Jesse Smith

Sometimes I use AI to help write prefab housing jokes

Agreed! I think it's easier if people target specific traits. Eg if you want a house in a cold climate with design day loss <20kbtu/hr you're probably using good windows and exterior insulation which leads people to inswing 3-glazw windows and exterior motorized blinds

Almost every US state (including CA and NJ) provides trade licensing exemptions for people building their own, single family, primary residence. Certifications are simply not a barrier and this is entirely made-up internet cope that people should stop repeating

There are far too many tools advancements to list but we have rebar tie tools, rental telehandlers, press tools for all forms piping to name a few

You can heat and cool your house with a pre-charged minisplit, bypassing the epa 608 exam (which took me 6 hours to obtain). Cordless electric tools make site power unnecessary at early stages of building

Insulated wall panels with pre-attached water resistive barriers are commonplace. The world's best framers and finish carpenters have libraries of video tutorials on yt and ig

Insulated concrete forms mean that you can assemble your foundation in 3lb foam blocks and place concrete directly into them. The foam remains in place and forms a backer for attaching interior and exterior finishes

Building codes aren't much of an obstacle. Structural codes haven't had a significant impact on framing techniques in the 30 years I've been building and most of the high impact revisions to codes are baked into the available materials one buys off the shelf

The main caveat is that it requires extremely careful planning which most newbies are highly averse to, and that planning should take into consideration the unique limitations of the inexperienced

Many people claim the barriers to residential self-builds have become too high. Obviously people should carefully consider whether this is a good fit for them, but there's likely never been an easier time to build one's own home

Processing offcuts and discarded stickers into kindling in my good pants

A neglected trick in HVAC diagnostics is to contrast the difference between room return temperature and fan return in unconditioned duct systems. Here the return is picking up >10 degrees of cold - maybe a duct disconnect

>40% of the system capacity is lost to outdoors

My dog's favorite!

Trying my new HVAC left side bag with my old framer right side bag and suspenders. Pretty sure I'm functionally useless without suspenders on a rig

Feels weird that box stores have loads of propress shut-offs but there's insufficient demand for most hvac stores to stock press filter driers. Oh yes and today I'm a plumber

People often use building code changes as a proxy for whether an intervention is cost-effective to retrofit into an existing house. This is overall a bad idea, but it's not as though there are many other published alternatives so I get it

I found the world's luckiest gas leak today

This is the electrical rough rig from akribis. I'm still thinking about how to layout a left side bag and whether to go with suspenders, as with my carpentry rig (probably)

HVAC techs don't often use toolbelts but I'm reasonably convinced it has far more use cases than most believe. For several months I've been thinking about where a toolbelt would work better in my daily work flow

HVAC installation is probably the easiest because the steps are prescriptive and companies tend to stick with a single brand. HVAC service is extremely difficult to master but luckily the industry solution is just to systematically suck at it lol

Specializing in built-ins can probably be gtg in 2 years. HVAC is probably the most difficult to have true expertise in due to inherent complexity and diverse demands

Good q, but complicated. Someone adopting trades as 2nd career will struggle to develop *good hands* for that trade, but specialization within a trade accelerates both movement and $. Acquiring expert level, broad carpentry skills (formwork, framing, finish) is probably >10 years but someone

A faucet is leaking. You close the shut-off valves to the faucet but the leak persists. What is the probability that one of the shut-off valves is the source of the leak?

I'm generally hesitant to push people towards trades careers but more people should acquire hobbyist level trade skills. Which I guess could be a stepping stone to determining if a trade might be a good fit

Foam-backed structural sheathing combined with eaves applied after sheathing has paved the way for space conditioning buildings very early in the construction process, possibly within a month breaking ground. Very strange that this isn't widely deployed

"electrician"

It's not just practicality. For the foreseeable future successful consumers will be those who are most adept at navigating a landscape of endemic incompetence. They won't get there by embracing complexity

Ratings don't generally feature pumping energy which is how the industry gets away with pie in the sky cops

Recommending ground source heat pumps to homeowners is like telling a recent college grad they should consider becoming an astronaut. In some cases the advice may be sound, but it's rare enough to be practically useless

Collins coping foot attached to a jigsaw. For carpenters who like dangerous tools to appear straightforwardly so vs deceptively not