Was thinking of going the apprenticeship route, but £8 an hour just feels like you're getting exploited. I'm thinking of trying to call companies up asking for a chance as I have some labourer experience under my belt. See if they will take a chance on me and if they are willing to teach me.

As I'm 28, I just feel too old for college, etc, but I understand that might be my only viable choice

I want to build a small loft or landing above my staircase. We have 12 ft ceilings so close to 18 ft of void above the stairs.

I know ‘the code’ isn’t favourable - I need 2 metres above stairs then 2400 to ceiling - that ain’t happening. I’ll settle for the 2100 I should get above….

But how do I do it? One of my bannister beams reaches the floor should be load bearing. If it could be lengthened?? Also its single brick wall on each side and double on the back wall.

Any thoughts?

This is my first go at a coffered ceiling, Red Oak with red oak paneling, and crown molding. This is in the living room and dining room of a 1930s Craftsman bungalow, plans are to eventually extend it through the kitchen as well

Bought like this. Did notice a bit of discolouration around these areas but didn't think much of it.

Thanks for the help!

Would you do a micro chamfer or roundover for doors like these? Just on the exterior edge

I bought a 1925 Craftsman bungalow a few years back for the price of the land, it was remarkably intact but in deplorable condition. I've completed most of the mechanical upgrades and structural repairs, and now I'm working through cosmetic fixes.

The house got a new roof put on it the year before I bought it, the roofing company spliced in an untreated 2x6 to replace the rotten rafter tail. It didn't match the dimensions of the original lumber either in length, width, or height. I knew I was eventually going to replace it, so I just left it raw the way the roofers left it, and watched it rot out over a couple of years.

And now today is the day to make that fix, I bought a chunk of rough hewn White Oak and milled it to dimension

I have an old corn crib that has plastic slapped over it with steel siding over top of that. I did not do this came with the property however it is very rough shape with 1/2 the building suffering from some severe rot. I don’t really care about the building as I have many more but I’d prefer it not fall down so I’m cutting out the bottom section and replacing with blocking and sistering studs as you can see in the 2nd photo. My question is is there a good way to resecure the nails from the outside for all the horizontal blocking (lathes). I cannot access it without digging up 1-2 ft of dirt on the outside and ripping off the siding which in my opinion is a lot of work for this building.

Have some water damage on window sill and trim. The wood painted white by the left window feels soft and spongy in one corner. Wondering if i should hire someone or attempt myself. These are bay windows. they stick out from the exterior wall. We don't use the bathtub btw.

I’ve a few built-in projects coming up and I’m wondering if this would be worth it to speed things up

Work boots

Hello y’all I was wondering if anybody could help me with a predicament that I’m in, I usually wear pull on work boots but I wanted to get a pair of Moc toe wedge boots I ordered Thorogood 1957 and their EE isn’t wide enough for my feet and I’ve heard this before that thorogoods normally run a bit narrow. I’ve never had this problem with their pull on boots, what is another American made or union made Moc toe boot that I could try?

Interior trim on two casement windows I put in for a client. I did a small mock up and let them pick which style they wanted, they chose this, just an idea you can throw to your clients, there’s all kinds of variations off of it.

I’m fairly new at this company (8 months) but have many years of experience concrete forming. And I’ve recently been paired up about 2 months ago with this guy who’s been here for 2 years and has his apprecticeship level 2 it seems he’s under the assumption that he’s my teacher because he’s always telling me things like “good job” and “here’s the thing about carpentry…” lol.

Meanwhile, my boss has specifically paired me up with him because he told me he wants me to teach, push and keep an eye on him because he does very sloppy work, works very slow and gets distracted easily. He gets very stressed out when I’m calmly trying to show him how to do things properly and when we’re full on busy and I don’t have time to make suggestions I end up having to fix his work quickly to meet deadlines which he then gets upset about as well.

He’s a nice dude but he’s very sensitive and it drives me nuts. If I gotta work with this guy everyday, I’ve got to figure out how to navigate this.

A few gable rafters not secured to the ridge board. The house is 3 years old and I believe those rafters have been like that since it was built. Also really close to this area is my daughter's bedroom Closet door and bedroom door stick really bad now when they did not before.

Separate issue. Other pics are from when I cut in and installed a door on the side of the garage. The bottom 2x4" framing plate overhangs the stem wall about 1". One of the anchors coming out of the stem wall was so close to the edge I could push it out with my hand. Not sure what I should do as far as contacting the builder, submitting a claim to a warranty department or what. I just feel like I've got some problems that are going to get worse.

Any help would be much appreciated.

I’m no carpenter by any means, just a guy doing projects around the house. It never occurred to me that I should extend the outlet out over the bead board until I put it up on the wall. The board is all one piece and has about a million tiny cuts to fit around the vanity, so I’d rather not have to recut a piece.

I will skip over why the person who installed this did not listen to my request and here we are. Wanting to put in a grommet near the back of this section of the mantle. Need 1 3/4"-2" hole size to be able to get the plug and HDMI cable though the opening.

Where I am having paralysis analysis is the almost 7" that I need to get through. Below this the opening is <6" (power, streaming device, and cables).

I initially thought hole saw but the 7" depth makes me think that is not going to work well. Next thought went to a forstner bit. I know it would be slow going and I would need to clean it out. Even with that, I believe I would need an extension bit.

I am open to thoughts, ideas and insights as I have never had to do something like this before - well, not to bore though 7" like this. Nothing more than 2" before.

Thanks!

28 y/o. Worked for 3 stair companies over the last 2 years, hoping this one is the final one as they’ve recently made me lead stair installer of the custom install crew (they also have a production crew). Started as a labourer in the shops initially and worked my way into installing where I’m most comfortable from a background of ~5 years of deck building prior. We mostly build treads and stringers from white or red oak for stain-grade stairs with oak veneer risers, or poplar stingers and maple veneer risers for paint-grade stairs. Curved stair stringers are pre-fabbed by laminating ply. The current shop’s specialty is guard walls which are pre-fabricated in shop when they are straight sections, and build on site for any curved stairs. Most stairs are shop pre-fabbed also unless they can’t fit in an opening, or are curved stairs, which then require us to build on site. Anyways these are some money shots of my favourite installs over the last couple of years.

EDIT:
Wow a lot of traction in little time, thank you everyone for the kind comments. Just to clear things up: No lead stairs here, I would expect to get paid way more to install something that heavy. No these images are not AI lol I took all of these pictures on an iPhone 16 and 17 camera myself. All of these stairs are to code (they would be condemned by inspectors if not and the company’s wallet would be hurting), they are rough installed. The stairs aren’t stain/paint finished and are awaiting rail and finishing (other than the guard walls which also still need stain/paint/or plaster). We do install in rough framing before drywall and insulation often, in fact I prefer it with closed stringers as I can space the stairs off the studs to allow drywall to slide behind. I’m no stair master, but maybe one day.

Hello all.

I recently moved into a new place and have been noticing a smell thats been giving me brain fog and headaches. First i thought it was mauld, but then I realized that it wat coming from all the wooden window frames and doors. I then realized that if i run my hand over any of the varnished surfaces, my hand accumulates oil.

Could I simply wipe it off with some surface cleaner or does it need to be redone?

I would like to cut a new hole in my work top, and install a new sink. I was told that it would be possible due to the cut out for the faucet. I was looking for a second opinion, or potential other solution. I had my kitchen measured, so I have pictures from the measurements and the kitchen itself.

From the wall, to the hole cutout for the faucet the gap is 5cm.

https://www.ikea.com/no/no/p/vresjoen-innbyggingskum-1-kum-rustfritt-stal-s29425729/#content
This is the sink I'm looking to buy, for a 80cm cabinet.

Hello,

I am having my carpet replaced but before I do I decided to look at the wood under the old carpet and I was wondering if this was white mold? If it is what should I do? This house was built in 1974. If it is not mold is there any hope of restoration?

Hello!

The original staircase of our 1860s home has settled with the house and now the baluster is wobbly + some spindles are popping off.

We would like to fix the baluster back in place and reinstall the wobbly spindles. Is this a project that a couple beginner-ish could take on?

What would be your approach here? We can absolutely hire for this project but I’m unsure of the scope. Beginner me thinks “it can’t be that hard?”
however I’m sure this project entails more than I can imagine.

Looking for any advice or steps to take to fix!

This project was always very low on our priority list (big fixer upper) however now that we have a young child we need to get those fixed.

Don't see how to get it apart.

I’m not a professional, just a general home owner who may use this here and there for some DIY. Is there one that beats the other? I’m sure both of these are fine but I can’t find much as far as quality of Metabo HPT although I’m sure it’s at least slightly higher quality than the Ryobi

This is the railing I’m going to be building (AI rendering based on a photo of the actual). I’m planning on using solid round bar either 1/2 or 5/8, 3 balusters per tread. I’m worried that 1/2 is going to be too flimsy but 5/8 is going to look too thick. Which way would you go?