Tips and tricks

[highup]

 

[MSLI]

Have you ever been called, asking to repair the cheaper contractors work ?

 

[C.J.]

Have you ever been called, asking to repair the cheaper contractors work ?

I had that job once. I was the installation manager which means I was also the turd polisher when there was no one else that could or would fix it. I absolutely hated that job. Now I just flat out refuse to fix other peoples screw ups.

 

[MSLI]

I was trying to remember a customer asking me to restretch after the cheaper kicker jockeys, but I couldn’t remember any. However my Dad asked me to restretch his house , after the in house employee installers screwed it up

I could have rubbed his nose in it, but what good would that have done. I was proud to show him how it could have been done, at no charge.

 

[C.J.]

Things used to be different back in the day. Fixing somebody else’s screw up was kinda a badge of honor. It meant you had the skills and were good enough to be able to do it right. Or maybe it was a personality conflict between the customer and the original installer and they just needed a new face to see. I get it, that kinda stuff happens and we’re not all meant for everybody.

The way things are at a lot of shops these days is they just send anybody out to do an install and they’ll deal with any problems IF the customer calls to complain. It’s a business strategy. Send the shitty crew out to bust the job out in a day then send the white guy to fix something a week later. Problem is they keep using the same shitty crews over and over again and now the highly skilled guy is reduced to being a repair bitch. That’s fine if you’re old and beat up and don’t mind doing repairs all day long. To me that’s just disrespectful to myself and the trade.

I asked one old dude I worked for years ago why he didn’t just give me the job since the other crews kept botching them. He told me it was because I couldn’t get the job done in one day. True but if someone has to go back and fix it, it’s no longer a one day job. All you did was make it a two day job with the second day at a later date instead of two consecutive days.

 

[highup]

Have you ever been called, asking to repair the cheaper contractors work ?

That was most of my work for 10 years. The last five, less and less.
I won't say cheaper, just guys that couldn't stretch or seam. Generally speaking, some guys don't have the mechanical thought process and or don't care about anything but the check.
It's a skilled trade and it's finish work. Some guys just found the wrong trade.

 

[Incognito]

Have you ever been called, asking to repair the cheaper contractors work ?

This discussion reminds me of a crew I was running in NYC in the early '80s. I had a guy who was SO horrible and SO slow it was shocking. Of course, the boss was harrassing me about production. I told him I appreciated especially how slow this guy was working because the less he did was that much less I had to go fix. Union rules there pretty much made it impossible to "fire" the guy. He new the game well. Guys like him NEVER worked two jobs in a row for the same shop. You couldn't "fire" him easily so the game we played was he's laid off 100% of the time once the job is complete.

 

[MSLI]

I told him I appreciated especially how slow this guy was working because the less he did was that much less I had to go fix.

That statement gave me a nice chuckle and what a great way to keep looking at the glass, ( reality of life) as half full

 

[Incognito]

That statement gave me a nice chuckle and what a great way to keep looking at the glass, ( reality of life) as half full

I was as serious as a heart attack.

 

[Floorist]

When I moved back to my hometown in 92, I spent a full 3 months working for a store doing nothing but fixing the previous installer's work. Only had one that just could not be repaired. There was a hallway with 7 doorways leading off it with wrinkles 3 inches high about every foot. And that wasn't the most messed up part of the job. I just gave up. I wanted more than they were willing to pay.

 

[MSLI]

Here we go again, the diy maintenance man / contractor is stumbling over making a good decision at the top of the stairs. I’m not a hard surface installer, so how can we simplify this for him, to make my life easier. He’s buying Lifeproof Sterling Oak 22 mil. And he needs to be empowered with the proper reducers. Two ea. bedroom baby thresholds meeting tackless Carpet and one 3’ stair nosing.

Thanks !

PS> see the practice pc. I decided to mess around with it to see if it was going to work. I had to shave out the square tongue to get this chosen nosing flush, and that’s probably not a good thing to do for stability. I think he’s mixing and matching different products

 

[C.J.]

That looks like one of their 3 in 1 or 4 in 1 reducers. Prolly just grabbed whatever they had in stock that matched at the time of purchase. The other plastic reducers they have are a stair nose and either a T mold or a MPR reducer which is a T mold on one side and dives down to be a hard surface reducer on the other side.

I say just work with what you have and let dude install the reducers then you bump up to it however you have to. Shit, for all the work you’re proposing to do you might as well do the hard surface installation as well and pocket the chedda yourself.

 

[highup]

Nobody here uses the tracks. They glue everything.
I'd say to clean that top edge well with a pull scraper, then put a good 3/8 bead of urethane along this edge. I wouldn't trust a track alone for stair nose. Is that piece in the background the old one?

 

[highup]

This stuff. I think they have it in a squeeze tube.
I note no expansion area between the metal and laminate. Probably a bit too late.
He's just replacing this nose, right?

 

[MSLI]

That looks like one of their 3 in 1 or 4 in 1 reducers. Prolly just grabbed whatever they had in stock that matched at the time of purchase. The other plastic reducers they have are a stair nose and either a T mold or a MPR reducer which is a T mold on one side and dives down to be a hard surface reducer on the other side.

I say just work with what you have and let dude install the reducers then you bump up to it however you have to. Shit, for all the work you’re proposing to do you might as well do the hard surface installation as well and pocket the chedda yourself.

Thanks CJ, this guy is in tight with the district manager and runs around like a chicken with so many projects. Plus I’m the opposite of Don ( hard surfaces Suck ) I want the Carpet to be finished clean, so as of now, I’ve been providing Johnsonite vinyl thresholds at the two bedrooms, but like you said the goal is to get him to do it……With his learning curve, I’m lending a hand until he gets up to speed

.

I note no expansion area between the metal and laminate. Probably a bit too late.
He's just replacing this nose, right?

I’m trying to get him to remove the track, glue in spacers, then purchase and glue in the proper overlapping nose, what do U think.

 

[MSLI]

I just noticed a problem with the overlapping nose. It has a slight return under the nose, but he cut the nose flush. O-Boy ! Situation

 

[MSLI]

Ok ! the overlap nosing has an appx 3/8” return, So, what do you think about this idea Fabric a 3/4” riser creating a 1/2” or 3/8” nose. We need a Highup custom drawing to demonstrate.

OR Remove the track, power plane the green compressed cardboard so that the “ T” has the correct profile and glue it down with the Loctite ?

What‘s option three ?

 

[C.J.]

Ditch the track, glue down the stair nose, pin nail it to hold it in place, blue tape it to remind yourself to not step on it and bump the carpet up underneath the stair nose.

The construction adhesive should fill in any void that is left from not using the track. I always put plenty of construction adhesive under the stair nose then press the stair nose into it and level it out. You gotta be careful of any excess that can/ will ooze out.

 

[MSLI]

I say just work with what you have and let dude install the reducers

Ok the dude used the nosing he had and she’s sticking up appx 1/8” off the floor

 

[C.J.]

That’s what a lap over stair nose looks like. Are you trying to make it look like a flush mount stair nose instead?