OT: HOME DIY....Gripes...Advice...and Memorable Nightmares

[Ozimoto]

Trade high schools here in Ct have a waiting list

That's good to hear. Maybe Mike Rowe is getting through to some youngsters out there. We have a friend whose son decided college wasn't for him and went to school to be a certified welder. He can work as much or as little as he wants and while he still has some student load debt, it's nothing like he would have had from a four year school.

 

[Beemer]

Trade high schools here in Ct have a waiting list

Well that is excellent news. I know in many other places they can't attract enough students.

 

[Zanzman]

That's good to hear. Maybe Mike Rowe is getting through to some youngsters out there. We have a friend whose son decided college wasn't for him and went to school to be a certified welder. He can work as much or as little as he wants and while he still has some student load debt, it's nothing like he would have had from a four year school.

Funny I’m in the same room as his brother right now…. Not a dyi er

 

[Bigboote]

I can't help wondering if the emphasis on "everyone goes to college" and the attitude that "trade schools are for losers" that many people have today is doing this country (and a lot of young people) a great disservice.

There was a piece on this just last night on the News Hour (PBS). They opened up with a guy who owns a plumbing company in Washington state. He said most of his guys earn in excess of $200k/year (!), and he could hire 8 guys right now. But, as you said, the whole "everybody needs to go to college" mantra preached by seemingly every public official has made it socially unacceptable to be a plumber. They also cited electricians, welders, etc.

I've been bemoaning this for years. My brother-in-law at one point many years ago was constantly about 6-8 skilled machinists short of what his company really needed (see the plumber's remark above). At my place of work we were having so much trouble getting machinists that we resurrected an in-house apprenticeship program. But every person who went through it bolted as soon as his gig was up, so it was closed down again. These folks make a very good living.

The US needs skilled labor, and we need to respect the folks who do it. I respect anyone who's good at hizzer job. It's time we acknowledge that a good plumber or machinist is worth more than a lousy college grad.

 

[Bigboote]

Well that is excellent news. I know in many other places they can't attract enough students.

(re trade schools)

It may be bad news -- it could be a sign that there aren't nearly enough schools. When I lived in central Virginia, there was one for something like 20 counties covering a few thousand square miles.

 

[EdSaid]

A friend of mine, Rich the one with the beard, is premiering on HGTV's "Houses with History." The show is on Wednesday night at 9:00pm eastern time. They are renovating a 1700's house a couple of towns over.

Houses With History - 2021 Preview

In HGTV's Houses With History, passionate preservationists Mike Lemieux, Rich Soares and Jen MacDonald meticulously restore vintage historic homes around Plymouth, Massachusetts. Check out a sneak peek.

www.hgtv.com

 

[ClifSpliffy]

(re trade schools)

It may be bad news -- it could be a sign that there aren't nearly enough schools. When I lived in central Virginia, there was one for something like 20 counties covering a few thousand square miles.

in the last 5 years or so, something like 1,500,000 less students are enrolled in college (started way before the bug), with 70% of those being males. talk more with young men, and you will learn that, well, this says it all;


where i live, all (well, not all, but plenty) the cool kids, boys and girls, are heading over to eb, or up to p and w, to size up that '1 year, then 65k' or such opportunity. the pendulum had to swing back from generations of people who..... cain't..... do...... a..... dang...... thing. all it took was cash, the 'murican way. (whewww, that was close. now, when we get back to our unfinished business of bringing home moar production, well.... have u seen the price to rent a shipping container lately?).
mebbe sum of youse don't live in a place where people, all people, are out and about. mebbe sum of youse don't interact, on an almost daily basis, with all kinds of folks, of all ages. masked, unmasked, jabbed, not jabbed, whatever, and from day one. and right here in Connecticut.
we're moving on, deal with it.

 

[huskeynut]

When I became a volunteer firefighter in the early 1980's we had guys in the station who could take the trucks apart and repair them in house. Motors, fire pumps, tanks, you name it.

The guys coming in now barely know which end of a wrench to use. Repairs are certainly more challenging as a lot of stuff is controlled by electronics rather than old school mechanical controls, but I can't help wondering if the emphasis on "everyone goes to college" and the attitude that "trade schools are for losers" that many people have today is doing this country (and a lot of young people) a great disservice.

I am relatively competent at most DIY stuff that I undertake, but I don't have the patience to do most things well. My attempts at dry wall and painting don't turn out well for the most part, but when I tackle mechanical type stuff that usually is a win for me. However, to quote Dirty Harry, "a man's got to know his limitations."

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!

I taught for 33 years in CT. While I was doing a high school gig, I constantly heard the "you must go to college" and trade schools "are for losers" from guidance counselors. The shop classes were being phased out because they were no longer viable. I said it then and I will say it now - college is not for everyone. There are those students who succeed by working with their hands.

There are also students who are not ready for college after high school. Our oldest son is/was one of those. He tried college for a couple of years and left and got a job. Working a few jobs led him to his career. He went into to retail/ customer service. Long story made short - he did get his college degree when he saw the value in it - business management. He is now a successful sales manager for a Subaru dealership.

 

[Minicoop69]

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!

I taught for 33 years in CT. While I was doing a high school gig, I constantly heard the "you must go to college" and trade schools "are for losers" from guidance counselors. The shop classes were being phased out because they were no longer viable. I said it then and I will say it now - college is not for everyone. There are those students who succeed by working with their hands.

There are also students who are not ready for college after high school. Our oldest son is/was one of those. He tried college for a couple of years and left and got a job. Working a few jobs led him to his career. He went into to retail/ customer service. Long story made short - he did get his college degree when he saw the value in it - business management. He is now a successful sales manager for a Subaru dealership.

I am in Indiana and teach high school math. I am constantly telling the kids who aren't doing so well or who I think might not do well in college to go to a trade. We have a Career Center for our county, but it isn't like the vocational schools in CT where I am from. Only within the last 2 years did our state make a big time push for trades. It is part of graduation now, if you aren't going the college route to try to gain knowledge in something like that.

Big problem is where I live, we are the biggest producers of RVs in the states and most kids who barely graduate go to a factory where they make really good money at 19 years old and don't want to go do trades because of it. They don't realize the benefit down the road.

 

[and one]

As a kid I don't ever remember picking up so much as a screwdriver. At 19 I ended up in the Air Force and was trained to fix aircraft instrument/avionic systems. At my first duty assignment I was issued a set is tools and was told to go over the list of what I was supposed to have been issued to be sure everything was there. I had to ask the supply guy to help me with that as I had no idea what a lot of those shiney tools were.

Thankfully four years of troubleshooting and fixing airplanes gave me the skills to do a lot of DYI projects for the rest of my life. I know my limitations and call in the pros when needed but can hack my way through most of the everyday maintenance things that need doing.

When I do hire someone I generally watch how they do the job; sometimes I learn that next time I can do it, sometimes I realize that what the pro can do in an hour would take me all day and come out worse.

Most frustrating to me: when cutting wood or tile with angles or cutouts I tend to get it backwards. I know this, but try as I might I still tend to get it wrong.

 

[Beemer]

As a kid I don't ever remember picking up so much as a screwdriver. At 19 I ended up in the Air Force and was trained to fix aircraft instrument/avionic systems. At my first duty assignment I was issued a set is tools and was told to go over the list of what I was supposed to have been issued to be sure everything was there. I had to ask the supply guy to help me with that as I had no idea what a lot of those shiney tools were.

Thankfully four years of troubleshooting and fixing airplanes gave me the skills to do a lot of DYI projects for the rest of my life. I know my limitations and call in the pros when needed but can hack my way through most of the everyday maintenance things that need doing.

When I do hire someone I generally watch how they do the job; sometimes I learn that next time I can do it, sometimes I realize that what the pro can do in an hour would take me all day and come out worse.

Most frustrating to me: when cutting wood or tile with angles or cutouts I tend to get it backwards. I know this, but try as I might I still tend to get it wrong.

I totally get your last sentence. For the life of me I can't do angles or cutouts so unless it is a straight cut forget it!

 

[Skeets]

I totally get your last sentence. For the life of me I can't do angles or cutouts so unless it is a straight cut forget it!

My father, a carpenter, taught me how to do "coping joints" for molding. Much easier than trying to get 45 degree angles correct. If you don't get 45 degree angles exactly correct it looks like crap.

 

[msf22b]

I've spent a lifetime (reasonably successful) never touching a tool
can't do a thing...boat, car, house.
I love to sail, but if anything goes wrong with my C&C (usually anticipated) its attended to by my wonderful yard in Westbrook (Harry's), they do it
My wife is a Cultural Revolution survivor and worked in a tool and dye factory among other things.
She is the fixer-upper in the household.
I'm not exactly proud of my ineptitude but it doesn't bother me much either.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

general observations (not General Chaos, that dude is everrwhere...)
nobody likes painting.
sheetrock? installation no biggie, buuuuut, taping? forget that, iffn u expect to review ur work honestly, and be happy.
cutting angles and such wrong? welcome to a common reality. like much of this stuff, practice is the solution. except taping. still not an answer for that. nuthin but 'lowered expectations' is the solution there. and why do they call that tool a cheese grater? iffn ur roughing down the mud, and it's coming off in little pieces that look like shredded cheese, then u blew it cuz the mud ain't dry yet. we did some 'mudding' in a service building a while back. mebbe by halloween the ambient climate (see, 'skeeters') will allow us to start sanding it down. lol.

 

[huskeynut]

As a kid I don't ever remember picking up so much as a screwdriver. At 19 I ended up in the Air Force and was trained to fix aircraft instrument/avionic systems. At my first duty assignment I was issued a set is tools and was told to go over the list of what I was supposed to have been issued to be sure everything was there. I had to ask the supply guy to help me with that as I had no idea what a lot of those shiney tools were.

Thankfully four years of troubleshooting and fixing airplanes gave me the skills to do a lot of DYI projects for the rest of my life. I know my limitations and call in the pros when needed but can hack my way through most of the everyday maintenance things that need doing.

When I do hire someone I generally watch how they do the job; sometimes I learn that next time I can do it, sometimes I realize that what the pro can do in an hour would take me all day and come out worse.

Most frustrating to me: when cutting wood or tile with angles or cutouts I tend to get it backwards. I know this, but try as I might I still tend to get it wrong.

I completely understand the problem of cutting angles. I had that problem until I read an article saying to make templates and mark them - 45 degree outside, 45 degree inside and so on. I had a large container of templates. It definitely made cutting crown molding easier.

My next project will involve angles. I'm working on the templates now.

 

[Puppy Love]

I have always been all about DIY…built an entire bathroom..here are a couple of ‘in progress’ snaps. Now that I’m retired, and theoretically have the time, we have a contractor coming in to do flooring for the kitchen. I just don’t want to do it. Go figure!