Many people are interested in conducting chemical experiments and want to learn more about different materials, products, and their components. If you are one of them, you already know that accessing public labs is an almost impossible task, and the only way to play around with different products is in your school or college. However, if you don’t want to spend more time just reading about these things in your books, or watching videos, then you might be interested in building your home chemistry lab.
Here we are going to give you some tips on how to do that and how to follow all the safety rules. Remember that these things may take a little bit of time, and depending on what you want to do, you may need some professional equipment. Follow our guide to learn the most important things about a DIY laboratory.
Consider the space
The first thing you need to do before you start building your own lab is to consider how much space your whole project is going to take. Do you want to do some easy little experiments, or are you interested in spending a lot of time there and improving your science skills?
Depending on your answer, you may choose just one part of the room, or you should choose a separate room that will be used just for this purpose. Remember that some of the experiments may release harmful fumes, so you may want to choose a room that is separate from all the others so that you won’t risk harming yourself or your family’s health.
Think about the equipment you are going to need, and plan the space carefully. Some equipment and some tools are larger than others and will take a lot of space. You will also need counters where you can put all the things you need, write things down, and measure.
Safety first
Some chemicals are harsh and they can harm you or damage the space around you. And even if they won’t do any damage, be prepared that you are going to need to clean the whole space after you are done. Because of that, you need to think about the materials you are going to use for the furniture, tables, counters as well as floors.
Choose things that are durable, but not too expensive. You may need to replace the countertops pretty often if you are still a chemistry beginner. Or, you can choose materials that won’t get damaged even by the harshest chemicals and invest more in creating a space that will last for a long time.
Think about the floors as well. You need something non-slippery and something that’s easy to clean. Experts recommend putting tiles or a type of floor that you’d put outside. Those materials are usually far more durable than any inside floors, they are not slippery and most of them are easy to clean.
Don’t forget to invest in a few good pairs of goggles, head masks, and gloves. Think about getting a whole outfit that you can even damage or destroy without damaging your regular clothes. Talk to the experts before purchasing any of these things and ask for recommendations for the best safety accessories they have to offer.
Tools and equipment you are going to need
There are a lot of things you will need to purchase if you want to create a professional lab. However, you don’t have to get everything at once. You can start slowly and depending on the experiments you want to conduct, you can get new and better things.
Let’s start with the hardware you should invest in. A scale is a must, and you can get a professional one or just a good kitchen one. You will need stands and holders as well as a stove that is used for alcohol and distillation. You can make a homemade distilling apparatus or purchase one from the nearest store.
When it comes to tools, you need to get some pliers and tweezers, as well as scissors. Think about purchasing some test tube holders and depending on the size of the tubes, you may need one that’s multipurpose or several ones with different sizes. A Bernz-Omatic micro-torch is something that most users recommend and it is an inexpensive tool, so you may want to look into getting it.
The next thing you need to get for your home lab are items that you are going to use all the time. These items can be found relatively easy, but if you are looking for something that is going to transform your home lab into a professional one, then it is better to use a trusted supplier. You can click here if you are interested in finding out more about the things you are most likely going to need. These things may include shakers, chemicals, and sputtering targets.
Other items that you might want to get include jars, bottles, spice vials, containers, tubes, cans, rods, and so on. Before going to get them all, it is good to compile a list of all the things that you might need and list them in a way that you will know which ones are a priority, and which items can be purchased later on.
Chemicals and how to store them
Depending on the chemicals you want to use, you may need to invest in special fridges where you will store them. Some of the chemicals should be kept at room temperatures, but others need to be handled carefully and keep them in a cold and dark place.
Before building the laboratory, think about the products that you want to use and do some research about the amount you’d need. Depending on that, you may want to invest in a storage place or you can just keep them in the counter that’s in your home lab.
Building a DIY laboratory is not a hard task, but you need to make sure that you are going to use it. If you need it just for some school projects, then you don’t need to invest a lot of time and money in it. However, if you are interested in pursuing chemistry as a profession then it is better to start early and get all the necessary things to conduct your experiments.
Nina Smith