Dustless VS. Dust Free
Which Tile Flooring Removal is Better & Captures the Most Silica Dust?
A Brief Overview of Traditional Tile Removal...
Before We Break Down the Differences Between Dustless & Dust Free
The removal of a tile floor can be done using one of 3 methods…Traditional, Virtually Dustless, or Dust Free. But in this article, we will focus on the differences between dustless and dust-free tile removal and what makes them distinct from one another.
Traditional is the original method for removing tile floor and it is also the most outdated and dangerous flooring removal process. The traditional method exposes you to massive amounts of cancer-causing tile dust known as crystalline silica dust. This is because this process is not OSHA compliant and utilizes hand tools, pry bars, and hanging plastic to get the job done.
The outdated technology and equipment used in traditional tile removal doesn’t capture enough of the silica dust, to keep you and your family safe. Once released, the dust will circulate throughout your home through the HVAC and end up everywhere including your pantry, clothes, shoes, windows, carpet, cabinets, furniture, and most importantly, in your lungs.
The inhalation of silica dust has been linked directly to several detrimental respiratory diseases like silicosis, COPD, lung cancer, and more. Not to mention the hidden costs from necessary maid services, dry cleaning, and professional cleanings to remove the dust. This can take months to years and will certainly end up costing you more in the long run.
Take a look at what a traditional tile removal looks like as it is being actively performed at a residential property, in the video.
How Exposure to Tile Dust Impacts Your Health
Which Flooring Removal Process is Superior?
The Main Differences Between Virtually Dustless & Dust Free Flooring Removal
Why is it important to understand the differences between dustless tile removal and dust free tile removal services? Because your health is on the line. Exposure and inhalation of the carcinogenic dust results in respiratory diseases that can be fatal. DustRam® provides a solution that protects you, your loved ones, and your home from the dangerous dust. Our entire method, patented equipment, and process are designed to keep workers and families safe from exposure to the notoriously dangerous, crystalline silica dust.
DUSTLESS
Virtually Dustless
The dustless process is virtually dustless meaning it’s still there even if you can’t physically see it. This process filters 99.97% of the dust with HEPA filters but the important question to ask is… HOW MUCH of the dust is being captured and contained? Unless they have air quality tests by OSHA, they can’t know for sure. Its safe to say this process is not dust free. Vacuums typically are placed inside your home and are manually purged which is one of the ways that dust goes airborne.
Unhealthy
Since this process is not dust free… it means that pounds of silica dust are still escaping and being released back into your home. It all comes down to the process and equipment being used, which determines a truly dust-free result. Dustless simply put means less dust than traditional. But it does not mean dust free.
Not Tested for Air Quality
Dustless contractors will need to clean out the dust and because they usually have the vacuums in the home, this process can get a bit messy and release many pounds of dust back into the air. For this reason, the method is called virtually dustless because it is not dust free.
Hidden Costs
Once the dust is released, it ends up everywhere in your home and inhalation becomes inevitable. The reason dust exposure is dangerous is that it has been linked to lung cancer, Silicosis, kidney disease, COPD, and more. The health costs are simply not worth it. Not to mention the many months to years of necessary professional cleanings plus money spent in clinics and hospitals as a result of exposure to silica.
Outdated Equipment
Dustless contractors are using vacuums that are made for concrete polishing services. It all comes down to whoever has the strongest vacuums to perform the tile removal. Dustless contractors use vacuums with a 265 CFM and have to manually purge their equipment. Dustless tile removal contractors also use cheap metal, hanging plastic, adapters to fit on the tool, and negative air machines in dustless systems. Virtually dustless flooring removal does not equal Dust Free.
Rookie Mistakes at Your Flooring Removal
Dustless contractors are inevitably going to make mistakes along the way. Dustless companies, unfortunately, don’t know what they don’t know. They still have many lessons to learn that they have not learned yet.
Are the costs worth saving just a little bit more for your tile removal? In the long run, your health and cleaning costs will inevitably add up.
DUST FREE
Truly Dust Free
DustRam® filters 99.97% of the dust AND CAPTURES 99.99995% of silica. We leave our vacuums outside your home and get rid of the dust far away from your property. Our patented vacuums suction the dust at the source and never ever release it. DustRam® has OSHA Certified Field Testing Results to PROVE how DUST-FREE we are. We are 50X below OSHA’s permissible exposure limit of silica dust.
Healthy
DustRam® chips away your tile floor and our patented vacuum immediately sucks up the carcinogenic dust. The dust is captured and never ever released back into the air. This prevents dust from ending up on your ceilings, in your pantry, clothes, shoes, vent, and more. This process is truly dust free and also environmentally safe. DustRam® guarantees a dust-free result every single time. Your health is our priority.
OSHA Air Quality Tests ✓
DustRam® is OSHA compliant and our system is 50 times below the silica dust exposure limit, making us your #1 dust-free provider in the world. What separates us from the rest? We have a dust-free patented system and air quality tests to prove how dust-free we are. Other contractors do not.
NO Hidden Costs
DustRam® removes your tile 3X faster than other contractors, captures the dust, and leaves your subfloor better prepared for installation. You won’t have to deal with extra costs down the road due to exposure to the dust. This means no professional cleaning services are needed and you won’t have to spend thousands of dollars due to respiratory issues from inhaling the dust. Our process is clean and truly dust free.
Advanced Technology Designed for Dust Free
Not only does DustRam® own +26 patents and counting, but all of our equipment is also USA-made. Our vacuums are 311 CFM making them more efficient at capturing silica dust. We use industrial-grade adapters and grinding shrouds leaving you with a truly dust free result. Not to mention the better preparation of your subfloor. Because we grind thinset down to the concrete slab and give scarification, your subfloor is flatter and smoother. This creates the perfect situation for better adhesion to the new floor. This is quality work at its finest.
Research and Development
DustRam® invented the dust free industry. We’ve done all the research and development of the adapters that are used to produce the absolute most airflow, proper velocity diffusion, and best designs possible to prevent clogging, of any dust collection adapters, in existence. After doing this, we were awarded +26 design and utility patents. This gives DustRam® a completely proprietary system of equipment that all of the other companies entering the market can only attempt to imitate.
How Exposure to Tile Dust Impacts Your Health
Comparing Floor Removal Systems and Technology
Dustless contractors are not Dust Free and it all boils down to the technology that is used to remove your tile floor.
Filtering the Dust is NOT THE SAME as Capturing the Dust
While mostly every contractor out there is using HEPA filters to filter out silica, this does not immediately make a contractor or process, dust free. Dust Free means CAPTURING the dust not just filtering it. So, while it is true that contractors can filter 99.97% of dust using HEPA filters, the real question is… how much of that dust are they capturing and how much of it are they releasing back into your home? Dustless companies do not know their true dust capture rate without air quality tests being performed at their job site. We encourage you to ask them for air quality test results to prove their dust-free capabilities. The type of vacuum a contractor is using distinguishes a truly dust-free tile removal from one that is virtually dustless.
Check out the dust free tile removal system by DustRam®.
Dustless Contractors Don't Have Automatic Self Cleaning Vacuums
At DustRam®, we use our own patented vacuums to CAPTURE 99.99995% of the dust the moment it is created. The PulseRam® vacuum designed by DustRam® is an automatic self-cleaning vacuum that doesn’t need to be opened during the job, to clean out the dust. Dustless contractors have to stop mid-job to clean out the dust and unclog the HEPA filters. This is how dust escapes and gets released back into the air. Dust particles are so minute that they can escape through the exhaust of the vacuum allowing the dust to go airborne. DustRam® vacuums, on the other hand, are always placed outside of the home. We discard the dust far away because we understand how important it is to protect you from inhalation.
Patented PulseRam® Vacuum that Captures the Tile Dust and Self-Auto Cleans Itself Every 5 Seconds. Dustless contractors have to manually purge their equipment and this is what differentiates a dust-free tile removal from one that is simply dustless. In tile removal, every second matters.
How Dust Free Floor Removal Works
Let's Dig a Little Deeper...
THE VACUUM IS THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT IN THE FLOOR REMOVAL PROCESS
But Why?
The Higher the Cubic Feet Per Minute the More Dust that is Captured
CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) is the volume quantity of air flow that moves through the vacuum, and what makes DustRam®s system stronger and more efficient. DustRam®s 311 CFM content and utility patent is the leading driving factor that puts us above the competition. Our high CFM allows more volume of dust as well as suction to enter the vacuums. Our PulseRam® vacuums maintain their maximum CFM through the duration of the job resulting in a better, faster, and cleaner tile removal. Dustless companies on the other hand, largely use Husqvarna or Ermator S-26’s (265 CFM). This is 15% less efficiency than our patented PulseRam® vacuum. It truly comes down to whoever has the strongest and most powerful vacuums with the highest CFM. That is who can capture the most dust.
Dustless Contractors Have to Manually Purge the HEPA Filters & DustRam® Doesn’t
Unlike the PulseRam®, vacuums used by dustless contractors require a manual purge of the filter which means the operator must wait for loss of suction to know that its time to clean the filter. By the time this becomes noticeable, tens of thousands of the particles have already dispersed throughout your home. To be dust free you must continuously maintain 285 minimum CFM throughout the entire job. Most vacuums get down to 265 CFM on the job or lower.
To avoid loss of suction, dustless contractors will often utilize a pre-separator and the operator will need to add the extra length of hose (8-15’) for more suction. But unfortunately, by then they will have experienced a loss of suction by 15%. This makes the vacuum undersized and the process dustless, not dust free.
DustRam® is the inventor of the dust-free method and of the technology that protects you from dust. We are the expert and the only entity that can capture dust at the source, at a rate of 99.99995% every single time. We care about you and our worker’s health. Find a DustRam® certified and factory-trained contractor in your city.
Dust Free - FAQs
Would You Rather Breathe 20 LBS of Dust or 1/4 of a Gram
Dustless
Dust Free
The DustRam® Sits on the Chisel - We Suction and Collect Dust at a Consistent Rate
In the dust free method by DustRam®, we capture and suction more dust at a consistent rate, hours upon hours, while remaining 50 times below OSHA’s permissible exposure limit of silica. This is because the DustRam® sits on the chisel making this a more efficient and effective method for capturing silica versus competitors that use other products that are not properly adjusted, to capture the dust.
DustRam® has +26 patents on dust free tools. Every component of our comprehensive system of tools and equipment plays a major role in capturing carcinogenic dust at every step of the tile removal. Our competitors don’t have a fully patented system, instead, they are using one patented product. This matters because we can control every single step of the flooring removal process to ensure that silica dust is captured and contained.
Every component and movement are important in preventing silica from going airborne and ending up in your lungs. From the process of removing the floor to creating rubble and picking up the rubble, to then placing it inside the tote, and removing the tote from the home. Each step along the process can expose you to dust if you don’t have the DustRam® dust-free patented system.
Air Quality Tests and OSHA Compliance Matter Greatly
Without OSHA Certified Field Tests, You Can't Know Your True Dust Capture Rate
Dustless tile removal processes are technically violating OSHAs newest standard of permissible exposure levels. Dustless contractors don’t have the air quality tests that prove they are dust free. Most contractors may or may not be aware that they need an air quality test per OSHA latest testing requirement. This test quantifies concentrations of crystalline silica, letting you know how much dust exposure there is during the job. OSHA’s permissible exposure limit has dropped from 100 μg/m3 to 50 μg/m3 during an 8-hour workday. If a contractor is above 25 μg/m3 then they must establish and implement a written silica exposure control plan. This plan must identify a practical methodology for protecting the workers which should include procedures that restrict access to workspaces with high concentrations of silica dust. Learn more about the dangers of exposure to silica dust from tile removal.
DustRam® is not only OSHA 19.26.1153 compliant, but our results also exceed OSHA’s permissible exposure limit. In a job that produced 500 pounds of silica, we only left behind ¼ of one gram as measured by silica dust particle collection devices and verified by an independent lab. If a pound of dust is produced per ft2 of tile, then that means a 1,000 ft2 of tile removal produces about 1,000 lbs. of silica dust. Unless you hire a truly dust-free contractor, you are going to become exposed to respirable silica dust.
DustRam® has air quality tests to prove we are 99.99995% dust free. We capture and contain silica dust and never release it back into the air.
