Any other tradespeople in here?

[sharkbait130]

Talkbasses resident plumber here. Mostly new construction installations but in the past I have dabbled in commercial and even some industrial stuff. I have been with my current company this time for almost 30 years and when the company first opened over 50 years ago , I was the 4th employee hired. Yeah , I guess I could retire but where ya gonna poop if I do?
If you are anywhere in central Maryland (draw a triangle from D.C to Baltimore to Hagerstown) , chances are that you are not more than five minutes from a house that I put the plumbing in.
edit: If you have any questions or problems with the plumbing in your house , please feel free to I.M. me about it. I will be happy to try to help.

 

[Indiana Mike]

UA Pipefitter mechanic.
For 34 years.
Lots of good times. Lots of challenges.
Minimal bad times.
Gonna retire at 62 and never look back.

 

[Indiana Mike]

I am a retired white collar worker whose career supported the trades. I'll just leave that mystery right there but I have to express how much respect I have for the trades. Huge. Don't get me started.

To this day, I can heartily recommend a trade career to young people. For one thing, those jobs cannot be outsourced. For another, since young people are just not interested in trade careers, compensation for skilled plumbers, electricians, HVAC guys....will be robust for decades. Lots of work, lots of pay.

One more thing. Here is a powerful phrase: "Industrial Athletes" Yes, Sir. You do NOT want to pick a fight with an Ironworker.

Hell for an engineer is spending an eternity working on what he’s designed.

 

[Lowendchamp]

Marine Electrician of 15+ years. Mostly weapons systems and radio rooms on submarines for the US Navy but I am currently doing an install on an aircraft carrier. I find I am more careful with my hands at work than most of my coworkers. I haven't given up on being a rockstar yet.

 

[IamGroot]

Talkbasses resident plumber here. Mostly new construction installations but in the past I have dabbled in commercial and even some industrial stuff. I have been with my current company this time for almost 30 years and when the company first opened over 50 years ago , I was the 4th employee hired. Yeah , I guess I could retire but where ya gonna poop if I do?
If you are anywhere in central Maryland (draw a triangle from D.C to Baltimore to Hagerstown) , chances are that you are not more than five minutes from a house that I put the plumbing in.
edit: If you have any questions or problems with the plumbing in your house , please feel free to I.M. me about it. I will be happy to try to help.

We need a plumbing thread.

 

[ryco]

I worked for a mason for 7 years. Kind of interesting, hard work. Very varied trade from block foudations, to walls, to either real rock facades or that fake rock stuff, to tiling floors, kitchens, and baths, building fireplaces and chimneys, patios and fire pits.
Liked the hard work, found the communication between subs and [lack of] scheduling frustrating. But I was just an assistant hoddy - just felt for my boss who is really good at his craft having to deal with less than reasonable folk.

What was kibd of interesting was the whole time he was trying to hire young kids to take up the trade, as we were older - I started at 50 years old, he was 40. He pays really well, but pretty hard to hire young help - they'd last two or three days. I "retired" from that gig 10 years ago - he's got a good little two man crew working for him now.

 

[Passinwind]

I've been a tile installer for ten years now and I'm wondering how many other bass players make their living on the tools.

And, has work influenced your bass playing or vice versa? The focus on good bass technique made me think about saving wear and tear on my body with good posture and using tools correctly on the job.

I'm retired now but have many years of experience as an electronics tech, with lots of soldering and hands on repair work. The majority of that time was in MI, hi-fi, and sound production related jobs, but I had some nice detours in sports event staging and timing, and then later in fisheries research on the Columbia River and around the Pacific Northwet.

And yeah, many of my job decisions and interests reflected directly on my experience playing and mixing live music, and getting Bro Deals on gear and lots of chances to play nice stuff has always been pretty much a given. I was never really cut out for factory work but I still did a couple of brief stints at a couple of iconic amp and synthesizer production facilities. And as many people here on TB know, I still design and buiild electronic musical widgets quite a bit as a casual hobby/business, but it's mostly just a hobby by now. Still serious enough to have shown my stuff at NAMM a few times though, and to kind of be straddling the line bewteen technician and engineer. But I did trade school and never pursued an engineering degree, as I just prefer working with my hands day to day.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

23 years as a Commercial/Industrial HVAC tech; 12 years in Local 638 Steamfitters NYC, 11 years (and counting) in Local 602 Steamfitters Washington D.C.
23 years (and counting) Authorized Trane Warranty Service technician.

I work on stuff like this:

Then there are times I work on little crap stuff, like 2-ton Mitsubishi ductless split units…

I also know how to weld steel and stainless steel (Stick,MIG, TIG, Oxy-Acetylene).

18 years to retirement…

 

[eastcoasteddie]

Talkbasses resident plumber here. Mostly new construction installations but in the past I have dabbled in commercial and even some industrial stuff. I have been with my current company this time for almost 30 years and when the company first opened over 50 years ago , I was the 4th employee hired. Yeah , I guess I could retire but where ya gonna poop if I do?
If you are anywhere in central Maryland (draw a triangle from D.C to Baltimore to Hagerstown) , chances are that you are not more than five minutes from a house that I put the plumbing in.
edit: If you have any questions or problems with the plumbing in your house , please feel free to I.M. me about it. I will be happy to try to help.

A few of my co-workers live in or around Hagerstown…

 

[5andFretless]

My father was a union electrician for the UAW. I joined the navy, volunteered submarines, and spent 22 years operating a nuclear reactor. Most guys that did what I did became steam plant operators or worked in civilian nuclear operations. I got a BS in Applied Mathematics and an MBA and currently work as the COO for a big manufacturing company. All the trades are union.

In a comes full circle moment my son is a journeyman A-Construction Electrician in local 25. His grandfather didn't live long enough to know that his grandson followed in his footsteps.

 

[lostreality]

Marine Electrician of 15+ years. Mostly weapons systems and radio rooms on submarines for the US Navy but I am currently doing an install on an aircraft carrier. I find I am more careful with my hands at work than most of my coworkers. I haven't given up on being a rockstar yet.

My grandfather was an electrician with the Navy on the first generation of nuclear subs in the early '60s. Those guys did some pretty crazy stuff back in the day man

 

[lostreality]

I worked for a mason for 7 years. Kind of interesting, hard work. Very varied trade from block foudations, to walls, to either real rock facades or that fake rock stuff, to tiling floors, kitchens, and baths, building fireplaces and chimneys, patios and fire pits.
Liked the hard work, found the communication between subs and [lack of] scheduling frustrating. But I was just an assistant hoddy - just felt for my boss who is really good at his craft having to deal with less than reasonable folk.

What was kibd of interesting was the whole time he was trying to hire young kids to take up the trade, as we were older - I started at 50 years old, he was 40. He pays really well, but pretty hard to hire young help - they'd last two or three days. I "retired" from that gig 10 years ago - he's got a good little two man crew working for him now.

I've been playing with trowels since I was 18. Hell, I still remember mixing yards of deck mud with a flathead shovel when I was an apprentice.

I do worry for the future of the trowel trades. Just seems like fewer and fewer kids want to pick these tools up

 

[fig]

For you folk that have worked with concrete (I never have), I found this really interesting. Finally solved why many concrete structures built by ancient Romans are still standing, some still in use, and modern concrete lasts only a few decades.

The ancient Romans were masters of engineering, constructing vast networks of roads, aqueducts, ports, and massive buildings, whose remains have survived for two millennia. Many of these structures were built with concrete: Rome's famed Pantheon, which has the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome and was dedicated in A.D. 128, is still intact, and some ancient Roman aqueducts still deliver water to Rome today. Meanwhile, many modern concrete structures have crumbled after a few decades.

Spoiler: Self-healing functions provided by the ingredients used.

Invalid Link Removed

Clever folk, those ancients. Kinda like a lost art rediscovered.

I was an aircraft electrician in the Navy on various war planes, one Anti-Submarine helo, and one transport aircraft type in the Navy, deployed on warships (3). AC and DC power generation and distribution, flight control and navigation systems, instrumentation, lighting, warning systems, etc. Basically every single system, big or small, that had a wire going to it was my job to repair and maintain. Alot of systems per aircraft type LOL.

Retired from that after 20, worked for Lockheed Aircraft for over a year upgrading various aircraft from different military branches. And then I met a girl... The end of my aviation time. LOL

Never applied my electrical/electronic knowledge to music/audio related stuff until I joined the forum. Still a student learning from the pros.

 

[hbarcat]

Finally solved why many concrete structures built by ancient Romans are still standing, some still in use, and modern concrete lasts only a few decades.

The ancient Romans were masters of engineering, constructing vast networks of roads, aqueducts, ports, and massive buildings, whose remains have survived for two millennia. Many of these structures were built with concrete: Rome's famed Pantheon, which has the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome and was dedicated in A.D. 128, is still intact, and some ancient Roman aqueducts still deliver water to Rome today. Meanwhile, many modern concrete structures have crumbled after a few decades.

Spoiler: Self-healing functions provided by the ingredients used.

Invalid Link Removed

Clever folk, those ancients. Kinda like a lost art rediscovered.

I'm not disputing you, but I wonder how long those ancient Roman concrete structures would last if they were subjected to cycles of freezing and thawing every winter.

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

Residential Sparky here.

 

[fig]

I'm not disputing you, but I wonder how long those ancient Roman concrete structures would last if they were subjected to cycles of freezing and thawing every winter.

That's a good question.

Yeah, once this gets further developed, there may well be temp/climate range restrictions. The team is already working to commercialize this modified cement material.

I figure those clever investigators from MIT, Harvard University, and from labs in Italy and Switzerland may have a clue already. But, I can rest assured that when I have my driveway re-worked, it will outlast me by about 2000 years in the warm Florida climate LOL.

Just for s***s and giggles, I'll see if I can find an email for any of those investigators and ask them. Will post back if I hear something.

 

[Engle]

Low voltage wiring/installation tech for 30 years. Distributed audio, video, voice, network. New construction, old construction/renovation, residential, commercial. Everything from multi 1,000,000 homes to a small office. Finished a job one day and said, "I'm done". Only time I touch Cat6 cable these days is to separate the pairs and use them to tie up plants on my deck.

Similar here. I’m at 36 years in the industry. Stayed in it but got off the tools.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I'm not disputing you, but I wonder how long those ancient Roman concrete structures would last if they were subjected to cycles of freezing and thawing every winter.

Concrete is chemistry. I'm sure if that were an issue, they would have worked to deal with it.

 

[hbarcat]

Concrete is chemistry. I'm sure if that were an issue, they would have worked to deal with it.

My point was that ancient Roman structures have never been subjected to freezing temperatures. That makes it difficult to compare them to concrete structures in colder climates where they're subjected to repeated cycles of freezing and thawing every single year, which is the greatest contributing factor to breakdown than anything else, by far.

Again, I'm not disputing the knowledge and skill of the ancient Romans.


EDIT: Look what I found.

Mystery of why Roman buildings have survived so long has been unraveled, scientists say

 

[fdeck]

Also, Roman concrete was never reinforced, and expansion of the rebar due to rusting is one of the causes of spalling in modern concrete. On the other hand some rust on the rebar is necessary so that it can adhere to the concrete.