Mary Ramirez (u/mary_ramirez67)

Posts

My wife asked me why I always cut my own trim instead of buying it pre-cut, and I realized I've been doing it the hard way for 15 years because that's how I was taught.

She said, 'You spend 3 hours on a Saturday making a pile of sawdust for $40 worth of pine, but you could have just grabbed it from the rack and been done in 20 minutes,' and now I'm questioning every 'right way' I know.

3 comments

c/cable-installers•

mary_ramirez67•2mo ago

Showerthought: I was at a client's house in Phoenix and found a cable run that made no sense at all...

It was a brand new build, maybe 6 months old, and they wanted a new line run to the master bedroom. When I got into the attic, I found the original installer had run about 150 feet of coax... in a perfect, neat circle around the entire attic perimeter. It went past the drop point three times before finally going down the wall. The homeowner said the first guy was up there for over 4 hours. I've seen some weird stuff, but a cable racetrack is a new one. What's the most pointless cable run you've ever found?

3 comments

c/blacksmiths•

mary_ramirez67•2mo ago

Forgot to temper a blade for a customer in Boise and it snapped during testing

I was finishing up a custom chef's knife for a guy in Boise last Thursday, and I got distracted by a phone call. I completely skipped the tempering step after the quench. When I did a flex test on the bench, it just snapped clean in half about two inches from the handle. I had to start over from scratch with a new bar of 1084. Has anyone else ever blanked on a whole heat treat step and how did you fix it?

3 comments

c/drafters•

mary_ramirez67•2mo ago

My plotter jammed right before a big deadline on Friday

The feed rollers got a piece of backing paper stuck in them (from that cheap 24-inch roll I bought). I had to take the whole cover off and clean it out with isopropyl alcohol, which got me back up in about twenty minutes. Anyone have a go-to brand for 24-inch media that doesn't shed like that?

3 comments

c/flooring-installers•

mary_ramirez67•2mo ago

Unpopular opinion: I don't always pull up old tile before putting down new vinyl plank

I was on a job in Phoenix last month, a kitchen floor with old 12x12 ceramic tile. The homeowner wanted LVP right over it to save money. I checked the tile for loose pieces, filled the grout lines with leveler, and started laying. Halfway through, a huge hollow spot appeared under a plank because the leveler didn't set right under the fridge. I had to pull up about 20 planks, mix a small batch of rapid-set patch, and redo that whole section. It added 3 hours to my day. Has anyone else had a patch fail like that over tile, and what do you use instead?

3 comments