oldrivers

Just curious what are some of the scarriest things that have happened to you while woirking. For me it was while i was on the high stilts jacked up 1/2 the way and the lower bolt that holds the side support came undone and i totally lost my balance and went head first into a stair landing 5 feet below the floor , i ended up snapping my wrist was out of work for 6 months and had to pay 8 grand in mediacal bills no insurance at all. going down was the scariest feeling ive ever had in my life.

Drywall1

You win. Damm~!

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Krieser Drywall
Krieser Insulation
www.KrieserDrywall.com

Cole

Yeah, you win.

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Midtown Tulsa Remodeling

Glasshousebltr

My head started to hurt reading that, halfway all the pain ended up in my wrist. Then the 6 months made me drool but only to be followed by the wrench of 8 grand.

Yes indeed, you win, but next time, can we get the lite version, it has a third less calories.

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Bob

drywallet

I Fell Off A Bucket One Time...ahh Never Mind. Anyone Who Has Fell While On Stilts Wins!

RLGC

I tripped over a trailor hitch while touching up a garage with stilts fully extended. Landed solid on both knees. Ten years later I still feel it occasionally.

sonny

Serious mishaps thru the years. One that still gives me nightmares comes to mind.

I was a mason tender & we where doing a 2nd story fireplace. The Cement mixer ran out of gas, so i took the can and headed up stairs. When I got to the top of the 2nd floor the stairs gave way ( L shaped with top section having nothing underneath it but air) I rode them stairs clean down to the basement & thank god I landed on the gas can. When I came to the lady owner of the house was standing over me asking - your not going to sue - your not going to sue - the mason helped me up and got me to my truck - I pissed blood for 2 - 3 days my backside was purple. But no broken bones - Nothing like the rubber bones of youth. The lady's brother had done the framing of the house and the dumb ass had only toe nailed the steps.

Also remember a time down in Lake Worth Florida - I had a great contract reshaping the sand traps on one of the local golf courses. Well one day I had the bobcat loaded with a monster scoop out came up out of the bunker - hit the lip & tipped forward & knocked myself out from hitting the cage bar - This is why you always wear your seat belt Which I learned the Hard Way! Anyway The bobcat continued forward and stopped just shy of a deep water canal - I came to pretty quick but what a headache!

Then there was the time I was framing a house - setting trusses & got one hung up - so I get the truss un hung tell my boys don't move the truss, I get back down on the deck & sure enough one of them moves the truss before I can stick it with the forked 2x4 I hit the deck & the truss hits me in the head & splits me open. The guys are standing over me screaming your brains are hanging out I'm thinking o sh*t so I go over to my truck to take a look to see if my brains are spilt -nope it's my scalp turned in. Stick a tee shirt to stop the blood flow & off we go to the hospital stopping along the way at our favorite bar & I quickly slam down some shots. Get to the hospital & they take me in quickly & the doc says you don't need novacain ur drunk ( Which I wasn't but smelled like it) & he sewed me up.

Well enough of my rambling. Stories hell I gotta boatload. Shot at - stabbed - jumping over cars to avoid getting hit - near drowned - several times- Shocked by electric cranes - car crashes holy **** -No doubt about it I've cheated the grim reaper 8 - 9 times

Thank You Lord That I'm Still Here!


Sonny

Cole

Damn, I would like to hear some more stories.

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Midtown Tulsa Remodeling

Mud Master

I don't know if mine are as gruesome but the WORST that ever happend to me was when I was a foreman for an interior contractor and we were doing a Best Buy.

I was 30' in the air on a baker scaffold skiming the walls and I had bent down to get some more mud and there was alot of movement on the scaffold and one of the workers bumped into me and down I went. 30' down to the cement floor, broke me back and slipped 3 discs.

I have had a few accidents, but that was the worst.

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J87513

yeah, i've been in construction for a year and a half so far and I have broken is my big toe. there is no way I'm gonna stay in construction for too long. i wanna make some money and get out before something really bad happens like you guys have had.

tinner666

Nov1, 2005, I unhooked my harness after getting off the 12/12 to walk across a 2/12 to another ladder. I failed to note a big gob of buzzard crap. As I lifted my downhill foot, the uphill ( left) one took off. Nothing below but iron furniture, and a brick patio. I aimed between the furniture and tried to launch for a controlled landing, tuck and roll.
My foot hooked the gutter. It was pretty bad. Whiplash, broken elbow and hand. I had to set the hand before I could crawl off. Phone rang when I was halfway to truck. Insurance agent calling to inquire about any claims, accidents, etc. I said nothing to report and after the call I was laughing through the tears.

I got back up there and closed the roof back in before going home.

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Frank Yes, I DO sell domains and hosting and Websites.
Slate Repairs, Richmond, Va.
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C.C.R.

Did you ever hear of the guy that was carring a sheet of ply on the roof and the wind grabbed it and he floated safely to the ground?
Let me just put it this way, it doesn't happen that way. You float, kinda, but not safely. I shattered both ankles and broke my hand. Only thing that helped me was my Paratrooper training " Tuck and Roll"

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Complete Custom Remodeling
"When Quality is Top Priority"
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Terrence

To crosscut or rip my finger today?
I was building a custom screen door frame. So I'm at the table saw ripping a piece of wood that is really too wide to rip like this (my fence is not very tall). The blade barely makes it to the top of the wood fully extended in this cut (yeah, yeah... I know better...). I am usually very safety oriented, but I really wanted to get this project out of the way.

I'm feeding the piece through (precariously), and I felt a light vibration on my finger. I instantly jerked my hand away, workpiece be damned. I looked at my finger thinking I had severely cut it, and discovered I had only cut the nail, and shaved the skin. 1/16 more, and I would have really messed up.

I went in the house, and called my client, and told her I'm not making the door. I took the rest of the day off to think about safety.

The attic.
It's a scorcher. I want to go up in the attic to open the windows there so there is airflow to cool off the space, and cool down the house. I open the fold-down stairs, start to ascend the stairs to the attic, and as I put my foot on the topmost tread, I felt the sickening feeling of an express elevator going down. The entire stair unit gave away, and I rode it down. I had tried to grab the edge as I was falling, and this caused a massive bruise from my armpit to my elbow on both arms. My foot was broken. I crawled outside on my hands, and across the street to the neighbor who took me to the crappy ghetto hospital (which has since gone bankrupt). It took me 8 months of physical therapy to get walking again. The swelling lasted about 11 months. I did, however get workman's comp and paid leave (this is back when I was working in advertising in Manhattan). A month after I returned to work, I was laid off. That's how I started working for myself.

Norrrrrrrrrrrrm

Once, I got two splinters in one day

send_it_all

WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAPPEN TO THE GOOD ONES??!!!!!DAMMITT!!!!!

lmcmvta

I was removing a ceiling fan when I un did the last wire the fan blade hit my shoulder and shatterd the fan glass in my hand all I remember was feeling the glass cut though my finger and stop at my bone I dropped the fan blood stated gushing I put my hand in my shirt the home owner started to cover the floor sshe had white carpet. owell
should have gotten stiches but I didnt just tapped it and kept on working but when I got home and had to clean I almost passed out I could see the bone blood everywere it cut me from the top of my finger to my palm

sonny

Your story reminds of the time i was trimming vinyl siding with a heavy duty razor knife - at my own house - anyways the blade got kinda stuck on the j track & I used much force to cut thru & cut thru it did. The knife blade hit my thumb where it's attached at the palm & sliced it to where it was flopping - one of my daughters was right there & I yelled at her to get the alcohol & duct tape & make it Snappy. I held the thumb - she came back & I had her pour on the alcohol & duct tape my thumb up tight. How I missed not cutting tendons or severing an artery is beyond me.To this day I have a very thin long scar but thumb recovered 100%.


Later that day I went out back to a 2 story barn shed I was building, climbed up onto the scaffolding and started running string on the rafter tails to get a straight cut. I drooped the gauge block, bent down & came up real fast - well i hit the corner of the rafter tail & sure as **** here comes the blood. My daughter saw me coming up blood coming down the side of my head - yells I'll get the alcohol - which she than poured onto my head asking - does it hurt? Which was her cracking wise as when ever my kids got cuts - splinters etc while growing up I always said get the alcohol & I always said naw it ain't gonna hurt & if it does only for a bit. Now that alcohol is some good stuff as none of my kids ever got infections.

Anyways my daughter & I head back out to the barn - & she says Holy Shiit! Look at that. Up on the rafter tail was a piece of my scalp & hair hanging on that rafter tail. I took that piece of scalp down & thumb tacked it to the inside of the barn - well one day after about 2 weeks it was gone dam varmit musta ate it.

Sonny

oldrivers

The one that almost got me for good was when i first started in the trade , I was learning how to hang at first and then gradually learned taping. But anyways after we were done hanging for the day we were all picking up our tools and i noticed a kicker kind of behind a pile of sheetrock about 25-30 sheets, well i couldnt reach the Kicker so i started leaning the pile just a little bit so i could reach it well i leaned it to far and the pile tipped over i jumped out of the way just in time , Im sure i would have had major breakage had i got trapped under it. got lucky on that one.


And a note to all contarctors out there when the cement guys come to pour the garadge floor and it is has sheetrock stocked in it or there are some sheets left over do not let them build a little shelf 2 or ? feet off the ground to stack the sheetrock on because it can tip over very easily if anyone bumps it . One of the houses we had finished had a few sheets left over and the cement guys did this same very thing building a shelf to get them out of the way . one day when the buyers came to check out their house their kid got killed cause the pile tipped over on him. it doesnt take much to add up alot of weight coming down on someone.

drywallet

WOW who's to blame there someones kid killed?

giffrod

I was topping out my garage with 5/8" sheetrock off a little giant I had set at 7' and staggered off the stairs, when the ladder kicked sending me crashing to the floor in a rain of screws and nails. The sheet I was hanging came right behind hitting me between the shoulder blades. Surprisingly I was unhurt aside from a bruise on my back and a soiled pair of underwear. I put the ladder away and borrowed a set of scaffold from a friend to finish it off. careful on them ladders boys and girls.