Putting things right

[tommer9]

Wow, thanks!:001_smile:The mud filled ones- 99.9% of them- are used for boundaries, garden hedges, field boundaries, dogs dinners...:001_tongue:Only up on bodmin moor and a few other places do you see old dry dtone stuff down here, but it isnt generally very pretty! I can totally understand your frustration with "tradesmen". most builders down here are more than happy to put the labourer on the stonework, whether hedging or on a house facing blockwork!!!:scared1:You can imagine some of the horrors! It isnt helped by the fact that a large proprotion of people dont seem to be able to tell the difference either! And the building boom didnt do skills much good in general either if you see what i mean- loads of work= cowboys?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didont like to mention it earlier, but we did win an award...., but praise from up north means more!

[tommer9]

Id rather be up a tree any day btw. Stonework has wrecked my body- 34 with a twisted spine and two discs disintegrated!!

[Dean Lofthouse]

Id rather be up a tree any day btw. Stonework has wrecked my body- 34 with a twisted spine and two discs disintegrated!!

 

Walling knocks seven bells out of my back too. Tree work can be hard on your back but I have developed techniques for lifting big heavy rings without using my back at all.

 

Problem is with walling, most of the time you can't support the weight by resting your forearms on your thighs because you have to lean out over the wall .

 

With big rings, I lift one side, rest the back of my wrist on the top of my knee then sort of lever the other end of the ring up so all the weight is being taken by my knee, then roll it onto the other knee, against my chest the stand up, very little effort involved.

 

Hard to explain on paper so to speak

[skyhuck]

I have developed techniques for lifting big heavy rings without using my back at all.

 

 

Me too!!!!!!!!!

[tommer9]

Im going to try that technique! Ta! Are you lifting the log onto its side first then? I think i get it. I had a break from a few years of tree work/ sawmilling, which i still did but a lot less, as the stonework was really taking off with all the second home london types buying places down here. Learnt to climb 2 years ago when i stopped stoning, and really enjoy it. Always good to have strings to your bow though i reckon.:001_smile:My days of hammering all day-we reckoned on about 10000 hits a day to make all those little 'pitshers' in the second pic-are over. I can do about 15 mins now and my arm gives up:thumbdown:

 

 

The things we do for wonga!!!

[tommer9]

Me too!!!!!!!!!

 

:001_tongue:nice one skyhuck!

[Dean Lofthouse]

Me too!!!!!!!!!

 

Go and grease your boom pins you !

[Mike Hill]

I really try not to lift any big bits of wood or Rings like I used to.I don't want to end up with a bad back.Most of our clients want the wood,and in cases where it is to come off site,I'll go and nab it with the Hi Ab.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I very nearly went ballistic with him but I understood his stand point as in the above paragraph.

 

In the last 15 years I have employed all manner of trades to do jobs for me. I dont know whether this is nationwide or just me being particularly picky, but I haven't found one tradesman that does a good job.

 

Infact one builder I set on doing a £25K rebuild of two gable walls was a builder from hell, absolute cowboy. I ended up digging holes in the bottom of the gables to remove tons of crap he had shovelled down the cavity to save on skips.

 

I had a 90ft drystone wall down my drive fall over in gales, the insurance sent out a "Drystone waller" he started the job and was using the "throughs" as "Jumpers" and filling the middle in with soil . When I confronted him he asked me how dare I critisise his walling, he teaches in college.

 

I sacked three different wallers that the insurance company sent out, until eventually, after the insurance company just thought I was picky, they let me choose the waller. After he had finished they could see the difference and accepted I wasn't being funny and have now set this lad on as their waller.

 

I have honestly not come across one tradesman with pride in his work, which is one of the reasons I go all out to ensure my customers are satisfied with the work I have done and being from an engineering background is probably the worst thing ever because you work to finer tolerances.

 

Yep, always the way - if you want a job done properly do it yourself. Another culprit is vehicle dealerships - there's no such thing as a conscientious, interested dealership or garage any more. Downloading fault codes is as mechanical as they can go!

[Dean Lofthouse]

Yep, always the way - if you want a job done properly do it yourself. Another culprit is vehicle dealerships - there's no such thing as a conscientious, interested dealership or garage any more. Downloading fault codes is as mechanical as they can go!

 

You are not kidding.

 

I took my amazon into Toyota with a fault that went like this.

 

I was on the motorway with the cruise control on pulling a 3.5t trailer, if I touched the brakes, the rear fogs came on and when I turned them back off the cruise control knocked off, but only while pulling a trailer.

 

I explained to their "Specailist Technician". After 6 hours I phoned and asked if they had found the fault, they said no their tech is still on with it.

 

At £65 per hour this was a little worrying, so at 4 pm I went on, they still hadn't found the fault and told me they needed it another day. I said no way and told them I was taking my motor somewhere else. They tried biling me for 8 hours fault finding, I told them to stick it, I only pay for faults that have been found and solved.

 

I took the motor home and timed myself, I found the fault in 7 minutes.

 

I phone toyota uk and complained.

 

I took the car back with an engine management problem some months later, the car would for no reason go into limp mode when you go to set off. I took it in, they charge me £35 to plug it in to fault code the problem which turned out to be the electronic throttle pedal, after another full day with the car there

 

They sad it needed replacing at a cost of £350 plus labour.

 

I told them I will find a second hand one, so took it home and had a look at it, it turned out to be a badly adjusted micro switch on the pedal, which tells the computor that the pedal has started to move.

 

Thirty seconds to adjust it did the trick at no cost in parts and the only tool needed was a screw driver and a multi meter.

 

Needless to say I complained again to toyota uk and have never been back to my local toyota garage again, for service (and only for the stamp) I take it to wakefiled a 40 mile round trp.

 

I was trained as a mechanic which solves problems and fault finds and repairs parts, not a fitter that just swaps bits that don't work.