But, but, but, those crazy time-wasting, energy-expending nutjobs will take his pallets, saving him the trash space. So, yay!

Sadly, there probably is.

Put it for free on craigslist and someone will probably come and take it.

lulz

I go through a lot of pallets. There's a place close to me that pays me $3/pallet and a place farther that pays $10/pallet. Usually I go close, but occasionally I know I'm passing by the farther place.

I made a tree house out of pallets. Well the floors were pallets. I didn't tear any pallets apart to make it. (zikzak) A lot of pallets I get have a plywood sheet on top rather than 1 bys spaced apart.

Porch update.

When we last visited this, the engineering firm wanted to charge me a $500 load analysis fee. This was followed quite quickly by an email calling bull***.

So, the admin from the firm called me and said it was a misunderstanding and apologized for the whole mix-up. She didn't know that I had hired them in the first place. She thought I wanted them to just come out and inspect a random foundation. Apparently they get a lot of these requests. People just pour and then want an engineer to sign off because the city won't do it.

So, all was well. We scheduled a time for the engineer to come out. That was today - just now. He asked for a couple more pics if I had them. He really wanted a pic of the hole with the rebar in but I didn't do that. There was some exposed rebar in the sonatube cylinders so he was fine with it. I did send him a picture of the original holes.

But, he said there were no problems and I should get the official document soon.

Not celebrating yet because something always seems to go wrong but it looks good.

sounds hopeful/good at least

This goes in the "weird **** happens" category.

If you've been reading this for a while, you might remember Lance. He helped me with the siding and a lot of other stuff. He's got some decent carpenter skills and he's easy to work with. Right about the time I finished the siding, he got a full time job. I pretty much didn't need him after that so good for him.

So, I got the concrete work signed off on and I'm ready to build the porch. There's some 2 man work involved (leveling the beams, etc.) and my neighbor offered to help me but it was sort of open ended - when he had the time. I really wanted to get going on this but he just had a baby. Well, his wife just had a baby, and his parents are arriving Saturday - the day I wanted to start. So, I figured I'd just go get a laborer. But I'd rather have someone with some carpentry skills.

I know, long story, right? Well, out of the blue Lance calls me this morning looking for work.

Seems really weird to me how the timing of this came together. I mean, I don't think I've seen or heard from Lance in over 6 months.

Sounds like good karma for both parties.

Someone from Lowe's called me to ask if I was happy with my microwave installation. That would be the microwave I still don't have that I didn't order to be installed.

I explained the situation and she assured me she was on it.

Lance and I started framing the porch. An experienced carpenter would have this done in a day. But, I'm OK with our progress. We got the ledger, beams, and joists all done. Tomorrow we'll do the stringers and the box frames for the side steps.

Finished framing the porch. Took all day. Lance and I are pretty slow but that's fine. It's done. Will call the inspector this week.

Framing passed inspection. Woot!

Is that wood all treated? Looks like it is touching or very closed to a lot of dirt.

Yes it is treated and yes some is actually sitting on dirt. It'll rot sometime after I either sell or die, though.

Gonna rant a little.

So, I've worked in the computer business for over 25 years now. My expertise is building systems/applications. I'm pretty good at it. Actually, really good at it. I just "see" the system in my head and I know what to do to make it reality. I do really well when I have management that says - go do it.

But that hasn't been the case for the last 7 or 8 years. Our management has morphed into a bureaucracy. It is system building by processes and spreadsheets. It doesn't work well at all. It is soul sucking for someone like me that doesn't see the world like that.

So, this dealing with the city thing has been similar. Other than the initial encounter with Wes, everything has gone smoothly regarding the product I produce. I obviously don't get there the same way as a pro, but the product is acceptable. (note: I'm not nearly as good as this as working with computer systems, but that's not the point).

My issues have been with the bureaucrats. The people that sit at their desks and are ruled by the process. Nothing can be "right" if it violates the process. It doesn't matter that I can build a deck. It's actually irrelevant to them what the deck ends up being. It's the process they are concerned about.

I guess the reason I'm writing this is I've developed an intense hatred for the bureaucratic way of thinking. Work is pretty life absorbing and this house project has consumed most of my non-work life the last year. The two combined have made me pretty angry at the paper pushers of the world. I've grown to actually dislike people at work for that mindset. They are otherwise nice people but it's like I perceive that thought process as being sort of evil.

It's not a healthy world view and it certainly has made things bad at work. It's actually sort of crippling in a way. I recognize this but I struggle with stepping back and dealing with it in a healthy way while I'm right in the middle of it.

I'm not sure there's a point here or me trying to solve a problem or anything. Just sort of mindspew.

You gotta remember that it's not really a choice for many people. Step-by-step instructions are the only way they can manage to do anything. Accomplishing tasks without clearly defined rules and procedures is witchcraft to them.

Lawsuits, rightly or wrongly, necessarily tightly define processes. This has a direct impact upon how bureaucrats and inspection agencies view their work.
Without the state regulating buildings - you really do get disasters.

It is what it is - biggerboat. I do not see how you get around it.

Having said that, I am sympathetic with your experience.

sorry bigger... I'll 2nd what zikzak said, we have a lot of people at work that if their step by step instructions fail them in any way, they are a mess. That's where I come in at least, and people like that keep me in a job. However, it is frustrating to deal with all the time.

I'm just like that and it's part of why I've been my own boss for about 20 of the 25 years I've been working.

As an employer though, I think I have often made a mistake in just giving people the big picture and letting them (with whatever help they ask for) handle the details. Some people may not be able to do that, but moreso I think a lot of people don't want to. They'd rather use that part of their brain thinking about something else like a hobby that is important to them.

Put on the decking today.

The decking is composite and it has little grooves on each side. These little plastic things come with it that are part spacers and part holdy downy things. It took me a little while to figure out the best method to make it work properly.

One thing I didn't plan for was the 1/4" spacers. I thought the boards would butt up against each other. This meant I had to rip a few pieces. But that composite stuff is really easy to work with so no problem there.

The last piece was challenging. I had to squeeze it in against the wall but still get the spacers in. I had to lift the last two boards, insert the spacers, and let the boards fall/settle down. It took quite a few tries to do this since I had 10 spacers to get in and these were 12' boards. But, I got it.

All in all I'd say it went really well. I got the top part completely screwed down. I need to get some deck screws for the ripped pieces and the fascia. I'll get it all done tomorrow for sure.

Reveal tomorrow.

It's gonna be awesome!

Interesting day.

Started out going to Lowe's to get some deck screws. Apparently those things are sold by the pound. I knew about how many I needed but you have to play that "how many marbles is in the jar" game and I am terribad at that. So, I bought the big box which turned out to be about 3 times what I needed. I'm sure that's all part of their plan.

I also needed a broom so I got their heavy duty one. I swept about 1/2 of the new porch and this happened. Glad I didn't get the light duty one.



I also have been meaning to get some new sawhorses. Lance is pretty rough on them and I've had them quite a while anyways. Well, I'm pretty glad I did because this happened on the next to last cut of the day.



Here's my new fancy ones. They adjust up and down and have little slidy things to make them wider too.



All in all a pretty good day except for when the drill jumped off the screw and went right into my finger.

Porch pics a'comin'

Finishing up the porch went pretty smooth. I had a bit of a scare because I had enough fascia if I cut it in half longways. When I measured I figured I needed each piece to be 5 1/2 " to 5 3/4" wide. My fascia was 11 1/2" wide but my brain kept thinking 10 1/2 " and I sat there for about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to make that work until my second cup of coffee kicked in and I realized I had plenty.

Anyways, here's my NEW PORCH!

I am super happy with how it turned out. It looks even better than the pics make it out to be. I'm really glad I shelled out the extra bucks for that composite decking. Couldn't be more pleased.

Wow that looks great. I hope your finger isn't too mashed

Nice job.