What did you do today?

[highup]

Are lumber prices coming down?

Just stopped at one of the lumber stores and it's 60 bucks for a sheet of half inch OSB. He said it's come down quite a bit recently. Half inch plywood was probably 20 bucks more. He said it was over 100 before the prices started falling.
Half inch particle board is less than 20 bucks.

 

[zannej]

Yikes. I saw that 1x2s and some 1/4" plywood sheets weren't so bad in price now. I'm hoping prices go down more. I want to buy some more lumber for stuff. I had a lazy day thought where I wanted to go to the local hardware store and find out if they would cut a 2x8 to size for me if I bought it there just so I wouldn't have to try to find a working saw (since my friend has mine) to cut it myself. The miter saw in the car port is rusted up (at least the blade is). Brother refused to help me move it and it was too heavy for me to move by myself (it is on a stand). I wish the power worked in that car port. I need to post pics and figure out what type/size blade it needs and hope it can be replaced and that it will still function).

Went to Walmart for my brother's RX and then to Samsclub to pick up online order. But they wouldn't do curbside pickup without their stupid app and I don't have the app. Not even sure which of the samsclub apps it's supposed to be. They also wouldn't let me order something that was in stock online bc they said it was "out of stock" so I had to go in there and get it. My brother suddenly decided he had to go to the bathroom so that left me to load 5 cases of water by myself. Then I couldn't find him afterward so I just checked out. Looked for him again but didn't see him so I decided f* it and went to the truck to load stuff up. Before that I stopped and asked an employee about my pickup order. They told me I would have to go outside for that and use the app. I said I didn't have the app and didn't have the login info even if I'd had the app so I couldn't use it. She asked my name and said she'd send someone out. My brother called on the phone after I finished loading everything in to the truck. I told him where I was parking (had to move to a pickup spot). Waited 10 minutes. Nothing. Called the store on the phone, got put on hold & redirected to nobody picking up the phone. Hung up. Called back. No one would pick up the phone. Wet up to the door to the unloading area and knocked. An employee asked what was going on and I explained I was there for curbside pickup, had given my info 15 min ago and they hadn't brought my stuff. Said I tried calling. She asked about the app. I told her I didn't have it and she said "how did you order without the app?" I explained that I used my computer as I had done in the past. She said things didn't work the same anymore and that I would have to go back inside. So, I had to go back in, find the employees in the area and tell them what was going on. Gave my name and they said they would bring it out. Waited 5 min- was getting impatient bc it was hot as hell and I was tired and having arrhythmia. I was about to go back in and cancel the order stating they never brought it out. Guy finally brought it out and I loaded it up and thanked him. He apologized for the delay.

Dropped some stuff off at friend's house and told him he needed to give the kitten medicine. Poor little baby had pus oozing out of his eyes. Friend forgot the kitten needed meds 2x a day.

Got home and cooked for mom. She was a bit crabby that I didn't get more Hungry Man meals (despite the fact that I told her TEN TIMES that they were out of stock). I was tempted to say "Asked and answered" the next time. LOL. But she calmed down when I showed her that I got her a little flatware case to hold a fork, knife, and spoon- with the aforementioned flatware in it. She is forever losing them and she can travel with them.

 

[highup]

Here's another shop, just a tiny bit more expensive.
Notice some of the plywood is CCX on summer CDX.
I was really surprised at the cost of OSB.
.....but I was surprised that particle board was so cheap in comparison.
I asked him about 2x4s and they were about $6. I asked him what's the highest I got and he said it was $13 and something.

 

[Mark Brown]

Today I was asked if I get sued a lot because I told an irate arsehole that I am not responsible for failures due to the base building. He did not like that I suppose.
Flooring isn't a Lifeproof warranty. If your house burned down, would you call me and ask me to replace all the flooring free of charge because it was within the warranty period?? Sounds about right I suppose.

 

[Floorist]

Today I was asked if I get sued a lot because I told an irate arsehole that I am not responsible for failures due to the base building. He did not like that I suppose.
Flooring isn't a Lifeproof warranty. If your house burned down, would you call me and ask me to replace all the flooring free of charge because it was within the warranty period?? Sounds about right I suppose.

I had a business that flooded when heavy rain made the river rise and they had the nerve to ask me if the carpet was under warranty.

 

[Mark Brown]

yeah that about sums it up. Oh people

 

[Incognito]

Today I was asked if I get sued a lot because I told an irate arsehole that I am not responsible for failures due to the base building. He did not like that I suppose.
Flooring isn't a Lifeproof warranty. If your house burned down, would you call me and ask me to replace all the flooring free of charge because it was within the warranty period?? Sounds about right I suppose.

*********************
You have to tell them (in writing) about the common, basic exclusions to their warranty. They don't have to comprehend or believe what's indicated in the contract/specification documents. THAT'S why they have to sign in blood with their right hand on a stack of bibles indicating that they read and understood the contract. Of course they neither read nor understand. In many instances smaller scale operations use the "Handshake" or "Word Is My Bond" System. Good luck with that if you've actually got two nickles to rub together. Works great with the guy who's go nothing--------and nothing to lose.

 

[Floorist]

Got one actual complaint in years. They said a seam was coming apart. Actually, they had put a roller chair with steel castors on the carpet and gradually cut through it. It was about 6 feet from the closest seam.

 

[highup]

I had a business that flooded when heavy rain made the river rise and they had the nerve to ask me if the carpet was under warranty.

I had a business that flooded when heavy rain made the river rise and they had the nerve to ask me if the carpet was under warranty.

If people were smart enough they would actually embarrass themselves.

 

[C.J.]

Went and bought a bed today. They seem expensive but if they last 10 years and you get the one you want then they really aren’t that expensive.

 

[zannej]

That sums up why I don't like people.

We have all the idiot labels on things for a reason. Because some dumb f*** did something stupid and the company got sued so they have to put disclaimers/warnings on everything. Stuff like "Remove plastic before wearing". Or "remove from box before putting in oven".

Speaking of stupid, a friend of mine has parents who are absolutely nuts to the point they should be committed. They are making their own equine drug and injecting themselves with it because they think it will stop Covid but they have these wild conspiracy theories like Joe Biden, the Clintons, Bill Gates, Obama, etc are all really dead and being portrayed by actors. Jim Carrey is some member of an evil Satanic Cabal and was one of the actors who played Biden and then James Woods was playing Biden and that there are secret child trafficking tunnels under Disneyland and across the country. The kids are being blood sacrificed to Satan to get edrenocrine. Earthquakes and fires are because the military is destroying those tunnels. Epstein is secretly alive and is trying to save the children, and a bunch of other whacked out stuff. The stuff they are making is illegal to make & taking it is probably also illegal. I told her she should call for a wellness check & have them committed bc they are a danger to themselves.

Thus far all I've done today is feed the cats and cook for mom. Still feeling drained from yesterday.

 

[highup]

I took a look at a job yesterday where the carpet needs to be fit against some cortec laminate flooring. It's either a miniature dining room or a pass-through to the stairway and living room that is carpeted and meets up with the cortec close to an island that sits at an angle. I suggested using a clamp down metal on it and I happen to have two little pieces with different colors and she picked the so-called nickel color which tends to look good. I stopped at the warehouse and pick some up and headed off with some shim material and my hammer drill and hopefully everything I needed. The guy that installed the carpet left it loose and the guy that installed the cortec trim the carpet flush with the edge of the Cortec. He told the lady he didn't finish off the edges, he just installed the flooring.
Cutting this thick carpet flush with the edge of the Coretec would make installing the clamp down metal more of a pain in the butt because it would need to be installed accurately so the carpet would be able to fit into the clampdown. The total span would be about 11 ft 3 and would have a bend in it at about the 6 mark. I cut a couple of wedgies and proceeded to make my bend. When I slid it against the corner to see exactly where I would start at I discovered something ugly. An installer that could probably read Braille.
He couldn't make a straight line at an angle.
These two photos are of the first six feet prior to making the bend.
I remind you, the carpet was cut flush to the edge of the Cortec. My tape is straight, barely missing the bow in the middle of the span so I can't really move it.
Is it really that hard to cut at an angle.
It would also help to leave the carpet edge two or three inches long so the fella finishing the edge had something to work with.
I showed her a scrap piece of flat bar and she liked the looks of that. The carpet is pretty heavy so we're talking the inch and a half flat bar.
So I drove 6 miles back to the warehouse, then two and a half miles farther to get my angle finder and my table saw so I could cut a miter accurately and then to pick up some dowel materials. I'm going to end up drilling about 23 freaking holes then tapping sections of dowels in so I can install drive screws. The spacing of course is going to have to be dead on so I don't end up putting a drive screw into concrete.
Any have you guys have hard time figuring out how to make a straight line?
Now I understand why I had a hard time finding time to come over and finish this job for someone. There was a little devil sitting on my shoulder that said don't do that job, don't do that job.

 

[Floorist]

I took a look at a job yesterday where the carpet needs to be fit against some cortec laminate flooring. It's either a miniature dining room or a pass-through to the stairway and living room that is carpeted and meets up with the cortec close to an island that sits at an angle. I suggested using a clamp down metal on it and I happen to have two little pieces with different colors and she picked the so-called nickel color which tends to look good. I stopped at the warehouse and pick some up and headed off with some shim material and my hammer drill and hopefully everything I needed. The guy that installed the carpet left it loose and the guy that installed the cortec trim the carpet flush with the edge of the Cortec. He told the lady he didn't finish off the edges, he just installed the flooring.
Cutting this thick carpet flush with the edge of the Coretec would make installing the clamp down metal more of a pain in the butt because it would need to be installed accurately so the carpet would be able to fit into the clampdown. The total span would be about 11 ft 3 and would have a bend in it at about the 6 mark. I cut a couple of wedgies and proceeded to make my bend. When I slid it against the corner to see exactly where I would start at I discovered something ugly. An installer that could probably read Braille.
He couldn't make a straight line at an angle.
These two photos are of the first six feet prior to making the bend.
I remind you, the carpet was cut flush to the edge of the Cortec. My tape is straight, barely missing the bow in the middle of the span so I can't really move it.
Is it really that hard to cut at an angle.
It would also help to leave the carpet edge two or three inches long so the fella finishing the edge had something to work with.
I showed her a scrap piece of flat bar and she liked the looks of that. The carpet is pretty heavy so we're talking the inch and a half flat bar.
So I drove 6 miles back to the warehouse, then two and a half miles farther to get my angle finder and my table saw so I could cut a miter accurately and then to pick up some dowel materials. I'm going to end up drilling about 23 freaking holes then tapping sections of dowels in so I can install drive screws. The spacing of course is going to have to be dead on so I don't end up putting a drive screw into concrete.
Any have you guys have hard time figuring out how to make a straight line?
Now I understand why I had a hard time finding time to come over and finish this job for someone. There was a little devil sitting on my shoulder that said don't do that job, don't do that job.

Any time I have ever been asked to finish someone else job, I knew it would be a nightmare. Either it was screwed up or it was the customer from hell.

 

[highup]

He's the same age as I am and has been installing just as long. He installed Pergo flooring at his friend's house and of course charged him for it but he wouldn't do the trims because they had angles in them. He told him he didn't do that and he'd have to find somebody that would. You would think after 45 years you can figure out a way to make an angle and fit to it. Well I would think that.

 

[Mark Brown]

See buddy, it isnt that he doesn't know how. It's that he is smarter than you or I and just pretends not to know how. Once in a while you gotta do one and mess it up.... just to make sure people don't get the wrong idea and think you can.

I tried that with carpet but people just kept asking me to do more... so I just learned to say no.

 

[Tom Picciani]

I had something like that on my cub cadet. Air wrench didn’t do anything. I got the nut off. I removed the handle from the floor jack. I slipped the end of the breaker bar into it. Then I put my feet against the housing and pulled in a rowing motion. Had to pull really hard though.

 

[C.J.]

I tried that with carpet but people just kept asking me to do more... so I just learned to say no.

So you finally gave up on carpet? Good man! I knew you would come around.

I don’t even have a kicker on my van anymore to bump up doorways after I do LVP, that’s how committed to not touching carpet I am.

 

[highup]

See buddy, it isnt that he doesn't know how. It's that he is smarter than you or I and just pretends not to know how. Once in a while you gotta do one and mess it up.... just to make sure people don't get the wrong idea and think you can.

I tried that with carpet but people just kept asking me to do more... so I just learned to say no.

Trust me, he doesn't know how..... I mean, there's stuff like angles and straight lines and complicated stuff like that.
I'm close to 64 and I met this guy while I was working with my grandfather in '75. Hey, his brother, and cousins always like big jobs where they can go whole hog and put down a lot of material. If you give him anything out of a square room I think he starts to shake cuz he doesn't know what to do when a corner isn't...... A corner.
You have to think outside the box. If I was doing a job like this one, since it's more than one day including prep work, I'd ask the customer the starting and ending points and you some hot glue and glue a strip of plywood or a 1-in board on that angle then every piece of material you cut would be tapped against that temporary board. If he was working towards this angle and with his measurements, somehow made the material 1/8 of an inch too big that wouldn't have been a problem, as long as he got the angle correct.
Again, if the carpet was left 2 in big I could have retrimmed this to make it straight.
It's not like I'm not getting paid, nobody tells me what to charge. I just figured I'd go over there and spend two and a half hours drilling the concrete to accept clamp down and ripping a strip of 8-in Masonite as a shim to put underneath the metal. I get there and then discover this. That's what I'm pissed about. I can bill for piss nobody can stop me. It's work.

 

[highup]

So you finally gave up on carpet? Good man! I knew you would come around.

I don’t even have a kicker on my van anymore to bump up doorways after I do LVP, that’s how committed to not touching carpet I am.

It wouldn't be so bad if they made a realistic trim edge that carpet could be tucked against. Those little end cap moldings are a pain in the butt and they're not very tall. They need to sell something similar that's a good eighth of an inch taller, then you'd actually have a cavity to tuck into.

 

[highup]

Hey CJ if you quit doing carpet and won't finish off these edges like this guy won't do. He's light years ahead of you, he hasn't finished off carpet edges for 20 plus years.
Oh my God, this guy one up't you.