It is just my area of the world or is it just slow?
Log in to view the full article
It is just my area of the world or is it just slow?
We have not gotten a call in a few weeks and it is not fun. The bottom has fallen out for us-just no work going on right now. I have seen two new homes going up. So, me being me, I dropped in on the job site. The builder will install factory-finish flooring; they are getting it from a company that sells seconds...he is going to pick through the flooring.
They are still doing it off one wall, and I am not sure why they do it that way. I asked how long the wood has been on the job and they said two to three days...that is long enough? I just said, "Thank you for your time and have a good day." The next job has a crew that is going to install for $1/foot, with no plastic on the earth in the crawl space or concern for RH under the house. Okay… they just do not care and still say it does not matter.
The good news is I have been looking for a faster, better way to remove glue, drywall mud and just anything on the subfloor. I do not like to use the edger because it just screws it up. I was talking to Karl Stafflinger about some other matters, and we got on the topic of subfloor prep when he said, " Have you tried our tungsten carbide abrasive disc?" Well now, like my redneck mind can wrap around all that... So he then called it T-CAD. That was so much better Karl-it is best to know your customer. We went over what it can do and how best to use it. I asked to get one for a test run for a couple of tile jobs. We had to remove sheet goods, and as we all know, the glue and backing stick to the subfloor. I took out the "tungsten carbide abrasive disc T-CAD thing" and WOW is all I can say...it worked like he said, and from that day forth we now call it "The Teeth." Here are a couple pics of it:
It ate through the glue and backing like a soup sandwich. So we had a ton of stuff on a slab we had to get off on the next job for a tile install...yeah, we got out The Teeth. Dog if that thing did not make our task easy; I am not sure what you may want to call it, but you need to look at it if you do a bunch of subfloor prep. Plywood, concrete or whatever you need to prep, it will help your crews.
He also got me the disc for a right angle grinder so we can work tight areas and walls without killing our edger, but most of all hand-work with scrapers. Here it is:
Thank you for the help, Karl. Oh one more thing... Sorry if I misspelled your name...maybe we can call you T-Karl.
Well, we have to start early, this week we are helping Rodger Betty install some flooring. We are slow and he has 1,500 feet to lace in a water damage job, then sand & finish the total job-somewhere in the area of 2,000 feet. He is a flooring contractor about three towns over that we have helped a few times. He works alone and this is a big job, so, as always, friends help friends. You all be safe.