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smackfu posted:I'd guess it would be common in grocery stores because of cheap remodeling over the decades. But you'd think instead of a sign they might, i dunno, board the loving door over, at least on the inside. A sheet of OSB isn't exactly expensive, and a sheet of hardboard is a couple of dollars. Which is WAAAY cheaper than the bill when some fuckwit ignores the sign and your insurance laughs in your face.
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Nov 24, 2014 20:23
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Doors like that are really common for mechanical penthouses/lofts or what ever. It's usually a bigger door, but yeah it's just to make replacing the equipment up there easier. What I usually see on the other side though is a lack of hardware so you can't just accidentally open it thinking it's a normal door. If you want to open it you have to unlock it use a tool or re-install the hardware. They'll often have warning signs and caution strips along the floor. I often see that sort of thing in the parkades of condos and office buildings. As the parkade spirals down there will be a door half way up the wall that will connect to the electrical room or some room with large equipment. A truck can just drive down into the basement and lift the new equipment up into the big double doors.
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Nov 24, 2014 20:31
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So I've got a mystery vent coming up from the floor in the laundry closet. Might be combustion air for the gas dryer? Let's take a look and see where the hose leads us... I seem to have found the other end.  Welp, that solves the mystery of where the range hood was venting to.  Fresh laundry and charred steak: two great smells, together at last. FML
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Nov 25, 2014 10:17
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krysmopompas posted:So I've got a mystery vent coming up from the floor in the laundry closet. Might be combustion air for the gas dryer? Let's take a look and see where the hose leads us... Imagine I've posted a gif of a person's head exploding in confusion and disbelief.
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Nov 25, 2014 10:51
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Allow me.
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Nov 25, 2014 14:46
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Hahaha I hope it's a recent construction too.
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Nov 25, 2014 15:04
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krysmopompas posted:Fresh laundry and charred steak: two great smells, together at last. FML How else are you supposed to smell like a man? 
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Nov 25, 2014 15:26
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Wasabi the J posted:An old surveillance method was to have someone patrol a long room or catwalk with one-way glass overlooking the store. You can sometimes see the glass in older, bigger stores. I can't find good pics, but this is what kind of view it would provide: Exactly. This store was originally a 1970s Albertsons, which had the entire back wall made of one way mirrors overlooking the store - with all the offices back there - along with the restrooms. There's now two tiny offices - a cash office, and the "HR/Manager Office" - and they're both at the front on the ground floor. At one time, there was a complete 2nd story. When Wal-Mart built the place out, they removed a decent chunk of the 2nd floor and went with some super high end super efficient magic voodoo refrigeration equipment (standing in that room is like standing next to a few old fridges, instead of being deafened by 30 3 phase compressors - seriously, the footprint of all of the equipment is about like 4 household refrigerators). Originally, I think the compressors were on the ground floor, as is the case in most grocery stores. The 2nd floor was entirely offices. Now what's left of the 2nd floor is bare concrete and lights, the compressor room (with the door to nowhere), and mostly abandoned displays. I know this partly because I shopped at the place when it was an Albertsons, and partly because I interviewed with another Albertsons for a job, about the same age/layout, ages ago - I got a tour of the 2nd floor. Albertsons of those age placed the restrooms upstairs as well. The stairs are actually behind fire doors now (one is always propped open a little), with another set of fire doors just behind them. I guess they just like to pretend the upstairs doesn't exist. Baronjutter posted:Doors like that are really common for mechanical penthouses/lofts or what ever. It's usually a bigger door, but yeah it's just to make replacing the equipment up there easier. What I usually see on the other side though is a lack of hardware so you can't just accidentally open it thinking it's a normal door. If you want to open it you have to unlock it use a tool or re-install the hardware. They'll often have warning signs and caution strips along the floor. There used to be a complete second floor behind the scenes when it was an Albertsons. That was originally a closet or office of some sort. Seeing the construction techniques used in some of the remodeling is downright scary. Load-bearing concrete walls just hacked out, with rebar still sticking out ready to draw blood, is a decent example. There's no lock on the door at all. Just a piece of paper with a handwritten note stating "DO NOT OPEN" attached to the door with a piece of scotch tape. It opens just fine. There's also no room to get any equipment through that area. thespaceinvader posted:But you'd think instead of a sign they might, i dunno, board the loving door over, at least on the inside. A sheet of OSB isn't exactly expensive, and a sheet of hardboard is a couple of dollars. Which is WAAAY cheaper than the bill when some fuckwit ignores the sign and your insurance laughs in your face. Technically you have to go through a fire exit to even discover the second floor, but one of them is always propped open. The second floor seems to be largely forgotten - it's just concrete pillars/walls, the most basic of lighting, a loving shitload of cameras, and old displays/shelving units. I only found it because I saw a "emergency exit only" door propped open and stuck my head through, and decided to see where the stairs went. I no longer work there though.
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Dec 1, 2014 05:04
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I'm honestly a lot more puzzled about the second door with the DO NOT CLOSE note.
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Dec 1, 2014 08:17
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Wait, so the fire exit leads to the second floor!?
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Dec 1, 2014 15:41
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:Wait, so the fire exit leads to the second floor!? The second floor has to have it's own fire exit, which is I'm sure what STR is referring to. It is not at all uncommon in these situations to demo all access to the second floor from inside and use only the "fire escape" as access to whatever is up there providing it's just things like a mechanical room. I've even seen spaces like that rented out to different tenants with the fire escape as the only access since it's already separate/outside of the other space. FYI, when I'm talking fire exit/escape, I'm talking about a fixed, permanent outdoor metal staircase. Not something with sliding ladders you'll see on 1940s apartment buildings in Manhattan.
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Dec 1, 2014 16:43
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Motronic posted:The second floor has to have it's own fire exit, which is I'm sure what STR is referring to. Oh that makes more sense  So using the fire escape as the only exit is okay? I always thought you needed two exits or something like that. I guess a window counts?
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Dec 1, 2014 17:24
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:So using the fire escape as the only exit is okay? I always thought you needed two exits or something like that. I guess a window counts? That depends on the occupancy. Anything with a single exit is limited to 50 people. Plenty of other things are likely to limit that further. Calculating occupancy/means of egress is reasonably complicated when it comes down to things like width of doors and any obstructions in the vomitorium (my favorite building term - in code it's used to mean the area inside a bank of exit doors where other means of egress converge).
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Dec 1, 2014 17:58
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Came across this sweet drywall job.
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Dec 1, 2014 19:55
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GreenNight posted:Came across this sweet drywall job. I'll be honest, I'm far more intrigued by the poop cam.
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Dec 1, 2014 19:58
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Wouldn't want your toilet paper go missing.
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Dec 1, 2014 20:06
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Move over, German poop inspection toilet shelf, we're taking this thing to the next level.
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Dec 1, 2014 20:14
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Equine Don posted:Hahaha I hope it's a recent construction too. After knocking out the tacky tile in the bathroom I noticed another problem:  Subfloor is pretty jacked:  As an added bonus, the soldering to the sink's plumbing was so weak that the vibration from hammering the tile caused them to break apart. (I carved everything attached through drywall out with a dremel and picked the rest off by hand, so it sure as hell wasn't my fault.) I needed the downstairs water to still work, so babby's first plumbing happened:  I'm not sure if I did it right, but it was stupidly easy and hasn't leaked a drop in 72 hours. If this holds up, I'm probably just going to redo the whole place in pex.
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Dec 1, 2014 20:32
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What's the acceptable bend radius on pex of that diameter? I mean I'm sure it's fine, but if possible, I take measures to reduce couplings, such as those 90s you have in there. Like, a little shifting of where the joins are and I feel like you could pretty readily avoid both of those 90s, which is two possible leaks per. But yeah, pex is awesome, pex forever.
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Dec 1, 2014 20:46
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Bad Munki posted:What's the acceptable bend radius on pex of that diameter? I mean I'm sure it's fine, but if possible, I take measures to reduce couplings, such as those 90s you have in there. Like, a little shifting of where the joins are and I feel like you could pretty readily avoid both of those 90s, which is two possible leaks per. It's all throwaway work since I mostly did it to learn more about pex. When I get that terrible plywood wall pulled out and start putting the new walls in I'll be able to get a proper manifold system set up, or at the very least be able to optimize things a bit.
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Dec 1, 2014 21:11
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Is Pex really connected using hose clamps? I would have thought there was some sort of glue involved (I don't know anything about Pex).
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Dec 1, 2014 21:26
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Leperflesh posted:Is Pex really connected using hose clamps? I would have thought there was some sort of glue involved (I don't know anything about Pex). I don't think there's any pex system that uses glue. There's copper crimp rings, push fit, expansion, and compression. I went with clamps since they only required one tool, they're easy to deal with in a small space, and I wasn't able to find evidence that they were any less reliable than any other method. The clamps are a bit more expensive, but that's not really a big issue in a small solo project like this.
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Dec 1, 2014 21:38
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Isn't the tool like, stupidly expensive?
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Dec 1, 2014 21:40
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Elendil004 posted:Isn't the tool like, stupidly expensive? My preferred method is with the copper rings. The compression tool I have was $120 and came with 1/2", 3/4" and 1" jaws as well as a go/no-go gauge.
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Dec 1, 2014 21:47
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Elendil004 posted:Isn't the tool like, stupidly expensive?
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Dec 1, 2014 21:52
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Motronic posted:My preferred method is with the copper rings. The compression tool I have was $120 and came with 1/2", 3/4" and 1" jaws as well as a go/no-go gauge. A similar setup is available at home depot for under 50 bucks. I personally use something like this, it's great fit in tight spaces and one hand operation. http://m.lowes.com/pd/Apollo-PEX-One-Hand-Cinch-Clamp-Tool/3396092 But according to my local plumbing supply, the copper rings are going away. ¼" wide crimp rings are OK but there are much better options http://www.demseymfg.com/deep-drawn-stamping-stainless-steel-pex-crimp-rings.html As far as radius question, you need roughly 9" to make a 90° bend with a ½" pipe. Also remember that if you kink a pex pipe, it's done. Don't straighten the kinked section and leave it inside the wall. Cut and replace, it's dirt cheap.
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Dec 1, 2014 22:28
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OK well that all makes much more sense, thanks.
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Dec 1, 2014 22:59
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The best way to bend PEX is with these doo-dads: They'll let you keep the tightest radius of the pipe they're sized for and they help prevent kinks at the same time.
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Dec 1, 2014 23:37
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Motronic posted:My preferred method is with the copper rings. The compression tool I have was $120 and came with 1/2", 3/4" and 1" jaws as well as a go/no-go gauge. I use the Uponor pex expansion things, using This tool. It works sweet as gently caress, and I ended up getting the whole thing for like 130 with 3 batteries. Plus once they're in place they're 100% leak proof and giving you can eyeball all the fittings to check the crimp. If it has a compression sleeve and it's wedged into the T fully, it's good to go.
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Dec 2, 2014 01:01
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Bad Munki posted:But yeah, pex is awesome, pex forever. This is funny because it lasts what, 20 years before it's so brittle that it can't be touched?
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Dec 2, 2014 02:56
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Splizwarf posted:This is funny because it lasts what, 20 years before it's so brittle that it can't be touched? I think you're thinking of polybutylene, which becomes brittle with exposure to chlorine. Cross linked polyethlene products like PEX are rather well known for their inertness. In my day job, there are many miles of polyethylene tubing that sees much, much more harsh chemistries for much longer periods of time that don't much care.
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Dec 2, 2014 03:12
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Looking into it, I appear to be thinking of the early versions of Pex. My bad, pretty tired.
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Dec 2, 2014 03:15
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Nitrox posted:A similar setup is available at home depot for under 50 bucks. Methylethylaldehyde posted:I use the Uponor pex expansion things, using This tool. It works sweet as gently caress, and I ended up getting the whole thing for like 130 with 3 batteries. Both of these pex tools are much nicer than my 10 year old crusty poo poo and now I'm jealous. If I did more than the occasional thing around my house and for friends I'd upgrade. Splizwarf posted:This is funny because it lasts what, 20 years before it's so brittle that it can't be touched? While this is true of 20-30 year old plastic pipe (it was really, really horrible), the jury is still out on the new stuff. It's certainly aging much better, but I'm, not about to go betting on it. I'm happy enough to use it in my own home though, for what that's worth.
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Dec 2, 2014 03:17
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Also, it helps if it doesn't see the grim reaper of all plastics, UV.
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Dec 2, 2014 03:19
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I'm sticking with copper. Don't mind PVC for drain lines, though.
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Dec 2, 2014 03:37
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Is there any functional drawback to copper lines at all? I get they're a bit harder to install what with brazing and all, and I'm sure they're more expensive than [insert plastic here], but other than that?
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Dec 2, 2014 05:29
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Fucknag posted:Is there any functional drawback to copper lines at all? I get they're a bit harder to install what with brazing and all, and I'm sure they're more expensive than [insert plastic here], but other than that? They also expand and contract more with hot/cold cycles, so your hot water copper piping is constantly moving a little bit which I bet puts wear and tear on all the joints and fittings and such. On the other hand copper pipe is a conductor, which is great if you want to ground stuff to it. I suspect that if I ever wanted to replace all my piping with Pex, I'd have to re-wire the whole house at the same time.
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Dec 2, 2014 05:37
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My family's house is about 95. I'm pretty sure there's more corrosion than copper at this point. It also sweats like crazy.
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Dec 2, 2014 05:41
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i like nice words
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Copper is more labor-intensive, from prepping & cutting to shining the joints afterwards. The leaks I've dealt with, both personally & in a professional capacity, are usually due to corrosion related to failure to clean before soldering, or to remove acid flux later. Most of the 'mystery leaks' I've found in homes is due to flux. It may take years or decades, but it'll eat through... In some areas, acidity is an issue, where pinhole leaks develop all over the place. Sometimes it's thinner 'M' pipe. Properly installed, though, I've seen it 60-years on and quite robust, even though it's life expectancy averages about 40. PEX (may it truly hold up over time; polybutylene was a disaster) does offer two distinct advantages: it's flexible, so you can sneak it through and around areas that would require tear-out otherwise; and it requires no heat to install. My neighbor is sorta beta-testing it in his unheated garage...it seems to resist bursting when frozen. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 06:05
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PEX will put up with freezing much better than copper. I've seen a rehab job, where new pex lines were ran though uninsulated exterior walls and while completely frozen, were able to recover without a hickup. Repeatedly, all winter long. The copper pipes ended up leaking in 3 separate places, although to their credit, they were at least 40 years old. However, I've seen a pex line casually resting on a copper coolant line for hvac compressor. It took about 3 summers for it to break down and bubble up in a really weird manner, developing a pinhole leak. Here is another issue with PEX that nobody talks about. Rodents loving love chewing on hot lines. Especially in winter, when squirrels, chipmunks and raccoons are hiding in your crawl space/attic. I've seen about a dozen of those in the last 3-4 years. My pet peeve is how callous people tend to be with this stuff. General contractors are just shoving PEX everywhere now, at really hosed up angles, unsupported and unstapled. And of course they use push in connectors at every opportunity. Leperflesh posted:They also expand and contract more with hot/cold cycles, so your hot water copper piping is constantly moving a little bit which I bet puts wear and tear on all the joints and fittings and such. Nitrox fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Dec 2, 2014 |
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Dec 2, 2014 06:33
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