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Old building mechanic in Detroit told me leveling with shims is a crutch and I been arguing with myself about it for 3 days
He said true craftsmanship means cutting every rail to fit perfect no shims needed, but half the shafts I work in have walls that are 2 degrees off plumb so are we really helping anyone or just making the job take twice as long?
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riverowens27d ago
That mechanic's not wrong about the ideal, but he's forgetting that old buildings settle and shift (like, by a lot). Cutting every rail to match a wall that's 2 degrees off plumb just means you're building to the crookedness instead of using shims to correct it. Shims are a fix for reality, not a crutch. True craftsmanship is knowing when to cut perfect and when to make it straight with the tools you've got.
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william40727d ago
My buddy and I did a handrail install in a house built in 1892. The wall was almost three degrees out of plumb over a ten foot run. We ended up cutting the rails dead square and used a stack of shims behind the brackets to make it look straight. Took twice as long but the homeowner said it was the best work he'd ever seen. That's what I mean about knowing when to fight the wall and when to let the shims win.
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