Hi I’m Redwood.

I’d like to welcome you to my little piece of internet real estate.

It is my intention here to share my knowledge with fellow “Turd Herders” (Plumbers), “DIYer’s” and “Consumers,” with a series of “Product Reviews” and “How To Instructions.” It is my belief that Education of this nature is good for the Plumbing Trade. Some of my best customers have been “Educated Consumers” and “DIYers.” When a customer recognizes what needs to be done, and what is entailed in doing the work, the hardest part of selling the job is done! There is no wondering on the customers part if the work being done is necessary or being done properly. How much better does it get than that? Anyway that is kinda my mission here and where I plan on going with this blog.

I’d like to give you my credentials and give you some knowledge of who I am. My affiliation with the building trades started at an early age. When I was 6 years old I spent my summer vacation working with my uncle. He was a civil engineer working for the state DOT and was in the process of building his paradise in the country. The first phase of the project was the demo of an unused tobbacco barn close to where he was building his home. The wood from the barn was a take it away free source of wood that he was going to use to build a barn on his property. The barn was first for storage for tools and material while building the house and later for use on his mini farm where he raised a variety of animals and produce used both for profit and feeding a family of eight children. Anyway my job in the demo was taking all the nails out of the boards. Later as we built the barn I recall some sawing and a lot of nail pounding between his nails tacking boards in place.

Phase 2 was the following summer when we built the house. It was long ago and I vividly remember being on the roof of a two story house and on scaffolding pounding nails through the plywood securing it between his tacks in place.

The following summer when I was 8 I met “The Plumber” My parents were putting an addition on their house along with a new heating system. The plumber was a nice older guy, semi-retired that didn’t seem to object to my hanging around being a pest. When he found out that I knew how to read a rule he he made me his apprentice. He showed me how to use a tubing cutter, reaming and how to clean copper tubing. I was also running and fetching additional fittings. Eventually he had me sweat my first joint. I remember holding the torch, watching the soft flame wrap around the tube and fitting, moving it around concentating the heat in the fitting socket, then applying the solder to the joint, watching it suck into the joint, then wiping the joint. I was in paradise! Today something like that would be unthinkable. Imagine if I had gotten cut or, burned. Back then it would have been a little first aid and we’re on our way. Today a lawyer would be called into action.

My next job was when I was 12. I was riding on a honey wagon helping to pump out septic tanks. The honey wagon owner was a friend of my fathers and my job was digging the hole to expose the lid of the tank. He’d bring me to a house and show me where to dig while he went to the local gin mill for a pop. He’d return a short time later and pump the tank, some times using the ribbon snake to clear the line from the tank back to the house. Once finished He’d go and collect while I refilled the hole.  I did that for a couple of years .

My next experience with the trade came with a hitch in the Air Force. I was also living in town and my landlord was one of the local property moguls. I rarely paid rent and made a good amount of money working on his properties.

After my discharge I moved back to Connecticut and went to work in the first of a few maint. jobs at various factories as the staff plumber. There was a lot of cross trade work between the electrician and I as we kept  the plant running smoothly. A lot of the work was dealing with pneumatics, hydraulics, PLC’s, and even repairing CNC equipment in addition to plumbing compressed air lines, water lines, drains, and process lines for various liquids and gases. Somewhere along the line industry became a tough spot to be in as they wanted more and more for less and less. The overtime became continuous and people left without being replaced. It became a situation where it was no longer working cross trade with Sparky but thinking I a Turd Herder could replace Sparky. Bad Idea! I left industry and went to work for a plumbing company where this was not and issue.

I have enjoyed posting on a variety of internet plumbing forums and have made a substantial number of posts helping other plumbers, DIYers, and consumers with problems and now I have just started my own blog and forum where I aim to provide the same quality information on my own piece of internet real estate.