My basement. Just noticed a crack in the joists. My wifes father recommended raising the jacks a bit and putting in a 6x6 instead of a 4×4. Can i just sister the main joist? And do you think my house is going to fall down? Built in 1975. Way up north in maine.
I just thought id rub it in that im going on vacation. First time in about 15 years. Doc says if I dont take a break ill probably die early from overwork. Ill probably get shark bit on the first day, or get the flu or something to balancethings out.
Other Carpenters, do yall take a vacation? If so where you going? Where you been? Im going on a cruise. Im leaving my singular employee here to man the battlestation. And by Battlestation, I mean the porta-potty that he uses as his private anime theater.
I plan to paste a photo of myself inside it so he doesn't get seperation anxiety.
Any idea how to repair this?
I have a drawer that has a cover that opens from the bottom. The leverage all goes into the divisor below the drawer. That divisor seems to be rotating on a central pin. This means the cover doesn’t fully close and hangs open more than it should. I’m not sure if it used to be glued in place and has since popped free. I have tried to wood glue it all back in place. I put a small supporting piece behind the divisor, but that didn’t hold. There is no clearance for a drill on the back side, and I am concerned if I tried to mount a support bracket the wood would split. Is there something obvious I’m missing?
Found an E3 20C Estwing yesterday among an estate lot that is now my new pride and joy
Doing a T&G Pine project, not sure how to terminate the boards where vaulted ceiling and the dormer intersect. Not to mention where the walls intersect with the ceiling. Both the roof and the Dormer are 8:12 Slope. Thanks!
TL;DR: PA wants to be more PM-y, learning on my own and looking for reading on specific topics listed below. Body text is mostly background/a vent.
I work as the PA (project admin) for a small custom home & reno GC in the Midwest. I'm in my 30's and I came into construction after a 10 year career in an adjacent blue-collar industry. In my previous role, I was similar to a PA, but I also was the first point of contact for my clients/prospective clients. My boss immediately started training me like our technicians would be, including actual site work and licensing. The idea was if I could answer 80% of the questions or concerns that came in, it saved on actual labor. I loved it, became very good at it, and now I'm realizing how spoiled I was.
My current employer is great. We're constantly busy, we have an excellent reputation, and since we mostly work in high-end I get to see some really cool stuff. I handle pre-construction for all of our projects; I order all the finishes, fixtures, doors, cabinetry, everything you'd want to have on hand before project start. I also act as a meat shield between my clients and my subs/vendors. Pull permits, organize POs, OSHA/Lead compliance, "duties as assigned". I had no background in ANY of this 3-ish years ago, and I've done pretty well. Steady raises, happy clients, good working relationships with my coworkers and subs. I think I've shown I can learn, ask good questions, and have genuine interest.
The entire 3 years, my supe and boss have both made promises to get me into the field more. My biggest hang-up is that I don't actually have a fucking clue how things are built. My only true mistakes have been "oddball" situations, but instead of explaining why something is different, showing me how to account for it, etc., they just fix it and I don't generally even know until after the fact. Everyone is so busy here that they can't or won't take the time to drag me with. I truly do not believe they're intentionally doing it- there's just always a fire to be put out and I already have a shit ton to do. I'm just tired of feeling stupid- or like wallpaper- when technical conversations are going on around me.
I've ordered the Fundamentals of Residential Carpentry from the sidebar, but I'm really desperate for more immersion. I also have picked up "Architecture; Reference and Specification Book" by McMorrough and "The Complete Visual Guide to Building a House" from a goodwill bin. Podcasts are fine, but I would prefer whatever I'm reading/listening/watching to take an almost textbook approach to the topic. I have a Kindle/Kindle Unlimited, so bonus points if I can digitally read it.
Things I really want a better understanding of:
If you made it this far, thanks. I love what I'm doing and where I'm doing it at, and I know there's a lot to learn within my own role still. But these things make me feel frustrated and stupid, and I don't like to tell people I work "in construction" because it feels like some sort of stolen valor.
I’ve been doing carpentry for 2.5 years, 25 years old. I’ve had a lot of trouble carving myself out a career path, I’ve been doing kitchens for the past year or so and occasionally some Reno and framing work am currently waiting for the union registration to open for my city. Due to the fact there’s not enough demand for workers (major North American city of 3 million people btw) ive been waiting for around 8 months for the union to start taking people and nothing has happened yet, and it doesn’t happen on a fixed schedule so there’s no guarantee its gonna happen anytime soon. According to the website, the most I could hope to make from being a union carpenter in my city is about $200 less per bi weekly paycheque then my girlfriend makes at her entry level serving job. Im sitting here waiting for the union to open, where I can expect to be on a salary of living paycheque to paycheque renting a room with other people for at least another year and a half. Im just jaded and confused. I enjoy woodworking quite a bit but im starting to think the glory days of making a successful living off of being a carpenter may be over in my city. My boss always tells me about how this is a humble career and I can’t expect too much, I don’t expect to be a millionaire but to be able to own a house someday would be nice and its pretty humbling to be doing framing and installing $4000 cabinets in peoples houses all the while making literally half as much money as my girlfriend makes taking peoples orders at a restaurant. I’ve also considered maybe i just don’t know HOW to make money from this career and if I knew better how to take my own side jobs or maybe start my own company someday then I could make a better living. So yeah if anybody has any advice let me know, im just feeling very lost and confused, I like carpentry quite a bit and would love to have a successful career but I have no guidance as to how to make it work for myself and im starting to feel like I should just give up and do it as a side gig and take up contracting or real estate instead. Let me know what you guys think
The roof, the doors and the benches were made by him and his crew.
I fucked up the baseboard — now it’s chipped/peeling at the bottom with a gap and scratches.
Need cheap, reversible DIY fix before renewal. Ideas?
Forgot to add pics to the previous post so I deleted to repost:
What would you do in this scenario? Accessing from the treads not really an option…
I have moderate carpentry skills, just not sure the best way to approach this. Every staircase I have encountered thus far has had walls on both sides lol
Edit to add: I’m thinking dowels and some Titebond…?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
My family owns a small property in Norway that formerly was a farm. We’ve since turned it into a drinking hall.
Every piece of the hall was felled from the forest around it, sculpted and fit into place.
The large building in the back is the full hall, the smaller building in the front is the outside kitchen and bread ovens.
It has taken more than a decade to complete. My favorite piece is the gate to the main lawn.
Downstairs: https://imgur.com/gallery/meadery-ZZANNm0
Summer is here in the swamplands of Louisiana and I'm already sick of the heat. You guys have any recommendations on cargo shorts or something breathable? My balls thank you!
Looking to rebuild this deck, how would I support the section of roof this 6x6 is holding up? I'm replacing everything and putting in new vinyl railings, but worried about that post and baggage. It's there really much load on it to worry about?
Is there an alternative to trimming to perpendicular doors this way with a gap? I feel like there must be a better way.
I’m DYI’ing a 50’x32’ barn. Posts are 12’ above grade. At grade, I’m square. At the top my two sides are 32’ 1/2” and front side is 50’ 1”. Back wall is exactly 50’. My diagonals are off by 1”.
Rookie mistake: I’ve already nailed in my headers/beams. So what would you do?
A. Send it and try to adjust for the 1” when setting the trusses.
B. Cut the ring shank nails and free up the post(s) that need to move and then ratchet them into place, brace, and re-nail?
C. The thing you’re going to tell me because you’ve done this before and I haven’t so I don’t know to think of it.
I want to suspend a pair of vintage Bose 901 speakers from a wood rafters ceiling using eye screws and chains. This is apparently a common way one used to mount them. Each speaker is quite heavy (35 lbs / 16 kg) so I would use four chains each. (See attached instruction manual that just shows how it would be done). But I always have trouble with this:
I would use 16lb capacity light #14 jack chains, four individual lengths. Maybe I can get slightly stronger gauge but since four chains I would think I don’t have to use super heavy duty.
what size eye screw would you recommend that I use? The speaker cabinets are a bit more than 1/2 inch walnut laminated particle board and each eye screw would go in there. Would I get heavy gauge ones?
same eye screw in ceiling as in speaker or longer ones in ceiling?
for each eye screw, what size pilot hole would I drill?
I’m so paranoid that they would pull out of the speakers or not get good enough grip there or in the ceiling timbers. I always have trouble figuring out pilot hole sizes for important eye screws like this. Any advice would be appreciated!
I'd like to build this a frame kayak rack, what angle would this 4x4 at the top be cut at?
20 yo 6’1 220 with no experience in the gym
Looking for opinions before spending money replacing this whole door.
The door no longer closes/latches properly and I was told the wood is completely worn down and that it may need a completely new door.
From what I can see, the frame/jamb area around the latch is damaged/splitting and the door may be sagging slightly.
Does this look repairable with hinge adjustment/jamb repair/strike plate work, or does this actually look like full door replacement territory?
Attached photo for reference. Trying to figure out if this is a handyman repair or a full carpentry/door replacement job.