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flosofl posted:Holy poo poo, there are other reasons behind a ban than "smoke". Like fire. When I lived in an apartment, one of the buildings went up because an upper level BBQ caught an eave on fire and it crawled across the roof and burned the whole drat building down. Lot of cities have actual ordinances prohibiting the use of grills within a certain distance of inhabited buildings (in mine, it's 10 feet).
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Sep 1, 2015 14:42
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spog posted:Recently, a couple went camping and decided to bring their extinguished charcoal grill into the tent at night to keep the rain off it.  They...they were okay, right? Oh dear god
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Sep 1, 2015 16:36
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Yeah, one of my first apartments hat a big old tile stove for heating that ran on coal. The windows were really drafty but they pretty much have to be. Seal the windows and you block the oxygen flow and that's how you get haunted apartments.
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Sep 1, 2015 16:58
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I'm pretty sure it's the carbon monoxide that kills you, not depletion of oxygen.
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Sep 2, 2015 01:23
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Went to inspect a house today that my mom wants to buy. Strap in boys:  This photo is representative of the general quality of fit and finish of the cosmetics of the house. It's like it's a flip, but it's not: the last owner was there for 8 years and Joe Homeowner'd the poo poo out of everything.  Obvious mold and water issues in the basement, and the bulk of it is because of poor drainage like this.  Seriously?  Water issues got yo' porch out of level? Just find some scrap and fix that poo poo right on up!  That is NOT where that roof vent belongs. And it's the only one. Also note the incorrect gutter install - they attached the brackets above the shingles.  Incorrect roof pitch on detached garage causing the rear wall (half of the height is a retaining wall) to buckle under hydrostatic pressure. DAT EFFLORESCENSE!  Ill fitting cap on chimney tee, negative pitch on smoke pipe. Just the right amount of CO to make sure you get a good night's sleep, right? Also, CPVC on hot side of furnace (I know, it's technically allowed but still stupid). Now for the money shots:    (yes, that's in the ceiling)   (This is what feeds the garage) Piece de resistance:  ....and the cover is missing 4 knock outs, and there is no GFCI for the kitchen (outlet or breaker). Puzzlingly there is an AFCI breaker for the bedroom and GFCI outlet (directly under the sink) in the bathroom. Why start trying there?
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Sep 2, 2015 02:28
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MenschMaschine posted:
It keeps happening. 
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Sep 2, 2015 03:40
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The cosmetic issues are whatever, but I feel really leery about all the weird safety issues and water damage. I mean, it doesn't look nearly as horrific as many of the things in this thread which I was told basically amounted to nothing worth even worrying about, but the electrical and all the bizarre construction quirks would have me worrying about what isn't obvious lurking out of sight. Am I completely wrong there? Is this really just a weekend fixer-upper? Because it doesn't really look like it. 
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Sep 2, 2015 05:21
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Shady Amish Terror posted:The cosmetic issues are whatever, but I feel really leery about all the weird safety issues and water damage. I mean, it doesn't look nearly as horrific as many of the things in this thread which I was told basically amounted to nothing worth even worrying about, but the electrical and all the bizarre construction quirks would have me worrying about what isn't obvious lurking out of sight. Am I completely wrong there? Is this really just a weekend fixer-upper? Because it doesn't really look like it. It's gonna take more than a weekend......... The electrical is bad enough that every outlet and switch will have to be pulled to check if they are done properly but most of the wall cabling will likely be salvageable. The load center just needs to go into the dumpster. It's probably $6k worth of electrical work alone. The roof - it's just a shame because it was JUST re-roofed. And it basically needs to come back off within a few years because it was done wrong. The drainage issues are the easiest: the place isn't graded properly. Everything pitches towards the house and the down spouts discharge too close to the foundation. It's been Joe Homeowner'd nearly to death, but at the right price it's worth dealing with. These are the reasons why you inspect and put an inspection contingency in your contract. I know how much each of these things cost and the goal is to get the seller to eat that amount. If they don't eat enough of that number my contingency allows me to terminate the contract.
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Sep 2, 2015 13:51
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Leperflesh posted:I'm pretty sure it's the carbon monoxide that kills you, not depletion of oxygen. CO is the result of incomplete combustion, so I assume, given a lovely chimney, drafty is probably safer.
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Sep 2, 2015 14:11
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What's wrong with the roof beyond the weird vent/gutter install?
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Sep 2, 2015 14:30
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Ambrose Burnside posted:What's wrong with the roof beyond the weird vent/gutter install? Those are the primary visible issues along with some real poo poo flashing/tarring that going to require basically annual maintenance.  When you see poo poo work like that you can be pretty sure there is more poo poo work underneath it. Also, the company that put it on last year is already out of business. That's another big red flag.
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Sep 2, 2015 14:42
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Motronic posted:Those are the primary visible issues along with some real poo poo flashing/tarring that going to require basically annual maintenance. Yeah, but they did the work so cheap, the guy would have been a fool not to hire them!
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Sep 2, 2015 15:02
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Oh, it's like my place. Completely poo poo and illegal wiring; plumbing so badly done that they thinned the floorboards so their stacked joins could actually fit in the subfloor; structural silicone sealant; structural air; silicone sealant used as glue; silicone sealant used as wall filler; wall filler used as glue; wall filler used as silicone sealant; badly fitting windows; 1/4" daylight gaps above all three panes of a bay window plugged with newspaper and then panelled over; defunct wiring left buried in the walls; entire socket boxes with associated cabling buried in walls and plastered over; and then you get the little things... ETA: It was flipped to sell, and the guy that did it owned the flat upstairs and across the stairwell. He was a drunk.
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Sep 2, 2015 17:42
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Jeherrin posted:structural air I have a friend who calls poorly installed beams "Suspensions of Belief". He's a general contractor that came with me when I was house hunting (he charged a 6 pack of beer per house). Of course once I found I place I liked, I had a reputable house inspector go through the place as well. I think my mortgage lender required it, but I would have done it regardless.
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Sep 2, 2015 19:18
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First of all, just want to thank all the contractors and construction folks in this thread for doing awesome work with your real jobs, unlike keyboard warriors like me. How can you tell if mid-floor beam supports are janky or not? When I first peered under the house I'm currently under contract on (a 1947 raised ranch on mountainous terrain), I noticed that large blocks (like cinder blocks but twice as big) were being used to support wood that then contacted the floor beams. I'm guessing this was done post-construction to relevel the house or correct a sag. Are there any tell-tale signs of a janky floor beam (joist?) support job? I don't have a picture now but will be taking one next time I head over.
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Sep 2, 2015 20:32
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Radbot posted:Are there any tell-tale signs of a janky floor beam (joist?) support job?
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Sep 2, 2015 20:44
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From my own post in the fix it fast thread, thought I would share:couldcareless posted:Discovered a small leak in our attic yesterday. Tearing our the ceiling, I found the source to be the ac condensation drain.
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Sep 2, 2015 20:56
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galahan posted:Are the blocks in the center in a row, or in random areas? The ones I saw were in a row, placed what looked like 4-6 feet apart.
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Sep 2, 2015 21:04
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Radbot posted:The ones I saw were in a row, placed what looked like 4-6 feet apart. I've seen that in new construction, not everyone uses beams long enough for the whole span of the house. Are there "shims" sloppily placed here and there? Also a big level of even very straight board/straight edge could tell you a lot about your floor. Or laser or string or water level on the outside. Sounds fine so far though until we see pics.
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Sep 2, 2015 21:15
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Radbot posted:How can you tell if mid-floor beam supports are janky or not? When I first peered under the house I'm currently under contract on (a 1947 raised ranch on mountainous terrain), I noticed that large blocks (like cinder blocks but twice as big) were being used to support wood that then contacted the floor beams. I'm guessing this was done post-construction to relevel the house or correct a sag. Does it look like this? http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JnaDklxgnGo
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Sep 2, 2015 22:25
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King Hotpants posted:Does it look like this? http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JnaDklxgnGo I find it strange how much I like watching this guy drive nails.
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Sep 2, 2015 23:05
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Bad Munki posted:I find it strange how much I like watching this guy drive nails. It's not strange at all. Larry Haun is dreamy. Also I get a certain special kind of awe watching a dude drop 16d nails with one hit.
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Sep 2, 2015 23:10
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There's just something about watching a true pro at work. I bet this dude could build a house in his sleep.
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Sep 2, 2015 23:12
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King Hotpants posted:Does it look like this? http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JnaDklxgnGo Bad Munki posted:I find it strange how much I like watching this guy drive nails. King Hotpants posted:It's not strange at all. Larry Haun is dreamy. Also I get a certain special kind of awe watching a dude drop 16d nails with one hit. Arrath posted:There's just something about watching a true pro at work. I bet this dude could build a house in his sleep. These posts make me feel way better about the way I just lost the last fifteen minutes or so. This is fascinating. EDIT: I also love the way he says "tuba-four". Ignoranus fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Sep 2, 2015 |
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Sep 2, 2015 23:14
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King Hotpants posted:Also I get a certain special kind of awe watching a dude drop 16d nails with one hit. Seriously, and the dude has sticks for arms.
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Sep 2, 2015 23:41
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Ignoranus posted:These posts make me feel way better about the way I just lost the last fifteen minutes or so. This is fascinating. Don't yell at me, but it's a three-part series (floor, walls, roof). Takes about three hours to watch the whole thing. If you search his name on Youtube, you'll see some other videos released the year he died (2011). By the end, he was a tiny old man with scrawny little stick limbs and still banging out houses.
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Sep 3, 2015 00:15
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King Hotpants posted:Don't yell at me, but it's a three-part series (floor, walls, roof). Takes about three hours to watch the whole thing. Goddamnit, I know. I'm still watching the wall-framing one right now. I am a total goon and will probably never use any of this information but it's amazing. I feel like he's a gangly-looking guy and that's where he gets the nail skills. Like, he holds the very bottom of the hammer so a single swing is about eight miles around, the drat thing picks up some real speed.
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Sep 3, 2015 00:26
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Someone recommended tauton build like a pro series books in here and I have to say they seem legit. (the video has their name) I only have the one on insulating, but I've read it several times.
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Sep 3, 2015 00:28
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I wish this guy was around when I was learning to frame. Instead of being yelled at by surly alcoholics.
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Sep 3, 2015 00:33
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Ping! ping! It's important to be careful and pay attention to what you are doing. Ping! Ping!
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Sep 3, 2015 00:36
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Damnit I just blew 30 minutes watching that video too, man I love that guy. The way he cuts beams with his circular saw (pipe cutter style) is badass too. I have no idea if this is common practice or not but he does it effortlessly. It's been said over and over but poo poo can he drive a nail.
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Sep 3, 2015 01:05
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Tyson Tomko posted:Damnit I just blew 30 minutes watching that video too, man I love that guy. The way he cuts beams with his circular saw (pipe cutter style) is badass too. I have no idea if this is common practice or not but he does it effortlessly. It's hypnotic. I had to actually remind myself I wanted to do some coding on my hobby project tonight to stop watching.
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Sep 3, 2015 01:48
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It's like that bricklaying video, so goddamn soothing.
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Sep 3, 2015 02:07
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Has anybody seen this yet? http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/72776/should-i-buy-this-house-that-has-a-jack-post-cracking-the-basement-floor I wonder what's under there
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Sep 3, 2015 02:18
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DBlue135 posted:I wonder what's under there "Not much" would be my guess.
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Sep 3, 2015 02:31
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DBlue135 posted:Has anybody seen this yet? Apple cores, structural great stuff, and a lovely deck.
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Sep 3, 2015 02:54
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drat at 39:00 
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Sep 3, 2015 03:07
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I watched the whole thing. Im going to find and watch the rest of the series.
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Sep 3, 2015 04:44
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SynthOrange posted:drat at 39:00 The entire video is so full of eye popping moments I wasn't sure which one you meant so I had to go back and watch it again. That guy js such a beast! I plan on watching the series when I've got a lot of time to kill or a long trip, but who am I kidding I'm sure I'll "just watch a bit" in a day or two and end up watching it straight through.
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Sep 3, 2015 05:10
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When the store I work in was "remodeled" a few years ago (read: customer facing side got a facelift), they got a modern VoIP phone system. Why they did this in a small pizza place is beyond me - nearly every phone has to be unplugged/plugged back in a couple of times a day (otherwise you get nonstop busy signals, the phone rings nonstop, the display stops working, and/or a combination of the above), and the server/host/whatever you call it ("SBX" according to the manufacturer) has to be power cycled a few times a month. It's all running over the original 70s/maybe early 80s wiring. Finally noticed this today, next to the phone system. There's no DMARC outside that I've been able to find, except for a single line one for the building-wide (exterior) camera system (which has a DSL connection). 3 huge punchdown blocks near this for a store with 4 phones, 1 fax machine, DSL shared with the fax line, and 3 phone lines though! The building dates to the 1970s, so there's probably some kind of dmarc somewhere, it's just hidden. I.. don't think that's an approved grounding method. 
randomidiot fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Sep 3, 2015 |
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Sep 3, 2015 05:53
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