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Mexico City was interesting. Many of the buildings under 3 or 4 stories still had rebar sticking out of the roof or ground because apparently there's a property tax that only gets applied to "finished" buildings. People never cut off/clean up the rebar and claim their building is unfinished for the life of the structure. This is the best photo I could find without too much effort. 
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Oct 28, 2013 18:43
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That could also double for greece.jpg
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Oct 28, 2013 18:45
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Dillbag posted:Mexico City was interesting. Many of the buildings under 3 or 4 stories still had rebar sticking out of the roof or ground because apparently there's a property tax that only gets applied to "finished" buildings. People never cut off/clean up the rebar and claim their building is unfinished for the life of the structure. Wouldn't that cause issues with rust? I can't imagine the buildings last as long as they'd like with rebar just poking out the top like that.
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Oct 28, 2013 18:45
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Enter Char posted:Wouldn't that cause issues with rust? I can't imagine the buildings last as long as they'd like with rebar just poking out the top like that. If you can allegedly not pay full property taxes, I'm sure you could afford to just slather some tar around the bottoms so water doesn't seep between the rebar and the concrete.
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Oct 28, 2013 18:57
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Blistex posted:If you can allegedly not pay full property taxes, I'm sure you could afford to just slather some tar around the bottoms so water doesn't seep between the rebar and the concrete. Or, more likely, you could not do that either to save some more money and not give a poo poo about rust.
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Oct 28, 2013 19:32
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Dillbag posted:Mexico City was interesting. Many of the buildings under 3 or 4 stories still had rebar sticking out of the roof or ground because apparently there's a property tax that only gets applied to "finished" buildings. People never cut off/clean up the rebar and claim their building is unfinished for the life of the structure. You see this everywhere in Peru as well, for the same reason.
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Oct 28, 2013 20:45
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Papercut posted:You see this everywhere in Peru as well, for the same reason. I had a buddy in Vermont not put siding on his house for a similar reason after doing renovations. Just house wrap.
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Oct 28, 2013 20:53
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There was a house near mine for 10+ years that didn't have front stairs. As a kid they had started big renos and I always assumed they just ran out of money or were lazy or just weirdos and never finished. Apparently they were using some loop hole and declaring the house still under construction due to the lack of any front stairs to the front door. The city still got them though because they were living there and free-men on the land style magic-words to get out of paying taxes don't actually really work out. They ended up having to sell the house to pay for a lot of the back-taxes. Oh the city also got them on permits since their original construction permit ran out and they never got new one. You can't fight city hall.
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Oct 28, 2013 21:12
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I have no idea how this works, do houses have to be certified as a fit dwelling, or does it only work the other way (where the city/town/whatever can say a dwelling is unfit and dangerous to live in)? Because I don't see why a structure (or construction on a different structure) that's unfinished that you don't have to pay taxes on would be signed off as a-okay to occupy.
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Oct 28, 2013 21:51
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It works because regulatory oversight in developing countries is generally poo poo. Corruption doesn't help.
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Oct 28, 2013 22:07
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:I have no idea how this works, do houses have to be certified as a fit dwelling, or does it only work the other way (where the city/town/whatever can say a dwelling is unfit and dangerous to live in)? Because I don't see why a structure (or construction on a different structure) that's unfinished that you don't have to pay taxes on would be signed off as a-okay to occupy. As a general rule, houses in the US have to meet certain standards (enforced by city inspectors) to qualify as "habitable" dwellings. This includes stuff like having adequate insulation, having appropriate fire escapes, having at least one wide door, etc. in addition to the usual "isn't an active peril to life and limb" kind of thing. Of course, as has been established many times in this thread, the inspectors aren't always on top of their jobs, so things can slip through the cracks, sometimes for a long time. If nobody's reviewing the paperwork and nobody's actually going out to look at the job site, nobody's going to pick up on the fact that that house has been "undergoing renovation" continuously for the last eight years...
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Oct 28, 2013 22:26
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:As a general rule, houses in the US have to meet certain standards (enforced by city inspectors) to qualify as "habitable" dwellings. This includes stuff like having adequate insulation, having appropriate fire escapes, having at least one wide door, etc. in addition to the usual "isn't an active peril to life and limb" kind of thing. That reminds me, I had an ex 9 years ago that lived in a duplex. Her upstairs neighbor had Alzheimer's and would forget to turn off the faucets... She finally had to stay at my place awhile because her duplex got condemned. Well, come the end of the month, she got her rent bill in the mail. Her landlord wanted her to pay rent for an apartment that she couldn't legally occupy. edit: and here's a Vietnamese telephone pole! Note that the one across the street is just as bad. 
kid sinister fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Oct 29, 2013 |
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Oct 29, 2013 06:14
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I've heard the "unfinished to not pay property taxes" is an urban legend and that it's just unfinished so they can add another story when they get more money. Also, hard to get construction loans so you build with cash, and if the cash runs out, you button it up but don't cut off the rebar because that would be dumb.
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Oct 29, 2013 13:26
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Dillbag posted:Mexico City was interesting. Many of the buildings under 3 or 4 stories still had rebar sticking out of the roof or ground because apparently there's a property tax that only gets applied to "finished" buildings. People never cut off/clean up the rebar and claim their building is unfinished for the life of the structure. This could also be pretty much any eastern european country as well. Although I have never seen buildings go up so fast as the time I stayed in Kosovo with my Dad. Anyway I've got two tales to tell. The first is from Kosovo. My dad worked over there for the UK Military. This is about 4 years ago now, so realistically the country was just starting to get back on it's feet, and it was pretty safe in the capital where my dad lived. We all went out for two visits, about a year apart. On the first visit, at the bottom of my dads road there was a department store being built. It was pretty much nearly finished (from the outside at least) and about 6-7 floors high. So not an insubstantial building. I didn't think anything of it, until I returned for the second visit. On my second visit, there was just a big hole, and half the road missing as well. I asked my dad what had happened. Basically, with the country being in complete upheaval, things like land ownership and the like went out the window. Also the idea of "boundaries" and "land surveys" had also up and gone as well. A guy had "bought" the land next to the department store, and began digging foundations for a competing store. The only issue was where he started digging was literally 6 inches away from the exterior wall of the department store. Guess what happened? If your guess was he caused severe structural damage to the store causing it to be demolished, then you'd be partially correct. He did do that, but apparently he also dug down too far into some sort of pit or sinkhole, causing the entire building to collapse in upon itself, and also swallowing up part of the road outside as well. By some sort of miracle the guy doing the digging managed to get out in time, and the store was still empty, so there were no casualties. The second tale revolves around my work, and a customer complaint I had to deal with, where the contractor tried to blame my store for his shoddy workmanship. I'll post that later, as it's quite a long one.
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Oct 31, 2013 14:02
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lorddazron posted:He did do that, but apparently he also dug down too far into some sort of pit or sinkhole, causing the entire building to collapse in upon itself, and also swallowing up part of the road outside as well. How the hell did the survey for the first building completely miss that sinkhole? It sounds like it was doomed to collapse regardless of the neighbor.
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Oct 31, 2013 16:41
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kid sinister posted:How the hell did the survey for the first building completely miss that sinkhole? It sounds like it was doomed to collapse regardless of the neighbor. It probably wasn't, or was pencil-whipped.
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Oct 31, 2013 16:42
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I only lived in a house with a basement until I was 5, so thanks to this thread, I have learned the joys of a sump pump. We're getting record levels of rain in Austin, and this house we got has some serious drainage problems. The garage likes to flood up in 2 inches of water in this kind of rain. It doesn't help on the outside of the garage they had thrown down pavers on top of the ground, raising it above the slab. On top of that, all the oaks that were there suckered and created a thick thatch that impedes water flow. We have to get gutters in place and drainage away from those gutters, dig down around the garage, trench, and pull up all these hidden pavers. I've already pulled up around 400 pavers. Still, right now I have a hole left from a post I dug up, and it's right next to the garage, so I put a sump pump in a punctured bucket in there in anticipation of next week's rain. It's far from ideal but at least when a storm comes at 3AM I can keep the water from pooling around the garage. Just to screw me, I imagine the power will go out this time. Sound about right?
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Oct 31, 2013 17:44
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:It doesn't help on the outside of the garage they had thrown down pavers on top of the ground, raising it above the slab. It was my understanding that putting down pavers around your slab was recommended as a way to keep plant growth down, since plants could otherwise "encourage" water up against your walls and build up soil to bury the slab. It sounds like in this case the pavers got buried anyway, though, so they probably weren't accomplishing that any more. But that could explain why the pavers were there in the first place. Anyway, you have my sympathies. Good luck!
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Oct 31, 2013 18:12
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:It was my understanding that putting down pavers around your slab was recommended as a way to keep plant growth down, since plants could otherwise "encourage" water up against your walls and build up soil to bury the slab. It sounds like in this case the pavers got buried anyway, though, so they probably weren't accomplishing that any more. But that could explain why the pavers were there in the first place. They were slapped right on the ground where the ground was originally, sand, paver and all. They even threw the pavers on top of the original patio slab. The A/C condensation drain was over there and the condensation would try to invade the garage too until the pavers go pulled out. We had thought we got all the of the pavers until we started doing the emergency trenching last night. It starts out in the usual fashion: "Hmm there's a tough root here. I'll try to get under it." "drat this is a heavy root but things are heaving along." [At this point a paver comes up sideways and flops over awkwardly.] "God dammit!" Yeah some of them have upwards of three inches of dirt over them now, and oak suckers have sprouted all around them. We had to remove some of the trees based on them hitting other trees, their proximity to the house, and their effect on the pool. And of course they were already suckering--probably from all the screwing around with the pavers. After knocking down the trees, they did ground the stumps, but suckers are still coming up from old roots and whatever acorns had gotten buried in the dirt. That has also impeded drainage. I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of all these pavers. I'm leaning towards making a bunch of symmetrical raised beds somewhere in the yard and using them as paths around them. It would look nice and snotty.
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Oct 31, 2013 21:08
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of all these pavers. I'm leaning towards making a bunch of symmetrical raised beds somewhere in the yard and using them as paths around them. It would look nice and snotty.
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Nov 1, 2013 23:49
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Pitching machine powered by something from the you-pull-it. You can probably get them to land in the next precinct over. It's like a trap throwing machine for flak gun owners. I like it.
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Nov 3, 2013 07:22
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Here's the polar opposite of the blocklayers from the OP. Guy is a goddamn wizard. http://www.wimp.com/cinderblocks/
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Nov 3, 2013 18:37
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I remember seeing that video a while ago, it's awesome. The guy isn't laying blocks so much as zen.
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Nov 3, 2013 18:41
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kastein posted:Here's the polar opposite of the blocklayers from the OP. Guy is a goddamn wizard. Jesus, this is beautiful. I think I could watch this for hours.
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Nov 3, 2013 20:26
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kastein posted:Here's the polar opposite of the blocklayers from the OP. Guy is a goddamn wizard. It's amazing to watch a skilled craftsman who's all set up and in their stride doing what they do. Especially so after you've spent the last two days taping and mudding drywall about as well as a poo flinging monkey.
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Nov 4, 2013 00:34
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Farmdizzle posted:Speaking along the lines of crappy construction tales, I once went to repair a cable drop to a new-build home and discovered that the drop was a-ok, but the house wiring was hosed. I had to refer her back to the builder. I came for the crappy construction tales, (having worked construction from the '70's throught the oughts) but this reminds me of a great story from back in the day. In May of 1970 Jimi Hendrix came to play 2 shows at the U of O in Norman, it was Kent State week and campuses across the country were pandemonium. He stayed at a hotel in OKC, but needed a place to hang for an hour between shows. A friend of mine who was a stringer for Rolling Stone ended up putting Jimi up at his apartment on Lindsey St. B** later regaled me with tales of Hendrix going into the bathroom and him hearing pill bottles rattling, snorting, etc. But the great man also had to pinch a loaf, and got a nice warm splashie because- that's right, the apartment complex had been shotgunned up in the late 60's and the lines in the bathrooms were all reversed. Ben said Hendrix loved it and swore he was going to have hot water piped to his toilet at his apt. when he got back to New York. p.s. the concert was very good /derail
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Nov 4, 2013 01:39
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kastein posted:Here's the polar opposite of the blocklayers from the OP. Guy is a goddamn wizard. I would like this man to come and just built a cinderblock wall repeatedly in various rooms of my house so that when I'm stressed out from work I can just watch this for hours on end.
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Nov 4, 2013 04:01
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Anyone in this thread will be able to do the exact same thing, just as accurate and fluidly as him after a few days of laying blocks. It's surprisingly easy. (this from a former mason's assistant)
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Nov 4, 2013 04:12
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Blistex posted:Anyone in this thread will be able to do the exact same thing, just as accurate and fluidly as him after a few days of laying blocks. It's surprisingly easy. (this from a former mason's assistant) But, like with everything else you do on occasion: you get just about that good right as you're finishing the job that you won't ever be doing agin (or at least not for the next decade or so). It's always good do have someone like that around to get you started and up to speed.
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Nov 4, 2013 04:14
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Jeherrin posted:I would like this man to come and just built a cinderblock wall repeatedly in various rooms of my house so that when I'm stressed out from work I can just watch this for hours on end. No joke, he would do that for his hourly wage. I've seen block crews slam up block during all the daylight hours, 7 days a week, for months on end. They just get good at being perfect. Mortar in the right consistency, with the right volume on the hod, with the correct number of bricks. 200' wall, 8 guys doing a course an hour; that stuff just flies up. They take breaks every couple of hours or so while the scaffold crew puts another level on. There's a whole other ground crew just counting bricks, cutting bricks for pipes/outlets/lights/doors, mixing mortar, getting scaffolding ready. But the guys up top just lay bricks like that dude, one after the other, nearly nonstop. Very impressive.
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Nov 4, 2013 04:56
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:No joke, he would do that for his hourly wage. I've seen block crews slam up block during all the daylight hours, 7 days a week, for months on end. They just get good at being perfect. Mortar in the right consistency, with the right volume on the hod, with the correct number of bricks. 200' wall, 8 guys doing a course an hour; that stuff just flies up. They take breaks every couple of hours or so while the scaffold crew puts another level on. There's a whole other ground crew just counting bricks, cutting bricks for pipes/outlets/lights/doors, mixing mortar, getting scaffolding ready. But the guys up top just lay bricks like that dude, one after the other, nearly nonstop. Very impressive. A busy blocklayer who uses the same trowel for a whole season will gradually begin to take longer to lay blocks as his trowel begins to shrink and can hold less and less mortar. The last summer I was working I traced my brand new trowel onto a large piece of paper at the beginning of the season, and by September I had lost about 5mm all around the edge, and a good 1cm at the tip. I was only laying about 3% of the blocks we did that summer and mostly mixed mud and placed blocks and scaffold. My uncle who was doing 97% of the laying got to the point where he had to get a new trowel two weeks before the season was over because he had lost so much that the handle was worn to a nub of wood from tapping blocks down and the blade itself only held 1/2 as much mud as at the start of the season. You can also tell a really good blocklayer from how sharp their trowel is, as they are constantly sliding it along the edge of the blocks and sharpening it, as opposed to occasionally bumping them and dulling it again.
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Nov 4, 2013 19:17
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For some reason I thought mortar needed to be mixed much drier than that to avoid the wall sagging before it cured. I was pretty surprised by how wet the mortar he was using is.
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Nov 4, 2013 19:21
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kastein posted:For some reason I thought mortar needed to be mixed much drier than that to avoid the wall sagging before it cured. I was pretty surprised by how wet the mortar he was using is. you can go up two or three rows on wet mortar, but any higher on fresh stuff isn't advised or you will get sagging or tilting.
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Nov 4, 2013 19:31
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My guess is the mortar is the perfect consistency to be easily workable and still cure in the time it takes to lay three (or however many) rows and take a smoke break while the scaffold monkeys bump it up a level. Probably also subject to climate, structure size, skill of the mason, etc.
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Nov 5, 2013 09:49
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Coasterphreak posted:My guess is the mortar is the perfect consistency to be easily workable and still cure in the time it takes to lay three (or however many) rows and take a smoke break while the scaffold monkeys bump it up a level. Probably also subject to climate, structure size, skill of the mason, etc. This. And let me tell ya when you as a laborer do not mix to the required consistency you will be told. The guy I worked for could tell instantly what you did wrong wether it was too much/too little sand, too much/too little water, didn't let it set up long enough/too long before dumping the mixer ect. And most masons are very vocal about it. But nothing feels better than having your mason use the last of his mud on the last board to lay the last block on the buck and turn around to see his pointer and finish brush waiting on him.
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Nov 5, 2013 16:04
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So basically you were a butler for a mason. Which brings me directly to another thought: Are the masons all, like, Masons? As in the masonic order? If not, why the gently caress not!
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Nov 5, 2013 23:31
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Leperflesh posted:Are the masons all, like, Masons? As in the masonic order? If not, why the gently caress not! A whole lotta  , usually. 
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Nov 6, 2013 01:47
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I have a serious weakness for masons (not Masons). Is it the burly arms you get from moving rocks all day? The gruff yet contemplative personality that the profession attracts? The fine layer of stone dust adorning everything they own? So dreamy. 
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Nov 6, 2013 22:04
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If you want to read a really interesting book (partly) about laying blocks, pick up Solzhenitsyn's One day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch. It goes into a lot of detail about building walls in -40C conditions with thin gloves and no food.
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Nov 8, 2013 02:33
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Just keep in mind that when you're doing it, you don't have to swallow condoms full of industrial alcohol to smuggle back to your bunk every night. You can still do that, but you don't have to.
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