Can we talk about the old timer who showed me how to hang a ceiling solo?

I was working a big job in Nashville back in 2018, and this guy named Earl must have been 60 plus years old. He saw me struggling to get a 12 foot sheet up on the ceiling by myself and just laughed. Then he pulled out this homemade T brace he'd welded together, showed me how to prop the sheet up with it, and had it hung in about 2 minutes flat. He told me "kid, your back's got maybe 20 good years, use your head not your muscles." I still use that brace on every job to this day. Has anyone else picked up a trick from an older hand that just stuck with you?

2 comments

2 Comments

laura_white991h ago

That T brace trick is pure gold, isn't it? My old foreman had a similar saying about working smarter. He showed me how to use a simple loop of rope to hold a door in place for trimming, hands free. Why kill yourself when a two dollar piece of rope does the job, right? Those guys had a fix for everything, and it was never some fancy tool you had to buy.

willow2441h ago

What's the rope trick for doors?

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