Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with construction

Looking for books on building military castles (ca. Middle Ages-era)

noztran — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:11:09 -0800

I am looking for resources (preferably books) on how castles were built, say, why stairs are spiralled in one direction and not the other, or what are the pros&cons of circular towers vs. octagonal ones, or the considerations for putting internal and external defence rings, the height and thickness of walls, or the differences between how the castles were built in different countries, etc. Thanks in advance!

House-building idiot seeks construction guide for dumbasses.

bengarland — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:32:07 -0800

What is a good reference for learning to build a house? I need to get a basic grasp of things like building codes and best practices for electrical wiring, plumbing, roofing, etc. So I'm planning my own rammed earth passive solar home to build in northeast Georgia, United States. I have a basic understanding of what goes into a home and how to design a sensible floorplan.

What I don't know are the particular specifications to comply with the building code and/or just standard ("best") practices in general. I feel like there is a lot I could do on my own (since I have the time) if I just knew HOW to do it. I understand it is prudent to have a licensed electrician (for example) to inspect the electrical work and do all of the final "live" connections, but I think I can run the conduit, wire, and connect outlets and switches myself... I just need a good guide.

Is there a good resource (preferably a book(s) that are illustrated) that can answer the following types of questions?

Electrical: How do I wire an electrical panel (fuse box)? How do I run wire from the panel to an outlet or light switch? What type of conduit is required? How do I wire all the outlets in a room to a single on/off switch on the wall? How frequently (in number of feet between outlets) do you have to place outlets on a wall? When do you need a GFCI outlet? What type of wire do I need for standard 120v AC? What about 240v (such as an oven)? What is a junction box and what does it do? Etc.

Plumbing: What type of drain pipe do I use for a sink? a toilet? How is this drain pipe installed into a concrete floor (before pouring)? What type of drop does such a drain need to have? In what situations do I need a clean-out, and how is it installed? How do you install plumbing for a shower or bathbub? How do you connect pipes so they won't leak? Etc.

Roofing (metal roofs in particular): How do I attach roof beams (joists?) to a sill plate (beams similar to this)? How do I "fill in" the gaps between the sill plate and the roof (assuming I want the joists to overhang on the outside and be exposed from below)? How do I attach the metal roof to the underlayment so that it doesn't leak? How do I install rigid insulation on a roof? Is some sort of rubber membrane required for moisture control? How do I frame around clerestory windows and prevent possible leaks (a roof similar to this)? Etc.

Building code: What is required (assume Federal building code or just what is common, unless you are familiar with Georgia code in particular)? What will the inspector look for?

Source for construction industry lingo?

eliina — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:06:47 -0800

Can anyone point me to a resource where I can learn construction industry-related lingo? I'm a defense attorney and I've recently been pulled onto a few cases involving accidents on construction sites. There is a lot of terminology tossed around in the documents I'm reviewing, and I could use some help making sense of it.

(For example, I'd been trying to determine the difference between a pettibone and a lull, only to finally figure out they are two brands of forklifts, not two types of equipment).

Any book or website suggestions would be appreciated!

Help me plan to build a boat

Fiasco da Gama — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:29:40 -0800

Help me think about and plan boat building. For many years I've been troubled by the odd and inexplicable ambition to build, launch, and sail my own wooden trailable yacht. A smallish one, one that could be lifted out of the water by a few people and stored in a backyard, yet big enough to carry one or two people and dinner and sleeping bags.

I'd like to do it for the satisfaction of building almost as much as for the concrete object.

I have joined a Club on Sydney Harbour a bus ride away from where I live and I am taking beginner's sailing classes. They're excellent, and I think I'm learning—but I'm almost entirely ignorant about how one would go about budgeting for, planning out, buying materials for, constructing, testing and sailing one's own boat.

My wood- and metalworking experience is that of faffing about with my high school's clapped out drills in year 9 of high school (although I did get high marks in it). I am a 29 year old white-collar university-educated bureaucrat, though for various reasons my job security is at best marginal. I live in a rented two bedroom flat without even a verandah let alone a garage or shed for constructing things. I have in the past taken on very long-term projects and completed them, but they've been mainly intellectual not concrete in nature, and I'm stumped as to where even to start. I'm happy to read lots of books. I just don't know what they are.

I'm in no hurry, and the timeframe I have in mind is "before I die". Help this cut-price Noah: what would be the first step towards boatbuilding?

What Would OFFICER Gladys Kravitz Do About the Bad Neighbour?

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:13:11 -0800

Please help me to find, and to understand Toronto's Construction and Parking By-Laws, and then how to have them enforced and upheld strictly, quickly, and legally in order to protect our rights, our property and our peace of mind. I have been to the city's website, and have downloaded Chapter 363 Building Construction and Demolition and am trying to understand how to apply the information in it. I've Googled, and have written to the City Planner and our local Councillor's office for information and advice - but know from experience that their responses take days if not weeks and I see that we will sometimes need to immediately effect change. Jokingly mentioning to the construction workers "Please kind to your neighbours!" isn't working. I need to take Gladys Kravitzing to the next level. I need help, for example, on where to find information for things like IF it's allowed for a construction vehicle or employee's personal vehicle to take up space on a permit parking street, and if it's not, how to have it ticketed as a deterrent or removed - within a reasonable time frame, not over days and without me having to approach the construction site and plead for relief with my kid and dog and bags of groceries and grumpy mood in tow. How do I best get someone to come and measure decibels, if there's a violation? I understand inspection of the foundations of nearby properties is supposed to be done within a specific distance before construction starts - but it hasn't been done. And when they violate the No Construction on Sunday By-Law, what is the best way to get someone on top of that, pronto? And how can I be sure that inspections are taking place at the right stages (For example, the lot's probably supposed to have proper construction fencing right now, but doesn't yet)? Who's the boss of these things, and how can I brown-nose better to get results? If you're a builder or developer, and can tell me how to make this work better, please do tell!

I'm actually asking as point person for a bunch of us. This developer met with the neighbours on our street over the course of six months to get us to agree not to object at the OMB for zoning changes on two developments a few doors away from each other. With the Councillor involved, and City Planning as well, we all made some compromises and prepared, grudgingly, for the developments. Over the past two years, as the economy changed, and he had trouble with his finances and other projects and hold-ups with his site plans and permits, the lots stagnated. They went into disrepair, there was criminal activity on his properties, we made several complaints first directly to him, then filed Community Complaint Reports with the police, and complained to MLS . He did such things as dig giant holes to get the next stages of his funding by "breaking ground", then left them to sit over the summer, filling with water and becoming mosquito pits. We called Public Health in on that, but by the time that was to be resolved, he'd got his permits in place and planned to start building, so it was let go. But nothing was ever really done, ever, though all this, to deter him from being a jerk or encourage him to be a better neighbour or to satisfy us, because by the time the police would get there the deal would be over; or MLS would send an inspector, and he'd come in under the wire and do a quick and "good enough" clean up after weeks of dumping or other problems like overgrown foliage sheltering the drug transactions. Now he's cancelled the larger of the developments and has returned the deposits, the one that was to be the "gateway" for the smaller one that I personally am stuck next to - which was not what we all agreed to and nobody's happy, but it's too late. The City Planner tells us that he filed the applications separately, that the lots were never linked together as far as permits and site plans are concerned, despite the fact that that's what we considered while we negotiated - so we're S.O.o.L. We now know not to trust him. He will not respond directly to us any more. I have a friend who bought a unit in the one that's being built next door, which is the only speck of light in this whole dark disaster - and he has given me some inside information that's been helpful. It's a residential street with only ten houses on it - but suddenly we are getting a fifteen unit apartment building right next door, thanks to the City's mandate for density and a stupid Industrial zoning that can be changed to a Live/Work designation, but not strictly Residential.

I am asking for my neighbours as well as my own family: How can we help to make sure that from here on in, he toes every line, dots every i and crosses every t and cannot make our lives any more difficult now that we're wise to him -- and use what rights and protections and means we have to enforce them? Sharing experiences on what worked for you and your nightmare neighbourhood developer would be comforting, and perhaps helpful. Sharing tips as a construction boss on how to encourage law-abiding and courteous, neighbourly behaviour would be great too.

I'd love to be the kind of person who buys the crew a coffee gift card and chats over the fence about the weather and then drops a "You know, starting at 6:47 when the by-law says 7 is not something we're going to overlook too often, so...couldya knock it off?" - but after a week of this, with every time I have to twitch my curtains, I'm more in the mood to put a By-Law officer on speed-dial.

Throwaway email: me.GladysKravitz@trash2009.com

Cross Thread

cmoj — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:09:52 -0800

Why do crosswords have to be symmetrical? I've been constructing crosswords and reading about constructing crosswords. There are all kinds of conventions, but some of them seem to exist solely to make construction more of a feat.

What does a symmetrically gridded puzzle give the solver?
Ditto for symmetrical theme answers?
Why does the size have to be odd (I've seen it explained that it leaves a central row and column, but so what?)?
Is it all just because the NYT has said so for a hundred years?

Advice on building a ramada

TorontoSandy — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:30:53 -0800

Construction newbies would like to build a backyard ramada. We're thinking of an open structure, similar to an arbor. The plan is to use 4 4x4 posts set 8 feet apart. The roof will be a slatted top with a 1 foot overhang. Since this is termite country, I'd like to anchor the posts in a cement footing using a J-bolt. My question concerns the size and depth of the cement tube forms. Do you recommend an 8 inch or 12 inch form and to what depth should we dig the post hole? We will have a motorized posthole digger, but we will be digging in caleche.

Outside Air Filter

ulotrichous — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:07:52 -0800

We want to add a wood stove to my wife's studio, currently under construction. Is outside combustion air a must or a maybe? The studio is framed and roofed, and it's on a 2nd story above the garage. The place where we'd like the wood stove to go is above the garage, so we could do a vent through the floor and duct it to the outside.

I've read differing opinions as to whether outside combustion air is a good idea or not. I understand if the house is tight, it can draw exhaust down the water heater flue or in through bathroom fans, etc, but there won't be any other exhausts to back draft in the building. It's not super tightly-sealed but it is new construction; however there are french doors which are always going to let some air in, ventilated soffit, etc.

One thing I read said that outside combustion air is more efficient because your house becomes positively pressurized, which sucks the warm air towards the envelope of the house (and out?) which distributes the heat better in the space for greater efficiency.

But I also read this near-rant on the myth of outside air but it's very axe-grindy and seems like it comes from a guy who used to sell wood stoves that didn't offer outside air options... but it makes some good points.

My builder is a little worried about additional fire code requirements for the garage ceiling if the outside air vent comes through there, and it's always possible that the outside air could be added later, but I don't want the kit to become unavailable, or have to redo the ceiling as part of it, etc.

The stove is a Drolet Eldorado. It's Canadian, so you know it's good. The studio is about 600sf with a 200 sf office below in the back that I am calling "geekland".

So, do you have experience with outside air supplies for wood stoves? Do you think we should do this now, or maybe plan to do it later, or not worry about it?

seeking books or articles on corruption in large building projects, ancient to modern

IndigoJones — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:36:50 -0800

Seeking books or articles on corruption in large building projects, ancient to modern. Any large construction project is going to have shavers, chiselers, sharpies, crooks, incompetants, opportunists. You expect it. I'm looking for anything describing these shenanigans, from overpriced and shoddy material, to deliberate slowdowns, work that had to be redone, hard bargaining to extortion, and of course, pure theft. Even murder, why not? Time and place are no bar, everything is welcome, desirable even, from pyramids to Freedom Tower. I want to know about the architects, contractors, financiers, government officials and parasites, the men whose low character makes the price of magnificence what it is in an imperfect world. (The heroes in the face of crap are also welcome, but I want exposé more than hagiography, and buildings more than, say, railroads. That said, I trust your judgement.)

Closest I can come up with are things like Caro on Robert Moses, McCullough on Brooklyn Bridge and train tracks. Fictionwise, Pillars of the Earth and Atlas Shrugged are noted. But I'm hoping you can do better. Anything you can think of - books, articles, documentaries - is welcome. Extra points for older.

(On afterthought - forseeable natural problems also welcome (libraries build without calculating weight of books, shifting foundations, etc) But mostly human moral failure.)

Dear Alderwoman, I did not enjoy my drive through a construction site in your ward. Plz advise.

limeonaire — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:38:37 -0800

Engineers, construction workers, and lawyers: How can I find out what the specific site safety requirements and statutes are for an under-construction commercial urban development site? Specifically, I'm looking to find out more about site-safety requirements in the city of St. Louis, Mo. I'm especially seeking information that might shed some light on what might be required in the way of erecting barriers, fences, and signs to keep the general public safely off roads and paths leading into construction sites.

Here's the specific circumstance that prompted this question:

Headed north on a local highway in the dark, amid a light drizzle, I took a city exit I'd never taken before. I soon I figured I'd best find a way to get back on the highway. I made a quick right at the first light I reached, then turned right again at the next light after that, hoping it might take me right back around to the highway on-ramp. (A look at Google Maps when I got home suggested that that's exactly what this road originally did.)

Unfortunately, the road quickly turned into an unlit, half-paved drive, surrounded by overgrown brush. The drive narrowed as I crested a small rise—only to find myself at the edge of a vast expanse of muddy gravel. The street, it seems, currently dead-ends in a vacant lot behind an under-construction Walgreens. The only way out, since this was a one-way street, appeared to be driving toward the already-constructed parking lot. So I drove slowly across the gravel, headed for the parking lot—only to find myself stuck in the mud right next to what turned out to be a new curb. After a series of fits and starts, I finally got my car unstuck—and came down with a big crunch on the other side of the curb.

Hyperventilating, I parked next to the building, where the light was better, and got out to check the car. Nothing creaked or popped or looked obviously broken, so after moving a traffic barrel blocking the new parking lot's only entrance/exit, I made my way back to the highway and drove home.

This morning, I moved my car and checked the pavement where I'd been parked, and saw several fresh oil spots. This car is only a couple years old and has never leaked anything in the time I've had it. So I took a flashlight and peered under the car, and it looked like the plastic cowling protecting the oil-filter area had come partially dislodged. I couldn't see anything else that looked obviously damaged, but clearly I'm going to need to take this in to the shop tomorrow so they can put it on the lift and repair the cowling and/or the oil-filter cap/gasket and/or anything else that might've been damaged.

Hence my initial query. I'm trying to figure out what recourse, if any, I have in terms of recovering damages in this situation (perhaps via small-claims court?)—and making sure it never happens to anyone else. I can't believe they don't have that street blocked off.

I plan to contact that ward's alderwoman first thing Monday. But I'd like to have something concrete to cite in my conversations with her and/or anyone else I have to deal with about this explaining what's wrong with the site, especially since the builder of this development is a very large company.

I found a few sections of the Missouri Revised Statutes that look as though they may apply: 319-035, 319-040, 319-041, 537.346, 537.348.

I also uncovered slides from a PowerPoint presentation on ANSI's A10.34 standard (Google's cached html version here), which, although only a voluntary-adoption measure, still provides some sense of what the baseline standards for construction-site public safety should be. The very first requirement listed? "Restricting public access to the jobsite – a site security plan." Along those lines, best practices listed include "100 percent fencing of the project site," "Use of easy to read signs," "Daily inspection of fences, locks and gates," "Daily inspection of traffic control devices," and "Night lighting or security service." The area of the site I ended up driving into had none of those things: no fences, no gates, no roadblocks, no signage, no lighting, no security.

So...are the statutes I uncovered relevant? Is this ANSI standard relevant? Does anyone know of anything more specific I should be reading about or anyone else I should be contacting at this point? Thanks for any help anyone can give me with this!

Make Me a Model

god particle — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:19:46 -0800

Where can I send someone a design of a 3D object and have them put it together for me? There's a mask/helmet that I'm designing that I want to create. I could make it myself out of cardboard or thick poster board and a hot glue gun, but the results probably wouldn't be that great and I don't have time to construct it on my own. So preferably I'd like to outsource the work to someone else. I'm not sure how cheap something like this would cost; my design isn't very elaborate so I think it should be relatively simple to assemble. Are there any companies that do this sort of thing? I'm located in Philadelphia if there are any local/nearby businesses that do this sort of thing.

If only I could bike at my desk...

Inspector.Gadget — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:52:59 -0800

Where can I pick up strenuous physical labor in DC on an occasional, volunteer, or (extremely) part-time basis? The academic year is about to pick up again and I know by the second week of class I'm going to feel like a slug. The last two weeks or so I've been hobbling around on several broken toes and unable to run or bike seriously, so the cabin fever is starting even earlier than usual. I'm looking for something I can do a few hours a week on an inconsistent schedule, with emphasis on weekends: if it's paid, great, but I'd also be interested in work for a suitable nonprofit. I don't think I can commit enough time to do Habitat for Humanity. Here's the sort of stuff I'm looking for, and it'd be even better if this was stuff I was doing by myself:

Splitting wood
Stacking/moving heavy things
Load truck with heavy stuff, drive 15 mins to place, unload truck
Break down pallets or similar wood frames
Help a bricklayer
Warehouse work
etc.

Thanks in advance. N.B.: I am not interested in anything that has me within 50 feet of stuffing envelopes or any other sort of office work.

Is there a way to speed up the construction of the house next to mine?

hellbient — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:30:34 -0800

Is there a way to speed up the construction of the house next to mine? The city-owned house next to mine (attached) has been under construction for over a year. The contracting company is apparently notorious for these long affairs, and judging from the other houses in the neighborhood that have their signage, there's no end in site. And the property is getting worse - every week there's more trash in front and on the side of it, windows are getting broken and the plywood covering some of the windows is slowly coming undone. I'm calling the company (and 311) as much as possible to complain about rats, open doors, racoons, etc. to try to set a precedent, but I'm not sure it's going anywhere. The house goes for weeks/months without ever being worked on. I need it finished before a crackhead sets it on fire (which would take my house with it), and so I can get some new awesome neighbors. Plans/schemes to get the ball rolling? I'm in Brooklyn.

Give me a home.

Nonce — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:09:54 -0800

How cheaply can I build a house? This question is a sprawling mess. I'd love to get all sorts of information and even personal anecdotes on any and all aspects of the question, and things I haven't thought to ask.

I would like to build a one room tiny house, reminiscent of these.

Can it be done for $20,000, with an unfinished interior and no appliances?

How much can a fellow who is generally handy but not experienced in these things get away with doing himself?

Would it be sensible to have the exterior built, plumbing and electricity installed, and the rest (insulation, flooring, appliances, interior wall siding) done by myself? I think I could do those things, but I never have.

Having the house built on a trailer leaves me wondering about ways to reduce labor costs. Where is the least expensive labor in the country?

The Tiny Houses in the link appear to be small enough to literally just tow to wherever I ultimately want them. Gas for the trip would be prohibitive, but what the heck, road trips are fun and I'd be towing my hotel behind me. Is this a stupid thing to consider?

How simple would it be to install RV-style sewage, water, and electricity hookups into the house, and then hook those up to city water and sewer in a regular ol' residential plot? Assuming problems with permits could be waved away/don't exist in my ultimate destination, is this something that tends to be simple and cost $1,000 or a major deal that runs many times higher than that? Local anecdotes from anywhere are welcome.

If I wanted to build on a foundation, costs would skyrocket, wouldn't they? Even though the foundation would be tiny, the same equipment would have to come out to dig the hole and then fill it up with concrete, right? Or would the small size make the cost of the foundation wind up about the same as the trailer ($3,000 or so)?

Are there national codes for plumbing and wiring that are inclusive and will meet all state standards? How much does it run to have a licensed electrician/plumber come out and okay the setup, assuming no extra work is required, were I to move from one state/locality to another? (Ballpark! Local anecdotes welcome!)

Are the Tiny Houses linked to above particularly expensive for their sizes? Are there alternatives?

I know I could pick up a used mobile home for less than $20,000, but I would view any mobile home as roughly having the quality of a cardboard box. Is that an incorrect assumption?

Is the information on this site a good starting point for this sort of project?

I absolutely understand that construction costs are very location specific. Local anecdotes from Oklahoma would be just as appreciated as ones from New York City.

A Sopranos question

punkfloyd — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:23:02 -0800

I was watching my old Sopranos DVDs last night and a question came up. When Tony's crew show up at a construction site and just sit around in lawn chairs eating donuts...what the the heck are they really doing and why?

City bulldozes away bikes

You Should See the Other Guy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:55:15 -0800

So a friend of mine locked his bike to a city-provided bike post... he came back and the city (Toronto) had torn up the entire sidewalk for 2 blocks, including where he had locked his bike. The workers tossed the bikes aside, some still locked to the posts, but some of the posts broken in two thereby freeing up the bikes. His bike was gone. There was no indication from the city that they were going to do this (signs not to lock your bike, etc.). Police have been called but consider it a "stolen bike" issue... now what? Photos and more inside. Picture of bulldozer about to tear out bike post.

Same area post-post.

Picture of heaped bike posts, some broken in two by bulldozers.

Picture of some heaped bikes that weren't yet stolen.

Some other info: when the situation was explained to the workers (that the bike was missing) they laughed. When asked why there were no signs saying not to lock bikes up, they said, "There've been bulldozers out here for weeks." Yes, there had, but they had been tearing up the road, not the sidewalk. The city had not cordoned off the sidewalk the way it is in the pictures, until they were about to start bulldozing--that is, when the bike was locked up, less than 12 hours earlier, the sidewalk had regular access just like it always had before.

This is a major intersection, one of the busiest in the city: Yonge and Eglinton. My friend owns a store in the area and is there 4 times minimum a week--there were never any signs saying they were going to bulldoze away the bike posts.

Also note that the city recommends that bikes be locked to the post, not the ring, which is what my friend did. (Instructions are actually stamped right into the ring.) As you can see from the second photo, some of the rings were ripped free of the posts, which would allow bikes to just be lifted right off, which is what we assume happened.

Also of note is that the city made no attempt to keep an eye on the bikes once they'd tossed them to the side of the road. Anyone could just walk up and take them. I met no resistance walking into the area to examine the bikes in the photos.

Suggestions on how to proceed?

WhiteBoardFilter: Help me construct a standing whiteboard that's BETTER than the one on House.

BearPaws — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:15:55 -0800

What is the best way to design and construct a standing whiteboard? I'm interested in constructing a whiteboard for my academics and have the following preferences:

- Moderate cost of construction
- White tileboard for the board itself (although I am flexible and can consider galvanized metal or glass)
- Some type of wood for the frame or anything that can be cut at a Home Depot
- minimal ghosting after erasing

Now to the questions:

Do you have any suggestions for -
1. What materials to use?
2. A plan of action/easy layout to follow?
3. Keeping costs low?

Thanks in advance!

Road Construction PA Westbound I-80 vs Turnpike?

Chanther — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:44:15 -0800

At the moment, if one wants to drive westward through Pennsylvania, is it a better bet to take I-80 or the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-70/76) through the state? What's the construction like on those two routes? Under ordinary circumstances, I'd say I-80. But I don't know if there's a significant amount of construction on either interstate at the moment. Have you driven there recently, and can you clue me in?

The PA Department of Transportation has a map, but it's only available if you have IE, and I don't - and I'm leaving in six hours.

Thanks for your help.

What are these S-Shaped decorations?

deadweightloss — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:06:16 -0800

What are the S-shaped objects (seen here) I saw on houses all over Burgandy, in France? This photo is from Avallon; note the metal S-shaped doohickey in the house front's upper right. I saw similar objects on houses all over Avallon, and in at least some other towns I went to in Burgandy.

Are these decorations? Somehow functional? A French thing, or just a local thing? I wish I had remembered to ask a local while I was there.

It takes a crane to construct a crane.

halogen — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:52:06 -0800

I was recently delighted to learn that my 3-year-old nephew shares my profound fascination with construction cranes. Can you recommend a sturdy yet functional toy crane? The one he got for Christmas has been broken into many, many pieces by now. His mother is visiting me in the U.S. next week, and because nephew has been asking for a crane, I'd like to make sure he gets one that will last him longer than just a couple of hours.

I looked at crane toys on Amazon, but I'm not sure what's appropriate for a three-year-old (AFAIK, he scoffs at "baby" toys). Bonus points if the toy is affordable and the package not too huge.

BRICKLAYING

ebesan — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:55:31 -0800

BRICKLAYING. I need to learn all about how to lay brick; the classic/historical patterns; esp. in the US.; techniques; thin mortar joints; different types of bricks. European precedents.

you want me to wash my hair with this?

billtron — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:46:33 -0800

Why does the shower head only come up to my chest? I'm not inordinately tall. I'm 6'2". Why is it that so many shower heads are installed in the wall below my neck? The first time I experienced this was in junior high when my basketball team played a game at another school and my team was put in the girls' locker room. At that time, freshly lanky from puberty, I assumed it was just something that all girls' locker rooms had in common, like not having urinals.

But in the many years since that game (which we lost) I have run into the same problem too many times to count. Currently, I'm staying in a house in Irvine, California, that has a short shower head. It's not a girls' school, so my original hypothesis doesn't work, and it's only a few decades old at the most, so I can't chalk it up to the fact that people were tiny centuries ago. Why does it happen? Do contractors forget to factor in the distance from the bathroom floor to the floor of the tub? Are they trying to save expenses on copper pipes? Am I wrong to expect to wash my hair in the shower?

Speeding tickets inside construction zones

ascetic — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:02:38 -0800

Are the lowered speed limits enforced after a construction job is finished? Read on for a better explanation. After a highway construction job will end, and everything is cleaned up and gone, they will occasionally forget the signs that say the speed limit has been lowered and the tickets for speeding doubled.

Can the police still enforce this when the construction team has so clearly packed up and left? (Cones removed, machinery gone, etc)

Seeking blueprint drawings of windows and doors for art project!

Ponderance — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:25:12 -0800

Is there an architect or graphic designer in the house? I need line/blue print style images of windows and doors for art pieces I am designing. Please help! I am working on some art/architecture projects that require blue-print style line drawings of windows and doors. Not the floor plan style, but front-on views (I’m not articulating this well). Ideally these would be in illustrator or photoshop friendly formats. Is there anywhere online (or even in books) that have something like this? I have googled and I get are links to birds eye view images for architectural floor plans or exploded views from window manufacturers, which are not what I need.

Bonus for free, high resolution (I intend to blow them up fairly large) and downloadable, but I'm happy to shell out a meager sum for images that will suit my needs.

Metafilter pals please help me out!

Thanks!

Help me be an informed remodeler.

medusa — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:59:56 -0800

Please recommend resources for learning about home remodeling, particularly basement finishing. I am starting the process of getting the basement of my house finished. (Note that I will not do most of the work myself; I'm planning to hire a contractor.) I would like recommendations for books, websites, or other resources to learn about the remodeling process, what questions to consider, common problems and how to avoid them, what to watch out for, etc.

So far I have read information at www.buildingscience.com, which I think is great. It has specific recommendations about basement finishing that I found helpful.

Other building science resources would be helpful, but I also want to learn about design and planning, budgeting, finding a contractor, negotiating with the contractor, dealing with construction, and anything else I should know but haven't thought of yet.