[AMA] I am a professional construction carpenter. Feel free to ask me anything. - eviltoast

I’ve been working in construction for the past 11 years at this point with a few years before that in a part time role. I’m more than happy to lend whatever knowledge or insights I may have about work, life, or whatever.

I will be checking in sporadically to see if there are questions.

EDITED WELL AFTER QUESTIONS STOPPED: I’m still active-ish on Lemmy, so if you happen to find this and have a question, I will likely still get back to you.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    How do you ask for something atypical? I need to have a door mounted but keep getting dismissed to call a handyman. If it were that simple I would have done it years ago. I have a steel frame embedded in concrete, so is that even still a carpenter? It’s actually an interior door and I have a door that matches the older style in the rest of the house, but needs to be tweaked to fit, as does the frame. Who do I even call and how do I get them to take it seriously?

    • Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      There are a few sad reasons why you’re having issues getting someone and why they keep pushing you to get a handyman. 1. It’s a small job that is tedious to do and requires just enough expertise that most general carpenters don’t really want to mess with it. 2. It’s a short enough job that whoever you’re talking to would see it as a loss for income on the day. They cannot justify pricing out mobilization, travel time, etc for a maybe 2 hour job. Depending on how much it needs to be tweaked, any handy person with a couple tools should be able to handle it but because of the perceived issues with the job, many will flat out deny it.

      Door work is one of the most tedious because it’s immediately apparent if something is slightly off. You’re putting a rectangular block into a rectangular hole, any small defects are VERY accentuated by the nature of it, which is why many people do not want to get involved with a door that needs tweaks. (which is one of the things I’ve been dealing with at work this past week. Welded steel frames in plastered walls and just having to make the door fit… no matter what shape the frame has moved itself to.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Definitely one of my concerns - whether it needs welding and whether a carpenter is the right person

        • Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          While there are plenty of folks who are skilled in those and are also carpenters, this sounds like one of those jobs you would need to have a good amount of pictures and a description and put it on some odd job website to see what kinds of offers you can get and for what type of work they are willing to do.