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My uncle told me to always wear a mask even on a quick clean, and I brushed him off.
I was doing a simple inspection in a 1920s bungalow and didn't bother with my respirator for the five-minute look. The old creosote dust was so fine I was coughing for two days straight. Anyone have a go-to lightweight mask they actually wear every single time?
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benc532d ago
My grandpa worked in a textile mill his whole life, and he had this raspy cough that never went away. They called it "brown lung" from the cotton dust. He'd tell me it started with just a few bad days, like your creosote cough, and built up over thirty years. That old house dust is no joke. I keep a basic 3M N95 in my tool belt now, the kind with the rubber head straps, because it's light and I forget it's even there.
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jakeb253d ago
My uncle was a union painter for 40 years and never wore a mask for sanding. He's fine. I mean, that dust is nasty but two days of coughing seems like a lot. Maybe you just got a bad lungful that one time. I do drywall without one sometimes and it's not great, but I'm not convinced it's an every single time kind of danger.
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robertgreen3d ago
Reminds me of my old neighbor who smoked two packs a day for 50 years and never got cancer. He'd always say it was all hype. Meanwhile, my cousin the carpenter got diagnosed with silicosis last year after a decade of not masking up for concrete dust. It's weird how luck works.
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