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That moment I realized I'd been ripping shingles wrong for years
I was on a roof job in Nashville last fall, working with this older guy who was maybe 70 years old. He watched me for like 5 minutes while I was tearing off old layers with a flat bar, then he just shook his head. Turns out I was pulling against the grain and breaking half the shingles into tiny pieces instead of getting clean strips. He showed me this simple trick where you start from the ridge and work down with the grain, and I was getting full sections in one pull. I had been doing it the hard way for almost 12 years without ever questioning it. Nobody ever told me there was a right way to rip shingles, I just assumed you hack at them until they come off. Has anyone else had a basic skill blow up in their face like that?
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hugo_schmidt27d ago
My neighbor's a carpenter and he told me something similar happens with drywall. Said most people just start ripping into it without thinking about which way the paper grain runs.
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wendy_jackson9d ago
Yeah @dakota_nelson43 you're right, the paper grain in drywall absolutely matters. If you score against the grain the paper will tear all jagged and the snap won't be clean, you'll end up with crusty edges you gotta sand down later. I always run my knife with the grain now after I learned that lesson the hard way on a basement ceiling.
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dakota_nelson4326d ago
Wait, so does the paper grain in drywall actually affect how cleanly it snaps or is that more about taping? I've hung maybe 50 sheets in my life and never paid attention to it, just scored and snapped. Has your neighbor ever seen somebody completely screw up a drywall job because they went the wrong way with it?
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