In an effort to help reestablish the peace in here I think I'm going to weigh in.
If you have six posts under your belt, learn to bite your tongue. If you have a million posts, you still need to watch your language.
As for Elk, I don't know how good of a contractor he is. I have never seen any of his work. I can tell you that through posts in here and PMs, he has been a great help to me in getting my Summit insert installed safely. Thank you Elk.
As for contractors in general. The state of the construction trades in my neck of the woods is deplorable. The only good work I have seen around here is coming from the illegals. I know many people in the construction trades on a personal level and I wouldn't let them touch my house. I know a few good ones too.
I was raised to do things for yourself. We had to. Mom died when I was an infant and my dad raised six children by himself. I remember being 7 or 8 years old and crawling under the house to put a saddle on a water pipe because I was the only one small enough to get to it. This line ruptured because the builder did nothing to prevent it from rubbing against the block foundation. The house was only about 10 years old. Fixing stuff seemed normal to me then and it still does. Besides all the other wonderful things my Dad did for me, he left me with a basic knowlege of plumbing, framing, wiring, and HVAC. When I got older, around 15 or 16, and got to spend time with other families through friends and such, I couldn't believe how inept the average person is.
Elk, from reading your posts in here, it appears as though you have some sort of inside tract on the formation of building codes. How about suggesting they create a web site that is a clearing house of sorts for contractors and builders. Let people post their dissatisfaction online with pictures and let the contractor have a chance to rebut the complaint. That way we could see who is doing good work and who isn't. We could also see who is just too picky about the work they are having done.
Since I have a pretty good rant going on here, let me make a few other suggestions for a better life for all in general.
Throw out the XBox and read a book.
Require all children in High School to take one year of vocational training, even if they plan to go to college.
This one won't fly in a free society, but after my three trips to Lowes this past weekend for tile for my insert surround, I feel it would make life better for all of society. When someone turns 18, test their IQ and tattoo the number on their forehead. I bought 21 tile to do the surround and I needed to cut 6 of them. At 25 cents a cut, I figured I would have the (insert profane and derogatory pronoun here) cut them for me so I wouldn't have to drag out the tile saw. I'm not going to digress any more on this subject, but suffice to say, I could have done a better job of cutting them with my maul. If I had seen a 68 stamped on his forehead, I wouldn't have asked him to cut the tile for me and I would have been done by Saturday afternoon. Or if I had a 200 stamped on my forehead, I would have measured both ends of the tile when I double checked his cuts before I left the first time.
And lastly, I know there are few women members here. If you have a good man and he's honest, hard working, he put the stove in himself, and cut the wood to keep you warm himself. Then every once in a while when he comes home from a hard day at work. Pour him a nice tall gin and tonic, stick a good Cuban cigar in his mouth, and give him a little fellatio. You're lucky to have the guy.
As for the original topic of this post. I think Dennis Miller said it best. Whenever gas goes over a buck and a quarter a gallon, we should be bombing the @#$% out of somebody.
Now, let's all start playing nice again before Craig takes us out to the woodshed.
Insulation is good!, Solar is good! Wind and water are good! (wood and fossil is actually stored solar and wind is partly solar too), nuclear may be the best option we have in the near term but I can't bring myself to say "nuclear is good!" :gulp:
;~)
