How Do You Clean Your Drywall Tools?

oldrivers

if you guys dont put any drywall mud or construction materials down the drain how do you wash your clothes ?? what do you do with water after you've mopped up a dirty floor? drywall mud isnt anywhere near as bad as regular mud that goes down carwash drains . Ive also poured muddy dirty water into dumpsters only to haver the dumpster guy pour it onto the driveway while tilting the dumpster to load it it can leak out.

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"What would Netanyahu & texas do "

Harold De Wall

I came up with a better way to clean tools on the job site.

In new subdivisions and high-rise buildings tool cleaning becomes a problem. EPA and insane requirements in states like California make tool cleaning and dirty water disposal more complicated. After more than 30 years of dry walling and running my own drywall business I developed the Washmaster to clean drywall tools and a chemical solution to separate drywall mud and water. That solved lots of problems.

The chemical separation allows the mud to be recovered and reused. Clearing the water allows the same water to be used to clean tools for days. The mud separates out in about a minute.

In new buildings water and electricity are often not available nearby. So, I put wheels on the Washmaster and made a battery operated version. If 110 is available, plug it in to run the pump and recharge.

I think it is a slick solution. While it is probably overkill for a single room residential remodel it certainly gives the home owner a professional impression.

__________________
Harold - Owner: Mudmaster Inc - Developer & Manufacture of:
Mudmaster Drywall Mixer &
Washmaster Drywall Tool Cleaning

aptpupil

don't dump anything down the drain, ever. it's a cya issue. you don't want the homeowner saying "my shower doesn't drain, what did you do?"
when using thinset or lots of drywall mud at someone else's house i have one or two "trash" buckets and a separate set of "working" buckets. clean off tools in the working bucket you were using for mudding or thinset. fill this bucket with a gallon or two of water and use a sponge to get everything as clean as possible. pour this dirty mixture into the trash bucket. do this as often throughout the day as you need to in order to keep your tools and working buckets clean.
at the end of the day you'll have a bucket or two filled with very dirty water. cover them (in case toddlers are around) and leave on site. next day everything bad is settled at the bottom. first thing in the morning you pour off the water on the top in an inconspicous hole on site. this water is almost entirely clean. reuse the trash buckets until they're about halfway full of thinset/mud and then either throw the whole thing in the trash or scoop out the bucket and reuse it. at the end of the job, fill the hole where you were dumping the morning water and all is well.
has worked well for me and gives my old buckets a good purpose.

Remodelor

I know this is an old thread, but I'd like to chime in. I've never had an issue with dumping stuff down a client's sink / toilet, however I will say that the toilet is the safest place to dump stuff. Depending on what I'm cleaning, this is how I do it to avoid callbacks:

The sink: First off, I always use the cheapest looking / oldest sink in the home if I can help it. This is usually the guest bathroom, and sometimes we're lucky enough to find a mop sink in the basement. I also always ask if the customer has any problems with us using their sink (responsibly), which we've never been refused.

Paint: Clean in a sink, use a sponge to thoroughly clean every inch once done. Wipe down sink with clean dry painter's rag or paper towels to keep any water spots from leaving a residue of paint anywhere if any seemingly clean drops got away. If any drops are discovered, they can be removed easily with a lightly abrasive scrub pad.

Grout / thinset: Add water to bucket, use sponge to clean sides, dump in toilet, flush, repeat until bucket is clean. After that I give it a full flush 5 times to clear the line. The reason I never use a sink for these is that the contents are so abrasive that they can scratch stainless and Corian type sinks very easily. I knew a contractor that had to buy a new cast iron sink because the grout scratched it and left little stained scratched on the surface. The toilet flushes vigorously enough to take down the sand more effectively without requiring manual wiping.

Drywall mud: Fill bucket with water and use it with a scrub brush to clean tools. The same bucket of water will clean tools for a long time as the mud typically settles to the bottom. Once I'm done, I go to the sink with a garbage disposal so that it thoroughly grinds up any clumps and helps them dissolve. Once everything is clean, I run hot water through the line for 5 minutes or so to ensure the line is clean. I never put dried hot mud through the disposal obviously, and rinse those pans out directly in the sink after scooping them out into the trash.

Paint thinner: Pack it out. I usually let this sit in an open container in my enclosed side yard until it evaporates into solids I can dispose of.

(graphic section)

Poop: Hey, we all gotta do it, and driving to the nearest gas station to drop a deuce can easily take 30 minutes by the time all's said and done. What a waste of time for what should be a 5 minute process! I bring my own "toilet kit" with TP and some scented Lysol bathroom spray sterilizer for the seat and handle. I also keep a toilet cleaning brush with bowl cleaner in the kit in case there's an offensive skidmark that needs tending.

(/graphic)

I had a boss once that made me wash paint brushes in 10 degree weather with a hose instead of the client's sink inside. I understood his concern at having a customer weasel a new sink out of him, but even full-on dried paint can be removed with some Comet and a soft scrub pad with no harm done to the sink. I find that discussing the requirements of remodeling to a client helps make the process easy. Treat their home with respect and there shouldn't be any problems.

Big Shoe

Ditto

Timber Jockey

Get a bucket with a secure lid, place about 3" or 4" of water in it, and clean the mudding tools, including the mixing blade. Do the blade last, so you can churn the water and keep the residual filler suspended in the water. Make sure all the tools are dried off, so they don't begin to form rust spots, etc. Transport the water to your shop and dump it there, instead of down the client's drain.

Langpony

Use a bucket or clean your tools outside the house.

Harold De Wall

Pouring drywall mud washed from tools down toilets and sinks is a waste and a risk. Obviously a small one day job doesn’t produce enough waste to worry about. Larger jobs that take a few days are another story.

For small jobs lasting 2 or 3 days one can use a 5-gallon bucket and at least 4oz of the Washmaster Juice to separate the mud and water. Pouring the clear water down a drain is not going to cause problems. Plus, using the Juice clears the water and leaves less residue on the tools. One bucket of water can be used for days. Once the mud separates, pouring the clear water on a lawn is not going to leave a white stain. Or on jobs where water is difficult to get the water can be used to mix more mud. The separation chemical is neutral and doesn’t affect the mud.

The separated mud can be filtered and then added back into the mixer for tomorrows work or bagged for later use. If bagged, it will remain usable for days. Even if it is not reused, it can be tossed in the trash to avoid the possibility of being blamed for drain problems.

If you have to pour it down a drain or toilet the separation chemical is safe for plastic and metal pipes. It has no affect on septic tanks. There is no chance it will clog a drain. It certainly won’t leave any mud in a root knot for a plumber to find. Plus home owners with septic tanks don’t need to add the mud into their tank.

__________________
Harold - Owner: Mudmaster Inc - Developer & Manufacture of:
Mudmaster Drywall Mixer &
Washmaster Drywall Tool Cleaning

Field General

I've got over 35 years of experience running crews. With that experience I've learned that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, we get what we measure and how we measure it, that simplicity is genius, and that smart is what smart does.

Clean Water: a limited resource
Joint Compound: a limited resource
Plastic Buckets: a limited resource
Time: a limited resource

Spending time retrieving water, cleaning and emptying buckets so that you can spend more time cleaning and emptying buckets, so that you can spend more time retrieving water to wash the joint compound off of your tools and buckets, and spend even more time throwing joint compound away. Hmmmmm ... Smart is what smart does? WashMaster!

And then there's the MudMaster ... a place to recycle the mud saved with the WashMaster ... a means of capitalizing on the difference in cost of boxed mud and bucket mud ... a method of saving time in mixing mud and filling tools - time gained that could be better spent putting mud on the walls. Simplicity is genius!

How do you measure success ... by the time, money and effort invested or the return you get on the time, money and effort invested?
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Snobnd

Scrape and WD40 is all I do.

__________________
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty"
- Thomas Jefferson-
http://www.savingtherepublic.com/Main.html

Field General

If you need it, if you want it, here it is come and get it … the solution to any problem is to make sure you’re solving the right problem and not just the symptom of the real problem … to identify it and define it with “out of the box thinking" … by truly dealing with the way things are rather than the way you think they are or the “if only” way of thinking … to see things as they are and ask … what if?

BarryE

stop bogarting dude.

slowsol

Your posts are hilarious. It's like I'm reading a self help book.

Will you double the offer if I order in the next 20 minutes?

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-John

We'll have to grab a longer board. I forgot to put the wood stretcher in the truck today.

Snobnd

Not sure to thank you or question what you are doing while at the keyboard....//////?????

Er...thanks

__________________
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty"
- Thomas Jefferson-
http://www.savingtherepublic.com/Main.html

Willie T

And I thought I lost a few brain cells to drugs back in the day....

__________________
"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and only that which is."
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Bill Everett - St. Petersburg, FL

MALCO.New.York

NONE of us "lost" brain cells... We FREELY gave them away to the moments of what we considered to pleasure.

Just a bit of semantics.

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

Tim0282

The Washmaster looks like a great idea. Watched the video for both the Washmaster and the Mudmaster. Too bad they don't show the price.... Is it, "if ya have to ask the price, you can't afford it"?

Frankawitz

This post started in 2009
We have nothing new to talk about?

Tim0282

Hey Frankawitz! How are you doing? Did you move to Texas?

Frankawitz

Tim,
Hey there. No I didn't move I am still here in Michigan, Bank of America sold my house on the 14th of this month so now I am just waiting for them to put us out on the streets. Still have no steady work I have done maybe 6 jobs over the past 18 months now. I went and looked at a job yesterday Thanks to John off the forum here. I lost my business don't have any business phone anymore after 17 years with the same phone number. So now I am just using word of mouth to get work. So I am sure it will be the same old thing of getting a job then sitting for months before another comes in. If the MORONS in Washington DC would get their sh*t together and get the Country back on track, but like always all they do is run their mouths and do nothing! WTF!!!
I think they American People should Demand that all Elected Officals should take a Pay Cut down to 50k a year with No Benefits for them and their Families. Make these A Holes work for Peanuts like the rest of US.