For those of you who work on older houses, do you ever go back 2 or 3 years later and see how the work has held up? What about 20 years later?
I had a guy show up at my house. He drove up and started walking around. I went out and asked him who he was and what he was doing. He told me he was the mason who did some work here twenty years ago, and wanted to see how it was holding up.
SHG
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.
-H.L. Mencken
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Replies
Now imagine that was a painter....keep dreaming
All the time, I can learn from my own mistakes as well as from others.
But this is a small community, and the occupants leave for the winter, but if still here, I would call first.
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Sure he wasn't casing the place?
I could see me doing that. I think I would knock on the door first and tell you what I was doing.
"The thing that makes it great is the fact that any one of these guys could go off the deep end at any moment and start hacking at people with a deer antler right here on the subway."
Seeyou 06' When asked for his thoughts on going drinking with a bunch of guys that he met on the internet.
Ah, but do you?
And what would you do if you came back and found a problem?
SHG
PS: When the mason showed, I was armed and ready. He took a chance showing up here unannounced.For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.
-H.L. Mencken
A guy that comes back after two years is pretty sure of himself. Or interested enough in his work to want to learn from his mistakes. Two years is probably a pretty good time to look at something exterior. I'd have to fix the problem if one sprouted up.
"The thing that makes it great is the fact that any one of these guys could go off the deep end at any moment and start hacking at people with a deer antler right here on the subway."
Seeyou 06' When asked for his thoughts on going drinking with a bunch of guys that he met on the internet.
I think a guy who comes back after 2 years does it for pride of workmanship. There's nothing to gain financially, and potential to lose. Sometimes you need to see that you are who you think you are, that your work is as good as you want to believe it is. You need to know you've got a reason to exist.
SHGFor every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.
-H.L. Mencken
I agree.
"The thing that makes it great is the fact that any one of these guys could go off the deep end at any moment and start hacking at people with a deer antler right here on the subway."
Seeyou 06' When asked for his thoughts on going drinking with a bunch of guys that he met on the internet.
A lot of my business is with repeat customers, so I get to see my work 2, 10, 20 + years later.
But I would never just wander around a house unannounced- just seems unprofessional
I would never just wander around a house unannounced
Ah but, you haven't lived until you've felt the vengeful sting of pepper spray in your eye.
Don't call me daughter.
Edited 9/2/2006 10:20 am ET by dustinf
thanks-
that's one of the experiences I'd prefer to skip
More often than not I'm back at the previous job for another one.
It is enlightening to take a look what time and use has done to our work. As to adjusting, usually I don't have to be asked. For a repair, sometimes in the lifetime guarantee area. Referrals and callbacks for more work are a godsend and a chore at times.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Gunner,
Case the place?
Well if he was here 20 years afterwards and assuming he did this say in his mid 20's that makes him into his mid 40's at least..
Guys in their mid 40's seldom would risk the arrest of a B&E and publicly case a place.. Druggies sure, young punks OK! but someone in his 40"s
Just a look should tell you the truth,
A mason is going to have these hands, claw grip I call it.. If the hands are smooth and callous free maybe you have grounds for suspicion. Callous and curled, I'd invite him in and show him around... ask a bizzion questions, buy him a beer or twelve and make a new friend..
Frenchy
The jails arnt just overflowing with young guys!
Doug
Whatever.
Tipifest 06' The rise of Speedosaurus.
http://www.hay98.com/
One time when I was a kid an old guy drove up and asked if he could look at the house. Turns out his Dad was the one who built the house, and he had lived there as a kid.
He told us some stories about what he remembered about living there. We found out the pieces of concrete in the pasture were from the foundation of an old schoolhouse that had been there when he was a kid.
He told us how his Dad made a killing in the stock market, then lost the farm during the depression.
I was really glad he stopped by. We bacame friends, and I still talk to him today occasionally.
I was called back to some one-time customers to look at something. I walked into a spotless bathroom, and asked, re certain clever details, "who did this?" They replied "You did".I didn't recall being so creative! But for me the best part was that the bathroom looked as neat and tidy as I had left it 7 years before.
(I'd been in theatre some years ago, and when I caught up with an old friend she'd asked what had happened to the creative side of me. My response was that I find a newly-finished bathroom or kitchen a great outlet for my creativity)
BTW, I always identify myself at the door, first, if I'm visiting previous work. Manners, you know.
All the best...
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
"who did this?" They replied "You did".
Wild that you should bring this up at this time.
Just the other day I was back at a house that I had worked on almost ten years ago when I was working for a contractor. (HO had loved my work so much, she tracked me down.) She wanted to put in a new kitchen, and was still in love with the bathroom we had done so many years ago.
She brought me in to refresh my memory and the first thing that caught my eye was the way a light switch had been incorporated into the door casing....and wrapped with backband. I thought it looked great....very creative. I asked if we had done that originally? She assured me we had and that it was in fact my idea to have done it. There was absolutely no place else to put the switch...and I had devised the solution.
Good feeling to be impressed with my own work.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
I guess one thing I never addressed was the fact that I can't stand people just showing up at my house. that would have set me off to begin with. The guy wanting to look at his work is fine. But to just show up? BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
"The thing that makes it great is the fact that any one of these guys could go off the deep end at any moment and start hacking at people with a deer antler right here on the subway."
Seeyou 06' When asked for his thoughts on going drinking with a bunch of guys that he met on the internet.
I agree completely. I don't know what he was thinking. We're especially sensitive to people coming on the property because we get so many tourists, people just driving up the driveway to take a look at the house.
DW and I was came home to find a family having a picnic on the front lawn. Grandma included. No kidding. It was unbelievable. I am dumbfounded by how people just decide that they have a right to come onto private property whenever they want. Personally, I feel like a good shotgun would help, but DW won't let me. Afraid I'll miss and hit her mother.
SHGFor every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.
-H.L. Mencken
i'm a definite guy if in the neighborhood i'll strop by. if not a phone call . i knock on thr door and back off around 10 feet, and with a chesire smile do a how are you , etc., etc..
there could of been a problem he had and was doing a little intell-recon. but an ambush like that is dangerous, and just rude. with out at least a knock and a gracious smile..." Crea la mitad de lo que usted ve, y nada de lo que usted oye."
a moat, with alligators or piranha, will keep most tourists out
and that drawbridge just looks cool
Time to install lawn sprinklers.
water...buckshot...water...buckshot...
water doesn't bring the same satisfaction.
We bought our present home 20 years ago near the end of construction. Seemed pretty high quality at the time. Within a few years, however, the pine exterior trim (not backprimed) was rotting. Five years after moving in, I'm in the middle of replacing all horizontal trim down low and most of the cornerboards. Along comes this pickup truck down our private drive (the drive serves both my house and a neighbors, and is over 350 feet long.)
In the truck were two people. The driver identified himself as one of the framing crew members who built both house (and a few others on the street) and wanted to show the work to a potential client.
I asked him if he put up the trim. He said yes. So I didn't feel bad when I told him I was having to replace most of it after just five years due to rot. He skedaddled back down the driveway without even getting out of the truck to see what I was talking about.
I went back to a freestanding deck I built a few years ago. Wanted to see how the fasteners were holding up in the ACQ. The deck had been the site of a wedding reception or somesuch the previous fall and looked none the worse for wear. If there was something wrong, I would have fixed it. As others have mentioned, referrals or repeat clients you want to keep happy.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
Some of the stuff I did 20-25 years ago? Euh ugh I don't know? Some I am sure would be good, but I have learned a whole lot since then!! Some stuff I know I would not be proud.
I have owned rental property for 25 years. I see work I did time and time again. Some things are great! Other things I look at and say I could have done this or that. I could have used a different material etc. ect.
Edited 9/2/2006 4:01 pm ET by VAVince
I'll Bet "The Slateman" will have work that out lives all of us and some of our children. Mcdesign's current project, if properly maintained wil create arguments fifty years from now if the front was the original. Mike Smiths work will be here for a long,long time.In 1978, my brother and I built a rear porch and rebuilt a front porch on an 1884 brick Victorian in Wash. D.C. It was across from Dunbartin Oaks Gallery in a Historic district in Georgtown. The local lumber yard, Galliher and Brother had some clear heart vertical grain 2 x 12 x 28 redwood that measured 1 5/8" thick ( I still have a cut off with the grade stamp) The yardboss said that stuff had been ther for 30 years and no one could afford it. I told the owners about this rot.bug and decay resistant redood and the Docter said "build it'" We had all of the redwood (2500
BF) delivered to our shop and milled everything. Columns, treads, lattice with round and oval cutouts, brackets, built-in copper clad wooden gutters (copper roof-subbed out) etc S110.00 per sf porch 28 years ago. We did T&M/+40% PO work for the Doctor for years. He owned many properties in D.C., and The Eastern Shore. He still calls me for cosultations since my wife and I moved the cabinet business to Georgia in 1998.
I still drive by this house every time I visit D.C. and .
every thing is intact. It is listed in the Historical Registry.live, work, build, ...better with wood
Thanks for the compliment! Just read it to DW.
Where in West Central GA?
Forrest - not workin' on the Portico today!
Forrest,Columbus. Historic District. DW's hometown. We moved here in 98 from Cheverly MD, about 2 miles from DC. I posted some pics on the new window thread.of a 90% complete pool house in our back yard. Had to go through BHARHow do I mount my images in the body of the text?
How do I reduce the images? I'm on a MAC OSX.Chucklive, work, build, ...better with wood
I have a very small, close-knit group of repeat clients, so I see my old work all the time. A lot of them are near-by neighbours whose places I drive past on a daily basis. And although I hold keys and alarm codes for virtually all of them (most live in town and use the place up here as a cottage or chalet), I would never go inside without having been asked to do so, or having asked permission myself for some specific reason (ie: to show off some work).
I also live in some of my oldest work, LOL, having re-built this place for myself as a first major effort before drifting accidentally into this biz. Now I tell prospective new clients, "Don't worry, I made all my big mistakes building my own joint...."
Many years ago, shortly after I bought the place (and long before I rebuilt it), I was cutting the grass out front one Sunday and a car stopped in the road with a young family accompanied by an older gentleman. I didn't speak much French at that time; and none of them spoke much English, but eventually we managed to communicate sufficiently for me to learn that the old gentleman had built the house himself.
He didn't remember the exact year he'd built it, but it was around 1965, he thought. He'd sold it in the late 70s and moved quite a distance away. Now his daughter was grown and had married and moved back into the area. This family visit gave him his first chance to see the old cottage since he'd sold it. There had been two other owners betwixt him and and me, and he cluck-clucked a bit over some of the 'criminal renovation' they'd committed on it...but he was proud to see it was still standing and in good shape.
I never saw him again, and I've always been sorry my lack of language skills at that time prevented me from learning more from him. I wonder what he'd think if he saw the place now....
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
In 2004 my husband and i snuck up on the first house he ever built for himself, in Crowborough, south of London, 40+ years ago. I convinced Ian that being turned away from the door was preferable to being picked up by the constabulary, so he finally knocked. The woman who answered was completely cordial and lauded Ian's workmanship on "Fernlea", as the house was known, giving us a tour and tea. The area had been agricultural when Ian bought lots, but was now all owned by upper middle-classers - this is actually a good-sized house by English standards. We spent about 2 hours there while Ian was uncharacteristically off his rocker with delight.
That looks excellent!My Dad described the house I grew up in as having been "started in 1832 and ain't finished yet"When I took the family to visit relatives back bear there seven years ago, we drove by and knocked on the door. The new owners knew me, tho I didn't remember them, and they showed us around. I also visited with the next door neighbor who I was suprised to find still alive. He was gnarled, bent, and moved so slow a slug could beat him in a race, but still working on his 1942 Ford PU that he'd had way back when...
Just by hanging around him, I had learned something about roofing and laying block and building with logs, and....
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I go back all the time, either for more projects or for social calls. I always announce my presence before snooping around, out of respect for their privacy.
My wife and I visited Boulder in July and stayed at the home of friends. They became friends in 1991 when I first worked for them. I visited other old customers on that trip, and it was fascinating to see how the work has endured.
More than half of my work I see repeatedly over time. I have come to realize that the ongoing relationship of mutual service is the best part of what I do for a living. That relationship also makes me want to give the customer the best work I can muster, within their budget.
Bill
"out of respect for their privacy."that is so important. I am constantly tempted to post photos of some of my work here that is in homes of people who value their privacy, that being one of the reasons they own homes here. Some of my best work and I can't show it off. Oh well.
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Some of my best work and I can't show it off. Oh well.
I have a few of those myself, one in particular, not that my work was so special but the house was just unreal.
Just currious, did you ever have to sign anything stating that you cant discuss or disclose anything about the house you were working in?
I never had to before coming to TX.
Did some work in a couple houses in Austin where I had to sign some paper work, give up rights to my first born, keys to the car and all kinds of other stuff.
Its kinda funny some of the wording in these agrements until you realize they are dead serious!
Apparently some of the rich down her have there houses built with out anyone even knowing who they are, or in some cases who the architect is, prints will have it whited out and if you have questions you go to one guy and he makes the secret call and gets back to you, makes for a quick decison real difficult. In these cases there is usually a very good site supervisor that will make most of the decisions, and he's there all the time.
Doug
I never had to sign one, but know what is understood out of respect.But there is one celebrity here who has since incorporated language into all the employment and contract agreements up there. Mostly referring to private family relationships and such, not to the house itself. of course. the loacals hear it all anyway, just don't repeat it to the National Enquirerer
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"he makes the secret call and gets back to you"Ian worked in Saudi for 7 years as a construction manager. One of the gigs was building 4 villas for 4 sons and their wives. All the villas had to be different but equal; e.g. all with marble mosaic floors and fountains, but using different patterns. Nevertheless, each son's wife was in fierce competition to have her own house be mo' better than her relatives'. Ian got these requests through a couple of go-betweens bec he wasn't allowed to talk to the women directly, then he had to respond and work out details the same way. He was ordered by the father, the sheikh who was funding the whole thing, to make them equal, yet pulled apart by the women's demands on the other. Tough call!
I get the same thing in a smaller way here. Some of these mansions are second or third generation and either the will dictates that it never be separated out or the land lot is too smale to subdivide, so the heirs have to share. Usually they break the saummer into so many weeks for each branch of the family to use it.I had a kitchen to remodel and I remember standing there with five women discussing what it should have done to it. One was maried to an architect who was wisely keeping his mouth closed, tho all said he should review my propsal later when I had it drawn up. One was full of demands but she was married into the family. Another one called me later on to tell me that her husband was the one who writes the check, so she was the one with the best ideas, if i knoew what she meant...O drew plans, all agreed, includong the archy, and in the end everyone was happy.The funny part was that not one of them ever spent much time in the kitchen, other than to show it off to friends. They had some french ladies run the kitchen all summer long.one more funny - I build in an ASKO DW with a cabinet front in the butler's pantry near the dinning room. They did not want to see or hear it was the big demand. So it fit right in. Then they told me that they and the french cooks were constantly openning it up mid-cycle to see if it was running or not, because it was so quiet.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
everyone was happy.
Last guy I knew that was able to make 5 women happy at the same time was in a different line of work then us but hey, if you got it, ya might as well use it!
Doug
ROTFLMAOWell, if they complained, it wasn't to me. It was to their husbands...
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I thought the answer these days is just more granite and more SS? Thankgoddess for the need for external validation or we'd all be out of work. I know people in trailer houses - er, manufactured housing - here putting in SS fridges, which reminds me of one of PETA's publicity stunts of collecting furs and giving them away to bag ladies. Now that SS is made affordable and there are so many more millionaires, i wonder what the next boom will be. Molybdenum?
TitaniumThey even make hammbers out of it for simple things like pounding on stuff like nails!Me- I bought stock in the co that makes it. I drive nails with a rock tied to a club
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I remember Ian talking about some of that work, remember the pictures to, very nice work.
The one guy that had us sign the "do not discuss, do not revel" had similar money to the Sheiks (well not near as much but when you have 15 billon who really cares what anybody else has) was around now and then but we really never had time to sit down and discuss things like I'd of liked to!
Doug
One guy I worked witha lot in cO did some work in Vail on Penthouse units. one was for some shiek from Saudi. he said that all the fixtures were gold and that the tool boxes and lunch boxes got checked every night on the way out.
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"we really never had time to sit down and discuss things like I'd of liked to"
The Saudis seem to make personal relationships where Westerners prefer arm's length. Ian and his wife were oftimes invited to dinner at the palace (with its 49 bathrooms!). On arrival, Lyn would peel off with the other women to dine on the female side and Ian would go to sit on the floor of a different dining hall to eat with the men. The women, once sequestered, would promptly lose the abaya to reveal their latest Armani and Dior, another strange mix of East and West.
I sometimes go back and look at some of the software I wrote about 25 years ago. A remarkable amount of it is still in use. Scary, actually.
Probably like when I have re-read some essays I wrote thirty some years ago. Some good insights, but some really ragged writing skills
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