Working with concrete can be a dangerous task regardless if you're working with wet concrete or if you have to handle old concrete that has already been incorporated into buildings and other structures. This is why you need to be extra careful regarding the issue on safety. Professional concrete workers already have the necessary equipment to keep safe on the worksite, but as a layman, you need to acquire the right gear in order to stay safe and to do a good job. In order to get the right gear, you first need to be aware of what the essentials are.
Goggles
Eye protection is the most important thing when performing any type of work with your hands. Concrete is no different. Splashes of wet concrete or dust from dry concrete can get into your eyes and damage them irrevocably. To avoid this, you need to use safety goggles at all times when you're handling concrete. Use goggles that cover your eyes completely, also on the side, and that aren't tinted. Using tinted goggles indoors can distort your vision and cause you to miss details in the work you're doing.
Skin protection
One danger that is specific for when you're working with concrete is that concrete can be abrasive on your skin. This means that you should cover up all parts of your body before you intend to start working with concrete. Use gloves that go up a bit on your arms to cover as much skin as possible. You should also make sure you don't wear short sleeved shirts and that you put your trousers on the inside of your boots at all time.
GPR scanner
When it comes to more advanced equipment, an essential tool for working with concrete in buildings and such is concrete GPR scanning. This is quite expensive equipment, but if you're working with demolishing or drilling in concrete in a house, it might be well worth renting one. Concrete GPR scanning gives you an image of what's hidden in the concrete, such as circuits, iron mesh, and water pipes. If you were to hit any of these with a drill, you could seriously injure yourself, as well as make the cost of your project to increase significantly. A GPR scanner gives you the opportunity to map these things and therefore avoid them as you're drilling, and to carefully dissemble the concrete when you need to demolish it. A GPR scanner might also be good to have if you're working with ground concrete, like if you need to excavate the concrete of your driveway.
Share7 March 2016
Concrete may seem boring to the uninitiated, but as the wife of a concrete contractor, I have learned, over the years, that it is anything but boring. Contemporary concrete can be used in a range of applications from functional sound walls to decorative koi ponds, and it can be left gray, stamped or acid stained. If you are getting ready to do a project, you have come to the right place. In this blog, I am going to post a myriad of information about concrete with an emphasis on project ideas and the different uses of concrete. By the end, I hope you find concrete as exciting as I do!
