Multi-use area

This might be kind of a dumb question, but if I'm going to be using my garage for my welding area, will there be a problem with slag from stick welding ending up on, or sticking to, the concrete floor? How about any molten metal or sparks? How far does MIG or stick welding generally throw sparks? Plasma cutting?

I also work on my bikes in the garage, and would rather not have to clean up the entire garage every time I weld to prevent metal sparks and shavings from getting into my bike tires. I'm thinking about what I'd do with welding screens and/or curtains to partition off the space, but am I overthinking it? If the mess stays pretty localized, then I could just keep all the bikes on one side of the garage and keep all the metalworking to the other side, and run the shop-vac once in awhile.

Thanks for the input!

Mig puts off little sparks and BBs that will end up all around you but there's very little of it.
Stick can be similar but isn't bad.
Plasma cutting makes a hellava mess but all these can be swept up easily and none of it will stick to or harm your bare concrete floor.

I weld out of my garage, and after a rain shower I've noticed rust on my driveway where I'd been welding and grinding. Welding inside the garage of course you'd need to consider what the sparks are landing on and can they catch fire, but you may also need to consider smoke and fumes, and whether they will invade living areas of the house.

Leftover metal from sparks is gritty but I doubt it would penetrate tires. Shavings might if you're drilling or machining, but you can go a long way with a broom, shop vac, or magnetic sweeper (if you're dealing with steel that day).

I like the magnetic sweeper idea. Makes perfect sense, but I'd never thought about it. I also worried about enclosing the space too much for airflow reasons, as you mentioned. I'm going to keep the garage door opened, and have a fan in the corner for some airflow.

Sounds like the clean up won't be nearly as bad as I feared, and alot like when I clean up after woodworking sawdust. I still think I'll cover the bicycles to prevent the chance of metallic grit getting into the chains or anything. A few strategically placed welding blankets or screens here and there should go a long way to keeping things clean and safe.

Grinding can be more of a big deal from my experience. I've managed to embed fragments in a nearby window (oops), and you can contaminate other metals like stainless by grinding steel. And it puts a lot of very hard dust in the air. It's a good idea to throw a tarp or something like that over machine tools to keep the grit out of them.

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Originally Posted by MuttonHawg

worried about enclosing the space too much for airflow reasons

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Paul makes a good point about grit from grinding disks. Smoke from stick welding collects on nearby surfaces too, not just your helmet and the inside of your nose.

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Originally Posted by DaveO

Paul makes a good point about grit from grinding disks. Smoke from stick welding collects on nearby surfaces too, not just your helmet and the inside of your nose.

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Hmmm ... hadn't thought about that. Maybe I'll get used to working in the driveway and wait until I get into MIG and TIG welding to work inside the garage. At least it doesn't get that cold here most of the time!

I have a multi use station in my garage (shop) where I have motorcycles a car a trailer and four work stations (it's a huge garage 28' X 30' with high sealing) by my welding station is also a forge, grinding station, polishing station, metal stores and main work station. I make sure that I vacuum and sweep often and it works well for me. What I do make sure of if I'm going to be doing a lot of welding or plasma is open both bay doors about 24" with a large fan blowing out ... on the other side of the shop I open a window with a high flow fan blowing in and at the back of the shop another fan blowing towards the bay door with the fan that blows out this insures there is a flow of fresh air blowing in at the same point that there is exhaust flow ... I also prop the entry door next to the window all the way open.

I weld and grind and just about everything else in the garage. You need to be careful of sparks hitting glass or painted surfaces. The sparks from welding can catch things on fire and leave little burn marks if they are hitting the wall. I sweep up every time I am out working but like the others said, its not really that much worse that if you had dirt all over to sweep up.