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Jaded Burnout posted:Very true, but I also have a soft spot for my clients and work more than I should. I could probably cover my expenses working two normal working weeks a month but it never seems to work out that way. If you like what you do, more power to you!
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May 22, 2019 22:24
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Darchangel posted:If you like what you do, more power to you! I got bored of it 5 years ago. If I could afford to stop working for clients and, well, not even turn it back into a hobby because a hobby implies doing something for the sake of the act, but doing it only to create the things I need for myself and other around me, I'd do that in an instant. The way Kaiser Schnitzel talks about making beds for their clients mirrors how I feel about making software for mine. Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 23:21 on May 22, 2019 |
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May 22, 2019 23:19
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You know what? It's called work for a reason. We work, so we can afford to do the things we really want to do. The lucky among us don't hate our jobs, but most would still rather be doing something else. They always say that aphorism about a man who loves his work never "working", but I'm the type of personality that would begin to resent or even hate things I like to do if i *had* to do them. Friends and relatives ask me why I never became a mechanic, for example. Flat-rate exploitation aside, I would *hate* working on cars if I had to do it every day, to someone's schedule. I tolerate being a computer toucher because I at least get to be inside in the HVAC when it gets blazing hot, or annoyingly cold here in Texas (yes, it gets cold. North Texas - Dallas.) Just try to balance the work with the other stuff, and try not to burn out on the work or the house. It's good that you've got those rest periods scheduled.
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May 22, 2019 23:59
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I am at the point in my woodworking journey where I realise I've been using power tools as a crutch to avoid having to achieve comfort and capability with hand tools.
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May 23, 2019 19:15
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Jaded Burnout posted:I am at the point in my woodworking journey where I realise I've been using power tools as a crutch to avoid having to achieve comfort and capability with hand tools. I think you're right too about work-I enjoy my work, but I also don't want to come home and do it in the evenings or for free. It kind of ruins you really when you start getting paid for something you used to just do for fun; it's not nearly as fun to do it without getting paid. When I was buying a house, I kind of imagined I might want a fixer upper until I thought about how not fun it would be to come from being covered in sawdust all day to a house covered in sawdust where I was expected to make yet more sawdust.
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May 24, 2019 00:02
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Free yourself from the straight line tablesaw prison! Good, sharp handtools let you do things surprisingly fast and they don't care about straight or square. Scribe a line and cut to fit-throw your huge collection of tape measures in the dumpster! Never! Though I only use them for measuring cuts if the cuts actually need to be a specific length rather than "fit in that gap". All of the cladding went on without a single cut being measured rather than marked. I would like to pick up a scribe tool but the ones I find seem to be either trash or £35+ which seems a lot for two pieces of wood and a sharp nail. Do you have any recommendations? Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I think you're right too about work-I enjoy my work, but I also don't want to come home and do it in the evenings or for free. It kind of ruins you really when you start getting paid for something you used to just do for fun; it's not nearly as fun to do it without getting paid. When I was buying a house, I kind of imagined I might want a fixer upper until I thought about how not fun it would be to come from being covered in sawdust all day to a house covered in sawdust where I was expected to make yet more sawdust. I'm sort of the other way round. I enjoy doing the stuff but I don't enjoy doing it at the behest of other people. I'll often rather work for free on something I have motivation to do than get paid to work on something I don't care about that day.
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May 24, 2019 00:15
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https://www.amazon.com/Dsmile-1-X-S...la-739574574428 That should do the job. I have one of these I like a lot too, if you want to spend more than $2: https://www.tftools.co.uk/products/japanese-stabbing-awl I honestly mostly use a pencil. I don't like the scribes with a blade, I much prefer an awl. You can also just use the corner of a chisel. Pocket knife/razor blade works too, but not as well because they are beveled on both sides. If you mean a marking/mortising gauge, they are usually available pretty cheaply on eBay from Marples or Rabone or any of the good British makers, and you live in a country awash with old tools so I wouldn't think it would be hard to find one used. I think I have a newish rosewood from Crown and a new-old-stock Rabone one and they are both fine. You can make your own pretty easily too if you want to shave more yaks.
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May 24, 2019 00:31
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:https://www.amazon.com/Dsmile-1-X-S...la-739574574428 I did actually mean a mortising gauge yeah, sorry. I've seen decent scribes about for normal money and use a pencil for most things, but I guess it's nice to get the line plus a bit of a saw guide all in one when we're talking about cutting with hand saws. It didn't occur to me to get an old one used from ebay despite having quite a nice stanley plane from there. At a glance there appear to be dozens so I guess that's sorted. The Marples (sub)brand is taking a bit of a beating these days on new tools, just like Stanley and so many other brands they're seeing how far they can push the quality down before people squeal. Making my own was my backup plan but as you say more yaks.
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May 24, 2019 00:38
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Jaded Burnout posted:I would like to pick up a scribe tool but the ones I find seem to be either trash or £35+ which seems a lot for two pieces of wood and a sharp nail. Do you have any recommendations? Would something like this work? <video removed, apparently> I'm probably going to build one, if nothing else for the large compass function. edit: OK, dude took down the video since I watched it on Monday. Huh. It was a pretty simple compass/marking gauge. Here's a different one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8N7necmY1U The other one was simpler and easier to build for someone without a thousand woodworking tools already. Basically, it was a block with a hole bored to accept a length of dowel (AKA broomstick...) and slotted to the edge to allow a cinch bolt. The dowel was likewise bored and slotted with a cinch bolt to capture a pencil. The block has a sharpened length of threaded rod screwed into it. The way it's built, you use it one way as a compass, or rotate the dowel 90 degrees to use as a marking gauge. Not too different from the one above, just simpler to make. Here's a screenshot from one of the guy's other videos:  Darchangel fucked around with this message at 17:32 on May 24, 2019 |
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May 24, 2019 17:16
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 I'm still on the tail end of a week of being sick but I wanted to do something so I very slowly plodded my way through some reno. One thing I forgot to do when cutting the network sockets last week was to add a service loop, that is to say a length of slack hidden in the wall so if I need to redo the socket I have some spare cable to work with. So that meant removing the backing plates I put in, tucking in the loose cable, and refitting/refilling. I don't like redoing work but at this point I'm only about 70% conscious anyway. I didn't photograph one of them, I guess. Here's as was:  And the change:   Small diversion: I picked up a handheld vacuum cleaner for 30 quid on sale at the supermarket for use in this sort of situation to free up my main one for actual use about the house. Still some tweaks to make in what tips I use but it's handy to have dedicated.  Unfortunately while taking it apart to understand how the "bag" change happens I discovered the hard way that pushing up on the filter (which is pretty much the only way to get it out) causes a sudden release, sending your hand into the chamber and along the edge of some very sharp fluting on the plastic.  Ow. Whatever. I also took the opportunity to sort through some sanding blocks I got on seconds; most were not marked with their grit but I managed to get them split up with the ones that were. This should be useful for working in the corners since with some massaging they can be squished to give a < 45º angle.  And on to cutting in the final network socket (and sanding/filling the final power socket).      It's very easy to blow out the skim layer in the plaster on these things.   When fortune fucks you and leaves one of your screw holes right on the edge of the mortar, well, you do your best.  Another one not quite deep enough. Sigh.   That's it for loving around with sockets for now. Hopefully I get some good sleep tonight so I can crack on with sanding tomorrow. Darchangel posted:Would something like this work? Aye not a bad idea, but it looks like I can buy what I want for a reasonable price on ebay. I'll save the custom work for further down the line.
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May 24, 2019 18:49
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:3
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May 25, 2019 05:14
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 First up started cleaning up the bare brick wall.    I decided at this point that it was better to start at the top of the room and work my way down since that's how dust and gravity works. I didn't have it in me to do too much work up on towers today but I did what I could. Skylight reveal sanding.   I didn't twig until this point that I needed to close it before working on the rest, and the remote was in another room, so, that's for later.  Back on the ground, sanding the edging around the windows.  Build did a bit of a shonky job getting things straight, of course.        That'll do for now. More later.  Only a little bit messy.  
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May 27, 2019 19:40
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 Did some more work up on the platform today, and finally listened to the sensation that had me putting off doing more of it, namely my instincts screaming I DON'T FEEL SAFE! For an idea why, here's what I was working on:    In order to comfortably reach the ceiling I'd have to move the platform another rung up, so I'd be entirely unprotected rather than 90% unprotected. Enough of this, time to fit another layer of scaffold so I have some fall protection. Small snag, though..   I'm kinda glad I was wearing a respirator because it meant the neighbours couldn't hear me swearing at full volume while taking that loving thing apart. I'm not a weak person but that drat thing requires a huge amount of strength to unclip etc. Anyway, I can either buy a pair of four-rung ends for use here (£180 delivered) or find some other solution. After some pondering I think I have a plan. Sure as gently caress doesn't involve any more physical labour today. Goddamn.
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May 30, 2019 20:14
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OK let's do some problem solving. We have a 7-rung frame, we want a 4 rung frame, but we don't want to buy a 4-rung frame, and we still want to keep the 7-rung frame.  Let's "fix" it.      So now we have a 3 and a 4, but because these frames are modular they have unused prongs on the top (unused because I'm never going to put a fourth level on this tower). So if I flip the 3 round it'll slot right into the 4 and become a 7 again.    When I'm doing the entryway I'll drill out holes for bolts (the prongs already have holes in) just as extra security, but I can attest that once firmly inserted this doesn't want to come out even with considerable force, let alone when fighting gravity. Let's do the same to the other one.  Alright now we can fit the tower in, and because the manufacturer sells 4-rung frames there's instructions in the manual for safely setting this configuration up.  Still racks and wobbles considerably due to the slop in the various parts, but it feels an awful lot safer now my center of mass is below the guard rails.  Added the stabilisers too, which a) physically prevents the tower tipping even if I try to pull it over with my full bodyweight, and b) lowers the center of gravity of the tower so it should wobble less. I can also add some ballast if needed.  I'm now nearing the point of wearing out a *second* pair of rigging gloves. Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 19:27 on May 31, 2019 |
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May 31, 2019 19:24
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Nice solution. Pretty much exactly what I would have done.
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Jun 3, 2019 23:39
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I think sanding plaster is just about my least favourite thing ever.
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Jun 6, 2019 20:11
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Someone hasn’t tried sandblasting without a cabinet yet. That’s my least favorite. Imagine all the dust, plus grit flying at relativistic spreads everywhere.
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Jun 7, 2019 19:31
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 This is a few weeks of updates rolled into one, and not chronological. Look at this little bastard, doesn't want to be sanded, I don't want to sand it, but that's not the world we live in.     Let's have another go trying to extract a light fitting so I can sand around it easier. When I last tried this it just busted the plaster. Welp.  Not much I can do about it really, even with the bulbs out you can't release these tags from the inside, and even at this point there's bastard spring clips that have no intention of releasing. These things aren't coming out with the ceiling intact, so I'll just have to work around them.      All replaced with Ikea smart-but-not-too-smart bulbs, and most of the ceiling sanded. Ugh.  Some time later, gently caress this bastard of a socket, putting it back on fought me every step of the way.  Alright fine let's sand this wall.   It's around this time I finally admitted to myself that a couple hours a week isn't going to get this done this millennium and called in some help, updates on that when it happens. Back to the worktable.  Glue glue glue     Needs more reinforcement.  I also spent some time (and money) setting up some air compression. Check out the tools thread if you want the play by play, but the short version is it was significantly cheaper to import nailguns from the US than buy them locally. Bought the nails and hoses and compressor in the UK and then spent forever figuring out the different threadings and sizes of the different fittings.          I'm tired and the place is a goddamn mess    The plasters are conveniently but coincidentally placed next to the nails for the nailguns. Maybe next week I'll do more. Maybe next weekend. Oh god my mother is visiting next weekend.
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Jun 15, 2019 15:55
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Looks great from here, you're killing it living the dream. Bueno suerte with the moms visiting!
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Jun 15, 2019 18:58
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I really do not envy those sanding jobs.
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Jun 16, 2019 15:05
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I have spoken to my decorator of choice and did a walk through, we're on the same page but she can't start 'til the end of July, so we'll see where we are by then. She also suggested I stopped being such a stickler and get on with the mist coat and only sand the blemishes it shows up, so, I shall take that advice this weekend.
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Jun 20, 2019 19:38
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yay an update! I do think thats good advice to listen to. I think one of my problems is not knowing who to listen to, where to go for advice and ultimately ending up spending far too long and far too much energy on trivial things whilst huge problems waltz up on me completely unawares. I dont think tradespeople are the best for this, although maybe that decorator lady, I trust women more than men I think. I've been to a few self build shows recently, its been interesting. Very much its the self builders, which I'd class you as now, who are the most interesting/enlightening to listen to. But you do have to realise their experience is limited to their like one thing really. Half the exhibitors at the recent show were literally people with products/systems they came up with themselves for their own build cos they were too frustrated by those on offer to the market and who are now trying to do it a s a business, mostly I think out of exasperation.
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Jun 21, 2019 00:27
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I thought drywall was awful and a pain and a mess, but it seems like plaster is 100x worse. Aesthetics aside (and it definitely does have a different look that drywall doesn't quiiiite get) why is it still used so much over there?
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Jun 21, 2019 01:35
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we like solid bricks and mortar because they remind us that every englishman's home is his castle and you lot (who are you?) live in flimsy wooden shacks because you're pioneers waiting for better things to come along.
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Jun 21, 2019 01:43
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NotJustANumber99 posted:yay an update! I do think thats good advice to listen to. I think one of my problems is not knowing who to listen to, where to go for advice and ultimately ending up spending far too long and far too much energy on trivial things whilst huge problems waltz up on me completely unawares. I dont think tradespeople are the best for this, although maybe that decorator lady, I trust women more than men I think. Yeah, it's hard to know for sure. I wouldn't say I'd trust women more than men when it comes to trades, I've had a mix of both come through, but when a trade gives you advice that other people have also given it's probably time to listen. Also I'm more willing to listen to the advice of trades who have been realistic with expectations of time and cost. Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I thought drywall was awful and a pain and a mess, but it seems like plaster is 100x worse. Aesthetics aside (and it definitely does have a different look that drywall doesn't quiiiite get) why is it still used so much over there? Perhaps we can pool our understanding and figure this one out. I've sat and stared at my plaster walls and pondered their purpose, since they are quite a hassle, and the answer is that it provides a uniform surface regardless of the size and shape of the underlying substrate. In theory if you get competent and diligent plasterers doing the work you can paint straight onto it without a lot of the fuss I'm going through. In the US you use drywall, which is very similar to plasterboard but a slightly different formulation, and here I think we need to figure something out. In the UK, painting directly over plasterboard is a faux pas, it's the lazy option, because the paper on it doesn't provide a nice finish. It's intended for gripping plaster, and is a bit of a rough paper. It's like painting over wallpaper; you can do it, but you can tell it's been done. Is the paper on drywall different? Do you not get a rough finish? Also, when we plaster over a wall that's been plasterboarded we first tape the seams, then there's enough depth of plaster (around 3-4mm) to cover the tape and the board evenly so you can't tell it's there. When you tape and skim the seams in drywall do you not wind up with slightly raised areas when it's painted? Surely the main plane of the drywall board is slighly lower than board + tape + skim? NotJustANumber99 posted:we like solid bricks and mortar because they remind us that every englishman's home is his castle and you lot (who are you?) live in flimsy wooden shacks because you're pioneers waiting for better things to come along. I don't know if this is intended as jokey-but-true, but I think it's an outdated stereotype. It's true (to my understanding) that they wood-frame external walls where we still prefer brick or block (which is a time-saver designed to be the same size as 6 bricks), but internal walls are usually wood-framed here too, and even where we have brick walls they're dot-and-dabbed with plasterboard so the actual finish is no different to wood-framed walls.
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Jun 21, 2019 08:24
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Jaded Burnout posted:In the US you use drywall, which is very similar to plasterboard but a slightly different formulation, and here I think we need to figure something out. Drywall has a surface that feels a bit like a rough paper. I think (but am not sure) that plasterboard is a little rougher. For the dents you put into drywall with nails or screws, or for fixing other irregularities you use a filler product generically referred to as mud (there's a ton of brands). After the filler dries you sand to make it flat to the drywall but you don't have to sand the drywall itself. Tape and mud on the joints works out because the drywall itself is tapered slightly on the sides, so for a full sheet you have some extra depth to add stuff. That does mean you have to add a little bit of mud to prevent from seeing the tapered edges. The first few minutes of this Canadian DIY video makes it pretty clear how it goes with taping and gaps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbHeDkMN9bQ I've only done drywall a couple of times and the guy in that video does everything a lot more quickly with a better looking result than I did but the process is the same. As long as you're careful it will look totally flat when finished. A bad drywall job may end up with you seeing some dark circles around the nail heads after a few years but you can always paint the walls again.
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Jun 21, 2019 09:03
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Rexxed posted:Drywall has a surface that feels a bit like a rough paper. I think (but am not sure) that plasterboard is a little rougher. For the dents you put into drywall with nails or screws, or for fixing other irregularities you use a filler product generically referred to as mud (there's a ton of brands). After the filler dries you sand to make it flat to the drywall but you don't have to sand the drywall itself. Tape and mud on the joints works out because the drywall itself is tapered slightly on the sides, so for a full sheet you have some extra depth to add stuff. That does mean you have to add a little bit of mud to prevent from seeing the tapered edges. Right. I've watched that video and poked around a bit and my conclusion is that the boards are the same. You can get tapered ones here too. So what's the difference in finish? 1. Plaster will give a gloss finish which even when sanded will be smoother than the paper on the boards, so if you're after a gloss finish on your paint you're presumably going to need fewer coats and (probably?) get a better result with plaster. It'll also be more resilient than painted paper when it comes to the knocks and scrapes of everyday life. You're effectively putting all that responsibility on the shoulders of the paint, whereas you could paint plaster with fewer coats of a cheaper paint and get a decent result and strength. 2. On the vertical butt joints shown in that video he has to feather out the mud to hide (but not eliminate) the bump from the joint, whereas with plastering you only have to do that in exceptional circumstances; normally there's enough depth of skim to cover the tape even without a taper. 3. A plastered wall will be (marginally?) stronger than one that hasn't been, since you've got a large single sheet of material bonded to the boards underneath, and an extra bit of depth for screws etc. We also use a thicker fibreglass tape which will be sturdier than the paper tape. (used to be muslin, I think) For the finish I want, probably the US approach would be fine. You're gonna get a lot of side eye and shrugs from builders though since they're used to plastering, because that's what you had to do before the invention of plasterboard and despite it now being uncommon to render directly onto the brick and then plasterboard on top, that's how it used to be and that's what they know. I do have some spare plasterboard here so what I might do is when painting the walls I'll paint some offcuts at the same time so we can compare the finish. Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Jun 21, 2019 |
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Jun 21, 2019 12:49
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Plaster just has a nicer and higher quality look to it. We do it less because it takes more work and costs more. That’s basically the tldr of it.
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Jun 21, 2019 13:19
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Yeah, I don't know that anyone would argue that just taping the joints is *superior*, it's just such a savings in time and material for what amounts to a very small difference in finish quality that we all just roll with it. Side by side, I'm sure there's a difference in quality, but if I walk into a home, it's not immediately obvious to me whether the walls are drywall or plaster.
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Jun 21, 2019 13:36
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Some higher end construction here does get a skim coat of mud over the entire wall and then sanded smooth which I guess is just like what JB is describing. Often times a high build/high solids primer that's sort of just waaay thinned drywall mud is used too so the mudded parts and the paper parts take paint the same. Sounds like what y'all do is basically the same as drywall but with one extra step to make it nicer. My 1930's house has old plastered lath but then with a textured coat over it to hide a presumably mediocre plastering job, negating that shiny smoothness that nice plaster has and making my walls unpleasant to brush against. All the disadvantages of plaster with none of the nice parts!
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Jun 21, 2019 13:44
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Looks like I'm going to have more time to work on the house on account of I just got let go.
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Jun 21, 2019 14:28
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Jaded Burnout posted:Looks like I'm going to have more time to work on the house on account of I just got let go. Well poo poo.
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Jun 21, 2019 15:00
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Damnit
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Jun 21, 2019 15:33
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Sorry to hear that 
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Jun 21, 2019 20:44
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It's cool I'm already talking rates with a potential new gig. Though some time off would be nice.
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Jun 21, 2019 20:46
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Soz you got fired. Hearing brits say drywall grates my bones. It's just american for plasterboard, its exactly (nothing is exactly the same with americans they'll always win a specification war) the same just they and some of europe do joint plastering (mudding) rather than all of it. Like someone earlier said, it ain't better just cheaper, once its painted not much difference. If youre doing it yourself like I did it can look fine then the sun or wall lights fall on it just so and it looks incredibly poo poo. Plaster makes the wall more robust but theres alternatives. Like you said I was out of date and we now all do timber stud internal walls, not in europe, its metal framework walls which are even thinner and flimsier to me than timber. Certainly acoustically. We just dont really have that here in the uk. I doubled up my internal timber walls with OSB under skinny plasterboard with rockwool inbetween studs which works really well i think. Just got back from a self build show and it is simply the case that in the UK that, depressingly, block and brick full fill cavity walls cannot be beaten right now for new builds in terms of cost played against all the other pluses and negatives. Like the desire to not use that option is as far as I can tell pretty much driven by people prepared to spend a little more to avoid dealing as far as possible with traditional builders. Its why its so galling to then have to bring back in a final plasterer. They need to sort that element out in terms of SIPS and ICF type polysterene block builds. Really attractive in some ways but expensive and not fully realised.
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Jun 22, 2019 03:28
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I'd love any info you can share on sips or resources you can link to please, that's of interest to me right now.
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Jun 23, 2019 13:54
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Idiot double posting
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Jun 23, 2019 13:55
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Jaded Burnout posted:Looks like I'm going to have more time to work on the house on account of I just got let go. You're a software developer, right? They'll come crawling back after you've moved on to something else. This is typically how it goes: 1. Hire developer to make exactly what we want 2. Wow getting exactly what we want is costing us money by us not having a good enough plan and moving the goalposts 3. Let's buy this finished product that has some things we like instead. It's a lot of money but it's one and done! 4. This finished product doesn't do what we want, good thing we just wasted all that money. 5. Goto step 1
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Jun 24, 2019 14:20
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dreesemonkey posted:You're a software developer, right? They'll come crawling back after you've moved on to something else. This was my second tour with this org so there's a good chance there'll be a third. I needed a break anyway.
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Jun 24, 2019 14:29
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