Still had to wear goggles, but at least I wasn't coughing up plaster dust for days afterward. Definitely worth the rental fee for me, especially since it made cleanup quicker and easier.
I see your point about dust control, but honestly, when I rented one for my basement reno last year, it felt a bit overrated. Yeah, it handled dust better than a regular sander, but the hose was awkward and kept getting in the way. Plus, the suction wasn't always consistent—had to stop and clear it out a couple times, which slowed things down. Might've just been the model I got, but I'm not convinced it's always worth the rental fee...
Yeah, I get what you're saying about the hose being a bit clunky—I had a similar issue when I rented one last summer. Kept snagging on corners and stuff, which was annoying. But honestly, compared to sanding without any dust control at all, it still felt like a win to me. Maybe it's just luck of the draw with different rental models? Either way, props for tackling the noisy pipes yourself... plumbing can be tricky, so that's definitely something to feel good about.
"But honestly, compared to sanding without any dust control at all, it still felt like a win to me."
True, sanding without dust control is a nightmare... but honestly, I've found that just taping a cheap shop vac hose onto my sander worked better and was way less clunky than most rentals I've tried. Worth a shot next time maybe? Anyway, nice job on the plumbing fix—always satisfying to DIY.
Totally agree on the shop vac hose trick—simple and effective. A couple thoughts from experience:
- Make sure your vac filter is decent, otherwise fine dust still sneaks through.
- A cheap cyclone separator bucket between the sander and vac can save your filter big-time (learned this the hard way).
- On the plumbing fix, nice job! Noisy pipes usually mean loose straps or pressure issues... did you find any surprises once you opened things up?
Good call on the cyclone separator bucket—I put one together last year and it's been a lifesaver for my filters. Before that, I was swapping filters way too often, and those things aren't exactly cheap.
About the noisy pipes, I've found sometimes it's not just loose straps or pressure issues. Once, after chasing down a weird knocking sound for days, I discovered it was actually air trapped in the lines. Had to bleed the system properly to get rid of it. Did you notice any air pockets or have to bleed your pipes at all? Curious if anyone else has run into this—seems like something that's easy to overlook but can make a huge difference in noise reduction.
