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b Another homeowner. One day we will rule the world.
I always loved New England in the summer. Even the black flies. So when a job for a cottage renovation opened up it was a no brainer. Solo work. Good folks. Turned me loose in there from top to bottom. Neil and dylan playing in the background with breezes thru the windows and the songbirds chirp outside. Nothing better. But the plumber. The plumber left a collar of a drainpipe sticking out past the wall’s 2x4s almost a quarter inch. Am I going to furr out the whole wall for that quarter inch. Then, an idea! Why, I could lay that piece of drywall on the sawhorses, and, my circular saw, and ya, I can set my blade at a quarter inch and sweep sideways a groove on the backside of the drywall where the collar would stick out and no one will ever think twice about it. Slick as snot on a doorknob. So with my lines marked and the music refrains mixing with windowed sunlight and chipmunks rustle I engage the saw and sweep the blade across the drywall.
I wasn’t ready for the ensuing clouds, and I mean clouds, of drywall dust I filled that cottage with. Eyes, hair, floor, walls, doors, shelves, everywhere. But the hard part was realizing I wasn’t quite done cutting the groove yet and had to decide if I should continue or not. I figured the damage was already done so I might as well finish it up and added more to the carnage. I don’t know how much time I spent cleaning that mess up.
And the moral of the story; or, why are you telling us this is: don’t cut drywall with a circular saw.
Replies
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Sounds like one of my "smooth moves". Had a large plaster crack, decided to grind it with a power grinder to prepare it for a patch. It's a lot quicker than opening up the crack by hand. I was warned about there being a decent amount of dust, but... words just can't describe what happened. Luckily I had plastic over the doors in the room I was working, and the vents were covered. I spent about two minutes grinding... and hours cleaning up. I knew I was kicking up dust, but I never turned around to see how bad it really was. The dust was everywhere, even with the plastic over the doors. In the hall, in the kitchen, in the dining room... You looked into the room from the outside and it looked like there was a fire. A dust cloud had enveloped the room. Needless to say, after cleaning up I put that on the "I will never, ever do that again in that manner" list.
*Yup...similar circumstances led to the first, and fortunately only time, that I have ever been in an arctic white-out.In the basement cutting the slab with a diamond blade.Finished the cut, looked up...goggles must be fogged over. Nope, not the goggles.Where's the door?Who turned out the lights?
*I was talking with a concrete guy who was called in to finish up a job in someone's basement. It seems that the first guy had used his cement saw on the basement slab but had not taken precautions against dust and the home owner came home to find cement dust in every upstairs closet, kitchen cabinet, everywhere.Although my favorite "oh, Sh##" was from my cellulose blower guy who was doing a kitchen remodel and found out the hard way that the cabinets were built with no sheetrock behind them and just enough gap somewhere. Yup, he ran down from the attic after it felt like too much blew in that last stud bay and found that the drawers and cabinets were dense-packed with cellulose.
*I tried to make taking out a 15' brick wall and hearth easier by cutting it into sections with a diamond blade. Good thing I had the room sealed tight. After the second pass the saw disapeared, I thought the goggles got fogged, nope. Took the gogles off and could barely see the halogen work light. Luckily I was next to the doorwall. The sledgehammer ended up to way to go after all. Wasted $40.00 on that stupid blade.Most fun I had was blowing cellulose in my brother-in-laws house. He was going to cover all the walls with drywall because the plaster was so bad. He didn't have any insulation and didn't have the money to hire it in, so I volunteered to help him. After knocking 6" holes in each stud bay, we got out the blower. Worked great, packed those walls in about 10 seconds per stud bay, until we got upstairs. Seems the house was built ballon construction and one stud bay was open to the basement. I'm filling away until I hear a scream from the basement. My sister-in-law was downstairs doing laundry and as she tried to come upstairs she discovered we had filled the stair well with cellulose. Seems they've never asked for my help since then, could be a good thing.
*I was running a shop back in central Canada, before I moved out here. We wanted to lay some conduit down in the slab....I knew NOTHING about cutting concrete, but my carp convinced me we could do it easily ourselves, just cut a little trench. He rented the machine, and started her up at one end of my 6000 or so foot shop, and had at it. I was still putting some poly over the machnes at the other end, when I looked up , and it looked like a blizzard bearing down on my....another moment, and I was in the middle of it.It took weeks to clean up. They're probably still clearing up. Later he admitted we could have had pros do it with no muss, no fuss, for what it cost us. I think he was bored and just wanted to play with the machine.
*Topper, a crew was cutting control joints in newly poured driveway aprons on my street last spring. I had already cut my , so knew they would skip my house. I heard the saw runnig most of the morning and as it got closer to my house I decided it was time to button up. When they got to my neighbors house I went out to sidewalk supervise. I ask the foreman if he was telling people to close thier windows. The look on his face was one of the best "ah sh*t" I have ever seen. Out of forty houses, they had managed to "dust" the inside of thirty two. Two days later there was a Mr Maid cleaning van man at the door, asking if we needed our house cleaned. I hate to think what it cost that company or the rate payers, since it was part of a sewer project.
*Along the same lines, I was reno commercial space in a basement in a small town. Had to cut out door ways to meet code, decided to do it at night with saw and hilti hammer. After clouds of dust started happening I pressed on until I couldn't see anymore, turned around to find myself looking down barrel of shot gun, turned out I had triggered the vault alarms in the bank next door, policemen were very nice after we all stopped shaking, even nicer when I offered to pay for uniform cleaning. Never again!so long from the Kootenays, gtw
*I was working on an commercial project awhile back and the painter decided to paint the steel trusses before the roof decking went on. This project was situated on a university and needless to say he managed to get overspray on a fair number of vehicles in the immediate area plus a couple of car dealerships also claimed. Never did find out what the final tally was but I am sure the insurance claim was expensive.Gtwilkins what part of Kootenays you from. I use to live in Creston and Cranbrook.
*It looks like the moral of the stories is that if you're going to cut more than a tiny amount of concrete, get one of those saws that you hook up to the garden hose.-- J.S.
*I did have someone relate another concrete cutting story to me.The new guy was cutting the slab in the basement. Same as above...when the cut was done, he looked up to discover he was lost in a dust storm, zero visibility.He couldn't find his way out of the basement so he started yelling to the other guys on the crew. Another guy opened the bilco door and started calling out to him:"Come into the light...come into the light."
*Yes I think I too have learned the hard way about using a circular grinder to cut cement, drywall, plaster and tile. Learned to the exact point when and where I should've stopped before hitting bath water supply pipe. Water spraying thru the air sure does cut the dust in the air quick and upon your goggles. Just be sure that in your panic to get the water off that you set that spinning and whining grinder down in a safe, dry place. Still have the grinder and all 12 toes. I think that I'll reach for the Hilti every time now a days, anything but the grinder. I can laugh now.
*How about using one of the Makita fiber-cement siding saws for cutting masonry? It's a 7 1/4-in. sidewinder with a dust shroud and a vac hookup. Throw on a diamond blade and a cheap vac, and I think we have a winner for small jobs.Andy
*So, Rez, you a boy or a girl? The reason I ask is because a guy usually wants a solution whereas a gal wants empathy. Which is it?Ready... and at your service...
*b Another homeowner. One day we will rule the world.Eh?
*C'mon, get with it. What's your home planet?
*I once had the bright idea of cutting strips of drywall on my table saw to use as cheap trim around the ceiling. I figured the stuff would cut easily with a throwaway blade and boy, I was right. It makes the most beautiful edge on the drywall you have ever seen. I didn't expect the dust to shoot out the back of the saw like a jet engine, though. After the first strip I thought "this could be a problem". After the 2nd strip, I had to leave the room until the dust settled. That was it.I still think it's a cool idea if a cheap vacuum system could solve the problem - I doubt it.-Randy
*b Another homeowner. Someday we will rule the world.Ya, but then you'd have to be concerned over drywall dust in motors and bearings of the saw. You probably already know what it does to tape players.gtwilkins- that was absolutely the best I ever heard.
*OK guys. Heres one for the vacumn series.I had to strip the finish on two oak treads in the entry of a very fine home.I thought hmmm.........orbital sander hooked to a vacumn.Sure.I sanded my way way to bare oak thinking how smart I was for this plan . Even spent time going to the hardware store to rig this contraption up. Stood up and looked across the finished oak floor and seen a trail of solid dust heading for the air return.I still dont understand how it happened. Half day on treads. one and a half days dusting.
*Truss plant offices tend to be dusty, and so the computers get real dusty also. Every time I opened one up, I'd have to get a compressed air line hooked up and blow the dust off the boards and such. One Saturday I went in to do some upgrading, and opened up one of the cases. The plant wasn't working, so the compressors weren't on, and I had no idea where the breakers were. So I figured I'd just use a vacuum cleaner. So I set the computer on the receptionists desk, plugged the hose in the exhaust end of the vacuum, and turned it on. (You always use a vacuum indoors, right?)It didn't occur to me that I should have taken the stuff outside until the computer gave up a huge cloud of dust when the stream of air hit it. Glad to see I'm not the only one who has a brain lapse occasionally...
*Had to put a new cooktop in the mother in law's kitchen last spring. Turns out the new cooktop is about 1/2" bigger than the hole in the tile counter top. No problem. I'll just use the skil, a diamond blade and my shop vac. Seemed like a good Idea at the time. At least she doesn't ask me to do any work on her house any more........
*Glad to see sheetrock mentioned. My first and last job in that lovely business ended with a little bathroom remodel(and quite incidentally, my first job on my own). 3 coats to finish this stuff? I was a collich boy, lay it on thick enough, call me johnny one-coat. Hand sanding was making me weary when I saw my pad sander...no problemo, run a cord through the bathroom door, so what if it didn't close tight, and sand away. Man, I was one smart mother, wait'll I tell those stupid sheetrockers how fast I am...whooee, finished that up quick, cough, cough, went out for a breath of air, white christmas in July throughout the whole house. We worked it out, they'll never talk to me again, and I moved out of the state...botching billy
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b Another homeowner. One day we will rule the world.
I always loved New England in the summer. Even the black flies. So when a job for a cottage renovation opened up it was a no brainer. Solo work. Good folks. Turned me loose in there from top to bottom. Neil and dylan playing in the background with breezes thru the windows and the songbirds chirp outside. Nothing better. But the plumber. The plumber left a collar of a drainpipe sticking out past the wall's 2x4s almost a quarter inch. Am I going to furr out the whole wall for that quarter inch. Then, an idea! Why, I could lay that piece of drywall on the sawhorses, and, my circular saw, and ya, I can set my blade at a quarter inch and sweep sideways a groove on the backside of the drywall where the collar would stick out and no one will ever think twice about it. Slick as snot on a doorknob. So with my lines marked and the music refrains mixing with windowed sunlight and chipmunks rustle I engage the saw and sweep the blade across the drywall.
I wasn't ready for the ensuing clouds, and I mean clouds, of drywall dust I filled that cottage with. Eyes, hair, floor, walls, doors, shelves, everywhere. But the hard part was realizing I wasn't quite done cutting the groove yet and had to decide if I should continue or not. I figured the damage was already done so I might as well finish it up and added more to the carnage. I don't know how much time I spent cleaning that mess up.
And the moral of the story; or, why are you telling us this is: don't cut drywall with a circular saw.