Crappy Construction: The Four POs of the Housepocalypse

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Krasniy Prospekt: Oct 25, 2006

My parents just had an interesting situation with their CO detector. Their furnace had a bad diffuser (I think?) and was leaking CO every time it ran. However, it wasn't high enough concentration to set off the CO detector, but was high enough to make them feel slight effects and unwell. Took a couple weeks of them feeling off before dad borrowed a digital detector from work and was able to diagnose the problem.

While I believe that every house should have a CO detector in it for major leaks, I thought it was an interesting that the situation could arise where there's enough CO to affect occupants, but it's considered below the threshold "danger" level.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 07:33

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# ? May 29, 2024 01:29

Platystemon: Feb 13, 2012; BREADS

RBradbury1920 on reddit.com/r/legaladvice posted:

On the 15th of April I found a yellow post-it note in a handwriting that wasn't mine on my desk reminding me of some errands I had to do, but told literally nobody about. While odd, I chalked it up to something I did in my sleep, thinking maybe in my half-awake state I scrawled it so it didn't appear to be my handwriting. I threw it out and thought little of it.

On the 19th, I found another post it note on the back of my desk chair, in the same handwriting as the previous note, telling me to make sure I "saved my documents". I was freaked out, but there were no other signs of a break-in, so I set up a web-cam in my house aimed at my desk and used a security-cam app for it to record after detecting movement.

On the 28th, I woke up to find another post-it note, this one saying, "Our landlord isn't letting me talk to you, but it's important we do." I immediately checked the webcam's folder on my computer and found nothing from the night before, but my computer's recycling bin had been emptied, which I am certain I did not do recently, indicating someone had noticed the webcam and deleted the files. (They were just saved straight to a folder on my desktop called "Webcam".

Today, on the 1st of May, I found another post it note, this time on the outside of my door, with nothing written on it� and there also appeared to be post-its on many other doors in my apartment complex, all blank, in varying colors.

Do I have any legal recourse here? I have no proof except for the post-its, but those are written by my pen and on my post-it notes, so conceivably I could have faked them. Would contacting the police get me into any trouble, if they can't determine an outside source for this? I just want to make sure I'm not wasting anyone's time.

Should I consult my landlord? Those also living in the complex?

EDIT: I pulled up a letter I received from my landlord back when I moved in, and the handwriting is identical. Could this count as evidence?

Kakkerlak posted:

You seem sincere and this doesn't appear to be the plot of a Ray Bradbury short story.

It's possible that your landlord is leaving notes inside your apartment, but they don't make any sense in the context you're describing them.

It's likely that you are writing the notes yourself, but you are forgetting. Do you use post-it notes as reminders in any other parts of your life or job ?

Yes, this might be a mental health issue. You might be experiencing some sort of dissociative disorder.

Or it might be a physical problem. You mentioned that you have a very unusual narrow bedroom with no windows; is there a chance that you are not getting enough ventilation when you sleep, or that there is a carbon monoxide leak in the building ? A cheap CO detector (which you should have anyway) is a fast way to find out. You'll also have really bad headaches.

You know your own medical and mental history and your other experiences. If you think these incidents might be you, writing notes to yourself, there's no shame in getting somebody qualified to give you an opinion.

RBradbury1920 posted:

Thanks to everyone who sent suggestions and gave advice on how to proceeded� especially to those who recommended a CO detector... because when I plugged one in in the bedroom, it read at 100ppm.

TL;DR: I had CO poisoning and thought my landlord was stalking me.

If it�s poo poo that didn�t happen, they�re at least dedicated.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 08:03

peanut: Sep 9, 2007

^^^ Omg 2 spooky

Here's a crumbling old storage building from my walk today

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# ? Mar 13, 2016 12:29

Effective-Disorder: Nov 13, 2013

peanut posted:

^^^ Omg 2 spooky

Here's a crumbling old storage building from my walk today

I've noticed this quite a lot lately. There doesn't seem to be a big renovation market in Japan. I'm at this very moment in a house that appears to be an add on to something that looks like your picture, and even that was only done in the 50's or 60's. Everything there-on is a makeshift repair. People here just let poo poo go or do minor patching until they're ready to tear it down and build something new. It seems like there's no equity in the structure, only the land it sits on.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 13:08

Gounads: Mar 13, 2013; Where am I?
How did I get here?

Krasniy Prospekt posted:

My parents just had an interesting situation with their CO detector. Their furnace had a bad diffuser (I think?) and was leaking CO every time it ran. However, it wasn't high enough concentration to set off the CO detector, but was high enough to make them feel slight effects and unwell. Took a couple weeks of them feeling off before dad borrowed a digital detector from work and was able to diagnose the problem.

While I believe that every house should have a CO detector in it for major leaks, I thought it was an interesting that the situation could arise where there's enough CO to affect occupants, but it's considered below the threshold "danger" level.

That's terrifying. I always assumed those detectors would be calibrated to start chirping at a very low level.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 15:05

Powerlurker: Oct 21, 2010

Effective-Disorder posted:

I've noticed this quite a lot lately. There doesn't seem to be a big renovation market in Japan. I'm at this very moment in a house that appears to be an add on to something that looks like your picture, and even that was only done in the 50's or 60's. Everything there-on is a makeshift repair. People here just let poo poo go or do minor patching until they're ready to tear it down and build something new. It seems like there's no equity in the structure, only the land it sits on.

The general assumption in Japan is that you're going to demolish and rebuild when you buy a used house and construction practices reflect that.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 15:10

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

My parents house (built 1955) has razor blade slots in the medicine cabinets. (One of them, anyway, they replaced the other in ~1995.)

The bathroom I grew up with is 100% original fifties. It's amazing in every way.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 15:10

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

Sagebrush posted:

It's a weird idea, but I don't think it's a particularly bad one. Even if you used a new blade every day, it would take decades to fill up the wall; the steel itself is inert and non-toxic, so there's no environmental damage; and the only time you'll even see them is if the house gets demolished or renovated, in which case you've already got all the tools and equipment to handle a bunch of sharp rusty metal safely.

If someone was super forward-thinking, they could put a galvanized steel box in behind to collect the blades and that'd solve any problems.

I mean that's one reason

# ? Mar 13, 2016 18:15

Ashcans: Jan 2, 2006; Let's do the space-time warp again!

I feel like in the situation where a tornado has torn apart the walls of the house and is flinging the rusted blades with enough speed to be dangerous, you are probably already dead from all your kitchen knives, pencils, shattered windows, tools, books, and small animals hitting you at the same speed.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 18:37

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

Ashcans posted:

I feel like in the situation where a tornado has torn apart the walls of the house and is flinging the rusted blades with enough speed to be dangerous, you are probably already dead from all your kitchen knives, pencils, shattered windows, tools, books, and small animals hitting you at the same speed.

While this is true, the number of kitchen knives in my home is some quantity smaller than "hundreds"

# ? Mar 13, 2016 19:21

Buff Skeleton: Oct 24, 2005

You are far more likely to be killed by a flying chunk of 2x4 or a brick than slashed by some small sharp thing if a tornado is actively obliterating your shelter, though.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 19:42

TooMuchAbstraction: Oct 14, 2012; I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.; Fun Shoe

Yeah, razor blades have tiny mass. They might give you a bunch of painful, tetanus-inflicting scratches, but a proper tornado can embed a 2x4 into a cement wall. That's a somewhat more pressing concern.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 19:58

moist turtleneck: Jul 17, 2003; Represent.; Dinosaur Gum

This is why you should keep all of your katanas locked up when not in use.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 20:00

peanut: Sep 9, 2007

We just tore down a not too old house to rebuild this year (pre-fab steel frame :ohdear:

) Demolition starts at usd 10k, and a new house is around usd 200k. :sadpeanut:

The price of used houses is usually (land)
- (demolition) and sometimes even cheaper. Remodeling is actually a huge booming business right now, but it's often limited to kitchen and bath without changing the floorplan.
My in-laws' house is a maze of additions. So wood panel, much doors. :japan:

I think our generation is wary (and weary) of these houses after growing up in them.

Up until very recently, city governments were legally unable to demolish abandoned shitholes. The owners, if they're even alive, have no obligation to keep properties safe.
Tv news showed Tokyo tearing down the first of one of these collapsed houses last week. Predictably, it looks like the cities are wishy washy about turning a profit. Obviously a 2 room shack in the mountains won't attract many buyers, but plenty of buildings in major urban areas have been empty for 10 or 15 years. If my father gave me a $million loan, I would totally buy, demolish, and resell for profit.

# ? Mar 13, 2016 21:27

Bad Munki: Nov 4, 2008; We're all mad here.

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

Yeah, razor blades have tiny mass. They might give you a bunch of painful, tetanus-inflicting scratches, but a proper tornado can embed a 2x4 into a cement wall. That's a somewhat more pressing concern.

That's why my 2x4 disposal slot in the bathroom drops them directly into a chipper shredder in the basement.

Also why my house is made entirely of load-bearing used razor blades, I figure they're safer in a storm. :pseudo:

# ? Mar 13, 2016 22:35

Zemyla: Aug 6, 2008; I'll take her off your hands. Pleasure doing business with you!

Bad Munki posted:

That's why my 2x4 disposal slot in the bathroom drops them directly into a chipper shredder in the basement.

Also why my house is made entirely of load-bearing used razor blades, I figure they're safer in a storm.

My disposal slot drops the razor blades under the stairs to use as insulation.

# ? Mar 14, 2016 03:04

BonerGhost: Mar 9, 2007

Zemyla posted:

My disposal slot drops the razor blades under the stairs to use as insulation.

Requesting thread title change please.

# ? Mar 14, 2016 03:44

kid sinister: Nov 16, 2002

# ? Mar 14, 2016 14:56

facialimpediment: Feb 11, 2005; as the world turns

The amount of problems in that picture is astounding.

# ? Mar 14, 2016 15:06

Catatron Prime: Aug 23, 2010; IT ME; Toilet Rascal

Speaking of sinks :black101:

Everything was held up with two drywall bolts in the back which just ripped right out. Shocked it held this long in a commercial environment

# ? Mar 14, 2016 17:36

Thwomp: Apr 10, 2003; BA-DUHHH; Grimey Drawer

MrYenko posted:

My parents house (built 1955) has razor blade slots in the medicine cabinets. (One of them, anyway, they replaced the other in ~1995.)

The bathroom I grew up with is 100% original fifties. It's amazing in every way.

gently caress me. That explains the presence of razor blades in the walls of my bathroom during demo (the house was built in 1957).

# ? Mar 14, 2016 18:25

canyoneer: Sep 13, 2005; I only have canyoneyes for you

I use DE safety razors and now I want to in install a wall box to toss them in. Disposal is surprisingly inconvenient

# ? Mar 14, 2016 18:33

Safety Dance: Sep 10, 2007; Five degrees to starboard!

canyoneer posted:

I use DE safety razors and now I want to in install a wall box to toss them in. Disposal is surprisingly inconvenient

Back when I was following the DE safety razor hype train, I bought feather blades that came in a little box like this:

The bottom of the box had a little slot where you popped used blades. It was nice -- 10 blades go out, 10 blades go back in, throw the whole package away.

# ? Mar 14, 2016 18:37

Catatron Prime: Aug 23, 2010; IT ME; Toilet Rascal

Ok, finally got the rest of the story on that sink... Apparently someone stood up from the toilet and tripped over their pants around their ankles, and tried to catch themselves with the sink as they went down :haw:

# ? Mar 14, 2016 18:38

Iron Crowned: May 6, 2003; by Hand Knit

Safety Dance posted:

Back when I was following the DE safety razor hype train, I bought feather blades that came in a little box like this:

The bottom of the box had a little slot where you popped used blades. It was nice -- 10 blades go out, 10 blades go back in, throw the whole package away.

I never noticed that slot :vince:

Of course the boxes will hold more than the 10 it comes with, so I'm using the old boxes. Plus I throw my used xacto blades in too.

# ? Mar 14, 2016 18:43

canyoneer: Sep 13, 2005; I only have canyoneyes for you

Safety Dance posted:

Back when I was following the DE safety razor hype train, I bought feather blades that came in a little box like this:

The bottom of the box had a little slot where you popped used blades. It was nice -- 10 blades go out, 10 blades go back in, throw the whole package away.

Yeah some of my blades have those kinds of boxes and others don't

# ? Mar 14, 2016 18:49

Collateral Damage: Jun 13, 2009

I just picked up a small plastic bowl with lid from the local dollar store equivalent and cut a slot in the lid. It's going to hold a lifetime of razor blades. :shrug:

# ? Mar 14, 2016 19:38

18 Character Limit: Apr 6, 2007; Screw you, Abed;
I can fix this!; Nap Ghost

Crappy Construction Tales: 400 Pounds Of Wall Razors, And As Many Posts About It.

# ? Mar 14, 2016 19:49

Bad Munki: Nov 4, 2008; We're all mad here.

Collateral Damage posted:

I just picked up a small plastic bowl with lid from the local dollar store equivalent and cut a slot in the lid. It's going to hold a lifetime of razor blades.

Step 2: mount that bowl in the wall

# ? Mar 14, 2016 19:52

Rhandhali: Sep 7, 2003; This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone...; Grimey Drawer

I have a little metal box with a slot in the top to put old blades in. It's set so that when its full you can smack it with a hammer and it'll bend the walls and seal the slot. Figure I'll toss it in the recycling assuming it closes tight enough when I fill it.

# ? Mar 14, 2016 20:02

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Just grow a beard, no razor blades to dispose of and keeps your face warm.

# ? Mar 14, 2016 20:40

Magnus Praeda: Jul 18, 2003; The largess in the land.

Baronjutter posted:

Just grow a beard, no razor blades to dispose of and keeps your face warm.

Beards are also quite sexy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C5nE4UqqLk

# ? Mar 14, 2016 20:54

`Nemesis: Dec 30, 2000; railroad graffiti

Gounads posted:

That's terrifying. I always assumed those detectors would be calibrated to start chirping at a very low level.

Tracking this down was surprisingly annoying.

UL2034

If the Alarm is exposed to 400 ppm of CO, IT MUST ALARM BETWEEN 4 and 15 MINUTES
If the Alarm is exposed to 150 ppm of CO, IT MUST ALARM BETWEEN 10 and 50 MINUTES.
If the Alarm is exposed to 70 ppm of CO, IT MUST ALARM BETWEEN 60 and 240 MINUTES.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 00:27

`Nemesis: Dec 30, 2000; railroad graffiti

Oh hey the person from that reddit CO poisoning thing posted an update over the weekend.

quote:

Good news update: It's been almost a year now. While four months ago, things were rough, I've definitely made significant improvement, and currently there's little reason to doubt a full recovery within a year.
As it turns out, brains can heal. While brain cells cannot regenerate, the bulk of my issue seemed to be cerebral edema (brain swelling) caused by the poisoning. While the inflamed tissue can suffocate and destroy brain cells... It doesn't always, and sometimes the damage is temporary. That said, it is my understanding that without a pre-incident scan, it is difficult to tell what is swelling and what isn't in a very detailed or specific way.
Long story short, while my comment from months ago was very depressed and hopeless� I'm much better in both mood and physical health� though in this situation, those aren't exactly separate categories!
I'd say now, 10 months later, I'm about 80% back to normal. And while it is likely there is a 1% that won't recover, and some cells were destroyed, not just disrupted, and maybe I'll always have the occasional headache...
...There's no reason to think I won't be at 99-100% better in another six months.
So I'm happy.
I've been getting a lot of PMs regarding my legal situation, and I've been advised not to discuss it online just yet, as it is still ongoing.
Movies always made me think that body healing and court cases were so much faster than they really are! These things can take many months or years. Luckily, my case shouldn't take years. But it might be some more months.
I can say that, legally speaking� things are really looking great for me. And in the meantime, I've had a really lovely place to stay, a very understanding boyfriend, and I've even been making art� a field I wanted to get into but never would if not for the incident.
I will say, though, I use a moleskine notebook daily planner thing now. (I do keep busy! Important for mental health!) I'm kind of done with post-it notes for a while!

# ? Mar 15, 2016 00:54

EvilMayo: Dec 25, 2010; "You'll poke your anus out." - George Dubya Bush

Collateral Damage posted:

I just picked up a small plastic bowl with lid from the local dollar store equivalent and cut a slot in the lid. It's going to hold a lifetime of razor blades.

You are hosed if a tornado comes

# ? Mar 15, 2016 03:05