Measure twice, cut once.

OK, knucklehead (rusnak)... Explain to me how steel "shrinks and expands probably a factor of 20 times,
or more, every day." Not withstanding the fact that sentence makes almost no sense, feel free to explain it.

PS: I don't do retail, or tenant improvements, I build hospitals and telephone switches.

regardless, yesterday is my last day going to Home Depot, at least around here, they stopped taking my VA card for the Vet Discount, I said how do I get a VA card without being a Vet, they said there are different classes of Vets and I don't fit. I said I think that's some false advertising, the guy said that's the way it is. I have been using that same pictured VA card for a while, things change, now I will be shopping at Lowes, they don't have a problem with it.

Is it base on time serve or other criteria?

That is just wrong on their part. Notify the local TV News. People need to know.

Customers must have one of the valid IDs listed below for year round discount:

- Active Duty Military ID card with a picture.

- A retired Military ID card with a picture.

- VA Card (Department of Veterans Affairs) – MUST have the words SERVICE CONNECTED under picture.

- Active Military and Retired Military ID card for spouse/dependents

A retired veteran must have qualified and gone through retirement with
the Military. Disabled Veterans should have a Veteran’s Identification
Card (VIC) that is given to them from the Department of Veteran’s
Affairs. The VIC and their Driver’s License should be sufficient
identification to get the everyday Military Discount.

This is what I found regarding Home Depot's veteran's discount policy:

"The Home Depot offers a year-round, 10 percent discount, up to a $500 maximum, at our U.S. stores to all active duty military personnel, reservists, retired or disabled veterans and their immediate families. We offer this discount to thank them for their outstanding service to this nation and to help make their homes more comfortable and safe. Customers requesting the discount should present a valid military ID." (Emphasis mine.)

Reading this, my guess is that Dean does not fit into any of the categories listed, but is an honorably discharged veteran never-the-less. Is this correct Dean?

Link for information: Home Depot and Lowe's 10% Military Discount Policy - Year Round

OK dickless, it's like this. Heat causes metal to expand. You might want to look this up when you get the sand out of your vagina.

True, it used to be all vets but they have changed it now. Lowes still gives a discount to all vets.

No ****, Sherlock. The problem I have with you is that you throw out all sorts of inaccurate statements. I still don't know what you meant by your "shrinks and expands probably a factor of 20 times, or more, every day" nonsense.

Around here, we get one high and one low temperature per day, on average, so any structure might expand once and contract once. I've also never built a building that didn't have a pretty decent thermal break between the outside skin and the structure, so the variations in temperature that the structure sees are almost meaningless. For example, the longest steel beam I have in my house sees so little temperature variation that the change in length from one extreme to the other is all of about .010 inches. The change in height, which is more important to me, is too small to measure.

You might be surprised to find that wood also changes in size with temperature. It's coefficient of thermal expansion is about 1/3 of steel in the direction parallel to the grain, but about 3 times that of steel perpendicular to the grain. Still, pretty meaningless.

What's of more significance, is it's change with respect to moisture content. You can easily see a change of 2-4 % in directions perpendicular to the grain, from as-built to normalized. If you were stupid enough to build with green lumber, or not store your materials properly, you could double those numbers. Even the changes from seasonal humidity changes in seasoned wood are in the order of 1-2%, in my area. Some parts of the country can be even worse.

To some up, these changes from moisture are vastly greater than any changes from temperature. So, think about that and see why I think that what little knowledge you have on the subject is not worth passing on to others.

JR

^ OK, so in 45 years, you average $2M in construction per year, and you say you "build hospitals" with that knowledge? One hospital would equal your entire lifetime of claimed work.

Your numbers are just plain idiotic. Your demonstrated igorance of thermal cycling is just so painful to see, it is obvious that you have never actually built a steel building, period. More likely, you've been sort of around when others have.

That's absolutely incorrect, **** for brains. I've done well enough in my career, that I work when I want to, on what projects I want to. I'm only interested in projects that are technically challenging, I'm happy to go for years at a stretch, doing absolutely nothing. I don't need the money, so I only do what interests me.

Unlike you, I can back up every single number I throw out. I would be happy to recommend a book on wood to you, as you seem to know nothing about it.

**** off, idiot.

^ Oh sure. I bet there are all kinds of companies lining up to beg you to go build something for them. On the other hand, you probably stood around and last watched a building being built when "The Godfather" was playing in movie theaters and building codes were reproduced on ditto paper.

Here is a metal structure that we are building right now, which is part of a pair of structures. The other is wood, and this one is steel. They are my buildings. It's 18' 9" to the bottom. Total lateral deflection according to the manufacturer is 9" on the pan decking alone. The manufacturer is calling for a center column backspacing to the dry wall of 6" on each side. I'm building a third building for myself, a 7,400 sf building for Starbucks Coffee, which will be my tenant. Lateral deflection max spec is 10". That is the total of all of the allowed expansion that is taken up by the aggregate of the panel seams. If you think wood is anywhere near that, then you're smoking crack.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1498435200.jpg

Jesus, you're dense. My main client for the last 20 years is in the Fortune top 25 in the world. You have people building strip centers for you. Trust me when I say this, what I do is vastly more complicated.

When I read your comments about all the specifications in your project, it's clear that you don't have the first ****ing clue what it means. "Center column backspacing to the drywall"... WTF does that even mean?

I'll be happy to go toe to toe with you on engineering, any ****ing day of the week.

^ OK go ahead and list your projects for the past 20 years, and your role in them. And it is obvious that you have no idea how even the most basic agricultural shed is constructed.

I'll await your response.

What is this, a dick measuring contest?

I've started three hospitals from scratch. Other medical projects included: surgery and endoscopy suites, pre- and post-operative departments, central sterile facilities; radiology suites including CT, spiral CT, MRI, plain radiography, angiography, nuclear medicine, fluoroscopy, mammography, mobile mammography and ultrasound; radiation therapy suites including low and high energy linear accelerators, remote after-loading brachytherapy rooms and simulators; emergency room facilities; clinics; patient rooms including intensive care, isolation and reverse isolation; rehabilitation and physical therapy units; kitchen, restaurant and dining room facilities; medical, microbiology and research labs; inpatient and retail pharmacies; medical records rooms, physician lounges, warehouse and office space; stand-alone clinics; multi-story additions to existing facilities; physical plants, Ethernet networks, etc.

Telecommunications projects included: a new PCS cellular network in eastern Oklahoma; about 400 cellular towers, 10 or 15 telephone switches and data centers, retail stores, warehouse facilities and general office space. Data center and telephone switch projects included both new construction and upgrades to existing facilities, with emphasis on electrical services and switchgear; Liebert HVAC and UPS systems; control systems; generators; VESDA and conventional fire detection and Halon/FM200/etc. suppression systems; assorted other mechanical systems; specialized grounding; and large battery plants.

I own my own company and I personally manage 100% of every project I do. I run about $1M/ month when I'm busy, which is to say when I'm not laying by the pool or fishing. I've made enough money that I don't have to work much. Right now, I'm in the middle of working on some projects for myself and finishing off the sale of my car and motorcycle collections.

Feel free to continue building Starbucks. Lesbians and worthless millenial men are counting on you.

JR

(At this point an extra spoonful of freak or other calming factor is necessary)

No bloodshed here, please.
Gentlemen.

EVERY one of your posts is a dick measuring contest. That is your style of posting, which is one of alternately boasting about yourself, and denigrating others, calling them stupid or devoid of relevant knowledge. I just called you out on your idiocy.

Note Post #69 in which you are condescending and insulting toward Peter Emsley, and Post #79 in which you put yourself out there as some sort of expert beyond question. You are quite arrogant and boorish, and implore eveyone else to just believe your statements because they come from you, an expert in everything.

" I own my own company and I personally manage 100% of every project I do. I run about $1M/ month when I'm busy, which is to say when I'm not laying by the pool or fishing. I've made enough money that I don't have to work much. Right now, I'm in the middle of working on some projects for myself and finishing off the sale of my car and motorcycle collections."

So, basically you're unemployed, and selling off your stuff. OK, why didn't you just say that, rather than state for all to read that you're some sort of building mogul? I'd have gone easy on you rather than embarass you by calling out your exaggerations. If you were truthful, and humble, then I would not have to point out that you're a fraud.

"Run about $1M/ month" eh? OK, so if you are a General Contractor, then you'd not have stated it in terms of months, but rather by total value of construction. If you're in the business, then you'd know that you can make and lose tens or hundreds of thousands each month, such are the unknowns, unless you're really a construction manager who is actually an employee of the real general contractor. The real general contractor would be the one working for a city, or a bridge or dam project, and you'd be sort of a glamorized secretary or office manager.

And you have yet to name which "hospitals" you personally 100% built.

As my tenants, Starbucks, Walgreens, etc pay me as I'm sleeping. I could not care less who their customers are as long as they pay rent. You will never see me boasting about my collection of this or that toy, and I don't try to put myself off as an expert so that I can insult others. I rather enjoy the disparate perspectives of this place, even the raging Libs now and then.

Christ almighty, you're a ****ing idiot. No successful general contractor ever loses money. If you think that, then you really have no idea how a project is bid and completed. I know how much I'm going to make on every project, before I ever set foot on the job. My company is physically based to Oklahoma, I work in a five state area, I'm incorporated in Delaware, and I am the sole ****ing owner. I haven't had a boss in nearly 30 years, unless you count my clients as "bosses."

I'm not unemployed, I'm semi-retired. I can work if I want to, or not. I'm getting rid of stuff because I plan to retire 1500 miles away from where I presently sit, and I'm not gonna drag everything I've ever bought with me.

If I call you stupid, its because you make stupid ****ing statements about things you clearly know nothing about. I don't know why I bother with you, I should just let you blather on like the idiot you are.

OK, so you never have an over/under, only "over". You don't have a change order, you just order the job to change and money just drops from the clouds.

Now I know you're a complete liar and fraud.

Fund control companies give you your own payment vouchers, which are really blank checks, already signed, haha!

You have some sort of fiction in your head about yourself, like the Dos Equis guy.