Home Improvement Today?

I’d be interested to see if insulation over the garage helps you. My builder stopped there too and if you see a difference I might try it, as well.

 

I think it has to do with people who are working from home. They've looked around and decided to finally start some improvement projects they've been putting off. I think that's contributing to the skilled labor shortage.

Also, the educational system encourages people to graduate from college instead of going into a trade, which is kind of a shame. There's good money in trades and high demand. Of course, STEM, law, and doctoral degrees are great too.

To quote Mike Rowe, “We’re lending money we don’t have to kids who can’t pay it back to educate them for jobs that don’t exist anymore..."

https://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/mike-rowe-high-schoolers-dont-rule-community-college-trade-school/

 

They probably ended up going to a new build and doing a job that will pay them 50 times more and be a lot less of a headache. They just shouldn’t tell customers they will come out, just bullshit them and say they are tied up.

 

I read the last part wrong.

Try getting a concrete bid in the PNW.

They are fat and lazy and forget the lean times so quickly.

 

I'm personally tired of chasing around contractors and independent laborers. the last couple of projects I've done on my house, I've gone through the home services of Home Depot and Lowes, and the process has generally been seamless, and much more enjoyable. Sucks, because I'd rather support a quality, independent tradesman, but every time I try to contact one and get a project going, its a headache.

 

Feels cooler already believe it or not after a couple hours. I need to see how it is when the temps go down outside first and get some fresh cooler air inside. Will def help out no question

 

Instead of doing "multi quotes" about the labor convo.

Yea usually the people blowing people off are the ones that over promise and over book jobs. Also prob just burnt out or theyre just lazy.
There are many reason but it really is a shame that they dont push trade jobs.

Its has been super busy for trade companies. Im getting pavers installed in the back of my house, they said 5-7 weeks till they get material...i need sprinkler system for my lawn, 2 months out to install. Pretty wild.

 

The biggest problem with trades jobs is a lot are under paid. I’m in Trades and have a pretty easy job and pretty decent pay. But then you have people who sit in ac all day, in sales or whatever who don’t do much of any physical work making 6 figures plus. Which is more than I and most skilled trade jobs are paying. Before I’m ravaged by people telling me how stressful their jobs are and how hard they work in the AC, most jobs are stressful and I’m not implying these people sit there all day doing nothing. They call it work for a reason. I just feel most tradesmen skilled or not work alot harder then most people who work in an office setting. I came from the automotive and now I moved to manufacturing. I used to work with sales and finance people who didn’t do a whole lot of work, and made double what other techs and I made. We’d have to buy thousands of dollars of tools to make our living and these guys got supplied a computer, stapler, and whatever else they needed. When you work for the largest auto group in the state, sales are pretty much generated for you. There were a couple of people who really were busy but they also had an assistant(s). A couple would sell 500+ cars a year. But if you break that down it’s less than 2 cars a day. It doesn’t take long to deliver a car and when you’ve done it for as long as they have they already have the clients build up. Most are coming back because their lease is up or it’s been several years since their last purchase. The dealership has a list of the leases that are set to expire, so a couple of quick phone calls or fliers mailed out can certainly help you get a new sale. It’s certainly not for everyone and that’s why people stick to the trades. I just always have personally felt that someone who’s doing a ton of physical work, abusing their body’s should be compensated better than someone who does mainly desk/office work. With how lazy kids are today, sitting around playing video games all day inside, which route do you think most will go?

 

I've been told by more than a few friends in the trades that doing renovations is a pain in their ass...most if not all have switched to doing new construction only. When calling a couple tradesmen for my bathroom reno I had a helluva time getting anyone to answer or even return a call/email. The 2 guys I hired were the ones that answered my call & showed up on time to bid the jobs. I hired them on the spot without fully knowing if their prices were competitive. I figured they deserved my business as a "reward" for being stand-up business owners in a sea of deadbeats.

 

Most of the guys I know that are independent or running small 2-3 people crews are focusing on the high end full custom jobs only. They won't even think of coming out to install the stuff you got from the big box stores.

 

I bought one of these dryer vent cleaning kits the other day from Amazon.

$20 Holikme 30 Feet Dryer Vent Cleaner Kit, Flexible Lint Brush with Drill Attachment, Fireplace Chimney Brushes Extends Up to 30 Feet for Easy Cleaning, Use with or Without a Power Drill

https://www.amazon.com/Holikme-Clea...nt+c,aps,230&sr=8-2-spons&smid=A1VWIB06KZ0CFQ

I've always used an electric leaf blower, but this was way more effective. I taped the ends together and shoved the shop vac hose in the duct. I got enough lint to fill a 1 gallon bucket.

 

that will definitely help , only thing I would suggest is to keep an eye on your blown in near the soffits as it looks like the top of the blown in is near the top of the frieze blocks with nothing to prevent wind washing of the blown in which is where wind pressure coming into the attic through the soffit can push the insulation away from the exterior of the ceiling and pile it up like a snowbank in the middle leaving the outside perimeter of the ceiling with little or no insulation over time

 

they're all liars and thieves bro

 

Had a few hours tonight so I:

• secured the vanity to the wall
• put the counter on with adhesive
• Finished plumbing the P trap
• Cut the drawer notch a bit more to clear the P
• Installed the faucet & drain

Realized I need reducers for my 1/2" supply valves, not sure where I saw this faucet had 1/2 supply lines but nope, they're 3/8" & I don't want to replace the water stops again . Not too shabby for a work night, and I even had to log back in to work 9:30 - 12. First time with a Delta faucet & I'm impressed. Everything is solid brass, not coated plastic.

 

yea im going to keep an eye on it. It still needs to "settle" Thanks for the tip

 

Solar install happening today & tomorrow. Battery and another part are on back order, so agenda is panel install, trenching in and running the solar feed from the shop to the house, and some electrical work in the house to prep for when the back ordered stuff shows up and the power company swaps my meter to tie everything together.

No photos right now because my phone is freaking out. I think I got some sweat in the screen digitizer while I was out splitting firewood this morning.

 

I haven’t stolen anything yet.

 

I'm almost done with all the paperwork for a solar install. We are just waiting for final HOA approval. Going with Tesla for mine. What did you decide on? Please let me know if you have any lessons learned, especially about the install itself!

 

The company that I went with only uses LG panels and Enphase microinverters & batteries. The company's people handled the install, so no lessons learned on the actual install process. Everything went smooth for on the panel install today. The panel installers busted it out in about 4 hours for my 24 panel array. One thing that the panel installers mentioned is that it's common for there to be issues with old roofs/shingles. Luckily, my insurance replaced my shingles a couple months ago because of hail damage. A guy at work was going to have solar installed, and they couldn't do the install because of soft spots in the roof deck.

My install is unique since the panels are on my shop, and the battery and hub will be installed at the house by my meter. The electricians were planning on trenching in the conduit for the power run from the inverters to the battery/hub, but they couldn't do that because someone dropped the ball on having 811 come out to mark utilities. I have power, gas, and water running to my shop. I don't know about the water, but I know the gas and power run where they need to trench.

 

I went with SunPower for my solar, can't recommend them at all. I've had solar for about 2 years now and these are the lessons I've learned. 1 I now like getting the power bill and seeing the $8.00 minimum utility fee, instead of $$$. 2. Don't turn on the solar until the utility company puts in their new meter. Running the needle backward sounds cool, but the utility company can't tell forward from back and will charge you for the power you gave them. 3. Solar panels get dirty and sometimes need to be cleaned, buy a cleaning pole long enough to reach them from the ground if possible. 4. Keep an eye on individual panel production. (long story, but I had a bad one after a year and without individual panel numbers I would have never known.) 5. Go big. I wish I'd bought 5 more panels. A new Tesla is on its way and the existing system isn't big enough to cover the usage. (5 more panels won't provide the full need, but it is all that will fit on the roof.)

Good luck!