Coffered ceilings

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by nightfighter

Bob, you and I now have the luxury of working with top grade materials and doing the job right the first time. Many clients are looking for the cheap route, which ends up costing more in the end. You are in the build end. I am in the remodeling end, so I get to see a lot of crappy work... and crappy or sometimes incorrect materials they used. (Many of these homes are hundreds of years old. It is the more recent work that is crappy.) Fortunately I am now at a point where I can choose my jobs for the most part and definitely choose who I want to work for, or not. I will not do band aids. Period. Do it right, or call someone else.
I used to charge the same across the board, but when I do get into a situation now, I will tack a difficulty tax into the estimate.... Life is short from this vantage point and there are way too many hacks putting their names on trucks and getting work that they have no business doing....

Yeah Ross...our industry has no qualifying standards.....nowadays anybody who straps on a tool belt calls themselves a carpenter.
I think you are right to tack on a difficulty tax........some customers you can tell going in that they will be difficult....I use to add money to cover something I call the ashhole quotient.

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Yeah Ross...our industry has no qualifying standards.....nowadays anybody who straps on a tool belt calls themselves a carpenter.

Kind of like canal fishing

[Rmarsh]

Spence...both of my sons... who are grown men with good jobs, never showed any interest in going into the carpentry or building trades. I remember someone asking my youngest if he wanted to be a carpenter like his dad. His response was "no"and when asked why not? he said "My dad always comes home from work dirty and tired and his back hurts"

[Guppy]

Three sons got a hammer in their hands around age 14, it stuck on one...
Best thing I coulda done...
all four of us on the same frame a couple times, I was on cloud nine...

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

Three sons got a hammer in their hands around age 14, it stuck on one...
Best thing I coulda done...
all four of us on the same frame a couple times, I was on cloud nine...

That's great Ray!

Both of my boys chose a profession that will take good care of them and their families. Youngest is a bar manager at a private country club....some weeks makes as much or more than a master carpenter. The other is a land surveyor and cad operator for an established engineering company with opportunity to advance

The construction trade I went into as an 18 year old 45 years ago has changed dramatically. Over time it has become the bastion of illegal immigrants......wages are suppressed......their shoddy work has become acceptable.......they pay no taxes, workmans comp, unemployment insurance, health ins....sick days holidays...etc.

Many days I dont hear or see another english speaking worker

A once proud profession has been ruined...sadly I wont be missing it when I retire in a few years. Glad that my boys dont have to compete on this out of level playing field.

Got to know one of the coyotes who smuggles these workers up here. When they hit the ground here they owe the man $3,000...which means they work for nothing until it's paid off. Then he can fire them or keep them on at less than minimum wage.....and if they get hurt...they are on their own and disappear.

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

That's great Ray!



Got to know one of the coyotes who smuggles these workers up here. When they hit the ground here they owe the man $3,000...which means they work for nothing until it's paid off. Then he can fire them or keep them on at less than minimum wage.....and if they get hurt...they are on their own and disappear.

there's a special place in hell for that guy


I have to meet you someday soon, maybe we can go fishing

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

there's a special place in hell for that guy


I have to meet you someday soon, maybe we can go fishing

Slip....c'mon down..... maybe after work sometime.... I'm always happy to show off my homemade boat...hang out in the man cave.. have a cold one...tell some fishing tales...etc.

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Slip....c'mon down..... maybe after work sometime.... I'm always happy to show off my homemade boat...hang out in the man cave.. have a cold one...tell some fishing tales...etc.

Sure thing, not sure when as I have not had much free time lately at all
Would love to see the boat

[Rmarsh]

At age 17, before my high school graduation ceremony, I got a job with a construction company run by two hard-XXX red neck brothers. The crew would meet up at 5 am and make the drive to cape cod where we framed condominiums.

Every Friday, the boss would point to a load of lumber and tell me to load it on the truck. Didn't think nothing about it and did as I was told. Now these two guys were always talking about a camp they had up in Maine, and all the hell raising and drinking that went on up there. Eventually they invited me to go up with them for some R&R. When we arrived there I commented about the fine looking cottage they had built. Thats when I realized it had been built with all the lumber they were stealing.......and I was loading on the truck!

[Nebe]

I have been a craftsman for 30 years, mostly working with glass, but also in metal, wood and occasionally composites and I have to say... crown molding Was the most frustrating project I have ever worked on. That’s where I learned the saying “putty and paint makes it what it ain’t”.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Rmarsh]

Nebe....i love doing crown moulding....its one of my favorite jobs and ive installed miles of it...mostly by myself ...very simple really and if you try the technique i showed, i think you would see much better results. As far as installing it in large rooms solo....i have found methods that make it a cinch.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Rmarsh]

Simple mantel for gas fireplace will all be painted white. I like working with poplar....tile guys will do 6" border.

[spence]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Simple mantel for gas fireplace will all be painted white. I like working with poplar....tile guys will do 6" border.

Do you lap those or just stick them in?

[Slipknot]

I do similar with crown around a room. First I make up short lengths of a examples of inside corner and an outside corner if there are any. I use those to pencil mark the ceiling and walls. Then when nailing a piece going into a corner just hold back with the last couple nails so the cope piece fits perfect, then get the last 2 nails nailed. Of course sometimes you have to cram a putty knife in the joint for a while til glues sets up. There are so many tricks I can't even describe them all as I am sure it just comes second nature to you too Bob.

Nice looking mantle!

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

I do similar with crown around a room. First I make up short lengths of a examples of inside corner and an outside corner if there are any. I use those to pencil mark the ceiling and walls. Then when nailing a piece going into a corner just hold back with the last couple nails so the cope piece fits perfect, then get the last 2 nails nailed. Of course sometimes you have to cram a putty knife in the joint for a while til glues sets up. There are so many tricks I can't even describe them all as I am sure it just comes second nature to you too Bob.

Nice looking mantle!

Bruce...excellent tip in there about leaving out the last few nails of the first piece so that the coped end can control and improve the fit of the joint. I do that .....there are ways of doing things that we are sometimes taught by others....and other times it is born out of trial and error.

[Rmarsh]

We had a job doing the finish work on the renovation of a very old historic building. I was sent to inspect the existing trim we would have to match. I was amazed because there were moulding profiles i had never seen before...really odd shapes. I cut small samples off the existing trim, went back to my cad program and kept drawing and printing until I got a perfect match. Those knife profiles were a one off and never used again.

[Rmarsh]

Boss says he wants a PVC lantern post for every house in the 54 lot subdivision. We are only just starting so I'll do six at a time. In that second picture it looks like porch roof columns for my shop, they just happen to be the same height by coincidence. Walpole woodworking sells something similar for around $1,200.

[Slipknot]

Nice Posts! Is there a pressure treated 4x4 in the middle?



Here is a shot of a set of stairs I did this summer in maple. It was a lot of work going from carpeted stairs that were closed in, the left wall was opened up and an LVL put in.

[Slipknot]

And here is a set of stairs I helped out with. My friend made almost all the pieces shown including the wall panels. Very complex foyer and a ton of money, but it looks killer.

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

Nice Posts! Is there a pressure treated 4x4 in the middle?



Here is a shot of a set of stairs I did this summer in maple. It was a lot of work going from carpeted stairs that were closed in, the left wall was opened up and an LVL put in.

Beautiful work Bruce! Looks like you made the newel posts yourself?
I like the metal balusters too.....those pitch shoes did get slid up against the railing and tightened with a set screw...I assume

Yeah the lantern posts are hollow...they will slide down and over a pressure treated post that is dug into the ground and set in concrete.... with room for a wire.

[Slipknot]

Thanks, no those maple newels and the one narrow one upstairs(not in the shot) were bought by the homeowner, I don't like the radius on the raised panel look to them, done with router obviously and looks good to them but cheap to me. and yes those shoes will be brought up, he was still polyurethaning.

[Rmarsh]

v-fold method for long miter joints with pvc

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

v-fold method for long miter joints with pvc

Use to do that with step flashing on opposite side for corner boards,, the more you push the tighter the joint....
I almost miss working.... ;-)

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

Use to do that with step flashing on opposite side for corner boards,, the more you push the tighter the joint....
I almost miss working.... ;-)

I am looking forward to retiring in three years.......I will miss working...because that is all I have done for the last forty five years.

Also hoping that the pain in my shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands and fingers won't force me into retiring sooner. I could find other work that doesn't involve using my hands but I wont be happy about it.