My grandmother used straight up rubbing alcohol on her face in the 70s. She had perfect skin until the day she died at 85. I remember her telling me that the esthetician she saw back then told her to just put a little on a cotton ball after washing. She never had a breakout or a dry patch. Makes me wonder if all these 12 step routines are just a way for companies to sell us stuff we dont really need.

So you think plumbers are just in on it together?

Oh, I don't know, sometimes a little dust is just dust, not a love letter.

Right, because nothing says "fresh air" like a plastic-wrapped science experiment running in your living room for two weeks. @abbychen, you're probably right about the HEPA thing too - I went with one of those "medical grade" ones that's basically a vacuum for electrons, and now the poor thing is probably suffocating trying to pull air through it. My dust isn't even that fancy, just regular boring house dust, not like it needs a NASA-grade filter to catch cat hair. Did you end up swapping yours for a lower rating or did you just let it run and pray the plastic smell burned off?

Are you really saving that much time though? I tried the cardboard shim trick a few years back on a job in Philly and ended up having to pull half of it off because the caulk cracked right along the shim lines when the weather changed. Self-leveler is a pain but at least it's a solid base. Maybe your floors are flatter than the old rowhouses I deal with.