shiny spot - which is the glossy glaze on the tile - compared to the slightly matte finish caused by the grout haze.

 

I was a building contractor for many years. The way I learned tile grouting is that I had to keep rubbing the surface of the tile as the grout dried - using some dry powder grout on the rag as a mild abrasive to remove the haze on the tiles before it hardened.  But that's a lot of time and a lot of work and many commercial tile layers don't do this.

 

Your tile needs to be polished to remove the grout haze.  Or not: it will wear off eventually.

 

 

 

The grout on my bathroom walls sheds dust.  I think something went wrong at the factory causing a defective product.  Have you checked to see if the grout in your floor is crumbly?  If you can scratch it out with a fingernail it could be the source of the dust.  The only fix then would be to replace the grout. 

 

Nathan

Get some grout sealer.  that should work.

The last step in tiling, after the grout has set and is dry, is to go over the whole area with a scotch brite pad, essentially polishing the tile. Then you can remove the loosened grout dust with a damp rag/sponge.

Thanks so much for the help guys. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner but I work long hours on Mon,Tue, Wed. I woke up extra early today.

 

No worries Fred. I did a search for TCP and I couldn't find anything on it on the Home Depot website. I figured it was a typo.

 

Scott, I inadvertently tried your test. I was cleaning the glass from a picture frame I recently bought and I left it in the basement to dry. I didn't want it to get broken. I just checked the glass and it has no dust on it. I suspected that you gentlemen were correct that it was grout dust and this proves it.

 

I don't think the guy who did the tile, he lives across the street, ever sealed the grout. I think it may be a good idea if I sealed it.

 

When I went down to the basement last night it seemed to be better. My shoe did still turn white but not as bad as before. Now that I know what the problem is I just have to decide what is the best way to go about getting rid of the rest of the dust. Should I use a scotch bright pad or dry powder or TSP? Incidentally, a few minutes ago I tried scrubbing the tile with an old towel and the towel didn't turn white. It seemed like the tile was clean. I'm going to work on this tomorrow and if I can get it done I want to start construction next week.

 

Thanks again. All of your replys were helpful to me.

I know you said you wiped out some of the ducts. You may need a full professional duct cleaning to catch anything that may have gone in further than you can reach.

Yes, by all means, get that grout sealed!  It boggles my mind that someone would not seal it.

I thought sealing the grout was responsibility of the person putting down the tile. I hired the guy across the street from me to do the job. He gave me a great price so I can't complain. I'm just kind of anxious to start building the layout. I will seal the grout.

 

Don, I boxed out the vents. Meaning I put a frame around the vents and put drywall over that. About 4 years ago we did have the vents cleaned. I can still get at 4 out of the 6 access panels in case I have to do it again. Last time I checked though the vents looked fairly clean.

 

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Make sure the tile is a clean as you are willing to get it before applying the grout sealer.

I did go to Lowes last week and I asked the clerk about the problem and he was totally clueless but he suggested I seal everything including the tiles. Well, after he left I looked around and I found this acidic tile wash that cleans grout haze and effervescence by Dupont. This was before the above post by Rockstar so I didn't know about the Sulfamic acid. I agreed with you guys that it was grout haze and since this stuff said it removed it I decided to try that. I spent all last week doing the job and man was it a lot of work. It was difficult because I didn't want to walk on any surface after it had been cleaned. After using the acidic wash the instructions say to wash the area thoroughly. That wasn't easy because I didn't want water all through the basement but I did the best I could. I know it worked because there was couple of low spots where the water collected that when the water dried up all that was left was the grout. I then easily mopped that up. After the wash I sealed all the tiles and grout. It pretty much worked. My shoes no longer turn white when I walk through the room. Before I had a black rug under my drum set which was almost white from the dust. I threw that out and now have beige rug which has retained it's color even though I have walked on it. My shoes do pick up a little white, nothing like before, but I am not going to drive myself crazy with this. The one thing I didn't like about the stone sealer was that it said for indoor applications it should be reapplied every 2 years. How will I do this with a layout in the room?

 

Last but not least, a quick story, when my parents bought this house (1979) you couldn't go downstairs without your shoes and pants turning white from the effervescence dust. Well someone told me the way to get rid of that dust was to first sweep an area up and then put down a 50/50 mixtures of water and bleach. As soon as the mixture evaporates paint the floor. I did this to the entire basement a section at a time in the early '90s. It worked no more effervescence dust. However, that was 20 years ago and I noticed that when I walk in the unfinished sections of the basement my shoes do turn white. Maybe it is time for a repaint.

 

Anyway, back to trains. I am going to start building my benchwork tomorrow. I have a sort of track plan in my head but the problem is do I want to have a closed layout where the there is a duck under or some kind of opening or do I want to have no duck unders? I have to figure this out soon. I have some time off from work and this is the perfect time to get the benchwork done. I guess that will be for another thread. I can't wait to get started.

 

Thank to all who helped me out with this problem. I really appreciate it.

 

 

From personal experience there is nothing you can do. You can mop it up, wipe it up or vacuum it up all you want and in a couple of weeks there will be more.  It's just left over residue from everything that was going on during construction. The extent of the construction will determine how long this will last. If it's a new house, it could go on for a year. (That was my case). If it's a renovation or addition, not as long. Regardless, over time, the rate at which this stuff accumulates will gradually get less and less.

xrayvizhen, I don't know if that is good news or bad news but I am through playing with the dust. I busted my butt last week. It is what it is. Now I am working on installing the indexer I bought from Millhouse River on my TT and a track plan.

 

Gotta get back to work. Thanks for your help.