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Dillbag posted:Same thing happened a few years ago with an elder/end of life hospice opening up near a few residential buildings in a primarily Asian neighbourhood in Vancouver. I'm mixed Chinese and I'm pretty convinced these days that it's just an excuse so the property owners can save face by appearing to be silly superstitious folk when they're really just greedy, insensitive, ageist assholes who are only concerned about their property values. Why not both!  Only half joking. Old folks and ghosts both represent mortality.
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Jul 30, 2014 00:57
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There's a few new developments of high rise where I live funded by Chinese buyers. The oddest thing I heard is them wanting to skip every level with a 4 in it turning them into dual level apartments, mechanical floors or just renaming the http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia
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Jul 30, 2014 01:15
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Ages ago when we were young international students I had to help an acquaintance move out because she was convinced the place was haunted after she had an episode of sleep paralysis and spooky mysterious music (what, thin walled apartments? What's that?) She and the housemate fled to stay elsewhere after only living in the place for a few weeks and I had to accompany them back there. Of course I hid in a closet and leapt out going OOGA BOOGA when we were there packing up.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:21
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Babygravy posted:There's a few new developments of high rise where I live funded by Chinese buyers. The oddest thing I heard is them wanting to skip every level with a 4 in it turning them into dual level apartments, mechanical floors or just renaming the http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia I suppose that isn't too odd. I have been in some older high rises that skipped floor 13.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:30
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Cross-posting from OSHA.jpg thread Goon found a hidden staircase behind a wall in his apartment. Moneyshot: 
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Jul 30, 2014 01:46
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kid sinister posted:I suppose that isn't too odd. I have been in some older high rises that skipped floor 13. As I wrote that post I remebered I live on the 13th floor... Send help, I'll be in the closet with a gun. FCKGW posted:Cross-posting from OSHA.jpg thread If the house is old enough to have servants stairways then it probably pre dates construction codes
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Jul 30, 2014 03:04
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Babygravy posted:If the house is old enough to have servants stairways then it probably pre dates construction codes The things I could show you...   
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Jul 30, 2014 03:41
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Babygravy posted:There's a few new developments of high rise where I live funded by Chinese buyers. The oddest thing I heard is them wanting to skip every level with a 4 in it turning them into dual level apartments, mechanical floors or just renaming the http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia In Cantonese (and Mandarin, I think) the number 4 sounds like the word for death and the number 8 sounds like the word for wealth. Hence no 4th floor or Chinese driving cars with 4 in the license plate, but any number of Happy Golden Lucky 888 Produce Delivery trucks on the road.
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Jul 30, 2014 04:01
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Slanderer posted:The things I could show you...  Is that yours? Are you a ghost?
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Jul 30, 2014 04:32
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MrYenko posted:
Yup, same house as the SECRET STAIRCASE. The house was probably really nice a long time ago, but now it's layers upon layers of unlicensed handyman work. The rent is pretty affordable though.
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Jul 30, 2014 04:38
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Slanderer posted:Yup, same house as the SECRET STAIRCASE. The house was probably really nice a long time ago, but now it's layers upon layers of unlicensed handyman work. It had better be, since your chances of dying in an electrical fire are probably now up near one in five.
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Jul 30, 2014 04:50
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RENTERS INSURANCE. NOW
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Jul 30, 2014 05:02
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Nitrox posted:RENTERS INSURANCE. NOW Way ahead of you 
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Jul 30, 2014 05:04
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djhaloeight posted:OK here's the weirdo free electricity I don't know what: So this little saga came to an end today. I had reported them to the electric co a few weeks ago. Today they had a meter put on by the electric company..  I guess the hack amateur pole drop is ok...don't know if they were fined or whatever for having an illegal hookup for how long they did.
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Jul 30, 2014 05:36
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Slanderer posted:The things I could show you... At first I thought it was an old dumb waiter, but then drat. That's some top tier handiwork.
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Jul 30, 2014 05:37
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Babygravy posted:At first I thought it was an old dumb waiter, but then drat. That's some top tier handiwork. I thought "oh hey, dumbwaiter. But why post it here? I mean sure it's painted over, but... hmm wait I remember something like that door from my grandma's 350-year-old farmhouse, gently caress that's an ancient chimney and it's going to be filled with a nearly lighter-than-air mix of rockwool, asbestos, vermiculite, and down feathers that just sloughs everywhere when he opens the door." But no, this is even better. The two sides look like vines slowly trying to mate with their opposites in moments of sparking, arcing fiery passion.
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Jul 30, 2014 05:47
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Did you not see these problems in the initial inspection or is it just not really an issue?
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Jul 30, 2014 05:51
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 This looks safe
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Jul 30, 2014 22:03
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Touch it for a fun surprise!
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Jul 30, 2014 23:36
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Hey all, I finally read the entire thread, woo  . I work as a structural engineer on high-hazard industrial facilities, though I've also worked on some commercial projects previously, so I have a few stories of non-residential construction. So these are some tales of my work, which, keep in mind, is supposed to be of the highest quality control, with the best people, and the smartest engineering design.Always make sure your drafters can be trusted At one facility a colleague worked at he had prepared drawings for a large steel waste drum, designed within 1/8" tolerances to fit through the loading dock door, as specified by the client. He checked, rechecked, triple-checked, and every measurement was right. He sent it off to the drafter and it was out of his hands. He's a thorough guy though so he runs the fabrication drawings by his desk before they get submitted, and finds the drafter rounded every measurement to the nearest inch. Basically, when asked for an explanation he explained who would want anything in 1/4" increments? Concrete Placement Faux Pas: When not to place A very large, fantastically complicated project had a lot of attention in the media and they decided to have the first placement of concrete, over 100 cubic yards as I recall, so a ton of important types got together with news crews. This was all real fun and games, except the temperature was over 105F (~41 Celsius). Hot-weather concreting is tough at 95, let alone 105, and they were not equipped with liquid nitrogen or ice to mix. Naturally, they had to make the placement with everyone there, but when inevitably it cured and was covered in shrinkage cracks, they had to tear the whole thing up a few weeks later.... Concrete Placement Faux Pas: When to vibrate your concrete Another project, this time pretty far along. Most of the placements were made in the fall and spring, but it was chillier often than normal, and workers were not fond of using the concrete vibrators out in the cold, especially when it rained. The steel reinforcement was really closely spaced so this was particularly important. Naturally, when they pulled off the forms...the entire roof of one section, over 2 feet thick, had set resting on top of the second layer of bottom reinforcement, with the bottom-most reinforcement dangling uselessly beneath that. The entire building was full of voids as big as my arm hidden inside the walls and full Non-Destructive Examinations were needed to identify everything. I have a ton more of these stories but if maybe people are interested I can share a few (scrubbed of parties involved, of course, since I have a nice network of engineers at other places I also get roped in to hear about).
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Jul 31, 2014 01:55
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Blindeye posted:Always make sure your drafters can be trusted If a drafter knew all the tolerancing and what dimensions were important they'd be an engineer. If you don't explicitly tell your drafters what to do they're not the stupid ones if it comes out wrong.
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Jul 31, 2014 02:31
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Does someone have the link to the OSHA.gif thread that was in GBS? I can't seem to track it down.
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Jul 31, 2014 02:42
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(I'd post this in the OSHA thread but I can't find it) Somebody managed to one up the pool in the basement photo. Hopefully the building they did that in was built to code! I don't have any more info, it's from reddit and that thread is 100% "lol russia".
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Jul 31, 2014 02:45
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Chemmy posted:If a drafter knew all the tolerancing and what dimensions were important they'd be an engineer. If you don't explicitly tell your drafters what to do they're not the stupid ones if it comes out wrong. He received AutoCAD files and hand drawings, clearly labeled to the exact dimensions, including the tolerances. He changed the tolerances because he thought fractional inches was too much work. I don't even know. Generally every design office I've worked with and reviewed requires drafters to replicate engineering instructions exactly, not to make modifications without informing engineering. Of course, there is also a tendency in some companies to overwork their drafters unnecessarily.
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Jul 31, 2014 02:48
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JPrime posted:Does someone have the link to the OSHA.gif thread that was in GBS? I can't seem to track it down. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3633652
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Jul 31, 2014 03:10
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Blindeye posted:He changed the tolerances because he thought fractional inches was too much work. I don't even know. Fire him.
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Jul 31, 2014 03:15
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Blindeye posted:He received AutoCAD files and hand drawings, clearly labeled to the exact dimensions, including the tolerances. He changed the tolerances because he thought fractional inches was too much work. I don't even know. Do you have any DIYers who design a house and want it done that way, except something is horribly wrong with it? Granted, I want to do a draft of a house, and I know enough to do it, but it is also with the understanding that the actual drafter will go lol and do the actual work using my draft as reference.
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Jul 31, 2014 03:27
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Blindeye posted:He received AutoCAD files and hand drawings, clearly labeled to the exact dimensions, including the tolerances. He changed the tolerances because he thought fractional inches was too much work. I don't even know. This is why checking exists? Somebody was probably annoyed at the guy the week before for putting pointlessly precise dimensions on a drawing and he figured he was helping out. This is a quick markup on the checkprint and a ten second conversation, not a post on the internet thing.
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Jul 31, 2014 06:59
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Jamus posted:(I'd post this in the OSHA thread but I can't find it) Somebody managed to one up the pool in the basement photo. Hopefully the building they did that in was built to code! The first thing that popped into my head when I saw the fist shot was "must be Russia". I'm glad I was not disappointed. Here's some hilarious content from the Vancouver thread. less than three posted:Death House, a steal at only $500k!
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Jul 31, 2014 07:05
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Blindeye posted:He received AutoCAD files and hand drawings, clearly labeled to the exact dimensions, including the tolerances. He changed the tolerances because he thought fractional inches was too much work. I don't even know. Use metric units in your drafting. So much easier to tell if people are fudging it. Use metric anyway, superior  But yes fire him, that sort of poo poo at a mechanical level causes so much financial loss if not caught before fabrication.
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Jul 31, 2014 07:27
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Dillbag posted:Here's some hilarious content from the Vancouver thread. quote:Certain work done without permits. Being SOLD As is 
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Jul 31, 2014 09:56
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SubCrid TC posted:This is why checking exists? Somebody was probably annoyed at the guy the week before for putting pointlessly precise dimensions on a drawing and he figured he was helping out. Typically once engineering drawings are created it's supposed to be out of our hands, and that the drafters should be checking their work before going out the door. My colleague requesting the final drawings was actually not part of standard procedures because at that point it should have been checked several times. Babygravy posted:Use metric units in your drafting. So much easier to tell if people are fudging it. Use metric anyway, superior This is tough; US building codes still use Imperial so especially for welding details in steel construction it would get very awkward. Dante Logos posted:Do you have any DIYers who design a house and want it done that way, except something is horribly wrong with it? When I worked for architects and smaller firms there was some DIY stuff coming in, but not much. Typically if we're stamping drawings we'll require that the work is done professionally. However, I was called in by an architect on a stop work order put in for someone's illegal DIY/unlicensed contractor addition to his 10 million dollar NYC brownstone. Among the things we noted were that in places in the chimney, rebar was being used as small beams to hold up a wythe of brick as their chimney tapered in. They had staged all their construction equipment on the roof of the unfinished edition, which then had major water ponding, and had buckled the cold formed steel joists across two of the three walls of the addition, and that there was no vapor barrier between the brick exterior and their joists. They also I believe had installed a steel lintel for a massive bay window (full height and about eight feet wide) inside the brick exterior rather than the stud wall, probably because there was no planning whatsoever involved with this. This guy was beyond rich. You have a 5 story home on the lower east side you share with one kid with a backyard and rooftop garden, and you needed that extra 700 square feet of floor space? Even so, you needed to do it illegally? That isn't to say we don't get strange requests. Off-hand, here are a few that crossed my desk: Someone requested a large sunken-floor bathroom with hot tub be converted to an office, some walls moved around, and the bathroom moved next door. However, he wanted the shower stall to be glass on 4 sides and have a wood panel be able to open in the office side so he can watch someone as they shower. A lot of people wanting ungodly open floor plans in houses not meant to be that way, which we politely would push back on. You get the occasional person who has been overzealous with a sump pump and managed to crack his foundation walls. One house had four randomly installed sump pumps. It also had a kitchen installed illegally in the attic for their grown kid.... Architects gently caress things up in requests to engineering as well, to be fair to DIY people. One mistake I've had to actually draw pictures for them to explain is that floor to ceiling height clearances have to account for the depth of the beams and mechanical equipment. Many architects seem to assume there's some Nth dimensional portal where the beams and ducts go and that floors have zero thickness. We once were contracted for a new entrance canopy under an cantilevered section of a building. They insisted on dimensions that were two to three feet too tall, and refused to budge. In the end we had to create an incredibly awkward L-shaped canopy to skirt the parts that interfered. Probably quadrupled the fabrication and design costs.
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Jul 31, 2014 12:33
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Blindeye posted:However, he wanted the shower stall to be glass on 4 sides and have a wood panel be able to open in the office side so he can watch someone as they shower. Oh god I feel unclean now.
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Jul 31, 2014 12:37
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Hey I guess if they sang yo pay for it... But designing that for a client and having your name attached to it as it hits some smut website would be horrible. Or hilarious..
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Jul 31, 2014 12:44
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Babygravy posted:Hey I guess if they sang yo pay for it... But designing that for a client and having your name attached to it as it hits some smut website would be horrible. Or hilarious.. Not my name on the drawings. Dude claimed he wanted to pop open that panel and watch his wife, and it wasn't like it was a two-way mirror or something so he couldn't hide. Still...especially for a summer job out of high school...I was not exactly excited to work on that. vv God dammit I am cracking up here. Rich fucker's creep offices should not be so drat funny. Blindeye fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 13:38
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SynthOrange posted:Oh god I feel unclean now. Why don't you take a shower? I'll be 'working' in my office next door.
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Jul 31, 2014 14:06
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I've been reading this thread nonstop since it was linked on the OSHA thread. Makes me worry about the place I'm currently staying. I'll post pictures when I get home but the property has A "shed" structure in the back that has a 5 foot hole in the back of the roof. One of the walls actually bows out on one side quite a it and I think has pulled away from the studs; I don't go back there but it's definitely curvilinear in shape. The ceiling joists are rotten; I still use the front part of the shed and was going to hang my kayak up. I got to set the nail and, with only the slightest pressure, it pokes right through. Also, airsoft pellets poke right through the back wall. I don't have anything valuable in there, just use it to store stuff and keep the lawnmower but I'm waiting one day to wake up to the inevitable crashing sound of it collapsing. It is also electrified and had a sink at one point; I'm scared to even think about the wiring. I'm thinking the property was built back in the 20s or so; it used to have one of those old floor heaters and has a built in wall sconce for a telephone. I think the wiring is contemporary. It has a fuse box, something I'd never seen in my life before. At least one outlet doesn't appear to work at all, and another in one of the bedrooms makes the wall get really hot when you use it. I don't. There is an outside outlet that, when I tried to use it, sparked at me. The master bedroom has a lovely addition made as a favor to the owner by some dude that stayed there. It's a walk in closet, but it was carpeted with some lovely shag carpet that was already moldering. That got pulled up and I installed sticky tiles after scrubbing the walls from floor to ceiling and running the dehumidifier for a while. Sad thing is I'm probably going to put an offer in on the place. The owner wants to sell it and structurally it's a solid house. The location is pretty much perfect for me, I can see where I work from the front door and having lived there for two years I go through about a tank of gas every month. It depends on what he's asking; there's a house up the road that's bigger and looks to be a little more cleaned up as far as "not burning down" and they're asking about 160k for it. It's been for sale for about four months.
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Jul 31, 2014 23:37
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Blindeye, I find dangerous industrial stuff to be very interesting, please tell us about the most dangerous or absurd thing to happen to the most dangerous or absurd industrial project you have worked on. Anybody round up to the nearest inch on a nuclear reactor?
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Jul 31, 2014 23:50
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Slanderer posted:The things I could show you... Hey guess what, I have some lovely news for you. I'll put ten bucks on that box insulator liner being made of some sort of asbestos composite. I would recommend closing it, carefully, and staying the gently caress away from it. (oh, and it most definitely belongs in this thread, for multiple reasons)
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Aug 1, 2014 00:03
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kastein posted:I'll put ten bucks on that box insulator liner being made of some sort of asbestos composite. Oh poo poo, I hadn't look at the pictures in full screen before. Yep, that looks a whole lot like asbestos firestopping.
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Aug 1, 2014 00:22
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