"constructive" advice...

Have you ever been in one of those big box home improvement stores (yeah you know the ones I’m talking about) and you are getting advice on your next home project? You think the advice is correct and sounds good and you are excited to get home and hit it hard, only to find the things you were told, do not make sense and the product sold to you is wrong? Well you are not alone.

One of my big frustrations as I go about my job, is to be in one of those stores and over hear a conversation between an “expert” in the field and a customer, where the expert is giving all sorts of messed up information.

I will sometimes ghost them around the aisles acting like I am minding my own business just to hear the complete conversation. After I get so frustrated with the info I hear given, I can’t help myself but to interrupt the conversation and usually as politely as I am able, tell the customer and the “expert” that there could possibly be a better way. Most of the time it is accepted with a smile, but sometimes not. Some “experts” don’t take it too well, but I don’t care. Once I get involved in the conversation, I can’t leave bad advice go.

The worst one went something like this….

Customer- Sir, I just re-roofed my house and I was wondering what all those thin cellophane strips were for that were on every shingle?

Expert- Well those are the strips that should be removed so the self sealing part of the shingle works…You did pull them off, right?

Customer- Huh, no…

Expert- You didn’t pull them off?

Customer- Why?

Expert- If you didn’t pull them off, your shingles won’t seal down together, they will probably blow off in light winds and the warranty will be no good.

Customer-What??!!!!! Now what do I do?

Expert- Well your roof is not done correctly and you should re-do it as soon as you can.

Customer- expletive deleted.

This is where I had to step in.

For all of you out there that have re-roofed your home with asphalt shingles….and not pulled the cellophane strip off…..give a big sigh of relief! You don’t have to! When companies put those on, it was for one reason only. It was to make it so the shingles wouldn’t glue themselves together during shipping and storage. That’s it, end of story.

If you're not sure... ask an expert, research on line or shoot me an email.. I'd be happy to answer your question!

~ The Carpenter