The Construction Thread

[daylightwarrior]

Pickle and hubby has done nothing wrong. I gave her and hubby a few pointers to what would make it better than what they have, and pointed out potential problem areas. Plus gave a few suggestion how they could fix it, without having it cost them an arm and a leg.

I'm just very weary about a tight 90 going into the toilet stack.

Gottya. I always worry about costs.

 

[thør]

That's why I have the day off. New National Holiday.

LOL........have another beer

 

[daylightwarrior]

Since this is the construction thread, here's me and my hardhat (identifing info scribbled out of course).

Holy smokes! Thats what those nice heated trailers are for on those big job sites! You would turn every head walking along in your steel toed boots, tight levi's and that top your wearing. All of your identifying features are already proudly on display

 

[daylightwarrior]

LOL........have another beer

Holiday? You? and drinking a beer now? The biggest storm this season in the Sierras his happening right now. Ski, Snowshoe and snow bunnies. What more could you ask for?

 

[thør]

Holiday? You? and drinking a beer now? The biggest storm this season in the Sierras his happening right now. Ski, Snowshoe and snow bunnies. What more could you ask for?

A plane ticket?

oh, I have one of those......

Time, I suppose......

No day off here. I get to play engineer and white-devil-slavemaster today.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Since this is the construction thread, here's me and my hardhat (identifing info scribbled out of course).

That's a nice picture. Is that really your hard-hat? What trade?

I spent two years working construction in the UK. Mostly in Liverpool and the surrounding areas. The money was shit and you have the life expectancy of a lemming, but I thought it was great.
I mean, our bosses encouraged us to drink and get high. It was an integeral part of the job. It numbed the pain of the injuries we received and we didnt give a fuck about some of the near suisidal tasks we where given.
I also learnt to play such mind expading games as "one flick for a kick in the dick". This was a favorite game of the crew I was working with on the paradise project. Both players flip a coin, call heads or tails and then the looser gets a kick in the cock from the winner. I mean youd think a game of that callaber would be more mainstream, if not olympic.

What trade, Finn.

The craziest construction workers I know are all Irish.

I know of one safety guy who said the glue on the stickers breaks down the hardhat material.....I believe him to be full of crap......

Sounds like the same guy who had me connecting with 2 lanyards, 2 8-foot 3/8's chokers and two sliding beam clamps. "How's that tyin-off working for you?" "Great except I can barely move and I get hung up every other step"

 

[daylightwarrior]

A plane ticket?

oh, I have one of those......

Time, I suppose......

No day off here. I get to play engineer and white-devil-slavemaster today.

At least it's white-devil-slave master and now the incredibly horrid white-devil-slave master who spouts poetry! That I couldn't bear. <---- get it? Dang, I'm funny!

 

[thør]

At least it's white-devil-slave master and now the incredibly horrid white-devil-slave master who spouts poetry! That I couldn't bear. <---- get it? Dang, I'm funny!

funny lookin?

or funny smellin?

 

[daylightwarrior]

funny lookin?

or funny smellin?

Right at this minute both. *Covers eyes and puts clothes peg on nose* You should have seen the waste line I cut open this morning.... It almost put me off my lunch.

 

[daylightwarrior]

Sounds like the same guy who had me connecting with 2 lanyards, 2 8-foot 3/8's chokers and two sliding beam clamps. "How's that tyin-off working for you?" "Great except I can barely move and I get hung up every other step"

You should see the new regulations for tree butchers. Everything has a backup in case you cut a line. If I manage to get into a tree with all of the crap and I cut any of these ropes, I deserve to fall. I'm glad I work alone.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Women In Construction

First of all, let me make it clear that I support the right, or whatever it's called, of women to work in the trades if they want. I'd even go with my principles over my personal feelings and agree that the kind of affirmative-action things they have going on in apprentice programs now are a Good Thing. When I work with women, I treat them exactly like men.

That said, I really don't like seeing women in my trade, I don't like working with them, I don't want to see them on the jobsite, although of course I keep my mouth shut when I do. I'm glad that few women want to do what I do, and most of those are butch lesbians. (With whom I always get along well).

Sexy women on the jobsite, no thanks. They cause too much consternation. More to the point, I like working in an all-male world. It feels like a "last bastion" of some kind.

 

[thør]

Right at this minute both. *Covers eyes and puts clothes peg on nose* You should have seen the waste line I cut open this morning.... It almost put me off my lunch.

I asbuilt a sewer trunk line once. Once was enough. Every pipe joint was an obstacle to the cart wheels.

 

[rosco rathbone]

You should see the new regulations for tree butchers. Everything has a backup in case you cut a line. If I manage to get into a tree with all of the crap and I cut any of these ropes, I deserve to fall. I'm glad I work alone.

I just read this great book about the heavy logging industry in the Northwest called "The Golden Spruce", can't remember the author. Talking about the high-riggers climbing a 300 foot tree with spikes and topping it to set the highline, then dancing a jig on the dinner-plate sized cut top, 300 something feet up. Not tied off. They had a picture of a guy doing this. FUcking In-sane.

 

[Hester]

First of all, let me make it clear that I support the right, or whatever it's called, of women to work in the trades if they want. I'd even go with my principles over my personal feelings and agree that the kind of affirmative-action things they have going on in apprentice programs now are a Good Thing. When I work with women, I treat them exactly like men.

That said, I really don't like seeing women in my trade, I don't like working with them, I don't want to see them on the jobsite, although of course I keep my mouth shut when I do. I'm glad that few women want to do what I do, and most of those are butch lesbians. (With whom I always get along well).

Sexy women on the jobsite, no thanks. They cause too much consternation. More to the point, I like working in an all-male world. It feels like a "last bastion" of some kind.

i spent a good part of yesterday in what would unquestionably be considered a "man's" world. i understand the environ of which you speak, and i think i can appreciate the brotherhood aspect and the whole male bonding rigamarole.

i was invited, and my presence was appreciated, but i also felt very much like an outsider. i make particular effort to tone down my femininity in those situations (safety gear is quite helpful). while i don't think i'm any more attractive than the average woman, i don't want to take a chance that my presence will be a distraction for someone.

it's always very interesting to see the different ways with which men react to me in those situations. everything from asking me out, to treating me with kid gloves, to the few who have no hesitation treating me the same they'd treat a man.

 

[daylightwarrior]

First of all, let me make it clear that I support the right, or whatever it's called, of women to work in the trades if they want. I'd even go with my principles over my personal feelings and agree that the kind of affirmative-action things they have going on in apprentice programs now are a Good Thing. When I work with women, I treat them exactly like men.

That said, I really don't like seeing women in my trade, I don't like working with them, I don't want to see them on the jobsite, although of course I keep my mouth shut when I do. I'm glad that few women want to do what I do, and most of those are butch lesbians. (With whom I always get along well).

Sexy women on the jobsite, no thanks. They cause too much consternation. More to the point, I like working in an all-male world. It feels like a "last bastion" of some kind.

Interesting. We have women working in all fazes of the trades. (I do mostly residential) But most men are really not able to work with them. I see it over and over again, even at the supply houses.

When I worked brush crew for the forest service we have crews who train and learn to work together. If you sit back and look at it you have to depend on these people with your life. Of course there are problems, but you find ways to work together. My crew was more female to male and we did national fires.*

Make sense?

* this was awhile ago so I don't know if they have the same program as today.

 

[daylightwarrior]

I just read this great book about the heavy logging industry in the Northwest called "The Golden Spruce", can't remember the author. Talking about the high-riggers climbing a 300 foot tree with spikes and topping it to set the highline, then dancing a jig on the dinner-plate sized cut top, 300 something feet up. Not tied off. They had a picture of a guy doing this. FUcking In-sane.

Don't judge it until you try it. It opens your eyes as to what you can do. I haven't done 300 footers but pretty high. You can just sit there and enjoy the view. (I always had a line too company regulations).

 

[Hester]

Interesting. We have women working in all fazes of the trades. (I do mostly residential) But most men are really not able to work with them. I see it over and over again, even at the supply houses.

When I worked brush crew for the forest service we have crews who train and learn to work together. If you sit back and look at it you have to depend on these people with your life. Of course there are problems, but you find ways to work together. My crew was more female to male and we did national fires.*

Make sense?

* this was awhile ago so I don't know if they have the same program as today.

when i ran my own crew, i had guys who had a hard time for a day, maybe a week. then they settled in and generally told me they enjoyed working with me.

i had more problems when i was just a worker bee and not in charge. for some reason i was able to garner more respect as a boss.

not sure why that dynamic existed. any thoughts, rosco?

 

[daylightwarrior]

I asbuilt a sewer trunk line once. Once was enough. Every pipe joint was an obstacle to the cart wheels.

There is nothing like a good old back up in the morning.

 

[chillywilly2]

First of all, let me make it clear that I support the right, or whatever it's called, of women to work in the trades if they want. I'd even go with my principles over my personal feelings and agree that the kind of affirmative-action things they have going on in apprentice programs now are a Good Thing. When I work with women, I treat them exactly like men.

That said, I really don't like seeing women in my trade, I don't like working with them, I don't want to see them on the jobsite, although of course I keep my mouth shut when I do. I'm glad that few women want to do what I do, and most of those are butch lesbians. (With whom I always get along well).

Sexy women on the jobsite, no thanks. They cause too much consternation. More to the point, I like working in an all-male world. It feels like a "last bastion" of some kind.

I was in the reserves some 30 years ago. It was all male then.
Then they started letting women sign up.
I didn't like the change.
For one thing, it was an artillery unit, which is hard work. The female presence made it difficult to get the guys to work. They were always more interested in flirting than working, and the women encouraged it.
You would asign a task and after it was done, and you wanted to asign another, you had to find the women to find the guy.
granted most were young, as was I, but it was a pita.
You also had to control the swearing, but the fucking women could swear all they wanted. A giggle got them away with it. They also giggled when the guys got shit for slipping up. Its just too distracting when there is real work to be done. Real work meaning extremly physical labour.

 

[chillywilly2]

Don't judge it until you try it. It opens your eyes as to what you can do. I haven't done 300 footers but pretty high. You can just sit there and enjoy the view. (I always had a line too company regulations).

I'll pretty much climb anything, as long as I have that line.

I was up a blast furnace a while ago to look at a repair job, 350 feet to the top, stairs of open grating. A couple guys wouldn't go up.

 

[daylightwarrior]

I'll pretty much climb anything, as long as I have that line.

I was up a blast furnace a while ago to look at a repair job, 350 feet to the top, stairs of open grating. A couple guys wouldn't go up.

There is a tree climbing club in the UK. We have some pretty tall trees around here. If they happen to be in the area, they call up and I take them to climb. They are thrilled with a 180' redwood. I've never been to the UK but I guess they don't have a lot of tall trees. On a clear day you can see from Cape Mendocino to past Monterey bay.

Once you're up that high, the trees can sway 20-30 feet with the breeze. talk about fun and I get to meet some pretty cool people too.

 

[rosco rathbone]

it's always very interesting to see the different ways with which men react to me in those situations. everything from asking me out, to treating me with kid gloves, to the few who have no hesitation treating me the same they'd treat a man.

I'm one of the treat-em-like-a-man types. I keep my feelings to myself. It just causes an extra level of stress in me.

I'm not going to say that "women can't do it" or that "the presence of a woman fucks up the teamwork". I just personally like the respite from the feminization of the world. I've worked with plenty of women out of construction, some of them were great, some sucked, but I noticed that my overall stress levels went way down when I got to an all-male environment. No doubt this says more about my personal quirks than anything.

 

[rosco rathbone]

There is a tree climbing club in the UK. We have some pretty tall trees around here. If they happen to be in the area, they call up and I take them to climb. They are thrilled with a 180' redwood. I've never been to the UK but I guess they don't have a lot of tall trees. On a clear day you can see from Cape Mendocino to past Monterey bay.

Once you're up that high, the trees can sway 20-30 feet with the breeze. talk about fun and I get to meet some pretty cool people too.

It wasn't so much the height, it was the jigging that freaked me out about that picture.

I used to have a partner who would walk across beams when bridging from one column to another instead of cooning. A little guy of course. I'd make a bolt in one end, the other end swinging free, and he'd go walking across like it was a sidewalk, like mister fucking magoo. I'm too tall to be showboating like that. I keep low and hang on tight.

I was on a job last winter in the Bronx, a little penthouse about 8 stories up. The columns were 4" tube with little toy bolts in the splices. We were going from column to column setting the headers in a high wind in January, right on the edge. I was sitting on one of the headers and as the wind gusted, the columns would lean about a foot inside the building, pause for a minute and then SLAM outwards, leaning about 2 feet over the edge, over and over. I'm sitting there waiting for them to send me a piece going what's the shear strength of an Erector Set bolt???

When I was a kid, I had this regular nightmare about being trapped on top of a really tall skinny tower of a castle that was swaying like that, trying to shake me off. Traumatic flashback!

 

[chillywilly2]

When I started in this bussiness, I was climbing steel with the ironworkers, doing some measuring. I had to shimmy across a beam 3 stories up. This was before anybody ever thought of tying off. All the erectors taunted me "come on, get up and walk it". I had little choice if I wanted to work with them, so fuck it, you walked down the curb as a kid, a beam is at least flat.
I do prefer the tie off thing though.

 

[daylightwarrior]

It wasn't so much the height, it was the jigging that freaked me out about that picture.

I used to have a partner who would walk across beams when bridging from one column to another instead of cooning. A little guy of course. I'd make a bolt in one end, the other end swinging free, and he'd go walking across like it was a sidewalk, like mister fucking magoo. I'm too tall to be showboating like that. I keep low and hang on tight.

I was on a job last winter in the Bronx, a little penthouse about 8 stories up. The columns were 4" tube with little toy bolts in the splices. We were going from column to column setting the headers in a high wind in January, right on the edge. I was sitting on one of the headers and as the wind gusted, the columns would lean about a foot inside the building, pause for a minute and then SLAM outwards, leaning about 2 feet over the edge, over and over. I'm sitting there waiting for them to send me a piece going what's the shear strength of an Erector Set bolt???

When I was a kid, I had this regular nightmare about being trapped on top of a really tall skinny tower of a castle that was swaying like that, trying to shake me off. Traumatic flashback!

I'm pretty tall, though I don't work eight stories up. I'm the one on top of the beam hanging the rafters. I can adjust my step to 16"OC and walk without thinking about it. It's cool, it scares the bejeezus out of some people but it gets the job done. I'm tall enough that if I do fall I can grab the ceiling joist and still touch the floor. Heights don't bother me either. Lucky I guess. (probably stupid too).