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Holy moly. Those boards cut almost completely in half like it was some kind of trap 
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Sep 26, 2013 18:12
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Heresiarch posted:That's kind of boring. I was hoping for something like "light fixtures full of water" or maybe something involving dangerous wildlife. I had something like that once. I got a call from the boss that one of our security cameras was out. So I drive over to that store and check it out. It was a dome camera hanging from the ceiling tile. The dome was completely full of water... Oh wait, you guys were running away with hyperbole. I mean it was full of water moccasins. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Sep 27, 2013 |
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Sep 27, 2013 00:37
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Could have been worse, could have been full of water buffalo.
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Sep 27, 2013 01:08
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The others are bad, but at least they tried to halfass it. Well, maybe quarter-assed. This, on the other hand ... how can anybody with the brains required to swing a hammer step back, look at that, and say to himself "Yep, that'll do 'er." Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Sep 28, 2013 |
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Sep 28, 2013 18:16
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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I originally thought that board had shifted and the nails were originally put in straight but the more I look at that picture it really looks like someone put the nails in at the 45 degree angle to begin with. . .  Was this some sort of high school or middle school shop project?
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Sep 28, 2013 20:42
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Nope, these were "experienced" home builders. I can sort of see what they were trying to do there, the board was a little short so they angled the nails to make it reach. That'd be somewhat understandable for the boards that were simply there to hold the decking boards down, but why would you do that on a load-bearing board!? Truly that find was the most  moment of the teardown.
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Sep 29, 2013 06:40
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Venusian Weasel posted:Nope, these were "experienced" home builders. I can sort of see what they were trying to do there, the board was a little short so they angled the nails to make it reach. That'd be somewhat understandable for the boards that were simply there to hold the decking boards down, but why would you do that on a load-bearing board!? Truly that find was the most Well, they're clearly using some kind of magic, enchanted nails. We all risk retribution from these construction wizards by making light of their powers.
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Sep 29, 2013 19:19
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So my cousin bought a house. It's a nice large one story 3 bedroom with a finished basement that has an additional full bathroom and another bedroom. Really nice place. I was over the other day and went downstairs and the first step on the carpet (I was in bare feet because I wore sandals there) I noticed a damp feeling. She was complaining that the dehumidifier was pulling a full bucket of water (nearly 2 Gallons) from the air a day. I went to her sump pump hole in the storage room and the water was an inch from the top. There were three sump pumps in the hole (one conventional, two submersible) and another submersible in the corner not being used. None of them were set up to drain properly, and would only kick in when the water was about to crest over the top of the hole. The horizontal pipes that run under the basement floor were totally submerged, and by my estimates, the water was touching the bottom of the concrete pad for most of the house. The previous owner was obviously very paranoid about flooding, but had all the sump pumps set up to only prevent water from flooding over, but not to keep it from soaking up through the concrete floor. Had I not pointed it out, I'm sure that all of that carpet and tile would have to be torn up and thrown away, and possible had to have the house treated for mold. Strange thing was that we have not really had much rain the past while, and I think the basement (full height) is just a little too low for the area.
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Oct 1, 2013 16:42
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Blistex posted:So my cousin bought a house. How does stuff like this get missed in the inspection??
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Oct 1, 2013 16:44
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Blistex posted:The previous owner was obviously very paranoid about flooding, but had all the sump pumps set up to only prevent water from flooding over, but not to keep it from soaking up through the concrete floor. Previous owner was probably paranoid because precisely because of the pump situation. Lots of people don't realize that concrete isn't waterproof, they probably assumed the floor was wet all the time because water was sneaking out of the sump, so they kept putting more in trying to combat it without ever understanding the root cause. Baronjutter posted:How does stuff like this get missed in the inspection?? (Not saying they're all bad, but far too many are.)
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Oct 1, 2013 16:45
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Is it appropriate to ask for advice about renovations in this thread? I have a couple of jobs fixing up my almost century old house and I wanted some good advice and the crew here seems fairly on the ball; especially when compared to some other forums that are supposed to be diy-centric.
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Oct 1, 2013 17:23
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Possibly. There's also the wiring thread and the plumbing thread, though, so if your questions fall under either of those categories, that's the place to be.
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Oct 1, 2013 17:25
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Bad Munki posted:Possibly. There's also the wiring thread and the plumbing thread, though, so if your questions fall under either of those categories, that's the place to be. Fair enough. One plumbing question regarding the installation of an external sump will go to the plumbing thread. But I will ask about fixing my porch here. (I will either take pictures or make sketches before I post so that it will all make more sense).
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Oct 1, 2013 17:28
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Indolent Bastard posted:Fair enough. One plumbing question regarding the installation of an external sump will go to the plumbing thread. But I will ask about fixing my porch here. Most of your non-plumbing/electical questions can go here. Questions get answered pretty quick in that thread.
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Oct 1, 2013 19:24
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Blistex posted:Most of your non-plumbing/electical questions can go here. Questions get answered pretty quick in that thread. Good enough; thanks.
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Oct 1, 2013 19:32
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25' span that the upstairs joists are hung off (the joists span about 17'). According to the plans there is supposed to be one 4"x16" for the distance and in the middle there is to be a 4"x6" post supporting it (and another 4"x6" post below it a wall in the basement):  Here's the middle of the span as it is today:  To the left is a 4x16; to the right is a 4x12. There is no 4x6 post, but a mess of 2x4s nailed together which "support" the 4x12 and the end of a wall which "supports" the 4x16. "Well, that might be okay if it's on top of that post down below or maybe even a joist." Nope, it's just sitting on the plywood floor:  Which has in fact been pushed down 1/4" by the weight above:  Drywall damage up above from the floor sagging in the middle:  Icing on the cake: the 4x6 post does exist in the basement wall below--but that wall is off to the left of the existing wall holding up the 4x16 (of course, nothing is directly in the space between it and the contraption above). How did this ever pass an inspection when it was built....
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Oct 1, 2013 21:11
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Less a construction tale and more another True Tale Of Home Inspections, but the other day I inspected a house that made my skin crawl. As I was approaching, I thought 'huh green roof, that's odd'. Nope. It was moss. The entire loving thing. I had to scrape an inch-thick chunk off just to verify that yes, there are shingles under there (albeit with almost 100% granular loss). Can you even rescue the roof at that point? What are the chances you can scrape off all the shingles, bleach-bomb the decking, and replace with something sensible for a loving RAINFOREST (Juneau, AK) like standing-seam steel without the decking just rotting out anyway? Also I thought the siding was painted a really ugly green too, until I slipped in the mud and rubbed against the wall. The green rubbed off. Yeah it was algae. I would have suggested they just burn the drat thing down, but with that much moisture, I'm not sure you could get the fucker to light.
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Oct 1, 2013 21:21
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PopeCrunch posted:Less a construction tale and more another True Tale Of Home Inspections, but the other day I inspected a house that made my skin crawl. As I was approaching, I thought 'huh green roof, that's odd'. Nope. It was moss. The entire loving thing. I had to scrape an inch-thick chunk off just to verify that yes, there are shingles under there (albeit with almost 100% granular loss). Can you even rescue the roof at that point? What are the chances you can scrape off all the shingles, bleach-bomb the decking, and replace with something sensible for a loving RAINFOREST (Juneau, AK) like standing-seam steel without the decking just rotting out anyway? Hey whatup southeast! I was born and raised in Sitka.  As for mossy SE AK roofs, man, what a hassle. Rip the whole drat thing and replace it with metal.
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Oct 1, 2013 21:44
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Nice! I get sent to Sitka every so often, it's gorgeous there. How many people in a year get murdered by traffic going to the cathedral in the middle of the street? And yeah I'm sort of surprised whenever I see a regular shingled roof out here. Even a good third of the trailers in the nearby park have dropped the coin to get metal roofs, considering our main hobby is rain you'd figure that would be a no-brainer. Edit to add: I've also noticed that homes in Juneau and Sitka seem to be EITHER in great shape OR total shitholes - the moisture is so high that if you have a hole in your siding or a questionable roof, you have a pile of moss a year later. Anchorage was... interesting, out of the ~40 houses I inspected while there, FOUR had no significant problems. FOUR. Only a couple were in 'are you loving kidding me' condition, the rest were just beat up a little. PopeCrunch fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Oct 1, 2013 |
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Oct 1, 2013 22:49
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PopeCrunch posted:Nice! I get sent to Sitka every so often, it's gorgeous there. How many people in a year get murdered by traffic going to the cathedral in the middle of the street? quote:And yeah I'm sort of surprised whenever I see a regular shingled roof out here. Even a good third of the trailers in the nearby park have dropped the coin to get metal roofs, considering our main hobby is rain you'd figure that would be a no-brainer. I think the deciding factor is actually landscaping. Just a little bit of foliage near or against a house around there has a HUUUUUGE impact. It doesn't take a lot of trimming to keep things in order, but if you don't, you'll have a moss and algae fest in a year.
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Oct 1, 2013 23:01
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PopeCrunch posted:Less a construction tale and more another True Tale Of Home Inspections, but the other day I inspected a house that made my skin crawl. As I was approaching, I thought 'huh green roof, that's odd'. Nope. It was moss. The entire loving thing. I had to scrape an inch-thick chunk off just to verify that yes, there are shingles under there (albeit with almost 100% granular loss). Can you even rescue the roof at that point? What are the chances you can scrape off all the shingles, bleach-bomb the decking, and replace with something sensible for a loving RAINFOREST (Juneau, AK) like standing-seam steel without the decking just rotting out anyway? At that point I'd probably do what I did with my house and just rip it all off, decking and all. New plywood was only around a grand material costs (and I sprung for 3/4" because I and my wallet are gluttons for punishment) and it was worth not having to deal with the old barn boards and large gaps between them. Here's a roof failure mode you might not have seen yet, since it has no moss on it:  Another view:  :puke: 2 layers of cedar shakes (rotted), six! to TEN! layers of asphalt (on different faces and areas of the roof) - if you include the tabs that had completely eroded away, which is why I looked at it the first time and said to myself "why did they put the nails on the visible parts of the shingles? That's dumb!" This resulted in other severe damage which I am still chasing to this day. Of course, I got a pretty drat good deal on the property... One of those valley flashings was SEVEN LAYERS DEEP and there were colors of shingles stuck between the layers that were seen nowhere else on the roof.
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Oct 2, 2013 06:07
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rekamso posted:Drywall damage up above from the floor sagging in the middle: Load-bearing Drywall!
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Oct 2, 2013 17:52
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kastein posted:
Holy poo poo the weight! By my back of the napkin estimates, that could be over 30,000 lbs on that roof if it's a 1000 sq ft. Estimating 250 lbs or so for a square of shingles... How is that roof not collapsing?
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Oct 2, 2013 18:44
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tiananman posted:Holy poo poo the weight! By my back of the napkin estimates, that could be over 30,000 lbs on that roof if it's a 1000 sq ft. Estimating 250 lbs or so for a square of shingles... Our friends were renting a house and it had a lovely shed in the back. It had a VERY similar roof, and it did collapse. They complained about it to the landlord a few times, not to fix it but to just tear it down since it was dangerous. He tried to blame them for it collapsing and said he'd take it out of their damage deposit. They had enough pictures of it per-collapse for that NOT to happen. The roof was sponge-like rotten cedar shake and plywood with a good 7+ layers of shingles over top. Upper levels of the roof couldn't nail anything anything and big chunks of he roof would just slough off time to time. The shed its self was probably 100+ years old too.
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Oct 2, 2013 18:47
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Rofl did he think he could explain how a ROOF COLLAPSE was somehow the fault of the tenant?
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Oct 2, 2013 19:09
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NancyPants posted:Rofl did he think he could explain how a ROOF COLLAPSE was somehow the fault of the tenant? Tenant didn't like the shed and illegally demolished it them self!
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Oct 2, 2013 19:17
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kastein posted:Here's a roof failure mode you might not have seen yet, since it has no moss on it: Holy Jesus. I'm pretty sure at that point I'd be legally obligated to shoot everyone involved.
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Oct 2, 2013 20:09
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Yeah it was really hosed. It looked like a horrible sunburn (like, nuclear weapon went off ten miles away sunburn) combined with asphalt lasagna. The top layers weren't so much nailed down as held to previous layers with nails like papers on a corkboard, and yeah, you can see them sloughing off in those pictures!
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Oct 2, 2013 20:26
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How loving thick was it? I'm imagining once you scrape all that hot trash off it's a story shorter.
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Oct 2, 2013 20:37
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Anywhere from a quarter inch where the asphalt had all rotted/slid off and only rotten cedar was left (a few spots of that are visible) to well over an inch and a half in the thick spots. Valleys and peak caps were over two inches due to excess layers of shingles, debris, and flashing. I ripped it all up including the boards, threw down 3/4 CDX, and redid it in 25 or 30 year archies (I forget), 6 feet of ice/water shield at the bottom of each face, 3 feet along rakes, 3 feet along valleys, 19" overlapped 30 pound roofing felt. Overbuilt but I don't want to ever gently caress with it again. Collateral damage from the roof having failed many times before (and having been leaking badly for probably 3-5 years at least when I bought it) was around 50% of the sill plates rotted out, the entire upstairs was full of mold, paint was peeling throughout the first floor, 6 rafters had the lowest 3 feet rotted almost completely off, the bases of many studs are rotted out, the dining room floor got so much water damage it buckled, and a few ceilings collapsed. There was water pouring through the breaker panel when I went to get the meter number to have the power turned on (surprise! The electric company had never shut it off! I'm glad I measured before touching) and everything was saturated. It took months after I finished the roof for all the windows to stop fogging up on the inside and a year later I was still finding damp spots between boards every time I tore up a floor. I am completely gutting it - when it's done, it will have ~75% of the original foundation, ~50% of the original sills, ~75% of the framing, the living room floor, the front door, maybe the kitchen outside door, the basement sink, the kitchen sink, and possibly the dish washer remaining of what I originally purchased. I did worry about the rafters holding up the snow load the first winter (it was 2010-2011 when I bought it and started working on it, a great year if you ski) until I realized that 3 feet of snowpack was nothing compared to the massive load of soggy boards and saturated shingles I'd just torn off 
kastein fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Oct 2, 2013 |
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Oct 2, 2013 22:11
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Colonel Sanders posted:I originally thought that board had shifted and the nails were originally put in straight but the more I look at that picture it really looks like someone put the nails in at the 45 degree angle to begin with. . . As a high school shop teacher, I can say that my students are offended by your insinuation.
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Oct 18, 2013 18:21
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I just found a mass of roots in my toilet drain  Do we have a plumbing thread? Edit: Herp derp it was posted on this page.
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Oct 22, 2013 06:28
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Here is a Visio diagram I had to make to help me figure out the wiring in my basement: The boxes are (roughly) where they are in real life, but I made the wires as direct as possible instead of meandering around each other like a plate of spaghetti. Many of the wires are 10+ feet too long and were just resting on top of a drywall ceiling. Each color is a different circuit. Green isn't remotely finished - it powers all the lights in the basement with the exception of the 2 up top. I just included it to show that it goes into the same box as the red circuit. Neither of them actually do anything in that box, just go in and out. The black wire is a ground wire that someone hooked up to a cold water pipe instead of the circuit breaker. Oh, and the red circuit? It's labeled "living room" - and in fact does power the entire living room, in addition to the horrible mess I've documented.
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Oct 27, 2013 04:56
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I love it when people just daisy chain a line (such as the one going from the living room to two rooms upstairs) to save 10' on a run.
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Oct 27, 2013 12:30
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KillHour posted:Here is a Visio diagram I had to make to help me figure out the wiring in my basement: Hey, I like that diagram. I need to trace my circuits because my house definitely has some creative wiring too. Anyone else have a preferred way of diagramming circuits?
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Oct 27, 2013 14:49
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My wife and I are currently on honeymoon in Vietnam. I've never seen more half- and quarter-assed construction in my entire life. Don't get me wrong, all of the facades on the nicer buildings are absolutely beautiful, with their granite and tile work... The problem is that's the only thing that's nice, the surfaces. I saw some currently under construction. Underneath, it's just concrete pillars, beams and floors with brick walls. The rebar (if they have any) isn't fastened into place. You'll see some sticking out on the surface once they take off the forms. Plus I haven't seen one brick wall yet with every row level. And don't get me started on the wiring! I have absolutely no idea how people here aren't shocked at least once on a daily basis. Free hanging wires everywhere with some low enough for kids to reach, no grounds, no breaker boxes. Instead they have per-floor or per-room breakers, most are surface mounted with exposed terminals. Some are used as the switch for the room. At night you can hear the plugs in the outlets buzzing from loose connections. Did I mention that it has rained every day we've been here? They have wiring like this outdoors too. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 13:04 on Oct 28, 2013 |
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Oct 28, 2013 12:58
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kid sinister posted:My wife and I are currently on honeymoon in Vietnam. I've never seen more half- and quarter-assed construction in my entire life. Don't get me wrong, all of the facades on the nicer buildings are absolutely beautiful, with their granite and tile work... The problem is that's the only thing that's nice, the surfaces. I saw some currently under construction. Underneath, it's just concrete pillars, beams and floors with brick walls. The rebar (if they have any) isn't fastened into place. You'll see some sticking out on the surface once they take off the forms. Plus I haven't seen one brick wall yet with every row level. When I was in Afghanistan my MRAP antenna shorted out some powerlines propped up on saplings. A big spark was the only result. That town was lucky to have power. I need to find my pics from some projects.
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Oct 28, 2013 15:29
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Mercury Ballistic posted:When I was in Afghanistan my MRAP antenna shorted out some powerlines propped up on saplings. A big spark was the only result. That town was lucky to have power. I need to find my pics from some projects. Nice! I forgot to mention the wire splices mid-run on unfastened wires just covered with electrical tape. I should post a photo of a telephone pole here in Saigon. Each one looks like a Gordian knot.
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Oct 28, 2013 16:45
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kid sinister posted:Nice! India.jpg:  
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Oct 28, 2013 16:56
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So basically NYC circa 1900.
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Oct 28, 2013 17:04
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