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Why are't all homes made of concrete
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Jan 28, 2024 09:49
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Wowporn posted:Why are't all homes made of concrete Because it's a lovely, expensive, compromised construction method for a home? What are you actually asking here or assuming about concrete construction?
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Jan 28, 2024 15:47
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Wowporn posted:Why are't all homes made of concrete If my experience growing up in Switzerland in the 70s is any indication, they mostly are poured concrete. Better enjoy your plumbing & electrical locations. On the other hand, when I went back in 2013 as an adult, local folks were absolutely fascinated by my stories of home repair & renovation. It just isn't done - if you want or need repairs, you hire a contractor. Also that most homes in the US are wood-framed. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Jan 28, 2024 |
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Jan 28, 2024 17:17
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Wood is a bundle of carbon fiber that can be manufactured incredibly cheaply, is lightweight, is easily shaped, and lasts for centuries if kept dry. It's a fantastic building material as long as you don't exceed its load limits and don't leave it wet for extended periods. In contrast, concrete is expensive, hard to install, hard to repair, heavy, and weaker in tension. It's stronger in compression compared to wood, and you can shape it in funky ways, but in general the things it does well are not things that you need for a house (aside from for foundations), and the things it does poorly can be major problems.
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Jan 28, 2024 17:47
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Back in December I replaced the thermal fuse on my 20+ year old Whirlpool dryer after it stopped turning on, and it's worked perfectly fine for the past two months. Today I did a ton of laundry, and after the 4th or so load in about 6 hours, it stopped working again. I unhooked it, opened up the back and started testing everything with a multimeter, but the thermal fuse and power button tested as expected. I plugged it back in and tried it, and it turned right back on. Any idea what's going on? Is it dangerous to run like this? It's worked fine for 20 years, so two "episodes" in two months makes me think there's a larger problem going on. Edit: There's no massive accumulation of lint that I can see, but I've only taken off the back panel; I haven't gone digging around anywhere else. I also cleaned the vent back in December, so that's not the problem either. Edit 2: There's a definite burning smell when running it now, so I guess I'll be taking the whole thing apart. Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Jan 29, 2024 |
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Jan 29, 2024 03:02
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Lester Shy posted:Back in December I replaced the thermal fuse on my 20+ year old Whirlpool dryer after it stopped turning on, and it's worked perfectly fine for the past two months. Today I did a ton of laundry, and after the 4th or so load in about 6 hours, it stopped working again. I unhooked it, opened up the back and started testing everything with a multimeter, but the thermal fuse and power button tested as expected. I plugged it back in and tried it, and it turned right back on. Any idea what's going on? Is it dangerous to run like this? It's worked fine for 20 years, so two "episodes" in two months makes me think there's a larger problem going on. It could be the thermostat(s) on the heating element side of the dryer. They can be tested with a multimeter too. Also on Whirlpools, the plug on the end of the red wire going into the lower thermostat is known to corrode and fail, but that problem is easy enough to see, no testing required. There's a pigtail and wire nut available as a fix for that one. Edit1: clean out your flue! A clogged flue can cause the thermal protections of a dryer to trip. That includes the outside vent cover. They make cleaning kits with brushes and flexible rods that screw into each other if your flue is really long. Edit2: Speaking of kits, all the thermostats and a thermal fuse are typically available for most Whirlpools in a kit. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Jan 29, 2024 |
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Jan 29, 2024 05:23
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Wowporn posted:Why are't all homes made of concrete Because fucko goobers want to own a lovely house all by themselves instead of a nice comfy apartment in a colossal soulless gray block of flats like normal people. Seriouspost, of course.
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Jan 29, 2024 10:49
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Wowporn posted:Why are't all homes made of concrete Many, possibly most?, homes are made of concrete in places with regular very bad weather and poo poo. Like Colombia or Cuba where wood and drywall wouldn’t stand a chance. A friend of mine was very phobic of our houses when she moved to Canada as a child because she thought it would come down in the first hurricane.
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Jan 29, 2024 13:40
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It's also a matter of local resources and skills. The US historically (and still) has easy and plentiful access to lumber, so it makes sense to build lots of houses that way. You can build a very storm-resistant house from wood if you want to pay for the quality, although I think it will always fall short of good concrete. I grew up in Kenya where there is very little in the way of dangerous weather and natural disaster to threaten your home, but wood construction is not the norm because domestic lumber is scarce and you end up having to import a lot of wood, making it expensive. Instead a lot of home construction is done using quarried stone, which is one of the durable traditional methods, or concrete blocks and poured concrete, which is the modern version. A stone or concrete home also has good enough inherent insulation to be quite comfortable in most of Kenya without heating or AC, especially if designed and laid out with that in mind. When I moved to the US I was also very confused by the fact that you could basically just poke holes into the wall and didn't need to break out a masonry bit to mount things. Also concerned because you could accidentally break your interior walls just by throwing a door open too hard! It did make all those scenes in movies where people punch into a wall or throw someone and it cracks make a lot more sense though. I was overall more worried by how often Americas had big glass sliding doors or windows, because every house I had seen growing up had steel barring.
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Jan 29, 2024 15:12
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Why do people think masonry/concrete homes are well insulated? Unless you put a poo poo ton of insulation over it, those materials loving suck for having too much heat transfer. Wood is much better for that purpose. I live in a brick house with plaster wall covering and my walls are literally cold to the touch this time of year. When I redid my kitchen I added some rigid foam insulation under the drywall and it's helped a lot. The concrete slab in my garage is currently cold as poo poo as I sit here writing this, despite my mini split going full blast because it just sucks all the heat out of the air into the ground. No, concrete has notoriously bad insulation properties on its own. Which doesn't matter as much in hotter climates if you don't run ac. Cosmik Debris fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Jan 29, 2024 |
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Jan 29, 2024 16:29
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Cosmik Debris posted:those materials loving suck for heat transfer So... they're exceptional insulation 
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Jan 29, 2024 16:31
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...no the r value of concrete is around 0.1 per inch the r value of soft woods is around 1.4 per inch.
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Jan 29, 2024 16:35
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Wowporn posted:Why are't all homes made of concrete My dude, have I got a thread for you: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/the-concrete-underground.145073/
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Jan 29, 2024 16:39
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Cosmik Debris posted:...no So sounds like they're great for heat transfer!
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Jan 29, 2024 16:41
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oh, yeah I guess? They are very good conductors of heat. Using this calculator https://rimstar.org/renewnrg/heat_transfer_loss_calculations.htm I got 23.3 BTU's per sq/ft per hour using an R value of 12 (.1 * 12) versus 1.7 BTU's per hour for a square foot of pine wood, 1 foot thick (r value 16) Now the point is not that you would build a house out of the same amount of wood, obviously, but just that you need a shitload of concrete to achieve the same R value as a single wood stud. I think your walls need to be a around 6 feet thick to have the same insulation properties as a stud wall with batts in it.
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Jan 29, 2024 16:46
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Cosmik Debris posted:Why do people think masonry/concrete homes are well insulated? Unless you put a poo poo ton of insulation over it, those materials loving suck for having too much heat transfer. Wood is much better for that purpose. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't mean that stone/concrete is a good insulator compared to other stuff, I meant that it is good enough for the climate, so there isn't any motivation to use better insulating materials instead. People just throw up the construction and it's fine without additional layers of sheathing or whatever you do for stone, so there's no pressure to switch materials to get better habitability. Even though it is at the equator, a lot of Kenya is quite mild because of the elevation. Nairobi typically sees around 45F at the coldest (overnight in the 'winter') and 85F in the summer. Obviously you get more variation country-wide, but in general you only see decorative fireplaces and AC is usually limited to hotels or places that cater to visitors. The only real challenge can be heat in the summer, but you can solve that with just laying out buildings to circulate air, even at the coast where the humidity gets much higher. I don't know why the Swiss are using it, though.
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Jan 29, 2024 17:00
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Stone/masonry construction is traditional in Europe. France is like that too. Europe has been widely inhabited for so long that there are not as many forests left and land is generally more expensive and not used for growing trees like it is in North America. I think a lot of Europes wood came from Russia, too. Concrete just makes more sense in their economy. Wood is so cheap here in the States that you have to have a really good reason to use concrete to make it work out economically
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Jan 29, 2024 17:10
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The door to the room I work out of stays closed to keep the cat from going in or out, but that makes the room too warm and stuffy. Would it make sense to put in a "transfer grille" above the door to improve airflow? This pops up as one of the first search results https://www.homedepot.com/p/Tamarack-12-in-x-6-in-Return-Air-Pathway-Register-White-Wall-Mount-12X6-Return-Air-Pathway/205983294
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Jan 30, 2024 00:46
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brand engager posted:The door to the room I work out of stays closed to keep the cat from going in or out, but that makes the room too warm and stuffy. Would it make sense to put in a "transfer grille" above the door to improve airflow? This pops up as one of the first search results https://www.homedepot.com/p/Tamarack-12-in-x-6-in-Return-Air-Pathway-Register-White-Wall-Mount-12X6-Return-Air-Pathway/205983294 That weird honeycomb thing is kinda pointless. Two of these will do the exact same thing for half the price. It can't hurt if there's no return in the room already. How much it helps is kinda an unknown.
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Jan 30, 2024 03:19
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brand engager posted:The door to the room I work out of stays closed to keep the cat from going in or out, but that makes the room too warm and stuffy. Would it make sense to put in a "transfer grille" above the door to improve airflow? This pops up as one of the first search results https://www.homedepot.com/p/Tamarack-12-in-x-6-in-Return-Air-Pathway-Register-White-Wall-Mount-12X6-Return-Air-Pathway/205983294 Cut a hole in the door and put a return grille on both sides. Hell of a lot easier to replace a door than patch the wall if you change your mind.
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Jan 30, 2024 04:08
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Put the grill at floor level in the door to taunt the cat.
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Jan 30, 2024 04:10
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And put catnip & greenies in between
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Jan 30, 2024 04:20
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Depending on what is above that lower floor door, you may have a header above the door. Don't vent through the header.
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Jan 30, 2024 04:34
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PainterofCrap posted:Cut a hole in the door and put a return grille on both sides. Hell of a lot easier to replace a door than patch the wall if you change your mind. Uh idk man as someone who's hung many a door, I think I might rather patch a hole in some drywall. Getting a door to hang just right is an art form that I haven't mastered and you definitely can tell from the doors in my house.
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Jan 30, 2024 05:07
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Cosmik Debris posted:Uh idk man as someone who's hung many a door, I think I might rather patch a hole in some drywall. Another option is to put up a louvered door.
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Jan 30, 2024 05:30
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Cosmik Debris posted:Uh idk man as someone who's hung many a door, I think I might rather patch a hole in some drywall.
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Jan 30, 2024 11:45
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The way the drywall panels line up the piece above the door is a little over 2ft wide x 1.5ft tall. The panel edges are covered by pieces of trim instead of being mudded together, so I could pop that section off to see if there's an open space behind.
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Jan 30, 2024 15:55
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brand engager posted:The way the drywall panels line up the piece above the door is a little over 2ft wide x 1.5ft tall. The panel edges are covered by pieces of trim instead of being mudded together, so I could pop that section off to see if there's an open space behind. Use a magnet to locate the drywall screws and a thin needle or drill bit to poke through the drywall to confirm space behind it. It’s unlikely to have a header unless it’s a load bearing wall (perpendicular to the joists) and even then its most likely double 2x6 with 1/2” ply in between so you’ll have space above or below the header. Some kind of back-to-back louver set up like as seen on the right side here ought to do it but honestly I’d either cut to fit a louver in the door, cut a larger gap from the bottom of the door, or just buy a new door with an integrated louver 
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Jan 30, 2024 16:43
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Louvered door may be the least amount of work overall, since you can store the old door and just reinstall it if you have to. Hanging a door is a pain but as others mentioned, if you use the old door as a template it probably won't be too bad.
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Jan 30, 2024 16:51
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Is there any reason a dryer vent duct can’t be next to a radon pipe in my basement? I need to replace my exterior dryer vent cover. The interior duct connecting the dryer to the current vent cover is also a mess and takes a long, indirect route to the exterior of the house. Since I have to remove and reconnect the vent covers outside anyway, I’d like to just re-do the ducting while I’m loving around with this. The best path for the duct would be right next to this radon pipe (blue). The radon pipe is just a pipe here—the radon fan and vent are both outside and on a different wall than the dryer vent. I know you shouldn’t put the dryer vent near a gas line, for example, but not sure if radon presents a problem as well. What could go wrong?
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Jan 30, 2024 19:55
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Blakkout posted:Is there any reason a dryer vent duct can’t be next to a radon pipe in my basement? I looked at a couple of building codes, and couldn't find any rules governing proximity of other pipes to radon pipes. They have rules about the slope of the pipe, its construction, and how far away its terminus has to be from any air intakes (e.g. windows), but nothing saying, for example, "no other pipes can be within 12" of the radon pipe" or similar. You should check your own local building code, though; they're generally not hard to read.
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Jan 30, 2024 22:39
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Thanks. Reviewed my local Code and couldn’t find anything there either.
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Jan 31, 2024 00:09
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Blakkout posted:Is there any reason a dryer vent duct can’t be next to a radon pipe in my basement? The electrical panel might be more of an issue then the radon pipe. You aren't supposed to have anything within X feet of that that might prevent access (your radon pipe probably already violates that though)
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Jan 31, 2024 02:20
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3' clearance, but that pipe looks like it's to the side?
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Jan 31, 2024 03:48
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I checked behind that drywall and there's a "cripple stud" right in the middle of where the grille would go. Is there any issue with venting through there aside from the reduced airflow in the center?
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Jan 31, 2024 19:50
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How much work would it be to cut the cripple and put a header and jack studs in and frame it out like a window? Prolly what I would do. Or just put in two cripples on either side of the vent and remove that one. Actually that's probably what I would do.
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Jan 31, 2024 20:07
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This is a bad thing to see on an electrical connector, right? What would cause this?
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Jan 31, 2024 23:01
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Deadite posted:This is a bad thing to see on an electrical connector, right? What would cause this? Poor connectivity (i.e. broken connector, broken wires in the connector, bad solder or crimp joints) causes high resistance. High resistance causes heat. Once something like that gets hot enough to look like that it's garbage.
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Jan 31, 2024 23:03
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Motronic posted:Poor connectivity (i.e. broken connector, broken wires in the connector, bad solder or crimp joints) causes high resistance. High resistance causes heat. Once something like that gets hot enough to look like that it's garbage. Thanks. Do you think I could just cut off the connector and replace it and it would be okay? I'd like to save the thing it's attached to. Also, is there a way to test a connector to see if it's bad before I use it? Short of just plugging it in and leaving it that is
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Jan 31, 2024 23:26
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Deadite posted:Thanks. Do you think I could just cut off the connector and replace it and it would be okay? I'd like to save the thing it's attached to. Sure, if you know how to install another connector properly it should be a perfectly reasonable way to repair it. Some of those cords have "interesting" wires so that may present a challenge. As far as figuring out what was wrong, with where that's burnt it looks like where the connector on that cord is attached to the rest of the cord. Get an exacto knifre or razor blade and cut back the insulation in that area - I bet you can find the problem and if it's obviously on the connection there you can be pretty sure the opposite side connector is fine. It usually is uinless it too is melted.
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Jan 31, 2024 23:30
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