Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean the work is going to stop. There’s a deadline to hit and the clock’s ticking. When you’ve got to work in the winter, you’ve got two choices: act like you’re not cold or invest in a jacket that keeps you warm and can stand up to the hazards of the job site. We here at Construction Junkie don’t want you to have to think too hard about that decision, so that’s why we worked with Milwaukee Tool to give you the chance to win a brand new, 2016 version of their 3-in-1 Heated Jacket Kit.
Read more[VIDEO] Guy Tries to Fight Excavator with Rocks, Loses Obviously
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The story of David vs. Goliath is an inspiration to many people in the world and apparently even more so to one man from Finland. With motivations still unknown today, the guy tried and tried to break an excavator by repeatedly throwing rocks at the machine. Was he mad at the machine? Perhaps it looked at him funny. Was he mad at the excavator operator? That’s a more likely scenario, but the operator wasn’t having any of it.
Read moreReview: Porter Cable 20V MAX* LITHIUM 6-1/2" CIRCULAR SAW
portercable.com
This 6-1/2” circular saw fits perfectly into the light duty category for circular saws. With the 4.0ah battery, 50 degree bevel, and 4000 rpm saw speed this model delivers performance comparable to many of the heavy duty saws on the market while still keeping a very reasonable price point.
Read moreCould This Bendable Concrete Solve Concrete’s Cracking Problem?
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Concrete, the construction industry’s building material of choice for hundreds of years, is an extremely tough and durable product. Being such a rigid product, concrete has inherently poor tensile strength, which is its ability to withstand being stretched, as opposed to compressing. This poor tensile strength leads to cracking, which eventually leads to failure. Scientists have been racing to discover the cure to concrete’s cracking problem for years, most notably Henk Jonkers’ bio-concrete, which uses microorganisms to “heal” cracked concrete.
The newest challengers to the material’s flexibility problem are a group of scientists from Nanyung Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The team calls their product “ConFlexPave” and it not only bends under pressure, unlike concrete, it’s also thinner and maybe even stronger than its traditional brethren.
Read more[VIDEO] Carpenter Pulls the Ole “Staple in my Finger” Prank, Takes Guy Forever to Realize it
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Construction work is serious stuff, injuries happen all the time and safety awareness is key. That being said, an occasional prank is a fun way to bring some levity to the job site, especially when you get a great reaction from your coworker. Last year, we shared a video of a couple construction workers pranking an unsuspecting newcomer by making him swing a sledge hammer in a circle for several minutes to test a seismic reading, which you can watch here.
The video below is from carpenter Jason Wolfe, who tricks his cowoker, Tyler, into think he had shot a staple straight though his finger.
Read more[Timelapse] Watch 3 Years’ Worth of Progress on the New NY Bridge
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3.1 miles of bridge does not equal 3.1 miles of on grade highway. In fact, it’s not even close. In order to build the new New York Bridge, which is replacing the existing Tappan Zee bridge that crosses the Hudson River, 14 miles of main span cables, 50 miles of foundation pilings, 300 thousand cubic yards of concrete, and 220 million pounds of steel are needed to complete the structure. Oh, it’s also going to take another 2 years to build, on top of the 3 they’ve already been working on it.
Read moreNew Safety Tool Instantaneously Measures Noise, Particulate, and UV Exposure Levels
photo via SmartSite
We have a lot of safety rules in construction and it’s practically impossible to monitor your job site for compliance of every single rule. To complicate matters, many rules are based upon exposure limits, especially when airborne particles are involved. OSHA recently reduced the allowable exposure limit of silica dust, which is found in concrete, stone, and brick, before additional PPE or engineering controls are required. This rule change has caused a lot of grief among construction industry groups, who called the rule technologically infeasible, because what contractor is really set up to measure when 50 micrograms of silica dust per cubic meter of air is actually reached?
Read moreContractors Beware: Twitter Can Get Your Jobsite Shut Down
Twitter, the social media site that people seem to either love or hate, has made people more aware of their surroundings and can be a soundboard for controversy. For some companies, Twitter is used for a large part of their customer service program, responding to complaints within the 160 character limit. Now, it seems, contractors could potentially have a powerful watchdog looking over their shoulder, as long as the tweets land in the right hands.
Read moreThinking Ahead: How Rio Plans to Reuse 2016 Olympic Structures in the Future
Rio's Olympic Aquatic Stadium. Photo by Leandro Neumann Ciuffo, CC BY 2.0
Billions of dollars are spent by cities and countries to prepare for summer and winter Olympics. Many stadiums, housing and other infrastructure are built to not only be able to handle the games, but also the enormous amount of people that will eventually inhabit the city for a few weeks. But, that’s just it, it’s only for a few weeks. What happens after the games are over and there’s no longer a need for an International Broadcast Center or a handball venue? In the past, the answer has been to let the area rot away and be a hotbed of vandalism, but Rio has taken a different approach.
Read more[VIDEO] A Sheet of Copier Paper Can Actually Cut a Piece of Wood
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If positioned the right way, paper is known to give some pretty mean paper cuts, so say to the office tethered thrill seekers of the world. Try to cut wood by running a sheet of paper against it, however, and you’ll end up a mangled piece of paper. But, perhaps we’ve been using paper the wrong way all along. Maybe it’s a metaphor for life, put an object or a person in the wrong situation and get poor results, but put them in the right situation and you’ll reap the rewards.
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