construction stories. the good and the bad

[CoCoSativas]

I was just messin with ya dude, I only called you a pussy cuz you said you worked construction, and that's just like callin your buddy "dude" on all the jobsites I grew up on...new construction not this politically correct working in a homeowners residence watch what you're saying type of jobs.

I rarely wore a mask when I was spraying straight water based paint, even on ceilings...and spent a lot of time, just as you said with my jaw hanging down catching all the fallout. you wouldn't catch my spraying oil-based paints or primers without a respirator or sealer, lacquer, lacquer-stain etc. though...that stuff is harsh.

spraying is one of those things you've got to be able to get into a zone and then you just go...a set of headphones and a decent enough helper to keep your paint full and you can set the gun on cruise control and just start at the front door and go right until you get back to the front door.

fwiw, I won't mess with mold at all...if I see it, I'm out. and the same thing goes for potentially human excrement...I'm not going anywhere near it. I hate sheetrock dust more than anything, and I'll wear a mask/t-shirt if I'm doing anything more than a small patch...and I wet-sand my patches to keep the dust to a minimum.

the paint from the 80's and early 90's was WAY more harsh than the stuff that I worked with...I'm 29, been painting since I was 12 so that's 17 years...so my paint inhaling timeline starts in the late 90's when paint was a little less toxic than it previously was...and I honestly didn't work but maybe a couple weekends a month until I was about 17 and started painting 60+hrs a week.

so, although I didn't wear a mask a lot of the time I was spraying...I'm relieved that I no longer work in an environment that wearing a respirator is much of a concern(I wear a respirator in the garden anytime I spray)

I missed this post when I started posting.

Yeah im glad you agree the kilz and oils, dont inhale... Its just common sense.

Lol to you catching the paint too. Close that flapper my friend!

Yeah I dont just work construction I live it. However I do alot of reno, and stuff where I deal with clients face to face. Having a oldtime hardhead attitude.... Good luck keeping contracts. I have a zero tolerance policy for use of foul language in occupied homes, in front of clients. Same with hostile attitudes, rowdy behaviour, unsafe work. I dont fuck around ill fire anyone who works for me without question. Its the modern day, people demand respect and decent behaviour. Not a bunch of fresh out the joint hooligans. I do hire guys with records sometimes, but they work by the same rules or gone. It applies to everyone. Even me, if im being a fuckhead my guys are obligated to say something. We all have bad days and ive removed myself from jobs because I lost my temper, at my guys request. Its so we dont loose jobs. Gotta do what you gotta do. I never go hungry though man, and my Rep is great. Client reviews rave my professional attitude and top quality work. I have a single BBB complaint, which is a joke. Its because I lost my cool though and it effects my rating. Really fucking smart. Last time I lost it on a client and got in their face. I learned my lesson.

You are only a few years older than me. Do you own a company as well? What do you do now if not the daily spray grind if you dont mind me asking? You are definitely still young enough to get down with the rest of us...

 

[whadeezlrg]

.

 

[CoCoSativas]

Yo sorry I missed your first post bro... Glad we agree about the oils... Sorry my last one came in a little late.

 

[snake11]

Not only respirators, protect your skin!!! Harmful chemicals can be absorbed through your skin.

 

[CoCoSativas]

Not only respirators, protect your skin!!! Harmful chemicals can be absorbed through your skin.

No doubt.

Particles are my biggest threat but I deal with fumes and vapours on occasion. I absolutley wear skin and eye protection. Some deadly stuff enters the body freely though any available avenue.

Thanks for pointing out to folks at home who may read this to use proper cution, dont do a safety half step, be safe 100%.

I should have taken my own advice today on that one... Should have brought my scuba setup. For folks at home I mean supplied air respirator not like diving gear cause its not the same at all. Same concept different gear.

We all cut corners in life but when it comes to construction dont. If you are a half asser leave it to the pros bros! Save your money elsewhere.

For those commited diy guys, rock on but be safe...

 

[ronbo51]

When I first moved to Maine in 1981 the economy was horrible. Interest rates were at 17% and no 30 year loans were being made. Maine was always economically depressed but it was really bad. I got some work in Belfast, a run down port at the head of Penobscot Bay. We were renovating some business exterior. Some guys we knew got a job working on a boat. The hull had been sealed shut. An old trick was to light a big candle and weld the hatch shut and the oxygen would get burned off and the insides would not rust or some shit. These guys popped the hatch and climbed down. The first guy got to the bottom of the ladder and collapsed. His buddy jumped down to help. He collapsed. The third guy started to go down but retreated. No oxygen. Two dead guys. Another job I worked on was an addition to a hospital. The foundation crew was applying some product to the concrete foundation in the trench and the fumes overwhelmed a guy and he went down. A second guy tried to help and he went down. Two more dead guys. I have known a lot of roofers. Eventually every one of them has a fall. I still remember humping 30 squares of shingles up a 40 foot ladder loading a roof. I loved having a roof all stripped and an afternoon thunderstorm blows up out of nowhere and the mad tarp and plastic scramble trying to avert disaster. There are plenty of things I refused to do. Never got fired for being safe though. I saw more than a few guys get ruined for life trying to be manly and stupid. I never prided myself in being stupid.

 

[blastfrompast]

Just remembered what a dumbass did on a jobsite...He pulled 2 stunts that could have killed himself, and in the 2nd case everyone else also.

1.
We had rollable scaffolding set-up as we were doing pipe fitting type work overhead. Well Rule #1 when moving the scaffolding was never push from inside the scaffolding... Cause if it twists, odds are your going to get a wrench or bucket of parts in the head... Well dumbass goes in the middle, we are all yelling at him to STOP...what happens...it twists, and the boards come crashing down inches from his head.... big thick 2x12's, bucket of tools and such...

#2
Same guy, we are on our smoke break... so what does dumbass do...he goes over to where they keep all the compressed gasses and starts poking the top of one with the end of a screwdriver thru the safety cap on top... We dont notice,eventually dumbass hits the valve and opens up a tank of nitrogen THANKFULLY...and there he is trying to keep the gas in with his gloved hands..... RIGHT beside about 20 tanks of plasma, o2, aceteline, etc. etc. FUCK me...there we are all smoking 20 ft away and dumbass is there with a lit ciggie ... SO lucky he picked Nitrogen...

So what does he do...he fucking runs outta the dam and start boogying up the road....Supervisor had to drive after the guy...

 

[TNTBudSticker]

Gotta love the name fuckups. Even funnier when someone realizes... The looks...

The guy has been signing my paycecks for 2 weeks with my name on it.

Countless stare from him and I didn't say nothing.I'm like that.Just stare back and on your merrily way with the check.

 

[CoCoSativas]

When I first moved to Maine in 1981 the economy was horrible. Interest rates were at 17% and no 30 year loans were being made. Maine was always economically depressed but it was really bad. I got some work in Belfast, a run down port at the head of Penobscot Bay. We were renovating some business exterior. Some guys we knew got a job working on a boat. The hull had been sealed shut. An old trick was to light a big candle and weld the hatch shut and the oxygen would get burned off and the insides would not rust or some shit. These guys popped the hatch and climbed down. The first guy got to the bottom of the ladder and collapsed. His buddy jumped down to help. He collapsed. The third guy started to go down but retreated. No oxygen. Two dead guys. Another job I worked on was an addition to a hospital. The foundation crew was applying some product to the concrete foundation in the trench and the fumes overwhelmed a guy and he went down. A second guy tried to help and he went down. Two more dead guys. I have known a lot of roofers. Eventually every one of them has a fall. I still remember humping 30 squares of shingles up a 40 foot ladder loading a roof. I loved having a roof all stripped and an afternoon thunderstorm blows up out of nowhere and the mad tarp and plastic scramble trying to avert disaster. There are plenty of things I refused to do. Never got fired for being safe though. I saw more than a few guys get ruined for life trying to be manly and stupid. I never prided myself in being stupid.

Thats really sad to hear about the worksite deaths man. Thats a real buzzkill...

Yeah I dont do roofing. I hate heigts, thats one of the few construction things I dont do. Scaffolding.. No fucking way.

Highest I go on a ladder is 24 feet. I dont go up 40 footers. I get vertigo from heights. I would likely fall to my death.

 

[CoCoSativas]

Just remembered what a dumbass did on a jobsite...He pulled 2 stunts that could have killed himself, and in the 2nd case everyone else also.

1.
We had rollable scaffolding set-up as we were doing pipe fitting type work overhead. Well Rule #1 when moving the scaffolding was never push from inside the scaffolding... Cause if it twists, odds are your going to get a wrench or bucket of parts in the head... Well dumbass goes in the middle, we are all yelling at him to STOP...what happens...it twists, and the boards come crashing down inches from his head.... big thick 2x12's, bucket of tools and such...

#2
Same guy, we are on our smoke break... so what does dumbass do...he goes over to where they keep all the compressed gasses and starts poking the top of one with the end of a screwdriver thru the safety cap on top... We dont notice,eventually dumbass hits the valve and opens up a tank of nitrogen THANKFULLY...and there he is trying to keep the gas in with his gloved hands..... RIGHT beside about 20 tanks of plasma, o2, aceteline, etc. etc. FUCK me...there we are all smoking 20 ft away and dumbass is there with a lit ciggie ... SO lucky he picked Nitrogen...

So what does he do...he fucking runs outta the dam and start boogying up the road....Supervisor had to drive after the guy...

Number 2... He deserved it to be something else. Im surprised the super actually chased him. If one of my guys did that id be hoping they would be running off to off themselves. For real, thats just sad...

 

[mrcreosote]

Funniest thing I ever saw was a huge box truck backing up hard into a porta-potty and knocking it right over.

The guy inside got so mad he turned blue from head to foot. That tank was FULL.

I don't think the screams of laughter from 40 guys helped at all. After everyone roared themselves into a stupor, somebody yelled out "Hey Jimmy, don't worry about it...Shit happens."

Everyone took off again.

 

[CoCoSativas]

Funniest thing I ever saw was a huge box truck backing up hard into a porta-potty and knocking it right over.

The guy inside got so mad he turned blue from head to foot. That tank was FULL.

I don't think the screams of laughter from 40 guys helped at all. After everyone roared themselves into a stupor, somebody yelled out "Hey Jimmy, don't worry about it...Shit happens."

Everyone took off again.

Oh yeah thats ragged. Ahahaha thats a good one. Poor smurf motherfucKer, bet that was foul

 

[CoCoSativas]

My deaf employee was going to move a lightbox and wire. He didnt turn off the switch or breaker.

He pulled the wire out amd the hot hit the box and SPARKS!!! Ahahaha I laughed so hard. Hes like holy fuck! Which sounds hillarious when a deaf person swears like that. Hes not completely deaf he has a cochlear implant that allows him to hear somewhat. He also uses sign language. I learned it when I hired him to make communication in loud environment possible.

I smoked more weed today than ive ever on the job. Gotta love Friday, especially Friday of a long weekend...

 

[CoCoSativas]

What a day. I had a city inspection for "jobsite safety " someone complained to the safety billies... Why... Anyway thats nice when i have a rough inspection coming tomorrow and still needed to get things done.

It cost me 2 hours of my time, and that costs alot of money. Shut down, paying my guys, a combined total of 250 per hour sitting. 500 bucks down the toilet because someone said we arent safe.

That fucker wont be safe if i find out who it was... We are probably one of the top 10 safest crews in town. Accident free for almost a whole year (majour injury, more than a little cut)

Night ic, its bed time now for this guy. Yay nother 10 hours tomorrow great

 

[Skinny Leaf]

A few years ago I was working on a high-rise building. I was standing at the window watching the crane operator lift steel beams from the street over the high-rise and set them on the other side of the building. He picked up a few off the truck no problem. Then he picked one up and it didn't go straight up. It started twisting and the next thing you know, that 30ft steel beam ends up in a window on the seventh floor of the building I was working in. We were working on the sixth floor. We went up to the next floor and sure enough about 8ft of that beam was through the window in the building. The window guys had just finished installing all the windows and had tore down their scaffolding. Hey all respect for those guys operating those one-legged cranes.

 

[CoCoSativas]

A few years ago I was working on a high-rise building. I was standing at the window watching the crane operator lift steel beams from the street over the high-rise and set them on the other side of the building. He picked up a few off the truck no problem. Then he picked one up and it didn't go straight up. It started twisting and the next thing you know, that 30ft steel beam ends up in a window on the seventh floor of the building I was working in. We were working on the sixth floor. We went up to the next floor and sure enough about 8ft of that beam was through the window in the building. The window guys had just finished installing all the windows and had tore down their scaffolding. Hey all respect for those guys operating those one-legged cranes.

Cranes are tough to run, and a crazy responsibility i would never be a crane guy.

Those window guys must have been happy and sad at the same time. More work, but sad to see your shit get fucked up

 

[wolfhoundaddy]

I just found a klein tape measure under a house in the crawl space. Hope it belonged to the low voltage guys. They ran all their wire, pulled all the batt insulation down and left it all hangin.

 

[wolfhoundaddy]

grand canyon

grand canyon

One of my more memorable jobs was building a cabin in Grand Canyon at Indian Gardens. We had a little helicopter like the one on Mash. Used it as a boom vehicle. We took the cabin apart in panels, first the roof, then walls, and last floor. Used the chopper to rebuild it up the canyon 300 yards. It is now the trail crew bunkhouse.
We took it apart in the middle of all those big cottonwoods. The tag line was short and made for exciting times with all the prop wash and noise.
I would leave the rim at 4 am monday and hike in to be to work at 6 am. I had 40 hrs. in by thursday at noon. Then they crammed two of us in the passenger seat, no doors, and took off. It was late summer and he had to fly right at the red wall to get any lift. Saw lots of big horns and Indian ruins on the flight out.
I was on that job 3 mos.aug. thru oct. Great time to be there. Slept out every night on a cot with a 4 " pad.

 

[CoCoSativas]

So cool man

 

[OranguTrump]

Few years back, we hired major co. to strip & reshingle roof (insurance company made us on renewal). Rep PROMISES no subs, all their own guys. Turns out it's BS, couple days later I've got stripped roof and crack head sub/subs not showing to do work. Kids come home from school and crack heads sleeping on my front lawn. I raise major shit storm with original company & get 30% off my tab. Took a week & some major bad juju, but saved a G+ on my bill. Fucking skeevy subs - really sad work ethic, BUT saved me some $$$, so fuckem.