Crappy Construction: The Four POs of the Housepocalypse

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Crappy Construction: The Four POs of the Housepocalypse

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Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Oh god...

# ¿ Nov 4, 2014 17:39

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 02:03

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Veridian is sloppy and lazy. I lived in Madison from 78-85 and from 2001-2011. From what I heard from friends and family that had bought them; it was instant regret on signing.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2015 21:07

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Living in Northern Wisconsin with a two mile walk to where the school bus would pick you up sucked. I wouldn't live anywhere but a city now.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2015 18:12

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Maybe Sw2 is on a separate hot leg?

# ¿ Mar 3, 2015 03:03

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

That is a fuckton of screws.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2015 01:50

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I'm picturing his wife has the same kind of pube-stache.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2015 12:00

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

pac man frogs posted:

Oh, there's a drain.

It is fractal bad decisions!

# ¿ Apr 30, 2015 00:53

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

pac man frogs posted:

I don't think contractors were ever involved. The exhaust for the dryer in the basement had concrete poured around it and is flush with the ground right outside one of the doors exiting the ADU. Too bad I don't have bigger pics, I cut this out of the report and asked my inspector for a dump of the full res...

Other fun stuff:
* 4 double taps and a triple(!) tap in the panels
* None of the bathroom fixtures are fixed in place (pedestal sinks could be pulled right over, toilets rock back and forth)
* Everything that shouldn't be penetrated is. Nailed down 'floating' vinyl flooring, vinyl siding is nailed in place outside, the roof has a ton of nails through the shingles and every single shower surround has something screwed through it

Our counter ended up being 90k less than previous, seller thought we were crazy. Ah well

Your counter should have been a request that they give you hazard pay to walk through that hellscape.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2015 05:36

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

thespaceinvader posted:

There are a wide range of specialist applications (at least in this country) where as far as I can tell they don't actually make non-incandescent lamps yet. Sewing machine lights, for instance. I certainly couldn't find anything other than incandescent when I tried to replace one recently.

EZ-Bake ovens...

# ¿ May 10, 2015 15:55

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

fisting by many posted:

Apparently they go even higher

http://www.amazon.com/Conntek-Locking-Adapter-Female-Connector/dp/B002YB108Y/ref=pd_cp_23_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=130E2FPK884J6QBDZM3G

Jesus that's stupid.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2015 22:47

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Sudden Infant Def Syndrome posted:

My neighbors are building a new patio and it is of the highest quality.

Oh sweet Jesus.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2015 14:13

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Don't forget the random rear end spacing of those crossmembers! :science:

# ¿ Aug 24, 2015 14:32

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

MullardEL34 posted:

Update: If anyone in The Cleveland/Akron Metro area wants a vintage 1950's Steelcase desk, PM me. We have like 40 of them and they need to go, fast. They weigh as much as a 57' Cadillac, so be prepared. I'd like to get a piece for them as a donation to our cause or something, otherwise you can have one for free. He're going to have to scrap them. I've been trying to find new homes for them for two months. Apparently hipsters don't like old metal desks.

Also, we discovered today that the 150 extension Panasonic Digital PBX in the basement still semi-works. You can dial from extension to extension just fine, and dialing #9 activates a paging amplifier that feeds 70V ceiling speakers throughout the building. Of course the previous owners left no manual or documentation for the PBX, so even figuring out how to reprogram it/knowing which lines are coming from the TELCO stack outside is going to be interesting. I was hoping to replace one of the TELCO lines with an OBI110 POTS-to-VOIP bridge and light the system back up.

I already have a Steelcase that somebody left out on the street three blocks from my apartment. I managed to dolly it by myself back to my building and get it up three flights of stairs. When it comes time to move I'm seriously contemplating sending off the balcony. I'm reasonably sure it would survive the impact.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 21:14

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

James Madison Memorial High School in Madison Wisconsin. The windows were slits about six inches wide and three-four feet tall . It looked like a minimum security prison.

Second floor plan

From 760 to 752 (the whole math area) was open, those are just notional walls. And we had a trig teacher that did a really good impression of a foghorn with his lecturing voice.

854A-D was also completely open and had two teachers that liked to bellow.

It was a horrible building designed and built in the mid-60s. Drafty, leaky, poorly laid out; just a complete piece of poo poo.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2015 17:13

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

canyoneer posted:

If so, at least make it a submarine or something.

http://www.migaloo-submarines.com/

# ¿ Nov 12, 2015 05:56

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Splizwarf posted:

In the US in older houses you find timer fans sometimes. Usually controlled with a dial on the wall that works exactly like an analog kitchen timer.

Older motels had a heat lamp in the bathroom controlled by one of those timers (Holiday Inns in the 60s and 70s definitely did).

# ¿ Dec 18, 2015 21:23

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Zhentar posted:

The main problem with ring circuits is that they need relatively balanced current flow on both return paths. A break or high impedance connection in the ring unbalances the flow, potentially causing an overcurrent condition that can't be detected by the breaker, and without any visible fault to occupants. Testing to detect those failures requires disconnecting the circuit from the breaker panel and measuring the impedance between the two ends of the circuit (and even that can fail to detect faults if there's bridging) - and then assuming that the re-connection is performed correctly. Spurs don't have two return paths, so you either don't use them, or use extra copper.

Two 20 amp radial circuits use the same amount of copper as one 32 amp ring circuit (or less, if you make use of spurs). You get more total capacity, and more safety. It costs you one extra circuit breaker, more than paid for by the labor savings.

Also on an imbalance you can turn your wiring into a loving huge electromagnet .

# ¿ Feb 9, 2016 17:23

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Baronjutter posted:

~~That kettle~~ Colin is ~~amazing~~ insane.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2016 00:06

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Platystemon posted:

They just don�t make �em like they used to.

I was on a demo crew that tore down a motel from the 1940s. Every bathroom in 40 units had a blade slot in the medicine cabinet and they just dropped inside the wall. 40 years of double edged and injector blades rusted into sharp sculpture of maiming. Shoveling that stuff out was tricky.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2016 15:52

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

All of them?

# ¿ May 17, 2016 02:46

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Khizan posted:

Because people don't want dense walkable neighborhoods, they want space.

I grew up in a rowhouse in Upper Fells Point, Baltimore Maryland in the 60s, and it was awesome.

# ¿ May 26, 2016 04:13

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Forceholy posted:

X-posting from my E/N Thread about poo poo roommates.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3779396

Talk to your landlord and a lawyer ASAP. Horrible things will get more horrible the longer you delay on this.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2016 16:04

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

rndmnmbr posted:

"Hmm, yes, I would like a cozy little two-story with ALL THE GARAGE attached."

I would actually...

# ¿ Aug 15, 2016 03:25

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

This turret line is killing me

# ¿ Aug 28, 2016 15:44

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

moist turtleneck posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM9nA1fKnhw&t=10s

How the gently caress did the VO artist keep from laughing at the bullshit she was saying? :iiam:

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 05:34

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

sidewalk gum posted:

Search for no-fines wimpey houses, they were horrendous.

My mom grew up in a Lustron Home in Ohio post war. Impossible to heat or cool but termites? Not a chance.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2016 03:46

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Coal plants release far more radioactivity than nuke plants.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2016 14:27

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

peanut posted:

Virginia suburbs.

McNational Guard Armory

# ¿ Nov 25, 2016 15:35

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Is there a ban on all other cement or plaster based products too? 400 lbs. of gypsum sounds awfully fragile.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2017 16:59

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Baronjutter posted:

I've seen stairs like that before, 100% of the time in the former soviet union.

I saw a set like those in the old Soviet Embassy in East Berlin actually.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2017 23:45

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

`Nemesis posted:

Wash on left basin, set in right basin. Continue until right basin is full of soapy dishes, then rinse and place in drying rack. Continue until dishes completed.

I just bought a counter top dishwasher for my apartment instead of hand washing dishes though, gently caress that noise.

I've had a SPT Countertop that I bought off of Amazon for the past few years. God I love it.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2017 07:28

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Methylethylaldehyde posted:

I was actually looking into doing something similar, until I did actual research on bunker construction and underground housing, and learned how much of a tremendous pain in the rear end everything is. The redit guy commenting covered most of the high points. It's easier/cheaper to dig a bigass Olympic pool sized hole in the ground, build a 4 car garage out of those insulated concrete forms, then bury it than it would be to waterproof and strengthen a container to do something similar. Plus you can trivially waterproof the forms by gluing them together then tarring and tyvecing the outside.

At a minimum you need:

True positive pressure ventilation, it must be battery backed up and have an audible warning in case the fan tachometer fails or power fails.

Air mixing, via a fan, A/C filtration system, something to get the air column to stay mixed and able to be vented.

Explosive gases, inert gases, CO, CO2, and oxygen level monitoring, with a regular calibration and testing. You can rig something up inside the air return plenum if you have an aircon style system, provided you can guarantee adequate mixing. Calibration on the sensors and alarm tests should be monthly or quarterly, depending on sensor type.

Multiple ingress/egress. You need at least two ways in and out of an occupied structure, preferably ones that won't be blocked by the same tree falling on your hatch.

Hatches that open outward need to be robust enough to open even with a tree or big rock on them, and able to be opened via hand pumped hydraulics or a screw type jack system. Any locking system you have in place on the outside, like a padlock hasp must fail when the hatch is opened from the inside.

Fire suppression system, dry foam, water, something to put a fire out in a big loving hurry, because the O2 level will go from 'humans are cool here' to 'dead men tell no tales' in like a minute flat.

Easy to access SCBA systems in case the sensors go off. gently caress all you can do in some cases, but at least you'll be conscious and able to act in the event the CO sensor goes off and keeps rising because some dipshit parked an idling tractor near an intake. Also training to put it on when tired as poo poo or just woken up, or possibly drunk as hell. That muscle memory could save your life.

Loud as gently caress wake the dead alarms in place for fire/atmo issues, unless you've passed out due to a heroin OD, it should wake your rear end up.

After all that's said and done, and you still want your batcave apocalyptic nerd-bunker, go for it. Good luck getting an occupancy permit for it though, most municipalities will flat out deny you one. You might be able to argue with them and get a variance, especially if you follow the guidelines in the FEMA bunker pdf.

Or you can just use a box truck...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Chowchilla_kidnapping

# ¿ Feb 18, 2017 23:35

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

ohgodwhat posted:

Just saw this in the BWM thread: http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-1252827847.htm

What an awful house.

It looks like a Pier 1 exploded.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2017 05:00

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

This awesome video about traditional Finnish log cabin construction also shows them using sawdust for insulation (and tarry rope for filling gaps, oh and they built the entire thing using just axes, saws, and a hand drill).

I actually grew up in a log cabin in Northern Wisconsin (My family has owned it since we were loggers in the 19th century and it was the 1960s when my hippy parents had me) that we had to stuff oakum in the cracks every year. Otherwise winters were no fun with gales ripping between the logs and icicles forming indoors.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2017 07:47

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

My Lovely Horse posted:

Wrong video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlNF_Lru68w

The least stupid idea from Dahir Insaat. It's still stupid, but it's the least stupid.

Humbug Scoolbus fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Feb 27, 2017

# ¿ Feb 27, 2017 16:52

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Facebook Aunt posted:

You are a friggin genius!

I think what bugs me most about them is they remind me of the tiny shame cube you build for Sims when you want to spend the very least possible without driving them insane.

Example:

That looks like my first apartment only with a bigger bathroom.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2017 16:38

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

FISHMANPET posted:

Yeah this idea that developers are so stupid that they just keep sinking money into empty houses, condos, or apartments is just so ludicrous.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170223-chinas-zombie-factories-and-unborn-cities

# ¿ Mar 6, 2017 01:34

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

MrYenko posted:

You mean in Silicon Valley? People moving out of there generally have ludicrously large stacks of money with which to gently caress up the real estate market of any municipality they chose to move to.

I live in Berkeley and the developers up here are completely into the cargo cult build it and they will come logic. Nobody who works in Palo Alto or San Jose wants to live here considering the commute.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2017 06:19

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Darchangel posted:

That is an odd choice for the wall of one's sewing room.

Fair enough, I was thinking late '60s, early '70s.

edit: Lileks.com is an awesome resource for how bad that era was. The recipe books/cards are truly frightening. So much aspic.

I was born in the early 60s. That is the decor of my youth.

# ¿ May 10, 2017 01:08

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 02:03

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

there wolf posted:

It's pink and black so I guess they didn't get a chance to update the exterior since the 50's.

Found a not-good website that nonetheless has an archive of time-capsule houses that's fun to flip through. http://retrorenovation.com/category/all-about-the-era/time-capsule-homes/ Why did we ever stop putting wallpaper on the ceiling?

That white wicker furniture is straight out of my grandmother's sun room in the 70s. I can still hear the creaking as somebody got up or sat down.

# ¿ May 13, 2017 17:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Crappy Construction: The Four POs of the Housepocalypse

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