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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:51 pm
by GB_Groundworks
had to move 4 metres of dropped kerbs today on my own, from a carpark we did a few years ago. put the dropped kerb in for wheel chair access and took 2 years to get round to cut the door in.
our lads (brickie and joiner) left on their own some how managed to cut the new door in 4 metres to the right of where we had put the dropped kerb!!!!. so had to move 2 droppers and 2 half kerbs 4 metres down the line and put the 4 others back where the dropped ones had been.
so my least favorite job is messing around with already installed kerbs, give me a fresh site to go at any day.
what do you boys dislike?
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 7:44 am
by mickg
people who don't use there common sense Giles
1. bricky arrives on site
2. this is where the doorway is going because GB has dropped the kerb
3. nah it cant be lets put it 4 metres further over
it defies logic and common sense but hey you are dealing with a bricklayer !!
no offense meant to any bricklayers who are members of the forum 
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:01 am
by Tony McC
Apart from the obvious stuff like unblocking foul drains, the biggest P.I.T.A is explaining basic construction practice to numpty civilians who are convinced they know better.
Just taken a call from one such specimen:
Numpty: "You know when you gets weedsen fings growing in that block paving, is der sumfink that'll kill 'em?"
Tony: "Weedkiller"
Numpty: "Where d'jer get that frum?"
Tony: "Garden centres, builders merchants, B&Q, Homebase...."
Numpty: "Do I tek up the blocks an' sprinkle it under 'em or just poke it into t'gaps?"
Tony: "Read the instructions. Some come ready-mixed in a sprayer and others you mix with water and apply using a rose on a watering can"
Numpty: "Where d'jer get them watering cans?"
Tony: "Same place as the weedkiller"
Numpty: "D'jer fink I'd be able t'do it missen?"
Tony: "I can't be sure, but you'll probably be OK. I have to go there's someone at the door....."
...and that's part of the reason why I have to take beta blockers every day!
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:38 am
by irishpaving
Could be my neighbour... Came knockin on my door asking if he could cut one of my red roses so he could put some weedkiller down, then asked me do i wear the rose or strap it to the watering can... So i said take 2 roses then
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 6:28 pm
by DNgroundworks
I have a few....
1. Customers that think they know better - like today laying terram on a driveway the customer was convinced that i was using a cheap useless product and that in fact i should be using visqueen - nobsack.
2.Lifting and relaying 20yr old blockpaving.
3. spreading MOT.
But my most favourite by far at the moment is laying brand new block paving, somthing theraputic about it lol and using a wacker???:p
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:35 pm
by GB_Groundworks
haha a love grading fresh mot or 20mm to dust, did a 400m2 area the other week sat in the js all day tunes on getting it level and compacted with the back of the bucket' or grading top soil. very therapeutic, had the crane in today on dads site and got all the steel up on the roof and bolted together. i like steel fixing as well, like big macanno.
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:53 pm
by DNgroundworks
Lol i meant with a shovel i get bored within about 5 minutes, i just get lads to do it:D
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:00 pm
by rab1
testing/commissioning. hate it with a passion
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:50 pm
by lutonlagerlout
working for "family and friends"
go to yellow pages
look up rent a russian,hire a hungarian or whatever
ring them and stop bothering me with inane requests for plumbing,heating ,kitchens,bathrooms,decorating,wall tiling,in fatc asking me to do anything bar what i actually do
LLL 
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:03 am
by oioisonnyboy
Three letters...R I W...ba5tard stuff that is,
gets everywhere, on clothes, boots, in pockets, in hair, all over hi vis, hard hat, through gloves, on seats of van, stinks of rotten fish, gloopy wen its cold and runny wen its hot, or wen the foreman watered down, and then thers the great fun task...getting 25 litres of sticky shitty RIW out of a 210 litre barrel, too heavy for one man, at least two other people get covered in the sodding stuff.
Remember...its waterproof...w@nkers
Other good ones are "Bag and bottle" waterproofing compounds (nitocote cm210 etc. ring any bells tony and sean??) mix it up, gloopy and dusty, painting it on underground blockwork walls in the dark and choking all day long.
Caltite concrete...stinks of cats pee, gives me sore throat and runny eyes, was pouring 100m3 plus per day in the baking sun last summer and going home with a throat like an arabs sandal.
Gunning down piles...need I say more???
Testing pipes all day is an ball acher of a job, specially wen the engineer has no clue wat she's doing...pipe on manometer set up looking like this at the top ^
But then again...writing method statements and risk assessments and lifting plans and falsework inspections and inspection and test plans and QA sheets and all manner of other meaningless paperwork is the worst job for me...does my swede in
give me a foul manhole 6m deep full of dead rats to bench any day!
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:39 pm
by meany
Least favourite job is block paving the worst doin a million cutting in.Ah my knees.Me dad said why dont you bend down and put them in like they do on big jobs. Sod that,bricklaying at dpc level let alone block paving at feet level.Gonna start subbying out block paving,let sum other guy be a cripple come retirement !
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 7:55 pm
by lutonlagerlout
we call low level brick work "nose bleeds" this is because lads used to scrap over who or who wasnt doint it
the poor sod who got smacked in the nose had to do it
my old man worked on a groundworks gang in the 60s and although the boss was patsy tobin, he used to let the lads decid who was the ganger for the week in their own inimitable style, they would intimidate or fight for it
so patsy was secure knowing that no one would back-chat the ganger as he was the hardest man on the job
it wouldnt happen today
LLL
Edited By lutonlagerlout on 1252522546
Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:27 pm
by richie_jones
Working for Teachers...
I don`t know why but they just don`t understand anything that isn`t written down in a text book..!!!
Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:14 am
by seanandruby
Ha ha tony, i would of told him you have to drink it first then piss on the path. Love putting pipework in, especially when have to use a series of bends to match up old and new. Hate putting pipework in especially when ....... :laugh: Hate testing pipes, and hate it more when some twat has thrown away the hand pump and triple joiner, so have to blow in the tube, cant help but think what previous tester was up to the night before. It's good tho using sealed chambers, i can test the whole run, laterals and several manholes with just one bung and nipple. I am used to working alone a lot and am more or less my own boss, so i hate it when a young 'blue hat' thinks he has to tell me what to do and talks as loud as he can, so the whole site can hear him go on non stop about it. I like tho, when most of what he says his wrong and i have to correct him 
I like benching a large manhole with a wide channel to stand in, because it takes some doing getting my size 12s in a 100 ml channel. :;): as 75 % of my work gets buried i like to do some finishing be it flags, blocks, kerbs, concrete etc.
Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:11 am
by matt h
coming into a job that is half started and all laid out wrong... takes twice the time to put it right...job at winchester comes to mind...sprog architect set out site wrong and caused three month delay and i hate to think of how much money it cost to break the bases out and relay the new ones... still it was a good little earner for our gang..lol:D
