I just recently got back from a month long job out of town where I did a great many varied jobs. Many of them rather interesting. So I thought I would give everyone a peek into the kinds of things that I do for a living. It occurred to me that now that my phone has a camera, it’s rather easy to take pictures of the kinds of things that I do. This stuff isn’t all from the same job.
What I’m showing is mostly the stuff that I find interesting. I’m leaving out a lot of repair and replacement that are the most common types of handyman work.
This house has 10′ ceilings and needed a bookcase specifically for this corner. This is all plywood and cheap pine that you can get at Home Depot,, about $100 in materials, painted the same color as the wall to help it blend in.
Front entry way, same house. I did all of this, but subcontracted the wood flooring. Tile in the middle of the floor, wood flooring on the perimeter, burlap wallpaper, and all of the woodwork you see is hand done by me. I changed the outlets along the wall to decorator types to blend in. The walls above were painted as well. As you can imagine, this took an insane amount of work. If you have to ask the price then you probably can’t afford it. Up above:
I created crown molding to match the ceiling, which was already there. This is actually, just 2 1 x 4 redwood pieces. One’s been ripped into two pieces to create the staggered look. I did something like this for another room as well:
This crown molding is just 1×6 redwood with beveled edges and two channels cut into it for decoration.
And matching baseboard.
This is an antique ice box that I restored, not to its original condition, but rather to make it an interesting piece to match the house decor. It is being used to house old videos and DVD’s. The hardware was originally zinc plated, but this was sanded off to reveal the brass underneath. The wood trim was left original on the inside, but everything else was spray painted, including the racks.
What you’re looking at here is a set up for a professional photographer who wanted an area to showcase his work. I removed an ugly overhead chandelier and used the electrical from the light to create two outlets at either end of the room and then I created a couple of wood thingamajigs to hold his professional lights and the extra cord.
The lights shine on this site built display area:
This is a redwood lattice that I built into a metal gazebo that was already there. The existing structure was weak and wobbled at the slightest touch. A strong wind could probably blow it over. This was the solution. I also added a plastic lattice over the top that you can’t see. It helps with much needed shade.
For the same client I enclosed their back covered patio to make it an area safe for their indoor cats. I also installed a cat door. (not shown.)
I drilled a hole in the granite countertop and installed a 5 stage water purifier.
Sometimes new stovetops are too big for the existing opening. I had to cut the granite here to widen the opening and then install the new cooktop. I was also replacing an electric one with a gas model, so in addition to plumbing for gas, I did some electrical work to change a double pole 30A circuit to a single pole 20A.
That large white unit in the corner was built specifically to house prints and framed prints for the photographer. Common dowels separate everything on the shelves.
This is the map case from the middle of the previous photo. I assembled the pieces and then the owner had me build up the base of it 7 1/2″ so that the top of it would be high enough to be a usable workspace. On the side you can see four different shades. My contribution is the second from the bottom.
See that glass case at the top of the ladder? I assembled that thing up there. I won’t lie. It was scary. Here’s a picture from my point of view:
I’m standing on a two foot wide shelf about 12′ off the ground.
Here’s the finished product, viewed from upstairs. (It’s VERY securely fastened to the wall):
This is a canned goods and spice rack designed to fit exactly in a client’s closet off their kitchen.
I had a client hand me a big piece of wood and tell me to use it to mount their huge TV. It was the only way to do this with the A frame structure they had. Fortunately, they had a concrete floor, so I fastened the wood to the floor with sleeved concrete bolts. It worked.
Well, this is what I do when I’m not sitting in front of my computer writing and researching. This kind of stuff is what I like best about my job. I can just stand back and admire what I’ve done. There’s quite a feeling of accomplishment.
Thank you.
nice of you to share this work craig. it adds immeasurably to our esteem of you, a man of sensitive thoughtful nature, interested in things ineffable and invisible, who also knows his way around the physical world like nobodys business !
Thanks Billy!
Craig all your work is beautiful! Would love to hear how you get your ideas and inspiration. And will you start posting tutorials?
Thank you. Fortunately for the world, the Internet is full of tutorials for construction. I don’t need to add to the list.
Really nice stuff, Craig. So how much would you charge to come here to Asheville, NC and do this for us (just kidding – but it really looks great!)
Whatever the labor rate is in Asheville, I’m sure it’s considerably lower than the San Francisco Peninsula. Here, even the most inexpensive handyman doesn’t get out of bed for under $50 an hour and won’t take a job without a guarantee of at least two hours. It’s that expensive to live here.
Really Craig, money? This is Akashville – we pay here in astral vibrations! (of course, it’s not really “paying”, it’s “sharing” – and you think California has cornered the New Age market!) Well, if you ever teleport this way, let me know:>)
I would love to accept payment in astral vibrations; it sounds pretty cool. Unfortunately, Bank of America is pretty clear about the form of currency it deems acceptable. And it is not very New Age. Not at all.
I’ll see if I can get to work on the B of A tonight in my dreams.
Good job, Craig. That was nice work. Those clear blue containers are pretty. They look good up there.
Thanks!
I could use any type of pep talk
I would love to be any place other Rustin California
Am trying to figure out how to get help away from someone who’s really mean to me and has harmed very much and often
I don’t know how else to put this. I cannot help you. I’m just a writer. I don’t know anything about helping people out of abusive relationships. I don’t even know who to refer you to.
I am completely out of my league. I recommend though, that you find someone close by that can take some sort of action on your behalf.
Im tryi g to figute out asmart phone and tryinto figute out how i can get help in a. Abusive relationship. Im empathic im not a telephone repairman.Examples would be that he hasn’t taken me any where in 35 y. I.m a out to go nuts I’d like to be cordial but I’m drowning and need a rope…. On Oct 5, 2014 3:22 PM, “The Weiler Psi” <comment-reply@ wordpress.com > wrote: > > craigweiler posted: “I just recently got back from a month long job out of town where I did a great many varied jobs. Many of them rather interesting. So I thought I would give everyone a peek into the kinds of things that I do for a living. It occurred to me that now that” >
What does one do when you get to a private place and you hear a voice which says, You have to get out of here, See What are you doung? But you don’t know how to get out of an abusive relationship??? I don’t know where to begin….
I’m a writer, not a therapist. I do wish I could help with this kind of problem, but the truth is, I’m not even remotely qualified.
Perhaps seek out a woman’s shelter?
Having been a handyman myself for about 10 years (self taught), I can appreciate the quality and creativity of the work you’ve shown us here. So which came first — the carpentry or the PSI studies?
Carpentry. Although you certainly know that it’s a small part of what I do.
Oh, and could you give us some tips on how you focus your mind on your tools and they just get up and do the work for you?
In every job that must be done,
there is an element of fun.
Find the fun and SNAP, the job’s a game.
And every task you undertake,
Becomes a piece of cake,
A lark, a spree, it’s very clear to see . . .
I’m sure you remember how the rest goes.
Yes I do. Craig, and anyone else here, if you haven’t seen it, run on over to netflix or amazon or wherever (or if you’re lucky to see a revival in your local theater) and watch “Saving Mr. Banks”, with a masterful performance by Emma Thompson as PL Travers, the author of Mary Poppins. Some of you may know that Travers was a Gurdjieff fan, and worked a good deal of Gurdjieff’s esoterica into the seemingly innocent (made so by Disney, much to Travers’ dismay) version of Mary Poppins.
Who knows, if you study the movie carefully enough, that SNAP may just turn out to work on your next bookshelf!
I did see the Tom Hanks movie. ( I love Emma Thompson in pretty much everything she’s been in.)