# Some "Proffessionals" make me sick.



## CoolHandymanLuk (Oct 29, 2008)

What happened to professionals knowing what they were doing? Don't get me wrong I am by no means infallible, and don't have all the answers, hell even half may be a stretch. But some things are just ridiculous. 

The job I am currently working on is for some customers who had a brand new bathroom and kitchen put in just under 3 years ago. 

The unit is a rental, and right now between tenants the owners wanted to do some "minor cosmetic" work. 

Well first off they wanted to put in a new shower stall, not being happy with the old one, they also want the linoleum floor pulled and ceramic tile put down, and "want to know if I can do anything about that hump." 

I begin removing the old shower stall, and there is mold and clear, visible water damage due to a leaking surround. The drywall behind the surround is also in horrible condition, obviously having spent a good deal of time wet. So out comes the drywall. What do i find? all of the framing here was done with 2x4s faced instead of on edge. Which helped me figure out that the problem with water was due to the movement in the wall and the inability for a seal to hold. (pictures to come of what bothered me even more about this)

Then, I began pulling the floor to find out what the heave was caused by. The subfloor for the linoleum is plywood. Nothing wrong with this so far. Up comes the plywood, well up starts to come the plywood. And i find that it is directly on top of the concrete slab. No membrane, no cleats, no spacers. Nothing between the plywood and the slab except for glue. :furious:
(Any suggestions on better ways to remove this "subfloor" would be greatly appreciated.) I was actually so infuriated by the workmanship of this job, I had to call it a day a bit early and come home to cool off while I get the camera. Now I'm off to clean up over there and get a fresh start tomorrow, hopefully with some new ideas on how to tackle the floor.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.


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## fourcornerhome (Feb 19, 2008)

Time to put on your gloves and earn your money.No need to worry about how it was done.You need to figure out how to make it right.


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## SLSTech (Sep 13, 2008)

Flat shovel, Prybars & scrapers - Have fun


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## CoolHandymanLuk (Oct 29, 2008)

fourcornerhome said:


> Time to put on your gloves and earn your money.No need to worry about how it was done.You need to figure out how to make it right.


 Understood, but it drives me crazy to see perfectly good money and materials thrown out the window. But this is part of the job, albeit one of the harder ones to deal with for myself anyways.


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## CoolHandymanLuk (Oct 29, 2008)

SLSTech said:


> Flat shovel, Prybars & scrapers - Have fun



Flat shovel may be worth trying, prybars and scrapers are gonna make for a Loooong day but that was my initial thought on the matter. I'm also thinking of trying one of the roof rakes, but not sure if they'd hold up. Thanks for the advice though. 

Anyone else have any ideas?


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## mnjconstruction (Oct 5, 2008)

I use a "shingle eater" type or roof rake, think i got it from lowes, works great!


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## send_it_all (Apr 10, 2007)

Perfect opportunity to become the only guy they will allow to work on their home.


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## simplejack (Jan 15, 2009)

*Show the photos to the owner...*

...and Remind us why you call yourself _COOL_HANDYMANLUK!
and _*NOT*_ LUKATWHATIHAVETODEALWITH! :furious:.


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## Super-Mike (Jan 15, 2008)

Cut it in strips about 1' wide then take it up with pry bars and scrapers.

Really tough spots you can take a hammer drill with a wide chisel bit to it.


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## CoolHandymanLuk (Oct 29, 2008)

mnjconstruction said:


> I use a "shingle eater" type or roof rake, think i got it from lowes, works great!


Thanks I was thinking about this but not sure how it would work, glad to hear it should work well. 



send_it_all said:


> Perfect opportunity to become the only guy they will allow to work on their home.


Actually this already happened several months ago with various other jobs, but I like the way you think, and this will further drive home their loyalty I believe.




simplejack said:


> ...and Remind us why you call yourself _COOL_HANDYMANLUK!
> and _*NOT*_ LUKATWHATIHAVETODEALWITH! :furious:.


One of the reason's the homeowner is always so happy to have me work on his house anymore, is that I do show them photos of the process, which is very helpful when they live about 30-45 minutes away and this is a rental unit. And yes I know I was being a big old whiner yesterday, but the job just threw my schedule for a loop, especially since for various reasons in the building I can't start until 10 on certain days....:shutup:



Thanks for the tips everyone!


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## fourcornerhome (Feb 19, 2008)

Take every demo tool you own.You never know,sometimes a simple 20 oz claw hammer will work the best.


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

Why do you believe this was done by a pro?

Many people hire CHEAP. All they look at is price. They don't put in any effort to insure things are done properly, they just want CHEAP. 

So what? Who cares if they got screwed? They screwed themselves. :clap:

They will never admit it was their mistake. They will always blame their personal failures on others. They will ***** to you that they trusted the previous guy who called himself a pro. BS. They hired a guy who was cheap, put no effort into determining if he was qualified, then screwed themselves.


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## precisionbuild (Nov 17, 2008)

What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men. :shifty:


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## blackbear (Feb 29, 2008)

precisionbuild said:


> What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men. :shifty:


 
a little too much guns and roses?:thumbsup:


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## precisionbuild (Nov 17, 2008)

blackbear said:


> a little too much guns and roses?:thumbsup:


You must be young. I wasn't talking about "Civil War". I was talking about the movie that line came from. Or you're just yanking MY chain.:shifty:


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## MALCO.New.York (Feb 27, 2008)

Someone needs to decide!!!

My Money is on PB!!!!

Why??? He DID NOT say ".....*A *Failure to Communicate". He quoted it CORRECTLY!






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AShBoF1FPSE


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## Sliverbush (Feb 2, 2009)

Excuse me but you spelled perfessionals wrong.:thumbsup:


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## duckdown (Dec 16, 2008)

At some level, folks suffer from a mental disorder when they feel good that they can profit from half-assed work done by others in our field. No wonder homeowners attempt to lowball us as many don't simply care about quality.

We seriously need to figure out how to make the quality of jobs done by others better. Kinda like the tide that rises all ships...


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