After 8 months sorting bins at a hardware supplier in Dayton, a contractor finally pointed out I was matching thread pitch by feel instead of using the gauge. That one comment made me redo my whole system, and now I check every batch twice. Anybody else have a basic step they skipped for months until a customer set them straight?
I got hired to clean out this hoarder garage in Tacoma, half the job was just hauling junk. The pest control guy doing the rat treatment told me to count every single hole in the drywall before patching them, said if you patch one without finding all the entrances they just chew a new one in a week. I thought he was being dramatic, counted maybe 6 obvious gnawed spots and started patching. Three days later I heard scratching behind the fresh patches and found a nest with 11 babies tucked between the studs. Turns out that guy had seen it a hundred times, the rats use the wall cavities like subway tunnels and you gotta trace every gap to the floor joists. I spent another 4 hours ripping out the drywall I just fixed and doing it right. Now I always do the hole count before I even touch a patch knife, even on simple drywall jobs. Anyone else get advice from a specialist that made your actual job twice as hard but way more correct?
I dropped real cash on a cheap ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight after my small engine shop wanted $150 to dip my mower carb. Brought it home, ran it with some Simple Green and water, and man, the gunk that came off was gross but beautiful. Put the carb back on and it fired up first pull, which felt like a miracle. But then two months later the jets clogged again with the same varnish, so I think it just loosened stuff that moved deeper inside. Now I'm rebuilding the whole thing with a $12 kit and wondering if the cleaner was even worth it. Anyone else had a tool that fixed the symptom but not the real issue?