Posted by Tony Colella on July 14, 2011 at 17:29:42:
Thanks for sharing!
Tony
Things I learned along the way. - Posted by Miket/ nc
Posted by Miket/ nc on July 13, 2011 at 15:35:57:
I had a little break in the action today so I thought I’d post a few observations and things that might be of interest. For plumbing I’ve started using the pinch type clamps for pex pipe. They make a tool that has a ratcheting type action that is truly a one hand deal. Even most women could operate it with one hand. You can’t beat it for hard to reach places. I have a small bosch drill driver that fits right in my pocket. Don’t leave home without it. I use screws for almost everything now. I haven’t driven ten nails in the last five years. The screws are just as fast , hold better and are easy to take out and redo if you screw up. When cutting underpinning I’ve found it best to get as fine a tooth blade as you can get for your skill saw and turn the blade around backwards. Seems it doesn’t rag the vinyl up as bad. Also I take a 1x2x8 piece of treated wood and drill 4 3/16 holes in it.Then I take it and place it right behind the track that the vinyl sits in and stick the long nails through to attach it to the ground. This gives me something to screw the bottom of the underpinning to to secure it better. Probably not as good as trenching around the trailer and setting the underpinning in the ground to hold it but it will work better than the old fashion way. Now a few thoughts and observations. For you new guys one of the first things you need to do is get credit with your local plumber, heating/ac techs, and electricians.Then when you are off on a trip and something goes wrong you can just pick up the phone and have it fixed and have them send you a bill. I’ve found in this economy sometimes companies won’t come out unless you have established credit with them. I was talking to one owner of an AC company and he said he lost over 20K last year to non payers. A few thoughts… If there were some way to check phone records and find out how many times a person changed phone numbers that would be a wonderful screening tool. Seems the ones that keep the same number are the best payers. Some change numbers about as often as they change their underwear. About 85% of what you do in a trailer will be below your knees. So think about and plan for that while you are young. Cause that floor just keeps getting lower and lower.
Barking dogs!!! I’ve learned that a person’s IQ is inversely proportional to the time that he will let a dog bark before he walks out the door and drops kick said dog across the yard. Note to tenant:You know that white powder that you sift all over the house, in every cabinet, nook and cranny. If you are doing this and you are still over run with roaches then you might want to try something else. Wasn’t it Einstein that said something along the lines of only a fool does the same thing twice and expects different results? Stay cool