I spent last night pulling fiberglass insulation from under my house, and this afternoon bagging it; I’d have bagged it last night but I damn near passed out from heat and being out of breath. In all, I bagged 10x 40 gallon bags.
Tomorrow I go and clean up mold. And some time after Monday (when the plumber fixes my leaky water heater), I will add vapor barrier and new insulation. 😅
That shit is/was no joke. I had a head-to-toe tyvek suit, nitrile gloves, safety glasses, and an n95 mask. I’m in love with the tyvek suit for future dirty jobs, but in all it was super hot and difficult to breathe. I couldn’t have done the job without them though.
Anyway, my point is that for those of you who do this day in and day out, you all rock! I have always appreciated those who do the dirty jobs, but now I revere you too.
Thank you for all that you do!
Insulation fucking sucks. If your do a lot of work with it though then it's worth it to just fork over the dough for a proper full face respirator. That makes things so much more comfortable. Even with full gear though you'll still wind up itching somewhere.
As far as the trades go though, honestly switching to a blue collar job is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. I went from IT to being a refrigeration mechanic and I love it. I might not be saving lives all that often but it is nice to be able to know that I am helping real people. Like a call I had recently getting a fridge fixed in time for a small town bar to still have cold beer for St. Pattys day. I spent hours laying on a filthy bar floor with an acetylene torch swapping out a compressor old enough to have seen the collapse of the soviet union. But when I got that thing going again the cheer from the farmers sitting at the bar made my day. Sure I didn't change any lives, but I left knowing I made people happy.
Of course the bigger emergency jobs can be very high stress. If I get an emergency 1AM callout with a down grocery store rack system and a million dollars of produce spoiling, then I'm definitely sweating a bit. But even then, it's a good stress. It's a stress that pushes me into action and my brain into gear. There's no dread in it. There's only the knowledge that people are relying on me to solve the problem and there is no one else comming to the rescue. It's a chance to prove that you can fix anything no matter how creative you need to get with that fix.
The job is often backbreaking. The job is often filthy. The job is often even dangerous. Most days I come home covered in various substances with new scratches, bruises, and/or burns in various locations only to sit down and just ache for a while. But most days I also go to bed happy and content.