A contractor in Phoenix tore me a new one over my miter joints last month

I was doing some trim work for a guy I've known for years, nothing fancy. He walked in, looked at my corners, and said "you call those tight?" I've been framing houses for 15 years and thought my finish work was fine. Turns out I was leaving maybe a 16th gap on outside corners. He showed me how to sneak up on the cut and test fit before nailing. Now I'm doing all my cuts with a digital angle finder and checking every joint twice. Has anyone else had a moment like that where an old timer just humbled you in five minutes?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_morgan2mo ago

A buddy of mine had a roofer lay into him for using the wrong nails, changed his whole approach overnight.

ben8272mo ago

Yeah, that stuff matters more than people realize.

perry.jessica12d ago

I mean I get where that roofer was coming from but honestly I think the whole nail thing gets blown way out of proportion sometimes. I've seen guys use whatever nails they had on hand and the roof still held up fine for 20 years. The real issue is usually installation quality not the specific nail type. A crooked nail or one driven too deep is gonna cause problems no matter what you use. Plus if you're nailing into old decking that's already warped or rotted the nail brand honestly doesn't matter. People get so caught up in the tiny details they forget to look at the big picture.