Using a Stihl saw indoors in occupied property

[phatboy]

At the start of next year, we are knocking through to our extension. There are a number of 100mm walls, and a couple of 300mm concrete walls that need to be cut and removed (A couple the engineer has stated cutting before demolition specifically).

I value my life, so am going to use a diamond drilling / sawing company to do the work for me. But I suspect they will want to do it wet, and for good reason. It will be the type using an external beaver-pack or similar, so no petrol engine running indoors.

Can I sheet up things and build a sort of tray to try and catch all of the water and empty it with a wet vac, or am I going to fail miserably and have saturated timber floors?

Any suggestions welcome, as this is troubling me a bit! We cannot move out of the house really whilst the work takes place.

 

[foxhole]

Did you ask if they will be using protection.

 

[cdbe]

My suggestion would be to do it yourself by chain drilling with an SDS drill.

 

[opps]

Can you lift the boards and use sacrificial plywood/ etc?

Is the floor a suspended floor?

 

[phatboy]

My suggestion would be to do it yourself by chain drilling with an SDS drill.

If it was just a bit I would, but it's about 15m of wall in total, and I think that would be a couple of days faffing.

Can you lift the boards and use sacrificial plywood/ etc?

Is the floor a suspended floor?

Can't really lift the boards, and yes it is suspended floor.

Spoke to the contractor for it today, they only have wet saws, so it will be wet. And they say a tray may help and a load of towel / paper. And they carry a wet-vac. I guess I just have to hope for the best? A couple of the walls have a concrete floor side, so maybe attack from that side, knowing it will dry out?

 

[johnny2007]

I was in the same situation once and I used a dry 9" grinder.
I wet the wall where I had to cut and placed wet towels on the floor.
I built a "canopy" to restrict dust from going everywhere and I used one of those masks that you put your head in, similar to helmets.
Then overall suit.
An assistant was following the cut with a large vacuum cleaner.
Don't get me wrong, it's a horrible job, but I didn't fancy wetting the suspended floor.
Worst part was when I finished the cut and hat to wait for remaining dust to settle/being sucked by vacuum cleaner.
On the other side of the wall I had stuck polystyrene to the line I was cutting, so no dust went there.
If I had to do it again I would get lots and lots of towels and put them on the floor and use a wet cutter.

 

[phatboy]

I was in the same situation once and I used a dry 9" grinder.
I wet the wall where I had to cut and placed wet towels on the floor.
I built a "canopy" to restrict dust from going everywhere and I used one of those masks that you put your head in, similar to helmets.
Then overall suit.
An assistant was following the cut with a large vacuum cleaner.
Don't get me wrong, it's a horrible job, but I didn't fancy wetting the suspended floor.
Worst part was when I finished the cut and hat to wait for remaining dust to settle/being sucked by vacuum cleaner.
On the other side of the wall I had stuck polystyrene to the line I was cutting, so no dust went there.
If I had to do it again I would get lots and lots of towels and put them on the floor and use a wet cutter.

Thanks, I shall learn from your experience! No way I'd want to do it dry unless it was a system with a proper extractor.... vacuuming ceilings isn't on my list of things I want to do.

Got a few old towels, and a multipack of blue roll, so I'll see how I get on with the cuts on suspended floors. For the rest, the screed should dry out fairly quick I hope.

 

[Brigadier]

If it was just a bit I would, but it's about 15m of wall in total, and I think that would be a couple of days faffing.

If you fudge your floors up, you'll look back on "a couple of days faffing" as nothing of the sort.

 

[phatboy]

If you fudge your floors up, you'll look back on "a couple of days faffing" as nothing of the sort.

They are WBP 18mm ply, so hopefully with my best attempt at protection, all will be OK?!

 

[Brigadier]

@phatboy


Try searching for stuff like

for ideas.


What has your chosen contractor said they'll do, to mitigate the risk (to health, and your home)?

 

[Brigadier]

Here's a thought..........

You could always enquire of a (local to you) asbestos removal company, if they could build an enclosure for you or your contractor to work in......


They could even be contracted to clean it afterwards - it's what they normally do, after asbestos removal - before they dismantle it.


Think of it like how you engage a scaffolder: they set up, leave you to it, and dismantle it when you're done.

 

[catlad]

I bought a bosch dust attachment for my bosch 5" and 9" grinders and it reduced the dust down by about 90%

 

[phatboy]

@phatboy


Try searching for stuff like

for ideas.


What has your chosen contractor said they'll do, to mitigate the risk (to health, and your home)?

The company only cut wet. I suppose its a health and safety thing, and the saws may overheat without the water?

I used a 300m disc cutter outside a whole back, the times I forgot to start the water running were immediately obvious!

 

[phatboy]

I bought a bosch dust attachment for my bosch 5" and 9" grinders and it reduced the dust down by about 90%

Interesting for the future, although I hope to not need to do much internal grinding again.... those are not cheap attachments!

 

[thomp1983]

Buy a couple of rolls of carpet protection film, it should stick to your floors, overlap each section and you'll basically have a very large plastic sheet which most of the water and dust will stay on top of instead of soaking into the floor, you should then be able to mop or wet vac the worst of the mess up before rolling up the remains into a ball when taking the film up.