Most Troublesome Trade

When I was in the trades the one that I had to repair most often was framing. All the other trades have to work with the framing and having it right means a lot. There is nothing better than getting to a job where the framer did his work well.
As a county inspector I had problems with any trade that penetrated fire rated walls. Fire stopping penetrations was a big deal. Another was fan shutdown on fire alarm activation. The electrician ran wires, the fire alarm people made sure the alarm rang and the HVAC people made sure there was HVAC. No one thought to connect the fire alarm wires at the fan. At final inspection I had them turn on all the fans and initiate the fire alarm to test fan shutdown. It seldom worked the first time.
As a public school administrator it was any trade that created dust or that did hot work (grinding, torching, welding, etc.). They would set off the fire alarm and I had a couple of thousand kids out in winter weather without their coats. I came up with a hot work permit so they had to get permission to do hot work.

I hate roofing with a passion. It's hot, it's hot, and it's hot work.



Plumbing is not that bad. I have replaced a lots of galvanized pipes, lead pipes, and there is nothing better then you hear the pop when using the chain cutter on cast iron. I'm to the point that I like running the concrete saw. The thing I don't like about plumbing is the amount of different fittings and you need the right one for the inspection and even the IPC 2015 can be left to interpretation.



At one point in my life I loved plaster, but after doing 3 coats on 5,000 sq', 10' ceilings, wife calling for an antique finish, and the wife running away from her mud chick job I was done with it.


SenioSitizen

I found that every water closet has it's own liking to the brand of TP. The down side is that you can get 4 of them with the same model number, 3 will love the TP you bought and the last one will hate the brand. You would of liked to see the manager at the big blue box store when my wife wanted to exchange water closets for the same model number because of this.

Just for clarity, I think the heading should be "troublesome" (or maybe "frustrating") "task" rather than "trade", because it's not the trade that is troublesome. A trade, by definition and out in the world, typically involves persons trained and skilled in that particular line of work. Plumbing for example is not my favorite task to take on, and more often than not it's not cutting and threading pipe or sweating copper fittings that's frustrating but rather the knowledge to be able to get the right part the first time and proceed. I've said for years that plumbing tasks are "three trippers", meaning 3 trips to the hardware or supply house, and consequently it is not necessarily enjoyable every time. On the other hand, I have worked beside plumbers on both residential and commercial jobs, and sure, they have their gripes about the job conditions, the boss, the union, the wife, and all of the other things that the rest of us have, but they keep on working, it comes out just like it should, and I would go so far as to say that most of them enjoy what they do. And they must because they have a pretty good amount of time and money invested to get where they are. The same goes for all trades. Take Mark Sr here for example. I don't know if he has been to actual paint classes or anything like that, assume a few along the way, but he obviously enjoys painting, so he pays attention to things he has read and learned, it makes sense, and can offer what I consider expert advice to others. I would categorize him as a tradesman. Me, well, I would bet that given two identical rooms in an average home, something like my own, no vaulted ceilings and so on to deal with, I could make my room like just like his. But, not knowing all of the things he has learned over the years, I might spend close to an entire day to do what he did in a couple of hours, and I'll probably be twice as beat because he's used to it, paced himself, etc. So can I do the job myself, be totally satisfied when I am done, and keep the money that I might have otherwise spent? Yes, most definitely. Does that make me a tradesman? No.