Pin It

Easy-off dust protection for remodels

I had just started a kitchen remodel, and I needed to come up with a dust barrier that would protect the dining room and be easy to take down for moving appliances and cabinets in and out of the workspace. As shown in the drawing below, I used hook-and-loop fastener tape to attach a 6-mil poly barrier to the casings that trim the pass-through opening between the dining room and the kitchen. First, I installed both halves of the tape on the casings and removed the protective backing on the tape facing out. Then I pressed an oversize piece of 6-mil poly onto the exposed tape and trimmed the poly to fit. Dust cannot penetrate the continuous seal, and poly comes on and off with ease.

To ensure easy access for most trips in and out of the work area, I installed a ZipWall heavy-duty doorway zipper.

Incidentally, the casings were going to be replaced anyway, so I didn’t worry about the aggressive adhesive of the hook-and-loop tape peeling paint off them. If they were going to remain, I would have first applied a layer of masking tape to the casings, followed by the hook-and-loop tape.