Drywallers' Pet Peeve?

PPro

It's just a trickle down effect:

Framer blames lumber
Drywaller blames framer
Trimmer blames drywaller
Painter blames trimmer
Drywaller comes back to patch and blames trimmer

As a trimmer, I see walls that have 1/2" of extra mud near the bottom every day. How am I supposed to make the base molding look halfway decent with that stuff on there? Drywaller prob said "ah screw it the trimmer can deal with it." Well my base ends up lookin like crap and I eventually say "ah screw it the painter can caulk that gap." If everyone just worked a little harder to keep their trade more respectable we'd all save time and headaches. The framers are the only ones who can't blame anyone on their screw ups (in which case they blame the wood, something they can easily fix by simply not using the crappy pieces).

The only time I hang rock is on the sidejobs, in which case we use metal studs that we set ourselves. makes hanging rock a breeze because every wall is perfect.

Mike Finley

Talking about blind framers!

Friday I tore out a tiled shower down to the studs in a home built in the 80s. The back wall studs looked really strange to me after the demo, I placed my 4 foot level across the studs in the back wall and sure enough couldn't get more than 2 studs to touch the level at any time as I slid it down from ceiling to floor! It kept rocking back and forth like a teetor toter!

Some were crowned in spots, some were nailed back at the top or bottom by 1/2 inch, I really couldn't believe it. One was cut off 3/4 of the way down to allow a vent to pass and was just hanging.

Pissed me off because I always bring a couple of 2x4s for odd blocking here or there, but now I had to run and get 3-4 more just to sister in, plus I had to go and get my electric hand planer to take the crown off of a couple. Totally sucked. I burned up a least 2 hours on this mess.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how the hell the original tile was ever layed half way decently. Then I realized what all those freaken shims of scraps of drywall and wood were when I was ripping it all down!

Tom R

Sorry, Mike, - - it's happened to me too many times to feel sorry for ya', - - best just to bring a 'wood-pile' every time, - - just in case, - - but yeah, - - nothin' worse to me than to have to leave the job to go to the damn store, - - and 'sympathy' from the customers don't help, - - unless it's spelled '$ympathy'!!

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Tom R

Also, - - a house that was built in the late seventies, early eighties, is practically a 'give-away-hint' of poor construction (and for that matter, lousy cars).

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rocker7969

I agree with you about hanging over metal stud, but only if you yourself frame it... trust me, I've had to hang over some pretty bad metal framing before.. usually they ones that only frame and never hang any rock, are the worst framers in my opinion... If you can hang rock decent, you'll be a better framer..

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Longacre

Yup, everyone blames the guy before em. The last few weeks (and...oh...forever if it continues this well) Ive been doing trim in apartment buildings and have to agree with PPro, its no picnic following a sloppy drywaller! Im scraping mud all the time when running the base, especially the corners. The framers are no sloches on idocy either, they have a really interesting idea of "plumb" which makes hanging the doors an interesting process. I'll start with lining up with the opening and find a door hitting the stop at the bottom and open 1/2" at the top.

Time is money as the saying goes, but apparently the time I have to spend farting around to get a door to hang well and bashing in the rock to make my casing look good doesnt count. Nor does the time I spend scraping mud to run my base.

I spent years as a framer and we always plumbed our walls (that extra minute with that level didnt kill our margin either) and thankfully have only hung rock on things Ive framed. Now as a wussy trim guy, Im starting to see some others apparently consider levels to be "optional equipment", much like the safety guard on my table saw (does anyone actually use it?)....LOL

Nowadays speed pays....but speed kills the guys behind ya thats fer sure.

clem

It all rolls uphill...towards the beginning...painters blam drywallers...drywallers blam boarders (hangers)...boarders blam framers...framers complain to GC...GC complains to architech...architech tells buyers he drew just as asked for and it's not his fault...multiple retrips to project...and loss of money for everyone...

mtp

The guy who hangs for me scraps, scrapes, and his taper cuts out the boxes before he leaves the site. All his guys are hourly hangers not piece work

Mater

I was always told "you make the mess you clean it . " Off the floor, out of the boxes, boogers on the wall, whatever I made a mess with I cleaned it. After a couple days scraping, it was amazing how much better I've become. PET PEEVES: 1) rockers that can't drive the screw ALL the way in 2) when rockers don't hit the stud and leave the screw head for finishers to pull out 3) or they miss the stud two or ten times and we get to push all the "teets" in 4) finishers that "know" their way is the ONLY way 5) I have never met a finisher who hasn't been self-proclaimed "the best finisher" ever to grace the handle of a knife 6) the cocky, arrogant 20 yr. finisher, who knows EVERYTHING , and chooses to make you, the new guy , the certain object of ridicule in front of all his other finishing buddies , and treats you like the 18 year old kid out of high school with ZERO work experience . All said, I LOVE to finish, and it gives me a great deal of pleasure and enjoyment

goal-perfection

I've met plenty of finishers who dont claim to be the best ( namely the guy i used to work for ) I am constantly getting onto my help about doing things the right way and caring about what they do. One guy used to be a framer, I told him to quit screwing up one day ( in a nice way, maybe thats my problem ) and he told me how he was a damn good carpenter. I told him that it wouldnt matter if I was a framer, painter, mason, concrete finisher, roofer, etc. it would be an excellent job because i care to do things right, and it keeps me busy. thats my biggest peave- people who screw things up for me to have to go back and fix. I hate that worse than orange peeling 80% of a job only to learn there was mis-communication between owner/G.C.- the owner thought slick finish was called orange peel (happened 3 weeks ago) had to float it all out

1KingOfDrywall

they have no clue as to "how the system works". One guy asked us if we could scrap out aS WE MOVE ALONG cuz it looks better??
Then he wanted ceilings glued which in my area is a huge no-no.
than he called my home office 11 at night and thought the taped job was ready to paint.?? Yet somehow he managed to get decent work done all the way down the line?? My favorite 1 liner from a new home builder......gimme a good price and I'll lend you a hand.....LMAO
As if they even have a clue.

tlfettled

Having to kerf cut and attach support plates on crowned studs in walls and hallways before i hang the sheet rock! This keeps the walls nice and flush all the way down the wall !I do this before i hang the rock It makes my tape and float look flush as you look down the finished walls ! Of course the general contractors doesn't want to pay for the extra work ! But they want the walls looking good ! Its a pain in the ass !!!! About mud on the floors and bathroom fixtures i leave them clean by laying canvas tarps on all floors before i start and prep the windows and fixtures with plastic ! If the painters or the home owners want i leave the plastic in place so they want have to cut in with new masking tape and plastic! All they have to do is make sure they watch out for dry mud particles flaking off in their paint job as they pull the plastic off!

suburbangen

Actually, I had a framer bitch and moan to me that the foundation wasn't quite square and that he couldn't be responsible if the walls weren't square. LOL. Anyway, it's all the foundation guy's fault. Bastard. Who's he to blame, the dirt guy?

RLGC

Having hung a few sheets of rock in my day allow me to side with the hangers for a bit. Do any of the GC's provide lighting for the rockers when they are hanging. Has the building been thoroughly cleaned prior to their beginnig. How about the bracing that has not been removed and the discrepancy above each window that has to be filled with lathe. Did you pack out the shower or tub walls to bypass the flange. Do you go around with a staight edge before the rockers begin. How about the missing nailers. How about the joist hangers hanging down a half an inch around the skylights etc. When I worked for my old boss in the 70's and 80's he used to have a chain saw in the truck to straighten things out. We did a lot of carpentry to make that drywall right. When I worked for him we never picked up a scrap. Maybe he felt that was the trade off.
When I went into business for myself I did all the above but my conscience found me cleaning up too. Maybe Thats why I had to get out of the buisiness. Now I'm a GC. Today my guys cleaned up after the spacklers. There's only one thing worse.( Me having to spackle it myself.)

Drywall1

Heres my gripe. F-ing siders. Well just one crew, but man they piss me off. They expect me to move their brake. 8 foot saw set up and carpet covered jerk off pad. Let alone all their scrap all over the garage. Now they wonder why I get pizzed when I'm up on 8 hole stilts running the tube. I did literally throw all their sh!t in the driveway once. I think when he came the next day he might have been more mad than I was.
Thats all I have for now.

Nate

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tlfettled

pay checks that bounce ! pay checks that still bounce 2 weeks later, pay checks that bounce 6 weeks later after calling the general contractor and asking him if he has money in account !

1KingOfDrywall

Everynow and than we get in a job and there is stuff in the garage......not even an attempt was made by the siders to maybe put it against the outside walls or anything half way ok. Just piled up. I got into the habit of simply having my guys setting them outside.....one guy had all this stuff chained together with a heavey chain.....so I asked my guy..."how the hell did you get all that stuff out in the driveway"......he said.....simple,...I attached my chain to his chain and tied it to the bumper and dragged it out there.....lol. Looked like a pile of old tools when I got there. Drag marks on the concrete and everything....haha

Drywall1

HELL YEAH! I love it!

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taper71

Talk about siders. A couple of months ago I came into work and these guys were using my mud buckets -full- inside the house to cut there material. Cut right through the lids and bashing the walls bringing their stuff up the stairs to go through the top floor windows. Believe when I say I was mad.

Drywall1

Spankin time!

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