The Monday after Thanksgiving in 1993 I went to work for a contractor from our church that specialized in interior trim in custom homes in the Cincinnati area. Trim carpentry was a whole new world for me and I was as green as they come.
The contractor knew my inexperience and my "job interview" consisted of one request. Imagine a tape measure. Begin at one inch and count down aloud to zero in 1/16 increments. Try to do it without hesitating and call each position by its common name.
Ok, here we go.
1 inch
15/16
7/8
13/16
3/4
11/16
5/8
9/16
1/2
7/16
3/8
5/16
1/4
3/16
1/8
1/16
0
I surprised myself and maybe him by rattling off the list above with no hesitation at all. I had never done it before. I had never thought about it before.
He said, "If you can do that, we can make a trim carpenter out of you." Just like that, I had the job.
It was a job I needed terribly. I was working 79 hours a week spread between two low paying jobs. I was not breaking the bank with the new job but I could take home the same amount by working about 50 hours each week.
Not only was it good for the short term, it has been good for our family in the long term. I only worked full time for that brother for about 2 1/2 years but I contracted for him for 3-4 more years while I was working at GM.
AND I learned a lot! I actually learned more than I realized. All the work I have been able to do or help do on this house project and many other projects the last 20+ years, can all be traced to that job!
I can say without any hesitation whatsoever, that job was sent by God for that particular time in my life! Perhaps THAT is why I could count from one inch to zero in 1/16 increments so easily!
As I said, I learned a lot. One thing I did not learn anything about was hanging and finishing drywall. The trim carpenter I worked for also did some general contracting. I did most of his electrical work on those jobs after I went to GM.
When I was working full time for him, there were times when we had a few days between trim jobs and we would go to the other jobs and do whatever needed to be done. We would frame, paint, wire or whatever.
There were a few times that the ONLY thing to do was hang sheetrock. He was trying to keep us busy but, he could actually get the sheetrock hung quicker and cheaper by guys that specialized in that. So the boss would always give us options.
"You can hang sheetrock a few days or you can take off and go preach some where or work on your own two or three days. Do you want to do drywall?"
My answer was always the same when it came to drywall. "No, I do not know how and that is just half the story. The other half is, I ain't the least bit interested in learning."😀
I have had to hang it a few times through the years. I had to hang two walls yesterday in order to be ready for the spray foam insulation. I did not want to and I did not enjoy it. But it had to be done.
Kelly Jo helped me and we hung six 4' x 12' sheets in a little less than three hours. Ouch! Of course that is with a break thrown in and a lot of time staring at the wall wondering what to do or wishing I was some where else.
If case your wondering if I regret not taking time to learn how to hang sheetrock many years ago. Well, I told Kelly Jo while we were working.
"No, I do not regret skipping drywall 101 and that is just half the story. The other half is, I STILL ain't the least bit interested in learning."
Some things are better left to the experts!
Thanks for reading today.
Davy
Davy
