Time to Grind
Apr. 17th, 2022 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeThe weather yesterday was cool but not unpleasant, and once the wind died down, Lisa decided it was time to deal with a home improvement safety project that has been bugging us ever since we moved here over a decade ago.
Behind the house, in an area where we do not go that often, there is a concrete slab. We think that this was once used as a dog kennel. The stubs of the posts that were the fence for the kennel were sloppily left behind when a previous owner cut the posts off. These have always been a tripping hazard.
Both Lisa and I have tripped over these stubs multiple times, and it's only good fortune that has kept us from getting injured. Every time we looked at these, I reminded myself why we got tetanus boosters when we moved here and why we get them updated periodically.
For several years, we used the concrete slab area for storing firewood, using pallets over the concrete to keep the wood off the ground. Once we switched from cord-wood (which is pricey and increasingly difficult to source locally) to the more efficient pressed-sawdust energy logs, Lisa slowly cleared this area and cut the old pallets down to where we could also burn them. This past week, she cleared the area sufficiently that it was time to get rid of the hazards back there.
This is the larger of the two grinders that Lisa owns. She kitted up with ear and eye protection, and we also got out a hose with a sprayer attachment on it in case it was needed due to the sparks that this work would generate.
The heavy grinder made short work of the metal stubs.
After cutting off each stub, Lisa removed the small bits of metal left around the cuts and ground each stub down level with the concrete.
The resultant metal rings were hot to the touch, and I wore my heavy gloves to move them away to a place where they could cool down before we threw them in the trash later. We obviously didn't want to make a dumpster fire!
The tripping hazards are now gone, and the concrete slab is ready to receive a new project on which Lisa wants to work later this year, about which I will write when we get to it.
We waited until the wind died down before doing this because generating a bunch of sparks from grinding is a fire hazard, and it would not do to set the dry brush or the fence on fire. Just to be careful, after Lisa removed the grinder and extension cord, I used the hose to soak down the area around the slab with water just in case there might have been a stray spark smouldering away in the brush.
Behind the house, in an area where we do not go that often, there is a concrete slab. We think that this was once used as a dog kennel. The stubs of the posts that were the fence for the kennel were sloppily left behind when a previous owner cut the posts off. These have always been a tripping hazard.
Both Lisa and I have tripped over these stubs multiple times, and it's only good fortune that has kept us from getting injured. Every time we looked at these, I reminded myself why we got tetanus boosters when we moved here and why we get them updated periodically.
For several years, we used the concrete slab area for storing firewood, using pallets over the concrete to keep the wood off the ground. Once we switched from cord-wood (which is pricey and increasingly difficult to source locally) to the more efficient pressed-sawdust energy logs, Lisa slowly cleared this area and cut the old pallets down to where we could also burn them. This past week, she cleared the area sufficiently that it was time to get rid of the hazards back there.
This is the larger of the two grinders that Lisa owns. She kitted up with ear and eye protection, and we also got out a hose with a sprayer attachment on it in case it was needed due to the sparks that this work would generate.
The heavy grinder made short work of the metal stubs.
After cutting off each stub, Lisa removed the small bits of metal left around the cuts and ground each stub down level with the concrete.
The resultant metal rings were hot to the touch, and I wore my heavy gloves to move them away to a place where they could cool down before we threw them in the trash later. We obviously didn't want to make a dumpster fire!
The tripping hazards are now gone, and the concrete slab is ready to receive a new project on which Lisa wants to work later this year, about which I will write when we get to it.
We waited until the wind died down before doing this because generating a bunch of sparks from grinding is a fire hazard, and it would not do to set the dry brush or the fence on fire. Just to be careful, after Lisa removed the grinder and extension cord, I used the hose to soak down the area around the slab with water just in case there might have been a stray spark smouldering away in the brush.
