Handymen

[Padawanbater2]

So whose into home repair, building things, working with tools, that kind of stuff?

My dad was a carpenter while I was growing up and I've been around power tools, saws, wood, hammers, all that stuff my whole life, recently been getting interested in investing in some quality equipment. So I was also wondering what kind of stuff you guys use. Did you learn the skill as you went along, reading stuff from manuals and books, trial and error? What sorts of techniques do you have?

What have you built/repaired?

Me and my best friend built some shitty treehouses when we were like 9-12, then we built the ULTIMATE tree house! It was awesome! 2 stories, carpet, electricity, screen windows hahahaha! I remember playing Tony Hawks Pro Skater on playstation one from the top floor looking through the bottom floor at the tv that was sitting on it's back facing up! lmfao Also had a little makeshift zipline and an escape hatch with a rope attached to a counter weight which was a bucket full of rocks!

Tried go-carts but those never really worked out...

 

[420God]

I pretty much built the house and farm I live in. I know electrical, plumbing, carpentry, welding, machining, and farming.

I learned everything through people and jobs as I've gotten older. Experience has always been my teacher.

 

[Padawanbater2]

I pretty much built the house and farm I live in. I know electrical, plumbing, carpentry, welding, machining, and farming.

I learned everything through people and jobs as I've gotten older. Experience has always been my teacher.

How many years is that? When did you start learning?

I've been interested in building my own house one of these days.. How did you go about doing that? Buy the land, buy the supplies, hire a crew, DIY?

 

[klassifyme]

Im a carpenter. Ilove building things, in fact i just built a 6'x6'x6' flowering room and a 4'x8'x6' veg room, i bought a 1000 watt hps rebuild kit(all the insides of the ballast) for 75 and wired it myself. Ijust got a table saw and a compoung sliding miter saw. When my tax return comes im buying a welder, torch, and plasma cutter. i just biult an 40 site aero/dwc box from a rubbermaid 52 gallon tote (4'x2') the pump ,plumbing, and box cost me less tha $50

 

[420God]

It was all DIY, my father was a contractor and he knew everything when it came to building houses and started teaching me at a young age (12).

He got into the business of flipping properties when I was about 15 so we remodeled a bunch of houses together.

My first job was a factory position doing grunt jobs but I picked up on metallurgy and welding real quick and went into those fields of work learning as I went.

I spent over ten years working different factory jobs learning new skills along the way.

 

[ANC]

I love woodwork, normaly just make small shit, had it as a highschool (grade 12) subject, there is just something about the smell of wood being worked that I realy love.
Learned with handtools, but as I get older I also go ta bit of a tool fettish, and pretty much have a one of everything.

 

[TruenoAE86coupe]

I am a handyman (professional home and ranch services) by trade, do this stuff everyday (well 9 months of the year at least, people never want a lot done in the winter) Been in this line of work for 6 years now, can fix just about anything. My partner and i have spent over a hundred thousand in tools (including a tractor with back hoe and a toro dingo) so we have learned what to buy and what not to. NEVER buy Ryobi tools, everything we ever got from them is in the trash except for a cut off saw that gets used less than a dozen times a year. We use DeWalt for our cordless hand tools, but everything else we are starting to change over to Ridgid. Certainly not at the point in my life to build my own house, but i did rebuild mine as it was water damaged and full of mold. Everything i have learned has been onsite, there is typically some research before undertaking a new project we have never tried before, but with both of us being mechanical minded we can figure it out. This is a very important skill to have if you plan on building a room from scratch, when you have to frame, electrical, plumb and finish a room (in a crawl space) you really don;t want to call out 4 + contractors to get it all done. I live in one of the most booming medical states so you can find add after add of handymen trying to build your grow on CL, but who is going to come back in 3-4 months and rob you blind?

 

[Benassi]

We built a go-kart when we were kids. One of our buddies found a little push cart from some kids and bought it off them. We grabbed some crappy briggs and straten motor and shittily bolted it on with chain drive to one wheel and off we went! Shit was hilariously awesome, did a solid 33mph and turned on a dime. Used to rip 180's in it because we had a ghetto E-brake system hahahahaha

 

[Padawanbater2]

Dude, I know what you mean with the smell of the wood!

My dad uses DeWalt I believe.

Howbout a list of some essential tools Trueno?

 

[pilgram]

only tools really needed are
dremel moto tool
vice grips
foiltape

 

[Padawanbater2]

Hammer
Hand Saw
Quality Power Drill
Pencil
Strong Wood Glue
Tape
Triangle (not exactly sure what it's called, it's used to draw exact lines and angles)
T-Square is pretty useful
Power Saws are also useful
Nail Gun

Can do pretty much anything with that

 

[Cheap Basterd]

How many years is that? When did you start learning?

I've been interested in building my own house one of these days.. How did you go about doing that? Buy the land, buy the supplies, hire a crew, DIY?

You want to build your own place? Check out this site: http://www.countryplans.com/smf/index.php?board=6.0 It's fucking awesome.

I plan on building my own place in the future, so long as land prices don't sky-rocket.

Also check out this documentary, it's sick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

That's not the whole thing.

Here's the Torrent: http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Alone-in-The-Wilderness-avi/43244f104ffec198c0b12721ac01988f74e5f46b6fb1

 

[Cheap Basterd]

Dude, I know what you mean with the smell of the wood!

My dad uses DeWalt I believe.

Howbout a list of some essential tools Trueno?

I love building stuff. So much more satisfying than just buying something. Plus you get something unique.

Only problem is I have limited tools so what I make isn't up to the standard I'd like it to be.

As for a list of tools. In an ideal world:

Drill Press
Router Table
Table Saw
CNC
Fuck it the list is endless.

In reality I have, a Drill, Jigsaw, Vice, Belt Sander, files, screwdrivers, spanners, etc

 

[420God]

Next to having a child I'd say building your own house is one of the greatest achievements/satisfactions a man can have.

I bought my place dirt cheap and suffered through living in it as I remodeled it around me.

Took a long time since it was on a factory worker's budget, but I did it a room at a time.

Ten years later my house of $32k is worth over $250k in this market.

 

[klassifyme]

the triangle is called a speedsquare

 

[klassifyme]

btw ive done trenching, cement, framing, elec, drywall , siding, trim, plumbing, tractor repair,1000's of hours on excavator and skid steer tracor, also regularly operate roll off truck, dump truck, loader and most farm equipment. I have never hired a repairman or mechanic . the way i see it most things we use are manmade so thers no reason why you shouldn't learn to do things for yourself.

 

[Cheap Basterd]

Next to having a child I'd say building your own house is one of the greatest achievements/satisfactions a man can have.

I bought my place dirt cheap and suffered through living in it as I remodeled it around me.

Took a long time since it was on a factory worker's budget, but I did it a room at a time.

Ten years later my house of $32k is worth over $250k in this market.

Nice one Buddy, Making a house a home. All that hardwork is worth every last drop of sweat.

Once the Economy/Market picks up you'll be looking at a sweet figure.

Back in the day my Parents paid £5000 for their first house. Inflation is a bitch

 

[LightningMcGreen]

I've been paintin for 10 years now, but my dad n brother have always been DIY guys, so all home repairs/upgrades (decks, windows, trip, carpet, tile) they did themselves.

A couple of years ago, my brother bought the house we all grew up in from my dad. Spent a couple years, just the 3 of us, completely gutting it to the frame and redoin it all. It was a great learning experience, and even though it was at the peak of the recession, and we really got tight on our material expenses, it was a whole lot of fun and turned out excellent. Took the regular back porch, installed a screened in with stained beadboard ceiling...granite tile countertops, hardwood all throughout the upstairs, finished half of the basement (split level house), all new trim n windows...did everything ourselves (minus just a bit of electrical which didn't really need a whole lot done anyway). Biggest pain in the ass though, sheetrocking and re-shingling the roof. That was the most god awful thing to do in may-june lol. Also, had some couple year old stagnant ass water dump on me and pap when we were redoin a bit of plumbing under the master bathroom shower haha.

My brother is all about some dewalt tools though lol

 

[Cheap Basterd]

I've been paintin for 10 years now, but my dad n brother have always been DIY guys, so all home repairs/upgrades (decks, windows, trip, carpet, tile) they did themselves.

A couple of years ago, my brother bought the house we all grew up in from my dad. Spent a couple years, just the 3 of us, completely gutting it to the frame and redoin it all. It was a great learning experience, and even though it was at the peak of the recession, and we really got tight on our material expenses, it was a whole lot of fun and turned out excellent. Took the regular back porch, installed a screened in with stained beadboard ceiling...granite tile countertops, hardwood all throughout the upstairs, finished half of the basement (split level house), all new trim n windows...did everything ourselves (minus just a bit of electrical which didn't really need a whole lot done anyway). Biggest pain in the ass though, sheetrocking and re-shingling the roof. That was the most god awful thing to do in may-june lol. Also, had some couple year old stagnant ass water dump on me and pap when we were redoin a bit of plumbing under the master bathroom shower haha.

My brother is all about some dewalt tools though lol

Holy shit! You've got your skills locked down. Nice one!

One thing I hate doing is painting. I don't mind the prep. Cuuting in is a bitch though. guess it boils down to buying good paint and brushe's, rollers.

The main skills I want to learn are Plumbing and Electrician skills. Call those fuckers out and you know the majority are gonna rob you blind.

DWalt are Kick-Ass. Makita also make really good tools

 

[puffntuff]

I've been doing remodeling for 8-10yrs. Every aspect of it from top to bottom. My favorite tool is my Fein multimaster is kicks ass. I've burned up 3 dremels 3 rotozips and never the Fein. Ryobi blows dick. I use hitachi milwaukee dewalt bosch.