It seems to me that people from all walks of life are attracted to “Excellence” in life, in living, in entertainment, in leadership…I know there are lawyers, doctors, mothers, and daughters reading these posts. Fine places attract fine people, as a general rule, don’t they? And this is Fine Home Building…
In the past year, I’ve become aware that everybody here is not a builder or in the building trades. I was just reading one from a cop, another from a ‘puter geek…
So, out of curiosity, here’s a chance for some of you lurkers and non- builders to fill out your census form____________. Even builders who used to be something else.
What walk of life are you from? And why are you attracted to FHB and Breaktime?
Excellence is its own reward!
Replies
Ok pif, I'll humor ya. Life history from DNA to this evening:
DNA, pipsqueak, nerd, geek, junior carpenter, student / alcoholic (are those really separate?) not so junior carpenter, military cop, military instructor, civillian again and remodeling and satisfied. Why am I here? Cause I don't know it all, and even though neither does everyone else, I can learn something. On a good day, I can help someone else have that little light go on in their head. Half the fun is just reading. Some folks have been here long enough you can't tell if they're across the country or next door neighbors.
Well piffin Im a well established pimp andhave I got a deal for you :)
Im a govt rep. I inspect military aircraft from womb to tomb during the manufacturing /testing cycle to delivery to the AF. I also do some PT repair /cabinent building /finish work. I enjoy this site because of the cameraderie and info here and its just plain fun to talk to people from all over the world and get their ideas and views on things and techniques ect..
Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Edited 10/3/2002 10:21:57 PM ET by Ron Teti
Architect intended, Civil Engineering Schooled ( only 2 yrs) Geological survey crew worker, carpenter, builder. Family was in the lumber business locally for over 100 yrs. Got sawdust for blood:)
Brudoggie
I worked part time at a neighborhood pharmacy all through high school, majored in English Lit at Indiana University (lousy student, read everything but the assigned material and never went to class, C average), got married, spent two years supervising in the IU Halls of Residence cafeterias (didn't get along with my last boss), got divorced, found a part time job delivering pizzas for the Bloomington, IN Domino's Pizza in '79(some nights after close a few of us would end up at the manager's apartment and I watched them do coke), climbed the management ladder(several bosses I didn't get along with), got married, franchised a Domino's Pizza in Marion in 1984 (that five years seemed like 10), had two kids, got divorced, got married and divorced, sold my two stores in '91 (mostly 'cause I was bored with it and not taking care of business), kicked around for two years or so wholesaling fireworks a couple of months (didn't get along with the boss), selling Kirby vacs a month or so, and then inspecting for the Marion Housing Authority for 18 months (didn't get along with the boss).
Declared myself a handyman and never looked back. I'm beginning to think that I might be qualified in the not too distant future.
Got married, living in paradise.
Rich Beckman
Commercial airline mechanic. Build furniture as a hobby and have always had an interest in the construction trades. Always looking for new materials/methods as well as the tried and true. Plan to build a vacation/lakehouse in the future and a little education goes a long way. Have a wooden boat project going on so I lurk on the wooden boat forums as well. Have a couple of street rod projects so I lurk..........
Man I have too many hobbies.
Hmmm...Work life. Laborer, Cannery worker, King Crabber/Fisherman, Lead singer, DJ, Texure & Painting Laborer->College, Roustabout, Roughneck, Hoddie/Mason's Laborer, Carpet Layer/Floor Coverings, Cannery Worker->Boom Truck Driver, Taxi Driver, King Crabber/Fisherman, Carpentry Laborer, Carpenter, Oil Spill Worker->Foreman, Oil Spill Docks Carpenter, (Move across Continent), Carpenter, Operations Manager, Carpenter & Writer. Am I going too fast? You may have to let me know how I'm doing on the last occupation, I will let all know if published! Loudly!Meantime, Back to Work!
"If left is wrong, then right is the only thing left, right?
Trained in Laurel, MS police cadet program, saw only one chief and a few capts everyone else poor, went to college pre-med. saw surgery first time, changed to business. got on as an idiot kid with a co that built churches in MS, worked between school two years and learned a lot. went into computers full time to keep from being found melted onto a roof in MS some summer. Folks moved to IL, I moved to IL. worked computers and did illegal building projects. (no perm, no lice, mostly okay work) moved back South after computer job ended in IL to take computer job in AL. started remodel work on CHEAP rental homes between jobs. worked on not as cheap rental homes in spare time. got licensed in AL, got serious computer gig for several years, got married, moved to NC, sold tools thinking never need them again, moved to SC, lost serious computer gig, now back doing remodels and repair while I buy tools as I can. getting work on nicer homes in SC. Truly want to do it right.
LOVE FHB. Also think pretty good folks here too.
Never found myself professionally, but that's alright, I've been retired for a long time.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
I'm a student studying electrical engineering a Notre Dame. Like to do woodworking and carpentry in my spare time, which I have too little of at school. Also LOVE steam locomotives, vintage aircraft, and fishing. Hopefully will end up working for my electric utility when I graduate so that'll get the money flowing the right way and maybe I'll be able to get some new tools. By the way, if any of y'all ever go to college, the chicks pretty much dig guys who are handy, also they like guys who will bake for them. Just thought I'd pass some wisdom I've learned in college.
When people 100 years from now see my work, they'll know I cared. --Matt Mulka
Great tag line, Matt!
but
"the chicks pretty much dig guys who are handy, also they like guys who will bake for them. Just thought I'd pass some wisdom I've learned in college."
I've gotta tell you with all the wisdom of myears, that true wisdom leads to chicks who will bake for you. Not the other way around.
I think..
Excellence is its own reward!
No, Piffy, he's right, and preternaturally wise, for a youth. Nurturing behavior is sexy in guys, as well as girls.
I have settled on my criteria for quality in a future mate. He must either know how to maintain and repair the lawn mower himself, cheerfully, and willingly, and efficiently, and well, OR, he must know how to get it done by someone else cheerfully willingly, etc.
Seems pretty task specific, but if you think about it, you can extrapolate it to most situations in life. I've lifted my last lawn mower into the car trunk, both literally and metaphorically!"I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
Cross me off your list, then, besides the fact that I'm already married. I don't cook. I hate mechanical work. And I see lawns as ridiculous extravaganzii. More into fruit trees and stuff that you can eat. Can't remember last time I went grazing grass. Besides, mowing sets off my asthma!
But I know someone who bakes cookies and is college edjicated - not that a librarian would care about that.....
Excellence is its own reward!
and i thought the best thing i learned in college was to drink 3 glasses of water when you're done drinking all that beer.
my lawnmower has 2 wheels and curvy blades that you can see go around in front of you. it emits CO2 when i push it along, along with a "whish" noise.
-m
I never said find a girl who can't or never bakes. It just really helps A LOT to show up for a date with a nice hot chick and give her something you made for her. They really dig that.
Yes, I really did make this post a 3AM. --Matt Mulka
born in Santa Cruz, raised in Rhode Island.. mispent my youth sailing..
worked on bridge maintenance , carpentry, tennis courts & restaurants thru HS...then started a Jesuit education at BC for a couple years...went sailing with Windjammer cruises in the West Indies for a year after that..
drafted in '65...came out an Artillery Captain in '69 and joined the RI Guard for another 4 years..went to Roger Williams for Const. Tech. and left there to work marine const. down the Cape...built the P'town breakwater off MacMIllan Wharf
got married to a fantastic woman and moved home to the island I grew up on.. designed and built our first house together while working on Sewage treatment & Water treatment plant const...
got into home building & remodeling when the Heavy & Highway company went bellyup......went on my own in'75 and built houses until '90...also into local politics and government on Town Council & Planning Board..have worked for both Dems & Reps in their elections...
our daughter graduated from the same school in NC as her mother ( Elon )and now is married and living in Charlotte..
been thru too many building cycles to count.. but really do love it..learn as much here as I do anywhere else and have met many new friends and interesting people here ..
got the opportunity to meet many of you in Ohio at Pete's, in Nova Sotia at Adrian's, in Mass at Recko's & Wolvie's and Helen and I look forward to meeting many of you face to face at Duhamel's Texfest..Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike, was it Maries Diner, not far from the pier? Kale soup?
Don't think Marie was gay.
Nice town then it was. Haven't been back in years.__________________________________________
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Millie cooked my breakfast at the diner every morning.. he was saving up for a sex change in sweden..
the Foc'sle for afterwork beers..
and the Original Jug Band and Bobby Orr & the brunes every night..
Kale soup was at Cookie's for us.. except once a month he'd close the place and do specials like Cheeks & Jowels for his friends..
a guy i met 20 years later wound up as the Director of Public Works.. trying to relive his yute with the hippy chicksMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I'm thinking I was there round 73/74. That kale soup was the .........well you know...........good.
Stuffed that wadding in a wood fishboat. Learned something there. Poets, artists and portugese fishermen. __________________________________________
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
two of the things i learned there:
"finestkind" & " bestyacanchagot"
did i ever tell you helen makes a mean kale soup.. she used to teach power sewing at Diamond Vocational in Fall River.. about as "Guese as tehy come
and kale soup is ont the Tuesday menu at the PAC accross from my office.. and PAC does not mean Performing Arts Center...
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Thread highllights why this site holds interest - availability of many views.
Have been lifeguard, equipment operator, lumberjack, dishwasher, restroom cleaner, well driller. EE deg in '67. First prof. job. was emergency escape lights on 707, last 10 years did a lot of power systems work for space station and aircraft.
Built first house solo at 25. Consummate DIY, everything except dental and surgery (some of that even).
Still have first wife after 35+ years, 4 grandkids.
Low and behold I'm not the only non-builder around here! Great thread.
Got addicted to sawdust (and trees in general) from my father. He had a historic restoration business, and I worked with him thru high school. Learned a lot, and lucky enough to still learn from him.
Worked as a mason, landscaper and more getting through college. BS in psych...but decided I didn't want to go further down that path (Who wants to listen to people's problems all day?).
Got into real estate management from there. Then saw that the real coin was in manageing properties for yourself. now I have some rental property, and do all the reno's and repairs.
My day job is doing construction project management for a university. Keeps me "in the business", but unfortunately not swinging a hammer myself.
One day will make the jump to full time landlord with some RE develpoment/spec building thrown in. Can't wait to be my own boss, but it's a scary jump....
In the meantime I'm getting ready to build a pole barn woodshop come Spring. Got to feed the sawdust addiction somehow...
Grocery bagger, fast food grunt, cocktail waitress, lab tech in infectious disease research lab working on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Typhus (obligate intracellular parasites for the CDC guy), lab tech in a research lab on the immunology of aging, test analyst for satellite software (none of mine ever went into the sun!), computer programmer for pharmaceutical company, comp.prog. for credit card company, comp.prog for magazine publisher.
States lived in: Mass, NY, Delaware, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Utah. No outstanding warrants.
Dedicated lurker, though I've posted more times in the last month then in the previous 4 years combined. Done a lot of DIY, sometimes because nobody around here wants the small jobs. Have a beautiful addition that we did on our house, and always read here about another mistake we made shortly after having made it. I count grouting tile as one of those activities that I didn't really enjoy while pregnant (6 months when we did it). It beat getting up on the ladder to paint, though. I have a wonderful husband and daughter, and the addition is yet unfinished, though REALLY close.
All this time and you never mentioned it . You could have at least argued with me ! LOL!
Tim Mooney
i wasdown in lil' compton this summer doing some diving off the jetty there and the foc'sle looked like a ghost town . are there any plans for c.p.r for that place that was a great place to go for beers after fishing. one of my earliest memory as a little kid was my father becoming friendly with the fisherman. and talked them into letting my father and two brothers going out with them. when they put those dory in the water circled the nets and started pulling. watchin and waiting and waiting and eventually there looked like a huge bouquet of flowers coming out with dozens of varieties of fish..........it was a great experiance.........one of top 5 vplaces i've been where the country meets the water........ cheers bear
never get over to Little Compton much.. but it sounds like you were fishing with the "trap boats" they have traps set on poles in the Sakonnet River east of Newport........... and big pole traps up off P'town. .
the Sakonnet is only a 3' - 4' tide.. but P'town gets a 10' tide... used to watch the touristas tie up at high tide to the Municipal Wharf.. go up town for some lunch and come back to find their boat hanging on it's cleats 4' out of the water..... yikesMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike....d'ya ever get anywhere near the Bay of Fundy when you were down here? 30' tides....the Minas Basin goes 12-16 metres at the extreme....wild. http://www.valleyweb.com/fundytides/
As to the thread....here goes. Carbon based. Sentient, at least part of the time. Although my skill as a craftsman is spoken of in hushed tones across three continents, it is really as a lover that I am most renowned....don't know if you can really call a vocation a 'career' though....I guesss if you've been paid for it, it counts.cabinetmaker/college instructor. Cape Breton, N.S
Ha, ha, Adrian. Pure Bullox, of course. Slainte.Website
yes, Ralph & I both walked out about a mile at slack tide.. still couldn't see the tide's edge.. and we had to get to Cheticamp .. so we left... next trip, we'll ride the rapids on the flood...
how's your little princess ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Director at the ABC station in Cleveland, Ohio as some of you may know.(I'm sitting here watching monday night football, and writing this while I should be working on the news show!) Been working here for twelve and a half years.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, of course a HUGE Stillers fan. That's always fun here in Brownie territory.
Generally a lurker, but I'll chime in every once in a while. I remodeled the heck out of our last house, doing everything myself. Like to think I'm a well rounded guy. Went to Ashland College for my degree in tv production.
I'm a husband, father, son, brother, godfather, and uncle. Seen a lot and done a lot all at the age of only 34. Life is good, no complaints.
We might need a good man when we go live on video! Keep tht TV Man handy..
Excellence is its own reward!
Awesome, Adrian. And the seaweed is good, too :-)
"Although my skill as a craftsman is spoken of in hushed tones across three continents"
Of course it is. You can't speak that way aloud without someone's mamma hunting you down with a bar of soap in hand.
Don't bogart the Ghost
Quittin' Time
Edited 10/8/2002 3:59:45 AM ET by Luka
What reason could a dashing young man have for logging in at three AM other than to brag?!?!
Did she share those cookies with you last night?.
Excellence is its own reward!
Wanted to be an engineer, had no $$$ for college, so applied where I could for full tuition scholarship. Got accepted at the US Merchant Marine Academy, became a marine engineer. Said I would sail for 2 years, then reevaluate, 11 years later and I can't believe how much money they pay me to do my job, it's too lucrative to quit.
Own some rental houses, I like building, been reading the magazine for about 6 years now. And I leave Sunday morning to fly to Japan to join the LNG Gemini for about 4 months, gotta pay the bills, you know.
Here's a photo of my ship. They say it takes balls to deliver LNG.
Wow! dat boat's got five (count 'em) big bosoms!.
Excellence is its own reward!
Wow Pifffin you were right , there are people on here from all walks of life ! I never considered it.
I was born in this trade work and have never left it. Its a family thing . Lost mother at an early age , and was raised by father on job sites. I used to ride what ever bus took me to his job site from school. He had me trained[ enough to draw carpenter scale ] by the time I graduated high school. College two years , but got married and constuction put a wife through four. Another wife , and constuction put her through four. I was named manager of my fathers lumber yard at 21 yrs of age. I later bought the business and ran it for two years, then sold it. I went into painting and drywall. Got tired of getting messy, and became a liscened builder . Got tired of dealing with customers and non billable hours. Started to sink every dollar , and hour into my retirement , rental property . I buy repos and put them back on the market and save some of the best deals for my rental fleet. I now am building only for my own stuff; rentals and specs. I did take a job as a super lasting for six months eariler this year, with the understanding my rentals came first . Im now getting my own home ready to sell. Im too old to leave this trade now . I come here because I miss the comradery of talking shop, and Ive learned alot even at my age being here . So, my statement to the building trade and every one here is that you are stuck with me ! Im just too old to find a new place to go.
Tim Mooney
I think the name just about says it all. I'm an aircraft mechanic, or what is also known as, a JAFM. ( just a f mechanic).
Been doing Bathrooms and kitchens, as well as any other one man jobs when ever I get laid off to pay the bills. What really got me going is working on a mansion in in my town for about 7 months straight.
Why am I here?? I thought I knew everything. Then I got married. 15 years ago. Keep learning new things every day. Like my dirty socks go in the hamper.(Gotta remember that)
Theodora.
DW always said that you either find a man who can do the job or marry a man who can afford to get it done.
I ain't rich so DW must have married me for my hands.
You forgot one very important career.
Keeper of the tag lines.
Jet, tell your wife no one ever pointed that out to me when I was younger!!
My Dad, a historian, always loved playing with house and construction plans when I was a little kid. He said that when he was in college, instead of doing his homework for math class, he spent time drawing elaborate construction plans for small college libraries. He spent hours drawing up plans for the house he was going to build when we kids were little, then later, the addition we did build on the house we bought. And I loved to sit by him and learn how to imagine and draw my own house plans. He and I both still love to do this together. But it's all theory, and imagination. But I loved making up a house plan and running in and showing him as a little girl, and he would explain things like wall thickness, and stairway rise and run, gravity, elevations, and suchlike.
When we put the addition on our house, I was eleven. It was the best fun. All those wonderful nurturing "construction dudes" around the house. I remember all those characters so clearly. I still have a little donkey one of the carpenters carved with the initials LBJ on the side. And the fellow who did the paint--I still remember how he helped each of us choose a color for our rooms, and then didn't just paint my room pink, but came up with a really wonderful complex pink, and talked about all the different kinds of pink. They were all so patient and wonderful with four little children underfoot, and they let us help!! We must have been real pains in the neck to those guys, but they were generous. No wonder I like everyone at Breaktime. I'm basically a cerebral person, but I love doing "real, hands-on" stuff, and think it is important to have a balance in life. I love reading and learning all this Breaktime stuff, and I've actually learned a ton about taking care of my house intelligently. I'll know a lot better about what to look for, when I reach a point in the future where I buy a house of my own.
Careers? In our family, it was assumed that all of us would grow up to be history professors. None of us did. Freshman year in high school, I worked after school at a local printing shop learning about off-set printing. I got canned after I pointed out that the month June didn't have thirty one days, after the run of calendars was ready to go to the customer. (They could have asked me earlier.) College, worked in the library in circulation and rare books, and taught Italian language lab. Summer, earned money for semester in Europe by sewing "gourmet" children's dresses for a local gift shop. Graduate school in art history. Paid to think. (Nice.) Burned out. Got married. Worked in flower shop. Designed and made wedding dresses. Taught art history for a few years. Took care of Mom for a year with lung cancer. There's a whole list of sub-careers in that experience. Settled her estate. Nurtured my Dad for several months to get him on his feet after Mom's death. Then five years care taking for my in-laws as they went through illness and death. Home-maker, devoted daughter, sister, aunt, person who coordinates extended family.Gardener. Now, full-time student in library school for masters. Soon will be on the job market. Very excited about a new career, and starting to get very nervous."I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets." --John Glenn
I grew up always wanting to build a log home out in the middle of the woods. I also wanted to do astronomy, fly on airplanes with telescopes inside to observe above the water vapor, and build instruemnts for big telescopes.
Well, I'm a research engineer at cornell and build instruments for telescopes, currently NASA's SOFIA (747 with a 2.5m telescope)! And hopefully we will be building a 15m telescope within the next 10 years or so...and instruments to boot!
Oh, about the house. Well, its not a log home, yet, but it is in the middle of 44 acres of woods on top of a hill out in the boonies. So it's nearly ideal. I have designed/built this home almost completely alone, with very little hands on experience (built the playhouse first last Spring as a test case....solid as a rock, so onward!!) From watching HGTV/PBS, mostly from reading, and from your guidance here, I have this 2800 sqft. gambrel roof house in the works. I will move in no later than thanksgiving eve...my wife and kids may not...LOL...but I will.
This house started off as the "workshop we'll live in for awhile" with a budget around $60K. Always thought I'd build the log home on the site for the house (built the "shop" elsewhere), whenever the money and the marriage allowed. Somewhere along the way those little "wouldn't it be nice if..." and "well, we might as well do it right" and the "well, if we're gonna live here for awhile..." comments came along...and now at around twice the budget, there's corian, tile, T&G pine, exposed architectural glu-lams, stainless applicances, islands, 4 bedrooms, balconies, 8 skylights, etc. Geesh...Hell of a workshop!
FHB is excellent...nothing like a ambitious DIY'er afraid of nothing (except working on a 19/12 pitch!) and great information to get him going. I thank you all for your help...and thank Taunton for FHB and all the books.
One of these days I'll post some pictures...
Edited 10/4/2002 11:15:52 AM ET by PIRGERBRUCE
Picking up from what Jet said, here is more.
A woman worries about the future until she gets ahusband.
A man never worries about the future until he getsa wife.
A successful man is one who makes more money thanhis wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
Played endlessly with Lincoln Logs as a kid. Does that count as experience? Sucked in to building when Mom and Dad had a house built. Loved crawling around the framing. Was designing houses at 12. Then building them scale outta balsa wood. Subscribed to FHB since its very early days. Also to New Shelter back when a friend of my brother's was an editor. Almost went to Roger Williams in RI for Architecture, but the money wasn't avail. Went elsewhere for computers and math. Worked 11 yrs for a Fortune 500 company with a lot of that time around Project Management and Construction Management (mega-scale gas/chemical facilities). Bought an historic house and spent 18 years doing a 2 year rehab, almost all working alone. Bored by the large scale of things at the big company. Quit to start own computer company in the earlier days of PC's (well, Macs). That was like the wild west compared to now. Developed software used for organizing/planning projects of all types, including movies at Warner Brothers, magazines at Family Circle, hops fields in WA, legal trials in MN Superior Court. Sold company to someone much bigger and finished out my employment contract. Spent 3 years designing and building my current thin-shell concrete dome house. Project seemed to resonate with a couple film crews and a book publisher (house is in a book coming out this week or next). Took time off to decide what to do next, when people started asking me to design their dome homes. Seemed like kismet, so I started it working first with an architect and then independently (but still ALWAYS work with a structural engineer experienced with thin-shells). Most fun I've ever had. Spend half the time dreaming up compound curved shapes and spaces, half the time in the nitty-gritty details of 3D renderings and const drawings, and half the time here and elsewhere researching methods and materials. The other half of the time I spend with my wife and daughter, both of whom I was lucky to find when I did, be/c prospects were looking pretty grim back then. What a difference a few years can make...
Grew up in the rural bit of NJ, Warren County, graduated HS, dropped out of college (couldn't stand the urban culture at Rutgers), worked hanging doors in a millwork shop, started a carpentry business, partnered with my old boss to build spec houses, came to work as an FHB editor in '96. One wife, two kids, one dog, four cats and 1952 Farmall. Years married: 14. Days since then spent living in a finished house: 2
Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
Hey neighbor!
Mike, I know your area well. I've got cousins in Green Township, and I think some of the prettiest country around is on the other side of the ridge from you in the Walpack valley. Flat Brook, Tillman's Ravine (good XC skiing when they close that road down in the winter), Buttermilk Falls and Van Campen's Glen put the lie to the question, "NJ? What exit?" At the turn of the last century, my family farmed around Millbrook. In fact, the house my father was born in is now part of the historic village there. I grew up a bit further south, in White Township, between Mountain Lake and Belvidere. Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
BS in Materials Science and Engineering.
Currently work for IBM in Vermont.
Studied woodworking in HS and college, really enjoy it.
I do a lot of DIY project around the house and lurk here for general information.
Welcome Troy,
Brief statements like yours is all I really expected from everyone but I guess I've touched a sweet spot here - everyone likes to talk about themselves. I guess I'll have to do the same soon since I started it all..
Excellence is its own reward!
Did you ever work in Oswego ?.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Couldn't have been me, I am not sure where Oswego is.
Oh, it's beautiful up here Andy-and Sussex county has some of the best bike riding roads around. My street ends at the ridge that starts Stokes Forest, and I go to the Walpack Inn all the time. I had an apartment in Hackettstown and some friends lived up here, then a girlfriend took me to the Walpack for my birthday, I've been in love with this area since.
My shop's on rt206 about a mile North of Newton town, stop in sometime.
Mike
Hey Mike, from your description, you must live right near by, maybe on my street?
I live on West Shore of Kittatinny Lake. Yea great area, especially this time of year.
I'm a block off little Crandon Lake. 521N, left onto Copeley, right onto Baldwin Gate, go around the lake......
You've probably seen my truck around.
Mike
spent nearly 34 years as a feather merchant
now retired and loving itbobl Volo Non Voleo Joe's cheat sheet
Out of H.S., worked as a logger, 6 years active Navy including 2 1/2 years Vietnam Spec. Ops.
Truck Driver/ Heavy Equip. operator, College, Construction Millwright, moved to wood products, Maintenance foreman, Maint. Superintendent.....plant closures, industry changing....became self-employed as builder (not a difficult move from construction and plant maintenance).
Built my own house, remodeled others.
Now build about one custom house per 3 years, with remodels and small jobs during and in between.
Love Wooden boats, single-shot firearms, reading, gardening, managing my tree farm, DW and 8 parrots.
Piffin....great idea starting this string!!!
Born in Chicago, where my grandfather was in the millwork business. My father worked for him, and they'd start a nail in a piece of scrap and have me drive it home. This is before I was four, when grandpa died.We moved to LA when I was seven and built the first owner/builder house when I was nine. I also learned machine shop work from my father. Airport expansion took that house, and we built another when I was 22. I did all the electrical on that one, my mother still lives there. BA and MA in mathematics from UCLA, and I drew #365 in the first Vietnam draft lottery. Tired of math, I switched to film school. Freelanced in low budget movies, everything from grip to Director of Photography credits on Kevin Costner's first two features. Roadied for an all girl big jazz band, managed a 30 unit apartment building on Venice Beach, did a lot of work on that one. Not having a known predictable income got old, so I got a staff job in post production at TriStar in 1985. From there I moved to Viacom Productions, and then with the merger to Paramount in 1994. Currently I'm Director of Technology for TV post production. My work on the creative problems of the HDTV transition got me an associate membership in the ASC in 1999. At TriStar I started messing with computers, and eventually I was writing assembly language for the 8088. I bought a four unit 1926 apartment building across the street from work at the end of 1998, married for the first time in July of 2000, and now we're in the process of turning the dump into a single family house. I'm using some of my grandfather's tools, including a pre-WWII Unisaw that he used to build cabinets for the Dumont company for some of the first prototype TV sets. Interesting how things tie together. And there are a lot more odds and ends that I'm not remembering right now....
-- J.S.
Messed with cars all through high school. Was generally a screw off in school. Graduated 85th out of 90. Went in the army out of high school, the #### kicking was good for me. Got out of the Army and went to work in a factory for a few weeks. Got a job as a maintenance man in a prison. Worked with inmates as their working supervisor. Did a number of positions there and then for the last 5 years (was there 13) in charge of the whole maintenance operation.
Went to work for an engineering firm. Trouble shooting design screw ups during construction and some project management. Learned a lot but not my kind of work, too desk oriented.
Went to work for a large hotel as the maintenance supervisor, later became the trainer of other maintenance supervisors. Flew around and provided training. Nice perks, good job, did it for 7 years.
Wanted more time with the family so applied for a teaching position at a local vocational school. Taught plumbing and electric for 3 years and carpentry for 1.
Decided to start my own deal 2 years ago. During all this I have bought and rehabbed property and rented it out. I also bought and fixed up houses for us to live in and tried to move up as time has gone on. I have a small machine and welding shop and used to fix up cars, paint them, rebuild them etc. My business is primarily a handyman service for the upper middle class.
I am fortunate to have a wife who works, carries the benefits and puts up with a workaholic husband that constantly likes to learn new things. She is a saint. Not much of a carpenter which is why I like reading this site so much. DanT
Have you ever crossed paths with a friend of mine, Pat Schellenberger?
> Have you ever crossed paths with a friend of mine, Pat Schellenberger?
No, where does he/she work?
-- J.S.
He's worked as a Grip; kind of worked in the backdoor, starting with low-budget X-rated, to advertising, to big screen. Was in the credits for "Joy Luck Club." I know him socially through his family, so don't see him often as he's on the go a lot. I don't know much about his professional doings because he spent several years renovating a house in San Francisco, so we usually talk about building. He and his family now live in the Seattle area. Quite a character!
I've eaten many a great teryaki steak at the Walpack, and man, their bread!!
I've trimmed and built decks on a bunch of houses in and around Hackettstown, and if you read the thread about my tablesaw accident, went to an orthopedic surgeon on Willow Grove Street. Half of my wife's family works at M&M, and we were married up 517 at the UMC in Tranquility. At least I think it's a UMC, we just rented the church. You should have seen the pastor come running out of the rectory when the bagpiper started up!
A mile out of Newton -- is that up by the car dealers where 94 splits off? I got my last speeding ticket not far from there. I remember when Newton stopped at the John Deere dealer on 94/206, and there was nothing but farms to the north.
I rarely pass through there any more, but if I do, I'll stop in. Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
Andy,
Mike's shop must be just north on 206, in a little strip mall, right near Fairclough oil. Go by it almost every day
Bill
That's me.
rutger's, huh? hehehe, friend of mine went there, oh, 1978? I remember, july 4th, '78 or 9 his fraternity and the one across the street had this "war", that was fun, these old victorian houses had a lot of balconies, you climb out on them and set up your little"garrison" with your fireworks, put the m-80 's in the tennis balls and swat them across the street, hehehehehe....... used to go fishing up in hackettstown, always stopped in at the schooleys mountain inn, the good ol days, sister used to live near belvidere, right on the delaware.....
me? born in Raliegh, NC ( Yeah, I'm a tar heel), raised in somerset county, nj, lived in arizona, new yawk, now in no.va. apprenticed in meat business, went from cutting meat to wood ( go ahead, bring on the wood butcher remarks). Piano, guitar, banjo player.Peace Pot Microdot
Ive been in belvidere. take the fam up to Worthington and Jenny jump. GREAT PLACE
DO YOU KNOW WHERE HAINSBURG IS I ALMOST BOUGHT THE HAINSBURG INN.
Rich, the Hainesburg Inn's a great looking money pit, er, old building. My last house in NJ was on Woodruff Way, just off Stark Road in Knowlton Twp., maybe three miles from the Inn. The General Store across 94 from the Inn was where I'd go when we ran out of milk.
Have you ever been to the Hainesburg viaduct? Down Station Road from the Inn? It was the largest concrete bridge ever built at the time. I've been down the manholes which lead through a crawlspace to some iron rungs and down onto the arches. Very cool, in a spider-infested, tresspassing sort of way.
I remember going on picnics at Jenny Jump with my parents when I was 3 or 4. My uncle was mayor of Hope, and if you break down on I-80, you'll likely be towed by my cousin, who owns Apple Towing. Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
Hey Andy, I used to go in the inn with my dad when I was about 5 or 6. We used to go camping up at Camp Taylor. I remember the Lady who I think owned it, Her name was Rosey. We used to go camping there almost every holiday in the summer. Money pit is right but what fun. Sombody did buy the building and turned it into a restaurant.
Boy, Camp Taylor. I used to take bike rides past there. I don't know the woman, but I've met her husband (?), whose name escapes me. He was old when I knew him. A well-known outdoorsman and a water witch. Good skill in that area -- my well was the shallowest in the neighborhood at 505 feet.
I've seen pictures of the area from the turn of the last century -- Not a tree in sight. There's also a George Innes painting of the Gap from the south.Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
I remember the owner of camp taylor showed us how to use a divining rod made out of awillow tree branch to find water. He took us kids on a hike one time rattle snake hunting. I think your cousin towed me out of worthington once, I had an old GMC with a slide in camper on it. I went to back out of one of the campsites and the spider gaer dropped out on me. Ended up sleeping on the ground for a few days while it got fixed.
Andy
"I've seen pictures of the area from the turn of the last century --"
You realize that was only 22 months ago.
Makes you feel old doesn't it? <G>
Great idea Piffin- let's see how much of this stuff ends up in stories??!!
born to a mom who couldn't cook (she's much better now) & a dad who couldn't change a light bulb (the ceiling fixture would fall out every time- we just kept him away from anything that needed "fixin"). Grew up on a horse/sheep farm in western Philadelphia, my aunt's farm in Hopewell, NJ, my grandmother's beach place in Beach Haven, NJ, an aunt & uncle's place in Puerto Rico & my other grandparent's organic cattle farm in the Casco Bay region of Maine.
Went to high school in Virginia. Summers I spent helping catering crews. College in Nashville, BS in Art History (not a typo), helped build outhouses & shop additions out in the country (no codes), worked as a cook, bartender, sound & lighting technician, stage hand for Vanderbilt Theatre & eventually the University set me up to cater all the guest performers (Musicians, Dance troupes, etc. I had lots of experience in Vegetarian cooking by then). My favorite tho was helping set up lighting for Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe & Dance Troupe of Harlem. Spent the summers (sometimes the winters too) following the Dead, saw some really incredible music (non-dead).
After college, went to work for a graphic design firm. Started as receptionist & ended up as Account Exec, Production Director, copywriter & asst business manager. Mostly print work, lots of set design stuff for photo layouts (high end shoes, luggage, etc). got married & divorced (13 months end to end), brother killed in car accident, got laid off (all in 6 months of eachother),went to work for a contractor as his "secretary" altho I handled all the bookkeeping, some supply orders, irrate vendors & put out a lot of client fires (such as, where the H*!l is our house), started my own business management company, did a lot of volunteer work for Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (I'm a frustrated artist- mostly textile- spinning, weaving, knitting, etc). Was hired as Art Director for a display firm, my "big" job was the interior desing & set up of a 3 room addition to the Grand Ol' Opry museum (setting up different displays, obtaining props from musicians, etc). Became a Master Gardener, did volunteer work with Serenity Hollow Farm ("ministers" to underpriviledged & handicapped children & adults, using animal & plant therapies- really cool program). Became financial/fundraising advisor for SHF & some small non-profits. Went to work for an old vendor, a small offset printing firm, handling books, layouts & some small design stuff.
Spent 3 intense weeks in '94 at The Shelter Institute, in Maine, learning the basics of timberframe home building. Remembered how much I love working with my hands. My then boyfriend (now husband) almost moved to Maine that summer & we were going to start a small business installing ceiling fans (he used to be an electrician, now is a phone man turned IT director) & building oar houses (company name: Fan-attic Oarhouses, sorry guys, but we still claim that name).
Came back to Banana town (Nashville is listed as BNA -Berry Nashville Airport- on airline tickets) & went back to work at the printing company part time- spent the other part working for landscapers, "finding" lost gardens in older estates, some historic.
David & I got married, bought an abandoned farm, lived in a tiny unfinished cabin (the one with the 5' snake) with his two kids & I got pregnant with the twins. We decided to build on the property & wanted timber frame- went to the timber framers/architectural designers with 1/8th scale drawings. We had originally wanted to do most of our own work (after the frame & SIP's were up) but since I was pregnant that wasnt' an option. Hired a local GC (not the one I used to work for) & we all worked together- David did all the electrical (including digging the 600' ditch for underground utilities), I handled the timberframers/SIP's (and got everything in writing, which is good as we're now hiring attorneys), appliances, tile, cabinets, and had a great time learning from some incredible people- our framing carpenter & finish carpenter were just wonderful people (altho the finish carpenter received the nickname of "the floor nazi", (Hi Phil if you're reading this) which seems to have stuck). Now my boy/girl twins, about to be 3, carry around Home Depot toy saws, drills, hammers, etc & pretend to build the house... I am full time mom (my most rewarding job), still garden & am riding again & do some writing on the side. I may end up homeschooling, especially since we like to travel.
I started reading FH back in 91 when I was cleaning out my brother's apartment. He'd had a subscription for about 4 or 5 years. I kept his back issues & resubscribed in my name. David & I now fight over the mag when it comes (luckily I get to the mail box first). Great mag for a homeowner - I've learned a lot and the basic design for our house was borrowed from a Houses issue, back in the early 90's. I spent days with an architect rule & that section of the mag (it's a converted barn in California, ours is not as large & more "squat", with different interior layout). Y'all (or as you say up north, you guys) are great & have been very helpful! Thanks
Have you ever heard of Penland? It is in Western NC in Mitchell County. We have weavers, glass artist etc. They come from all over the world to study here. I will see if I can find the website if you are interested. They have great classes I am told. Tamara
Hi- no I haven't, but there is a link in the TACA website to a NC craft group (possibly the guild) that is helping host Scottish arts, music & crafts & the visiting artists in the Blue Ridge Mountains- I'm dying to go.
I would be very interested in the website if you can find it- I've been meaning to take some classes around here, but currently my life is kid centered :) My best friend & her family are in Charlotte & we keep making promises to get together in the mountains, but something always comes up on either end. Thank goodness for email or we'd never keep in touch.
Thanks Tamara
-Vivi
Try this out http://www.penland.org Hope that you find something you like here. I think this will give you an idea of what they have. Good luck! By the way my husband works for a lot of these artist as far as building etc. They love that he has an eye for detail and gives great care in his work. Tamara
thanks Tamara- Looks like a really interesting place, beautiful. You may find me snooping around up there, especially if I can farm the twins out to my friend in Charlotte ;}
It's a catch-22 working for artists- very satisfying when they appreciate your work, incredibly frustrating when they cop an attitude! Cheers- V
no, I don't, but I may have drove by it a lot without knowing.listening for the secret.......searching for the sound...
The bread... no, THE bread. No more need be said. I almost never time the deer right though.
Yep, just after 94 splits off to the right, I'm about an 1/8th mile on the left.
Mike
Andy,
Small world, I live in Sandyston, not far from Millbrook village, as a matter of fact, a friend of mine is going to Millbrook this weekend for a festival. It is still a great place to live but a strange combination of too many cars and too many bears, had a big one in my basement last summer (bear not car).
Bill, our last house in NJ before moving up to CT was on the ridge just south of the Gap in Knowlton Township. The reason I finally put garage doors on was to keep the bears out of the garbage.
Ironically, our big Boy Scout trip this summer was canoeing from Port Jervis to the Gap. One camp was on the Jersey shore not far from Millbrook, and I hiked around early that morning. The Millbrook house was originally on a site overlooking the Delaware, and the NPS moved it in the 70's. If you've ever been at the lower parking lot at Van Campen's, there's an old road on the other side of Old Mine Road that leads back there. My father took me up there when I was 10 or so, and I'm sure I found the spot this summer. Dad died a bit more than a year ago, and I felt this strange connection walking those woods.
I know what you mean about cars and tourists. I like the area best mid-week or in the dead of winter. Get some crampons and walk down into Van Campen's in January for a real treat.Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
Andy,
Know it well, try to get down there near Van Campin to do some small mouth bass fishing.
Nice canoe trip that you took. Must have been strange to find the same place your dad had taken you to? I know the feeling, we always think they will last forever, but they don't.
Weekends in summer is getting a bit out of hand, weekdays are still nice. Penn has put in a series of boat launches along Rt 209. Nice for fishermen but has really ruined the quiet of the river. Everybody who watches fishing programs on ESPN is running around with these really way overpowered boats. My only hope is that a few more droughts will find them with large hull gashes and will reconsider and leave the river alone !!!!!
My Dad worked full time as a railroad signalman/foreman...and worked nites full time as a kitchen and bath remodeler. I started getting paid on a job site at age 8, pushing a broom......was setting cabs, roughing in wiring and plumbing, and mastering the art of drywall patching by the time I was 15....and still pushing the broom.
Went to college just because the parents said I was too smart to waste my time doing physical labor for a living..."Use your head, not your back"....
Dropped outta school. Poured concrete for 2 yrs. Went back to school, this time Flight School. Money ran out. Bartended. Moved to Texas. Bartended, then ran a telemarketing phone room for a carpet cleaner...did some carpet cleaning at the same time.
Moved back home, sold new cars for 2 yrs. Sold and designed security systems.
Got burned out on sales....as I was back with Dad helping out on a remodel......pretty much happy...even though I didn't have a "real job".....I decided the problem was I generally didn't work well with a boss!
Started thinking, what line of work could I do well enough, and like enough...that I could work towards being my own boss........realised it was doing what I kept falling back on.....remodeling!
Did some small jobs, turned down a big addition bacause I didn't have the experience...decided at that moment to go back to school..this time a trade school..and learn as much as I could...then work my way up.
Left school and was too busy to find an employer. Did that on my own for 5 yrs...finally found a good time to become an employee....was planning on doing that for about 3-4 yrs...but was laid off about a year later...and have been busily subing and remodeling since.
Life is mostly good....and that's what I'm doing...for now!
Jeff.......Sometimes on the toll road of life.....a handful of change is good.......
I was raised in dairy farm country in WNY so one of my first jobs was shoveling gutters.
During summers, I worked as a camp counselor assistant at summer camps in the area. One was mostly a girls riding academie so I got to shovel a lot of bull.
he he he
The aptitude tests in school combined with my grades in certain subjects indicated that I'd make a pretty good engineer. The world is still suffering from that loss.
When I worked weekends on the dairy farm and summers at the camps, I always got opportunities to do a little carpentry, roofing, and painting - occasionally with someone who knew what they werre doing. I found that I liked it.
___Woodstock happened______ and I shoveled off down the road...
After a few years here and there, I found myself getting healthy again and making pretty good dough as a roofer. I started planning how to escape that addiction early on and kept expanding my skills wherever I could.
I went to a Bible college for awhile which is when my first wife shoveled me some _____ and then I started picking up the pieces of my life.
After being primarily self employed for twenty years, I was getting burned out and moved east again with my current better half where I went to work with a residential building company, hoping that it would be less stressfull. They gave me a shovel...
It really wasn't bad working for them but they went belly up. I started back on my own in '91 when the economy was in the hole but never regretted it. I've added design to the card in the last few years.
Along the way, as I was looking for greater sense of meaning in life, I looked at teaching, medical, and police work and have done a little of each.
I've got lots of interests so I really appreciate everyone who has taken time to introduce themselves here. I'm always suprised when someone enters a discussion announcing that they are an expert in the field, like the time that we were talking asteroids hitting earth and an astronomer chimed in with fine information. It's good to know who the audience is too when we talk. Broad backgrounds increase our understanding of our own skills. There are plenty of medical inventions because a doctor somewhere had a background or hobby in woodworking or plumbing etc.
And that is what I like about this site. Broad base of information to share. Plenty of people here to keep it interesting.
Howdy!
.
Excellence is its own reward!
Where are you now, are you near worthington state forrest love it there!!!!!!
I live in Connecticut now, but spent many a happy hour in Worthington. Among other times, it's where I'd go when I was supposed to be in school. A young man's got to have his priorities straight.
Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
Edited 10/7/2002 3:58:07 PM ET by ANDYENGEL
GREAT PLACE TO DO THAT. HAVE YOU BEEN TO HAINSBURG?
This guys priorities are about where mine are!! Anyone goin to Hooters tonight?? I'll buy first round
Does Hooters have a message board?Alimony, n.: Disinterest, compounded annually.
YES I THINK IT'S (.)(.) AAAHHHH!!!! IM A DIRTY OLD MAN :)
Not only that, yer a LOUD dirty old man.
: )
Hit that caps lock button. please.Don't bogart the Ghost
Quittin' Time
Is this better (.)(.) sorry
Born, kicked around as a kid, cub scouts, boy scouts ( Eagle!),took pre-med in high school ( fell in love with the field ) started applying to med schools, Dad said not enough $, my dreams started dying, folks wanted me to be a minister, went to private college decided it was not for me, graduated w/ BS degree 10 years later.During all this time building paid the bills. Worked for Carolina Tree Service for 5 years while building. traveled around to France, Alaska, Iceland, Africa, England, some former Soviet Countries,Most of North America, all building! I like what I do and am now pretty good at it. The early years were another story! Especially enjoy cabnetry. Just built our 5 bedroom 4 bath house in Indiana. Should be in by Nov. at the latest.four kids, one wife, one girlfriend ( same person) one border collie( smartest dog you ever saw!!) Ride motorcycles for the pure freedom they offer. Some of the come and go jobs inbetween all this were: light bulb salesman, lifeguard,watersafety instructor, lumberyard sales associate, public speaker, Instructor for journeymen certification ( 4 year program),Amway...I know...I know! Published artist, aspiring writer,very avid reader, horrible speller! :-) Still secretly dream of being a Doctor...Well I'm done rambling! Who's next?
Miami
Structural Engineer, used to design bridges, used to inspect the big bridges, moved on to tunnels. I'm here mainly for my 100-year old house though....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Well, here's my story: I grew up on a farm in Indiana, started early doing chores and such. In High school I worked on my uncle's farm after school and summers. Started doing woodworking when I was about 12. Went to college, pre-vet, then switched to animal science. Worked doing landscape maint., light construction, and odd jobs for a guy in town while in college. Last two summers and breaks of college worked for a builder back home. Landed my first room addition two months before I graduated. Got my B.S. and went out into the real world. Now I'm specializing in interior trim and custom woodworking, with the occasional custom home. This board attracted me because of the personalities and the information. Knowledge is power.
Mitch
High school ungraduate (not drop out) '62, store clerk, jr. college student, University grad (UBC '71) Norton Commando owner on European tour '72, Married (South African in Israel - met in Rome)'72, taxi owner/operator Vancouver to '75, clothing dye mixer (experimental batchs) Israel '76, store clerk Johannesburg South Africa, automotive battery department manager, moved back to Vancouver '85, became foster parents, taxi owner/operator again, sold out '95, computer sales/tech support '96, course taker in property management, auto garage flunkey '98, private school security wonk to 2000. Decided in 2000 - against my friend's advice, to get into handyman business. He said I was too old and slow, and I didn't know enough.
Business is getting better. I'm slower than a 23 year old, but I don't drink beer and my kids are great fun. Plan to work and help people with their houses for 6 years after I die.
At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
Good foy you, there is such a need for handymen,at least here in NJ. MY HM Service is booming.
OK, I'll bite. I am a wildland fire-fighter that has specialized in prescribed burning for the last 22 or so years. The wife and I watched HGTV one fine evening and said "That doesnt look so hard." The rest is history!! It wasnt long after that we discovered FHB and then the world of carpentry tools! Tools to me have always meant drip-torches, pulaskis and chain saws! Now we have built two buildings just to house tools!! Built a cabin, now working on a post and beam sauna with cordwood infill. My hat goes off to the professionals, thanks for all the posts with good advice.
There was a great thread about two months back called "chain saws" if you wanted to search for it.
Excellence is its own reward!
Grew up on a farm - A typical jack of all trades/master of none.
Spent 4 years in the Army in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Germany. (hated it)
Got offerred a job working in a truss plant becuse the plant manager knew I could plow and plant straight. (No joke - Straight corn rows are the sign of a master farmer around here) Didn't take long to graduate from the plant to the office.
Been almost exclusively in the truss business since 1984. Worked a brief stint with a GC before he went belly up. (Major setback)
Have also had a lot of side jobs interspersed in over the years - Ranging from farm labor to working at a Builder's Square, working with hogs, and rehabbing houses. Lotsa free labor for non-profit organizations too.
I hang around here because I'm fascinated by the building industry in general. I like talking about trusses, framing, and a lot of other stuff. Can't imagine how much I've learned here.
BTW - I can STILL plant straight corn rows..........................(-:
When I first looked in your eyes, I saw something I liked.Then I realized it was my reflection.
I would take the ability to plant straight rows a sign that you can focus on what is important, and continue to maintain that focus no matter how boring it might be. That signals internal self discipline.
Can't think of many careers that doesn't apply to.
Too bad we don't have as many family farms anymore. They were once the backbone of our country.
Sorry for the interruption.
Go on now y'all..
Excellence is its own reward!
"I would take the ability to plant straight rows a sign that you can focus on what is important, and continue to maintain that focus no matter how boring it might be. "
I suppose that's what he thought. The truth is more like I planted 'em straight so Dad didn't yell at me....................(-:
Avoid suspicion: when your're walking through your neighbor's melon patch, don't tie your shoe. (Chinese proverb)
Always had 2 jobs. I flip flop to whichever one seems busiest. Have worked for a steel fabricator/bridge fabricator since high school. Started in the shop to office to both now. I have welded, fit, operated heavy machinery, loaded trucks, driven trucks(still do), purchasing, steel erection, etc. I also have operated this remodeling/repair business for 20 yrs. I have a good group of repeat customers and I am busy all the time. I've lived in Maine all my life and consider myself lucky to make a living doing the things I enjoy most.
Dana
Salmon Falls Housewrights
I'll bite
Grew up in Western CO. Dad was a timberer in Coal Mines, he could make joints in 12" timbers with an ax you couldn't slip a cigarette paper in. He was also a part time sheep/calttle fruit rencher. Graduated HS in 54 one year ahead of most, went to CU as an Aero Engineer, worked and partied to much, joined the AF to avoid the Army. Was a ground radio tech in Korea, Japan and P. I. AF recognized my all around brilliance and sent me back to college, CSU, found a wife and two kids there. ME degree and became and Aircraft Maint Officer, (you used to get an A&E ticket out of that course). Tours in Vietnam, P. I. and Korea again. Then back to college for a MBA. AF now called me a civil engineer and sent me to another school for that. Ran a RED HORSE det. in Okinawa, then a time and materials contract at WPAFB (Hughes Bechtel) retired and worked in Denver for 21 years as a mechanical engineering consultant. Almost really retired and hang out here to learn how badly my house is built.
If we tell all now - what kind of B.S. will we have left to sling at the Fests?
Like some others I got to this point in my life in a round about fashion. As far back as I can remember there has always been wood to nail together or something to take apart and maybe put back together. Poppy (grandfather) was a carpenter and when I visited NY I would walk to the el (that's the subway before it goes underground) with him every morning. He always carried one or two wooden tool suitcases. I have one now and a brother has the other. I never could carry that one box fully loaded with the ease my grandfather could carry two. Wood was really plentiful in our house and we kids built everything from 6 foot long rubber band guns to tree houses to midget racers. Dad would bring home the scrap from the box shop at American Brass - the off cuts from beautiful ponderosa pine used to make pallets and crates and long boxes for metal products. You’d be amazed at what was called "scrap".
We remodeled, top to bottom, our two story home in New Haven. Year after year, there was always something new to do. Finished basement, five car garage, driveway, fences, full stairway to the attic to replace the scuttle, built-in bookcases flanking the stone fireplace, storm windows to repair or rebuild, front porch enclosed, cabinets, paneling, horsehair plaster, wood floor sanding and finishing, plumbing, electrical, etc. They still had wood and metal work shop classes in high school, too.
And then I graduated from high school (1963) and enlisted in the Air Force. Best move I ever made. (Until the next best move). Found some time for my military job but came away after almost five years with a bunch of new skills and interests. Taught SCUBA diving at the world’s largest military diving club, Water Safety Instructor, lifeguard, center forward on the base soccer team and earned a pilots license. Construction? Nah.
Went to college, had to work, too. Before moving permanently to Florida worked for a construction company (some very nice custom homes), a landscape company (loved that bobcat) a printer and bindery and in the same box shop where we got all that nice ponderosa pine when we were kids. And in Florida, still going to college, worked in a print shop, a plant that made disposable syringes, and taught SCUBA diving as a college credit course. And paid for part of my rent by remodeling my landlord’s apartment. And bartending once in a while
Then I graduated from college - twice - with a BS in Aviation Management and an AS in Law Enforcement. Always wanted to be a cop and then I was one, but I was also the Security Manager of a large regional mall and then at a major department store which led to a promotion to Assistant Director of Loss Prevention and Safety for the entire Florida chain. And I still taught SCUBA diving for a small shop and was a member of two diving clubs. But, time marches on, and the chain was sold and everybody was looking for work so my bother and I ended up working together in Tampa swinging hammers and making lots of sawdust, humping concrete block and trimming out mansions and some hovels, too. I was having fun. Still diving but retired from teaching. Oh, and I got married at the end of my last semester in college. Have I told you about my granddaughter lately?
Then a very good friend said I should come to work for him. And I said I don’t know anything about electronics or computers. And he said "So What?" So I left Tampa, took a little test and ended up working for Burroughs Corp as a field engineer. They sent me to school and I learned all about "puters". It wasn’t too hard and I got to travel, installing and maintaining computer systems for the Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, FBI, some police forces and the City of Jacksonville. That was a good six year gig and I was still swinging a hammer once in a while and spending the money at the Navy Flying Club and the Civil Air Patrol.
Bummer! Layoff! Bunches of us, including my boss. That’s what happens when your billion dollar company buys another billion dollar company for big bucks, the stock devalues to just over 2 bucks and right on top of that the contracts start drying up.
Well, guess who had a whole bunch of tools and a van? That was back more 11 years ago and many a late night and long weekend and now one of my favorite sayings is that in this company I will be the last to be let go. My name’s on the van and the letterhead and Uncle Sam knows who to come to with his hand out every year. Additions, renovations, remodeling, commercial tenant buildouts. In between the income producing work I’ve been remodeling our current home for about 20 years. Would you believe it’s not done yet? Just one of the thousands of General Contractors that call Florida home.
When were you on Oki? I was there 71-75 in Army. Spent reversion time there for riots and double digit increase in rice prices. If you were there then, and remember the infamous "Condition Green" restrictions on off base travel, and cursed the guy that wrote them - I'm the one. I remember the Red Horse signs on Kadena.
DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!
Jan- Sep 74. I took the detachment there from U-Tapao Thailand. First thing we did was build the biggest hill on Kadena by buying up all the coral sand fill we could get, over half million yards!
Yep, we overlapped. I cannot recall a big hill being built on Kadena. Unless it was part of the expansion of the AF ammo depot to absorb the Navy out of Naha. I watched the new hangers for the Navy being built and the ammo depot. That all started in 74 and went into 75. WAs near completion in summer of 75 when they sent me back to the states. Caught me squatting on the floor in my living room in my stocking feet, wearing a kimono and eating rice from a bowl w/ chopsticks. Told me I'd been there too long and it was time to get back to the land of round doorknobs. Privately, they told me they were afraid I'd run for Governor of the Ryukyu Islands and win.
All my AF cronies were from the Boy Scouts.
DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!
I was kidding. We bought all that fill and piled in near the N gate, close to the skeet range. Used it all over Kadena. All of the construction withe the transfer of the Navy and the Nips getting ready for the 75 Expo got the brass all worried we wouldn't be able to get it otherwise. It was a pretty impressive pile, over a 150 ft high and half mile long. We borrowed a D6 from the Army and I got my dozer lessons pushing coral up that hill. (Our 2 TD24C's were enroute from UTapao. One arrived missing the turbo.
The brass also got worried about concrete. Bought a 100,000 bags, stored it in a controlled climate warehouse, then some supply puke decided to shift it to OPEN STORAGE. By the time we got around to uisng it, guess what the humidity had done.
I'm just starting to write my history. Graduated from college in 2000 with a degree in Communications and a minor in BA. Worked summers during school at the steel mill where my Dad worked, he's since retired. Moved to the Outer Banks of NC for about 8 months, worked at a surf shop and surfed( about as well as a kid from Western PA can) and fished every day. Decided to come back home and get a real job. Started renovating an 1840's apartment owned by my brother and got a job with a telecomms co. Two years later and I'm still at the same job and I'm finishing up the apartment. Just have to finish running trim and all the other little stuff, it's a good thing I'm the one moving in! Hate the job but they give me over 4 weeks paid vacation and there's no dress code. I feel like I rot a little faster sitting in this office all day. And I spend more time reading stuff on here than working. But don't tell! Ain't sticking around much longer though! When I'm not at work or the apartment, I'm casting flies or chasing whitetails. In forty years I'd like to say I was a carpenter, history teacher, farmer and fishing guide. I guess I just have to decide which one to start on first.
“One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast, a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for natural land and the west; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still there. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizzly, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breath deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound men with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards”
-Edward Abbey
Wow, 223 posts! Have I been away that long? How did this huge thing slip by
me? I just read the beginning of it and the end of it and copied the rest of
it to my PowerBook to read while I'm out having coffee tomorrow morning.
I began my career as a "carpenter" by going to SUNY Purchase for
Theatre Design & Technology where I studied Scene Design, Scene Painting
and Lighting (and oh yeah stage carpentry). Two of the people I actually went
to school with have won Tony Awards and on virtually any given night I watch
TV I will see someone I know either from school or my theatre days (my twenties
and early thirties). When I go to the movies I always stay in the theatre while
the credits roll just to see who there might be that I once used to work or
hang out with. That can even sometimes make seeing a bad movie worth the effort.
I moved on from designing and building scenery for the theatre to designing
and building scenery for themed environment restaurants and night clubs (Great
American Cafe) and then trade shows. I still do that here and there nowadays
and hope to do more of it again in the future too. I've also done scenery for
the home too for some ecentric clients too (Hewlett
Harbor-Interior Koi Pond & Tropical Environment)
It wasn't really until four or five years ago that I really started getting
more and more into architectural woodwork and now stairs and railing and now
it seems that regionally everyone knows me now as a "stair guy" and
now no one even knows or thinks that I can paint
and draw. C'est la vie I guess. I need to market better I guess.
PS- Also had a ski and bike shop for a while in there too. Weird huh?
View Image
“Systemize the Routine; Humanize the Exception”-
from Customer Culture: How FedEx and Other Great
Companies Put the Customer First Every Day
by Michael D. Basch
Edited 10/18/2002 10:11:43 PM ET by Jerrald Hayes
Hi there Jerrald Michelangelo Hayes! It looks likeyou picked up some computer and communications skills somewhere along the way too!.
Excellence is its own reward!
Thanks Piffen when I find myself at weddings or at parties answering the question "so what do you do for a living..." or "what kind of line of work are you in..." I usually answer saying "well I build stuff". After reading one of Tom Peters' books years ago I co-opted the phrase "We Build Neat Stuff" from him and made it one of the company slogan/tag lines. Looking at that phrase now maybe even the word "build" is limiting and confining? I don't know. Geez, 45 years old and I'm still trying to get some direction in life. Really no joke! I'm still not sure I've figured out what I want to be when I grow up.
View Image
“Systemize the Routine; Humanize the Exception”-
from Customer Culture: How FedEx and Other Great
Companies Put the Customer First Every Day
by Michael D. Basch
Jerrald
Where'd you say you were from exactly? Hewlett HArbor use to be my ol' stomping grounds as a kid. Pretty ritzey area. I was from the other side of the tracks so it was fun for me to hang with those people in Hewlett. They were like me only with wealthy parents so you can imagine the times we spent. Don't even ask. ...half those kids are dead now.
Also, My first real carpentry work came from working at the Woodstock Reprotory Theater up in Woodstock New York where I lived for a bit in my teens. I was taught to build stage props and sets. I loved it.
Also, I had designed (and tried to start a biz out of it) sort of moving sets I sold for basements etc etc and businesses. Some of em' were pretty intense. I called the company " Living Wallscapes". All of them (all 6 I built...lol) were living in some fashion. One with a waterfalls over real rocks (feather rock) and plants. One was a jungle with living reptiles in it.....etc etc. I made good money from them. They were KD's as well on wheels so they were transportable. I got invoved in building a house for myself atthe time and Living Wallscapes seemed to have just escaped me but I still think about doing it again one day. Wish I had photos. they were pretty intense. I originally got the idea when I went to the Bronx Zoo and went into the tropical bird house.
Anyway.....Be well
Namaste'
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Andy I'm just around the corner from you (that corner being NYC) in Katonah
NY up in northern Westchester county. I grew up just ten miles south of here
in Chappaqua not far from where Clinton now lives. My neighbors up here are
people like Ralph Lauren, George Soros, and now Martha Stewart but like you
I have always lived on just the other side of the tracks. Maybe that's
a good thing.
You might recall when you were talking about moving to another area of the
country I hinted at you moving to Westchester or Fairfield county figuring given
your creative artistic bent we might have been able to collaborate on something
pretty kool.
View Image
“Systemize the Routine; Humanize the Exception”-
from Customer Culture: How FedEx and Other Great
Companies Put the Customer First Every Day
by Michael D. Basch
Jerrald
Well I ended up with one of the coolest projects so far for me so I hope I did right.
Maybe we might hook up sometime. You ski? I suck at it but I try anyway....just love being on the mtns in the winter..I go up past Rochester County to get to Hunter...Use to go to New Rochelle to my aunts house all the time before she passed on.
Be well
Namaste'
andyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Andy I think you have probaly done just fine.
However, I think you meant to say that when you go to Hunter you drive through "Westchester" county not "Rochester". If you did mean "Rochester" you've gone three quarters of the state out of the way and must have been using and older version of MapQuest! It used to be that anyone coming to my house from the north using MapQuest would drive an exit further south than they needed to on I 684 and then have to loop around through town to comeback up to where I lived adding about two mile to the trip and several more intersections and turns when I realy only about 100 yeards off the highway. I belive they have since fixed that issue up.
Yeah we should go hit Hunter together.While I used to race (sometimes even at Hunter) in the past I'm fat and outta shape nowadays so there's probaly wouldn't be any disparity there. Besides do you have the newer shaped skis? They make experts out of everybody. I can't believe how much that "technology" changed skiing. When I see people still using the older traditional style skis I always think that's sort of like using a 286 computer with a 19.9 baud modem. Ya know I've actually even got a snowboard and I really really suc.k and look stupid at that so I could always use that too. I just know people are laughing their heads off behind my back looking at this big fat old man trying to learn to snowboard.
Ya know it also used to be back when my brother and I had that ski shop that for the heck of it we use to ski the hillside from our house down to 684 just so we could get a hundred yards or so of "good steep" as we used to call it. That short run averaged least 40 degrees and on one top section is around 50. And the walk back up was an incredible workout! Maybe I should start doing that again to get back in shape?
View Image
“Systemize the Routine; Humanize the Exception”-
from Customer Culture: How FedEx and Other Great
Companies Put the Customer First Every Day
by Michael D. Basch
you asked so you shall receive...
i guess this is like an introduction, since i have been lurking for some time (pre-prospero times actually)..
im a 26 yo guy that grew up in the sf bay area, and here is where i still remain. always had an interest in building stuff with my hands (dad has an auto shop, and plenty of tools to learn on). parents encouraged (well pushed... dad always said that he wanted me to be able to pay someone like him to work on my cars) to go to college and make something of myself.. about 3 years out of college (it only took me 6 and 1/2 years, but i had fun.... i went to Chico State if you ever heard of the place... just made Playboy's #2 party school in the nation list... dont know if i should brag, or bury my head). anyhow, i graduated from college as a computer guy and got my self a job with a company started by Mr. H. and Mr. P. i have always said that if i wasn't a computer guy, i would either be a cowboy or a carpenter... i guess i have always had a respect for hard working folks.... (i think i got that from my dad who is self employed and works way too many hours... just like many of you)
growing up, i was always into sports... by now at my ripe old age (of about a 1/4 century) i have really found an interest in how my house works, how it was built, and how i can improve it... i have been lurking here for a few months just reading all the great posts that everyone comes up with. i dont have much to offer, but the knowlege i gain here is amazing. since i sit in front of a computer most of the day, i dont have the oppurtunity to go out in the field and learn the skills spoken about here (my only chance is tinkering around at the house). i have picked up a few books and thumbed through them to get a better idea of how to do a lot of things (basic carpentry, electrical, sheetrock, tile..... the typical stuff that a guy around the house might want to know). by no means will i be doing any of the things i read about professionally, but i love to learn, but i would like to have a basic understanding of what it takes to work on a home.
my girlfriend and i bought a house about 4 months back here in the sf bay area... a fixer upper 3/2 that we paid waaaaaayyyy to much for...(probably give most of you a coronary if you know how much we got suckered in for, but we are here in they bay, and what can you do... i would probably get a nice acereage and a shop if i was in the parts that most of you are from)
anyhow... i really enjoy all the great posts from you guys.... piffin, mongo, pro-deck, boss hog... i already have an endless list of top notch posters eventhough i have only been around for a few months...
so thats me... i like to think of myself of a well rounded computer guy that has an interest in many things... whether it be baseball, fishin (got myself a nice little ranger) or working around the house, i want to be that guy that some knowlege of a lot of things...
hopefully, with the new house, i will get around to trying out a concrete countertop with the advice that mongo passed on to me several months ago....
it was long winded, probably more than any of you care to know about me, but i wanted to introduce myself to the board, and let you know a little about myself. and not that it matters, but my screen name, is actually my first name... figure that one out...
thanks all..
I am in the construction/building maintenance field, but feel I have one of the more unique carriers (does that count?). I’ve worked as a Maintenance Repair Worker II at a state psychiatric hospital for the past 18 years. 10 years of const labor before that. We work on everything from foundations to fennels, from aquarium pumps to X-ray equipment. Our site has 7 buildings (300 bed cap.) on 65 acres, next to a National Park. The deer, turkey, coyote, and other wild life abound. And for excitement; you say you work with a bunch of crazy people... have you ever tried to work with a bunch of state employees... have you ever had to bolt a bed to the floor while a guy is in 4 point restraints, in the bed? But the repairs, remodels, and new construction are the best.
I forgot who I was at.
I am a wart on the hiney of society.
And a much beloved internet comedian and author.Cut me some slack here
Quittin' Time
I have a very diverse career.
Finish carpenter, foreman, framing carp, excavator, mason, electrician, plumber, demolition, drywall hanger and finisher, flooring installer, stair builder, baby sitter, estimator, garbage man, floor sweeper, recycler, mechanic, tool repairer, architect, engineer, family counselor, weight lifter, acrobat, contortionist, psychic, politician, arbitrator, mediator, hostage negotiator, delivery boy, answering service, cook, dishwasher, bottle cleaner, dog trainer and magician.
There are probably a couple dozen others I have forgot but my mind is not what it once was. Probably from st-st-st-stresssss.
Nah quit your whining!
Mr T
did i mention under paid ?
Do not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
I've been lurking for a long time and mouth off once in a while. Born and raised an Ohio hills farmer, colige ejycated, Mech. Eng. 20+ yrs. in a power plant, most weekends spent on the family farm with parents and 3 brothers, lots of pole barn and farm shed building experience, lots of neighbor projects on the farm, its a small valley with close ties between neighbors. I do a little woodworking in my dwindling spare time, shelves, tables, etc. , still a lot to learn about a lot of things but I'm still young. <g>
Lefty - Lurker without an attitude or a clue
Born in Manhatten NY...Moved to Brooklyn, NY and at 5 moved to Queens NY (spose that makes me a city boy with a country heart) Then off to Long Island (UGH) NY at 14...
Quit high school in April of my senior year as a statement of what I thought of the public school system back then (late sixties). Went up to the town (prior to quitting high school) of Woodstock NY which was a small town that was composed of lots of artists and musicians, craftsman etc etc. I was 16 at that time. I started doing landscaping for locals....mostly clean ups. I worked for Sara and her husband Bob Zimmerman (aka Dylan) for a cpl of months up on Byrdcliff Mtn...and she turned me onto Bruce Dorfman who ran the art students league .....I did some minor handyman carpentry kind of things on their building .....he turned me onto the head carpenter of The Woodstock Repratory Theater whom I worked under, building stage props (the start of my career in carpentry) .....being under age I was finally arrested as a wayward minor (can you imagine doing all this "work" and they called me wayward?) and thrown in jail for several months.....I'll skip way ahead here....After I was done with the courts,myself and a small group of others started a school in the suburbs of L.I N.Y. Fashioned after Summerhill in England (an alternative learning theory) A free school. We became accredited by the state of NY and ran it for over 12 years. Kids from 4-18 attended all helping each other. We still have reunions by the way and theyre ALL doing fantastic. I had to suppliment my income as the school didnt pay us real well.....so I worked as a gopher for a local tin man outfit where I learned alot about suppliers and subs. Eventually I was passed around to all the subs that needed help...I moved to the foothills in Nelson County Virginia up top a mtn to help an old woman (I met years prior) survive her last winter...no electric or plumbing..she churned her own butter, had one milk cow and grew all her own vegtables..I worked for her sons in Charlottesville for a while and became aquainted with back hills people that couldnt read or write but were some of the most brilliant folks I ever met..Moved back to NY (my home it seem).
Eventually got married to a commercial artist (water colors) (now a real estate broker)...two kids...one graduated Tufts a few years ago and ones in the 7th grade and is studing drama all she can. Eventually I built my first house for my family and sold it for great money. I built several other spec houses between my contracting jobs. Built my last one (best to date) which is in my website below. Sold IT for "REALLY GREAT" money and now off in November for probably the most interesting job I've ever done.....A seriously neglected 322 year old very RED colonial house....OK Done.....NEXT UP!
Be well
Namaste
Andy
It's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Edited 10/4/2002 8:01:05 AM ET by Andy Clifford(Andybuildz)
GOOD ONE Mr. T, SOUNDS LIKE YOU GOT A FAMILY.
I'll skip a LOT of stuff to prevent boredom.
Grew up in northern Minn, son of a jazz musician who quit the road to teach school when I was born. He was not a much of handyman, but he was pretty smart, and loved books.
Went to college to be a wildlife scientist, worked a few seasonal jobs for Minn. DNR, ended up back in college to get communications classes because I realized wildlife management was more about people than wildlife.
Got a job with the SD Game and Fish Dept. as a public information officer, writing and taking photos. A few years ago, moved to KS following my wife's new job, and got another staff writer job.
So I've been a staff writer for the last ~30 years, with a little freelancing on the side.
Started reading FHB while renovating my first little house, purchased at age 40, on the recommendation of a friend. Started coming here by accident ~5 years ago, lurked a lot--posted a little.
Am in the middle of renovating the 1971 spec. house I live in..... Always amazed at how much I learn from FHB and Breaktime.
Thanks to you all,
Ken
-
"Casual golf and tournament golf are as different as ice hockey and tennis." -- Ben Hogan
Trying to draw out the lurkers, Piffin? I'm a perpetual lurker (nearly two years) and one of the legions of dreaded DIYers. Former career in optical, currently managing a restaurant.
DH has been singlehandedly building our house for the last year (almost there!), and this board and the magazine have been excellent resources, as well as a daily addiction...
...get an up-north attitude...
Some of you know I'm an insurance agent. I farm a little - my rows are straight, too, Ron, but I did them that way over 20 years ago. Pecan trees tend to stay where you put them. I've got rental property and farm buildings that I maintain myself and the farm equipment, too.
Worked my way through Berry College in the beautiful North Georgia
mountains, milking at the school dairy. No livestock now - the farm is about an hour from my home so I couldn't check them daily.
I really enjoy wood and construction. I'm just breaking ground for a 24 x 32 shop. I've learned a lot from this board and post occasionally. And I got an Email once from L.M., so I guess I'm in the club !
Regards to all.
Greg.
ROTFLMAO
"I got an Email once from L.M., so I guess I'm in the club ! "
The true inner circle!.
Excellence is its own reward!
Dont wanna interupt here but LM isnt who I think it is, is it? Heh heh,,,Brian may not have been clued in.... ^ ^
(-)
anonomousIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
B.S. in Clothing and Costuming, worked as a costumer, then in purchasing/production management in the clothing industry in the San Francisco bay area. Used the same skills as Operations Manager for a computer software developer in the early days of the industry (1983-1987). Then went into business with my mom, opening a Mail Boxes Etc. store 15 years ago. We still own and operate it, but happily left the franchise five years ago.
I'm a craftsperson at heart, and hope to work as one when we sell the store and the kids are a little older. My craft used to be costuming. Then in 1983 we bought our first house, a fixer at the beach, and my craft changed to house fixer-upping. My grandfather taught me painting skills (he was a cabinet maker and painter), I had some basic shop skills from woodshop in school, my mom taught me to tile and wallpaper, and I'm still learning the rest. We're now on house #4 and we plan to stay here, which is good because it's probably a 20 year project.
I like FHB because it focuses on doing things well. Here I learn how things should be done. Then I can decide if I'm qualified or able to learn how to do something, or if it's a job for a professional. You people are smart and funny and there is always something to learn here besides Fine Homebuilding, so I use this as my "water cooler" break when I'm working at home as well.
Interesting that many of us seem to dabble in writing. I write articles now and then for fun, have had one article published in a magazine, and have been working on a book for a couple of years. I don't know if that will ever come to anything but I enjoy the process; it's yet another kind of craft.
"A completed home is a listed home."
summer after highschool started as a grunt on a framing crew, went to college '83, each summer would work as a labor grunt framing houses typically would work for 3-4 crews over the summer, could always find someone offering more money- so what if I left I never thought of it as a career move. Graduated BS in Zoology got a temp job w/ WY Game and Fish, I fished for a living it was great, made more money as a framing grunt, newly married, new kid no money not good. Went back to framming (above a grunt but not really a framer i.e. I could read both ends of the tape, make a mark and know which side side to cut on - wahoo) did that for almost the next 9 months first time I had framed in the winter - a cold CO winter nails from pouch freezering to fingers cold winter - decided to go back to school. MS in Biology, and real job w/ the CDC in Atlanta - loved the job 8 years - hated Atlanta my God there are a lot of people there and they just keep coming. I now run a Antibody Lab for a university out west. My craftsman bungolow built by Fine Home Building inspiring builders back in 1090, however I think many of the previous owners were inspired by trailer houses R us. My FHB interest is all do to wanting a nice house.
Ok guys,
Diverse careers. Oh boy right up my alley.
A son of Marine Corp officer (WWII) and later CIA agent. We moved multiple times, and I attended many, many schools. OK hear is the list now, from HS to present.
worked flipping hamburgers, cut lawns, worked for summer on a chicken farm, mason laborer, phone line laborer, painted houses (many, too many), carpenter assistant, art gallery custom framer, (went to college), equipment control manager for shipping company in Miami, international ship broker, wood carver, apple orchard laborer, full time carpenter doing remodeling work. (back to college), got MA in Counseling, worked at hospice, and now Therapist working with kids, Life long reader of philosphy, religion, politics and Long time fine homebuilding subcriber (I think I have some of the first issues)
Bill
Guess I will take a stab at this one. Graduated HS in '86 and went straight to college. The summer before college worked as a physical therapist assistant. Decided I loved the field. Moved from Knoxville Tennessee to San Diego California (was born here also). Went to college and got a AS degree in Physical Therapy. Graduated in the field at age 21. Did outpatient, nursing homes, sports med. etc. Finally landed in home health. I loved it. Could be outside to a certain degree and not in an office. I HATE being in a cubical type setting! Married the first time at age 22 had a daughter. Divorced the scum bag (that is putting it nicely) and then two years later met Lars on a blind date. Moved here to Western NC after we married. Decided to stay home. Had two more kids in two years. Lars is a builder and has been in business for 19 years now. Decided that if I am going to deal with customers, and help to some degree with the business I better learn what is going on. He has been a FHB reader for years! I tell you having all those mags. in my bookselves I ask myself WHY do we keep these. Now I know why. I jumped on here one day needing some help with a plastic skylight bubble. Have to say I have learned so much from all here! Plus being a stay at home mom, business partner etc. I enjoy coming here and shooting the bull about everyday life. People interest me and I am a talker! Just ask Lars. Thanks for letting me be a part of all this here!Tamara
Born 2/21/1969 in Staten Island NY, moved to northern NJ and been moving north and west for about 15 yrs. 3 yrs ago, I bought a fixer upper ranch in Crandon Lakes NJ(about 10mi west of Newton).
I've been taking things apart since I could hold a screwdriver, and eventually figured out how to put 'em back together! Through my teens, got into dirt bikes and eventually got the car bug. Amateur drag racer for a couple of years. Sold the car, moved to NJ and started over(getting away from my druggie friends was-in hindsight-the best for me). Went to computer tech school, grad 4.0 HR, etc. Tech'ed fro 2 yrs at Ricoh, left to teach same courses I took for about 1 1/2 yrs. Got sick of office politics real fast and left to go into auto mechanics professionally (I had been doing it part time for years by then). Worked at too many shops to mention with the overall intention to take in as much knowledge and training as I could from each. I'm now ASE certified Master tech, master engine machinist, advanced engine certified; and am a factory certified master technician(A) for Chevy, GMC, Pontiac, Buick, Olds, Caddy, Geo, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Saturn, and Subaru. Over the years I've had my hands in just about everything. I also managed/wrenched at a Harley davidson accessory/service shop for about 1 1/2 yr in the middle.
About 2 years ago, finally got fed up busting my butt for someone else and opened my own speed shop. North Jersey Truck & Track. In the 2 years I've been open, business has exploded, and I'm doing everything from $50 bug deflectors to $4000 lift/wheel/tire kits to $30,000 frame-up builds.
On another topic: at 19, I married my high-school sweetheart. That lasted about 2 years!! No kids. August 2001, I married my wife Tara whom I met about 3 years ago. Still no kids, but we're thinking about next year.
In the meantime we have a 3 yr old Rottweiler and a 12wk old cat to spoil.
Mike
PS: I also front a local classic rock/blues band named Ball & Chain.
My sister(our lady of perpetual construction) turned me on to FHB when I bought this house and I've been a subscriber since.
Edited 10/4/2002 4:53:47 PM ET by Mike Gabriel
Well, I wouldn't want to lie to all of you so I will start off with a confession.
My real name is actually John Svenson...
"My real name is actually John Svenson..."
What we really want to know is - where is John Galt?.
Excellence is its own reward!
"Who is John Galt?"
Aynn Rand wrote "Atlas Shrugged" a novel that encompassed mountains of political and economic philosophy.
Galt was a charachter who had supposedly invented a perpetual motion machine or one that came as close to it as possible. But knowing what "the system" would do to it and with it, he kept it from production.
The phrase, "where is..." was a sort of password amoung the more free thinking, creative, productive members of society.
You might enjoy reading it..
Excellence is its own reward!
So if we had a question on nearly anything, some one would proably know, or have some experience with it in some form or the other . Im wondering now how many make up breaktime . Pretty cool idea PFN , I give you an" A", for creativity.
Tim Mooney
Born in 1959 in a hospital, (I wanted to be near my mom), grew up (in my opinion),
Mechanical Engineering Technologist,
Sawmill/Pulpmill Equipment Technician,
Chef,during Expo '86,
Reno-er,
Cabinetmaker,Framer, Timbersmith,Furniture maker,(all in Beautiful Whistler,B.C.
Jet Aircraft Cabinet/Furniture maker,
Boatbuilder,
Timberframer, Site Supervisor,which is where I are at now,lerning grammer 'n' spellig, but still feel no urge to learn how to type properly....
and finally, proudest,family man step-father to the sweetest girl in the world, (future boatbuilder/ballerina)and common law husband to the nicest woman in the world...she made me say that...
Cheers,Phil.
P.S. Guinness,and other fine beer/ale connoisseur.If it is to be, 'twil be done by me..
Piffin, read it a few times. And Fountainhead several, too. Always loved the name Dominique after that. :) I was just offering that the repeated phrase was, "Who is John Galt?" rather than "Where".
Aha!
caught me in an error!
It's been awhile since reading it but I find myself returning mentally to it often. Possibly one of the most influential books I have ever read..
Excellence is its own reward!
The John Galt I know is an Australian video camera engineer who works for Sony.
-- J.S.
I started out in industrial design. I did a few years designing cool crap nobody needed. I got sick of the industry and manufacturer's narrow or non-existent perspective on making better products.
I thought (and still think) that computer software is the worst example of design and ergonomics there is.
This got me interested and involved in the computer industry, which inexplicably has led me to spending the last twelve years marketing (and developing) digital video products for the television industry. Go figure.
So what am I doing here? I come from a long family lineage of architects and I just can't sleep at night without the smell of sawdust in the house.
I did a variety of things after high school, including several house building and other construction jobs. Got into computer programming in 1980 and started making a living at it in '85. Stopped making a living at it last year. If the economy doesn't pick up, I guess I'll have to find something else, but I don't have any idea yet what it might be.
I read FHB because for the last 25 years I've been accumulating ideas for the house I'm going to build someday, and the magazine is a rich source of design ideas, as well as information on materials and techniques. When eBay came on line, I bought all the back issues I didn't have yet. (Same with FWW.)
I come to Breaktime because I find the Prospero interface much easier to use than the previous format. Before the changeover, I would check in occasionally, but never found anything to justify the effort of reading. Also because it's easier than having a real social life.
Good discussion Piffin ,what a diversified group.
I was raised on a horse farm built miles of fences and a couple of barns with my dad. He owned a car dealership so I worked on cars as a teenager.Left the farm world at 17 and went to work for a tree company for a year also worked as a cook for a fancy resteraunt. Got a job in a printing plant where I worked for 15 years was also doing fences and decks on the side, I built my own house and decided that I liked carpentry better than factory work so I started my own handyman company that progressed into a framing company but I got tired of all the hassles of being an employer so I went back to a one man constuction company. I have been doing punchout work for a half dozen builders here in Memphis and that has progressed into a bunch of remodeling jobs. I think the remodeling field is where I want to be because I enjoy the one on one relation with my customers and I enjoy designing , customizing, building and I like being responsible for a project that my customers will appreciate years down the road.This forum has turned into a great resource for me and my colleagues and I hope the diversity increases over time so that we can get so many unique perspectives to our discussions.
ANDYSZ2
Piff
I think you shoudld change the name of this thread to "The University of Diversity"
Be well
Namaste'
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
I work as a structural engineer on power plants. My wife and I are living in a '50s ranch spec house that's seen better days. We decided several years ago that it would be nice to have a Victorian farmhouse in the country. Found a bunch, but few were for sale and all had major problems, foundation issues, etc. that seemed like too much to deal with.
We came up with the idea of building a new "old" farmhouse and started planning and looking for land. Figured out pretty quick that we couldn't afford to buy land and have the type of house built we want, so we bought the land and came up with a plan to build a smaller house, move out of our current money-pit, put the savings in house payments toward building the house we want, and turn the smaller house into garage/workshop with the upstairs converted to recreation space.
We figure the home-garage idea is great to get our feet wet in construction, decide what sort of work we want to try ourselves and what we want to hire out, and basically act as a "practice" house. I looked for all the reference material I could find on different parts of construction and sub-contracting. When I came across Fine Homebuilding, it was just what I was looking for. I caught on to Breaktime from the excerpts in the magazine, and now I'm hooked. We just hit the third anniversary of groundbreaking (sigh) and can't wait to move and sell this piece of sh....shwell real estate we're living in...Anybody looking for a unique fixer-upper opportunity?
I found out along the way that I really enjoy building, and really dislike subcontracting, so we've ended up doing most of the work ourselves. I'm not sure what I'll do while we're saving for the next one...I've gotten used to spending evening and weekend time building and I'll miss it. I figure after the second house, I'll have to find something to do in woodworking/construction to get my fix.
I only really care about being five things; a good husband, a good father, a good friend, a capable carpenter, and fair with everyone I deal with. I am still striving to improve at all five. I try to look around and leave things in better shape than I find them. It's not much, but it's the code I live by.
Brinkmann for president in '04
was born in new england, family owned machine shop in pawtucket, rhode island. mother 's side builders, shipwrights. grandfather ,2 uncles. graduated h.s. went to college for commercial art B.F.A. out of .A.S.U.supplemented income swingin' a hammer.bartendering, security..... came back east worked with grandfather building houses( shipwright business took a nose dive). traveled around texas, back to az., alot of kicking around all over. than moved to new hampshire got a job with a older gentleman making signs those carved country signs for restaurants, bars, dentists, shoe stores etc. in the north conway area.left after 2 yrs. then went to new york with father working in his machine shop he ran 3 yrs. making aerospace/aircraft components and cold heading fastners.went back to building houses on long island and surrounding areas, started doing alot of restoration work on old houses/ estates. go back and fourth to rhode island and long island. like the money in long island. love rhode island dont work there as often as i'd like.in hide site i wasted some time with school and frivolous : ) behavior. a carpenter is what i am , and will always be and as far i'm concerned it's a noble profession but everyone knows that here. F.H.B when i bought my first issue in 1983 just inspired me, and recharged the creative battery and to follow what my grandfather had shown me about the alchemy of becoming a skilled carpenter. i really enjoy this forum... not a bad place to spend time. cheers bear...... p.s. ayn rand should be required reading for all......an excepional dame
Edited 10/6/2002 2:47:23 AM ET by the bear
jim- it's enough- great creed to live by. bear
Edited 10/6/2002 2:42:16 AM ET by the bear
Hi Piff-
Me: Cabinet maker, Furniture maker, carpenter, artist, clown(ametuer).
The rest of you; Good and interesting folks.
Any relation to Robert Heinlein? Mathematician, Sociologist, Naval engineer, and science fiction writer. .
Excellence is its own reward!
Stranger in a Strange Land. Loved that as much as Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead. That book even influenced my first software product.
Unfortunately, that was his peak. After that he descended from glory and groking into ....
Well, he took his libertarianism too far. Eventually he was arrested for groking with a fourteen year old girl..
Excellence is its own reward!
"Time Enough For Love", "The Starship Troopers"
Brinkmann for president in '04
I must have read Stranger in a Strange Land ten times. I have a coverless copy that's coming to pieces. I will replace it when necessary.
I haven't had the guts to read The Fountainhead. My ex wife decided she wanted a divorce very shortly after reading it. If you've read it, please don't offer explanations for why that would be the case. I really don't want to know.
Ignorance is bliss, right?
For all I know, this post may explain everything that was ever wrong in my marriage. Hell, maybe I ought to read it.
Maybe not.
Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Worked as a carpneter for a year out of college
Moved to Seattle, got a job with a shellfish wholesaler, went from errand boy to CFO in five short years. Learned a ton about the business world. Quit when they started making shady business deals and attempted to commit a fraud. Thought I'd rather be a low paid carpenter than a well paid inmate.
Moved back to the ancestral homeland of Wisconsin, started building houses, now have a framing business with a partner and am planning to start general contracting new homes within the year.
"University of diversity"...,I love that name, can we shorten it to LIFE U.
Cheers,Phil.
If it is to be, 'twil be done by me..
Good one. diversified university of life
DULife
Not a minute of it.
Excellence is its own reward!
Original universities were simple collections of persons who were interested inknowledge and in sharing it with one another. Are we Renaisance men? REMs or girls? REGs.
Excellence is its own reward!
Phil
Glad you enjoyed that one but I think I can beat myself out even one better......how bout "University of Peversity"
BE well
Namaste
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Educated in Manufacturing Engineering, work as an Aerospace Engineer during the day and have been operating a succesful cabinetmaking business on the side for the last 7 years. Licensed contractor (C-5) in California.
Started out about 10 -11 pushing materials for contracter Dad. went to landscaping,Tree trimming, Delivering-Installing wood stoves, worked a 30 horse equestrian center- Farming. Got a break and went into Industrial Maintenace tech that lasted 20 years here and there. Spent 4 years in residential maintenace (yuk!!!) Back to industrial, laid off now I'm running a Family staff and recruitment Comp. by day and Handyman service by night and enjoying it. The Handyman service is REALLY Taking off might need to break from Staffing. If I could only find a reliable honest person to send out on some jobs for myself.
Screwed up in high school, worked in custom cabinet and furniture shop, which temporarily killed my love for the avocation, went into tree climbing, which almost killed me (several times, and I have the scars to prove it), went into excavating, trucking (wide/heavy and demo debris, mostly), scrapyard work, and building demolition, with lots of side work for a friend who was (is) a builder of high-end custom homes and renovations, went to Engineering School after some years, part-time while working full-time, degreed in Mechanical Eng and Materials Science, first job an exterior masonry renovation project in NYC (up and down 50 stories on suspended scaffolding, which is typical), went into custom crane design and fabrication (with side projects that are only loosely related, but unique, like the world's largest pavement test machine for the FAA), where I still am. I always used to play endlessly with Erector Sets and such, but now I get to design and build my own really big toys. My fine homebuilding is now limited to my own, so I mostly lurk, sponging off the ocean of knowledge here.
Be seeing you...
Edited 10/8/2002 11:21:48 AM ET by TDKPE
Boy, that is one big machine! I had no idea pavement was subject to tests. D'oh.
Here's a link to one of the official web sites. It's called the NAPTF (Nat'l Airport Pavement Test Facility), and the machine is called the Test Vehicle. It weighs 550 USTons, is about 77' wide, 87' long, 35' high, and can go up to 15 mph inside the 100'w x 1200l' x 40'h building. It can can exert up to 75 000 lb downward force on up to 12 tires simultaneously (=900 000 lb), change wheel loads, even skip over sections of pavement, while working unattended, 'round the clock, if so desired. Travel is via 16 motors (one on each railroad-type axle, driving 36" wheels), totalling 960 hp. Tire force is controlled via servohydraulics, with +/- 2.5% at 50 000 lb.
http://www.airtech.tc.faa.gov/pavement/31naptm.asp There are others if you sniff around.
Be seeing you...
Dang, I LIKE them big toys.
Where is that pavement tester located? Would be worth a trip to see.....Always do right. This will gratify some and astonish the rest. [Mark Twain]
It's in the FAA Tech Center (William J. Hughes) in Pomona (Atlantic City In't Airport), NJ. That's the place where they set off bombs in old planes and smash them into walls, and set fires, and other cool stuff like that. I practically lived there for a year while assembling, commissioning, training, updating as-builts, etc. We even used it to carry a 4 yd concrete bucket while placing concrete for some of the rigid pavement sections. And yes, it is worth seeing, especially during operation. I stay in touch with the people who run it, so if you're in the area, drop me an email and I'll connect you with the operator. It's a very secure facility, and that building especially, since the whole building is a protective enclosure around the hazard, not unlike a blade guard, only bigger. The vehicle doesn't know when someone is in there, in line with all those steel wheels and aircraft tires. I used to give joy-rides, er, demonstrations, and we had maybe 50 A-list folks at the ribbon cutting (you know, politicians, military, money, people who only show up for ribbon cuttings and photos), while the folks who designed and built the facility sat in the back. But isn't that how it always is?
If you want to see any more pics (and naturally, I've got a pile of them), just email me and I'll forward some.
Be seeing you...
Piffin,
I'm in the Air Force. I've been fixing ejection seats for the last 20 years. I love working with my hands and do woodworking and home improvement as a hobbie. My younger brother is Jim at Great White, he turned me on to this site. I used to be fairly active here but now mostly lurk.
Well where has Jim been. I havent seen his name around here for a while. tell him to stop by and have a cool one and let us know whats up with him Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Yup! I already knew the stuff about contractor idenity . I wanted the howard cossell , or whats his name ? You know , " and now the rest of the story !" News guy at lunch. Well, at least my mind is going first !
Tim Mooney Paul Harvey ! Yeaaaa!!!!
As a pilot (only in my fantsies - LOL) I find it a little disconcerting to think that ejection seats CAN need fixing! How do they test'm to find that out? I mena, I can tell when my brakes need attention a little while before it becomes important - but it's not like I can notice that my seat is getting a little soft...
Seriously, I'm sure a lot of guys are especially glad you're on the job. You are somebodies hero, someday!.
Excellence is its own reward!
One thing I've noticed is that since this thread, more folk are starting threads asking for info on accessory information not directly about building homes, for instance, the one about telephone systems. Seems that we've all become aware of the great pool of talent out there to be shared..
Excellence is its own reward!
Breaktime is all of us!
Piffin,
An ejection seat or "Egress System" is like any mechanical system. It requires regular preventive maintenance and the changing of components that have met their service life. Kind of like changing the oil in the truck before it turns to black tar....Oh and while we're down there lets have a peek at the brakes. It has been a rewarding career, I do have a couple of "saves" to my credit, or more accurately, me and the troops I've worked with have a couple of saves to OUR credit. It's a cool feeling to shake a mans hand who's standing there because of what you've done.
Now my real heroes are the guys ....and gals....... who can cut a straight line and build anything straight square, plumb, and level. Hats off to ya'll
Larry The Home Hack
Thanks for the reply and the information. I do know about planned and preventive maintainance, but after you're here awhile you'll notice about me - that unless I'm in the big middle of a flaming argument, I tend to have some degree of humour or analogy hidden in almost every post. It's the clown and the poet in me battling each other for attention.
Ever known any high fliers that took themselves too seriously? They tend to crash and burn. That's not me. Good humour makes for smooth landings..
Excellence is its own reward!
I rested my arse in an ACES II for the better part of my wayward youth.
In Thrust We Trust!
Almost had to pull the handgrips once. It's a ride I was glad I didn't have to take. Would have been fun though!
This tread has grown faster that one believes so I will had my two cents.
Graduated in the very deep south 1980, two days later working for Ford Motor Co in Detroit as an X ray tech on the crankshaft line. Could not handle labor union, thick accents and the different class of northern so I headed south. Columbus ohio that is. did some college at a buckeye state then went, Corpus Christi, San antino and houston. Doing apartment maintance some more school. Fed up went home. Deep deep south, 1 1/2 miles from Gulf. 1983. since that day been working at a foundation engineering lab. dealing with construction services. My duties deals with every aspect of concrete, soils, asphalt.
Concrete deals with design, testing, reinforcement, piling, load factors
soils are. inspection, compaction, engineering, classfication
asphalt.: design, engineering, highway, testing.
Started building my own house because i,m cheap and nobody here build what I want, a hurricane proof house. a concrete house
remember I said its not if but when we get hit by hurricanes. Well the last two weeks, two within fifty miles.
Brownbagg! Proctor curves, sand cone densities, sieve analysis, pile bearings---yaha! Does your job take you to the field? Did you ever come across one of Fairchild's(hattiesburg) skid rigs? A most remarkable device and a most remarkable crew in a most remarkable profession.
With any sense at all I would have gotten a degree in Civil Engineering and been very happy doing exactly what you are doing for the rest of my life. Working on the Interstate system in the 60's, school and occupational detour in the 70's, Road and highway construction part of the 80's and building construction related career since. But, I have never had as much enthusiasm for my work as when I was 18-24 and road and bridge instrument man, materials and tests inspector on aggregates, concrete and asphalt paving. I liked the people and the work and quite frankly the job I have today is as a result of skills I learned OJT. I did not recognize that I had missed a great calling until I began to wonder what my child would become. I realized that in our large extended family one did not prepare for a profession, you just got out of high school and found a job. If I had known what a civil engineer was before I went to work for one, I could have prepared myself better and maybe been one too . I am very happy to say my son has become, with a mind of his own, a mechanical engineer. The work that I do though gives us a common vocabulary and while he is a lot smarter than I ever hoped to be, I am familiar with a lot of what he does. His being an engineer makes me a lot happier than if I had become one.
Grew up in No. Virginia, and London (3 years) graduated HS 1973. BS Arch Univ. of Virginia 1977, M Arch Univ. of Michigan 1978. Moved to Princeton New Jersey 1979 became principal of an architectural firm and then started my own in 1993. Most work = residential, institutional, historic preservation. Past president of our local Historical Society. Saw this forum as an opportunity to be 'on the same page' in a sense with most of you who are builders/carpenters. Perpetual DIY and occasional rocksplitter.
Interests - history, geneology, travel, steamship memorabilia, carpentry, DIY. Been some interesting places like: China (1984), Russia, Norway, Sweden, Brasil, Spitsbergen (near 80 deg. north latitude, 500 miles from the pole) Cape Breton Island, to name a few. Favorite place: Block Island, RI
JeffT. Jeffery Clarke
Quidvis Recte Factum Quamvis Humile Praeclarum
(Whatever is built well, no matter how humble, is noble)
do you know an H. Braswell? Graduated U OF VA. '78 Arch degree.listening for the secret.......searching for the sound...
Sounds vaguely familiar - remember that was 25 years ago!T. Jeffery Clarke
Quidvis Recte Factum Quamvis Humile Praeclarum
(Whatever is built well, no matter how humble, is noble)
Worked for one guy for nearly 32 yrs till I retired in 1987. Uncle Sam's Army. Spent a yr at Univ Fla; one of the 2/3 that didn't graduate. Spent 4 yrs at West Point, grad in 1959. Saw the world from ground level. Earned an MS in Electrical Engrg in 1963 from New Mex State Univ. Got into the ammo business in Viet Nam. Spent nearly all of my career in that for nearly 23 yrs, mostly the manufacturing end. On Okinawa in 1975 sent last boatrload of ammo to VN to be captured on the Saigon docks. Also had an opportunity to successfully call the bluff of the Communist Party mayor of a dinky little town and watch my troops pull up a bunch of WW-II unexploded ammo. Took a bunch of Boy Scouts to a Thai national jamboree and to the 1975 World Jamboree in Norway.
Learned to fix & build things from grandfather & father. GF was one of the best riggers in NJ during early 20th century. Learned to do things the way the Pharoahs did from watching him as a kid back in the days before BIIIIG cranes. Learned how to roll heavy loads, etc. Helped father build house in Miami as early teenager. I carved the footer trenches out w/ an electric jackhammer in that loverly oolite limestone that serves as a base for so. Fla. Coated the floor joists w/ anti-termite goop and nearly killed myself getting it all over my hands & arms. We didn't really understand how toxic that stuff was in those days. Put in tincaps on roof felt, at hammer head spacing and learned what tennis elbow was. (That roof survived many hurricanes in early 50's.)
In ammo business had opportunity to plan, review & manage a lot of construction & production line design & installation. A couple of my ideas saved the taxpayers several tens of millions of dollars. After I retired in 1987, worked for several contractors in the marketing end. After about 4 yrs of frustration from telling them "I told you so" when they didn't listen, I chucked that all and started etching glass, rock, etc. for myself. Have never looked back & wished I'd done otherwise. Musta done something right - we've made money every year. Not much, but we are having a lot of fun doing it.
Found all you fellow raving maniacs when we started building our own house & 35X90 steel shop bldg. FHB has been a big salvation to us. Got lots of ideas and great advice. Also a bunch of "Whoops!" type revelations after we'd done something and read after the fact that something wasn't quite right. Also learned a bunch of things that inspectors had accepted that weren't correct. Older daughter & husband, both CE's, helped us erect the steel for our shop. SIL learned how the Pharoahs did things the day we moved 600 lb rafters on cedar fence post rollers by hand. He got sick the next day, puked his guts out all day, while Daughter & I raised all the steel for the two ends of the bldg. Being a real trooper, he came back next day & we did all the roof purlins. Wife & I did the footers - nearly 250 linear feet of them. Concrete truck & pump operator had a pool on whether or not I would survive pouring 18 yds of readimix. Well, I'm sitting here writing this.
No. 1 son you've never heard of - means he has been a success. He was responsible for all DoD EOD (Bomb Squad) support for the Salt Lake Olympics. Had he or his men failed, his name would have been a household word.
Had the same wife for nearly 44 yrs, now. She's one tough old bird. (I say that in her presence, so I'm safe.) She helped allow 4 kids to survive to adulthood. Two are in the Army, one is a Dr. & one went bad - became a tax lawyer. That's OK, he has his priorities straight - hunting, fishing, playing rugby and finally, lawyering. His boss has same priorities, so life is OK.
Really appreciate what i've read here. Also had a few real yuks. Thanks, guys & gals.
DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!
Started my "career" when I got a job as a part time bike mechanic for a few months while going to Pacific Lutheran University as a fine arts major. Money ran out after one semester, my parents moved from Oregon to Texas while I was in Washington. In 1977 (or thereabouts) there were no jobs in the northwest for young guys who didn't know anything useful, so I moved to Texas. Texas A&M isn't exactly a great fine arts institution (not that I actually had sufficient talent to make a living), and I hated the climate, but I could live with my parents and get resident tuition. Besides, at that time and place, if you were white, and could walk and breathe at the same time, you could get hired.
My uncle took his car into the local AAMCO , and the owner asked him if he knew any mechanics. Uncle Butch told him that I was had worked in a bike shop. I went in for an "interview" of about 3 minutes, and started work as a transmission installer the next day. The owner suddenly died the following night (I don't *think* there was any cause and effect relationship there). In the ensuing chaos, nobody asked me any questions for several weeks. Finally, somebody noticed my limited skills, speed and tools, and asked what experience I had. I told them "bike mechanic" and they asked "Harley, Honda ,Yamaha?" I replied "Schwinn". Amazingly, they didn't fire me.
I didn't much care for working on cars - it's hard, dirty, toxic and dangerous. It generally doesn't pay what it's worth, and most of your customers are mad most of the time (are you happy when your car breaks?), but I figured it was a way to make a living while I got my degree (once I figured out a major to pursue). Twenty-some years later, I began to suspect that just maybe I wasn't going to go back to chasing a degree after all. In the meantime, I had aquired a collection of mechanic's tools that would probably be valued at more than my house, enough certifications and such to wallpaper at least a small room, and a collection of repetitive stress injuries (and surgeries to match. I STILL didn't like working on cars, and I STILL didn't like the climate. (Am I a slow learner?).
About 3 years ago, My DW and I decided it was time to move . A series of Good Things happened to bring us to Southwest Virginia, where I now work for an environmental consulting and remediation company. I take care of the remediation equipment - maintenance, design & build, modify, etc. I get to do most of the kinds of work that I actually liked in my automotive career, plus learning a lot of new skills. I do light mechanical work, plumbing, light construction, a bit of welding, and electrical work on systems ranging from 5VDC sensors and telemetry systems to 240VAC 3 phase motors & controls. I even got to do all the trim work upstairs in my boss's new house ( IMHO, my work was a bit better than that of the professional that did the downstairs. Of course, he did the downstairs in about 3 days, and I took weeks...)
On top of loving my job (I've never even really liked one before), I love where I live. 4 real seasons, none of them too extreme (Central Texas has 4 seasons- almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas), no fire ants, clear streams & lakes, mountains, trees, wildlife other than armadilloes... and the local people, while fairly conservative, don't generally regard Rush Limbaugh as leaning a little too far to the left.
That's rich! Now we've got a conservative, retired Schwinn transmission mechanic in our midst!
LOL.
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin-
I'm not exactly a conservative. Or retired. Or a transmission mechanic - (after that 6 months with AAMCO, I never wanted to touch another stinky, burned up automatic transmission again. For over 20 years, I did a pretty good job of avoiding them. I mostly specialized in electrical systems , fuel injection/engine control systems and the like. Now Schwinn transmissions, that's another story...
"I never wanted to touch another stinky, burned up automatic transmission again"
I've always thought burnt ATF(especially type F) or gear lube is worse than any skunk. I once dumped about a pint of burnt ATF right into the breast pocket of my uniform. Of course I was holding the trans at the time, so I had to finish dropping it before I could react. It made it all the way to my underwear, what a great feeling....
Mike
I can still remember the joy of catching a full load of HOT burned ATF when the pan gasket let loose unexpectedly - soaked me shoulders to shoes. Fortunately not hot enough to blister. Fortunately, I lived 6 blocks from the shop, so I could go home, shower, and change clothes. Of course, the aroma lingered...
Inevitably, since the job involved pulling pans about a dozen times on a typical day, I took quite a few more ATF baths during the time I worked there, but none quite so severe. I, like you, have also had the honor of feeling cold ATF or gear lube running down into my pants while I struggled with the trans, usually on a slippery floor.
I'm not sure which stinks worse- burned ATF, burned gear lube or old gasoline. I've worn them all far too much.
The worst thing I ever got in my eyes was used brake fluid - MUCH worse than carb spray, brake cleaner or gasoline. It doesn't evaporate quickly. Thought I was going to lose the eye for a few minutes.
Those kind of experiences had a lot to do with why I got away from line work, and ultimately out of auto repair entirely...
Dave
Those kind of experiences had a lot to do with why I got away from line work, and ultimately out of auto repair entirely...
Me too Dave, that and the BS, fraud, etc.
All I do here is custom work, no maintenance or repairs unless it's a regular customer-and then it's usually upsold on another job.
The funniest thing happened a few months back. I've done this more times than I care to remember(as have you probably), but I got to watch it happen to someone else. I'm standing under a truck and my friend Chris comes under to look at something. Now Chris is 6'5" and goes about 325lbs...he takes a step back and catches the end of the lift arm in the back of his cranium, and proceeds to go cross-eyed and his legs turn to jelly. He stayed up, but MAN WHAT A SIGHT!!! He looked like Foreman after Ali put one on his chin!!
Unless a person's done it, it's hard to understand how dramatic an impact it is-even at low speed, but needless to say, now Chris understands...LOL
Mike
I didn't hit the lift arm that often, but about twice a year I'd misjudge clearance between my head and a tire. Ouch!
The BS & fraud really got to me, too. Crooked mechanics and management, crooked customers. Not really a large percentage, but a few can do a lot of damage. I (briefly) worked for a boss who, if he underbid a job or gave the customer a discount, would cut my pay proportionally. At that time and place, reporting him to the Labor Board would have made me persona non grata among the local shop owners, so I kept my mouth shut and found another job as soon as possible. He was shocked when I quit - he thought he was a wonderful boss.
Dave
Oh yeah, I LOVE standing up under a tire and having my head jammed down between my shoulders...
I've found a couple of islands of honesty in the ocean of fraud, but not many. More crooked management than mechanics, many mechanics just try to cover their screw ups at the customer's expense, not initially intending to defraud.
Mike
That fits with my experience. An awful lot of the problem seems to me to be due to mechanics who are marginally qualified to screw plugs into a 1962 car trying to diagnose a driveability problem on a 2001 model
Dave
You got it. We're all at a points in our lives when we don't know much on a particular subject, so I don't hold "not knowing" against anybody, unless they pretend to.
That "If you can't diagnose the problem just throw a box full of parts under the hood and hope for the best(after all it's not your money)" mentality drives me nuts. I've been lead at a couple of shops and always welcomed questions from the lower rated guys.(And thought highly about those that did for asking in the first place, instead of digging a bigger hole.)
More often though, I've had to bail guys out when they got in waaaay over their heads-wasting time and money-because they couldn't bring themselves to ask for help, which means you don't have all the answers -God forbid.
Mike
One of the other things that drove me out of the business was the "throw parts" vs diagnose issue. I read an article a few years ago in one of the trade mags (I think it was by Greg McConiga) that analyzed the problem and came up with some depressing conclusions. One was that customers prefer to pay for parts they might not need and maybe fix the problem, rather than paying significant amounts of money for thorough diagnosis and then still having to replace some parts. He also concluded that, in most cases, throwing parts at the problem is faster & more profitable for the shop and frequently cheaper for the customer.
I paid attention to the issue for a year or so after reading the article and came to the reluctant conclusion that more often than not, he's right. Pretty depressing for a guy who prided himself on diagnosing the tough ones. More than half the time, everybody would have been better off if I'd made an educated guess and thrown parts instead of spending hours testing the *right* way. Of course, that doesn't always work.
I also could never understand (or respect) those who won't ask questions, or the ones who won't share their knowledge.
Dave
Yeah, I see what you mean, and in some instances that's probably right. In a perfect world- with experience and education comes the ability to diagnose faster and not follow every redundant trouble tree in the manual. Too many guys lean on the factory manual as a crutch instead of using their heads.
Here's an example:
Last week a tech/friend from a local Mitsu dealer I worked at stopped in to pick my brain. Apparently the shop had a 1992 Mitsu 3000GT VR4 there that another tech had put heads on and quit when he was 1/2 done. Anyway the job got sent to Jim who is their "Mitsu guy". Now Jim's no slouch but his knowledge/experience is strictly limited to Subaru and Mitsu and only in a dealer setting. The car had then been there for 6 weeks total. It was in one piece 3 weeks ago but wouldn't run.
Apparently for the last 2 weeks they've put about 30 hours, and 3/4 of the electronics in the car into it with no improvement all with factory techline in the loop. I sent him away with some advice and 20 minutes later I get a call from the lead scumbag service writer asking me if I could fix it, and how much I wanted. The car got towed in at about 3pm and I drove it back to them the next day at lunchtime.
As it turns out, initially it had barely run and set crank and cam sensor codes(they're both in the same unit on those motors, and those codes occasionally set due to irregular crankshaft motion due to missfires, etc., not necessarily indicative of defective sensors). During the course of trying to fix it, they changed the cm/ck sensor assy, ECM, module, ign wires(?), etc., and reset the cam timing 4 times!!!!! He had also backprobed, cut, spliced, and otherwise mangled much of the harness.
The motor almost wanted to start, but sounded like it was way out of time(ign), so I verified cam timing(checked the marks)-good. Hooked up my scanner and checked the cm/ck signals and watched them jump all over the place.-now my search is narrowed to 3 area:
sensor-new(chances of both old and new being bad?in the same way? no way.)
ECM-new(same as above)
Wiring between sensor and ECM including voltage/grd feeds- power+grounds are OK, must be anomaly or intermittant open in one/both signal returns from cm/ck to ECM.
My next step would have been to temporarily run another pair of wires to eliminate the suspect circuits' wiring. I say would have been because that's when I spotted 2 pink butt splices in the harness by the ECM. After a close look I determined that they were the cam and crank sensors' signal returns and when they were spliced back together, they were swapped. Apparently techline had instructed him/them to cut the harness to be able to hook the signal returns to a scope to check the pattern, and when he/they reconnected them....
I spent about 1 1/2hrs diagnosing/testing and about 1hr repairing those 2 wires, and the other pierced wires, destroyed connectors, etc.
This car was already fixed by the box-o-parts or a poor connection had been eliminated, and they had created a new problem they were unable to resolve due to a lack of mental diagnostic procedure.
The difference is in the process of elimination. Either it's mental or physical. That's what separates the wheat from the chaff.
Mike
PS: I have absolutely NO doubt that this customer will be charged for ALL the parts used and ALL the labor spent in the circle-jerk. Is that acceptable? Not in my shop.
Mike,
That sounds familiar. Not the exact situation, but many parallels have happened to me. I always felt great about finding & fixing the problem, but that was tempered by the fact that by the time the car got to me, it was usually too late to make the customer happy. The way they'd see it, they'd already spent $3000 at the dealership, so for me to charge them $300 "just" to find & fix a bad connection with $2 worth of parts must be a ripoff. Never mind that I had to recheck all of the work the dealership did AND diagnose the real problem - they'd already paid for all that at the dealership! At least at the dealership, they got lots of shiny new parts...
Probably 4 out of 5 would complain that we charged too much, and go right back to the dealership.
It took me years to realize that charging double or triple time for diagnosis wasn't a ripoff, because I could usually diagnose correctly in less than half the time it took the other guys to flounder to a bad guess. I started charging accordingly. About that time, my carpal tunnel syndrome & related problems got to the point where I was forced to find another line of work...
Well, now that we've thoroughly hijacked Piffin's thread, maybe we should start another one - The Mechanic's Corner of the Tavern?
Dave
On November 2, I’ll celebrate the successful completion of 37 years alive. During that time I’ve enjoyed many opportunities. I was born to German parents (he a mechanic and she a nurse) who came over in 1963. I was taught German and lived both the American and German cultures. Picking the best from both. Grew up in Petaluma California, 50 miles north of San Francisco. Traveled back and forth to Europe to visit family and friends over 14 times since birth. Most recently in March/April of this year, trip included a week in Turkey.
Professionally – Worked as a janitor in a clothing store in High School, quit when called “boy” by the owner. Was an extra in Peggy Sue Got Married. Managed a small commercial print shop. Worked in my father’s car repair business. Sold paper to printing companies. Went to school and got a degree in Communication Studies, Organizational Concentration. After school went to work for a company (VideOcart) that installed video display units on shopping carts. The carts would display what was on sale on the aisles. Great concept poor execution. Company went bankrupt. Then went to work for a marketing company putting on video game competitions at malls for Nintendo. Worked only 3 days a week and traveled the Midwest. Contract was cancelled and I went back to Petaluma. Walked into a Kinko’s to copy my resume. They were having a hiring fair and my unemployment was running out. I took a job with them, “until a real one comes along”. I quickly climbed the ladder there. I worked nights and did event planning (car shows, I'm a Volkswagen nut, awards dinners and trade shows) during the day. Then took a job at Kinko’s Corporate offices in Ventura, CA.
Worked in Kinko’s headquarters in Operations and Purchasing. While there I started volunteering with Habitat for Humanity building houses. After a short time they asked if I would like to be on the Board of Directors, did that for two years. At Kinko’s my project was coming to a close and Habitat needed an Executive Director. I leave the corporate world to be in the non profit world. After ten months, September 11 and 20 pounds of weight due to stress I left that job. As of December of 2001, I have been enjoying my savings traveling, volunteering with Habitat in construction and getting a handyman business going. I’ve also taken on two months of Restoration Carpentry work for the National Park Service for Channel Islands. Great experience. I also got back from one week in Hawaii at a Habitat for Humanity conference. I presented on Construction Management, Construction Safety and Construction Leadership with Volunteers. Also two weeks ago I cut the tip off my thumb with my table saw.
My father once told me…”I earn money with my hands. I want you to earn money with your mind.” Papa, I’ve done both now and I like earning money with my hands. I hope to have a balance between the two very soon.
In Peace and Partnership,
Martin
PS - Thanks to all who have answered my questions and listened to my comments. If there is anyone in Ventura County that needs help with projects and wants a great student let me know,
Edited 10/16/2002 2:28:22 PM ET by MARTINK98
Heh heh, yeah, just follow the black sneakerprints....
Mike
As you guys start another thread with my blessings, think on this,
I was reading your volleys back and forth and thinking about how your troubles in the auto mechanic world are little different than I often see in the home repair world. Technicians who fix the wrong thing, either from lack of trainiing, lack of integrity, or lack of brains - it still wastes the cunsumers money and casts a pall over the good ones in the same field.
I'm betting that everybody here who comes from fields outrside homebuilding can relate to something similar.
Lawyers who don't research
Doctors who can't diagnose
Painters who won't prep
Salesmen who can't close
Executives who obey the Peter Principle
You get the idea.
Back to my introduction - I think there is a common bond with all of us from all fields - if we enjoy FHB and Breaktime, it is because of something inside of us that sets us apart from the average or also ran crowd.
Thanks for being there and thanks for the inspiration..
Excellence is its own reward!
Here is another experience fairly common to the trades. Any trade...
I got a call from an aqquaintance to come to the grocery store and fix his van. He said it wouldn't start.
I dropped everything, loaded up all my mechanic's tools, and drove over there to have a look.
He had bought some very expensive diagnostic tools, and a manual. He had apparently spent a couple hours tracing wires, and using his expensive new toys, right there in the parking lot, before he called me.
I took about 3 minutes to diagnose and tell him that the coil was shot and needed replaced. About a 13 dollar item.
Feeling the oats of his expensive toys, and tiny bit of newly learned knowledge, he insisted that the coil was ok. He had 'tested it' several times, according to the instructions in the manual. He sat there and debunked everything that I told him, and continued to insist on other options. (The coil was 13 dollars at that time.)
I finaly relented to his newfound vast wealth of expertise on the subject, and agreed that we may have to get some other parts. But suggested that we try just replacing the coil first. We could tow the van, and I could do the rest of the parts later. But only if it turned out they were needed. The sum of all the special aftermarket parts that he was talking about, was nearly 600 dollars.
We drove to the parts store, got the coil, drove back, and intstalled it. He turned the key, and it fired right up, first time. No hesiatation whatever. He paid me for the time, and left.
I found out later that he was talking me down all over the place. Claiming that I had insisted on all those other parts. He turned the whole thing backwards, and claimed that he had been the one to insist on the coil, etc.
I lost customers because this butthead wanted to save face. I never would have said anything about it to any of those other people. What reason would I have ? He was simply burning up inside, and I suppose, somehow imagined the whole world knew.
Worse, I was painted a criminal. Or, the aforementioned, "crooked mechanic".
I had known this guy for several years. This was totaly out of character for him. Totaly unexpected.
As for carpentry, how many times have you been faced with a DIY, who thinks that because they watch this old house, they know more about the job than you do ? Then they turn around and paint you as crooked, after you save their butt for them. This guy had read the manual, and had paid more for three little tools, than I had, for all the tools I had loaded into the truck when I went to fix his van for him. So, all of a sudden, he knew more than I did. Etc. He was in his thirties, and had never even driven a vehicle, or had a drivers license, before he bought this van.
Don't bogart the Ghost
Quittin' Time
Luka,
That's another reason that I got out of the business. That sort of AH is common enough to add significantly to the stress of an already stressful job. I eventually put loud claims of "That mechanic across town ripped me off" in the same category as "I'm a good Christian" or "My brother (dad, buddy, uncle, dog) is a master mechanic and he says..." or "The check is in the mail" . It might be true, but it's not the way to bet.
Dave
Luka
First of all..how far are you from me? I cant get my 1100 Virago started. I ran the gas to empty and kept retrying to start it not realizing that. I've tried everything. Don't wanna bring it to a shop.wanna do it myself or with help. Wahhhhhh. LOL......I wont bad mouth ya.swear!
As far as DYSers go. I always find it amusing when I design something such as a $40,000 kitchen I finished about a month ago. Designed it...recommended the cherry cabs, tile, granite tops..etc etc but the customer changed about 5% of my design and keeps patting herself on the back on how she put the kitch together all by her lonesome......it started irratating me because I spent so much time and thought in her project...ALONE! I do have to say....she's recommended me up hill and down dale and I surely dont mind that she tells folks she designed it cause its her house and she really is in love with it. Thats really fine with me. Thats ULTAMATLY what matters to me.Shes real good people as is the rest of her family. As a matter of fact her husband dropped off a huge box of veggies from his garden with two $100 gift certificates to two reastaurants in our town along with a note that almost brought me to tears. Theres always two sides to a coin. The smiley side and the side with the frown. Just keep tossin' it. Know what I mean?
BE well
Namaste
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
They say that Solomon built the Temple. It's still called Solomon's temple to this day, even though it's not even standing any more!
How many stones do you suppose he actually laid?
He was too busy with his wives and concubines (can you imagine the cat fights in that harem?)
My point is that the owner always gets some of the credit, 5% ain't bad.
Just keep re-directing her with "We designed your wonderful kitchen, I'm so glad you let me help"
It's kind of like Eskimo manners.
When you enter the Innuit igloo, the man starts in with something like, "You'll have to pardon the mess, my wife is just such a slob" right in front of her, and in spite of the fact that you've never seen such a clean igloo in your life. You, of course, are then compelled to rave over what a spotless hime she keeps while she glows in the compliments.
Then on to dinner. Husband says, "I don't know if you can tolerate my wifes cooking. She serves the most rancid blubber in the north." Again, to forestall any social discomfort, you praise her cooking to the heavens, as any decent guest would.
If you are spending the night....well, I won't go any farther with the illustration here.
Same for you. If you praise her in fromnt of others for her contribution, she is required by modestly and social convention to return the credit to you..
Excellence is its own reward!
Nice lil story Piff....very nice and yeh, I know about the part you left out. My point was....well, was really just venting a bit to others here .....they I'm sure feel the same way as I do. Its group theropy..isn't it? As I said in my post..I was delivered all kinds of goodies to my home for the work I did for them. My poiint also was as you stated...didnt I get that across or was I being self absorbed.........hmmmm...sorry. My point was to let the ego go basically, and be happy that you made your customer, neighbor, friends...happy and it'll come back on ya....and even if it doesnt materially, it will karmically...OK OK....I can hear yer wheels spinnin' Piff the minute I use those holistic hippie words...lol...Truth is even if I didnt get the gifts or compliments anddddddd seriously wonderful recommendations ( one with the Huntington Historic Society to do some reno work....already gave the bid in) I really feel fantastic inside knowing what I did there. Just need to keep an empty heart. Ya know?
Empty heart you wonder? Yep. A heart that always has room for all around you! How hard ya laughin Piff? I can hear ya from here...close your window please.....lol
Be well y'all
Namaste
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Maybe not laughin' but definitely rolling eyes...
(oo).
Excellence is its own reward!
I've gotten my share of guys/kids that think their friend/uncle/dad/brother is capable of properly installing a lift kit, supercharger, etc. Then when the vehicle is unsafe/uncompfortable/blows the motor/falls apart, it's all the fault of the parts I sold them.
Sometimes I wish I could tape record the conversations-where I try to make them undestand the value of a job done properly-and the risks associated with one done poorly.
This just in......... About a year ago I put a custom exhaust on a truck for this guy Mike. He's a bit of a dweeb, but tolerable. He raves about the job, then about a week later I hear he was telling somebody else what an awful job I did-he didn't like the sound, the installation, what have you-nothing specific. This morning I call the local Rent-a-car place the get a loaner for my wife while I re-ring the motor in her car and guess who answers the phone. He goes out of the way to tell me who he is and how happy he is with his truck and he'll "definitely take care of me personally" and that I'll be getting discounted rates, etc.
Amazing.
Mike
Yuks are what make the world go 'round. I like the way you express things. time spent with you would be an investment - not an expense!.
Excellence is its own reward!
Hi Jeff, It's been awhile. Have you been to any un-interesting places?.
Excellence is its own reward!
Interesting thread, fascinating to see where everyone has been and what they have done in their lives.
I grew up in West Texas. Learned basics of home repair from my dad, he was to "conservative" with his money to hire work done that he could do himself, I was his willing helper any time he wanted to build something around the house. I started working construction during high school. When I graduated we opened a tire shop, where we sold tires, custom wheels, fixed flats, and once the local folks found out we did our own mechanic work, they started bringing in cars for us to work on. We did just about everything from brake jobs to complete overhauls.
During that time I realized I would much rather work on houses than cars, so when I was not at the shop, or riding bulls on weekends, I would take on small repair projects around town.
When the local economy went sour, I moved to San Angelo, TX and went to work as a carpenter for a general contractor that did mostly industrial/commercial work. In that time I married my worst, err first wife and had to give up riding bulls to make her happy. When the GC laid off the crew after a contract didn't come through I bounced around a bit selling used cars, buying and selling scrap iron and getting a divorce.
Moved to Missouri and went to work for a cable and phone contractor, doing mechanic work and burying phone cable, got to travel to 9 states in as many months, when girlfriend decided if she was going to take me seriously I was going to have to come home and get a real job. (I did and she did too, we have been married for nine years now, and have two great kids.) I went to work at a pallet plant, and started doing carpentry around the area to supplement my income, by the time I quit to take care of the construction business full time, we were building custom decks, basement remodels, and historic restoration work.
We had the chance to move back to Texas in '96, but construction had really taken a nose dive and we moved to the coast of GA in '97 and have been able to stay busy with custom remodels, cabinets, custom doors, furniture and historic restorations.
Sorry for such a long post.
TCW Specialists in Custom Remodeling.
Edited 10/10/2002 6:48:05 AM ET by Tim Thompson
A post like that is never too long. Hell , I hunt for a post that good .
Tim Mooney
Thanks TIm,
I failed to mention the year we spent in Tennessee. I subbed in to a GC that was doing timber frames and log cabins. He was one of the few GC's that I have met that was more concerned with how well a project was built than with how fast or how cheap it could be done.TCW Specialists in Custom Remodeling.
Don't apologize - I enjoyed it. I used to work Lubbock and Big Spring for a couple or three years.
You know how people somtimes describe a place as "Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there."?
I described Lubbock, "Nice place to live but I wouldn't want to visit there."!
Finest bunch of folks on earth.
Be sure your hood is down in May..
Excellence is its own reward!
What years were you in Big Spring and Lubbock? I was born in Big Spring, lived there until 1980, when we moved to Roscoe. Mom used to be in civil service at Webb AFB, worked there 'til they shut it down in '76 or '77. My first "real" job as a carpenters helper was in Big Spring. We built a 2,000 sq. ft. addition for a local doctor. I got to work with my BIL on that job, had a lot of fun, learned the value of tight trim joints, "because you can't caulk" stain grade trim. Still feel lucky to have started on a high end job, I picked up more good work habits than bad on that one.
Later on my buddies and I spent a lot of time rodeoing and partying in Lubbock, those Texas Tech girls sure know how to treat a cowboy. TCW Specialists in Custom Remodeling.
I think it was about '73 to '76 - back when you were learning how to tie your shoes, right?.
Excellence is its own reward!
Guess I better jump on board here before this thread runs its course. I've lurked here for several years, but don't post too often.
After high school (1982), I went thru the Lumber Inspection school at the NHLA in Memphis. (That would be the National Hardwood Lumber Association). Spent the next 6 years grading hardwood lumber in the Memphis area. The company I worked for was an import/export distribution yard. They send American woods overseas (Europe and SE Asia primarily) and import woods from all over the world for sale generally within the US. After 6 years I could see I didn't want to spend the next 40 years on a lumber pile so I went back to school. Graduated 4 years later (1996) with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and moved to Denver. Currently I work for a consulting engineering company. We do industrial design and specialize in silos in the Portland Cement industry.
Beginning with the lumber job, I picked up an interest in furniture. I've been making furniture and cabinets ever since (mostly for myself, but do the occasional paying job). Since buying a house 4 years ago, I've been busy working on and around the house. I've gutted and redone the kitchen (made the cabinets using baltic birch ply with Ash fronts) among other projects. Most recently, this summer I reroofed the house. The next large project is to redo the main bathroom.
I have picked up a lot of information here & really appreciate the site. A special thanks goes to Crazy-Legs for his article on skylights. I added 2 skylights when I roofed and this article was what convinced me to go ahead.
David from Denver
Let's see, I've been doing carpentry ever since I can remember (21 now) I'm currently going to college full time majoring in Construction Engineering/Technology. I also work as an Emergency Medical Technician and a police dispatcher to have some extra fun. I'm hoping to fit being a part-time/call firefighter in there as soon as I can find the time. All in all though, I still love being out swinging my hammer(s) and making lots and lots of sawdust... always have, always will.
So, Is there anything to the theory that we export our very best lumber and leave the saplings and tops here for us to build with?.
Excellence is its own reward!
Yes, that happens. Some of the best logs are shipped overseas whole. The best lumber is usually exported as well. It brings more on the export marked than we're willing to pay, seems to be what it boils down to.
So, Is there anything to the theory that we export our very best lumber and leave the saplings and tops here for us to build with?
great thread, I,ve been a lurker on this site for several months now and am always amazaed at the amount of info available. I am from the minneapolis area and started learning carpentry from my dad at the age of 7. I now do some remodeling and sub out doing finish carpentry with hopes to focus more on stairbuilding
Trained as a builder in high school.
Needed a regular paycheck!
Repaired boats for awhile.
Too seasonal!
Now I'm a registered nurse whose hobby is building myself houses.
I'm working on my second, a 1500sf Cape. Gee my wife loves
living in a construction area.
-- Joe --
There are times that I wish I had gone the nursing route. My dad was a male nurse in the Navy. My wife is a nurse. There's no shortage of work - when's that last time you heard of a layoff at a hospital? The headhunters are always chasing them..
Excellence is its own reward!
While Piffin is being undulated by everybody's life history, I hope it's not too late for me to join in. My life history is pretty boring and like it that way. I practise dentistry full time and do renovation part time, or is it the other way around? Practising dentistry keeps food on the table and renovating keeps me sane although some days I thought they were both driving me insane :)
I come to this forum because of this bunch of decent and professional guys and gals, what else can you ask for?
Tom
tomchark
does it hurt more when somebody bites your finger or when you hit it with a hammer?bobl Volo Non Voleo Joe's cheat sheet
When you hit your own finger with a hammer, it's your own fault and you can swear as much as you want. When a patient bites your finger it's not your fault and there is absolutely nothing you can do or say, go figure. No, have never been bitten ... yet
Tom
My wifes considering getting braces (for her teeth, not our walls...lol) because we'll have a drop of extra money finally. Shes 47 if that matters. Any suggestions as to what she should be looking into besides a good dentist?
Thanks....did I just mess this thread up (hijacked?) Sorry Piff
BE well
Namaste'
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Good for her. Age is not a factor in orthodontics, especially when you are 47 years young. Two things to bear in mind, the process will take a little longer and don't be surprised if the orthodontist sends her to a periodontist (gum specialist) for an assessment. Like any other professions, the best place to start is to ask for referral from somebody that you know and trust. So the logical place to start in this case is her dentist. Most dentists should be able to give her and idea of what's involved and refer her to one or two orthodontists that he/she has good rapport. Although some general dentists do braces and are very good at it I would stick with a board certified orthodontist. It's like getting plastic surgery done by a plastic surgeon and a GP who specializes in doing plastic surgery. Any orthodontist would provide you with a very high standard of care and their fees would not differ by that much so there is no sense of going around, getting bids and comparing fees. Ask your dentist for a referral, go in for a consultation and if you think you like what you see and hear, go for it. Post a picture of the finished product :)
Tom
You mean she's gonna get BOTH teeth straightened?
LOL
I guess if I ever get down to visit, she'll have me sleeping in the basement now..
Excellence is its own reward!
This thread has suprised me by closing in on 200 posts. Now, I wonder how many people total read Breaktime regularly. Andy and Mark must have an idea. I'm sure that more people hold back from posting than who are comfortable presenting themselves here.
Hello to all of you - I hope you enjoy the forum and will come back when you need building help..
Excellence is its own reward!
Piff
You know the house I'm moving into. she wouldnt have you sleeping on a dirt floor. Maybe in the attic under the see through shingles. You can get a glimpse of the stars on a clear night if you move your head back and forth between shingles..thats if you come before spring, otherwise you can help me put the new ones up. Yer always welcome no doubt.
BE well
Namaste
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
I've been a framing carpenter all of my life.Been out on my own for the last two years.I have a great reputation and do good , fast work.I'm allways looking for tips,and ways to shave time. I really enjoy creating something from nothing.
I was born in a small(4,000) town in southern Ohio in ****.....I grew up in a small town atmosphere, attended a University(Ohio University) in southern Ohio in the early 60's(Oh, no, that's where my activism began), migrated to NE Ohio(Cleveland) to teach and have been here ever since........My husband and I are getting ready to migrate to another place and just have to come to some agreement as to where that may be....
I began my career teaching in Cleveland, went on to get my Masters Degree in Reading(K-12), went on to get post Masters hours in Mathematics......Now, I'm not stating this to impress, just to emphasize that my teaching career has taken many turns.....Am now involved in teaching university courses for teachers and enjoying every minute of it, as well as teaching elementary students........
What was the question????
Began "remodeling" apartments for my father at 13 (strip everything out down to studs, rewire, replumb, new windows, wallboard, tape, trim, paint, flooring, cabinets, etc). When I turned 16 I continued the remodeling thing and began driving a truck for my father's business. Went to college where I did things I both regret and fondly remember. During the summers I worked concrete (foundations and slabs) making $15+/hour as it was the best money I could find. Started my post college career as a Sales Rep for a computer company ($6 billion co.). Eleven years later I'm in management at that company (although I left for a few years in the middle). I GC'd my own house with my dad's help (before he passed away). We did a lot of it ourselves and it was like being 15 again working with him (except I was the stronger one). The company I went to in the middle of my career required me to work out of my house which left me time to take work on the side (decks, closets, finished basements, sheds, additions).
I plan on retiring at 40 (7 more years) and getting into the business full time as a GC. I'm hoping my business skill put me in the position to use my technical skills when I want to. I lurk around here to stay current and learn from other's mistakes.
Mike O.
Edited 10/12/2002 10:42:12 PM ET by MIKEOUCH
Edited 10/12/2002 10:44:31 PM ET by MIKEOUCH
Helped Dad build the summer house as a teenager. Went to engineering school, got a BSCE while thinking I was going to be designing exotic stadiums, high rises, but ended up working for an industrial design/build firm as a field engineer doing paper mills, steel mills, and so forth. Quit that and worked for quite a while in the industrial metal roofing and siding business, first starting off as a construction superintendent, putting the roof with the hole in it on Cowboy Stadium. Changed career at mid life, going into the residential insulated door business, heading up product development and design. Hold a few patents from that. Don't ask me about those fiberglass doors. Retired early (great stock plan!) when the owners sold the company. Been a basement workshop woodworker for over 25 years now, and getting pretty good at furniture building. Generating about a cubic yard per month of sawdust and planer and jointer shavings. Subscribed to FH it seems like forever. Owner-built (self-contracted) the last two houses we have moved into, and wore the toolbelt from beginning to end on the most recent. Keeping from being bored by working occasionally as a trim carpenter and framer. Helping a builder friend here by laying out all his cabinetry work, then ordering all the boxes KD and prefinished doors and drawerfronts, so everything goes together like an erector set. Planning to do some concrete countertop work. Buying building lots now, and planning some specs for the future. Walked our daughter down the church aisle a few weeks ago, fighting back the tears.
I guess you could call this a letter of introduction, Hello. I've found Breaktime an interesting vent on several different levels. I don't remember when I started reading FHB I used to pick up a copy now and then if I liked what I saw. Born on the Prairies, I went straight from high school to construction in 76. I started on apartment blocks/ motels / hotels and worked a few years in mid rise const. about 16 floors max. Worked my way across Canada both east and west and in 84 I started doing renovations from footings to doorknobs for about 14 years, everything from family homes to nightclubs and everything between. I've had some good bosses along the way, and luckily, alot of the old school training in the beginning years before I broke out on my own. I've run crews as big as 15 and have picked up a few prick-names along the way. I don't know exactly how to say it but construction always came easy to me, it always made sense. I won't say I've seen everything but, I've seen alot. Presently I am a finishing contractor in Calgary Alberta. Oh yeah, diverse, I installed commercial storefronts for a stretch and sold herbal remedies in my younger longhaired days.
Gordsco