That's almost been done (remember "Home Improvement?")
The problem with PBS is that it gets a lot of "donations" from the folks who make stuff they install. If they make it look too bad or hard the effective sponsors will not be happy.
Nonsense. In the later shows, it was just getting ridiculous. Insanely expensive hi-tech options that any home owner, renovating or not, if they were well off enough to afford it, they were at a level where they probably didn't give a good goddamn about the technical merits/details. Just, "Here's my account. When will it be finished?" There was often no owner even on camera, just what's-his-face and the contractor. "Well Rick, tell us about these new boron fiber impregnated laminates. I understand they're the exact same ones used in the latest space shuttle toilet paper."
Sure pal. I'll take a dozen to go.
nb
Well, I don't personally hate him. Don't even know the guy. (Certainly no fan of his, though.)
But that's the title of the latest piece by one of my favorite columnists in the /Berkeley Daily Planet/, Matt Cantor, local owner of a home-inspection business who writes a weekly column on home repair and maintenance.
Here's a sample:
I do genuinely hate these specific shows: "Hometime," "This Old House" and "The New Yankee Workshop." I hate them for one simple reason: they make most people feel like idiots. Even if a show only demonstrates how to build a basic chest of drawers, it does a lousy job of preparing the average Joe or Joan for the task. In the end, the show provides nothing more than boutique shopping and showing off. I suppose that would be a lot of fun if you only want to learn that you?as a homeowner or stock broker or bank clerk?know nothing about houses or furniture or nails and that you?ll never stand a chance of doing more than hanging a picture on the wall.
On shows like these, the jobs are made to look so darned easy. All the materials are waiting for assembly and nothing is spoiled, the wrong type or missing. The air gun never misfires and the compressor never needs to be drained (yes, you have to drain compressors daily because they fill up with water and will rust out if you don?t do so). That?s another thing I hate: in actuality, there are many small details that fill a contractor?s day (or your day when you play contractor) but they?re neatly edited out, just as they are in a cooking show. Just pop the raw one in the oven and Voila, the new freshly baked one comes right out of the other oven.
(See article at
It is pretty sad that part of the launch reporters feel the need to report that nothing is falling off the shuttle, though. :)
I haven't built one but I plan to. I think the key to success is making sure you have enough sand in the mix to control shrinkage. Otherwise when it dries it will crack and it will fall apart possibly into what you are cooking.
MEN has an archive CD available and it's only $60. It goes back to
1970...
My problem will be finding clay soil. Most my area is sandy porous.
nb
I don't like the idea of dumbing it down too much either. There's plenty of shows that do that already ~ shows that with a budget of .69 cents and some decorative flair, anyone can drastically improve their home.
But, I do watch for two things. The first is the new idea, technique or tool that I haven't seen before. And the second reason I watch is to get an idea for building something. I'm certainly not the greatest woodworker out there, but if I see some project I like, I'm advanced enough that I can usually run with it and build my own modified version.
David Nebenzahl wrote in news:4a91df05$0$17176$ snipped-for-privacy@news.adtechcomputers.com:
Doesn't matter much, we all know who is being referred to. And, to be honest, Norm Abrams rolls off the tongue much more easily that Norm Abram. Hell, considering how often people mispronounce his last name, he should change it to make it easier on everyone else. :)
The only thing I don't like about those shows is that they make it seem like it can be done in a day and everybody can be there working at the same time....The looks I get from people when they get the news the drywall is gonna take 2 or 3 weeks for their new house and nothing else is gonna be happening inside while we are there.."You mean we can't install the cabinets and trim the windows till your done "...I answer , NO you're gonna get your crap outta here so we can walk around on stilts and not kill ourselves and roll our staging around.....LOL.....
TOH and TNYW are good shows , very informative and I don't include them in the other idiot shows...
Did anyone catch the quote from the TV Show "House" about Norm?
House's oncologist friend Wilson was staying with him between marriages. He noted surprise that House had New Yankee Workshop marked as a favorite on his on-screen menu.
He said "Gee House, I never figured you as the woodworking type."
House responded (paraphrase): "Oh yeah. A total moron in a building full of ultra-sharp woodworking machinery. As a physician, the suspense is unbearable!"
But I still like Norm.
RonB
Do you think that a Chinese instructional video is going to help much? LOL
You think you can order the plans for the pizza cutter they were using? LOL
Norm is a machinist that happens to work in wood rather than metal. For a few shows, they made of point of explaining how some steps could be done with normal tools versus the high-dollar specialty tools, but I haven't seen that lately. But him and his buddy Tom are definitely master carpenters, and if I was a (very) rich man, I'd happily hire them both to build or rebuild a house for me. You can't fake that easy familiarity with the tools, the materials, and the process. I grew up in the business, and saw and worked with enough real carpenters and idiots, to know the difference. Other than making me feel like an inadequate klutz, watching the pros work was always an educational pleasure. Most of them, unless they were on deadline, didn't mind me watching and asking questions. I learned a lot from them.
I liked TOH much better in the early days, in spite of that idiot BV. The projects had something to do with reality back then, and Norm was still a working contractor. (Not sure if Tommy still is- I never see him wearing the 'Silva Brothers' shirts any more.) They also had the owners actually doing work back then, unlike most of the current 'This Old Mansion' projects. The New Orleans arc a couple years ago had a little of that old flavor, with some things actually going wrong. On the out of town projects, they aren't involved as closely, and things still go wrong that can't be edited out.
I think people bitching about the yuppification of TOH is why they started the companion show, Ask TOH. Around here, that has basically driven NYW off the schedule- I only trip across that a few times a year any more, on the local PBS.
-- aem sends....
The guy is well enough known that they named a tank after him. That's pretty cool!
3.....2.....Jon
Well, in fairness, Berzerkely did give us BSD Unix ... sort of ... with the help of the best and brightest from the then Bell Labs crowd. This ultimately gave us TCP/IP and the internet. The irony is that this was funded by ARPA - the research arm of the Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil government military technocrats. I wonder how many of the smelly hippies stumbling against the cause of the day realized that their CS department was building a technology infrastructure designed to be survivable (by the military) in the face of nuclear exchange.
As to Norm - I rather like his show. I am smart enough to realize that you do not build an armoire' in 22 minutes plus commercials, even with every tool Porter Cable makes. I also don't much care for his aesthetic sensibility. BUT ... it's nice to watch a master craftsman doing his job. It's an good insight into how grown up WWing is done for us relative rookies.
Of course they feature some razzle-dazzle stuff that no homeowner is likely to be able to install himself, but that doesn't invalidate the basic premise of the show. Many of us could handle framing or drywall or painting but would think twice about trying serious plumbing or wiring. That's no different than being unable to handle the high-tech stuff on today's shows, it's just a matter of degree. I agree that the "This Old Mansion" thing is sometimes carried too far, but the companies supplying that gee-whiz technology help to pay for the show too. And five minutes later Tommy is showing us how to install a garage door or sharpen a chisel--it ain't all big-bucks high-tech stuff.
Well said. As a matter of fact, I'll bet he never tried to scare either of them.
Norm's job is to inspire. What bonehead thinks you will learn the secrets of fine woodworking, plain woodworking, or anything else actually, buy watching him for 22 minutes a week?
I must say though, when he starts to finish something, I go get a more coffee. He is scary. I see those beautiful woods that are no less than precious down here in S. Texas being slathered with a "special blend of stains" and then covered with several coats of poly... it is painful.
But Norm, Tom and the boys do help me make money. I honestly cannot tell you how many jobs I have gotten where the homeowner started and couldn't finish. I have one waiting on me now where the homeowner was inspired to put Hardie on the back of his house. He put the board on wrong and it leaks. It is broken in places where he tried to pull the nail out that he bent. He didn't paint it, and now it has a bad case of efflorescence. WTF is that, right? It ruins the paint job if it isn't treated. Worse, he bought ALL the siding and stored it improperly. It might be ruined.
He started the project two years ago.
I just finished one where the homeowner tried to do his own roof repairs, fascia replacement, siding replacement and painting of the house. He got exactly one piece of siding out and replaced. Then it was either too hot, too cold, rainy, or not a weekend that was open. His wife signed the contract while he was trying to tell her that he "could get on" some of the remaining work right away. She told me he started 3 years ago!
My own BIL loves to watch those shows, and gets in deep so fast they pay me to fix his "projects". He is a great guy and means well, but he just can't grasp what goes into remodeling/repair. The very first time I worked on their house, my sister gave me a list of things that were in various stages of repair/disrepair that he had started. He likes to go buy a tool, one he saw on the shows, and thinks that will also give him the skills as well.
It is always funny to me how so many men, especially white collar guys, feel like their own job is sophisticated, difficult and takes years of hard work and dedication to master. Yet when they see a blue collar guy, they may respect the work he does but they feel like they can do the same work (or near to it), at just a bit slower pace. Just a bit of practice on the weekends, and they are good to go.
Yeah, right.
But they do indeed make me money. By the time they wave the white flag, they are so sick of having their backsides chewed off by their wives they will gladly pay a fair price if they are assured of actual completion.
So at the guy that "starts the job but can't finish" house, how many entry way doors have I repaired/reinstalled? How many interior doors have I hung/rehung? How much crown molding have I put up that was in the garage for a couple of years? How many cabinets have I installed/ reinstalled? How much refinishing have I redone on cabinets and tables?
Couldn't tell you. But there have been many times these guys have paid my bills! I say long live those guys, and shame on any of you folks that actually think you can get more than a quick snapshot of a good tradesman working in 22 minutes.
Robert
As someone who started building model airplanes before I was 10, I got started early.
Worked thru high school at a hardware store back in the days when the owner expected you to know how to help customers solve problems.
Especially on Saturday morning when someone, who was in the process of moving, walked in with a handful of pipe fittings and a look of impending disaster on his face.
How does he get the stove reconnected at the new place so his wife can cook dinner tonight?
The list goes on, but you get the idea.
Went to school on a CO-OP program.
Translation: 3 months in class, 3 months working in industry.
By the time I had finished school, had acquired a pretty decent skill set of academic engineering skills and the ability to understand what was required on the production floor to implement them.
Hated working on cars but otherwise there was NOTHING I wouldn't try.
Fear, what's fear?
A few years later, had a house and wanted to expand a concrete patio slab and maybe build a shed roof over part of it.
Laid out the area, stripped the grass away, and set the forms.
Had a couple of loads of foundry sand delivered and got very friendly with a wheel barrow to move that sand from the drive apron to the back yard where it provided the base material for the slab.
Had gotten prices for concrete, I was ready to go.
Before I committed, decided to call as concrete guy in the neighborhood whose son just happened to be in the same class as my daughter.
He reluctantly agreed to look at the job.
Told me prep work was OK but my forms needed a few more stakes and of course would need mesh.
Mesh? What the heck is "mesh" I thought.
I found out.
Also told me it was a half day job.
As all this was going on, next door neighbor came over and indicated that they were planning to expand their patio someday and maybe if both jobs were done the same day, maybe we could work something out.
Needless to say, we did.
The day arrived, the contractor was on time with his equipment, and things got started.
The contractor got organized, the concrete truck showed up, and things got started.
I was impressed.
First the gas buggy gets a load of concrete from the truck and brings it back.
(I was going to try to use that wheel barrow)
As the crew started to work that concrete, I was impressed by how little I really knew about how to lay concrete.
I was also very grateful I had hired somebody who knew what they were doing.
I decided then and there to add concrete laying to the jobs I hire out, the others being car repair and brain surgery.
That was 40 years ago.
If I had tried to lay that concrete, it still would not be done.
Lew
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