Owning and managing a construction company is very difficult. There are many aspects of operations you need to know of and manage well. One of them is how you and your team will properly manage the storage of the construction equipment used in a given project.
Proper construction equipment storage will prolong your equipment’s lifespan. You’ll also get value for your money.
The question remains: how do you store your construction equipment? Herein are the dos and don’ts you need to know about. Keep on reading to learn more.
What You Should Do When Storing Construction Equipment
The dos of storing construction equipment ensure they’re always in good condition to meet your needs. These dos are:
- Do Find The Appropriate Storage Facility For Your Construction Tools
The ideal enclosure for construction equipment is a storage facility. There are many options to consider. The choice goes down to the equipment you want to store.
A storage yard is best for heavy construction equipment like the backhoe and excavator. These are open on the sides but covered at the top. The covering protects the equipment from over-exposure to rain and sun.
Why use a storage yard? Prolonged rain exposure can cause rust, reducing the longevity of your equipment. On the other hand, too much sun exposure will likely chip off the paint – negatively affecting its aesthetic value.
Shipping containers are the other storage facilities to adopt. They’re ideal for storing small-sized construction equipment.Shipping container rentals are available if you have a construction project in a remote area and require a storage facility.
- Do Always Clean Your Construction Equipment Before Storing Them
Many pieces of construction equipment are used in many activities that oftentimes involve dirt.
Constantly failing to clean your equipment before storage is likely to interfere with its efficiency in the future. The dirt will embed that it can’t come out even with a thorough cleaning.
Therefore, ensure you clean your construction equipment before storage. A quick splash with a hose pipe or pressure washer will do the job for daily cleaning. Do keep in mind that thorough weekly cleaning is also essential and you shouldn’t skip on it.
Thorough cleaning will keep your equipment as good as new. Here, you can use a putty knife to remove any dirt stuck on your equipment. Follow this with scrubbing with a hard brush and soapy water. Finish off with a clean water rinse at high pressure.
- Consider Ground-Level Storage
Construction equipment comes in various sizes, shapes, and weights. Storing some of these tools at a height increases the chances of accidents. As you retrieve a piece of equipment, the other can fall on you and cause injuries. That’s why it’s best to consider ground-level storage.
This storage option gives you easy access to the equipment you need. It’s best to place them next to the walls and away from the center to prevent traffic flow interference. Storing construction equipment on the ground can interfere with traffic. You can also trip into them as you walk by, causing accidents.
What You Shouldn’t Do When Keeping Construction Equipment
The don’ts touch on the practices that can damage your construction equipment. These include:
- Don’t Store In Moist Conditions
Moisture is the number one enemy of construction equipment, especially when you store the equipment in enclosed facilities like a shipping container.
In these spaces, there’s a high probability of moisture presence. As previously stated, prolonged moisture exposure increases the possibility of equipment rust. When rusted, your equipment becomes dull at its cutting parts.
The equipment’s iron body is prone to cracking once moisture gets under the painting too. As stated earlier, it negatively affects the resale value should you decide to dispose of it in the future.
- Don’t Store Without Arranging
Time is of the essence in construction projects. It determines how soon you’ll complete your project to your client’s satisfaction. Failing to arrange construction equipment reduces productivity since workers take time to find the tool they need to fulfil their roles in the project. Hence, the need to arrange construction equipment.
It’s advisable to group these tools as you store them. You can do this according to function or size. For instance, you can group small-sized ones like compactors and vibrators together. Doing so makes retrieval easier.
And ensure you leave adequate space between each component. No positioning of a given piece of equipment should hinder the removal of the other. Otherwise, there will be a lot of time wastage during retrieval.
Informing your workers where everything is located is essential in time management. Labelling of the groupings at the doors would be helpful. It makes identification easier.
Conclusion
Construction equipment is quite expensive to acquire. It makes taking care of these tools paramount. You want value for your money, which you can only get with a tool serving you for many years.
The discussion above highlights how appropriate storage increases this value. It’s gone further to guide on the right construction equipment storage practices. Adopt them as you utilize and store your construction equipment.