Posted: 4/29/2008 7:51:21 PM EDT
and apparently God doesn't want me to be a carpenter.  My house has been in need of some new siding in several places for a while and I have the week off, so I figured it was time to replace it. So, I went and bought everything I thought I needed except the 1x4's for replacement window/door trim today. I would have bought the 1x4s as well, but all they had were bowed/twisted/warped/knotted. Then I came home and started tearing off some of the pieces that needed replaced and found that under one of the windows stuff was rotten all the way into the framing.  Seems like every time I work on this house it ends up being significantly more of a job that it should have been. Something that should take a couple hours ends up being a multi day project because of all the other stuff that's messed up or wrong. I couldn't even get pissed off i was so disgusted. At least the wife made me feel better when she got home. |
My grandfather was a carpenter by trade, and I survived my parents remodeling this house twice(no, they don't live here now. They moved into another house farther away from the road on the same property).. I've also done some construction and roofing. 
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You got that right. We replaced the ancient 500 pound cast iron tub with a shower unit. That required tearing out the custom vanity, re-routing the drain + water lines, replacing the floor, and a couple new pieces of sheetrock. ETA-- I had to break out the Hi-Lift jack to get the tub out. |
I have the same problem. I've seen some tape measures that have .1 graduations, and some with 32nds. I don't think most carpentry work requires the 100th's graduations of my steel rules though.
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+1 I work Heavy Industrial Machining. Can almost read a tape to +/- .01" over 25ft. |
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I've done construction and remodel work most of my working life, flipping houses mostly. (I'm probably one of the few who're really happy the housing market is fuxxored, gives me an excuse to stay home and play with my daughter). The work always takes longer than you expect, and it ALWAYS takes longer than somebody without experience figures it will. That's why I stopped contracting to homeowners. |
The trim around this particular window wasn't rotten, and neither was the compressed fiber siding. No way to have known all the stuff in the wall had rotted out. I just hope the rest of the stuff that needs to be replaced is in better shape than this. BTW, I'm putting hardi plank up instead of the existing stuff. |
| Why not use Hardi for the trim at least? It is always straight, and relatively easy to cut and install. Plus you won't ever need to replace it. You are doing yourself good getting rid of the GP siding. If nothing else I would use Hardi for that too, even the sheet goods are better. |