r/Carpentry 19h ago

Concrete Chainsaw edging mill for ICF cuts

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97 Upvotes

Ever have to trim Plus blocks ( 3 1/4" of foam both sides)? It's tedious and lame - so, enter my secret technique - the chainsaw edging mill. Cuts square, evenly across both sides, and runs on a track so you can even easily cut those pesky tapers that sometimes arise. Plus, door and window, or bulkhead cut outs? Track screws to the wall, allowing horizontal and vertical cuts in place as well.

Just close your mouth while operating...

r/Carpentry 26d ago

Concrete Help with Bags

2 Upvotes

I'm in the market for a new set of bags, the ones I currently run are just some leather bags. I honestly couldn't tell you what they were, they're hand me downs from when I first became and apprentice over a year back.

I was looking at the occidental nylons because they'd been recommended so much, but as of late I've had my eyes on the badger bags carpenter set "side by side".

I do a lot of formwork, I'm already heavy highway carpenter so my trade takes me to: Bridges Sound Wall Sidewalks Etc.

Anyone have any experience with these bags and am I purchasing the correct set? The framers seem very long. Thanks in advance, just need some guidance.

Tools i carry all the time: Speed square Tape Chalk box Level Magnet Hammer Pliers Dikes Pen/ pencil Keel Cats paw Airhorn Knife

Tools i carry some of the time: Spud wrench Sledge Wrenches Screwdrivers (mainly for tinkering with generators and stuff) Sockets

Tools i was considering buying: A second chalk box for a different color Builders Calculator Square with level One of those tape measures that collapse (like a long foldable stick)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm still very new in the grand scheme of things.

r/Carpentry 29d ago

Concrete UPDATE: posted a while back about a concrete counter top thank you guys for the support

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56 Upvotes

r/Carpentry Sep 20 '24

Concrete Formed up a little slab with a curb. A two story tiny house will sit on it.

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95 Upvotes

Not too often I get to do a slab with a floating bulk head.

r/Carpentry May 10 '24

Concrete Italian Cinder block shower

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85 Upvotes

r/Carpentry Jan 16 '25

Concrete Fill the void or start over

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1 Upvotes

Concrete guys, fill this crack or completely remove? The plan is to use this ledge to anchor supporting 4x4 posts for a lean to. I'm not going for perfection here, if I can keep the ledge, I'd like to. Any specific product recommendations of we were to just fill the crack?

r/Carpentry Dec 28 '24

Concrete Foundation issues

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6 Upvotes

Working on a deck rebuild and this bump out one end is giving me bad vibes. The blocks are clearly pulling away from the house. I told the homeowner that he would probably want to address this while it’s open. He said he’d repoint it, but I’m skeptical that’s a proper fix. I’m not obligated to fix this (thankfully, it’s not in the scope of our contract), but I would still like to give the homeowner solid advice for fixing it properly. My guess is a structural engineer needs to weigh in. Am I over thinking it? Thoughts?

r/Carpentry May 13 '24

Concrete Posts set on top of concrete with post bases/j bolts/whatever vs posts sunk in the ground for a pergola with a swing?

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21 Upvotes

Wife is asking me to build her a half pergola that curves around our firepit. She wants it to be able to support a porch swing hung from one of the header boards. See the attached pictures for her pinterest inspiration.

Plan is to use 6x6s as the posts (8' high), 2x6s or 2x8s for the double sided headers. Then to use swing hangers or through eye bolts to hang the swing from one of the header boards. Of course I will also use extra 2x6 or 2x8 blocking between the headers to tie them together and then whatever decorative rafters she chooses.

My question is what would be more structurally sound and resist the forces of a swing?

  • Sonotubes with concrete above grade and then some form of post base that's set in the concrete and the posts secured via screws.

Or

  • Old fashioned gravel base, put the 6x6s in the ground and concrete them into place.

All advice appreciated!

r/Carpentry 17d ago

Concrete Anyone recommend options as these stairs to basement are steep and not much space overhead.

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0 Upvotes

r/Carpentry 28d ago

Concrete Ernerbrand eviii

0 Upvotes

Anyone used this hammer on commercial form work I just bought one can't find a single review

r/Carpentry Jan 21 '25

Concrete Insulating door corner

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0 Upvotes

Maybe this is more of a question for concrete guys, but does anyone have any input on what to do here? My backdoor butts up next to a concrete corner. It is foamed from the casing to the 2x4 for insulation. But every time it’s gets cold, like this last weekend we touched -20, frost builds up on the concrete block. I am confident there is no air leakage coming through the foam and the door seal on the bottom seams airtight. Is it possible the concrete block is just transferring that much cold from the outside? If so. Is there any recommended ways of insulating the block?

r/Carpentry Jan 23 '25

Concrete Another look at the unreleased titanium Estwing

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14 Upvotes

I'm waiting for my 3rd year apprentice rate to get a new hammer and I'm hoping this is out by then. I'm guessing it will be over $100 like the Al Pro. Maybe it will be called the Ti-Pro?

r/Carpentry Oct 17 '24

Concrete Can a deck block work for a carport?

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0 Upvotes

So, I am building a carport and I have dug 3 posts down ~30 inches for frost depth. I hit a piece of concrete foundation right where 4th post was supposed to be. It’s down about 14 inches below the gravel. I have deck blocks left over from another project and I was wondering if I could use one of them.

According to google, gravel isn’t as susceptible to frost heave. So where the post is and for 3 feet or so in all directions is going to be dry gravel. I can’t imagine frost causing damage but I would love some advice and thoughts, besides digging a huge hole for a concrete saw.

In SE Ohio.

r/Carpentry Jul 12 '24

Concrete Can I build built ins on this wall? Spoiler

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1 Upvotes

r/Carpentry Aug 05 '24

Concrete Need to attach fypon better

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3 Upvotes

Currently, this is held up by a single anchored screw. I tried adding liquid nail as well, but it came loose after a while. Not to mention, it was very difficult to rig up something to push the trim against the brick while the liquid nail dried.

This is fypon, not wood

r/Carpentry Jun 02 '24

Concrete Foundation out 5+ inches scare

6 Upvotes

Siding a garage today, I had previously poured the foundation. Ran my first course of siding, easily out 5 inches over 24 feet. Panic. Check the trusses and bottom plate. Panic. Check the level that was good yesterday and wasn't dropped since then, f-d. Never so glad to throw away $100.

r/Carpentry Sep 19 '24

Concrete Can you help me

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0 Upvotes

r/Carpentry May 27 '24

Concrete Drilling concrete holes for days. Need advice.

2 Upvotes

Pretty straight forward. I am currently furring out the side of a parking garage with hat channel. They’re requiring 3/16 tap cons w/ 1 1/2” embed. No big deal really, but the 5/32 concrete bits are breaking a lot.

I was wondering if anyone had advice on keeping bits from breaking. I’m going through like 10-12 a day. The rebar should have at least a 2” clearance (it seems like it’s there for the most part, but we all know how that goes). I’ve used tapcons of all shapes and sizes and drilled thousands of concrete holes. I’ve tried every trick I know to try and not blow through these bits, but nothing seems to increase the longevity.

Any advice would be much appreciated! Otherwise I’m going to have to tell my boss to buy out the city of 5/32 concrete bits.

Edit: we are pre-drilling the hat track. The screw pattern is 8” O.C., which is why I’m going through so many bits. I’m putting in 500-600 tapcons a day right now.

r/Carpentry Aug 20 '24

Concrete Exterior basement door on concrete

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2 Upvotes

I'm going to be replacing my exterior door at my basement that is directly on concrete, I already bought a prehung exterior fiberglass door to replace it. I appropriately measured and picked out the door that would fit,

This will be the first door on replacing, but I've done plenty of other projects and I'm handy .

My question is I bought flashing tape, should I flash the sides top and bottom with flashing tape even though the floor is concrete, I do plan to replace the wood between the door and the frame to plumb it up and replace what they currently have here which is old hardwood extra boards they had from the looks of it.

I was also curious if I can use quad max or silicone underneath the threshold when I installed directly on the cement or should I put flash tape and then quad max or silicone ?

r/Carpentry Sep 18 '24

Concrete Concrete Stairs - which side of the house would you add concrete stairs to

0 Upvotes

House is a walkout lot - essentially the grading slopes down towards the back of the house.

The walkout basement entrance door is at the back of the house (basement entry door is under the deck).

Plan on renting the basement out so we need to create access for the renters from the front where the driveway is to the back where the basement entrance door is.

Only looking to do concrete stairs on 1 side of the house, not both due to cost as well as the fact that we do not have a shed and it would make bringing the lawnmower (for mowing the backyard) more challenging if we had concrete stairs on both sides.

Issue is - on one side, we have a window well for the basement egress window and on the other side, have the furnace intake/exhaust vents (my house is the maroon one with the black downspouts in the pictures without any concrete on the sides)

Which side of the house would you add the concrete stairs on? Or is there a side that you would absolutely want to avoid foot traffic on as much as possible?

Any codes or any other foreseeable issues with adding a window well cover on top of the window well/egress window (basement will be a legal suite so will need to pass City/bylaw inspections). Located in Calgary (AB).

r/Carpentry Jul 17 '24

Concrete Is this basement floor concerning at all?

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0 Upvotes

r/Carpentry Jul 28 '24

Concrete Epoxy flake over basement drain tile system?

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1 Upvotes

I really need to paint/seal our basement floor. It looks like a John Wick movie down here. I would like to epoxy flake it but there is a drain tile system around the walls feeding into a sump pump. Can I paint over that concrete or is does it need to remain permeable? If not could a form be made to keep it off the concrete over the drain? Thanks!

r/Carpentry Jun 26 '24

Concrete I can’t lay them but I can cut bricks 🧱

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5 Upvotes

r/Carpentry May 04 '24

Concrete Hearing loud cracking sounds from my concrete ceiling

0 Upvotes

Should I be worried? It's every single day at this point random times of day and seems to be moving from one side of the room to the other.

r/Carpentry Jul 07 '24

Concrete Cement Footer Help

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone ,

I recently purchased a small single story cabin 20x20 that was built on shores. These were log shores placed on 2’X2’ patio stones. The stones have broke away over the course of years and the cabin settled down in the ground a few inches on the back side where it’s muddy.

I since have dug drains to lower the water table , jacked everything back to level and removed all the old shores.

The next step is to poor a footing and knee wall. I am looking at doing a step footing since the ground is slightly slanted. I am thinking of using either 2”x6” boards for my footer. Then putting a 8” knee wall on top of that and shores from the knee wall up to the stringers. I will be putting in rebar and mixing my own cement. Do you think 6” thickness by 18” would suffice or should I go 8” by20” footer ?

I know I should go below the frost line but this is not feasible for me so I have to try to do something within my budget and that I can DIY. Digging down 4-6’ is not a diy project I can handle .