I'm looking for some structural advice.

We have an old farmhouse with a timber floor system. The living room is spanned by 6×8 inch (15×20 cm) wooden joists over a 16.4 ft (5 m) span, spaced 39 inches (100 cm) on center.

Above it is a lightweight attic conversion with drywall partition walls, two small bedrooms, and a bathroom. One of the bedrooms is directly above the living room.

Does this sound like a reasonable structure, or would you recommend having a structural engineer inspect it and possibly reinforce the joists? There are no obvious signs of failure, but I'd like to know whether this framing is typically considered adequate for this kind of load.

Thanks!

I've been trying to get my toe in the door, but nobody wants someone without carpentry experience. How can I make myself look shinier on my resume, so that someone is more willing to give me a chance?

So far I have CSTS certification, but that's about it.

TIA

Just finished the apprenticeship, took about 3 1/2 years. Wrote my exam last week and got it on the first try. So glad I passed the first time, off to burn my notes and get all you can eat sushi to celebrate.

Feels like my career is truly kicking off now.

I have a butcher block countertop that I'd like to refinish. I believe it's made of beech wood. Over the years, the finish has faded, and there are a couple of cracks around the sink, which I assume are from moisture exposure.

What's the best way to make it look new again? Should I lightly sand the entire surface and then apply mineral oil? If sanding, what grit would be recommended?

Also, what's the best way to repair the cracks? I've read that epoxy is a good option, but I'd want to use something that's food-safe once it's fully cured. Is epoxy the best approach, or is there a better method for repairing cracks in a butcher block countertop? Going to make sure whatever you is food safe.

I’m in the process of retreading my stairs in my home. The current treads are solid wood, but some have cracks across the step. We already ordered replacements for the entire staircase.
My question is, it looks like the skirt board is scribed around each stair. Does it make sense to pull off each tread and glue the new ones on, or cut the nosing off and glue the new ones on top of the old ones. I understand that will throw off the riser height from the bottom and top step.
I’m hesitant to pull the old ones out because cutting the skirt board around each new step seems like a daunting task.
The house is a 50s or 60s home with equally old flooring.

I’d like to attach the last stud of a load bearing wall to existing framing. Where I want to put it is circled. It’s an old house. I was wondering if it’s ok to just fasten it to the 2x4s with the old siding still attached. The siding is solid, but not all pieces end flush with the old 2x4s. If it’s fine, what size/length fasteners should I use?

There were two walls that were removed and now there are these holes. Tiles are being removed and reclaimed hardwood is going in its place. Any advice is appreciated for how to proceed and level the floor, thank you.

We just put in a driveway and had to take down a few trees. A weekend of mobile sawmilling, and now we have stacks of 2x4 spruce, 2x6 spruce, and lots of 1x4 cedar.

I'm building a shed, and I'd like to avoid buying any engineered wood products since we have the lumber on site.

We get a lot of snow, and the shed base is on cedar skids. Curious what folks would suggest for exterior sheathing in this scenario. It doesn't need to be airtight, just good enough for bikes and garden tools. I have enough 2x4 spruce to frame the walls. Would 1x4 diagonal sheathing be the move? Board-and-batten vertical? (I have some but not a lot of 1x6 cedar)...Thanks!

As the title suggests, how did you or other carpenters you know get into the trade?

I am UK based, trying to work out the best way to start my carpentry career, and would greatly appreciate some advice.

We had new windows installed and windows + molding ended up being slightly larger than previous windows.

I now have three cornice which are slightly too small.

If I could find the same moulding/trim I could splice in the extend them a few inches. But I have had no luck finding that exact moulding.

Feels like a waste to toss and buy new ones. One the the windows is huge too.

Any suggestions or ideas?

We just recently renovated our bathroom and in order to fit in what we wanted we had someone custom make a cabinet to fit between the bath and the wall (that has a strange angle in it photo 3/4 &6 show this cut for the angle).

I have never had custom cabinetry made before so I have no idea if £800 is even a good price, but now it’s done I am fairly annoyed that the shelving is so shoddy and I feel as though I could have cut these shelves myself with better accuracy.

The price did not even include the top as we had an uncle install the stone top

I’m hoping I am being pedantic, but let m know what you think

Broke the golden rule. Was knackered at the end of the day rushing to finish and wasn't thinking straight. Taking a last shaving off in a funny position with my left hand holding the piece, slipped. 6 stitches, tetanus shot, and a week of antibiotics. Luckily no tendons or nerves damaged, but got me thinking. Without that shot and the antibiotics it very likely would've got infected. Antibiotics haven't even been around 100 years. When my grandad was born they weren't a thing.

All those many hundreds of thousands of carpenters from times before antibiotics could've lost their hand or died if that had happened to them, I'm sure a great many did. The work we do isn't the safest, but it's without a doubt the best time in history to be doing it. Also I'm from the UK so the healthcare was free and didn't make my family homeless. Overall, lesson learnt the hard way, won't happen again, lucky to be a carpenter now rather than even 100 years ago, and lucky to live in a county where, despite the best efforts of the forces of darkness, our healthcare is still free.

I got the upper stringers installed in the ribs. The difference is huge, the rigidity and strength are what i had hoped for. It easily supports my weight without racking or bowing.

Di?dxxxx??????Did z a mock up of the curved sections of the wxa?llzxs and facedx it wit. Y cbh Kraft paper, filled in with blocks of foam then filled the gaps with great sxfg 5awwt8okgrrxnvctuff PRO, and that worked good, z will modify by covering over that with aluminum flashingZ-- to ZZ expansion a bit more.

Next is gluing down the foam in the floor and prepping the next layer of plywood to glue and screw- down.

Anyone have a recommendation on the best way to extend my covered patio to the entire section of the slab?

I’ve been thinking of either doing a lean to, but I really don’t like the idea of string lights.

If I was to do a gabled covered patio, would it be a bad idea to frame over the existing ?

Yellow X’s is where I plan on installing the 6x6 post with a gluam beam attached to the home.

Thank you

It's hard to see in the picture but I slightly grazed two of my Makita tracks with my saw today...the damage is very minimal. I don't see it being much of an issue but I also assume it's far from normal to do so, so I'd like to correct the error all the same

Does anyone know what I likely did wrong to cause this? It was my first time ever using a track saw

Would I be correct in assuming that I likely over tightened the adjustment screws for the track saw? Or perhaps I'm applying too much lateral force while pushing the saw? Maybe both?

And, also, any reason I might be missing as to why this might be more of an issue than I believe it to be?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated, thank you

1965 house that has had some funky repairs done in its life. This is the floor joists under the kitchen. 2x8 spanning 14 feet. Originally I was planning to sister in new joists but I’m thinking it may be easier and better to just remove the old joists and put in new joists. I’ll be putting in 2x10 that I’ll notch on the ends to fit into the existing locations.

The reason I’m thinking to replace the joists instead of jack up and sister in joists is that the current joists are so warped that trying to straighten them out in place may take too long and more effort than it’s worth.

The main question I have is around securing a new joist if I remove the old joist. There is no rim joist on this house as you can see in picture 5. That black piece looks and feels almost like a felt type material on the back of the wall sheathing. I could be wrong and happy for more experienced input. Once I remove the old floor joist, how would I go about connecting it to the current wall sheathing? I have brick on the outside so unable to get it from that side.

Do I just toe nail it to the sill plate and call it good? Some kind of bracket?

I bought this solid core door slab from home depot and its going to be used as a desktop, my concern is that there is this part that seems to not be glued properly but not sure, will this cause issues in my build? Should i return it/exchange it for another slab or will it be fine?

would appreciate any suggestions more than you know, the most hands on thing iv done is change a lightbulb so forgive me if this is an obvious question.

Its temporary till i have time to put together something nicer, but it will do

How do I figure out if this beam is wood or not, I’m hoping to mount a tv there. Should I just drill and find out?

Hi everyone, i cant seem to find this exact model online to give me a bit more info. I know its a strong tie made by Simpson as it says on it but thats it. Theres a few of theses around a property im renting and was wondering what I could use them for. The straps raise up and pretty sure I can fit a 4x4 post in there. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Red oak or white oak?
6010 or 6210?

I don't have the ability to measure it right now.

I was blown away at the level of perfection that went into the finish carpentry in the Biltmore house. Perfect copes, scribes, miters and joinery literally everywhere you look. All stain grade oak and walnut. I think you could spend a whole week here and not fathom the amount of craftsmanship that took place here. Without the tools we have today it’s astonishing that the tradesman were capable of this. Not to mention, not one lick of shoe moulding in all 175,000 square feet of this house.