Mike Holmes

[Jimbo]

Our favorite TV handyman surpised me this weekend:

He is installing a toilet, and shows how he puts caulk on the rubber tank to bowl bolt washer. Says if washer is good, caulk is better.

Here is my 'poll question':

a) Good idea
b) Bad idea
c) Dumb idea
d) Go back to drywall, Mike!!

 

[BobL43]

I honestly like the show, and see a lot of terrible work he finds and fixes, but I have seen the guys he puts on the show at times do things that he ignores like driving sheet metal screws holding ducts and/or galvanized flue pipe to the point where they are totally stripped out.
Most of the work they do is well done, and all of the contractors I ever hired to do work for me didn't give a crap to do it right or care. maybe just my luck? Anyway, that's why I basically do everything in my house by myself, because If I don't know how to do something, I research it a lot and ask a lot of questions. I am sure the majority of contractors do care and do a good job, but like I said, it must be my luck to have gotten the others. I don't try to knock down their prices either. I don't choose the lowest bidder either.
I feel Mike Holmes intentions are all good, but sometimes I get a little tired of him being too full of himself. Overall I like the guy.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

The oils in the putty will deteriorate the rubber in the tank to bowl gasket. He must get his plumbing advice from Lowes or Home Depot. Mike Holmes has NEVER seen any job that did not require that he completely remove the work already done and redo it HIS way. Did you see the one where the roofers were secured with safety harnesses on an almost flat roof?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

OSHA regs, anything over 6' flat or not

 

[hj]

I have not seen ANYONE installing a roof on a one story residence who has anchored to the building, OSHA regs or not.

 

[BobL43]

That's almost funny. I think a roofer would be embarrassed to wear a harness on a flat one story roof. The show probably makes them use it so as to avoid any liabilities from families of future Darwin award candidates

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I can't comment on what you have or have not seen, only the regulation. Nor do I endorse or comdemn the regulation, it is what it is

 

[Jimbo]

Well, the show IS in Canada. They will let people drive a freaking semitruck on an iced over river, but apparently have to put a harness on a little roof job!

 

[Furd]

What kind of caulk? A thin layer of 100% silicone wouldn't hurt and might make a slightly better seal as long as the caulk cured before adding water. If he uses a regular painter's caulk then it is a waste of time. If he filled the depth of the hole in the tank where the bolt extends with silicone and then added another rubber washer, flat washer and nut to the bottom of the tank the silicone would likely never fully cure.

 

[hj]

quote; They will let people drive a freaking semitruck on an iced over river,

And I am sure most of the drivers have their seat belt unfastened and are driving with one hand on the door handle.

 

[Geniescience]

keep it up, men. you are helping me make a list of all the things people "don't get" when they live in far away places and only have their mental model to go on.

let's make it clear whatever passes for common sense in the USA and in Canada is the same thing, in 99.999% of the imaginable universe.

They have trucks of the same weight driving on iced-over rivers in Alaska, and the last time I looked that place was subject to ...whatever passes for common sense in the USA.

Ice thickness and strength is a subject that has been studied by civil engineers for a long long time.

So, is it that both Canajins and 'Murricans must be equally dumb?
Or, is it that people who don't know, don't know, and don't know they are ignorant.

 

[BobL43]

I don't know. On Southpark, all Canadians have crazy looking mouths, but when I see them on HGTV, they look the same as Americans and pretty much everything else looks the same. when the say house, and it sounds like howse, only then do I detect the difference. Git owt o my howse! LOL

Seriously, I've been to Totonto and if you didn't tell me where I was I wouldn't know it from places I've been to all over the US, and I 've been to many.
LOL

 

[LLigetfa]

Seriously, I've been to Totonto and if you didn't tell me where I was I wouldn't know it from places I've been to all over the US, and I 've been to many.
LOL

They make a lot of movies in Toronto and to make it look a bit more "American", they sometimes spread a bit of garbage around. On one set, the city crews were picking up the garbage as fast as the film crew could spread it.

As for Mike and his crew, it's painful watching them put up drywall with ordinary cordless drills. I mean a drywall dimpler will beat even the best cordless drill and will set the screw perfectly every time. I wonder how many "pops" they have to go back and fix because the screw broke through the paper.

 

[Jimbo]

Or, is it that people who don't know, don't know, and don't know they are ignorant.

Sounds like another poll is in order. I vote YES<>

 

[BobL43]

say howse for me! aww you jurt my feeling with that garbage thing

 

[hj]

quote; They have trucks of the same weight driving on iced-over rivers in Alaska, and the last time I looked that place was subject to ...whatever passes for common sense in the USA.

And if you will notice, even there, and with extensive testing, the ice CAN weaken and trucks DO go into the water, usually taking the driver with it. ask the fellow in Wisconsin who took his new Ford dually onto the ice for fishing and it wound up at the bottom of the lake, with a denied claim to the insurance company and a "mortgage" to pay for it.

 

[Ballvalve]

I hope Holmes takes a dump truck out on the ice fishing circuit with seat belts well fastened.