Rant: An old guy in a Tacoma supply house told me something I still think about

He was buying a single box of 3/4 inch oak and saw me struggling with a new click-lock floor sample, then just said 'kid, the wood doesn't care about your fancy system, it just wants to be flat'. That was maybe 8 years ago and I still check for flatness twice now before anything else. Do you have a simple piece of advice that stuck with you like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

viola1711d ago

Honestly, I have to push back on this a bit. That advice sounds nice but it's way too vague. "The wood just wants to be flat" doesn't actually tell you how to get it flat. What if your subfloor has a huge dip? Just knowing it should be flat doesn't fix it. I've seen people chase "flat" for hours without the right tools or methods. Sometimes you need the fancy system, or at least a long level and some shims, not just a folksy saying. Simple advice can miss the real, complicated work.

felix_perry61d ago

Lol that old guy basically gave you the carpentry version of "shut up and listen to the material". My grandpa hit me with something similar when I was learning to weld, he just pointed at my messy bead and said "if it looks like dog crap, it is dog crap". Sounds harsh but man it made me slow down and actually look at what I was doing. Sometimes the simplest advice cuts through all the fancy techniques and tools.