I stick a nail in the end, or sometime I just let the end dry and pull the glob out next time.

As far as the economics of caulk are concerned, it’s less about the cost of a tube of caulk and more about availability. If you keep throwing away partially used tubes then you may be more likely to not have any or enough when you need it.

I have the Makita cordless, and I like it just fine. But whenever the other guys on the crew use it they comment on the weight.

If you’re cut guy for an installer, always be a few steps ahead. Have a pile of runners read to go. Cut the appropriate angles/bevels on some pieces for starters/enders. Watch the installer, what piece does he need next, what piece after that? Pass it up the right direction. The guy in the lift shouldn’t have to rotate an 18 ft piece because you…[Read more]

I have Craftsman (both older USA made and newer China made), Kobalt, and Husky. I’m not a mechanic so I don’t need anything better. I have a set of Husky deep sockets that I use more than the others. They suit my needs fine, which is usually for some type of connective hardware for framing/decking.

I don’t know the science of batteries and extreme weather, but I leave my batteries in my vehicle year-round. They seem to run just fine. But where I live extreme cold is more an issue than extreme heat. Bringing your batteries inside everyday sounds like a recipe for forgetting them and not having them at the job.

Think of this way. You’re not hiring the person for $40 an hour, you’re hiring the business, even if it’s just a one man business. He has to pay for insurance, a vehicle, tools, gas, consumables, etc. Handymen work a lot of small jobs, which means there can be a lot of time between jobs that’s not billable. If a handy man is billing you $40 an…[Read more]

Everyone says that Boral is stable and doesn’t move. I don’t think so. We’re currently building a house and the whole thing is covered in Boral. There are numerous joints that we fussed with while installing to get tight that are now open just a few week or months later. The stuff moves.

PI_Woodworker wrote:That is one big bad boy for sure. What uses would it have besides timber framing?

When you’re build a house and fabricating a bunch of headers, you can nail up 16′ or 18′ material and then lop it into the lengths you need. Just plan where you need to cut before you nail it.

I did a hardwood floor today, just strip oak. It’s part of an on going kitchen remodel.

You could put in a spline on the ends. Just get the right router bit and it’s really not too bad.

It depends on the finished look you’re going for. If you want it clean, go with a spline, dowels, or milling a T&G. If you want more character, plugs would be a good choice.

Today at the local lumber yard there was a small event with a few dozen venders. They had this impact at the Hitachi booth, and it was impressive. I didn’t expect that from Hitachi. They had some type of 4 inch lag srews s to try out the driver. It was pretty fast. The guys I work said it was faster than my Makita brushless impact. So I went to my…[Read more]

Today was day two of a kitchen remodel. So far it’s been demo and reframing. We took down some walls, put up some walls, added a window.

I’ve been on a commercial job for a while now. We’re doing trim, siding, and soffit. It’s all either PVC or Hardie board. We did all the trim on those upper boxes and around the main soffit of the building. It’s not complicated; there’s just a lot of it.

smallerstick wrote:

BeardedCarpenter wrote:
Today I finally put on the second of finish (tung oil). When the finish cures I’ll put handles on the ends and call it good.

@beardedcarpenter
Great looking project as I think I have said already but I have a question about tung oil. Do you use the pure untreated product or the polymerized version? H…

[Read more]

I’ve seen a few similar things like this recently: a porch over a basement, and front steps and landings over the basement. It’s a stupid design. It’s already been built so there’s not much that can be done to truly reverse the bad design.

I think you’re on the right track by basically making a flat roof over the living space. I’ve helped by…[Read more]

I’ve seen a few similar things like this recently: a porch over a basement, and front steps and landings over the basement. It’s a stupid design. It’s already been built so there’s not much that can be done to truly reverse the bad design.

I think you’re on the right track by basically making a flat roof over the living space. I’ve helped by…[Read more]

More work on the cedar roof. We’re coming along, what you see undone in the pics is all that’s left, all the others sides are done.

@boschmanbrian For the ridge cap we are going to use cedar 1x8s. One board will run about 3/4 higher that the other.

More cedar shingles today, but there’s no pics for today. We haven’t gotten to the more tedious parts yet- the valleys and ridges. We’ll get to some of that tomorrow, but we’l still be a few more days on the job. Wood shingles are a lot slower than asphalt. You can get into a rhythm and move along, but it’s still not fast.

More work on the cedar roof today. We only had two guys on site today, so we did a smaller section. It actually didn’t even take all day, so after we finished we met the other guys at a different job.

@Boschmanbrian I don’t know how old the barn is, but I don’t think the it’s too old. It’s framed with modern lumber (not rough sawn). As for the…[Read more]

smallerstick wrote:

BeardedCarpenter wrote:
Today I worked on a cedar shake roof on a barn. I’ve done some cedar shakes before, but never a full roof.

Beautiful building to work on! Is the cupola going back on?

Yeah, the cupola is going back on. It was installed directly over the old shakes, so the only thing to do was take it down. It’s n…[Read more]