Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with brick

Painted into a corner, I fear

flabdablet — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:30:54 -0800

Did I just brick this computer? This hand-me-down K7T266 based PC had previously been diagnosed with a faulty PS/2 keyboard port, and the owner had been advised that this was not worth fixing and that he should just use a USB keyboard, which he was doing. Windows XP Home ran just fine this way. However, there was no obvious way to get to the BIOS settings as the BIOS didn't recognize the USB keyboard, and thus no obvious way to boot from CD.

No problem, says me cheerfully; we'll just reset the CMOS settings, which should make it enable legacy USB keyboard support from powerup, and let us get to the BIOS settings screen using your USB keyboard. So I do the usual jumper dance.

Bad move. On startup, it now announces that that the CMOS settings are wrong (fair enough) and prompts to press F1 to enter Setup or F2 to load defaults and continue - but it still won't accept USB keyboard input, so it just sits there. It never gets as far as trying to boot, either from disk or anything else.

We tried plugging in a PS/2 keyboard but that does, indeed, not work. We also tried plugging the USB keyboard into one of the mobo USB ports after I noticed that it was attached to a PCI add-on card; no change. The owner says that he seems to recall being told that the mobo USB ports were faulty as well, which is why the add-on card was installed. Sigh.

So it seems my helpfully helpful help has cost him the use of his old computer. Anybody got any good ideas for getting it going again, or have I just obligated myself to find, supply and fit a replacement K7T266 mobo?

Help us build a foot path.

futureisunwritten — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:58:52 -0800

How can I build a footpath from a door to the street that's economical and weather-resistant? At my place of work, our main door is on the side of the building that leads into an empty lot. We would like to construct a footpath from the door to the street (a distance of roughly 19 feet). This previous question is helpful since there is a bit of growth in the area.

The building is located in eastern Canada and is 100 percent guaranteed to get pounded by the elements, especially snow, during our crappy winters.

What's our best option? Bricks? Stones? Are we able to do this ourselves or are we better off hiring a professional? I work at a nonprofit, so we'd like to do this as economically as possible. Thanks!

How should I clean an interior brick wall?

bfranklin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:27:53 -0800

How should I clean an interior brick wall? I have exposed an interior brick wall that had been living behind wood paneling for many years and it looks filthy. I've already cleaned my exterior brick with muriatic acid with great success, but I am hesitant to even attempt to use it inside. Pressure washers aren't happening -- this isn't in my basement.

Googling comes up with suggestions of dish soap and elbow grease, but I doubt this is going to work based on my experience cleaning the outside of the house. Does anyone have firsthand experience in cleaning interior brick? What products/strategies should I use?

How will I face the commute again?

Ghidorah — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:10:23 -0800

Is my iPod touch dead? It's a 1st gen iPod, 32GB. I've never done anything to it in terms of software or jailbreaking or whatever. Last night, I plugged it into my computer to recharge, and this morning, I unplugged it. The catch is, I unplugged it without doing the safely remove bit, but I'm not sure if that matters. I'd closed iTunes, and the touch never shows up as hardware to remove, and, well I've done this hundreds of times. Fast forward to the morning commute, and I got a totally black screen. No lighting up, no sad mac face, just, nothing.

I've tried holding down the home button, holding down the lock button, holding down both of them together. I plugged it back into my computer, and iTunes didn't auto start. When I did start iTunes, my iPod doesn't even show up. It's just sitting there, looking black, dead, and like a stupidly expensive paper weight. It was a birthday gift from my wife, and I'd like to hold onto it.

Any ideas? Any suggestions? Can you bring my portable sanity dispenser back to life?

What should I know before I attack this chimney?

qxntpqbbbqxl — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:38:31 -0800

What should I know before I attack this chimney? For some reason lost to history, my house has a seven-foot section of brick chimney standing in the dead center of the attic. There is no chimney below or above; it does not extend through the roof.

Now, I've got it in my head to finish the attic, and that involves removing this curiosity. But I have two questions that maybe the Hivemind knows the answers to:

1) Could there be asbestos in the mortar? If so, can I safely remove it myself with precautions (mask, plastic-wrapped work area, spray water to keep dust out of the air)? Google has given me conflicting answers, ranging from "asbestos was ubiquitous in mortar" to "I've been a demo man for 30 years and I've never heard of that". The house is 125 years old; the chimney may or may not be that old.

2) Is it possible this is a structural component? It's not load bearing --- there's nothing on top of it --- but it is a 1650-lb weight sitting in the center of the house.

Brick Lane Tradition

mary8nne — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:42:15 -0800

Brick Lane Curry House recommendations please. I must experience this quintessentially London tradition of a beer and a Curry on Brick lane. What is your favourite curry house on Brick Lane? And please don't say go somewhere else. It basically MUST be 'On brick Lane' as otherwise one cannot say: "I had a curry on Brick Lane".

(there was a similar Ask in 2006 but most recommendations were to avoid Brick Lane).

Replacing a driveway?

yellowbkpk — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:04:18 -0800

I'd like to tear up and replace my parents' sagging brick driveway this summer. What am I getting myself in to? Have any recommendations? My parents have a roughly 20 x 30 foot brick driveway that is starting to sag quite a bit in a couple spots. The bricks need to be pulled up and new bedding needs to be added underneath.

Should I be tearing out the entire driveway? Should I use all new bricks or reuse the ones already there? How long might this take? Is there an easy way to split this task up into pieces that many people can do (other than the obvious part of putting the bricks back in)?

Should I just pay someone else to do it?

Is it safe to restore an iPhone unlocked with AnySIM?

doomtop — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:24:02 -0800

Is it safe to restore an iPhone unlocked with AnySIM? I have an original iPhone. It is jailbroken and running 1.1.1 firmware. AnySIM was used to unlock the phone. However, I don't know exactly which version of AnySIM was used.

I want to restore the phone to factory defaults and start fresh. Ultimately I hope to upgrade it to the latest firmware available.

Is it safe to do a restore through iTunes? I have heard there could possibly be issues with this due to the unlock using AnySIM. Could a restore brick the phone?

If it matters which version of AnySIM was used, is there any way to figure that out? The AnySIM app is no longer installed.

Any insight here is appreciated. Also, once I get it fully restored, I plan to upgrade and would also be interested in info on the current tools available for upgrading/jailbreaking/unlocking/etc.

Thanks!

Laying a graded path

sLevi — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:33:27 -0800

How do I lay a stone/brick path over an area which is uneven due to tree roots? Instructions available on the web or books? I'd like to lay a path which starts at the level of the driveway, slopes or steps upwards slightly due to tree roots, and then levels off to meet the concrete at the side of the house. Looking for tips, directions, photos of someone's completed project, websites, books...anything!

Getting weeds out of paving?

krisjohn — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:21:23 -0800

What's the best way to get weeds out of brick paving? We've got a paved section outside the back door. The weeds grow out from between the bricks. We've tried using a "whipper snipper" ("weed whacker"), but that resulted in a shattered glass door when a small stone was picked up by it. (We have glass on two sides of the area.)

We've tried poisoning the weeds, but you still have to dig them out. We tried covering a section with opaque plastic to kill the weeds without poison, but they didn't die after a couple of weeks and the plastic looks crap.

Currently, the most effective way is to dig them out with a screwdriver, but that's an awful lot of work, particularly for something that will come back.

Sealing Exposed Brick Wall

jgballard — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 12:59:20 -0800

I have an exposed brick wall in my house (it was like that when I moved in). It's quite irregular, and a bit rough, so I'm not sure I really want to paint it. But I would like to prevent the dusting and flaking, without it looking too shiny. Has anyone out there done this? Is it a spray process, or applied with a brush? And some people warn the wall then can't 'breathe.' If anyone's done this I'd appreciate any tips.

How can a local business just starting out effectively advertise?

ShawnStruck — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:59:05 -0800

My wife recently took her home-based and internet-based candle/incense/etc business into the bricks-and-mortar stage. We have a good idea on what to do for internet advertising, but need suggestions for effective local business promotion. The store (link to the site and more about the store is in my lone Projects posting) is located in Arlington, TX, down the road from a well-trafficked shopping center with a Tom Thumb (grocery store chain), Starbucks, Blockbuster video, etc-- in a smaller shopping center that is also fairly active.

The shopping center the actual candle store is located in a moderately well-traveled, and is two stores down from a few other fairly-well-trafficked stores (a Chinese restaurant, a barbershop, pizzeria, etc). Business has been ranging from slow-to-okay-to nil. She's set up an ad with the Yellow Pages, and will have a coupon for the store in an Arlington Memorial flyer given out at the hospital that suggest local businesses to go to for gifts. She's dropped off some promo cards at the businesses in her immediate shopping center. But we're at a loss as to how we can more effectively advertise and get the word out to get people into the store.

Any ideas?

One hundred year old interior brick chimney: Help me seal its surface?

jimmyhutch — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:02:19 -0800

Can you recommend a good product for stopping an old brick interior chimney from powdering and dusting - and to make the brick look beautiful and shiny? My wife and I just bought a hundred year old house in Oklahoma City that was renovated inside. One of the features that was chosen as a showcase was an interior brick chimney that rises through the middle of the entire house, on both floors. It's a 2' X 2' chimney, obviously used for heating at some point, with a round hole on each floor where some sort of directional device for heat was placed. It's actually quite a nice architectural feature - with the exception of the fact that the hundred year old red brick powders and crumbles a little when you touch it, and it makes a dusty mess on the floor. It doesn't crumble in huge chunks or anything, and the mortar is still hard, but it is a mess when it powders on the floor.

I have done some research on masonry sealant and that type of product - I'm looking to add some sort of finish to this brick chimney to stop the crumbling and powdering/dusting, and to add a nice medium shine to it. My first instinct (since I am well versed in scenic painting and general construction/paint and finish types) would be to add some sort of clear polycrylic to it. Is there a product that would give the effects and solutions that I desire to this chimney? Once this process is completed, I know that it will look stellar - I just need help finding the right product.

So far, I have found this UGL product, this Quikrete product, which actually might give too much of a shine, and this Behr product. Should I consider some sort of Poly Acrylic product, or a urethane product? Is there something that I am completely missing here?

Thanks in advance!

Thingie? Doohickie? Whatzit? WTF!!!

plaidrabbit — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:13:46 -0800

MacUsersFilter: This seems like a fairly simple Google search, but I'm coming up short all over the place; what is the name of the little part with the actual power prongs that interfaces into the power brick shipping with all Macs, and will interface with any power brick (post Yo-Yo), any AirPort Express, or any iPod charger brick? I need one of these for the UK/IE power outlets, and refuse to pay $40 for 8 adapters when I need one, two at most. I'm sure someone on eBay (either in the US or in Ireland/UK) sells these for way cheap, and I'd like one. So, what is it called, or what do I search on to find them? I've tried "duckhead", "power adapter prongs", etc., but they all come up short, both on eBay and Google. MeFites, help! (BTW - eBay has come up empty just looking for the UK/IE adapter, sold separately from the international adapters package.)

BONUS: If you can find me the UK/IE version of the extension cord, as well, I'll really love you forever and be your bestest friend for life.

What's under my wall?

zempf — Mon, 14 May 2007 12:30:48 -0800

We recently purchased an old rowhome in Philly & are slowly but surely doing some renovations to it. We're pondering ripping out some drywall to expose a bit of brick, but are trying to figure out the best way to see what's under there before destroying everything. The thought we've had is pulling the drywall off of (what used to be) a fireplace, which right now is just a mantle sticking out of a blank wall (can be seen to the right in this picture). I'd like to expose the brick there for a bit of color in the room, blah blah, but I'm not really sure of the best way to find out if it's worth doing without ripping off a giant section of wall (lest we find out that the whole thing's an ugly crumbling mess).

One thing that complicates stuff a bit is that I believe the drywall is directly over the brick (or potentially directly over old plaster, which is over the brick -- the previous owners of our home made some weird "improvements" which included drywalling right over the plaster on some walls). So that may prevent me from easily sawing a square in the drywall & then just replacing it if I don't like what I see. Any thoughts from others with similar experience?

...to a deluxe apartment in the skyeyeye.

rubberkey — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:23:01 -0800

I'm 18 and I had to move out of my parents house. I'm in an apartment in Jersey City. I don't have cockroaches, there aren't any leaks, its a really great apartment and these are all small things that I've been dealing with the last few months. It's the basement apartment in a brownstone-type area of Jersey City. I have my own bedroom and bathroom but a communal kitchen with the people one floor above me. They're very nice upstairs.

1. (This is the most important question because its the only one that has made me reconsider living here.) It freezes while I'm out in the winter. I have a small semi-portable heater that keeps my bedroom warm after I've been home for a while but I don't think you can leave those on while you're not home. There's nothing worse than getting home at 2 am and crawling under frozen sheets. What can I do about that, the kitchen and bathroom being so cold?

2. What do I do with the fallen leaves in the front yard area? I never thought about that growing up because we raked them into piles and then they were gone. No-one else in the apartment uses the front area except me.

3. The grout between the tiles in the bathroom are black black black and its nasty to look at. Can I bleach them or something? Also, I have to hold down the handle for the toilet the entire time its flushing or it will stop, how do I fix that?

4. The front entry way smells awful. Right under the stairs where my front door is smells like sewage, I assumed rainwater sitting somewhere. I just can't see it anywhere. It's only sometimes, sometimes it smells fine. But when it does smell bad, its unbearable. Is this somewhat common? Since I don't know what the culprit is, I hope that someone else has experienced this and has some advice. (I'm the only one that uses the door under the stairs.)

5. What do I do with the crumbling brick walls? They are coming apart as a fine powder on the carpet. (This is not as urgent, I moved the bed to the other side of the room and nothing is touching the brick wall anymore.)

6. There is a gap between the top of the windows and the ceiling. There are plastic bags stuffed in there and I haven't taken them out to inspect it but I'm pretty sure that all the heat is escaping from the windows. It wasn't a huge problem, we just had that huge rainstorm yesterday and my windows and door stayed dry so I assume its sealed but its also plastic bags stuffed in the cracks. What can I do about this? Should I use that stuff that foams up and hardens in place? Am I allowed to fix that myself or do I have to ask the apartment manager or something?

7. I have bars on the windows since its the bottom floor, so what can I do for an air conditioner? I used a fan all last summer.

Finally, is there some helpful website or book that will help me with all this?

Where to find a brick cell phone adapter?

slim — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:27:50 -0800

Help me find a Zach Morris 'brick' style cell phone that acts as a working headset when attached to your current cell. I saw this on MeFi so I know it's here, but I can't seem to find it. I've also googled this and all I can find are the retro phone receivers that you would see on a corded, rotary home phone. I've also found websites showing how to turn those old motorola brick phones into what I'm looking for, but no actual sites that sell it.

So basically, a brick cell phone that has a cord that attaches into the headset or 'hands-free' plug on your cell. Help!! TIA...

And? And...this is a brick?

nekton — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 10:06:34 -0800

Is this ampersand some sort of mason's mark for bricks? Yesterday while wandering the upper edges of a salt marsh (South Shore, Massachusetts) I found an old stone wall that also had some random bricks added to it. One of the bricks had this piece of what I assume to be mortar stuck to it, and embedded in the mortar was a clay ampersand. The mortar sort of fell off (ok, I kind of broke it off...), so I kept it. The entire piece is about 2 inches wide by 4 inches tall. The middle section (with the ampersand) is raised. ( [close-ups] of the ampersand...sorry it's so blurry. )

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I think it's either a mason's mark of some sort or part of a larger block of text that was laid into the mortar but I'm hoping one of you has more insight or information.

What's the best curry house in Brick Lane?

kenchie — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 07:59:40 -0800

[LondonCurryFilter] What's the best curry house in Brick Lane? .....or not in Brick Lane? Planning a curry night for my birthday - where to go?

Remove paint from brick fireplace?

jca — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 10:17:48 -0800

How do you remove paint from a brick fireplace? Previous owner (a "flipper" actually) of our house painted the red brick fireplace bright white. I want to remove the paint, but I've heard this is really difficult to do.

I know that a common solution is to sandblast the paint away, but I wanted to know if there were any other alternatives that work. (Plus I've heard that the downside of sand blasting is that it can sometimes damage the brick itself.)

Any suggestions?

All in all it's just too many bricks on the wall

donnagirl — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:37:24 -0800

What can I do with an unattractive brick wall in a family room? My sister's home has a nice family room adjacent to the kitchen, but the east and west walls are brick, in very dark shades of red and black. She'd like to lighten up the room. 70's style ranch house, low ceilings, so that's no small trick. Any one have experience (or, even better, photos) painting/covering interior brick walls?

Stain stains?

tristeza — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 18:45:49 -0800

Spilled polyurethane wood stain on my brick walkway - is it doomed? Yeah, so I kicked over the entire can of mahogany stain I was using on a bookshelf. Brill. It now covers about 3' by 2' of my brick patio walkway. I mopped up what I could and kind of just walked away in defeat. Once it dries, is there any way to redeem my bricks from their fate? It is, of course, on the bricks and pooled between them in the dirt (there's not concrete or anything between the bricks, just dirt).

At least I didn't try to hose it down, that would have been a disater, right?

No brick, please.

LGCNo6 — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 20:53:07 -0800

I just got a PSP (firmware v. 1.52) and want to run SNES emulation software on it, but am TERRIFIED of bricking it. Should I just take the plunge and try to downgrade the firmware (and if so, I'd like to hear some stories from people who have done this) or just wait for someone enterprising to figure out a workaround that will allow me to run the emulators on my firmware?

Chicago Brick

GaelFC — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 09:46:07 -0800

What does the term "Chicago brick" mean? I Googled and found plenty of references, but no definition. I have heard that it refers to houses done in multi-colored brick, but it may also refer to a certain type of brick. Interested in photos, any info about derivation of the term. Thanks!