"Dave Mundt" wrote in message

These days, it's the painters, with their caulk guns, who make things
fit.

Hum...it is my understanding that this is hardly a new thing.
Back when "drywall" was actually "Plaster put on by skilled workers"
the attitude of the carpenters was "get it pretty close and the
plasterers will fix it".
regards
Dave Mundt


Not around here, at least until the last 25 or so years ... with the
proliferation of unskilled labor, poor wages, and lack of supervision,
workmanship is suffering badly in the building industry in these parts.

The traditional framing carpenter's job was to make the house plumb, level
and square ... hard to do that when 1/2" is now "close enough".

The traditional finish carpenter's job was to make the parts, windows,
doors, trim, etc., fit and "look good". IOW boards meet where they're
supposed to and planned gaps consistent from end to end ... hard to do when
1/4" is now "close enough".

.... enter the modern painter and his caulking gun, absolutely necessary to
make the work of today's 'finishing carpenter' "look good".

I know this to be a fact because I just finished building a "custom" home
with a highly touted, supposedly top notch crew, and had to continually
fight shoddy work, with the practice of the above tolerances in daily
application (when they could get away with it) ... work that you wouldn't
have seen in a tract home 30 years ago.

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Last update: 1/02/04