Ask a Building Trades Professional

[Cheezy the Wiz]

How much experience or knowledge do you have about cob construction? What are your opinions on it?

 

[ReindeerThistle]

How much experience or knowledge do you have about cob construction? What are your opinions on it?

No experience with cob construction. Not a bad idea, I'll have to read up on it.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Current project: guest room floor replacement.


Me fastening some Cat 5e cable:

A leaded glass window I made for this room in 2001:

 

[Cutlass]

making stained glass windows is cool. I've been replacing some basement windows recently.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

making stained glass windows is cool. I've been replacing some basement windows recently.

Oooh. Post pics!

 

[Cutlass]

Well, the interior of the basement is only semi finished. And may not get fully finished after I'm done. So there's not that much to see. I'm not really that good at finish work as a carpenter, though I can do competent rough and utilitarian work.

 

[peter grimes]

Did someone say "finish carpentry"?

 

[Cutlass]

Yeah, I never really learned to do that.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Very nice, peter grimes. I finished a set of kitchen cabs (see above) this summer. I wish I could take pictures of one of my best leaded glass jobs, but that's 3000 miles away.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Subfloor in progress:


And done!

 

[peter grimes]

Yeah, I never really learned to do that.

It's not that hard, honestly. I've found it's mostly about process, and keeping a few things in mind:

-Tools must be well-tuned
-don't measure and mark with a pencil, align the piece and scribe it with a knife
-think about which way the saw cuts into the board - never have the blade leaving the finished face (and other ways to avoid tearout)
-always dry fit before glue-up
-keep your glue-up as clean as you can, clean up squeeze out when the glue starts to get rubbery
-Did i mention sharp tools? Sharp Tools!

I was lucky enough to informally apprentice to a guy who had spent part of his career as a Windsor chair maker. He did full-out reproductions. He would source logs, split them, dry them outside his shop, heat the shop with off-cuts, used no electricity (except for lighting when giving classes), all tools were human-powered.

It was the classis "forget everything you know" introduction to woodworking. I'm glad it was so easy to forget everything because as it turned out I knew next to nothing and the little I did know was not only wrong but also dangerous.

If you're looking to develop the skill, there are a couple of great resources to start you off:
Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking - you can find used copies sometimes, but it's well worth the full price in my opinion.

Also, a subscription to Fine Woodworking - it's $3/month per year and I read it cover to cover every month. At this point I'm not learning something new in every article, but sometimes you'll see a detail that's really useful or an article will completely change the way you approach a certain task. That happened to me with an old article on biscuit joining. I used to do it rarely because it was a pain in the neck for not much payoff - but that one article explained a different way to approach it, and some of my work is far better now as well as being faster.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Thanks peter. I am still on the low-end of cabinet making -- limited to face-frame and raised panel.


My first kitchen cabinet set turned 18 years old in August!

Man, am I old!

Now, refinishing an old piece, restoring an old piece or conserving an old piece -- that is one of my specialities.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

The guest room floor grows!


Me, right before I cut my left ring finger on flooring staples clip.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Floor project #2
Rip up old subfloor, insulate and pest proof, new subfloor and new hardwood.
Stage two: insulation

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Garage roof repairs. I am not a roofer by trade for a reason!



Edit: We are luckier than the neighbors!

 

[Silurian]

The office I am working in at the moment is having its ground floor roof repaired. They installed a scaffold around the edge to stop the roofers falling off and access is by staircase rather than ladder.

 

[peter grimes]

I came across a particularly hilarious subreddit today "DIwhy" [get it?], and this was the first post I read:

http://www.reddit.com/r/DiWHY/comments/1r63ta/my_buddys_landlord_told_him_he_was_going_to_build/

Here's the album documenting the construction process. Consensus seems to be that the photo were snipped after the landlord/artiste left the premises:

http://imgur.com/a/yPZEA [seriously, take your time with this album. Each photo contains lots of easter eggs!!]

I'm thinking Warpus' shed came out quite a bit better, and likely cost about the same



EDIT:

Spoiler :

don't cry for me, Kinder-tina..
the truth is I never made you b4

 

[Silurian]

what a waste of wood

It's like he found a big pile of wood and started putting it together with no plan whatsoever.

 

[peter grimes]

I particularly love the way there are ventilation ports at some of the corners. Also, it's easier to drive a nail through particle board into nothing, than drive a nail through particle board into a stud.

Seriously, the commitment to see this project through to the end is what's really astonishing. Sometimes the better part of valor is calling it quits and starting over.

We used to have a guy who worked with us who was known for building things over again 3 times before getting it right. That's bad, but the worst part is that for us material is cheap but time is expensive. Yet instead of grabbing some new sticks to staple together he would laboriously pry off the bits he glued and staple in the wrong spots, grind down the sheared staple-ends, chip off or sand whatever glue & wood was still stuck together, then reassemble the piece from the same stock - It would have been FAR cheaper if he had simply tossed his stock to the side and started over fresh.

I hope you enjoy that subreddit - there's Gold there, Jerry! GOLD.

 

[Cutlass]

That's so bad it's almost impossible to believe it wasn't intentional.