My new job...

HA! What was I thinking...? I actually have two new jobs...lol

My new avatar is my photo I.D. badge...lol I've went to work for a insurance company, doing inspections. Well, should say, to do inspections, I have 5 lined up next week to do, inbetween the sheetrock work.

LOL, I'll get to play dress up with this job....lol

MMS--

Way to go!

One reason that the early pioneer women kept their hair covered was to stop men from panting with desire. The other reason was it kept the smell of daily living: chamber pots, smoky fires and bacon grease from collecting in their hair.

Hold your dominion.

Noddy is correct MMS, cover your hair. I also work around a lot of dust and dirt and I'm out in the sun. I have longer hair than you, so first I put it up in french braid and then I tie it up in large cotton scarf. Think of a medieval peasant or Winnie Mandela. And always use professional kneepads. I use gardeners kneepads for women and they would be fine for what you are doing. It's hard to find comfortable construction grade kneedpads for women, I find they only make them with men in mind and they are too bulky and fall down to my ankles no matter how tight I make them.

I hope you enjoy it,spend that money wisely.
My change to an office job made me put on weight.Or was that the junk food I was eating.

Congrats on both new jobs, Shiver. How's the restaurant owner guy doing (or have I missed that somewhere else)?

Wow, on your kness, hot and sweaty, sucking, cleaning gobs off the floor, and so nasty, plus getting paid well.

Glad you're enjoying it.

Congratulations!

Get a dust mask!

Yeah, I was just going to say that about the mask.

It's not healthy to be breathing that dust in.

What about getting dust in your eyes? Do you where goggles?

Yes on the dust mask, pains in the ass that they are.

I've looked up some links on drywall/sheetrock/mud dust -

http://www.cdc.gov/elcosh/docs/d0700/d000714/d000714.html
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_improvement/home_improvement/1276947.html?page=5&c=y
http://www.aiha.org/abs04/po137.htm


and from Greenhomebuilding.com (no link)
Q: Are there any health risks/harm from sheetrock dust or sheetrock mud /paint ???

A: The quick answer to your questions is this: Yes, sheetrock products can be harmful to your health. Each product's ingredients vary, however, most of the products carry warning labels that say there may be carcinogens or other ingredients that can cause cancer. The MSDS sheets (Material Safety Data Sheets...www.usg.com) give you a rating of health risk and let you know which ingredients are harmful. Sheetrock, and all Purpose Joint Compound contain Crystalline Silica which can cause lung disease or cancer. Sheetrock also contains fibrous glass and an Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Polymer. These potentially harmful ingredients are found in small amounts in the sheetrock products, please review the MSDS sheets to see the percentages. The most important thing to know when handling these materials is that the dry fine particles can enter your body when sanding, cutting and the like. You want to make sure that you are wearing a fine particle dust mask or respirator. The MSDS sheet confirms this. I would like to add that any dry airborne fine particles, even if they are natural and organic can cause lung disease with long term exposure. I recommend purchasing a respirator with the appropriate canisters for use with any fine particles......joint compound, sand, clay, straw etc.

I had trouble collecting all the links from what I read since when I save the articles to desktop, my name gets to be part of the url. I went back and tried to refind all the articles to get the urls before I clicked save, but didn't nab all of them.

One thing to emphasize is the bit that was - if I remember right - in the cdc article; there are drywall mud sanders that come with a vacuum attached, and those cut down the dust by a great deal. Good investment for the company. Several sites I looked at mentioned those kind of sanders.

Thank you each for your support...I appreciate it very much!

And...I'm going to take the dust mask suggestions to heart, I've spent two days in two different houses...the one yesterday with all the sheetrock, and today...another house, different story; but it was full of dust and mold.

I can't breathe now....I feel like my chest has been closed off and it hurts to breathe....I'm prone to suffer from major or should say, "chronic" allergies, and I think I just catapulted it into overdrive. So.."Lesson learned".

Noddy& Green Witch...

Yea...next trip is a baseball cap....I had my hair tied back, but it didn't help...lol I'm prone to wash it every night anyways...but the trip home was almost embarrassing.

Kneepads is a great idea, we were talking about that yesterday. But I think were going to go and get us a scraper, its similiar to a hoe, but flattened out, so we won't have to get on our knee's and cripple our old butts up...lol

MG

I enjoyed it yesterday, should have another one tommorrow...and 15 more after that within a few days of each other. Or atleast thats what he's got lined up right now...I'm ready for ALL of them....

The weight issue..Well, I've been off work now for about 3 months, and I have had a hard time maintaining my weight...which has totally bothered me. I'm a big ole girl to start with, I didn't need to gain any......so excited about the prospect of getting out and moving more than what I have been....

JPB

I soppose he's doing fine.. I have to deal with him every once in awhile, but its short and sweet. The restuarant is apparently going down in flames. No one is eating...they come in and drink coffee, but refuse to eat anymore. He's hired a young man with a body full of tattoos and facial piercings. SOOOO........in a rural area, that means death....

tycoon

HUM...that could taken many different ways...lol, I'll plea the 5th....

Drewdad, Chai & Osso

I'm getting a dust mask....lesson learned....I should have thought about it beforehand anyways, but I was so anxious to get there, and get to work....


Soooo, I have to admit, I was stove up this morning...LOL Didn't think I would ever get straightened out...but it'll be overwith soon. I just have to get used to that kind of labor...

Hey there shivers.

It's great to hear that you've got a couple of new things on the go.

Please look at a respirator, not just a dust mask. Given your allergies, you could very easily be thrown into a bad asthma episode. Knee pads are a cheap take-care-of-your-body investment. You don't want to have creaky, cracky knees down the line because of this.

Don't forget to do a bit of stretching before you start a round of work. Your body will thank you - being limber when you start will really help you later in the day/week/month/life.

Thanks ehBeth...

I may have to look into that, if this afternoon is any indication of the results of an asthma attack, then I'm probably suffered one or still suffering from one...

I had childhood asthma, outgrew it when I was 5 of so, but don't remember what it was like. This afternoon, it set in...I can't breathe...chest is tight, hurts to breathe...MOF, and everytime I take a deep breathe it feels as if a knife is stabbing me in the chest. I feel like my air has been cut off......



LOL, they'd just match my ankles......I'd have a whole set.......

uh...if you can't breath, I think a visit to the ER is in order....

really.

This doesn't sound good.

I'm back...apparently I had an asthma attack, I used an inhaler...it took probably 20 minutes to get back to being able to breathe right...but I'm good to go.

I started to go to the ER, but SIL come by with daughter's inhaler....it worked. I'm making an appt Monday....unless it happens again, then I'm going to the ER.....

I agree on the respirator, the kind with little filters attached. They're more expensive but much better. Those packets of lil'white masks are lame.

I have one, labeled for asbestos and other fine particles... looks silly but works. Trouble is, hard to wear that stuff, even the little white goodies, when it's hot. Still, lungs are important.
Hack...

What ossobuco said. The rubber mask with replaceable filters are the only kind that will fit my face.

Thing is, if the contractors would spring for the DRVS or SRVS or whatever it was in those links, it would get 96% of the dust while they're sanding. There would still be clean up, but healthier for all.

Even if they exaggerate, say, 75%, it would really help.
Maybe it would kick you out of a job but maybe not. There is, I think, still some dust.

That dust gets into all sorts of house motors...

MMS--

I know decent, well-paying jobs aren't thick on the ground in your neck of the woods, but can you keep your eyes open for a job that doesn't involve as much dust and grit?