Back in Sacramento

The L Street project had continued without any delays while I was gone and although I would have enjoyed a few days at home after a working vacation, it was not to be. I was right back in my apartment in Sacramento and making the short trip downtown every morning.

And I shared that apartment with a fireproofer, Joe Tiki. He had been the number one nozzleman in Reno and we needed that kind of talent on this large project. Before I could hang (weld) panels on the outside frame, Joe had to have fireproofed them with Monokote fireproofing spray.

A little background. Fireproofing (and some plaster) is applied with a Thomsen ‘Tommy Gun’ fireproofing pump. Powerful! It will spray a bag a minute in high gear and that means the machine is literally screaming. It uses air pressure to diffuse the mix at the nozzle and in high gear; this produces a screaming sound that requires ear plugs. Plus you have to hold the gun hose between your legs while you maneuver the ‘whip hose’ to spray the structural steel. That hose pulses with each stroke of the piston; and has been known to jerk a shooter right off of their feet if the hose develops a ‘pack’ (Material that suddenly hardens in the hose and won’t pump any further.) All of this is happening while you are standing on a wet and slippery plank. Said plank is sometimes 20’- or more above the floor. In fact, my favorite memory image of Joe has him standing on one plank, laid across a couple of scaffolds and spanning the elevator shaft. He was walking, spraying and talking to me at the same time; and probably close to 200’ above the floor at the time.

Joe was a real craftsman; a one-eyed craftsman. He had lost his left eye in a plaster hose blowout; an altogether too common occurrence among plasterers who worked the ‘guns’. He wore a patch on his eye while working, so there were plenty of superintendents who questioned his ability. After all, you have to spray the fireproofing on evenly and to within 1/8” of an inch in thickness. Could he do that with one eye? Oh, yes!

And after work, Joe went without the patch, except while going out for dinner. Now there was a real chore; trying to talk to Joe while looking at one good eye and one that was white and shrunken into the socket. That took awhile, but then, after a few weeks, I forgot about it. But it was fun to watch others when confronted with Joe's odd eye.