Which dust mask do I need — FFP2 or FFP3?

The number on a disposable mask describes how much of the airborne particle load it filters when it is sealed to the face. Everything else follows from that: the rating tells you what it can do, and the fit tells you whether it is doing it. A poorly fitting FFP3 offers less protection than a well-fitting FFP2, because air takes the easiest path and a leak at the cheek is a very easy path.

Safety

Step by step

1. Identify what the dust actually is.Wood dust, and hardwood dust especially, is a recognised respiratory hazard. MDF dust is fine and contains bonding resin. Plaster and cement dust are alkaline and irritant. Masonry, concrete and some stone contain crystalline silica. Paint in a house built before 1980 may contain lead. Each of those argues for FFP3 rather than FFP2.
2. Choose the rating from the job, not the packet size.FFP2 for occasional light dust; FFP3 for anything fine, prolonged or genuinely harmful. The price difference per mask is small and the difference in what reaches your lungs is not.
3. Get the mask on before the dust starts.Fine dust is airborne for hours. Putting a mask on after the first cut, or taking it off while the room is still hazy, gives away most of the benefit.
4. Fit it properly, in order.Straps over the head — the lower strap below the ears, the upper above them — then mould the metal nose bar down over the bridge of your nose with both hands, and settle the edges under your chin. A mask hooked over the ears or worn with the nose bar untouched does not seal.
5. Do a fit check every time.Cover the mask with both hands and breathe in sharply. The mask should pull slightly against your face and you should feel no air rushing in at the edges. Breathe out sharply and feel round the edges for escaping air. If it leaks, adjust and check again.
6. Deal honestly with facial hair.Stubble or a beard along the sealing edge prevents any disposable mask or half mask from sealing, and no strap tension fixes it. The options are to shave the sealing area, or to use a powered hood or a loose-fitting powered respirator, which do not rely on a face seal.
7. Take it off correctly and bin it.Handle the straps, not the front, and dispose of a used disposable rather than leaving it on the bench covered in the dust you were avoiding. Reusing a clogged mask means breathing through a filter loaded with what you filtered yesterday.
8. Replace it when breathing gets harder.Increased breathing resistance means the filter is loading up. A disposable is a single-session item for anything genuinely dusty; a reusable's filters have a stated life and should be changed on schedule, not on appearance.
9. Wear it as well as extracting, not instead.On-tool extraction removes most of the dust; the mask covers what escapes. Neither alone is sufficient for fine dust work.

Tips

• Wear the mask before eye protection and take it off after, so glasses sit over the mask edge rather than under it — it reduces fogging and improves the seal.
• Keep a box of FFP3 masks rather than buying one at a time. The reason people work unprotected is almost always that there was not one to hand.
• For work with solvent-based paint, stripper or two-pack products, a dust mask does nothing at all — those need a filter rated for organic vapour, which means a reusable half mask.
• Change out of dusty clothes outside and do not shake them out indoors. A dusty jumper releases fine dust into the house for days.

Common mistakes

• Wearing an unrated nuisance mask for fine dust — It filters almost none of the respirable fraction and it feels like protection, which means people work longer and closer to the dust than they otherwise would.
• Wearing a mask over a beard — The seal is the mechanism. Air follows the leak, so the filter is largely bypassed, and this is measurable and large rather than marginal.
• Hooking the straps over the ears — Disposable masks are designed with head straps for a reason. Ear loops on an FFP-rated mask do not generate enough tension to seal.
• Reusing a mask across several dusty jobs — The filter loads up, breathing resistance rises, and the extra effort pulls air in around the edges instead of through the filter.

Alternatives

• Unrated 'nuisance' dust mask: The thin paper cup with a single strap. No filtration rating, no seal, and no meaningful protection against fine dust. It keeps large visible particles off your face and gives a false sense of security about the fraction that matters. Not respiratory protection.
• FFP2 disposable: Filters a substantial majority of airborne particles when properly fitted. The sensible working minimum for general dusty DIY — sweeping, handling insulation, light sanding, general demolition.
• FFP3 disposable: The highest disposable class, filtering a considerably greater proportion of the fine fraction than FFP2. What you want for fine wood dust and MDF, plaster and cement dust, brick and masonry, sanding old paint, and any prolonged dusty work.
• Valved versions: A one-way exhalation valve makes a mask much more comfortable for prolonged or hot work by letting your breath out without steaming your glasses. It offers no extra protection to you, and it does not protect anyone near you, because your exhaled air is unfiltered.
• Reusable half mask with P3 filters: A silicone or rubber facepiece with replaceable filter cartridges. Seals far better than a disposable, is more comfortable for long jobs, and works out cheaper if you do dusty work regularly. Also takes combined filters for organic vapours from solvents, paints and strippers, which no disposable does.
• Powered respirator or a full face mask: For sustained, high-exposure work — extended masonry cutting, spraying, or working in a confined dusty space. Overkill for most home use and genuinely appropriate for some jobs.

Questions people ask