Construction trades guys: How cold does it have to be

[Scootertrash]

before you take or get the day off? I'm talking outside workers, not you cupcakes that work in t-shirts all day. ;):D:Bounce

-9 air temp, -27 windchill as I sit at my desk typing this. Trying to decide what I'm gonna do with my day off. My list is longer than a Barnett post, just have to sort priorities. :wondering:beer

[jeswinehart]

Being in the propane buisness the colder it is the more work we have.
No "snow days" in my trade.
Defroster acts as a glove warmer as well as a lunch microwave :)

[Scootertrash]

Just had the propane guy show up at our job to drop off some 100 lb'ers yesterday. You propane guys are our saviors!!
(Resisting the urge to throw out a few propane puns, even tho it would be a gas.....) :naughty: :rolleyes: :D
No heated shelters at our job yet. All of our shelters are for heating concrete we pour, we haven't poured in 3 weeks so no shelters built, aside from the fact that they're normally up overnight only and torn down the next morning. Yesterday wasn't too bad until after lunch. -15 windchill after the wind picked up in the afternoon.

I generally have no problem going in and I never volunteer to go home or stay home , but if they tell me to stay home I'm not gonna argue.

[fabiodriven]

Although I don't physically work outside in the cold for work, we do go out in the dead of winter to clear bulk snow in Boston. I don't personally go out plowing or sanding (although our sanding fleet seems to have multiplied over this year somehow so I think my run of staying home in blizzards may be coming to an end), but rather I haul the snow piles out of Boston in a dump trailer overnight after the storms. Obviously the trucks have heaters so the cold usually isn't an issue provided nothing breaks. The two worst parts of that are the lack of sleeping space in our Kenworth day cabs (no sleepers) and Kenworth's terrible heating system and cab ventilation from the factory.

Kenworth cabs are air tight. You have to crack a window any time you need to shut one of the doors. In theory that sounds great, however if anyone has ever seen the back of a Ford Super Duty cab, or any Ford truck cab really, you may have noticed the two vents towards the bottom of the cab in the rear. These allow you to close the doors of the truck, which is a plus, as well as provide proper air flow through the cab itself. In a Kenworth, without those vents and combined with the fact that they use an archaic coolant flow valve rather than having the HVAC system controlled with air dampers, your heating choices are antarctic or the blazing friggin fires of Hades. Doesn't sound like a big deal until you're in the truck for 16 hours at a whack. I really hope to someday cross paths with a Kenworth engineer so as we can have a very long sit-down. These trucks are not old and I fail to see why it is that they deem the cabs being airtight and the heating selection being 1970's technology to be acceptable. By my estimation, I could easily take somebody's well-paid position in the R&D department over there. If I owned the truck, I'd cut vents in it myself personally. My 1970 F-100 had the same heating adjustment and by comparison my 1985 Mustang has the "modern" air damper heating adjustment. Get with the times KW. I know, I'm not physically out in it, but this is directly related to cold weather working.

As far as physically working outside in the cold I'm a Nancy. Splitting wood is fine, you can stay warm doing that, but mechanical work in the cold is the absolute worst. Last winter the water pump in my pickup decided to take a dump in the dead of winter. We were in a really bad cold snap and I tried asking nicely but it just wasn't going to change itself. The best way to do it, I'd just work for about ten minutes then go in the house and thaw out and repeat. I had all day so there was no need to stay outside like a nitwit freezing my tits off. This year the garage is heated but the pickup doesn't fit in there so...

[El Camexican]

-76C with the windchill. I believe the thermometers that weren't frozen said -42C that day, but that was just in Regina Saskatchewan, boys that work "up North" see a lot colder temps.

[fabiodriven]

In Engrish prease Nico. Nobody can understand your weirdo Canada numbers.

[90nut]

It's gotta darn cold before I stay home. It was -13 with the wind chill yesterday. Not bad at all. Other guys were looking like ice sickles, I wasn't even wearing gloves most of the day

[Scootertrash]

After 30+ years of this type pf work it doesn't take much for my finger tips to get really cold. Too many years of hanging on to scaffolding and steel concrete forms for heat and cover has taken it's toll on my phalanges.

[90nut]

I hear you on that one scooter. My hands have their days. But I HATE gloves.

[stoshu]

-40 right now. About to start sheeting a roof

[fabiodriven]

See ^^^there's^^^ the type of post scooter was looking for.

[shortline10]

Notice the fan in the back ground ,,, friggen 85 degrees out and 80% humidity , to hot to work .

[Scootertrash]

Buahahahahahahahaha !!!!.....lick my yam sack !......ya friggin eskimo`s !......you want to laugh wit my wife ??....take my wife please ! ......the coldest winter i`ve spent was a summer in San Francisco !


Your tongue sticks to sh!t in really cold weather:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeJXYhdfR6Q


Do you really want someone's tongue stuck to your pole? :naughty: :welcome:

[Scootertrash]

-40 right now. About to start sheeting a roof

-40 windchill or -40 air temp?

[stoshu]

-40 windchill or -40 air temp?

-40 windchill. Feels like summer

[Scootertrash]

Notice the fan in the back ground ,,, friggen 85 degrees out and 80% humidity , to hot to work .

The windchill must be terrible!!!

[Scootertrash]

-40 windchill. Feels like summer

Nothing like working in a thong to make a guy feel "back to nature"

[Scootertrash]

ooooops!

Doubletap deleted

[3 Wheel Drive]

Buahahahahahahahaha !!!!.....lick my yam sack !......ya friggin eskimo`s !......you want to laugh wit my wife ??....take my wife please ! ......the coldest winter i`ve spent was a summer in San Francisco !

Yea you look cold in your tank top!

237768

[coolpool]

Being in the oil business up here, we don't shut down for ambient conditions unless the work site get's too dangerous due to ice/snow buildup or visibility issues. We just have more steamer trucks working to keep things thawed out. We do adjust the work/rest schedules according to conditions. Productivity drops immensely when you get below -30 C (-22 F) not taking wind chill into account. We've seen -30 last week with -39 wind chill already; it's going to be a crappy one!

[Thorpe]

-30 and Carharrt up... Love roof work at the Hospitals in January!

[Scootertrash]

I hear ya! One of the jobs I'm working on is at the 8th floor (IIRC) on the way to 18 or so. It seems like once you get off of the ground it's ALWAYS windy, and moreso the higher you go. Dropping poly for heating the level under our pours is a wonderful job. I'm SO GLAD I only have about 6 years left.........

[Chopsaw]

Union Carpenter in St. Louis . Commercial metal studs and drywall . Been doing it 30 years . Worked today , started with 3 degree wind chill . I was warmer at 6 am than I was at 10:00 . It's the feet and hands that gets you . I've worked way colder than that when I was younger ( and had to ) but now that I draw my pension , and still work everyday , I pick and chose . No gloves at negative 13 wind chill ? I don't believe it .

[fieldy]

Nothing like working in a thong to make a guy feel "back to nature"

We had a neighbor that was in his seventies i would guess and i was classmates with his grandkids, anyway when it was hot all he wore was a pair of those bikini briefs and a case of beer from the time he woke up till time for supper. Riding a tractor or removing a transmission, didnt matter. In his underwear working and talking to you like it wasn't even a thing. He was awesome and very tan!

[x-rider]

237773237774 12 degrees yesterday. 40mph winds. 2" of snow. Today 8" of snow, crane picks working out of boom lift and man baskets.

[Thorpe]

The Milwaukee m12 heated gear, love my hooded sweatshirt on the real cold days! And in the tree stand...

[atcmatt]

We sure don't get that problem here downunder, I always wonder how you guys do it! I'm a carpenter and we still deal with ridiculous tempratures, though it's heat here, was 42 degrees for a couple days this week that's around 108 degrees in your terms! Stinkin' hot mate!

[Shep1970]

Self employed contractor here, i tell you if we get a couple more winters like this one i keep telling myself i'm gonna move but the problem is- its been cold everywhere well (almost)
My avg working day the last 3-wks has been maybe 5hr days, as soon as my bones get that chill i'm done. Most all of my work has been outside.
Of course i have a 6wk job starting feb 1st thats inside(bad planning on my part) so yup another month of this cold outside work- hope this weather changes soon. I dont mind it above 30 and being outside but these recent temps i do not like.
Just venting here, thnx for listening,
Sitting in the truck warming up so i can put a couple more hrs in today.
Keep warm fellas, or "girls" but i dont think theres many here
Anyone else freezing there butts off?

Hmmm, maybe heated seats for the atc's? Would be kinda nice
Shep

[El Camexican]

Dropped to 30F here last night Up to 35 now with 91% humidity. Inside the house is about 40 as the air conditioners keep stopping to defrost. I don't ever recall "feeling" this cold in Canada. There was always a warm house waiting for you there. Here all we have is a cold concrete box that will take days in the sun to warm back up and the weather girl says the highest temp we'll see this week is 45F.

I'm shiiiiiivering as I tttttype thiiiis!!!!

[Shep1970]

Dropped to 30F here last night Up to 35 now with 91% humidity. Inside the house is about 40 as the air conditioners keep stopping to defrost. I don't ever recall "feeling" this cold in Canada. There was always a warm house waiting for you there. Here all we have is a cold concrete box that will take days in the sun to warm back up and the weather girl says the highest temp we'll see this week is 45F.

I'm shiiiiiivering as I tttttype thiiiis!!!!

The best investment i've ever made was a heated mattress pad not a blanket u lay on top of this. I bought for us (me+wife) last yr, this thing is awesome. I paid i think 30 bucks for it at walmart or target. Only problem is you dont want to get out of bed in the am. Well i'm not sure who likes it better us or the cat..
(I'd be very happy with 45deg temps!!)
Shep

[El Camexican]

The best investment i've ever made was a heated mattress pad not a blanket u lay on top of this. I bought for us (me+wife) last yr, this thing is awesome. I paid i think 30 bucks for it at walmart or target. Only problem is you dont want to get out of bed in the am. Well i'm not sure who likes it better us or the cat..
(I'd be very happy with 45deg temps!!)
Shep

You might think so and I'm sure others are laughing at what I'm calling cold (I know I would be if I wasn't here), but I would trade this for -40 to be in Canada right now. The construction here is pathetically insufficient for both extremes of temperature.

[lndy650]

another thread hijacked good work glamy you contribute so much around here:Bounce
Buahahahahahahahaha !!!!.....lick my yam sack !......ya friggin eskimo`s !......you want to laugh wit my wife ??....take my wife please ! ......the coldest winter i`ve spent was a summer in San Francisco !

[Shawn Powell]

Even being in California where the weather is great 99% of the time , I’ve worked exterior on scaffolding at about the 12 degree mark. Sucked but it warmed up to about 30 that day. Did that for a couple weeks. The. It California ed us. Back to 75.


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[Scootertrash]

another thread hijacked good work glamy you contribute so much around here:Bounce

This thread is a little over a year old, as is his post. ;)

[Scootertrash]

It's been in the double digit negatives here not including the windchill. Fortunately (?) those days have coincided with my days off for the holidays. Hopefully we'll finish dropping and rehanging the poly on this job tomorrow before more double digit without the windchill temps arrive again on Wed and Thurs., mid -20 with the windchill.

[Jd110]

Warm drink or food helps keep me going. Microwave with couple hundred feet of cord has been my savior.