Climbing on steep roofs!

[Balog]

Don't mind roof work, but then I've never been on a real steep one so it doesn't really count.

Also, 6 minute increments? Ouch...

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

its actually easier tom roof one with a decent pitch you don't have to bend as far.   roof jacks are your friend on over 4/12 and a real need on 6/12  though i know guys work 6/12 without em

[HankB]

I didn't think the roof on my house was steeply pitched, until I went up there one day and found my tennis shoes had a tendency to slide. Not much fun after that.

As far as other stuff I really don't like to do . . . I'm OK with most electrical work, but major plumbing and I don't get along. (Even minor plumbing is a PITA - you ever notice how the replacements for things like faucet internals and toilet ballcocks hardly ever fit they way they're supposed to, even when they're from the OEM?)

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

When I did roofing for a summer, I fell off 2 houses.  Both were ~20 foot drops from dew on a cedar shake roof.  First one I hit the ground, second one I landed in a shrub and my stripping shovel landed point down about 1 inch from my head. 

I learned quickly how to stop yourself from sliding.   

Not quickly enough, it seems.

[Leatherneck]

My short list:
1. drywall finish/repair.
2. repairing "black" plumbing.
3. installing hardwood flooring after the first thousand feet or so.
4. Installing roof shingles after the first thousand feet or so.

But my really worst hate: grouting tile. All tile work, for that matter.

Things I like/don't mind:
1. Installing electrical in new construction.
2. carpentry, especially framing buildings.
3. mowing grass.

Can you tell we're on the back end of a 2-year DIY house?

And this resonates:

I hate heights (Yes, I know, many think that's weird, because I am a pilot). Outside of an aircraft, I'm terrified of heights.

Ditto here. I can turn a jet upside down at 30,000 feet with only a canopy and some straps between me and a plummet without a bit of discomfort. But put me on a 20-foot roof edge and make me look down and I'll probably vomit.

TC

[roo_ster]

I got paid to jump out of airplanes for a while and did tree work where I climbed a bit (with rope & harness).

Thing is, ladders give me the willies.  Same thing with walking around on a roof.  I am a "look where I am walking and slide my feet instead of stepping" kinda guy on a roof.

[280plus]

It's all a desensitizing thing, do it enough and it won't bother you after a while. I find looking up at where I have to go to be more unnerving than actually being up there for some reason. Looking up gives me the willies, being up doesn't.

I'll never forget my buddy Bubba. Bubba was an interesting character who, among other things spouted a lot of Bowery Boys type non but almost words that we refered to as "Bubba-isms". Anyhow, me and Bubba worked together and one day we had to use a scissors type lift to go 35' up to work on some equipment hanging from a warehouse roof inside. So Bubba is riding around in the lift beforehand having a good old time, going up and down and all and he says to me "C'mon up!" So I was like, "No, I'll go up when we have to." Naturally he starts calling me chicken, scared, etc, the usual stuff. So finally it's time to start and I climb aboard and up we go. As soon as we reached the top and stopped I took a step toward the equipment and the whole lift started to sway. Bubba goes damn near white, crouches down and grabs onto the railings for dear life yelling at me for making the thing move when I walked. I said, "What's the matter Bubba, SCARED?" 

[Boomhauer]

(Even minor plumbing is a PITA - you ever notice how the replacements for things like faucet internals and toilet ballcocks hardly ever fit they way they're supposed to, even when they're from the OEM?)

Oh Sweet baby jesus, don't mention plumbing. "That'll take 10 minutes to fix..." turns into an all-nighter. Oh, and it's one thing to be able to cut off water to a localized part of the house for minor plumbing jobs...but our repairs always seem to need all of the water cut off. Gaaahhhhh!

[brimic]

Packing and re-packing chromography columnschromography columns.

I hear you. I used to pack, equilibrate, and run anything from a 10L-140L silica gel column 2-3x a week until we hired a technician to do the dirty work of packing and unpacking.  I hate silica gel.

Other things on my list:
-any form of concrete work
-taping/finishing drywall


The worst roof I climbed on was on a 2nd story on a house my family was building. MY FIL obtained a semi trailer full of old plywood that was varnished on one side. Of course we sheeted the roof with it and he just had to have the varnished side up. It was ok the first day, but was slicker than snot the next morning when covered with dew.

[Physics]

The worst roof I climbed on was on a 2nd story on a house my family was building. MY FIL obtained a semi trailer full of old plywood that was varnished on one side. Of course we sheeted the roof with it and he just had to have the varnished side up. It was ok the first day, but was slicker than snot the next morning when covered with dew.

Sounds like cedar shake on a dewy morning.  Both times I fell, it was one step over the crest and I was on my butt sliding. 

[trapperready]

Oh, and it's one thing to be able to cut off water to a localized part of the house for minor plumbing jobs...but our repairs always seem to need all of the water cut off.

Whenever I end up needing to use the cut-off valves, they end up leaking like crazy once I turn the handle... which means that I end up rebuilding or replacing them in addition to whatever the original project was.

[Sawdust]

Sawdust's DIY Rule #1:

Never start a plumbing job (on the pressure side) on a Sunday afternoon.

If Rule #1 is violated, I dadgum-guarantee it that you will break/need a piece of specialty plumbing that the BORG will *not* carry.

And all real plumbing stores are closed Sunday afternoons. Heed Rule #1.

Now, as far as taping and mudding drywall - I actually like it.

The trick is to not apply too much mud at any one time. That way, I do hardly any sanding.

I may have to do one or two more coats, but I mix a little 5-minute hot mud in with the topping so I can do multiple coats in one day.

I like tile work, but I'm too slow for big jobs.

Screw roofing or concrete finishing.

Sawdust

[brimic]

Now, as far as taping and mudding drywall - I actually like it.

The trick is to not apply too much mud at any one time. That way, I do hardly any sanding.

I may have to do one or two more coats, but I mix a little 5-minute hot mud in with the topping so I can do multiple coats in one day.

I'm just too much of a perfectionist to do drywall. Every little dimple, high spot, smudge gets trowelled until its perfect. I understand that spray texture means that a 'good enough' job underneath is good enough, but I just can't function that way....

[just Warren]

Don't like heights, but I hate being under heavy things, especially those that have been lifted up to provide access.

[insert Rosie O'Donnell joke if you've a mind to]

[Scout26]

&%*#&(*@#% Plumbing

I've done Carpentry, Roofing, Concrete (to include Gypcrete), Siding, Tile Work, Painting (which is realy 90% prep and only 10% painting), Electrical, etc.  Some are more tedious then others, but nothing all that difficult.   Heights I hate, but like jfruser, I have no problem flying in or jumping out of airplanes and repelling out of helicopters, towers and buildings.  But get my butt more the 10-15 ft off the ground on a ladder or roof, and I get the heeby-geebies.

I'd rather do any of that then *&%*#&@$ Plumbing.

I $@*#)%& HATE $@*%^$* Plumbing.

Did I ever mention that I live with a wife and teenage daughter that think they have to use a &#%%$( ROLL of toliet paper every time they go tinkle ??

Or my son, who only recently stopped playing "Will it Flush ??"  (Hint: A Stack of Legos more then 6 blocks tall will NOT Flush !!)

I hope the ^@%$&*@# SOB who invented the garbage disposal is slowly roasted over an Acetylene Torch for all of eternity as women seem to think and any and everything can now be put in the sink, and made to magically disappear.   The only thing that NYC and I agree on is the ban on Garbage Disposals.

$@*!%$ Plumbing.     

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

don't sugar coat it!  the best part of plumbing is septic systems

[Racehorse]

But my really worst hate: grouting tile. All tile work, for that matter.

That's me, too. I absolutely hate anything related to tile. Taping and mudding, on the other hand, I kind of enjoy. Roofing is fine if it's not too hot.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i must be sick  i'm about to start a 900 plus sq ft tile job at least they are big tile

[RaspberrySurprise]

I hope the ^@%$&*@# SOB who invented the garbage disposal is slowly roasted over an Acetylene Torch for all of eternity as women seem to think and any and everything can now be put in the sink, and made to magically disappear.   The only thing that NYC and I agree on is the ban on Garbage Disposals.

Imagine how much money you could make if you could design a disposal that could be fed damn near anything. Sure it'd probably need a 220 line and a few support braces but that's just part of the fun.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Imagine how much money you could make if you could design a disposal that could be fed damn near anything. Sure it'd probably need a 220 line and a few support braces but that's just part of the fun.

been done  restaurants have em  i've dropped ham shank bones and silver ware in em  just get noisier

[AmbulanceDriver]

.... ( i once did a bit of impromptu arc-welding once while testing a wire with a multitester)....

Reminds me of one time when I was replacing ballasts in fluorescent lights at my church.

I was in high school at the time.  Myself and another guy were working on the fluorescents.  Of course we were working hot.  Too much of a bother to walk 10 feet and flip the light switch off.  :)

Working with an automatic wire stripper.  For those that might not be familiar with those, they look like a pair of pliers, but they've got a mechanism that strips the insulation off the last 1/2 inch of wire.   So I start working on my 5th or 6th ballast.  I've stripped the neutral, and reach up to strip the hot.   Unbeknownst to me, the neutral wire had snuck over and was resting against the handle of the wire stripper.  Squeeze the handles, and *BANG*!  I'm flat on my back on the table I'd been standing on to work on, and the guy I'm working with is freaking out because he thinks I got zapped hard and had a heart attack or something.

The other time was when I was working with an electrician getting ready to rewire an office.  One of the things we had to do is re-route some conduit.  So I'm getting ready to saw through this one conduit.  And I stop.  Look at the guy I'm working with.  Ask him (for the third time), "Now you're *sure* that the breaker is off, right Frank?"

"Oh yeah, it's off.  I checked the whole panel.  They're all off."

Start sawing through the conduit with this little hacksaw.  Get about three quarters of the way through it, and that oh familar *BANG*!

Pull the hacksaw out of the conduit, and there's a chunk missing out of the blade.

"Breaker's off, huh Frank?  Checked the whole panel, huh Frank?"  *grumblegrumblegrumblegrumble*

"Whoops.  Guess I must have missed one."

Jerk.

[jackdanson]

i must be sick  i'm about to start a 900 plus sq ft tile job at least they are big tile

That would cover my entire place.... and the deck.

I don't really mind plumbing.  I don't like framing so much... I'm a cruddy hammerrerrrerr (wasn't sure how to spell/convey that).  I hate roofs.  I "helped" my brother paint the wood that meets the siding near the roof.  By "help" I mean sat at the apex of the roof completely terrified hanging on for dear life while he worked.  Shortest fall would have been about 18'.

Strange thing is, I climb ladders at work all the time that are 25-ish feet high with no problem.. we also like to "combat slide" down them... yay!!!  Something about being out in the open makes it more scary.

[roo_ster]

been done  restaurants have em  i've dropped ham shank bones and silver ware in em  just get noisier

Wonder how much one of those costs?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

buy em used for a couple hundred bucks  they don't mount on a regular sink.  got a ton of torque

[Firethorn]

Wonder how much one of those costs?

1 HP $165.99

EDIT:  3 Phase, 10 HP $5,888.94
3 HP model runs around half the price.

Reminds me of one time when I was replacing ballasts in fluorescent lights at my church.

Dangerous work, that.  When I was over in Germany we had one electrician lose a finger(pictures WERE distributed) and one die from working with them while the power was on.

"Whoops.  Guess I must have missed one."

In many of the place I work, you could flip every breaker in the room, every breaker the room next door, every breaker in the utility room, and STILL have power to some outlets.

We had the problem that said outlets DIDN'T have power and it took us three days to find the breaker box (in a closet 4 rooms over) that fed them.