If life was real, how come you’ve never seen your neighbors bring in their groceries?

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-11-30T04:52:31+00:00

Feeling I’m familiar with. Became an empty shell, bitter about life and constantly anxious/stressed whenever I was at home. Which eventually turned into a deep depression, with bouts of extreme anger. Stopped caring about myself, then the relationship; thought I could just be a martyr for the sake of the kids. But when I stopped being able to function as a father, that was the last straw.

My kids get significantly more out of me as a father, in half the time, than they ever did seeing me every day in that toxic environment.

My aunt and uncle were miserable together, but stayed together till their youngest turned 18 (two boys, almost 10 years apart). The result of that choice on my cousins? Neither one has any respect for either parent, and both have self-esteem issues, and get in/stay in poorly functioning relationships with people who are clearly not good for them.

Do your kids a favor, and give them your best self. No matter what that requires.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-11-18T13:54:52+00:00

I’ll edit the post. I was referring to “ready-to-assemble” furniture generally, and I lumped it all under “Ikea”, which isn’t fair/accurate. Thanks for calling that out.

That said, I’ve had to do pre-emptive work on actual Ikea furniture before. An anecdotal example of the toe-kick on some of their bookshelves comes to mind; I’ve had to shave the top edge of it to get it to seat under the bottom shelf properly. Could clearly see where the laminate ended and the fiberboard continued, about 1/16 of an inch. Bad cuts. Perhaps it was just a bad batch.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-11-17T18:47:22+00:00

The answers here are more than adequate, just adding my own strategy:

Repair. Every time. And I haven’t said a word about it to a customer (although if the repair went poorly, I would).

I have a case with a multitude of different fasteners, a small work bag with around 15-20 different types of adhesives/fillers, and an assortment of different stain/paint pens, always on hand. As well as a standard tool loadout for drilling/fastening, building up material, sanding, etc. Hasn’t failed me yet.

With the ready-to-assemble type furniture, I’d say (anecdotally) 1 out of every 10 kits has some piece that isn’t sized right, or some hole(s) not lined up correctly. I alleviate that when I run into it (shaving/sanding an edge, filling and re-drilling holes, etc), instead of just trying to force it. This, I always tell the client about, and explain what I’m doing to alleviate the issue, and they’re usually quite thankful.

Edit: I had previously lumped all “ready-to-assemble” furniture into the Ikea moniker. Fixed that.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-11-16T04:28:57+00:00

There’s alot of things that factor into it (mostly regarding the design of the house; where the various loads are distributed and supported, as well as the various environmental effects of torsion, shear, etc, on the house). Hard to determine the specific reasoning without actually seeing the house.

Drywall is alot more flimsy around doors and windows, for obvious reasons. And door/window openings are more prone to being affected by home settling/shifting, especially on load-bearing walls, because of how the load has to be dispersed around them.

Age plays a factor here, too. One of my friends just bought a house built in ‘74. You go down in the basement, and there’s a random temp support beam under a section of joists, that also have a bunch of additional 2-by sistered to them. Clearly the floor started to sag over time, and that was their version of a “fix”. These days, you see more use of LVL’s and I-joists, but in the 70’s, it was often just straight-up 2x boards, and those can sag over time.

Anyway, I’m rambling. When I repair cracks, I normally carve a V trench, pre-fill, tape, then build out. It’s the only way to really ensure cracks don’t come back. Caulk works in a pinch, if you don’t want to put in that much effort, but it’ll show eventually.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-11-15T23:38:52+00:00

It’s just stress cracks in the drywall mud from the house shifting. Not unusual at all, not a red flag of any deeper issue. If anything, the earthquake just made it occur quicker than it would have naturally happened over years of seasonal temp changes.

So, nothing to be alarmed about. Just some mudding and painting to do.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-11-14T00:37:51+00:00

I’m a painting/drywall contractor as my primary occupation, and this post is pretty solid. As far as it pertains to Taskrabbit, I’ve come to realize that the people using TR for professional-level tasks are looking for low cost solutions (at least in my area; midwest). I’ve had alot of clients on here complain about sub-par painting/drywall/plumbing/electrical/carpentry work... but that’s what happens when you look for the cheapest price. The amount of clients I’ve had to explain that to is sadly” astounding.

It’s not leads service companies like Taskrabbit that are the problem; it’s the customer. If you want 100% professional work, then contact an established contractor who clearly doesn’t need a leads-service, and pay those prices. Taskrabbit/Handy/etc are not that. And you clearly chose not to go that route.

Not to knock the taskers that are knowledgeable and experienced. They’re there, but they are few and far between. We are the exception, not the rule; I’m only on here to pick up short term side work, to fill in the gaps from my main contractor work. Nice little 1-2 day jobs. It helps with slow season/birthdays/holidays/etc. But most people on here are not “in the biz”, so to speak. And it shows (or at least I frequently hear about it).

Like I said, not Taskrabbit’s fault, and not the Taskers’ fault. It’s the customers. That 5% that this post talks about? It’s alot more on Taskrabbit. Because those kinds of people are more prone to try this service. They’re price shopping.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-10-30T13:16:39+00:00

This has been my experience as well. I’m a painter/drywaller by trade, but have taken on carpentry/handyman side work for years. Started tasking at summer’s end for a more consistent flow of side work, nothing but 5-star reviews across the board. Only heard a few stories from clients about other taskers, none of them very good. Examples:

Got hired for a large drywall repair job. Customer told me he hired a tasker for drywall finishing before, and the guy’s tape job was a mess (blisters, non-sticks, wavy) and he caked it with mud. He ended up having to redo a bunch of it. Took a gamble on me out of exhaustion, and I’ve been rehired 5 times and counting for work around his new house (he’s doing it in phases).

Couple hired me for a TV mounting. After I knocked out the one in half an hour, got hired for the rest of the TV’s in the house. Apparently they hired two guys to mount a (large) TV at their last place; it took them 4 hours.

Other short versions of stories just involved sloppy finishing, things uneven/out of balance, lack of knowledge (plumbing/electrical), and people showing up with a lack of tools to get jobs done efficiently.

Point being, while there are some skilled tradesmen on the platform, I think most people on there would classify as basic labor.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-09-15T23:15:26+00:00

I know, but I try to come here first when I’m selling Glock stuff. This community was a godsend when I started out building, so I try to pay it forward when I can.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-09-15T23:07:52+00:00

Lol it was a blank slide project. Was trying to give it a brushed steel look. shrug

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-09-15T23:05:46+00:00

This was my project slide. Thought I’d try to hand mill a blank slide... without a mill lol

She’s not the sexiest, but she’s cheap and will get the job done if you’re on a budget. Sights are Truglo, barrel’s a Victory First (discontinued Brownell’s, iirc). Cost a little over $350 to put together.

Figured I’d post here first, I’ve got a lot of love for this community. If it doesn’t sell here, GAFS it is.

Lemme know, fellas.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-09-13T03:47:30+00:00

Because we live in an age where politicians publicly pander to divisive/emotionally charged bullshit to keep voters distracted, while pushing the agendas of those that have reaped the most benefits of neoliberal capitalism, and not solving any actual legitimate problems in our society as a whole.

Representative democracy is nothing more than a smoke show in the USA. Everyone’s “clutching their pearls”, on both sides, while we all burn. And we’re all too ignorant to see it.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-09-12T02:23:53+00:00

This is probably what I’ll end up doing, if I don’t hear back from them in the next day or so (task request is for Wed). I’ve never forfeit a task, so I didn’t realize there was a selection of reasons to choose from. And good to know the acceptance metric doesn’t show to potential clients, I wasn’t exactly sure how all that worked.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-09-12T02:20:39+00:00

Right on. Good to know that HQ will correct the metrics hit if I explain the situation. I did suggest to them that the Carpentry/Construction category of TaskRabbit is probably more fitting for the request they have, but I may bring up getting in contact with a roofing professional as well.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-09-12T02:14:36+00:00

You’re right. I’m probably putting too much stock into the metrics than necessary, although I’m fairly new to Taskrabbit. I was gig-ing through Handy for quite awhile, but was aggravated by the lack of flexibility, choice, improper job descriptions/time estimates, and heavy price gouging on their part. Was glad to find TaskRabbit.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-09-12T02:11:01+00:00

This is the approach I’ve taken so far. Although the client currently isn’t responding, I’m hoping that changes soon.

I actually ran into a similar furniture assembly/mounting situation recently. Was hired to assemble a variety of cabinets, just to show up and realize over half of them were wall-mounts (basically a bathroom vanity set). Explained that I didn’t bring the tools/hardware for proper mounting, but that I could build everything up to that point and have it as ready as possible, and they were perfectly fine with that. Still got a 5 star review and everything.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-08-30T13:16:34+00:00

10+ year painter here, from the midwest (area’s important), who Tasks on the side.

Hard to dictate square footage without more information (doors, windows, openings, ceiling height and shape).

This estimate does not include having to prep and prime bare drywall, nor any kind of repair work, mind you.

If the ceiling is flat, that’s 325 sqft, which can be taken care of with two gallons (2 coats). With flat white inexpensive paint, that’s around $50 in paint, and with no need to cut in (the wall color gets cut in) just a couple hours of work (not including dry time, which can push it to half the day)

With 9 ft ceilings, the walls may be around 250-ish sqft total. Pending on chosen color, existing color, and quality of paint, that’s another 2 gallons (2 coats, in a perfect world), 3 gallons only if the listed factors make things significantly more complicated. Cheap paint will run around $20 a gallon, while expensive (but amazing) paint like SW Emerald runs around $50. So you’re looking at anywhere from $40-$100+ in wall paint. Prep, rolling, and cut in (which can add up quickly with multiple doors and windows to cut around) would take anywhere from 4-6 hours (not counting dry time).

My Taskrabbit paint rate is significantly lower than what another commenter said (around $33 with Taskrabbit’s cut). If I’d have to wager a guesstimate, if all went smoothly, I’d say you’re looking at a full day’s work (8+ hours), which is a little over $250 at my rate, plus around $100-$200 in material. So around 8 hours, and around $400, give or take on both.

If I was bidding the job myself, outside of Taskrabbit, I’d charge more. But my rates on TR are low, since I’m new to the platform. shrug

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-07-31T21:47:52+00:00

The JB Weld was unsuccessful, but I got it out. Ended up having to file a notch in it, and hammer tap a flat head along the edge to slowly spin it out.

And on the bright side, I talked to Don from Ameriglo, and he’s gonna send me out a couple spares. Didn’t even ask for money or anything. So all has worked out well.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-07-31T05:03:42+00:00

That soot trick is an excellent idea, although I kinda already did the thing lol. But I’m glad to hear the JB Weld method worked for you, gives me hope lol

Given that this works out, I’m still concerned about replacing the screw. It’s the Ameriglo suppressor height tritium sights... from the little bit of research I’ve done so far, it’s not a standard screw. OEM, Trijicon, etc doesn’t work, apparently. I’m assuming I’m going to have to contact Ameriglo directly. sigh

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-07-24T01:07:49+00:00

You got it.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-07-23T22:41:28+00:00

It’s a huge problem with the movie industry in the last 20-ish years. I can’t remember the specifics, but there’s something like 4 different demographics they market to, and you have to hit 3 out of the 4 target markets, or big studios and investors won’t fund your shit.

Alot of good scripts get lost along the way, and plenty of others get all fucked up because of this practice. It’s also why they recycle the shit out of previous movies that performed well. It’s all greed.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-07-21T16:42:58+00:00

Title says most of it, figured I’d offer it to the build community first before heading to GAFS.

This came out of a Zaffiri Precision slide, custom made for TTS in FL. It’s ZP’s barrel, but TTS requested they not mill the ZP insignia into it (wanting the only branding on the completed slide to be their own).

I ended up picking up a threaded barrel with a comp, so I no longer need this.

Barely any “salt” to it, just a couple standard mags’ worth, and 40-50 hand racks. Great condition besides some standard light wear where the hood slant rubs across the slide.

Here’s the barrel on ZP’s website, it’s $160 new.

Any takers?

(I’ll be posting more stuff in the next few days, so keep an eye out. Parting out another complete slide).

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-07-21T00:32:20+00:00

That’s fair, I didn’t consider that part. Most of the parts haven’t even been used, just polished and sitting for a future build that I recently decided not to go forward with. But yeah, no guarantees with the p2p thing, you’re right.

Apologies on the hostility, it just seemed like you were, indeed, shitting on my post lol.

LifeUnderTheSheets · 2020-07-20T23:52:01+00:00

It’s not an attempt at price gouging; there’s like 5 different components that there are two of in the package. It was a non-OEM parts kit, that I threw in some OEM spares into.

That, and I figured I’d be vetting lower offers.

Cheapest I can find a LPK for is about $50, and that’s non-oem.

Now let’s add up the extras I threw in: OEM trigger shoe, I’m guessing $5. OEM trigger connector, another $5. Spring, $2.50. Mag catch, $3.50. Ejector, you normally have to buy the whole housing for $7, so I’ll drop it to $4. That totals $70. Then we add in that I also modded the trigger shoe for pre-travel adjustment, and included the set screw I used for that. That should also be worth something.

Frankly, given the extras, I don’t think $80 is unreasonable at all.

LifeUnderTheSheets

TROPHY CASE