grandpaul
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- Joined
- Jan 15, 2008
- Messages
- 13,587
I helped my son build a bed with playhouse underneath, for my granddaughter.
He started with plans he downloaded, then took the suggested materials sheet to Home Depot and dropped it off for pickup the next day. What he ended up with was a stack of low grade lumber, some of which looked like hockey sticks and pretzels.
He had built the first two sections ALMOST sorta kinda matching and was flummoxed as to how to connect them and build the remaining sections. We spent about 9 hours over the next three days reworking one wall to match the more correct section, then building the remaining three sections, stairs and matress deck, then assembled it all for sanding & painting. We came up with a modular bolt-together fix for the various sections so it can be disassembled, carried into the bedroom, then re-assembled without tearing it up.
We were held up a bit by having to constantly swap batteries for his cordless tools till we figured out the reciprocating saw made MUCH more efficient use of battery power than the circular saw.
The old "some assembly required" phrase doesn't begin to capture the sub-standard class of "instructions" he downloaded.
(photo shows the stairs unfinished. They'll eventually become lift-lid toybox steps).
He started with plans he downloaded, then took the suggested materials sheet to Home Depot and dropped it off for pickup the next day. What he ended up with was a stack of low grade lumber, some of which looked like hockey sticks and pretzels.
He had built the first two sections ALMOST sorta kinda matching and was flummoxed as to how to connect them and build the remaining sections. We spent about 9 hours over the next three days reworking one wall to match the more correct section, then building the remaining three sections, stairs and matress deck, then assembled it all for sanding & painting. We came up with a modular bolt-together fix for the various sections so it can be disassembled, carried into the bedroom, then re-assembled without tearing it up.
We were held up a bit by having to constantly swap batteries for his cordless tools till we figured out the reciprocating saw made MUCH more efficient use of battery power than the circular saw.
The old "some assembly required" phrase doesn't begin to capture the sub-standard class of "instructions" he downloaded.
(photo shows the stairs unfinished. They'll eventually become lift-lid toybox steps).