3 ms·
It's fascinating in a morbid way how many professions involved great health risks no so long ago. (Mad) hatters poisoned by mercury, tanners and chimney sweeper
by ASalazarMX 4y ago
It's fascinating in a morbid way how many professions involved great health risks no so long ago. (Mad) hatters poisoned by mercury, tanners and chimney sweepers getting cancer, miners getting black lung or simply suffocating... Sadly it still happens today, but hopefully it will keep decreasing, even if we have to pay more for ethical manufacturing.
- ggm 4y agoArtificial marble/stone benchtop workers getting Mesothelioma (current, as of 2023 the unions are pushing for the material to be either banned or put into more stringent production process control, although onsite cutting & finishing for sinks and stones and shaping is going to be a problem no matter what)
- TylerE 4y agoDon’t understand the appeal at all. My parents had some sort of stone countertop put in (marble, I think, it’s def. not granite). It’s loud, echoey, and easily damaged.
- ggm 4y agoEasy to clean, modulo things which breach the sealant and stain. Can be used as a dough board or make-pasta-like-martha-stewart work surface (see above re: sealant) or if you are a real slob to cut on (see above re: sealant) Can be installed with pre-carved draining slots to sink, so gets rid of the "where to I stash this ugly plate rack" dilemma for would-be insta-princess shots. Mainly, "it's fashionable" -By now, the 1970s avocado-colour toilet suite has probably moved into historically preserved home space. Stone benches were actually a thing in worker housing in the early 19th century. 'Het Skip' in Amsterdam and the Bauhaus designed worker flats have concrete sinks and workbenches on this design pattern. Amazingly functional for mass production at that time, long lasting (see above re: staining)
- soperj 4y agoI've noticed that polished concrete counter tops can get stained really easily by citrus. Any idea what the answer is there?
- ceejayoz 4y agoAcid of any kind will likely do that.
- ggm 4y agoonline, people say baking soda because you want to neutralize the acid. They also say "re-seal it" for day to day cleaning, water and dish soap. don't use home-made cleaners, natural cleaners, products with citrus or vinegar, you're basically destroying the surface. this one about granite is probably a good guide, even though you asked about concrete: https://prohousekeepers.com/blog/how-to-clean-granite-countertops/ https://prohousekeepers.com/blog/how-to-clean-granite-counte... In commercial kitchens I've seen using concrete, I think they expect to have to re-surface it and anyway, its about clean, not shiny: they can tolerate a working surface which looks stained, as long as its not actually dirty and affecting hygiene. If all else fails, there's always grinding back. I'm not in the business. I live with the chips I put into our composite fakestone, and we picked a colour which seems to be masking the stains (mainly.. red wine. its always red wine. I thought I'd emptied that bottle nicely)
- msrenee 4y agoIs it the artificial marble/stone materials? My understanding was that it's caused by silicates from real stone. It's not even that the work has to be dangerous. It's due to cutting corners and not providing/requiring the necessary respirators.
- maxerickson 4y agoArtificial stone often has lots of stone dust and similar in it.
- msrenee 4y agoI'm sure it does, but I don't think the issues are limited to artificial stone by any means.
- Aunche 4y agoWhat's artificial marble? Do you mean quartz countertops?
- ggm 4y ago"engineered stone" is a good umbrella term
- stephen_g 4y agoI believe it’s silicosis they’re getting, not mesothelioma.
- ggm 4y agoyes. Sorry, I got my diseases mixed up