After several meetings, site visits, and of course navigating through circuitous telephone menus, I finally obtained the documentation needed to satisfy all the requirements to get a demolition permit in-hand.
After several meetings, site visits, and of course navigating through circuitous telephone menus, I finally obtained the documentation needed to satisfy all the requirements to get a demolition permit in-hand.
Producing the Katz Roadshow has provided benefits I never imagined. One reward has been the almost electrical experience of meeting carpenters who share the same passion for craftsmanship—which in our business also means a passion for productivity and solid profits; a passion for education and teamwork; a deep distaste for waste, and an eye for almost microscopic detail—all of which can be summed up in a single word: Respect. Since we first began publishing THISisCarpentry, our mission statement has been “Honor Your Craft.” You could just as well put it: Respect Your Craft.
Murphy Beds are incredibly popular, probably because they help us use space more efficiently, and today, with living space at a premium, that’s critical. It sure was for me. I wanted to use the guest cabin I built down by the river as a yoga studio—after all, guests aren’t that common, but yoga is.
If you’re building today you’ve probably succumbed to the demands of the ubiquitous smartphone, being assaulted with job-related texts, emails, and notifications—not to mention Instagrams from Mike Guertin and tips from Gary Katz on THISisCarpentry.
As much as I love technology, it can be a relief to take an afternoon off, and just hold and read a book. This is exactly what I did when my roof framing expert and friend, Will Holladay, emailed me asking if I would review his latest book, “From the Top Plates Up: A Production Roof Framer’s Journey.”
As a kid, Michael wasn’t known as a strong student. He got into trouble a lot, or maybe trouble found him. “My parents weren’t saving for college,” Michael says, “they were saving for bail.”
Michael Haynes grew up on a family farm in a blue-collar rural area of Warwick, Rhode Island. His parents worked hard to make ends meet. Both his father and uncle built their own houses from the ground up. Michael learned how to work hard and how to work with his hands.
When Haynes entered high school, he decided to combine traditional learning with technical studies in construction by attending West Bay Vocational School (WBVS) in Coventry, Rhode Island. Like a lot of tradespeople, Michael discovered he wasn’t a poor student, he simply learned better with his hands than with a chalkboard. In fact, at WBVS, Haynes excelled at learning and soon found a trade that could support his future. Read the full article…
Raise your hand if you have ever cut what you thought was a perfect crown cope only to find out it was open on the top or bottom? I’m raising my hand, too!
There is a great deal of misunderstanding about how copes work: for many carpenters, pressured by the need to ‘get the job done,’ cope joints are mysterious puzzles they haven’t the time or the patience to solve. But if we understand what makes a coped joint work then every cope can fit perfectly on the first try. Read the full article…
Some of you suspected the same thing that I did. And we were right to be suspicious. The reason I had so much trouble getting the real estate broker to accept my offer was because there was another buyer! Apparently, another investor was so sure the deal was done that he hired a structural engineer to evaluate the house and submit a report to the town stating the home was unsafe for habitation. That was the strategy! If the town issued an “Order to Demolish,” then they’d have to issue a permit to replace the existing home. But the “Order to Demolish” came to ME! Read the full article…
Not too long ago both of my wife’s parents passed and after about six months she took charge and decided to have their modest house fixed up and put on the market. A week later, sales agreements were signed with a 30-day closing date. Now the pressure was on to find a new place for her youngest brother who would need a new place to live.
My brother-in-law’s new place needed to be nearby, small, maintenance free, low cost and preferably not an apartment or condominium type complex.
As luck would have it, or at least that’s what it seemed like at the time, my wife noticed a “For Sale” sign in front of a very small property less than two miles from our house. Read the full article…
When I bought my little house in southern Oregon, I knew I’d be removing the existing concrete patio and the funky patio cover. The concrete had been mixed in a wheelbarrow and poured in sections, maybe over a decade or two, at least that was the forensic evidence. In some places the finish was smooth as glass, in others there was a heavy broom texture, and in a few sections, no finish at all. It was cracked and heaved. Read the full article…
Hi TiC Readers,
I have a somewhat perplexing exterior siding puzzle coming up, and I’m hoping that maybe one of you has previously experienced something similar and possibly already figured out an ingenious solution.
Installing trim packages in luxury custom homes today requires a stricter level of precision than ever before. When millwork is meticulously shop-drawn room by room and trim details flow between spaces, it’s crucial to have agreed-upon reference lines that are understood and trusted by multiple trades. Typically the General Contractor will set a benchmark, or horizontal axis line, at 48 or 60 in. AFF (above finish floor). Floor and ceiling planes are determined from this line, as well as door heads, horizontal trim elevations, and device heights. Grid lines may also be established on the floor to keep finish wall planes square and parallel. Collectively, all of these lines are referred to as axis lines, and serve as the three-dimensional starting point for locating finishes. Read the full article…
Dave Snyder is a lucky guy. He loves his work. Dave is the lead instructor for the Building Trades program at Adams County Tech Prep, in Gettysburg, PA. And Dave believes in training young folks who are genuinely interested in the building trades. Read the full article…
I recently took a little job to build a shelter over an entry door for an historical New England house. The budget was low, but the job satisfied my new motto: “Never again will I build something I didn’t design.”
I wanted to build something that could have been part of the original house, but this house presented a little mystery. Read the full article…
As usual, back in the day things were simpler. When it came to “running trim” or “trimming out” the exterior of a house, we used wood. We installed it with tried-and-true methods handed down from previous generations, and for the most part it stayed in place and provided years of trouble-free service.