Spot the ISAAC hat on TV!

[benracin]

The TV show Hometime is re-working parts of my house for a 3 show series that will show on HGTV and maybe PBS in late Jan - Feb. I'm not supposed to be wearing any clothing that isn't an actual show sponsor but I've been being naughty with my Isaac hat by placing it in the background of some shots. So we'll have to see if it makes the cut! Hopefully I can provide some free advertising for an awesome product. Maybe I'll have to put on my belts and helmet with the Isaac all hooked up and do some sheet rock mudding. :happy204:

Now if only I can talk them into putting some of my in-car cam in the show...

[gsbaker]

:D :023:

[lateapex911]

Cool!

I like some of the Hometime projects. It would be cool to hear the behind the scenes stories of what really happens. I take it that Rigid (Home Depot) is the supplier! (Too bad, I prefer a bit of this and a bit of that when it comes to good tools)

[benracin]

Actually, all the tools are provided by Makita and Dewalt, so pretty good stuff. Craftsman is the supplier for the non-electrical tools. Since I'm a cheap bastard I'm the electrician and plumber and sheet rock taper and mudder and I'm now the painter as well. What will really be interesting is to see how much they "say" they did. What they do is kind of get started on something then they leave the home owner to do the rest. One thing is for sure, doing it on TV slows the project down huge. If this was just a normal contractor this project would of been done in a month. We started in early September and probably won't be finished till shortly after x-mas. There are some large benefits though. Almost everything is free so who can argue with that! :023:

[lateapex911]

Cool...better hide the new makita sawzall under the Isaac hat!

You have my sympathy...i HATE drywalling! Let us know when it's on and I will TIVO it.

[dj10]

Originally posted by lateapex911@Dec 2 2005, 11:35 PM
You have my sympathy...i HATE drywalling!

67247


Yea me to! :D
dj10
Jones Plastering, Inc.

[lateapex911]

Too bad you aren't closer!

The drywallers in the area have left me.......disappointed.

[benracin]

I thought I was doing good on the drywall till I put on the last coat. We're putting in a pretty crazy sofit and it took me 3 hours of sanding to make it look good. From what I understand having to do a lot of sanding is the true mark of an beginner mudder.

[Bill Miller]

And just how did you get hooked up w/ them??? I'd love someone to come in and do my house!!

And like Jake, I hate to tape/spackle. I don't actually mind the rock work, but I hate the tape/spackle work. On that note, I'm off to work on the tile in my bathroom!!!!

[JLawton]

I do my dry wall just like my bondo........put on 1 pound, sand off 9/10s of a pound..... :(

[lateapex911]

I suck at it, LOL. It's a skill, like most things, but it so unpleasant when you are bad at it that there is no incentive to get better, LOL.

And the pros have all the toys. I watched them use a tool that looks like one of those non powered floor sweepers/vacuums, except the put it on the wall, run it along the tape line, and *poof*...the coat of mud is on, smooth and tapered. Takes 5 seconds to do 8 feet!

But, they are all about speed, and could care little about quality, in my experience. Maybe the crews I have gotten have been under paid, but their desire to do as little as possible and get away with it was obvious.

[JamesB]

Originally posted by JLawton@Dec 5 2005, 08:31 PM
I do my dry wall just like my bondo........put on 1 pound, sand off 9/10s of a pound..... :(

67403



And even then I never get it completely smooth. I just finished a wall and after the first coat of paint found mud ridges. too bad I cant get away with using the air sander in the house...I tried but it just makes an amazing mess.

[benracin]

I work for Dean's (the host) brother and have made all the DVDs and other electronic media for Hometime so I've been begging for about 2 years. For as much as the guy makes he doesn't like to travel very far so unless you're within 10 miles of work here there's little chance in getting your house done. Oh, here is Chaska MN. What I really need them to do is a dream garage program. They did one a couple years back but it was mostly cabinets and that mesh floor stuff you see guys having in the fancy pit area. I'm pretty sure they need to do a car lift, a home car painting booth and a tool outfitting. Now that's a show. Since this is the dream garage they might as well throw in a big screen, surround sound a a keg fridge.

[JamesB]

This old house did a show once about a workshop but it was for a boat not a car.

I can only think if dream car garage but thats just a showcase for expensive garage stuff.

I want someone to come in, help me vault the ceiling, install a lift, pipe all my air and extend the back of the garage for storage and workshop space. But then I could just wait a few more years, sell the house in the middle of the burbs and pray I find something with some land and a small house to build a hobby shop on.

[Wreckerboy]

Gee, and I thought I was doing well because my future son-in-law is a contractor, and helluva nice guy to boot. I've learned to not muse about future projects around the kid, because when I turn my back they seem to get done without me! It was nice to have he and his brother put a roof on our house this spring (including replacing eight sheets of ply) for little more than the cost of materials and beer, though.

Keep us posted on how the project turns out!

Rob <---- who thinks those shows are bad because they give me just enough knowlege to be dangerous.

[Bill Miller]

Originally posted by lateapex911@Dec 5 2005, 11:24 PM
I suck at it, LOL. It&#39;s a skill, like most things, but it so unpleasant when you are bad at it that there is no incentive to get better, LOL.

And the pros have all the toys. I watched them use a tool that looks like one of those non powered floor sweepers/vacuums, except the put it on the wall, run it along the tape line, and *poof*...the coat of mud is on, smooth and tapered. Takes 5 seconds to do 8 feet!

But, they are all about speed, and could care little about quality, in my experience. Maybe the crews I have gotten have been under paid, but their desire to do as little as possible and get away with it was obvious.

67426


That&#39;s a fact Jake. I used to do a lot of work in new construction houses. The rockers are paid piece work, which is why they&#39;re in such a hurry to get done. So are the tapers. Oh, and they&#39;re usually totally seperate crews. They are amazingly fast, but amazingly sloppy and wasteful. The usually send in a crew of 2-3 guys, just to clean up the scrap, after the rockers have been in there.

I&#39;ve seen them use the device that Jake talks about. Mostly it&#39;s used on the ceiling, and they use something called a &#39;banjo&#39; for the walls.

I&#39;ve seen good rockers and tapers work, they are amazingly fast. I have a casual friend that&#39;s a union rocker, he can hang 80-90 boards a day, by himself. At $5/board, that makes for a fat pay envelope at the end of the week.

[ShelbyRacer]

Originally posted by lateapex911@Dec 5 2005, 11:24 PM
I suck at it, LOL. It&#39;s a skill, like most things, but it so unpleasant when you are bad at it that there is no incentive to get better, LOL.


Oh, I disagree... I&#39;m DAMN good at tape and mud. This occurred because I HATE sanding. Like benracin said, if you&#39;re good at mud, it really knocks down the amount of sanding... :rolleyes:

[lateapex911]

Originally posted by Bill Miller@Dec 6 2005, 02:53 PM
Oh, and they&#39;re usually totally seperate crews. They are amazingly fast, but amazingly sloppy and wasteful. The usually send in a crew of 2-3 guys, just to clean up the scrap, after the rockers have been in there.


LOL...and all the crews hate the other ones! The clean up crew hates the rockers, as do the tapers! And the Rockers hate the tapers who are always whining that the rockers suck!



I&#39;ve seen good rockers and tapers work, they are amazingly fast. I have a casual friend that&#39;s a union rocker, he can hang 80-90 boards a day, by himself. At $5/board, that makes for a fat pay envelope at the end of the week.

67465


That&#39;s about 2K...before beer.....(Shlitz, it goes furhter) at about $30 a day, and crack, which sucks up a good $1000...then taxes, $500, and the inevitable etc, ......so, you can see, it really doesn&#39;t pay THAT well!

I think they should be paid per peice...that is correctly installed!

[lateapex911]

Originally posted by JamesB@Dec 6 2005, 11:45 AM
This old house did a show once about a workshop but it was for a boat not a car.

.

67456


I think that was Bob Villa, and his show called "Home Again" and the shop was for him, and his boat.

[zracre]

Originally posted by JamesB@Dec 6 2005, 10:56 AM
And even then I never get it completely smooth. I just finished a wall and after the first coat of paint found mud ridges. too bad I cant get away with using the air sander in the house...I tried but it just makes an amazing mess.

67453


I just use knockdown to hide the mud ridges...makes most walls (done by me anyways...which is a bad thing) look half decent...throw on a few crown mouldings and paint...the cleanup sucks though...

[benracin]

You&#39;d be suprised how many things get done on the show just so the host can get something. I believe Dean is on his 2nd house and 2nd vacation log cabin. All for which the materials were provided free, so were the tools, the equipment, the workers at probably 1/2 cost, and all the goodies to fill the house were probably also free. Then you sell the tapes, you sell the shows, it&#39;s all a tax write off since it&#39;s a business and everything was free. Oh, when you sell a house it&#39;s 100% profit as well. Nice!

Racing sure would be easier if all the parts were free, I got paid to race and work on the car and I then made money products due to my racing. Doesn&#39;t someone do that already?

[JamesB]

eh, there are a few places here and there I need to smooth over, but not in a big hurry with the holidays approaching, just happy the work is done and painted.

As for racing, sure it would be nice if thats how it worked for everyone, but it doesn&#39;t so we bust our butts and frett over budgets and make it happen anyway.

[benracin]

And the ladies love us for it.

It&#39;s taken me maybe 3-4 weeks to do all this mudding. Hometime had a guy I could hire for maybe $800. The wife thinks I was dumb not taking them up on that one. Little does she know what $800 can do to a race car. Of course I told her we&#39;re saving furnature money. :P

[ddewhurst]

***Of course I told her........***

Ok

[gsbaker]

Hey, c&#39;mon. I thought this thread was about that great Isaac hat? LOL ;)

[benracin]

Well about that totally awesome hat which is a little more sheet rock white then it is black. I wore it the whole time that we were putting stones on our fireplace which we recorded with Hometime&#39;s home owner camera. That way they have some taping over the weekend. I know that&#39;s going to make the show so look out! Should I put an Isaac bumper sticker on my back?

[gsbaker]

Originally posted by benracin@Dec 8 2005, 12:59 PM
Well about that totally awesome hat which is a little more sheet rock white then it is black.
Figures. Any we chose black because it wouldn&#39;t show the dirt.


Should I put an Isaac bumper sticker on my back?
Sure! One on your forehead also. :)

[MadFrog]

Originally posted by gsbaker@Dec 8 2005, 01:20 PM
Figures. Any we chose black because it wouldn&#39;t show the dirt.
Sure! One on your forehead also. :)

67603


I wonder if they&#39;ll do the whole smudging thing so that the test doesn&#39;t appear?

[Tom Donnelly]

Not trying to hijack the thread but have any of y&#39;all used the vacuum sander on drywall? The thing is about $500 and the pads are $39 each. Supposed to work real well hooked up to a shop vac but I can&#39;t see the need yet to spend $500.

Less mud = less sanding. Are y&#39;all mixing the mud with a stirrer before using it? That thins it out just enough to use less on the coats.

I don&#39;t mind muddin&#39; as much as I mind sanding it.

As far as mistakes go, thats why drywall mud comes in 5 gallon buckets! :D

$500 is tire money.

Tom

[JIgou]

Originally posted by Tom Donnelly@Dec 9 2005, 04:54 PM
Not trying to hijack the thread but have any of y&#39;all used the vacuum sander on drywall? The thing is about $500 and the pads are $39 each. Supposed to work real well hooked up to a shop vac but I can&#39;t see the need yet to spend $500.

Less mud = less sanding. Are y&#39;all mixing the mud with a stirrer before using it? That thins it out just enough to use less on the coats.

I don&#39;t mind muddin&#39; as much as I mind sanding it.

As far as mistakes go, thats why drywall mud comes in 5 gallon buckets! :D

$500 is tire money.

Tom

67756


A friend of mine picked up a baby version of this at Home Depot (or some other big-box hardware store) for $50 or so, and LOVES it. It has some sort of water container that goes between the sand/vacuum end and your own shop vac.

Of course, he bought that AFTER I did the ceiling in my old house.

Jarrod