u/DISAPPOINTING_FAIRY

I've been deep in the weeds of a renovation for two months now. Replacing floors and painting across 2/3 of my house, refinishing multiple flights of stairs, etc. Over the past couple weeks I had been letting the little flaws in my work start getting to me, despite getting compliments on the work from people who see it and those people being unable to find (or too kind to point them out) the imperfections.

So I went to visit my parents for Mother's Day this weekend. They still live in the same house that I grew up in. It's not a mansion, but it is firmly not a starter home either, the kind of place I'd expect consistently higher quality work than in my 70s split level. Imagine my surprise when I walked in this time and started noticing it. Slop that had been there the whole time, that I lived with for a decade. Sloppy caulking, drywall patches that were clearly not sanded or sealed, the spot where the railing meets the wall is a shitshow, etc. The only reason I saw ANY of it is because I have been staring at these things in my own house day in and day out for two months. My parents hadn't noticed this stuff either. I even found some flaws in the high quality, extensive kitchen renovation they recently had done (though I didn't point those out to them), not even slop per se but just places where I could see the builders were forced to choose the best out of a set of imperfect options.

My takeaway: people aren't just blowing smoke up your ass when they say "nobody is going to notice that", because I didn't start noticing it myself until I spent nearly every day staring at these details for two months

Just finish eating dinner and I hear a knock on my front door. A knock which is quickly, far too quickly, fundamental-lack-of-social-awareness quickly followed by a second. That'll be my 10 year old next door neighbor.

He's fun for the most part. Certainly more fun today than he was at age 4 when I moved in. I use my garage as a workshop and do a poor job of cleaning, there are approximately 2 dozen sharp foot-impaling objects per square foot of ground space, and he first introduced himself to me by barreling up my driveway completely barefoot while I had my table saw running. Also caught him taking my mail out of my mailbox that first year. Stressful!

As he has grown up and gained skills like Respect Boundaries and Hold A Conversation I've grown fonder of him. Ended up helping him out with some stuff over the years, given my handiness and access to tools. Fixed a few broken toys, helped him set up a basketball hoop that had mom and grandma stumped, stuff like that. I figure today will be a request along those lines.

"Hi. Are you busy? Can you help me with my dirt bike?"

I raise an eyebrow. Dirt bike? Bro you're 10, what? I ask what he needs help with.

"Uhhh I need help getting the front tire on. And putting the handle bars on. Oh and it needs gas."

I open my mouth for several seconds, trying to figure out where to even start, and before I can get words out, we hear his name being shouted. He bolts. See him outside a few minutes later with a basketball. He looks at me with dinner plate eyes, then at his front window, then at the ground.

Idk if its funnier that he asked me to help him assemble a dirt bike that was clearly disassembled to prevent unsupervised use or that he asked me for gas 😂 kid is fucking bold either way though

I'm curious about what to expect and couldn't really find anything online about what its like to get building permits here in Superior. Are they prompt to review plans and inspect work? Do they rubber-stamp work that is obviously not of good quality, or do the opposite and nitpick endlessly? Do they give DIYers an extra hard time?

Based on what I have found in my house since moving in, I'm guessing they are either super lax or so difficult to work with that previous owners avoided pulling permits.

My understanding is that the benefit of using this urethane-based adhesive is that it cures to a putty-like texture that provides hold while still remaining soft underfoot for comfort. Reading the datasheet, it instructs me to use it for both the treads and the risers. I was surprised by this, as it is not printed on the bottle itself, and the associate who was clearly trying to upsell me on the hardwood retreads themselves didn't mention it. I have already installed my new risers with regular old construction adhesive.

Did I make a meaningful mistake here? I haven't been able to find much else about this on the internet. I made my own risers out of plywood instead of spending 4x as much money on the dogshit veneered LDF at the store, so I'm not really worried about them getting damaged by the occasional accidental kick. I have a feeling this is just a scumbag ploy by Bostik to try to milk another $40 out of me, but I just don't know if there is some other chemistry-related ramification from this that is going to rear its head down the line, and I've put a lot of care into this project.

Honestly, whether this is necessary or not, Bostik can go fuck themselves for only putting this on the product data sheet (accessed online) and not the bottle itself, it basically guarantees that a first-time user will leave the store with less product than recommended. Just irritating on so many levels.