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Dr Sun Try posted:protip: I grew up in a house built of stone, and mostly we ended up just not hanging anything that couldn't be held up by tape because my dad could never be bothered to dig out a drill for proper mounts. Studs at a pain in the rear end for hanging shelves and so on, but it's nice to be able to pop a nail in drywall to hang a picture. As a side effect, I used to think that people in TV/movies were super strong because they would get mad and punch dents in their walls, which I assumed were quarried stone just like mine.
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Nov 2, 2016 19:07
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Nov 2, 2016 19:10
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Jealous Cow posted:In that case would you use a concrete anchor rated to at least 400lbs? of course!
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Nov 2, 2016 19:12
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Jealous Cow posted:In that case would you use a concrete anchor rated to at least 400lbs? And risk someone stealing my house AND my motorcycle? Are you nuts?
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Nov 2, 2016 19:24
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That's loving awesome and is hitting all of my NEPA nostalgia buttons.
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Nov 2, 2016 20:01
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crazy fire hazard though
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Nov 2, 2016 20:57
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Polio Vax Scene posted:crazy fire hazard though Is it actually coal or just black-painted block? Even if it is coal, coal's at least as hard to start burning as wood is. Anthracite won't even start to glow until 600 C. Even bituminous needs to get around 200 C hotter to start burning than wood does.
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Nov 2, 2016 22:09
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Coal is probably gonna slowly give off toxic fumes if it's not perfectly sealed, though.
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Nov 2, 2016 22:16
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No problems with black mold - the black lung will get you first.
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Nov 2, 2016 22:34
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 Anyone seen a wolf around here?
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Nov 2, 2016 22:48
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I still want to build a straw bale house. I don't think I could get it past building code here as a primary residence, but as a cabin or playhouse it'd probably pass muster.
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Nov 2, 2016 23:56
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http://www.garrettwade.com/stud-finder-gp.html This is the only kind of stud finder I've ever seen...
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Nov 3, 2016 00:20
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:That sounds like a lot of extra work when you could just paint stripes on your walls where the studs are. whenever my dad took up the carpet and/or floorboards to do any DIY work, he did this with the floorboards. He'd mark the joists underneath, wiring runs, pipes, conduit, everything, then polyurethane it. i hope his painstaking work has helped later owners of my dad's homes not accidentally drill into a gas line. 
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Nov 3, 2016 02:12
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peanut posted:http://www.garrettwade.com/stud-finder-gp.html That's definitely better than the technique I learned contracting. A 16d nail and a hammer.
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Nov 3, 2016 02:16
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ChickenOfTomorrow posted:accidentally drill into a gas line. Ive done this. My wife ran outside and left me to die.
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Nov 3, 2016 03:14
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ChickenOfTomorrow posted:whenever my dad took up the carpet and/or floorboards to do any DIY work, he did this with the floorboards. He'd mark the joists underneath, wiring runs, pipes, conduit, everything, then polyurethane it. 16 years ago, one of my fraternity brothers was trying to steal cable. He was drilling through the wall between rooms a hole big enough to string some coax through. Imagine the angle you'd have to hit a 1/2" copper pipe at with a 3/8" drill bit and not deflect off the pipe. Some people can unnaturally beat the odds. I was the house manager. It was a good thing I identified the main water valve for the entire house earlier when another brother thought "what's that thing on the ceiling in the stairwell?" and flicked a sprinkler head. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Nov 3, 2016 |
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Nov 3, 2016 04:16
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Leperflesh posted:Coal is probably gonna slowly give off toxic fumes if it's not perfectly sealed, though. Jaguars! posted:No problems with black mold - the black lung will get you first. Isn't it full of radioactive isotopes, too?
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Nov 3, 2016 13:17
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~Coxy posted:Isn't it full of radioactive isotopes, too? Yes. So are bananas, brazil nuts and granite countertops.
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Nov 3, 2016 13:35
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Coal plants release far more radioactivity than nuke plants.
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Nov 3, 2016 14:27
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Coal plants release far more radioactivity than nuke plants. Well, that's not hard to believe since most nuclear plants typically give off less radiation than ambient. Hell to use a previous metric, nuclear plants give off less radiation to the the surrounding environment than a bunch of bananas.
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Nov 3, 2016 14:31
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Motronic posted:Yes. So are bananas, brazil nuts and granite countertops. You don't normally live in a house made out of bananas, though, so I'm still curious about the health implications of living in a house made of coal.
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Nov 3, 2016 15:28
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:You don't normally live in a house made out of bananas, though, so I'm still curious about the health implications of living in a house made of coal.
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Nov 3, 2016 16:14
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:You don't normally live in a house made out of bananas, though, so I'm still curious about the health implications of living in a house made of coal. Be much more worried about dust and heavy metals from it than from any radioactivity, personally.
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Nov 3, 2016 18:47
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Coal is approximately or less radioactive than granite, and other stones commonly used for construction. Coal ash probably concentrates radioactive elements (having removed the carbon which makes up the bulk of the coal), but it's still not a significant source of radiation. A little googling suggests that outgassing from coal is not generally discussed in terms of outgassing from a hunk of coal, but rather, outgassing within a mine shaft, which is very important to consider for maintaining a safe environment in a mine. Still, I found some discussion of coal weathering - which would relate to coal as a building material - that tells me that it depends a lot on whether the coal has been dried, and then, oxidization of the coal is a process that takes place.
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Nov 3, 2016 19:27
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flosofl posted:Well, that's not hard to believe since most nuclear plants typically give off less radiation than ambient. That's true, so the comparison isn't that impressive. But coal plants burn a shitload of coal. Coal does contain trace uranium and thorium; uranium's present anywhere from 1 to 10 ppm of uranium and about 2.5 times as much thorium. The EPA examined a bunch of US samples and found an average of 1.3 ppm of uranium and 3.2 ppm thorium. Looking at how much coal we've burned and predicting how much coal we will burn gives for the period of 1937-2040 gives a total release from coal combustion of 145,000 tons of uranium, including 1000 tons of U-235, and 360,000 tons of thorium. Total specific activity of natural uranium is 6.91E-7 curies per gram. Th-232's specific activity is 1.1E-7 curies per gram. That's about 91,000 curies (3.4 PBq) of uranium and 36,000 curies (1.3 PBq) of thorium. By comparison, Chernobyl released about 8200 PBq of fission fragments. What toxic gases will a solid block of coal emit just sitting there? If you're in a confined and nonventilated space surrounded by coal you can get depleted of oxygen and asphyxiate because the atmospheric oxygen will react with the carbon to form CO2, but that's not going to happen in an above-ground building with exterior coal walls. It can have pockets of hydrocarbon gases which you can release if you break them open, and it will outgas if you heat it up, but big solid blocks of it sitting there at ambient temperature won't emit much of anything. I mean, yeah, it's got radioisotopes in it but so does the gypsum in your drywall and the granite in your countertops (10-20 ppm).
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Nov 3, 2016 20:07
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So what I am getting from that is that I should not plan to burn my drywall as a fuel source?
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Nov 3, 2016 20:47
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Even without the radiation, isn't coal one of those "welcome to cancer-town" substances like dioxins or heavy metals?
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Nov 3, 2016 21:23
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there wolf posted:Even without the radiation, isn't coal one of those "welcome to cancer-town" substances like dioxins or heavy metals? Unless you've pulverizing it into a fine powder and inhaling it, no, not really. Burning a lot of coal and just letting the combustion products float off into the atmosphere is very bad. A solid block of coal sitting there on the ground is pretty innocuous.
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Nov 3, 2016 22:39
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there wolf posted:Even without the radiation, isn't coal one of those "welcome to cancer-town" substances like dioxins or heavy metals? Mostly only in dust form. It leads to lung cancer in the same way silicosis in people working long term with fine sand or smoking do. Like tar or silicon particles, the body can't do anything to remove coal dust from the lungs, so it builds up and can eventually cause fibrosis.
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Nov 3, 2016 23:39
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Also note that coal's combustion byproducts are really nasty. Coal tar was one of the first substances to be recognized as carcinogenic, when doctors started paying attention to how chimney sweeps kept dying of weird cancers.
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Nov 4, 2016 03:07
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Fun fact: natural gas is so‐named because it was an alternative for coal gas, obtained by heating coal in an anærobic environment.
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Nov 4, 2016 03:10
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Platystemon posted:Fun fact: natural gas is so‐named because it was an alternative for coal gas, obtained by heating coal in an anærobic environment. Coal gas heating systems also being common in homes, with combustion occurring in each room for heat and light. It's really a pity that they didn't manage to burn down every Victorian house with this system.
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Nov 4, 2016 03:59
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MMH has an especially ridiculous house this week.  The whole thing is impressively tacky, but that catwalk-staircase-indoor column forest thing is just plain weird and pointless since it blocks the light from all those ginormous windows. I wonder how many times the owners have accidentally bonked their head on it.
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Nov 5, 2016 02:48
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I love when mmh features one ridiculous house. I particularly liked that 90s time capsule.
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Nov 5, 2016 03:03
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Ashcans posted:As a side effect, I used to think that people in TV/movies were super strong because they would get mad and punch dents in their walls, which I assumed were quarried stone just like mine.  I grew up in a house made entirely of concrete block. Similar experiences on all counts.
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Nov 5, 2016 03:05
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Those "1987" drape things remind me of Bioshock. Also I think my kitchen has that tile. 
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Nov 5, 2016 10:47
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So turns out the two outlets in my parents master bath are in series with the GFCI in the garage on the other side of the house 
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Nov 6, 2016 22:20
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Super Waffle posted:So turns out the two outlets in my parents master bath are in series with the GFCI in the garage on the other side of the house GFCIs are expensive!
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Nov 7, 2016 00:14
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Super Waffle posted:So turns out the two outlets in my parents master bath are in series with the GFCI in the garage on the other side of the house What kind of voltage does the third one see with a table saw and blow dryer going at the same time?
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Nov 7, 2016 01:19
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devicenull posted:GFCIs are expensive! Oh god damnit I was wracking my brain trying to figure out WHY and now it makes sense. First receptacle in the series has to be GFCI, so I guess it technically meets the letter of the code but not the spirit. Ugh.
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Nov 7, 2016 02:44
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