If you have to build a home during a prolonged bout of stormy weather, the following tips may come in handy.
Make sure that loose or lightweight materials and equipment are weighed down
If it becomes particularly windy on your construction site, you should make sure that any lightweight or loose materials and equipment are weighed down. The best way to do this is to cover these items with a thick plastic sheet and use concrete blocks or stone bricks to keep the corners of the sheeting in place.
There are two reasons why you need to do this. The first is that if, for example, some of your timber, power tools or open bags of cement end up being blown across the site by a strong gust of wind, there is a very good chance that they will sustain irreparable damage (especially if the site employees do not immediately retrieve these items because they are focused on their work). The items could, for example, be thrown into the pathway of a moving piece of heavy construction equipment, in which case they would almost certainly be crushed.
The second reason is that if a hazardous material (such as a sharp tool or a piece of timber) becomes airborne as a result of being exposed to strong winds, it could hit and strike someone working on the building site and leave them with a serious injury.
As such, it's vital to ensure to keep your light or loose materials weighed down on windy days.
Protect your moisture-sensitive materials from the rain
Many of the most common materials that are used to build homes are sensitive to moisture; these include cement, structural timber and steel nails.
If these materials get drenched by rainwater, it could spell disaster for your building project. Any cement that is saturated will be rendered useless. Likewise, steel nails that are left outside are likely to rust over very quickly if they get wet.
If the structural timber that you intend to use the build the home's floor, roofing and framing systems get wet, it could potentially create a structurally unsafe building, even if you try to dry it out before using it.
The reason for this is that even a small amount of moisture inside the core of a timber component could result in the growth of erosive fungal spores which will, over the course of a few months, devour the wood.
The presence of these spores may not be immediately apparent and in fact may only become obvious after the house has already been built. If this should happen, the affected sections of the framework may have to be replaced. This would be costly and highly complex undertaking.
Given this, it is absolutely vital to protect your moisture-sensitive materials from the rain. The best way to do this is to stow them in a waterproof shed or container. However, if you need to keep them outdoors, you should lay a collection of concrete blocks on the ground, place a plastic sheet over these blocks and then stack your materials on this sheet. Then, place another sheet over the top.
The blocks will keep the materials away from the wet soil, whilst the two layers of sheeting will prevent moisture underneath or above them from coming into contact with them.
There are still many people do not believe that women should be involved in DIY or construction jobs. My blog is here to prove them all wrong. My name is Connie and I have always been interested in construction and repair work around my home. Rather than just sitting back and letting someone else take care of the problem, I like to get stuck in so I can try and learn something. However, sometimes there are jobs I cannot do on my own. However, when I call in a contractor, I always take the time to chat with them so I can pick up a tip or trick which will help me in the future. I hope you like the articles on my blog.