I do not really care for home improvement projects. Well, perhaps that is a little harsh. I should say that I do not enjoy them nearly as much as designing and building fine furniture. The other part of home improvement that I do not like is that I seem to be much more prone to injury doing home improvement projects. It is not that the tools are any more dangerous than those in my workshop, in fact I would go as far as to say the tools in the shop have a much higher potential for serious injury. However my shop is a very controlled, thought-out environment. This largely mitigates the actual incidence of injury. With home improvement projects, the work area is quite ad-hoc, and not nearly as controlled as a properly organized workshop.
While repairing the termite damage, replacing the window with a door, and building a deck and pergola to go with it, my body took a real beating. The first and most serious injury I sustained not an hour into this project, during the demolition/removal of the window. After removing the cripple studs that formed the sill, and not realizing that there were still nails sticking up through the bottom plate, I stepped up to get a better look at the header, and POP! two nails through my foot, right when I had a gaping 6'x6' hole in my house. (My toe is still sore a month later.)
Fortunately, the rest of my injuries during this project were minor: a bumped head, overworked wrists, etc. but this experience made me re-think the whole issue of safety when not working in the controlled environment of the shop. I am also interested in what anyone with both workshop and work-site experience has to offer regarding work-site safety.
No comments:
Post a Comment