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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Acceptable Practices
- - By MikeHomeowner Date 03-09-2006 17:15
Hello!
I live in Atlanta Georgia and a contractor we hired "subbed" out work to a welder to fabricate and install an iron railing on a new deck that the contractor was building.

After the deck was put down(which is the new synthetic plastic material Trex), the welder came and performed cutting, welding, and painting of the iron railing without ANY protection for the brand new deck! The result was burning, pitting, and paint overspray on the material.

We had a major disagreement with the contractor who stood by the welder saying that it would "clean up".

I would like to know any of your expert opinions as to what actions you would have taken to prevent this disaster and if this is common good practice for a welder?

Thank you for your replies.
Parent - - By chall (***) Date 03-09-2006 17:53
Without wanting to start some kind of finger pointing argument, it seems to me that it would have been easy enough for the welder to lay down some fire blanket to keep the hot slag and sparks from marking up the deck. Simple and cheap.

Charles
Parent - By MikeHomeowner Date 03-09-2006 19:47
I want to thank you and all the others who responded so quickly. I really appreciate it.

Mike
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 03-09-2006 17:57
Hello Mikehomeowner, any responsible welding contractor would know and take precautions to protect surrounding areas while performing welding on just about anything. I have worked for numerous contractors on both residential and commercial applications and in every instance we had to take precautions for the exact reasons that you have spelled out. Fire blankets are available to take care of welding sparks and prevent burns on surrounding materials, shields can be used to prevent grinding streams from pitting glass windows and other types of things, tarps can be put down to prevent paint overspray situations, it is unlikely that you will prevent all damage from occuring, however, you should expect that this damage will be minimal. In my personal opinion it sounds as though you should expect the contractor to take whatever measures are required to satisfy you in regards to the condition of the deck. You may end up in court depending on his response, if so, things are on your side as far as I can see. As a final note this situation would not be a common good practice for any welder. Good luck and regards, aevald
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 03-09-2006 17:57
Sorry Mike,
I would have thought that "common sense" would have prevailed and you wouldn't have the mess you have now, but it sounds like it didn't. A fire retardant blanket or simply laying a piece of gage metal on the deck for the hot spatter to fall on rather than the deck floor should have been enough to keep your deck from melting and simply masking off the areas from overspray should have taken care of the painting issues. I hate to hear of these stories where someone has to fight to get these things fixed because of negligent contractors and their subs.
Are they replacing your flooring where they messed it up?
John Wright
Parent - - By pipewelder_1999 (****) Date 03-09-2006 18:01
We build residential and commercial boat docks where I work now. We use another product similar to trex and have these problems. Even Sheet metal on the deck does not do well due to the heat transfer. Fir blanket in combination with sheetmetal is the way to go.

IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO DO ANY HOTWORK OVER PLASTIC.
Parent - - By BF (*) Date 03-09-2006 20:11
Common sense tells you to protect the surrounding enviroment if there is chance of causing damage. Most building codes even reference the contractor must protect any previous work. The contractor should have notified you before work started that there might be damage to the deck or that he didn't have the materials to protect the deck, and then it would have been up to you as to whether he should proceed or not. Otherwise you would expect the job to be performed with no damage to the deck. Sounds like flakey contractors to me. I wouldn't pay and I would demand they fix the deck or go to court. But I'm in quality and I expect things done right and to get what I pay for.
Parent - - By jon20013 (*****) Date 03-09-2006 20:38
Mikehomeowner; this sounds totally and completely irresponsible of the primary contractor and if it were me, I would probably file suit. Your contractor who subbed the work out is ultimately responsible to fix any damages caused by their subcontractors. It's my opinion that this would be the same opinion reached in a civil lawsuit. If the primary contractor will not make a settlement with you file a complaint and, if necessary sue them.

Make sure you get many good photographs and even perhaps some witness statements (neighbors, etc). If the primary contractor says it will clean up tell THEM to clean it up but make sure the "clean-up" is to YOUR satisfaction!
Parent - - By mksqc (**) Date 03-09-2006 21:29
JON20013 GOT IT RIGHT IN HIS LAST SENTANCE.THE CONTRACTOR SHOULD CLEAN UP TO YOUR SATISFACTION.
Parent - By swnorris (****) Date 03-09-2006 21:48
If we go out on site and make a mess, we either have to clean it up or the customer has someone else clean it up at our expense. As mentioned, the contractor is responsible for clean up and damage. If the welder has not put enough thought into what he's doing to end up causing property damage, he's negligent, and Judge Judy would burn him a new poop chute.
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Acceptable Practices

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