The last two days I have been joisting a floor and getting away from the Hardie Board siding.  I’ll be back siding but right now I’m happy to be doing this.  Siding isn’t too bad but it’s always good to have a change and a change to framing a floor isn’t too shabby.  It’s me and one other guy joisting this floor that is 5000 sq ft, and I don’t know exactly how long it’s going to take to do but we’ll see.

We both want to get it done as fast as we can so when our boss has other floors or wall framing there is a good chance we might get to go on those projects.  That’s the thing about framing, being fast doesn’t technically mean you’re doing it better. Granted there are those ones that can fly and still do amazing work.  But you need to find that balance between speed and quality of work.  That’s when you start making your boss money and when he starts to make money so do you in raises and bonuses.  Anyway, this job is good because you have a few beams that the joists are hangered on too along with just good old long joists.  So it makes you think about how things are going to hang and to different angles you got to play around with.  Its days like the last two that make me happy to be framing.

This product is a type of siding that I have been using on a job recently. It’s a concrete type of siding so it does get heavy handling 8 or 10 foot sheets of it. It’s also very bendy. That along with the weight makes it a “fun” product to handle. You can get it in horizontal strips and have the traditional look of siding. Or you can get it in like I said 8 or 10 foot sheets and do vertical siding. It comes in different colours but I’m not sure how many. When cutting, you need a good mask and eye protection because it can hurt your lungs and eyes. Today I was using it and working off a scaffold.Tied off of course. With hardie board, you have to be very ginger in handling because for concrete, it damages very easily. So when lining up your bottom corners you have to make sure not to lift too hard and break it because it’s expensive to scrap a sheet due to a broken corner. Screwing into studs is a definite must due to the weight of the product; you don’t want it going anywhere. But after it’s on, screwed off and finished, it actually looks pretty nice and makes the building look good.

There is a lot of talk about safety on the job site.  These rules are put in place for you and your employer’s protection.  I’ve worked on jobs before the safety regulations were enforced and I’ve had to deal with the consequences of not following the regulations.  I’ve stepped on nails, which hurts a lot, I’ve had stuff hit my head, and also go into my eyes.  They all hurt and can be damaging to your health.  Now with the new regulations there is a lot less chance of me getting into trouble with a nail, falling chunk of wood, or flying sawdust or other dust.  It is hard to make sure you always follow and have your Personal Protection Equipment but if someone on your crew notices this they will point it out so you don’t end up hurting yourself.  Life can be pretty difficult if you can’t see because you got something in your eyes.  So before you enter your job site make sure you have your PPE, which varies from site to site.  As you start to gain more and more responsibilities at work you’ll need more different PPE like a harness, dust mask, or hearing protection but that comes with the jobs.

So I am back at work after taking a week off, well rested, relaxed, getting back into the groove of things, and I am reminded of how quickly things can change. Sometimes right before your eyes.

I am working a night shift in the control room, and was getting close to the end of the shift when an alarm came up just after 6 am. So off I go down to the bottom of the station only to discover water covering the floor. And tons more pouring in from one of the units that is offline due to maintenance. I opened up a drain valve and waited and watched but the water is not slowing down. Hmmm, what to do? A quick call to the control room sends me to check on the pumps, which shows the one in service is (clearly) not working. I switched pumps, and YAY!! the water starts to recede.

The good news is I work with some really smart people who can think ahead to figure out the possible causes of the problems, and help me fix the situation.

Tracy.

I have been getting a lot of questions on how I got into the trades lately.   Well the answer is I went to pre employment at Red River.  It’s a ten month course that gives you the basics to the trade and is equivalent to level 1 of your apprenticeship.   Do you need to take pre employment?   No you do not have to take it. Some employers will hire you without it, but others will want you to take.   So really what you have to do is get out there and talk to the companyies that may hire you.   This the perfect time of year to get out there and look for work too.   It’s the time of the year that most companyies get their big jobs for the summer and are looking for guys. So don’t wait till it’s too late because you will miss out and companies usually don’t hire to many new guys in the fall.   I hope this will help a few people. I know I have helped a few of my buddies this last little while to get into the trades.

One of the best parts of my job is that the majority of the work is done outside.  Except for a few chilly mornings (which make hand tightening nuts a little on the painful side) and the random snowfall this morning, we had great weather.  I guess my favourite part about this season is the lack of mosquitos!

One section of our rather large station was taken out to perform major maintenance on a few key components to transmitting power.

I worked on a crew of six refurbishing a filter bank.  Basically, a filter bank is rows of capacitors stacked in tiers.  The capacitors help “smooth” out the AC that’s transmitted throughout Southern Manitoba.

Here is a capacitor can, and a fuse tube (just 1 of 714 changed in four days).  We removed the fuse tube from the bus bar, and disconnected it from the capacitor stud.  Once all the fuse tubes were removed, they were brought back to the shop where our disassembly/reassembly line began.  This part was tedious!  After some refurbishing and cleaning, the fuse tubes were tested for continuity, and put back onto the structure bus bar.

During this outage, the filter bank next to us was also getting major maintenance.  I have never seen so many Genie lifts in use at once!

Next time I have the chance, I will blog about the other job I helped with during this maintenance madness season.

Stay tuned…

In simple terms, the first few months of your apprenticeship lets you work hands-on in your field before going into the classroom portion of your training. Really, if you have something you are interested in then go for it. The only way to have a successful career is to have a love or strong desire towards what you are interested in.  Maybe you’re not sure what it is you want to do, or you have more than one trade you are thinking of. If that’s the case, then try both. Keep the doors open.  Example, before I started my apprenticeship as an auto mechanic, not only did I have an interest in the mechanical side of things, I had an interested in auto body. Lucky for me, the high school I graduated from offered both programs of power mechanics and auto body.  Unsure of what it was I wanted, I took both my first year.

After having some experience in one trade, you can see what it is all about, or what is involved in your chosen trade.  After having a little bit of experience in auto body, I decided that the mechanical side of a vehicle was more the route I wanted.  The only way to truly know if you’re interested in something is to give it a try. Get your foot in the door, get some experience and let time tell if the trade is for you.

As an apprentice, I know you definitely learn a lot more on the job then you would sitting in a classroom. When you’re an apprentice, you work for an employer, you get paid, and the best part is you work with someone who has their certification in that trade, and has plenty of experience and knowledge they will teach you.  At no cost to you, the apprenticeship program is the best way to get loads of knowledge and experience before heading into the classroom.

While I was going to Red River College, I had a great job working in an office as a dispatcher.  It was a fantastic location, and I met a lot of great people working there.  I even got to spend some time with my dad, who worked one floor up from me.  I loved my job, and the people that I worked with, but I knew that sitting in front of a computer for the next 30 years was just not for me.

In the trades, there is no routine.  Every day is different from the last.  You never know what to expect.  You could be working outside, inside, on the ground, or 50 feet up in the air.  And I can honestly say that I learn something new every day.

In just nine months, I have come across more tools and procedures than I ever thought possible.  I’ve had training on everything from using a Fluke Multimeter (before we could use those, we had to use some analog meters) to insulation testing.  I can operate man lifts, and have even learned how to escape from one if it gets hung up in the air.  I’ve had lots of hands on experience with specific tools of our trade such as capacitance testing, and battery analyzers.

So, if your hands are tired of typing and filing, come try out a constantly changing trade.  It’s challenging, but fun.  And it makes for interesting conversation when people ask what you do for a living.  Oh, and for all the ladies out there that are considering (at least I hope there are some out there) joining up, go for it!

Hi, me again.

Do you know what is the worst part about exams? Not the hours you spend studying, the memorizing, the countless cups of necessary caffeine, it’s THE WAITING!!

I have just recently completed writing my exams  and I have been nervously waiting for some results. And talking to all the guys after the test only makes it a thousand times worse. Suddenly, every answer you have just calculated and sweated over, is doubted. Its like, “Whaddya crazy? The answer to question 32 was definitely C. 150 volts across the 17 ohm resistor. There’s no way it was 240 volts!!”

Thankfully though there are some top notch teachers at Red River College who really want you to do well, and have invested a lot of time ensuring you get what they are saying.  My class was fortunate to have teachers who were willing to stay late, come in on weekends or evenings to give you extra help if you needed it.

The waiting should be over soon, and I’m betting we all passed with flying colours. Just hopefully we get word before I chew my nails down to my knuckles…

Tracy.

Right now, Angelique is at Red River College’s Stevenson Aviation & Aerospace Training Centre in Portage La Prairie for the in-school training portion of her Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Apprenticeship.  Check back soon for an update.