The Tips & Trick

04/02/2026

I recently found a nearby lumber yard selling discounted “seconds” inventory and purchased a bundle yesterday. The boards range from approximately 10 to 12 feet in length, with varying widths and thicknesses, many averaging around 1 inch thick. Most of the material appears to be red and white oak, along with several other hardwood species.

The stock is very rough-sawn, and the inconsistent thickness makes it difficult to use for uniform applications such as barn siding, which had originally been my plan. In addition, a substantial number of the boards show cupping and twisting, which makes milling, planing, and jointing a fairly time-consuming process.

I am now considering alternative project ideas that may be better suited to this type of material. While it could certainly be cut up for firewood, that would seem like an unfortunate end use for hardwood with this much potential. I would appreciate any practical or creative suggestions for how this stock could best be used. 🪵🎄🌳🤔 🙏 🏠 🪵..!!

04/01/2026

My neighbor had this fence put in yesterday and something felt off…
So I measured it this morning — turns out it’s about 7 inches inside my property.
When I brought it up, he literally said:
“7 inches is basically nothing, it’s not a big deal.”
Now I’m stuck here wondering…
Am I being petty for caring about a few inches,
or is this the kind of thing that turns into a bigger problem later?

04/01/2026

😲

To the neighbor who thought it would be funny to scoop up my dog’s p**p from your yard and drop it on my doorstep like some kind of neighborhood enforcer, congratulations—you just made one of the dumbest decisions imaginable. I woke up this morning to a nice little pile sitting on my welcome mat like it was some kind of message. And before you get too proud of yourself, the camera on my porch caught the whole thing.

Let’s get something straight right away. Dogs use the bathroom outside. That’s literally how dogs work. They walk around, they go when they have to, and they keep moving. I’m not following my dog around with a shovel like it’s a hazardous waste cleanup crew every time he finds a patch of grass he likes. If you’re that emotionally invested in what happens on a tiny corner of your lawn, that honestly sounds like a you problem.

What really blows my mind is that instead of just moving on with your day like a normal person, you actually took the time to pick it up, carry it over here, and place it on my doorstep like you were making some grand point. That’s not normal behavior. That’s the kind of thing someone does when they’ve run out of actual problems to worry about.

So thanks for the footage. If you thought leaving it on my porch was going to scare me into changing anything, you clearly picked the wrong house. I’ve got you on camera, and if you decide to step onto my property again to deliver another one of your little “messages,” you can explain that brilliant idea to the police instead...,🤔

04/01/2026

Drump lol 😂

Let's count cash!

How much money is there?

That $50 bill though! I'm not mad at it. They're destroying many families. I get it, go for the criminals, the rapi$ts, the murderers. But leave the people who are actually working and have no criminal history alone. 🧐

04/01/2026

Will this fix my uneven floors? Every room on my first floor dips towards the center. About an 1 1/2” in the worst spots. I need to flatten without tearing up current subfloor

Plan is to glue shims together and to the floor and then glue and screw osb(3rd pic) through the shims, keeping shims no more than 8 inches apart. Last pic is how i would do all the edges.

I could also try to get solid blocks to the right thickness and use those instead of stacking shims but i would need more tools.

Will this work? Hold up over time? I am putting in engineered hardwood.

04/01/2026

Just toured a $1.6 million custom home in Ontario… and then I saw this 😅

Nothing like luxury living with a side of “we’ll fix it later.”

You’ve got pristine hex tile, clean grout lines, everything looking high-end—and then the drain shows up like it missed the group project meeting. Crooked, chipped, and surrounded by what appears to be “artistic interpretation” of finishing work.

At this price point, I expected spa vibes… not “DIY Saturday went a little off the rails.”

It’s giving:
🏡 Million-dollar budget
🔧 Ten-dollar attention to detail

Like, did the tile guy get to this part and just say, “close enough, the water will figure it out”?

I’m not saying it won’t drain… I’m just saying it looks like it has trust issues with symmetry.

Somewhere in this house there are probably heated floors, smart lighting, and a fridge that talks to you… but the drain? The drain is living its own independent life.

Honestly, I respect the confidence.

Because nothing says “custom luxury build” quite like a drain that looks like it was installed during a power outage.

04/01/2026

Progress on our driveway this is just a portion that he’s doing this week. He’s pouring every single day this week to get if it doesn’t rain got a lot to do is 6 inches too thick for a concrete driveway. Did I go overkill for nothing? 

04/01/2026

RESIDENTIAL PLATFORM FRAMING ASSEMBLY
This technical illustration provides a cutaway view of a standard platform framing system, commonly used in residential wood-frame construction. It highlights the structural transition from a masonry foundation to the vertical wall studs, demonstrating how gravity loads are transferred through various horizontal and vertical members. The image specifically focuses on the intersection where the floor system meets the exterior load-bearing wall.

KEY COMPONENTS
* Exterior Masonry Wall: The concrete block foundation that provides a stable, fire-resistant base for the entire structure.
* Sill: A pressure-treated wooden board anchored directly to the masonry wall, serving as the interface between the foundation and the wood framing.
* Joist: Horizontal structural members that span the open space to support the floor loads.
* Bearing: The specific area where the joist rests upon the sill; sufficient bearing length is critical for structural integrity and load transfer.
* Joist Header: A board installed perpendicular to the joists at their ends to tie them together and provide a nailing surface for exterior sheathing.
* Subfloor: A layer of plywood or OSB (Oriented Strand Board) nailed to the top of the joists to create a continuous flat surface for the finished flooring and the wall base.
* Bottom Plate: The horizontal bottom member of a stud wall that rests directly on the subfloor.
* Stud: The vertical framing members that form the skeleton of the wall and support the upper floors or roof.

CONCEPT SUMMARY
The assembly illustrates the "platform" method of construction, where each floor acts as a working platform for the walls above it. By layering these components—from the masonry foundation up to the wall studs—the system creates a rigid, interconnected box. This specific detail is fundamental in modern carpentry, ensuring that weight from the roof and interior occupancy is safely distributed down to the ground.

04/01/2026

Built a deck, howd I do? Im a carpenter. I dont build decks often but a builder I frame for referenced me, and I told him I would do it. Im always learning, so if I built it again Id do it different, but I thought it came out good and the homeowners in love. What I dont like Poor planning on my part, the mitered picture frame isnt centered with the stairs, because the stairs arent lined up with the door. Minor, doesnt effect structural integrity but something I missed. Opted to build the deck freestanding so that I wouldnt disturb siding to attach a ledger. In my opinion flashing might as well be left out if not properly taped, and to do that I would have had to remove more siding, pick your battles. That said, should I have added crossbracing to the joists? Or bracing to the posts? The decks solid as hell, but after the fact, Ive seen guys do that and wondered. What I do like:
1.The deck is solid as hell, and the homeowner loves it.
2. I was limited to 2-by material for railings, and I think what I came up with is pretty cool. Railing is super solid, but I dont really know what else a guy would do.

04/01/2026

21 bags of quickrete mixed by hand, finished after dark. Did I do OK?

Just a homeowner replacing a sidewalk block that I cut out to replace my sewer lateral. I added the dowels so hopefully my sidewalk doesn't look like the janky sidewalks all over my neighborhood. I live on one of the only blocks with a decent sidewalk and my kids love riding their bikes and scooters on it. Also, i figured it may help if for some reason my soil isn't compacted enough and settles.

Going to clean debris from expansion joint and fill with sealant before I remove the forms. Any feedback welcome, Always looking to learn and get better.

Temps were 55°F in the day, down to 33° the first night. I made a little tarp tent and put a heater in there for the night, and for the next few nights I've got a tarp and some leftover in insulation material that should suffice.

This was like 85% research and 15% guess work. The hardest part was by far the hand mixing both physically as well as getting consistency between batches close. A mix that seems pretty dry can be over saturated quickly. Much respect for the pros out there getting excellent results in a daily basis.

04/01/2026

$700 just to haul this rock from the front yard to the back—**all by wheelbarrow, no machines, no shortcuts.**