As a remodeling carpenter, I find that during a bathroom installation, some of the last items to be set are the towel bar and tissue holders. Usually, setting these items results in a trail of fine gypsum dust on the baseboard, the tile and the grout joints. In order to avoid toting in my bulky shop vac or dragging in dirty drop cloths, I devised a simple and effective debris trough made of 2-in, masking tape. I use the expensive blue stuff, which is designed to leave your finish coat of paint on the wall instead of on your tape.
As shown in the drawing, I fold the tape in half with the adhesive side out, and I dog-ear the corners inward to seal the ends. Then I stick the trough to the wall directly under where I will be drilling holes to mount my fixture brackets. Fixture installed, I fold my mini-drop-cloth in on itself and then peel the tidy bundle of debris off the wall.
—William Wiehe, Fairfax, VA
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #102
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Great idea.
I use a small domestic vacuum cleaner, nozzle held up to the work. Not the slightest amount of dust gets away.