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Tolerances
comments (0) October 24th, 2008 in Blogs
Kevin Ireton, editor-at-large
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I have
always liked the variety of tasks required to build a house. When I earned my
living as a carpenter, I preferred to work for smaller companies where one crew
did much of that work. I enjoyed moving from framing to roofing to siding to
drywall to finish work. (Yes, even roofing and drywall can be fun in the
context of a whole house.) Now, of course, as a do-it-yourselfer egged on by
the articles we publish, I even do my own plumbing and electrical work. But the
trouble with being a jack-of-all-trades is that I don’t do any one thing long
enough to become good at it, which is frustrating. More so, I think, because I
am good at carpentry, and I know intimately what that feels like.
I know how readily the tools come into my hands. I know instinctively where to
begin and how to proceed. I can anticipate the mistakes I’m likely to make and
so avoid them. And more than anything, I know the tolerances. I know what
matters and what doesn’t and why. I know when you’re installing mudsills on a foundation that you take the time
to square them up. It might not seem like being an inch out of square matters
on something as big as a house, but it does. Square is square. Settle for less
on your mudsills, and two floors later you’ll end up custom cutting each rafter
and cursing your lack of foresight.
A skilled tradesman knows a thousand such things and has forgotten he knows
them. They are so naturally a part of what he does that he takes them for
granted. That’s why Fine Homebuilding editors visit the job sites of our
authors to take photographs and to watch them work. We see the authors doing
things that they didn’t mention in their manuscripts, and we ask questions,
coaxing the subtleties out of their heads and into the articles.
Ask an electrician how to wire an outlet box, and he’ll tell you the six basic
steps, but he’ll forget to say that he always brings the power feed in from the
same hole on every box or that he leaves exactly 8 in. of Romex sticking out.
These things save time later when he’s installing all the outlets and switches.
He won’t have to wonder which of the three or four cables is the power, and
he’ll have the right length to accordion-fold all the wires and fit them neatly
into the box. Whether you’re a professional working by the hour or a homeowner
working on your own house, these details make a big difference.
I was reminded of this recently while installing a dry-laid brick patio at my
house. Actually, I was extending a patio that I had installed 15 years ago with
the help of a friend named Scott Ernst. Scott had written an article for Fine Homebuilding about
brick patios, and he visited to give me a private tutorial. But that was a
long time ago, and I had forgotten much of what he taught me, especially the
subtleties.
The rough work went fine, but I got frustrated screeding the compressed stone
dust to final grade. I was on my hands and knees, using a wooden trowel and a
6-ft. level to smooth the surface, while trying to maintain the right pitch to
keep water flowing away from the house.
I couldn’t remember how smooth was smooth enough. Did the surface of the stone
dust have to be as smooth and flat as a pool table? I couldn’t make that
happen. Whenever I added material to the low spots, they became high spots. I
lost a lot of time fussing and worrying because I didn’t know what the
tolerances were.
It was all fine in the end, of course. The bricks went down. The sand was swept
in between them. And most important of all, I stood up. Often, when gripped by
uncertainty about what matters and what doesn’t, I forget that no one will ever
again look as closely at my work as I do when I’m in the process of doing it.
posted in: Blogs
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About this blog
As the editor of Fine Homebuilding, I spend my weekdays trying to produce a magazine that will satisfy 300,000 of the most demanding builders, both professional and amateur. As the owner of a 200-year old Cape in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, I spend weekends working on my house.
Each activity invariably informs, and complicates, the other. In this blog, I’ll offer observations from both worlds -- publishing and building -- with the hope of providing some useful or at least entertaining insights.
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