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They're also used to reinforce masonry walls from bowing out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_plate Obviously not the sheet-metal versions that are in every booth at antique malls.
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Jul 28, 2013 16:31
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Leperflesh posted:I've seen this kind of thing before, and it baffles me. It's like people don't understand that the alive part of the tree is the crust  Is this just an advanced botanical term that I'm not aware of, or do you mean the "bark"?
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Jul 28, 2013 19:43
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Sagebrush posted:They're called barnstars and are supposed to be placed on your barn as decoration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstar I like how the wikipedia page mentions barnstar "enthusiasts" 
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Jul 28, 2013 19:48
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Calling bark "tree crust" from now on!!
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Jul 28, 2013 20:20
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priznat posted:Calling bark "tree crust" from now on!! I usually peel off the crust as it is too dry and flaky.
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Jul 28, 2013 22:22
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Motronic posted:I'm not saying it doesn't happen, and that some water authorities even allow it. But most don't, as you are billed for sewer based on water usage. So if they didn't sell you the water they don't want it in their soil line. I lived with a mechanically-disinclined friend for a short period early last year, on a yardwork/handyman for board type of basis. We discovered one day that his AC condensate line runs six inches UPHILL inside the foundation, and relies entirely on the head pressure of condensate in the ~4 foot vertical drop from the evaporator to drain outside. I've never seen anything quite so stupid. 
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Jul 28, 2013 22:46
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So a little more demo. We found a window that was behind the panelling that no one knew was there.  Its nailed shut but now will give me access under part the the addition thats built over top of the cistern room. Also noticed that there was no insulation under the addition.  The door frame will need to be replaced due to water damage. At one time this part of the basement use to be a garage...  God I hope I have some overtime on the next check....
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Jul 29, 2013 00:52
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Sagebrush posted:
Hah, I was wondering if someone would call me out on that. The outer parts of the bark are not alive, although the inner parts may be on younger stems. However, there are layers just below that that are the always-alive parts, including the cork cambrium and vascular cambrium, which sandwich the phelloderm and the secondary cambrium. The xylem and the phloem are the parts that transport sap up and down (respectively) the tree, and they are generated by the vascular cambrium, and then... Yeah, so basically its the crust.
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Jul 29, 2013 18:20
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Leperflesh posted:Hah, I was wondering if someone would call me out on that. Xylem UP!!! Phloooooemmmm dooowwnnnnnn. We had to abruptly stand up and put our arms up during the xylem part and then slowly fade back into our seats for the phloem part. Gotta admit, it stuck with me.
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Jul 29, 2013 18:24
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Leperflesh posted:Oh absolutely. I only meant to say that we should not have overly rose-tinted glasses when talking about the good-old-days of home construction. Especially structures from 100+ years and more ago. The safety of modern structures on average far outclasses those of the 19th century, owing in major part to huge advances in materials technology, far better building codes and inspection regimes, and widespread standardization of building techniques. MadScientistWorking fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Jul 29, 2013 |
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Jul 29, 2013 20:40
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MadScientistWorking posted:Speaking as someone whose seeing probably what is tantamount to the oldest electrical wiring one could find in a house even buildings that are still around are huge death traps. There are houses that have fallen/burnt down, and there are houses that have not yet fallen/burnt down. In the long term that's it.
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Jul 29, 2013 20:50
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DNova posted:Xylem UP!!! Phloooooemmmm dooowwnnnnnn. Sort of. Xylem transports water (mostly), phloem transports sugar and other nutrients. Xylem does UP!!! because of transpiration pull, but phloem transport goes both ways.
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Jul 29, 2013 21:01
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My grandfather seems to have had built his house with the intention of the sump pump being an active part of the building. During especially heavy rains, water just flows in through the bottom of the walls, across the basement floor, and straight into the sump. No puddles are left, and it dries out very quickly. It's been there for 60 years with no issues.
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Jul 29, 2013 21:19
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FogHelmut posted:My grandfather seems to have had built his house with the intention of the sump pump being an active part of the building. During especially heavy rains, water just flows in through the bottom of the walls, across the basement floor, and straight into the sump. No puddles are left, and it dries out very quickly. It's been there for 60 years with no issues. That's one modern method used today for leaky basements, except that you dig/cut perimeter gutters that flow to the sump so that the no longer lowest-point floor stays dry.
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Jul 30, 2013 00:39
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kid sinister posted:That's one modern method used today for leaky basements, except that you dig/cut perimeter gutters that flow to the sump so that the no longer lowest-point floor stays dry. I think that is how were going to address the water issue in the basement.
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Jul 30, 2013 01:03
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Haha I just got an RFI from someone purportedly named Dan McGoon, which of you pranksters is that?
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Jul 30, 2013 21:34
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Cakefool posted:There are houses that have fallen/burnt down, and there are houses that are in the process of falling down. FTFY I live in a house at uni built in a place where people never understood that not all stone is created equal - specifically, the local sandstone always wants to turn back into sand. EVERY house made of it gets gritty instead of dusty, and many have removable skirting boards to allow you to clean up the piles of sand inside the walls. Credit where it's due, it was put up in 1906 and hasn't collapsed yet.
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Aug 2, 2013 00:38
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This house is just so... strange! I was cleaning out an overgrown flowerbed when I noticed that there was an extra valve on the outdoor spigot. I wonder where.. oh.. oh no nobody would be that dumb...  Yup, that's the cold water supply for the washer.
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Aug 4, 2013 18:21
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Have to ask...where does the hot water supply come from?
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Aug 5, 2013 12:22
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ntd posted:Have to ask...where does the hot water supply come from? The aluminum eave-troughs. Sun gets it nice and hot!
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Aug 5, 2013 13:54
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ntd posted:Have to ask...where does the hot water supply come from? loving Narnia wouldn't shock me at this point. I presume it is coming from the bathroom which is to the right in the second photo, but that raises the question of why not just pull the hot and cold water from there? Perhaps it is being routed via the attic. I have yet to get a ladder to go up there.
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Aug 5, 2013 14:30
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Blistex posted:The aluminum eave-troughs. Sun gets it nice and hot! No way, that line just goes deeper underground to get that energy saving thermal heat.
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Aug 5, 2013 15:10
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ntd posted:Have to ask...where does the hot water supply come from? You're really optimistic. It could be like my house where it was just tee-d off of the cold line!
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Aug 5, 2013 15:23
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Cmdr. Chompernuts posted:No way, that line just goes deeper underground to get that energy saving thermal heat. This is Texas. A foot or two black pipe of in the sun ought to do it.
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Aug 5, 2013 16:05
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Shifty Pony posted:This is Texas. A foot or two black pipe of in the sun ought to do it. Arizona here. I just put the whole machine in my truck with the windows up. Five minutes usually does the trick.
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Aug 6, 2013 20:39
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While we're on the subject of appliance installation CLUSTERFUCKS... ...welcome back to my apartment! (Totally meant to post this earlier in the thread. And I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.)  I'm not totally sure that you could replace this sweet machine without ripping out the sink. Bonus: the Stab-Lok panel I posted earlier is on the wall that interferes with the door. OH! HEY! I found my main breaker btw... It's right under the meter. On the side of the building. And mine doesn't even have a zip-tie on the cover. Whoopee!
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Aug 6, 2013 21:11
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I have what I think is that exact same dishwasher, and that would be the biggest pain in the rear end. How do people get these jobs?
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Aug 6, 2013 21:24
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While not technically a construction tale, but still crappy workmanship... My gf had Comcast voice installed, which includes a free "professional" install. I had her tell the tech to not move the modem (since I just put shelves up and made it all nice and neat with the wires). He put the new modem in it's place and connected it to the house's phone line like this:  Thanks rear end in a top hat, real professional. Dragyn fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Aug 6, 2013 |
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Aug 6, 2013 21:28
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Dragyn posted:While not technically a construction tale, but still crappy workmanship... Yeah, I'd be on the phone with tech support having another tech sent out to repair that, or a hefty discount on the bill. Electrical tape should never be used in a phone install.
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Aug 6, 2013 21:55
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Normally I'd point out that technically Comcast's responsibility ends at the demarc/ground block/on-premise-box on the exterior wall. I'm a former Comcast contractor and I know these things. But that right there is absolutely horrendous and should absolutely be screamed at customer service. Phone pairs run like 40 volts when they ring, right? e: wait a sec, I thought that was CDV but I see that blue wire being tied in now, so I hope it's just internet. What kind of throughput are you getting?  double e: gently caress, you already said, "voice" That is SOOOO bad. I hope somebody gets fired. Farmdizzle fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 01:02
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Sudden Infant Def Syndrome posted:I have what I think is that exact same dishwasher, and that would be the biggest pain in the rear end. They have them in 1979. (and actually I'm not entirely sure this thing isn't a retrofit.)
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Aug 7, 2013 01:11
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Dragyn posted:While not technically a construction tale, but still crappy workmanship... Doesn't comcast contract all that stuff out to local "professionals"? That's like sub-handyman grade work.
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Aug 7, 2013 01:21
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Honestly, I see local builders do worse with the phone wiring in their brand new mcmansion lake houses. It'd probably work just fine for years. The biggest problem is the aesthetics, which are unforgivably bad. And it would have taken maybe a minute or two longer to do it properly. Definitely call them up and make them fix that phone wiring.
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Aug 7, 2013 02:07
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Farmdizzle posted:Phone pairs run like 40 volts when they ring, right? Minimum ring to meet standard in the US is 75 VAC. Slanderer posted:Doesn't comcast contract all that stuff out to local "professionals"? That's like sub-handyman grade work. That's exactly how this happens. Most times you are getting a contractor. The lowest bidding contractor that meets their meager qualifications.
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Aug 7, 2013 02:09
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Motronic posted:their meager qualifications. Here's the list: 1) "Is willing to make an attempt." 2)
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Aug 7, 2013 02:10
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Motronic posted:That's exactly how this happens. Most times you are getting a contractor. The lowest bidding contractor that meets their meager qualifications. There was an office I was in that was in a strip mall with a giant grease interceptor. Whoever did the remodel for a bunch of units decided it would be cheaper/better to install studor vents up in the drop ceiling instead of doing roof vents. After a while, a bunch of the tenants became well acquainted with the current state of grease interceptor.
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Aug 7, 2013 02:29
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Bad Munki posted:Here's the list: My folk's home with splitters upon splitters upon more splitters followed by one more splitter for the modem that's for both the Internet and phones will attest to that list. Just a clusterfuck of cabling and splitters on the outside and inside of their house that Comcast could have resolved both aesthetically and practically with just two more minutes of work and thought. Then my parents wonder why the cable is always pixelating and the modem is always dropping; it's all that loving signal loss from the splitters. Gonna redo their house soon with one 6 or 8 port splitter (with two termination caps) and a drop amplifier, and possibly even move the cables to inside the crawlspace and walls to get rid of the cable outside of the house once and for all. Should be a fun thing to do 
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Aug 7, 2013 03:02
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You Are A Elf posted:My folk's home with splitters upon splitters upon more splitters followed by one more splitter for the modem that's for both the Internet and phones will attest to that list. Just a clusterfuck of cabling and splitters on the outside and inside of their house that Comcast could have resolved both aesthetically and practically with just two more minutes of work and thought. Then my parents wonder why the cable is always pixelating and the modem is always dropping; it's all that loving signal loss from the splitters. I live in a lovely apartment converted from the top floor of a pretty old house. When they installed cable, instead of routing any wires through the walls (which honestly probably have degraded knob and tube wiring in them), they just ran cable along the wall. However, they decided, "hey, they might want a tv in one of a dozen places!" and so installed splitters every 6 feet or so. There were like 7 splitters between where the coax came into my apartment and my modem. I had to take out most of them in order to get up to a decent signal level on my modem.
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Aug 7, 2013 03:32
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Bad Munki posted:Here's the list: Fixed that for you
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Aug 7, 2013 05:09
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Bad Munki posted:Here's the list: As a former Comcast contractor: Yup. And you may be being generous, here. e: And your local telco may be even worse. If it's even possible.
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Aug 7, 2013 10:40
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