Dustless Hardwood Floor Sanding

OK, this is one of those statements that really get under my skin. There is no such thing as dustless sanding! Plain and simple. There are many contractors out there today claiming this and it really isn't true. There are, however, some very good dust containment systems in the industry now. When I first started sanding floors all we had was an internal fan system that is built into the machines. The dust is collected in a dust bag that is tied to the end of a dust tube and the bag must be removed periodically to empty it. As this method contains a lot of the dust, there is still a lot of residual dust in the air that just isn't picked up by the machine or from the actual dumping of the dust bag. With the new systems out today a lot of that residual dust is now gone. However, these systems are not "dustless" which would imply 0% dust. I know that this post is going to upset some floor contractor out there that is advertising dustless, and before I offend you, let me say that my company does use the Clarke-American CAV 26 dust containment systems. I can not imagine going back to the bag method now. Although these units are not truly dustless, they are amazing in just how much dust is now contained. Anyone out there that has had their floors sanded prior to the day of DCS would be very impressed at how far the industry has come. Do I charge more for DCS sanding? Yes I do. It is worth it! The only thing that I will caution you about is have realistic expectations on the amount of dust that should be produced. Trust me, sanding without dust containment systems should not even be an option.