How NOT to do the job...

[Jim McClain]

I am such a screwup! Not anymore, of course, but back in the old days, when I used to call myself a pro, I made some hum-dinger mistakes. Take, for instance, this one:

Click for bigger mistake.


I was taking these pictures to do a tutorial on cutting doors. I took the precaution of taping (I borrowed a roll from Floorguy ) the door where the edge of the cut would be and all in the area that the saw's baseplate would be to prevent chipping and scratching of the paint.

I followed the cut line (scored with a knife and the saw against a straightedge clamped to the door) nice and easy and the cut was good. Just before easing the edge with some sandpaper, I peeled the painters tape off. That stuff is engineered to have just enough adhesive to stick, but not enough to pull paint off. Yeah, right.

So, after I re-painted the customer's door...

Please, I hope one of you has made a mistake that will beat this one. Go ahead, make me feel better.

Jim

[Lo Down]

I don't ever recall making a mistake.

[Lo Down]

OK, there was the time I saw showing a new guy how to make a pattern for vinyl using dividers, a square and a straight edge......................... he watched closely as I showed him the fine technique of patterning.

I measured one cut from the wrong side of the straight edge and cut it 3" short......................... the cut looked fine till I dropped it into the bathroom.
That was 25 years ago, before I was flawless.

[Jim McClain]

That's when you convinced the customer that a nice, contrasting 3" border all the way around the bathroom would look real nice, hu?

[Jon Scanlan]

Originally Posted by Jim McClain That's when you convinced the customer that a nice, contrasting 3" border all the way around the bathroom would look real nice, hu?

And charged it as an extra

[Nick Arrera]

Amateurs .. Did a 15 step flight of concrete steps Monday .. Used parabond pressure sensitive to glue the 80 oz rubber pad , stepped on it a few times still a little wet .. No big deal I'll take the first run down to the bottom .. No sooner did i step on the first step i was laying on the bottom with a chip bone in my elbow , and a vist to the orthopedic doc Monday for my rotor cuff .. It happend so fast even my cat like reflexes couldn't save me .. Now i sit here with my arm in a cast , typeing with one finger .. reading the instructions from the hospital they want me to keep the arm outside the shower so as not to get the arm wet .. Thought they were susppose to despense the meds , not take them for themselves .. PS: Making a new vocabulary for the left handed typest ..

[Jon Scanlan]

And who would be the silly Buggar? I told you I should have come over and helped you. But oh no you didn't want me. I probably would have fallen down as well and landed on top of you. How long before you can do anything? I feel for you

[Nick Arrera]

Will know after Mondays visit .. Should of had you do it ..

[Floorguy]

Jim, Jim, Jim... Didn't I teach you that there are several masking tapes that are blue. The orange label blue tape for that job, not the regular 3M. I also have lime green and purple, That are even better for what you were doing.

It wasn't the tape, it was their prep work, before they painted. Like painting a car finish you must sand to give the surface a "tooth" Prepping gloss paint has become a thing of the past. No one sands it anymore and peeling is in the future. You just made it happen quicker, with your hillbilly adhesion test.

[barrycarlton]

I have several.

The first one that comes to mind is with my um,........frugal, yeah, that's it, personality, I reuse pattern paper as much as I can.

Many years ago I was installing some Designer Solarian out of town in the hills. I was taught to 'trust your marks' and so I do.
I ended up with a perfectly cut inside corner right in the middle of 2 door way casing cutouts. Right in the middle of a doorway.

I spent over an hour and a half fixing it. I don't know how, but I never heard a word about it. I really should have though.

barry

[Jim McClain]

Originally Posted by Floorguy Jim, Jim, Jim... Didn't I teach you that there are several masking tapes that are blue. The orange label blue tape for that job, not the regular 3M. I also have lime green and purple, That are even better for what you were doing.

Well, NO, you didn't teach me that. And just why not? Don't think I wasn't blamin' you for this.

It wasn't the tape, it was their prep work, before they painted.

Actually, I knew this. The customer did his own painting and other remodeling. I kinda knew what to expect when he told me what he did for a living - he's a high school teacher.

You just made it happen quicker, with your hillbilly adhesion test.

Hillbilliy??? Ooh, that hurts.

[tony lamar]

And just what's wrong with hillbillies anyway???????

[Demonseed]

A co worker of mine was putting a stair tread on a concrete step, he contact cemented the tread and step, and decided he was going to heat up the tread with a torch. Once it caught fire, he took his overshirt off and tried to put the fire out with it, that caught fire, so he was jumping on the flames, he caught on fire. I saw it happen, but my brain froze as i thought to myself he is not going torch the cement, i saw the open gallon container next to him, I had yelled back away before he tried to put it out, he later says to me 'I figured out why you yelled that after i caught on fire'. The fire alarms went off, there was black smoke everywhere, the building was evacuated, etc. If he had knocked over the open gallon he would have been in the hospital.

[rusty baker]

I was helping a friend, another installer, put carpet in his mother's house. He took all the doors off and put them in the garage. As i was finishing the carpet, he went down to trim the doors. You probably guessed it, he cut the top off all the doors. And Tony, there is nothing wrong with Hillbillies.

[Floorguy]

Hillbillies, of which I am one, or at least part, and I use that test often.

Another use is to place on nose and peel black heads out.