question everything

[JohnRoberts]

I thought illegal alien day labor would hang out in lowes or home depot parking lots early in the morning looking to get hired.  May need to habla the espanol to get best dealio. 

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The "heavy" duty extension pole was so heavy it almost gave me heat exhaustion....  I already dosed up with some salt water (and cold beer).  When you are looking up all the time, sweat rolls back and into your ears. 

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I found a 12' pole (perfect length) that only weighs 1.5#  (already on order)... only 2x the price of the "heavy" duty pole...  ;D

Life is too short for humping around heavy poles... I am not jousting here.

Did finish the one end of my house, all the same color now, but trim detail is a little rough.  Already put 2 gallons of paint on the casa... need to decide a final color for the finish coat. (Shutters are gray and house was yellow at one time. )  I am OK with white, KISS.

One arm was already sore because I got a pneumonia immunization  yesterday (yes I'm old). Now both arms are sore.  8)

JR

 

[scott2000]

I thought illegal alien day labor would hang out in lowes or home depot parking lots early in the morning looking to get hired.  May need to habla the espanol to get best dealio. 

=============

The "heavy" duty extension pole was so heavy it almost gave me heat exhaustion....  I already dosed up with some salt water (and cold beer).  When you are looking up all the time, sweat rolls back and into your ears. 

======

I found a 12' pole (perfect length) that only weighs 1.5#  (already on order)... only 2x the price of the "heavy" duty pole...  ;D

Life is too short for humping around heavy poles... I am not jousting here.

Did finish the one end of my house, all the same color now, but trim detail is a little rough.  Already put 2 gallons of paint on the casa... need to decide a final color for the finish coat. (Shutters are gray and house was yellow at one time. )  I am OK with white, KISS.

One arm was already sore because I got a pneumonia immunization  yesterday (yes I'm old). Now both arms are sore.  8)

JR

Sounds like you're making progress!

Good luck with the rest.... Too bad about the pole...Yeah I have a 16ft Sherlock and, getting on top of a 12ft step ladder with that will make you question your existence sometimes.........Only have had to do that a couple of times in my life....
Ladders are great.....too bad you can't use them. They really put you right in the action.....That and some reading glasses and I'm painting lines that would make an smd component guy proud....
...

White is classic.....Gets dirty looking pretty easily but is a nice cool color imo....
We used to have the guys at one of the Home Depots around here....Haven't been to that store in a while so I don't know if they still hang out... My local one has never had them for some reason..... IDK....

Careful with the exhaustion and watch the dehydration cramps..... I came home one day after working outside not knowing how dehydrated I was and laid down for a minute. when I went to get up, my legs and arms cramped so bad I saw white....I thought it was over for me..... Pretty intense...lasted for about 5 minutes....Between that and kidney stones, I'm not sure I'd favor either over the other......

Good Luck!!

 

[JohnRoberts]

Sounds like you're making progress!

Good luck with the rest.... Too bad about the pole...Yeah I have a 16ft Sherlock and, getting on top of a 12ft step ladder with that will make you question your existence sometimes.........Only have had to do that a couple of times in my life....
Ladders are great.....too bad you can't use them. They really put you right in the action.....That and some reading glasses and I'm painting lines that would make an smd component guy proud....
...

I bought a new (rock solid ) 8' ladder and used it to paint the front and back of the house. My old 6' ladder didn't cut it.

I borrowed a neighbor's extension ladder and it was so cheesy I didn't feel comfortable on it. Halfway up the ladder I was swaying back and forth.... Probably not going to fall, just didn't make me confident to climb up 15'+ to paint the high parts.

I could have painted the front/back with a 4' extension pole and roller much faster/easier. Finish coat will use the roller.

White is classic.....Gets dirty looking pretty easily but is a nice cool color imo....

yesterday while riding my bike, the fresh white paint really popped in the direct sunlight from distance.  (I probably didn't need to ride my bike before I started painting.)  :

We used to have the guys at one of the Home Depots around here....Haven't been to that store in a while so I don't know if they still hang out... My local one has never had them for some reason..... IDK....

Careful with the exhaustion and watch the dehydration cramps..... I came home one day after working outside not knowing how dehydrated I was and laid down for a minute. when I went to get up, my legs and arms cramped so bad I saw white....I thought it was over for me..... Pretty intense...lasted for about 5 minutes....Between that and kidney stones, I'm not sure I'd favor either over the other......

Yes, I have experience with cramping... back before my knee degraded I used to run 5 miles in MS in the summer heat. I don't eat processed foods, so I actually had to supplement salt to my diet... Yesterday anticipating possible cramps I drank some salt water. Lying in bed this morning my legs felt a little crampy but did not cramp, so all good. Sometimes I can feel cramping in the small muscles of my hands... warning sign to hit the salt water.

In the army they gave us salt pills for long marches, and i remember a salt pill dispenser when I worked in a machine shop in the 60's.  For most Americans driving past a McDonalds will probably give them adequate salt levels. 

[edit] perhaps TMI but I gained almost 2# of water weight from dosing up on salt... I do not eat much salt... I'll take the water weight over cramps any day.. [/edit]

Good Luck!!

thanx

JR

 

[sahib]

You need to be looking for Craftsmen......

They come in all sizes and trades....

Best place to find them most likely  is on the relevant Pro forums to the trade you are interested in hiring for..... They get all into their craft.....And most of them have their locations posted so, you may even get lucky and find one near you or ask......

Tried all avenues.

Even the "trendy, posh boys".  They do not even have the courtesy to return your call.

The "tradesmen" in the UK, at least here in Scotland have a bad reputation.  And I am not even talking about the one man bands. Few years back my wife insisted on getting the bathroom done by B&Q which cost a lot of money.

The tiler did not mark his horizontal line to start with and as a result the tiles did not match on the final wall. So, what did he do? He cut the tiles slanted to match them. I know hard to believe but he indeed did. See the picture below. Luckily when you enter the bathroom the wall  you face is projected by about 4 inches and we could hide the unjoining lines. So, I got him retile the last row and column. But above the door this was not possible. Their supposed to be  inspector guy came up and argued with me that there was nothing wrong with what you see in that picture.

For the underfloor heating the electrician wanted to tap onto the wall plug in my son's bedroom which is next to the bathroom. I obviously told him to get to f***. So they had to install a separate circuit breaker. He was also about to twist the (thermal) sensor wire, tape it up and burry it under the tiles. Again another get to efff was issued. And I am not going to even bore you with what they have done to the central heating pipes.

This is unfortunately how the tradesman behaves here in general.

 

[Gold]

The reason I bought raw land in the mountains was that every place we stayed there was a nightmare. Incredibly bad and lazy work. Once we were renting a cabin and the owner decided to have it lacquered while we were staying there. It was log faced. The guy was so lazy he didn't even put down a tarp when he sprayed the pick nick bench. He destroyed the grass and other plants around it. He didn't tape the windows. Just horrible.

On the other side the excavator we found is an artist. We've become friends. He listens to us but uses his judgment to always do a way better job then we ever expected. He cut beautiful lines that aren't just straight and the road he made is a drainage miracle. It is very wet there and the more precipitation that falls the better the road gets.

He was recommended to us. One of the cabins we rented was pretty crappy but the excavation and landscaping were great. The lot wasn't huge but it was tastefully laid out and felt very private even though the neighbors were close. We started talking to him and when he said he did that place he was hired. He hasn't let us down.

 

[scott2000]

Tried all avenues.

Even the "trendy, posh boys".  They do not even have the courtesy to return your call.

The "tradesman" in UK, at least here in Scotland has a bad reputation.  And I am not even talking about the one man bands. Few years back my wife insisted on getting the bathroom done by B&Q which cost a lot of money.

The tiler did not mark his horizontal line to start with and as a result the tiles did not match on the final wall. So, what did he do? He cut the tiles slanted to match them. I know hard to believe but he indeed did. See the picture below. Luckily when you enter the bathroom the wall  you face is projected by about 4 inches and we could hide the unjoining lines. So, I got him retile the last row and column. But above the door this was not possible. Their supposed to be  inspector guy came up and argued with me that there was nothing wrong with what you see in that picture.

For the underfloor heating the electrician wanted to tap onto the wall plug in my son's bedroom which is next to the bathroom. I obviously told him to get to f***. So they had to install a separate circuit breaker. He was also about to twist the (thermal) sensor wire, tape it up and burry it under the tiles. Again another get to efff was issued. And I am not going to even bore you with what they have done to the central heating pipes.

This is unfortunately how the tradesman behaves here in general.

Sorry, yeah that's pretty bad and , even if those tiles are actually level and your home (ceiling and window )isn't,  any decent guy will try to find any issues that may be lurking by laying out everything first. Clearly no tile leveling system and/or correct mud was used on these large format tiles (in this section) either..... The leveling systems hold the tiles in place while the mud (thinset) dries which will shrink and pull the tiles with it, creating the lippage I also see.....

It's everywhere and if you visit the Houzz forum ever, you'll hear and see stories just like these every day. You really have to be proactive until you trust someone enough as you can see how many headaches you saved by being there to supervise the times you were. Unfortunately, some, including myself at times, won't see something clearly being an issue until it reaches somebody's  point of  no return.

New construction here is so bad in some areas I don't know how these make it to sale. Hopefully the problems we see in the aesthetic side of the industry aren't as prevalent in the construction side of things as there are supposed to be inspections along the way. There are codes for tile install but, this area, aside from handicap regulation and friction ratings, is never checked into....

Good as new doesn't mean what it used to and quite the contrary......

They have made stricter laws here regulating licensing and this is helping somewhat but, it's far from where it could be. Guys here aren't allowed to touch plumbing (aside from installing a toilet seat) or electrical (aside from installing an outlet cover) without State licensing which isn't an easy task. It definitely makes getting into more trades difficult for the small guy, but it has it's benefits. But even the license doesn't mean the guy holding it is worth trusting. People fall into the trap of seeing all the cool numbers on the trucks, with licensing and insured being the warm cozy feeling they are after, and it turns on them.

All I can say is that the pro forums regarding tile , painting , etc...that I've read, really do know what they are talking about and, if you were ever to post something you had a question about, they would point you in the right direction on how to proceed or start over.......

And like Gold mentions, references can be a good thing if you trust where they are from.......

Cool tile though!!! I'm sorry you have to deal with this.... any way to remove/replace those 4 tiles and hide any joint mismatch on the tiny section of wall?????

 

[JohnRoberts]

The guy painting my house isn't doing the greatest job, but his price is right.  8)

JR

 

[scott2000]

Beauty is in the eye at the end of the day...... if you see something you don't like, just look away.....

Hey I just made that up ;D

Talking paint here guys....

And besides, I'm sure it looks great from my house.......

 

[sahib]

..............
Cool tile though!!! I'm sorry you have to deal with this.... any way to remove/replace those 4 tiles and hide any joint mismatch on the tiny section of wall?????

Unfortunately at the time we could not unless we bought a whole box of them which were very expensive. All the spares we had were used to correct the ones on the facing wall.

Anyhow, I think I should give credit to my friend Ronnie here, in case he comes across this post. He is the plumber and gas man. Reliable, does a great job and a pleasant person. But then again he is like one of the species that is going extinct.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I was questioning the workmanship of my paint job until yesterday.... I found a wasp nest that had been completely painted over (white) by the last painter.  :

I left the carport ceiling for last thinking it would be easiest, bzzt.. roughly 10 4x8' sheets of plywood and 18" wainscotting all around ate a lot of paint.

Finished scraping and applying first primer coat every where so rest is downhill from here... ;D  I decided to paint the shutters brown instead of gray like before.

JR

 

[scott2000]

I was questioning the workmanship of my paint job until yesterday.... I found a wasp nest that had been completely painted over (white) by the last painter.  :

I left the carport ceiling for last thinking it would be easiest, bzzt.. roughly 10 4x8' sheets of plywood and 18" wainscotting all around ate a lot of paint.

Finished scraping and applying first primer coat every where so rest is downhill from here... ;D  I decided to paint the shutters brown instead of gray like before.

JR

Awesome!!

Yuck on having to scrape....We don't have a lot of wood to paint where I'm at ..... I did do some wood siding one time must have been 10 years ago....I remember using Zinsser Peel Stop once I scraped off the loose paint.......It's pretty great stuff for locking down those little edges and gives a pretty slick finish to paint onto.....

Zinsser makes a Gardz product for the interior that's similar but for drywall....Like if the drywall paper tears and you're left with the paper bag looking surface that's impossible to mud over without bubbling from the moisture getting the paper wet.....That Gardz seals up the paper so you can patch or paint without it bubbling the paper up...... pretty common to tear drywall when removing glued on mirrors or taking wallpaper down.....

Congrats on powering through.....

 

[JohnRoberts]

If you go through life paying attention you will get answers for questions you didn't ask.  8)

Yesterday I learned that a fly will float in a can of paint. 

JR

 

[scott2000]

If you go through life paying attention you will get answers for questions you didn't ask.  8)



JR

Or if you go through some of the political threads...... :-X

I need to use that saying on some employees for sure.........       

 

[sodderboy]

I totally agree with the minute adjustments.  One that has helped me greatly that I learned in the gym:

keep your shoulders low

that has changed the way I do anything with my hands.  I experience much less fatigue if I don't let myself scrunch them up at my neck.  I can fabricate, do lawn work, knead bread all day without fatigue with that simple advice.
Mike

 

[Goodizzy]

If you are rolling the entire outside of the house and don't want to keep buying naps, a trick at the end of the day is to take a paintbrush and paint your nap with enough paint to keep it moist but not saturated.  Then go outside and pop the nap off into a doubled-up grocery plastic bag.  Wrap it around a few times,tie it off and put it somewhere indoors without a ton of humidity.  That nap will stay reusable for a few weeks.  Learned that painting professionally in earlier times.

 

[JohnRoberts]

If you are rolling the entire outside of the house and don't want to keep buying naps, a trick at the end of the day is to take a paintbrush and paint your nap with enough paint to keep it moist but not saturated.  Then go outside and pop the nap off into a doubled-up grocery plastic bag.  Wrap it around a few times,tie it off and put it somewhere indoors without a ton of humidity.  That nap will stay reusable for a few weeks.  Learned that painting professionally in earlier times.

It is more fun to rinse off the roller with the water hose....  The paint ends up sprayed all across the yard but still fun... More fun with the long handle stretched out so it doesn't cover me with paint spray...

Thanks for the tip... Hopefully I am on the downhill part of this journey. This paint job should last my lifetime.  8)

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Almost 2 weeks later I am still waiting for my light weight extension handle.  The first shipment got separated from it's packing box and lost in space (actually Jackson, MS). I got a refund for that and reordered... so maybe today...  ;D

Earlier this week I got 2 gallons for my finish coat... I ordered the cheapest white I could find (country white) and expected them to just mix some dirt in with white paint, but it turns out to be a pleasant cream colored white, and covers a ton better than the primer.

I discovered a new problem... it is too cold to paint early morning, and I am too crotchety to move much then anyhow... in late afternoon while trying to paint under my eaves in the front of my house, the sun was at just the right angle to get in my sightline. The sunlight was saturating my rods (or cones?) causing a phantom after image that made it harder to see where I was painting, in the shade..

I painted the first coat with brush up on a ladder, the finish coat with a roller and 4' handle is so much faster and easier.  8) Just like most of life's lessons, you get all the lessons by the end of the job, not the beginning.  :

The little 4" roller is the best for painting tight areas, and not too small for modest sized surfaces...  I'll have to find a better time of day to finish under the eaves in the front.

JR

 

[okgb]

I haven't read the Whole thread ,  but

but would like to add ,  question everything , doesn't mean Judge everything ,
merely , consider everything. not a bad idea.

 

[scott2000]

..  I'll have to find a better time of day to finish under the eaves in the front.

JR

8)

 

[JohnRoberts]

8)

Today I made a point of not staring into the sun....  Kind of obvious... The finish coat is going on thicker than I expected, a good thing for coverage but may need more than 2 gallons to finish... today I hit bottom on the first gallon and it looks good, but unlikely to cover everything.

=======

The lightweight 12' extension handle arrived and I haven't tried painting with it, but just putting a 8" roller on it caused it to wave back and forth when extended... We'll see...  :

Good thing is my house has 4 sides and they don't all have to be the same exact color...  8)

From a distance my house already looks great, so just gets better from here... ;D

JR

PS: The rollers with extension handles are about 100x faster and easier than ladders and brushes. I will finish before the first snow...