Concrete Dust Collection

[ItsNemo]

Thinking I might replace the slab in my basement before finishing it (long story, builder did a lousy job, is cracked everywhere and under minimum code for thickness) and wondering what options I have for dust collection. I would seal off ducts/doors/etc. and since it's a walk out basement I can run a fan fairly well sealed off in the door to create some negative pressure...but thinking if there's a way to catch most of the dust. Would the dust collectors used for woodworking (like the 1hp things with the big top/bottom bags) work well for this? Basically put a flex pipe near wherever the jackhammer is running routed to this?

I already own a jack hammer (tr industrial one) and concrete saw (the evolution one) from previous projects, so would be using those. Don't mind spending a few hundred dollars on equipment to minimize dust or make the job easier...quotes I've gotten for someone to just come and replace the entire thing are almost split 50/50 on labour to remove old slab vs concrete material + pour.

 

[chinboys]

i did this and it worked ok for the time, effort and costs...
two box fans
one blowing in and one blowing out set up as far apart from each other.
and this was done to sand down wood floors and to sand sheetrock join work.
yes, i wore eye protection and used a dust mask.

 

[Homerr]

I would really suggest a proper dust mask - i.e. a 3M half facepiece type with dust filters.

Not the filter paper and rubber band ones.

 

[MoonRise]

Concrete dust workplace regulations and worker safety requirements get MUCH stricter recently.

Concrete dust limitation is now down to 50 microgram/m^3 of crystalline silica average over an 8 hour period (down from 250 microgram/m^3).

Wet saw is almost required now (almost). Then ventilation and proper NIOSH respirators.


Full reg:

https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.1153

A 101 page 'simplified' document discussing who/what/why/how about the regs for small businesses/entities:

https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3902.pdf

 

[rburke65]

60 years ago, my dad decided to tare up the concrete floor in our old house. We replaced sewer pipe and did some upgrades. Sledgehammer and tossed out the cellar windows. Work buddy.

 

[SGKent]

The word to look up today is: Silicosis

When you look it up, see what it is, its effects, and how easy it is to prevent then you too will wear a mask when making any form of silica dust.

 

[ItsNemo]

Sorry, forgot to mention...I own a 3m 7800S full face respirator (and a couple 7500 half masks) with appropriate filters already. I am big on wearing the appropriate safety equipment.

More than anything I wanted to minimize the amount of dust in the house while doing this work....when I cut my floor in the garage for my scissor lift, even with a box fan blowing air out and a shop vac with drywall dust bag right by the saw, it was a god awful mess that took ages to clean up.

 

[rayra]

Sorry, forgot to mention...I own a 3m 7800S full face respirator (and a couple 7500 half masks) with appropriate filters already. I am big on wearing the appropriate safety equipment.

More than anything I wanted to minimize the amount of dust in the house while doing this work....when I cut my floor in the garage for my scissor lift, even with a box fan blowing air out and a shop vac with drywall dust bag right by the saw, it was a god awful mess that took ages to clean up.

All that and you claim to still have a big mess inside the house? How odd.

For starters I wouldn't be venting the room. The shop vac OUGHT to be getting most, if you are collecting properly.
I'd keep the access from the workspace to the house-proper closed completely during the work and I'd make sure the door seals properly, either with gasketing or flat out taping the door jamb.
There are tarp walls with zippered access, pretty affordable. Wall off the work area or the house access area from the work area.
A couple 20" with paper filters on their output side should help a great deal.
But simply, you let the dust cloud settle and shopvac it up without disturbing it.
And YOU and anyone else in the space need to doff your clothing or wear a tyvek suit or something comparable, so you aren't walking into the house like Pigpen.

But frankly I'm doubting your statements, they seem either grossly exaggerated or OCD and I don't have much time or interest in either.

 

[brownbagg]

put the slab under water

 

[ItsNemo]

All that and you claim to still have a big mess inside the house? How odd.

For starters I wouldn't be venting the room. The shop vac OUGHT to be getting most, if you are collecting properly.
I'd keep the access from the workspace to the house-proper closed completely during the work and I'd make sure the door seals properly, either with gasketing or flat out taping the door jamb.
There are tarp walls with zippered access, pretty affordable. Wall off the work area or the house access area from the work area.
A couple 20" with paper filters on their output side should help a great deal.
But simply, you let the dust cloud settle and shopvac it up without disturbing it.
And YOU and anyone else in the space need to doff your clothing or wear a tyvek suit or something comparable, so you aren't walking into the house like Pigpen.

But frankly I'm doubting your statements, they seem either grossly exaggerated or OCD and I don't have much time or interest in either.

Have you never done this before? Concrete dust goes EVERYWHERE instantly...unless it's fully shrouded with dust pickup but that's not the case for a jack hammer (absolutely no containment) and less for a dry concrete saw (the wet ones help but still not perfect).

I'm not worried about closing off the space or self protection or any of that sort of stuff, I get the general idea and I know I won't be able to stop 100% of it...I'm asking if rather than using a shop vac, would a full size dust collector work better? Would it work at all or would it fail with concrete dust? Would a confined spaces ventalator work better?

But hey, if you have no time/interest, feel free to ignore my thread.

 

[SimS]

I had a project where I had to install new plumbing in my basement. I took a different approach. I used a wet saw with an assistant sucking up the water from the saw with a Wet/Dry Shop Vac. It worked very well, the only issue was emptying the Shop Vac multiple times during a cut. No dust and no mess in the rest of the house.

SimS

 

[ItsNemo]

I had a project where I had to install new plumbing in my basement. I took a different approach. I used a wet saw with an assistant sucking up the water from the saw with a Wet/Dry Shop Vac. It worked very well, the only issue was emptying the Shop Vac multiple times during a cut. No dust and no mess in the rest of the house.

SimS

That's a fair idea but 95% of it will be jack hammering probably...I suppose I could section the floor with a saw and go that way, but I have always felt cutting is more time consuming than breaking.

 

[MoonRise]

Wet the floor to keep the dust down.

Yes, you'll end up with a wet slop of concrete dust and water. Just scoop it up and then use the wet-dry vac to **** up the rest (while gently 'rinsing' with water to enable the vac to **** up the slurry.

What you want to do is to prevent the dust from becoming dust in the first place and from becoming airborne at all.

Wet it down well. Soak the concrete and/or get some ponding/puddling going on.

Just remember if using electrical tools to NOT electrocute yourself or short-out the tool(s).

 

[Captain Spaulding]

I’d think you’d want to use fans to place the basement under negative pressure and the upstairs under positive pressure. Dust can’t migrate then. Add a collector in the basement to clean the air and whatever mitigation you can at the source. Wrap as much as you can as well.