Weekly Recap - 2023.7.16

Here is a recap of my past week. The more I do this, the more I realize I need to document and share what I do. But sometimes its nice to just give a quick hit of what is going on.

I’m sure as I find time to sit and reflect, I may dive deeper into some of these projects. It can be difficult to just set time aside to share, but I hope to do it more in the future.

But lets start with:

Monday:

I had taken on an exterior paint project. The previous week, the family and I had left for vacation. And the week before that, all of this house had been painted except for the front.

The big focus on this day was to finish out the two gables. Both filled with fiber-cement shake siding. The trick to doing this efficently was using my Graco quart sprayer. Or as I call, the Pew Pew Sprayer… cause its just a little spray machine.

Along with the trim, it was good to get these high to reach spots out of the way.

Monday Night:

Lately, a lot of small interior repair work has been coming my way. The beautiful thing about this work, is that if the client will let me, and the family is fine with it, then I can accomplish this work in the evening.

For this one, another carpenter buddy of mine is installing some custom shelving. In the installation, some sheetrock was damaged. So I was called in to repair the drywall. Luckily, it was just the tape that had given away but about a half inch of drywall had to be floated to match the previous work.

The cool thing, is my carpenter buddy is going to sand it out and finish out the paint. So it was just going in with hot mud, and getting it finished out for to make his life easy.

Tuesday:

This was finishing out the exterior painting for the front of the house. Because of getting the bulk of the hard stuff done Monday, this went by really fast. Followed with any touch ups needed around.

Along with this, the client’s wanted a new toilet installed. With some extra time in the day, I easily knocked that out for them.

Wednesday:

This was another drywall repair. But this time in the big city. Atlanta.

The client had a leak from the bathroom above and had to have some plumbing repairs. I’ve known this client along time, so didn’t mind driving out that far to help them out. And depending on the work, I don’t know if I would completely rule work in Atlanta out.

The downside is avoiding the traffic. Both which I was caught in the morning and afternoon. Regardless of leaving super early both times.

Thursday:

This is the start of the next big project. The client had noticed a water leak in their laundry room. It had formed before but along time ago. Having already done a big renovation on the house years ago, they had also noticed an issue then. They thought the issue was resolved, but it was just a matter of years before the issue reappeared.

I’m sure this project will have a lot to talk about. But this day mostly was wrapping my head around the issue and slowly tearing the exterior apart. It is a very challenging project, cause at one end I need to repair the house. But at the other end, I can’t demolish the entire structure.

The heat is also really starting to set in here. And there is no real shade for this area.

Thursday Night:

Another drywall repair project. This time coupled with replacing some door trim that had been chewed by their dog.

Drywall repairs can be pretty quick. The only thing, is it takes two trips if you are going to completely finish it out. For the previous two this week, the clients were doing the sanding. Not so for me on this one.

I will say, I don’t get a lot of interior trim carpentry work. I really enjoy doing it, but most my work is exterior. So it was fun, to walk through the steps of doing this efficiently.

Friday:

Another slow day of demoing this house. I had left the rotted sheathing on the day before to prevent critters and give some protection, but this day it all came off. And along with the discoveries, was that the drywall had mold on it.

Meaning the inside of the house (where the laundry room is), needs to be taken apart. This way I can removed the damaged drywall and put back new. It’s unfortunate, but the goal is doing it right.

Hope is to get through this soon, so that I can focus on closing up the exterior next week.

Friday Night:

Back to the drywall repair from the night before. This time to sand and paint.

At this point, the days in the sun were starting to set in and I was pretty beat. I had to apologize to the client, cause it was pretty much head down and working the entire time. And those just happen.

It can be really tough to always stay upbeat, when the majority of your work requires hard labor in the tough work conditions. But finished out strong, and the client and I were really happy with how it came out.

Saturday:

Thats right. No rest this weekend.

I’m sure thats a post all in itself. I don’t recommend it for the long haul, but i’m working toward some personal goals while the busy season allows it. And the work opportunities keep coming in…

But for this day, it was a mix of gutter cleaning and electrical outlet repairs. Mixed in there was some project material prep and estimates.

I don’t find little projects like this below what I can offer.

I’m lucky to have the equipment, skills, and knowledge to do this efficiently. The hard part is fitting in the time. And I know people will write this off as ‘handyman work’ but truthfully this is very much skillsets in the remodeling carpenters tool bag. And with just being a solo performer, why not help others out if I can?

I do really enjoy the creativity and complexity that my career offers me, but its also gratifying to just help people with simple projects like these as well.

Though I would say the gutter cleaning had some pretty challenging spots to get to. But I may save that for another post.

Hope everyone had a great week, and that the next one is just as great. If you have any questions regarding these projects that I can write about in a future post, please feel free to bring it up in the comments.