The first GRIP RITE D-i-v-o-r-c-e

[Royd]

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OK, women, a little lesson here. Regardless of the angle of the roof, a roofing nail is installed perfectly perpendicular to the surface.
That is not the case, in framing.

The trick is to keep the hammer head perfectly parallel to the nail head, at all times, which requires some finess, because, as the nail gets shorter, we naturally want to swing the hammer from the same point we started at, instead of lowering the hand, ever so subtlely, to correspond with the driving of the nail.

Bent nails are caused by striking the nail at any angle other than parallel.

Most of your husbands and , honestly, most carpenters couldn't tell you this.

 

[StupidBird]

There's an old thread somewhere on BYC about all the ER visits and bloodshed with building projects. Very funny and educational.

 

[Whispering Winds]

This just made my day!!! I will giggle in the office all day long and everyone will think I am looney. I think they think that anyway, with all my critters!!

Men are just like that; DH is a wonderful anything, this guy can genuinely do anything he tries, BUT I wanted my alpaca barn a certain way and he is standing firm and now its screwed up. I wanted a gate in another spot, NOPE this will do. Well, it won't and now I have to buy another gate because he didn't listen to me, plus I wanted the hallway a little wider to back the truck into, and nope this will do. I am going with big bales this winter, because I am not carrying 100 bales 50 feet because he wouldn't widen that path a little bit. What really gets me, is he KNOWS he screwed up, but has to be in a certain mood

before he will admit he was wrong.

I want an aviary, not BIG one just about 6 feet long, 2 feet wide and 4 feet tall . . .the look on his face when I brought it up to him!! I needed a camera. You would have thought I asked him to carve my face on Mt. Rushmore.

 

[chicknerd]

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My method was to let DH do it his way and learn on his own (to avoid the above). I left Backyard Chickens for Dummies in the bathroom and after several days he started saying that the run had to be very strong, and predator proof. He thought of this 'himself.'

I stayed out of the way and didn't do anything unless asked. Now he is the one that is worried that the top of the run has only chickenwire on it. We dont use it at night, but he will fix it.

Of course, it didn't hurt that our dog chased a fox away from the run while under construction. And DH was close by.

 

[Royd]

Quote:
Sounds to me like there is potential for "The Travelling Coop Carpenter".

OK, women. I would gladly start a carpentry consulting thread on this website....You saw several problems, and you knew they were going to be problems, later on, down the road, but you were discouraged by your husband's "just get it done" attitude.


Lesson #1 All foundation work must be level, square and plumb...Then, the building will fall together, and all units will be dimensional...You won't end up with every rafter being an 1/8" longer and 1 degree steeper.

#2 Your best friend is is heavy plumbbob and some good nylon string. And Clamps, lots of clamps, especially the kind which can be closed with one hand.

 

[chicknerd]

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You can NEVER have enough clamps. I buy them every year as Christmas presents and they always want more (DH and all 3 boys too).

I think your thread is a great idea. I have always said the that only stupid question is the one that isn't asked, but it would be nice to have a place to ask that 'stupid' question and not seem stupid for asking it.

 

[EweSheep]

I never known my family (Dad's side) to use clamps on anything. They got many years of construction business between the brothers, three of them for sure. And an uncle that used to be in construction in homes and garages before he fell off the roof one day. Sure they use chalk lines, running a line on posts on corners and using the bubble bob and plump bob for the corners and top part of the posts, but that is rarely used.

Roofing nails were the best thing by far and until they came out with the pneumo nailing guns, that's even better! Arr Arr! Fast too! Tar paper was laid down and then the shingles. The vinyl trims were the hardest.

As for me, despite of all the things we have done to my house, I am still getting leaks just under the dormers which it would pool above the living room ceiling. No matter which direction we did, we could not find the source of the leak until Mother nature gave us rain and STILL get in. I have the feeling one day I am going to have a hole in my ceiling. Besides cussing out my Dad for inferior work but he knew he did everything by the book and it stumped him to no end. We thought maybe a nail somehow punchered the tar paper AND rubber seal (the valleys on the dormers). Nothing so far. Not sure if a professional can come out and use his moisture gun to FIND that troublesome leak. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I can post pictures if you guys wanna see it.

I can relate that to you, Welsummer, and hubby sometimes waits long enough until I get motivated to do something without him, got it done and he whines about it. I told him to get his big boy pants on and get it DONE.

I am not too keen using hammers but a nailing gun, no problem!

Now if I can find those powerful industrial size stapling gun that we can use it for our hardware wire projects, I 'll be a happy woman!

 

[Royd]

Quote:
On a bouncy roof, unless you nail very close to the rafters, you just have to accept the fact that the first two fingers, on your free hand, are going to take a beating....You rest the nail between your index and middle finger, pads up, and start the nail..It won't take long to learn to hit the target.

ETA: You are going to have to install a nailer, along the side of the rafter, where the sheathing is floating...You could rip a 2x4 in half, for this. Then, when you start to install the shingles, nail the sheathing to the nailer.

It's a common problem, especially with large trusses, if care is not taken, to pull the bow out, as you install sheathing.

 

[Royd]

Quote:
My experience is that leaks never start, where they appear. You can seldom fix a leak by glopping on 5 gallons of roofing cement...On a dormer, there should be a good flashing, extending out onto the roof, with the edges and fasteners sealed. No shingle nails should penetrate the flashing. Shingles should be bedded into cement, on top of the flashing.

ETA: A pnuematic roofing nailer[good quality, not Harbor Frieght junk] is a huge time saver, and worth the extra cost of the nails.

A crown stapler is a really good thing to have. I think mine shoots up to 2" staples, and the holding power is superior to a comparable nail.

 

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
On a bouncy roof, unless you nail very close to the rafters, you just have to accept the fact that the first two fingers, on your free hand, are going to take a beating....You rest the nail between your index and middle finger, pads up, and start the nail..It won't take long to learn to hit the target.

I found, not necessarily on roofing, but installing chicken wire, that rather than beating my fingers to pieces driving fencing staples I used my oldest rattiest pair of needlenose pliers to hold the staple. They look like they've been through a war, but my fingers are still mostly intact.
But then I bought my air nailer/stapler! Power tools!! I'll never go back to stone age tools!!