(Untitled)

[tchang]

Things I have done this weekend:
-Operated a gas-powered tamper.
-Put screws into extra-thick plywood sheets to build a beam from them
-Cleared brush
-Operated an idiot stick
-Walked on joists about 12 feet in the air
-Not actually needed the fall-arrest harness I was wearing (wearing it? Yes! using it? hopefully never)

Comments

[metawidget]

Google is rather undecided on what an 'idiot stick' is… what did you get to operate?

Sounds like you had fun and probably profited, in any case!

[tchang]

The idiot stick is more popularly called a 'shovel'. Idiot stick was the name Heinlein gave to it as it is the construction site equipment that needs the least training and mental faculties to operate, in his estimation.

[tchang]

More second-flooring rather than roofing. The tamper was for the pre-concrete gravel fill. The more compacting that the gravel gets the less likely your concrete slabs will crack. Apparently you can tell a cheap contractor (in situations where you're putting in a foundation) by whether they compress stuff and how much. If it ever becomes consistently sunny, I'll also be operating a canoe as part of this job :D

The fall-arrest system is because (even though it's just a house) I'm working inside a house large enough to hold four regular houses inside it. Except for when I'm working outside it, but that tends to be brush-clearing, not roofing. It's got a roof already.