How to clean drywall mud tools indoors without a hose
Washing drywall mud in an apartment without outdoor access or a proper waste disposal area makes cleanup messy and risks clogging your plumbing. People resort to improvised methods like using tall glasses or modifying shower fixtures to rinse tools indoors without a spray hose.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- This comes up 18.5× more often in r/CleaningTips than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Using a 5-gallon bucket to mix and clean, letting solids settle overnight, pouring clear water into the toilet, and scraping sludge into a trash bag.Did this help you?
- 2Wiping tools off using disposable wipes or rags and rinsing residue in the toilet.Did this help you?
- 3Using a silicone bucket, letting the mud set, and crushing the bucket so the dry residue flakes out.Did this help you?
- 4Using a large cup, bucket, bowl, or tall glass to scoop and pour waterDid this help you?
- 5Using a plastic watering can with a long spoutDid this help you?
- 6Using a spray bottle or pump garden sprayerDid this help you?
- 7Temporarily swapping out the fixed shower head for a model with a hose or wand attachmentDid this help you?
- 8Using a stretchy elastic slip-on hose attached over the shower head or faucetDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I'm just wondering how to clean my tools etc inside? There's no outside access to a hose or even any place to dump my waste as I'm in a congested nyc area.”source ↗
“When I clean the shower, I often need to rinse soap/cleaner off the walls afterward, and it's surprisingly annoying without a way to spray water around.”source ↗
“I'm also here for this question and omg I literally can just unscrew my shower head from the neck and stick a rubber hose end on it, I did not think of this.”source ↗
“I keep a tall glass in my bathroom for this purpose. It’s not the ideal, but it works. If there’s a better tool out there, I’d love to learn about it.”source ↗
“This is such a good question and I’ve wondered the same thing when rinsing shower walls without handheld wand.”source ↗
“I am someone who is here for this question and ideas in the comments”source ↗