Tracking dust into the house

[Tom Bender]

My basement shop is pretty good at containing dust, until I walk out. My shop shoes are smooth on the bottom but a lot of fine dust clings to the soles. A mat outside the door works ok but then the dust is outside. Often I stop and brush my shoes off inside but that gets old when making many trips. Suggestions?

[Jim Braun]

I wear Birkenstock Boston Clogs. The thick cork footbed is very comfortable for long hours at the bench and the uppers are thick leather in case I drop a chisel. I just step out of them before entering the house. I have the oiled leather ones https://www.zappos.com/p/birkenstock...9/color/208913

[mike stenson]

Funny, I wear Birkentstock Profis for the same reason. Except being plastic, they're easy to clean, oil and grease resistant.

[Jim Becker]

The most recent version of the Sketchers I wear have soles similar in configuration to those Birkenstocks as there are no small gaps for stuff to get stuck in. That makes it easier to wipe off the bottoms on a matt. The previous version I used had all kinds of little spaces in the tread that caught dirt, mud, dust, etc. way too easily. (and mud falls out when it dries...) The singular downside to what I'm wearing now is that the bottoms wear a little quicker...but they are not expensive shoes so replacing them isn't a big deal when the time comes.

One other idea...a "boot brush" thing can be helpful as it scrubs more places than just a floor matt.

[Steve Wurster]

My basement shop is pretty good at containing dust, until I walk out. ... Suggestions?

Leave those shoes in the shop. That's what I do with my basement shop: the shop shoes never leave the basement.

[Dan Howell]

Look at these on Amazon YAEHA Sticky Mats for Cleanrooms, Walk Off Tacky Mats for Construction Home Pets Warehouse Garage 24"x36" Blue (4 Pads, 30 Sheets Each)

[Wayne Cannon]

I use a Duluth Trading double boot brush (gets sides + soles) outside the garage door where I enter the house from the shop. It's outside so I can easily hose it off. At the door from the garage to the house is a cocoa mat (bristles shed when new). Inside is a short-nap black industrial rubber mat where we all change shoes into indoor slippers. It is rare to see any shop dust on the mat.

At work, we use "clean room sticky mats" like Dan mentioned. They won't catch dust from crevices in textured shoe soles, but they work quite well. Check the size, because, at 24" x 36", some are pretty large for a residence. They need a smooth floor underneath. They are typically in pads of around 30 peel-off sheets per pad at slightly over $1 per sheet. Unless you track in a lot of debris, with pre-brushing you might get a week or more of regular use from each sheet.

[glenn bradley]

I use a combination. I have clogs or even sandals (depending what I'm doing) that just get slipped off to keep stuff out of the house. If I am wearing tie-ons I use a double boot brush.Double boot brush.jpg

[Carl Beckett]

If your treads are smooth the sticky mats work well.

If your treads catch dust in the grooves.... the brush mat helps but wont fully resolve it. So I switched up what shoes I wear for this reason.

And put a plastic film on the carpet stairs going from my shop to my house (like movers use) - just left it on

[lou Brava]

Newly married (ions ago) came into the house after work taking off the shoes and sawdust is hitting the floor, the wife says, "come on quit bringing that dust in here" I told here the day I come home without the dust is when She should start worrying" She never complained after that

[George Yetka]

https://www.amazon.com/Adhesive-Clea...07PZ3CDVB?th=1

I would get the smallest version you can get of one of these and walk over it on the way out. It will pick up dust when not in use too so if you odnt use the shop for a month you may have to tear a sheet before walking out the next time. All the jobsites I work on have these to keep construction debris out of common areas.

[Doug Garson]

Not necessarily to the soles of my shoes but I often used compressed air to blow the dust off my clothes before leaving the shop. Slip on shop shoes make a lot of sense however I wear orthotics so that option is less attractive for me.

[Cameron Wood]

I have a series of two mats that help some for the shoes, but I blow off with these for the rest of me.

IMG_3413.jpeg

[Tom Bender]

Using a bench brush works well but is awkward, especially when carrying something. Guess I'll get another one and fasten it to a weight of some kind, a steel plate might be good. Just hate to give over a square foot of floor space.

[Kris Cook]

Second the suggestion to just switch shoes/boots. Seems like a no-brainer.