Remember when we used to hand cut every single piece of foam insulation board?

I was doing a big strip mall job about eight years ago and we had to insulate a whole block of storefronts. The boss wanted every piece cut to fit the exact stud bays, which meant a lot of time on the table saw. It was dusty, slow, and the cuts were never perfect. One afternoon, I was fed up and grabbed a hot knife from the electrician's truck. I figured, what's the worst that could happen? I plugged it in, let it heat up, and tried it on a scrap piece. It cut through that foam like butter, left a clean sealed edge, and there was zero dust. I did the whole back wall of unit three in maybe an hour. The foreman came by, saw it, and just nodded. We ended up buying a few for the crew. Has anyone else found a simple tool change that saved a ton of time on a big job?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia31716d ago

We had a similar thing with drywall on a remodel last year. The old guy on the crew was still scoring and snapping every single piece by hand. It took forever. I finally just brought my cordless multi-tool with a drywall blade from home. We cut out all the old outlet boxes in like half the time. He grumbled at first but then used it for the next window cut. Sometimes you just have to show them the easier way.

simon11316d ago

Show them the easier way" is the only move that works. Old habits die hard until they see the time save right in front of them. Once they try it, they usually come around.

walker.max4d ago

Patricia317 is right about just showing them, but sometimes you gotta go a step further and leave the new tool where they'll find it. Let them "discover" it on their own, and they'll adopt it way faster than if you just hand it to them. It turns a lesson into their own clever idea.