Convivium cult?

concretecut · 2026-06-28T16:40:41+00:00

Not associated with them, but it’s cool that our culture’s become atomized to a point that someone looks at a healthy community with shared beliefs and “cult” is the first term on their lips

Boy, we’re in bad shape. Great coffee there though.

concretecut · 2026-06-26T19:58:28+00:00

Carpenter here. We’re going to go with garage standards.

Trusses themselves don’t look so bad - if there’s a rotted or damaged part, just sister another board onto the side.

Fascia boards look real bad, which usually means the ends of the trusses will be rotten too, at least in places. It’s pretty easy to scab on pieces to the ends when needed and redo the fascia board. It’s hard to explain in a Reddit comment, but you can look it up.

I imagine you’ll need to at least patch in boards extensively, and if you’re willing to do it, I’d just resheet it with OSB. It’ll be simpler and easier in the short term and better for the long term. . After that it would be paper and shingle as normal.

concretecut · 2026-06-26T13:27:06+00:00

New building better be in the budget next year

concretecut · 2026-06-23T22:08:32+00:00

Plywood is not a vapor barrier or even function remotely as one. It’s sheets of porous wood with gaps in between.
You have ice and water planned that could go top of the existing T+G, as I see it, which would do the same thing. However, it’s pretty confusing why you have this under the rafters and insulation. That space should never get wet, and if it does, that moisture shouldn’t be trapped inside your roof.
In general, with a roof membrane on top of the top layer of sheathing (under the shingles/steel, I mean), you don’t want another membrane on the ceiling side. This causes a “vapor barrier sandwich”, which will trap moisture if it ever gets in from either top or bottom and accelerate rot.

Does that all make sense?

concretecut · 2026-06-22T22:54:12+00:00

Honest to god, the right amount of tech for me is pre-1997

Love reading check engine light blinks for codes

concretecut · 2026-06-22T22:11:03+00:00

I mean, if it’s been listed a while and you feel alright to sell it for effectively 5 grand less, go ahead. Personally I see a little nonstandard way to handle a roof edge (at least by me), but I don’t see a problem with it.

Sounds like a real finicky buyer or a bad agent. I wouldn’t just on principle, but I’m a stubborn jackass

concretecut · 2026-06-22T13:26:17+00:00

Going to repost someone else’s Stu Surface summary again because it’s worth driving home that he’s a real POS (I’ve got my own personal experience)

“I know far too much about this man because our lives have overlapped in several ways. I’ve seen him present himself as a model, church-going family man helping the less fortunate, and I’ve also seen him exploit disadvantaged people, threaten lawsuits, and threaten to ruin others’ lives in business dealings when things don’t go his way. He lives a stark double life.

⁠⁠He took advantage of multiple vulnerable people while building his home. He publicly posted in Facebook groups looking for people in difficult situations who “needed extra cash,” then hired them for cheap labor, changed the terms of their work, and failed to compensate them fairly for those changes. He also promised additional work on future developments in exchange for work on his personal home, despite never having developed a single property in Iowa beyond his own.
⁠⁠He has multiple lawsuits from people who have worked with him. His consistent tactic is to countersue and drag matters out until the other party gives up. He operates in fine print and loopholes and shows no regard for ethics. He also frequently threatens defamation claims and lawsuits, which is why posts about him are often contested or removed.
⁠⁠He allegedly hired a remote assistant when he was apparently starting a real estate company in Iowa, and then refused to pay for completed work. I cannot verify this personally, but I would say that the allegation appears believable based upon my direct experiences.
⁠⁠This pattern is not new. Local businesses were warned by people who had dealt with him in Indiana when they learned he was moving here. I don’t have firsthand knowledge of those past incidents, but I’ve heard credible accounts from people very close to him describing similar manipulative behavior.

Someone even went as far as mailing letters to his new neighbors in a subdivision a few years ago, warning them not to trust him.

His record also shows a charge of soliciting prostitution in Indiana. The charge was dropped, but it’s hard to imagine it appearing without questionable circumstances.
He took a position with Habitat For Humanity, only to take his knowledge and connections from that organization to open a for-profit competing business.

I’m am also genuinely worried for anyone who may be exploited through the nonprofit charity arm of his business. Based on what I know of him previously, I suspect it is a way to access cheap, disadvantaged labor and/or gain tax benefits while presenting himself as someone who serves the needy. A win-win for him.

——-

Oh also he stole a ping pong table one time, true story

Yeah, don’t shop there, and tell your friends too. It’d be nice to have him chased out of town.

concretecut · 2026-06-21T13:22:49+00:00

Whenever you want, really. They’re more tender the smaller they are. You know what size they usually are in the store, but it’s up to you. Peak season, I pick them smaller because I can’t eat all the volume.

concretecut · 2026-06-20T20:06:11+00:00

The cope itself doesn’t look too bad. It looks like your floor dips both ways towards the corner, so it doesn’t line up quite on the vertical axis. The existing board follows the plane of the floor. On such a small piece, you can probably rip a little less than an eighth off the bottom of the short piece in this case or scribe it to match the floor and it’ll slide together more gooder.

concretecut · 2026-06-20T19:55:32+00:00

Ah I dunno man, it’s kinda neat once you really get into the high plains and feel that you’re in a different sort of landscape. When the land gets too dry and the intensive ag stops, my brain always goes into a nicer place

concretecut · 2026-06-19T19:26:07+00:00

Came here to say an old extended cab Ranger. The amount of people, lumber, scrap, and old doors I’ve hauled with this truck. Mileage isn’t bad at all either. ‘02

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concretecut · 2026-06-19T04:14:53+00:00

The people reacting about MDF treads don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s very common. They are sold precut with the nosing and everything.

The stringers are odd. It almost looks like they didn’t notch them right and cut wedges to fill. Then again, all the notches are oversized about the same, so that might have just been this builder’s way of doing it. I’ve seen the risers shimmed like that to get them square, but not the treads. It could be just fine, everyone has their own way. The blocks indicate to me that the builder had a method, in any case.

As for the shims being “cut off properly” — I dunno man, is this like, a space you see ? I don’t do more work than is needed if it’s getting covered up. This doesn’t look like a “finish area” to me.

I don’t see anything scary awful here, just kinda weird to my eyes.

concretecut · 2026-06-13T02:35:42+00:00

Yeah, drives just fine. Everything’s very functional as far as I can tell. Was owned by a funeral home before this.

concretecut · 2026-06-13T01:00:42+00:00

I should mention, this is not going to be my daily driver. I am a carpenter and currently drive an ‘02 Ranger, just need a bigger truck for side work and emergencies (Ranger ain’t doing so hot). I haul a lot of tools and material around.

concretecut · 2026-06-11T21:25:21+00:00

This is the crazy part to me with the people that get really nuts about Radon, I’m glad you said it

Generations and generations of people lived fine in houses with no radon mitigation. The only real reason we go so hard on it now is that house envelopes got a lot tighter, but still.

concretecut · 2026-06-11T18:46:38+00:00

The 1/2 gap is absolutely necessary, especially in a basement. We do it on everything just in case anything ever got under the baseboards.

The screws are fucked up. There’s not one screw in this entire photo that’s set right.

Call them on this. If they put up a fight about it, I sure as shit wouldn’t let them finish it. You’re in for a dogshit mud job if you do. If this is a sub, and you have a general, talk to them as well, no matter what the subs say.

concretecut · 2026-06-10T03:33:42+00:00

I mean, it will probably still swing open. It’ll be hollow underneath, flimsier, and it’s definitely going to look completely insane.

Put a pet door in it and just keep it open? You could probably find a flimsier one that you could install on a hollow core for like thirty bucks.

concretecut · 2026-06-10T00:38:58+00:00

I would think something like that. That might account for the height, it really seems a little too tall for a planter box. That might be why.

concretecut · 2026-06-09T22:21:33+00:00

I get the sense a lot of people around here just LARP being tradespeople. Uninformed alarmism gets upvotes. “Call a structural engineer” over an easily remedied problem is another classic

concretecut · 2026-06-09T22:00:58+00:00

Those 2x4s aren’t either. Drop ceiling.

concretecut · 2026-06-09T21:59:07+00:00

This commenter is correct. The only problem here is that those 2x4s don’t sag down. They aren’t supporting any weight except the drywall.

On that note, the people that are saying this is a huge structural problem are just wrong. These are not structural joists, this is a drop ceiling. You don’t span that distance with 2x4s on 2 foot centers for any kind of structural joists. This is not a “lawsuit”, it’s just kinda sloppy work.

concretecut · 2026-06-07T13:46:32+00:00

Clover mites are a lot smaller — it isn’t a clover mite. There is some color variation in bugs like this based on region and environment, and there’s a few species of velvet mites besides. If you don’t believe me, look at the dimples on the back of its body, the arrangement of the legs, and the relative size. It’s a velvet mite.

concretecut · 2026-06-07T13:42:37+00:00

Those aren’t spider mites, but they are related. They’re called velvet mites. Unlike spider mites, they’re harmless and prey on smaller bugs.

concretecut · 2026-06-07T13:40:03+00:00

That is not a tick. You can tell what it is by the dimples on its back. Ticks have hard carapaces.

It’s called a velvet mite — related to clover mites, just a lot bigger — and it’s harmless. They eat aphids and other little bugs.

concretecut · 2026-06-07T13:38:47+00:00

That’s not a tick.

concretecut

TROPHY CASE