Here’s an obvious statement and a short article to help you avoid the obvious. Don’t eat the ceiling. Simple right? After all, nobody wants to eat the ceiling. You may even be wondering exactly what I’m talking about. Let me put it another way.

Have you ever needed to drill a hole in the ceiling and found yourself tasting drywall for two days? You’re not alone. Most of us just try to keep our mouths shut so we don’t eat the ceiling. Even then, you’ll likely end up with drywall dust in your eyes and all over the room.

Here’s a simple trick I learned years ago. Take a disposable pie tin and drill a small hole in it, just big enough to allow the drill bit to stick through and rotate freely. Now when you drill the hole, the pan will catch all of the droppings. Brilliant!

Being that I started with a statement of the obvious: don’t eat the ceiling, I’ll end with another potentially obvious statement. When you’re done drilling your hole or holes in the ceiling, be sure to slowly lower the drill and pie pan. The first time I used this trick, I was so excited about my success that I quickly pulled the drill down from above my head and the wind created in that action blew all of the drywall dust into my face. Suddenly, the brilliant idea seemed less fantastic. A slow decent is key and you can celebrate once the dust has been disposed of!