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can you fix it?

brisketbean | Posted in Photo Gallery on July 10, 2002 05:32am

My friend had some newbies do a little framing job for him, and his wife ran off the crew for gross incompetence, and then he pops the question, canyou, will you, should I?

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Replies

  1. Piffin | Jul 10, 2002 05:53am | #1

    Are those Sheet rock screws in the joist hangers?

    Looks like they forgot to bring a saw or level that day - just installed as they came off the truck.

    His wife is OK by me. Why'd he leave it to her?

    Excellence is its own reward!
    1. brisketbean | Jul 10, 2002 06:34am | #2

      yeah they were drywall screws, most of them went right past the end of the joists, they were just there for looks. as you can see the joists were more than an inch short on the top but touching on the bottom, i am betting its the same cut they would use on a 6 and 12 pitched roof. The drip line on the shed roof is more than a foot out of line. all of the joists and rafters were at least 4 inches out of square in 12 feet of run. i told his wife she should of had them arrested for fraud, or trying to impersonate a wood butcher. You get what you pay for, if your lucky.

      1. xMikeSmith | Jul 10, 2002 06:40am | #3

        bb.....it's almost funny... i've seen some pretty sloppy framing from time to time.. but this beats the cake... beyond butchery.... bordering on clueless....Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

        1. brisketbean | Jul 10, 2002 06:46am | #5

          mike, it is past clueless, the photos kind of make it look better than it actualy is.  It is criminal, I dont see how these people get away with it, its such a gross waste of time and money, my friend told me that they had to cut every sheet of decking on the roof, go figure. A string line could of helped quite a bit.

          1. joeh | Jul 10, 2002 07:03am | #6

            So, ah, what's it supposed to be? Is that ledger board as cocked as it looks? Is that ball of Romex for future electrical needs? Just untangle some and hang an outlet wherever needed?  I like it!  Joe H

          2. brisketbean | Jul 10, 2002 07:05am | #7

            yes

          3. User avater
            Luka | Jul 10, 2002 07:42am | #8

            Aw, qwitcher whinin.

            Ain't nothing wrong with that job a stick of dynamite won't cure.

            Looks ok from my house. No. Wait I AM at my house...

            And tell her that if'n she don't let my boys back on the job real soon, I'm going to have them make her a doghose with all their spare time.

            How ya doing Brisket ?

            : )

          4. junkhound | Jul 10, 2002 08:16am | #9

            7 YO grand-daughter builds straighter than that with only scrap wood without cutting anything. 

            ARE WE ON PROSPERO'S EQUIVALENT OF CANDID CAMERA HERE?? 

            Generally something this bad (see the 2" off plumb post elsewhere today) has got to be a setup????

          5. UncleDunc | Jul 10, 2002 08:40am | #10

            I might have suspected that if I hadn't spent the last 17 years reading really bad computer software. There are people in every trade and industry whose net contribution is negative. And there will always be a few at the low end of the scale whose work is astonishingly bad. I think we just found some.

          6. Piffin | Jul 11, 2002 03:37am | #19

            "There are people in every trade and industry whose net contribution is negative."

            Just think, Unkadunk, Somewhere out there is a doctor performing this level of work on human patients. Scary ain't it?Excellence is its own reward!

          7. tjcarcht | Jul 11, 2002 04:57am | #20

            Looks pretty standard to me - for rural Bolivia (yes I've been there).T. Jeffery Clarke

            Quidvis Recte Factum Quamvis Humile Praeclarum

          8. jet | Jul 11, 2002 11:32am | #21

            Reminds me of the saying

            "Make something idiot proof, and the world will build a better idiot"

          9. BKCBUILDER | Jul 11, 2002 02:20pm | #22

            I'm guessing it was customer supplied materials, and the lowest cost bidder(that they picked up dead drunk at a bar)

          10. Mooney | Jul 18, 2002 03:08pm | #26

            Yes its true . WE have" that" doctor. He cant prescribe drugs any more , but he can still practice. What a world!!!!

            I praise  the woman , as she is of strong backbone. Hell of a power play for her to fire a whole crew with out her husband . I like those kind of women, unless their after me of course! 

            Tim Mooney

          11. AndyEngel | Jul 10, 2002 09:01pm | #16

            Look right into your monitor and smile <G>Andy Engel, The Accidental Moderator

          12. User avater
            CloudHidden | Jul 19, 2002 11:40pm | #30

            >7 YO grand-daughter builds straighter than that

            Heck, I build DOMES that are straighter than that!!!

          13. DavidxDoud | Jul 10, 2002 04:28pm | #15

            now that I've had a nights sleep on it,  I can see that it is really a work of art - reminds me of the Guggenheim in Bilboa - fluid curves echoing water - too bad the artist/builders were pulled off before they had a chance to get the skin on -

      2. DavidxDoud | Jul 10, 2002 06:42am | #4

        elegant beyond words - - are you spose to fix it?  the only positive I see is the screws,  which means it will be a little easier to disassemble - wow - good job by the wife -

  2. 4Lorn1 | Jul 10, 2002 09:52am | #11

    Obviously you are just an uppity trouble maker. Round here thems quality work. Yude ave to pay extra for such an E-lite crew to do such an improvisational tour de force. You have to get your moneys worth for all the palm greasin. If it was straighter they'd have wasted the money. Its not sloppy it's cost effective.

    Tweak it with a front end loader and start over. I'm not sure I would even take the risk of trying to tearing it down piece by piece. You could break a leg trying to save a 2 by 10.

  3. User avater
    BossHog | Jul 10, 2002 03:32pm | #12

    I wonder what they were saying while they were doing this?

    "Looks good to me"

    "That ain't goin' anywhere"

    "Can't see it from Hardee's"

    "Good enough for government work"

    Born free

    (my father's a doctor)

    1. rez | Jul 10, 2002 03:53pm | #14

      aw, screw some 3/4 inch plywood on there and no one'll ever know...Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.

    2. darrel | Jul 18, 2002 05:12am | #24

      "Can't see it from Hardee's"

      I don't know why, but that is just one of the funniest thing's I've read all day!

      1. User avater
        BossHog | Jul 18, 2002 02:06pm | #25

        "Can't see it from Hardee's"

        Don't know why guys say that, but I've heard it a few times.

        Edited 7/19/2002 7:03:06 AM ET by Boss Hog

        1. Piffin | Jul 19, 2002 02:52am | #27

          Boss,

          I think that saying means, irreverantly, that the coffee shop is where they spend more time than on the job and is probably where they pick up the next job.Excellence is its own reward!

  4. River19 | Jul 10, 2002 03:53pm | #13

    Wow.....that is all I can really say is "Wow" (head shaking as well).

    Alright now I do all my work myself, but I take the time to know how to do it right....that work is pathetic.  I hope they didn't get a cent for that crap...did they?

    SJ

    Know a little about alot and alot about little.
  5. User avater
    BossHog | Jul 10, 2002 10:40pm | #17

    Yas know, looking at this thread title again, the theme song/phrase from "Bob the Builder" ran through my mind.

    "Can you fix it?" "Yes we can!"

    Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

  6. User avater
    ProDek | Jul 11, 2002 03:16am | #18

    First of all you need to plumb the phone poll, it's leaning to the left. then you need to buy these guys a chalk line and show them how to use it, after you hire a bulldozer to push that ledger tight to the wall.

    SKETCHY!

    Bob

    "Rather be a hammer than a nail"

    1. User avater
      Lawrence | Feb 22, 2005 10:32pm | #45

      Nice website Bob, I like the curved deck-turned out great!

      L

       GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!

      1. User avater
        ProDek | Feb 23, 2005 02:03am | #46

        Thanks Lawrence..............."Rather be a hammer than a nail"

        Bob

  7. toolin63 | Jul 17, 2002 08:46pm | #23

    They could use these pictures for The front cover of Taunton Presses new mag "REALLY HORRIBLE HOMEBUILDING"

  8. luvmuskoka | Jul 19, 2002 03:12am | #28

    Actually, this could have become criminal. Imagine if the homeowners were on vacation and these schmuks would have finished. 

    It's not the fall......it's the sudden stop.

    1. Piffin | Jul 19, 2002 05:17am | #29

      It could be the fall, if they grabbed that hunk of wire to stop their fall...zap

      Excellence is its own reward!

  9. PaulReuter | Jul 20, 2002 12:27am | #31

    A number of years back I had a competitor who did work like that.  He was actually very good for my business.  I couldn't beat his bids, but I usually 'made out like a bandit' when I got called in to fix/finish what he started.

    Paul

    1. FastEddie1 | Jul 20, 2002 03:36am | #32

      I'm thinking that would make a better back cover picture than that jerk doing flips off the roof.  I still can't believe they printed that.  You suppose that decision was made by the same bozo who changed the forum to prospero?

  10. brisketbean | Sep 20, 2002 03:01pm | #33

    The owner didn't want to pay my price to fix the roof over his deck, God stepped in with about a 40 or 50 mph straight line wind and did approxiamately  1000.00 worth of improvement,  it pullled the band and rafters loose from the posts and hinged the roof at the trailer, blew the whole shooting match up on top the trailer, talk about a quick tear off.  The owner told me that the roof that was about 60 feet long and 12 feet wide didn't have a full sheet of decking on it, because they all had to be cut, imagine that. I havent taken another pic, but today it would have a beautiful blue sky in place of that garbage that blew away.

    1. 4Lorn1 | Sep 23, 2002 02:35am | #34

      Nature not only abhors a vacuum but poor construction as well.

      This is largely why many maintain such illusions as to the general quality of construction produced by our forefathers. The shoddy construction has long ago fallen and left only the stout and well made buildings. We then judge the whole by the remaining few.

    2. whancock64 | Sep 23, 2002 09:06am | #35

      Worst nightmare... I built a 14x42 foot deck for a relative. In fact, it was what got me back into remodeling after being laid off. My uncle has a farm and is a serious jack-leg mechanic, builder, etc. Has every car he's owned that he couldn't sell lined up in a field, belts broke on huge tractor, replaces belts, leaves broken bolt alone that causes alternator to shake like a hula dancer... so on and so forth. I get deck going, aunt thinks I can do it in one day by myself. (18 piers that have to be dug and inspected, etc) Well, I get whole thing going and square, start rails before I leave for a family trip. Come back to find the stairs are built with hinges and the rest of the railing is out of whack and 'wiggly' looking as she put it. Oh well. It's at their place not mine is all I can say. At least they paid me $350 for my several days of hard labor.

      1. SantaCruzBluz | Feb 22, 2005 05:44am | #36

        This thread is the funniest thing I've read in weeks...break a leg trying to save a 2 X 10....you guys are a trip...I used to work with a guy who would say, "I won't be able so see it from the beer joint.""I know not how I may seem to others, but to myself
        I am but a small child wandering upon the vast shores of knowledge,
        every now and then finding a small bright pebble to content myself with."
        ....Plato...427-347 BC

        Allen in Santa Cruz

        1. JohnT8 | Feb 22, 2005 08:15am | #37

          Gooood Lord, Moon, you're stirring up dust digging through the archive vault!

          I useta be so young when this thread was started.

           jt8

          The reason so many people never get anywhere in life is because when opportunity knocks, they are out in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers.    -- Walter Percy Chrysler

          1. SantaCruzBluz | Feb 22, 2005 08:36am | #38

            Heck, I didn't dig up anything. This is what was on my screen. I didn't see the date until you mentioned it. Wonder why that thread was showing up on my screen? Right next to the one about ghosts?

            Allen in Santa Cruz

          2. JohnT8 | Feb 22, 2005 06:34pm | #41

            Heck, I didn't dig up anything. This is what was on my screen. I didn't see the date until you mentioned it. Wonder why that thread was showing up on my screen? Right next to the one about ghosts?

            I think someone linked it from a different thread.  What is sad, is that 3 years later its the same cast of characters  ;)

            ... so much so that I didn't realize it was an old thread till near the end.jt8

            The reason so many people never get anywhere in life is because when opportunity knocks, they are out in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers.    -- Walter Percy Chrysler

          3. User avater
            Luka | Feb 22, 2005 12:21pm | #39

            Who do you think yer kidding ?You were never young !

            The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow

          4. JohnT8 | Feb 22, 2005 06:37pm | #42

            Who do you think yer kidding ?

            You were never young !

            I choose to remember it to my own liking :)   In which case I was young, successful, etc.

            Actually 2002 WAS a good year!  Got my one and only NEW car...  a new comp... and a trip to London. ... none of which I have since repeated.  :(

             jt8

            The reason so many people never get anywhere in life is because when opportunity knocks, they are out in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers.    -- Walter Percy Chrysler

  11. User avater
    SteveInCleveland | Feb 22, 2005 06:33pm | #40

    You said you wanted a rustic look, right?

     

  12. saulgood | Feb 22, 2005 09:41pm | #43

    LoO ks oK tO M e!

  13. User avater
    Lawrence | Feb 22, 2005 10:30pm | #44

    Hey BrisketBean.. .May I print thos photos out for a Deck Demo that I have to do in a couple of weeks at the Home Workshop Show...

    I'm planning to start off saying "Anyone can build a deck-Right?"... and I'll hand out about 10 photos to pass around or put them on a projector... could be fun.

    I have seen some scary things in my time. I walked off one site in Hamilton because it wasn't safe. They were framing an addition over the old roof without a stick of bracing. The roof came down that night.

    Watched some boys in Burlington putting on a big roof for a plaza. Must have covered 2 acres without a stick of bracing or sheating. We went there whenever the wind picked up for a couple of nights so we wouldn't miss the show. Happened in the middle of the night. Musta been about $50,000 worth of trusses all broken and twisted in a big pile.

    Scary things happen when you have no sense.

    L

     

    GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!

    1. brisketbean | Feb 23, 2005 07:11am | #47

      sure , print them and share the humor.

      I found out later that the dudes that cobbled that job up had a nail  gun and a box of 2 1/2" (framing nails) that they used to tack it together with.

      1. User avater
        Lawrence | Feb 23, 2005 06:22pm | #48

        Thanks Mr Brisketbean, Glad it was easy for you to disassemble.

        LGardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!

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