Tips
The Carpenter
An old carpenter about to retire is telling his boss about his plans to stop working in construction and enjoy life with his wife and kids. He is so excited about retiring that he wasn’t looking forward to anything else. All he wanted was to retire.
The boss was upset about losing a good worker and as a personal favor, asked the man to work on the construction of one last house. The old carpenter didn’t want to accept, but he couldn’t deny his boss one last favor.
He took the job, but it was clear that his heart wasn’t in it. Consequently he was careless and used inferior material on the construction of the home. It was a sad way to finish such an excellent career with so many years of total dedication to his craft.
When the house was completed his boss was there to inspect it. He gave the key to the house to the old carpenter and said, “This is your house. It’s a gift for you after so many years of hard work.”
The old carpenter was shocked. “What a shame!”, he thought. If he had known that he was his house, he would have done things differently…
That’s how it is with all of us. We construct our day-to-day lives carelessly without giving the proper attention to detail and then we have to live in the house we built. Afterwards we think that we could have done things differently, but time doesn’t come back. Too late now…
Remember that you are the carpenter of your own life. You construct your life a little bit per day – you hit a nail here, build a wall there and so on…
Author Unknown
Construction Jargon Glossary
For those new to the construction industry or just listening in, here are a few construction terms you should know. Many of these are what you would here from the old-timers like Dave…
200 mile per hour tape: Duct tape
Arnworker: An Iron Worker
Blue Flue: Hangover
Blue Room: or green, depending on the color of the portable toilet on the job site.
Woodpecker: A Carpenter
Come Along: Tool used to assist in alignments, adjustments and assisting different structural members into their proper place. Sometimes referred to as a 20 lb sledgehammer.
Dirt Jockey: A Heavy Equipment Operator
Greaser: Oiler or Helper on heavy equipment (usually cranes)
Grease Pole: Hydraulic Crane Operator
Greenhorn: Someone new to the industry, trade or craft. (The old term for Newby or Noob.)
Hammerfore: This is what you tell the Greenhorn to go and get from your truck. After an unsuccessful search, they will come back and ask, “What’s a Hammerfore?” This is where they are told they may want to look for another career if they don’t know what a hammer is for…
Headache!: Look up, cover your head, something is about to fall on your head.
Hiccup: Something that has been done, but has to be redone, because it wasn’t done right in the first place.
Hot Wrench: Use a torch when a wrench won’t work… Burn it off!
IBEW: I Block Every Walkway
Ginnie Hopper: Apprentice Grade Checker
Grunt: An Unskilled Laborer generally used for heavy work.
Lead Pusher: Architects, Engineers and Designers
Modify: To alter, usually by accident, i.e. “Boss, I just modified your fender with my dozer.”
Mucker: A person that uses a shovel, rake or come-along to move fresh poured concrete.
Mud: Wet concrete. Alternate use: Drywall Joint Compound
Nail Bender: A Carpenter
Narrowback: An inside electrician as opposed to an electrical lineman.
Roper: An electrician whose main projects are residences using Romex.
Shovel Jockey: Laborer
Sparky: Welder or Electrician
Suburban Sprawl in Culver?
Wikipedia defines Suburban Sprawl thus: “Urban sprawl or suburban sprawl describes the expansion of human populations away from central urban areas into low-density, monofunctional and usually car-dependent communities, in a process called suburbanization.” While Culver isn’t exactly racing down the road to strip malls, it’s worth looking at the changes occuring in recent and proposed developments in Culver.
Culver’s early development was very traditional. Despite dealing with the curvature of Lake Maxinkuckee, a traditional grid system was used for both the commercial and residential areas with the section of Lake Shore Drive along the Park being one of the few deviations with some curvature to reflect the lake shore. Since that time, the newer subdivisions have not followed the grid. The Riggings, Maple Ridge and Edgewood Estates are all dead end or loop streets with no plans to tie into the grid. It’s a little cheesy, but Adam Conover of “Adam Explains Everything” does a quick run down of some of the issues here:
Trump’s Twitter
Image of Martin Lomasney from Wikipedia
One of yesterday’s Sunday morning talking heads referenced a Martin Lomasney quote. It was interesting enough that it prompted me to look it up. Mr. Lomasney was what would now be called a political operative in Boston around the turn of the 20th century. He apparently once told a young follower, “Don’t write when you can talk; don’t talk when you can nod your head.” Sage advice! In the age of Hillary Clinton and Elliot Spitzer, “write” could have been updated to “email” and now in the era of President Trump, maybe “write” should be updated to “Tweet”…
Quote referenced through Wikipedia and Pioneer Institute
Simple Sound Proofing
I’ve been remiss on posting tips lately. There has been a lot going on! With the construction underway on the Sand Hill Farm apartments, I thought I would share a few simple sound proofing solutions we are using on this project. Most of these are green solutions as well as sound proofing.
2′ Stud Spacing:
First, we have used 2′ spacing on studs wherever possible. On the green side, every stud removed from the project is a savings of cost and and material. Literally hundreds of studs were removed from the project through this reduction of studs as well as doing things like using California Corners. Sound travels more easily through hard surfaces. By eliminating the number of studs we’ve eliminated the sound transfer points. On the exterior, this has the other benefit of allowing more insulation. Just as the studs transfer sound, they are more efficient at transferring heat. Every stud removed is one less heat transfer point as well. That stud space is filled with insulation. We are using 2×6 exterior wall framing which allows for additional insulation.
On the inside, it is more directly sound transfer. We have continued to use 2′ centers wherever possible. This helps sound transfer throughout the building.
Staggered Stud Walls
In the walls between the units we are not only using 2′ centers, but we are using a staggered stud wall. This is done by using 2×6 top and bottom plate and then staggering the studs from one side to the other every 12″. In the picture to the left, you can see the green (treated) 2×6 base plate and the staggered 2×4 studs attached to it. This effectively give you 2′ centers on each side and reduces the direct connection for sound transfer to the top and bottom plates. We will then weave sound batt insulation between the studs for additional sound deadening. There are a few exceptions where a 2×6 column is required, but in the majority of these adjoining unit walls, the staggered stud configuration is continuous.
Open Web Floor Trusses
The floor trusses between the first and second floor are open web trusses. Using open web trusses reduce those hard service transfer points that you would have with standard dimension lumber or even with I-joist. The other advantage to the trusses is we can increase the spacing from the standard 16″ spacing used for solid wood to 19.2″ on centers. Sound batt insulation will be placed between the trusses to further reduce sound transfer.
Sound Channels
Before the drywall is installed on the ceilings, we are installing sound dampening channels. These are Z shaped channels that run perpendicular to the floor trusses. The changes the hard surface connection to just the 3-4 square inches at each channel to truss connection. The Z shape of the channel allows some minimal flex which again will absorb some sound.
5/8″ Drywall Walls
Normal residential construction would have 1/2″ drywall on the walls and 5/8″ drywall on the ceilings. We are using 5/8″ drywall throughout. The additional mass will not only provide a more durable surface when spanning the 2′ stud spacing, but it will also help reduce sound transfer.
Sound dampening Underlayment
All of the floors on the second floor will be laminate. This was chosen after talking to several realtors. The number of people having allergy issues has increased and this has increased the popularity of hardwoods and laminate floors. Hardwood floors tend to transfer sound though. Laminates reduce that. We have chosen a laminate plank flooring that will simulate a hardwood look, but absorb more sound. In addition to this, using this material allows us to put down a sound dampening underlayment beneath the laminate planks adding one more layer of sound protection. This system has the added benefit of being nearly impermeable to water.
