r/Construction

Had a good day at work and just as I'm wrapping it up for the day getting my tools together I come to realize my Makita battery charger and (almost new) 5 Ah battery I had attached to the charger are missing. Holy shit that ruined my day, I thought I was ending the work day/ week good but I guess not. Fuck you to whoever steals shit.

Hi, I’m M20 and I’m looking into pursuing electrical in my future, is this still something good to get into or is it over saturated and under paid. I see mixed options some saying pays trash not as good as what people say and others saying it’s easy to clear 100k a year once your done your apprenticeship and a journeyman. I would like options and guidance from you professionals out there thank you :).

I am on the journey to starting my own business as a Residential Remodel Construction Company. I plan to not only be a successful company, but I want be a successful boss too. I have some ideas to make sure every employee is treated with respect, they are compensated well for their time and overall just taken care of. I understand that finding great carpenters can be difficult so I will need to do what it takes to reach them and meet them in the middle. I've worked for terrible GC's as well as great ones so I will be taking some things out of the playbooks for the do's and don'ts.

But I want to ask everyone one really important question...
What makes you stay?

This industry can be fucking brutal. How often do some of you guys think about suicide? How do you guys cope on the days where all you wanna do is booze and end it? I’m starting to think that maybe it’s a little too often for me. Is your company doing anything to help if they can? Sorry for the serious topic

I’m 18 and from Chicago and I wanna get into the trades, preferably hvac, carpentry, electrical or plumbing. I’ve been applying to and trying to get into locals but I’ve heard the wait times can be long and I get no calls back. I’m willing to do anything to get into some type of work or experience union or non union. I’m gonna keep applying to places and if all else fails I’m already enrolled into hire360 but I want more. Any advice on what else I can be doing to be more proactive and get a job somewhere?

I've been working at all fabrication workshop as a welder/fabricator for 1.5 years now, and I just don't think I'm good at this. I haven't built anything of my own, I've struggled to. Welding is fine, but I experience so much anxiety and existential dread when it comes to having to fabricate. It almost feels like my brain can't keep up with all the information and pieces needed to build something. Others in the workshop who's been doing this for the same amount of time I have seem lightyears ahead of me. I just feel so useless. I've been so heavy I've considered smoking again. I'm stuck between wether to stick it out or just leave and return to a field I know I'm good at.

Professional roofer here, but with a framing(decking) question.

We just tore off the roof on a house that has a 5:12 apron around the perimeter, then transitions to a 10:12 pitch. But the 5:12 portion is 5 feet on the rake measurement. The decking is 4x8 7/16" OSB which is the standard here in Texas, and is laid with the long axis perpendicular to the rafters (so each sheet spans 4 rafter bays (24"OC). But that ends up leaving a 1' x 8' strip to fill the gap between that bottom sheet and the pitch transition. Those 1' strips are a pain, quite literally, if you forget momentarily and step on one especially when carrying a loaded belt and some materials.

There is no blocking under the joint, and no clips (I'm guessing because the clips break when bent and if they don't break then when one piece is stepped on and deflects, it just pulls the clip off the other piece.

I don't want to leave it this way. It's not safe or nice for the next guy. But I also really don't want to do all the blocking (it is a very large rambling ranch, so several hundred feet of this transition to deal with.

5x10 [re-]decking would be perfect, but it is astronomically expensive (i.e. 10x-15x the price). My initial thought was to replace the current setup with nre 4x8 but turned 90 degrees, so that the long axis runs parallel to the rafters. Each sheet would span two bays, so it would be nailed to 3 rafters. But I was told that code requires the sheets to be run perpendicular to the rafters (or floor joists, etc.) because the strands/chips are actually oriented that direction to give better strength (at the cost of weakening it if laid in the other (parallel) direction.

You guys should know this one, I figure. Can I run 5 feet of a 4x8 sheet vertically up the rafters (24"OC) ?

Boss only uses titebond weathermaster metal roof sealant for pretty much everything. Between wood, metal flashing to wood, door frames. What is your go too for a water tight seal that seals metal to metal and metal to wood?