RC spy car as crawlspace inspection device?
james
crawling in it.
Can you use the trakr (RC video camera tank) to inspect the crawlspace or is
there something more appropriate? The camera would need to see in the dark
or have built-in light.
Things I want to checks are : water on the vapor barrier, rodents, detached
insulation, etc.
Eric in North TX
If it is fairly smooth it could work, that looks very easy to high
center. Were that to happen, you would have to crawl to retrieve it.
Built in light? you could attach a small led flashlight to it.
Here is another thought: http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/usa/
deadgoose
to explore one of the air shafts in one of the pyramids. Worst case,
you would have to crawl in and retrieve it.
Steve Barker
you could tie a light line to it incase you have to drag it back or
something. I know in one house we have, there IS no going in the crawl
space. It's about 8" from the joists to the dirt.
--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email
Robert Green
news:90a8192a-b4de-4008...@y23g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...
> IIRC, there was a show on the history channel showing such a strategy
> to explore one of the air shafts in one of the pyramids. Worst case,
> you would have to crawl in and retrieve it.
Tie a string to it so if it flips, you can haul it out. After watching a TV
show where they were hauling dead and maggot-ridden possums and skunks out
from under the crawl space, I am now thoroughly convinced NEVER to buy a
house without a basement. Repairing *anything* serious in a crawl space
turns a fairly routine job into a near-lunar expedition, complete with
bio-hazards from the parasites and other creatures that inhabit living and
dead possums, skunks, raccoons, etc. You have my sympathy. Gives me a good
idea, though. Start a plumbing and electrical company staffed by midgets
specializing in crawlspace work. (-:
I've never been able to figure out why some areas of the countries don't
have basements. It was probably a good building strategy when there was no
plumbing, CATV or electric in houses, but now? Uh uh.
--
Bobby G.
dpb
...
> I've never been able to figure out why some areas of the countries don't
> have basements. ...
Clearly you've never had a leaking one or failed walls from clay soil
heave, etc., etc., etc., ...
--
N8N
> "deadgoose" <deadgo...@comcast.net> wrote in message
High water table, would be my guess.
nate
Steve Barker
It's easy enough to keep the serious critters out of a crawl space. The
bugs and small things won't hurt you.
as for your question about no basements, well in someparts of the
country it is solid rock. Can't dig. Hard enough to put in a frost
footing. In other areas, no tornadoes, so no basement needed. Build on
a slab. It's cheap. Ever watch extreme home makeover on sunday
nights?? Those fancified mcmansions are ALL built on slabs. It's the
only way they can do it in a week. Crawl spaces are not the end of the
world, but i sure do wish the folks in the old days would have made the
house just 8 or 10 inches taller off the ground. LOL! I'm not as skinny
as i used to be. And the house i live in has the joists 8" off the
dirt. and NO access to the space anyway.
Eric in North TX
> "deadgoose" <deadgo...@comcast.net> wrote in message
2 words: flash floods
Bob F
So you can zap any rodents you see?
Joe
Video camera from Harbor Freight? Radio Shack? For light install a
proper lamp assembly fitted with a CFL.
Joe
Larry Fishel
> I've never been able to figure out why some areas of the countries don't
> have basements.
Here in Florida, those are called swimming pools.
Stormin Mormon
--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.
"Robert Green" <robert_g...@yah00.com>
wrote in message news:iarsi1$b2m$2...@speranza.aioe.org...
Oren
There are telescoping poles with wireless cameras (Some very costly).
This cam pole, maybe? Or make something similar.
http://www.4kam.com/gutter_inspection_pole_camera.htm
.. two cent...
aemeijers
rare. I know the soil conditions and water tables in some areas make
basements problematical, but unless I absolutely had to live someplace
they were totally impractical, I would find a basement, or go with a
well built slab house. I hate crawls with a passion. Or if cost was no
object, I'd find a lot that was big enough to make a hill that was above
the water table.
(That last tactic is pretty common with McMansions in bayou country.
Looks nicer than the houses on stilts.)
--
aem sends...
cl...@snyder.on.ca
Tie a string to it to retrieve it if it gets stuck. I use an RC truck
to pull cable over suspended ceilings quite often. If it gets hung up,
I yank on the fish-cord to get it unstuck, then let it go again.
cl...@snyder.on.ca
There ARE other options
Basement, or on slab, I'd never buy a house with a crawl-space. (or a
flat roof)
Robert Green
news:iarsub$1k0$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
Clearly. Well, I've had leaking ones, but I'd rather deal with that than
crawl under the house on a hot day to fix a cracked pipe lying next to a
dead skunk, a cadre of spiders and loads of other things that seem to call
crawlspaces "home sweet home."
Is soil instability the only reason to omit basements (aside from cost)?
--
Bobby G.
Robert Green
news:AKOdnULDwoFqlU_R...@giganews.com...
> On 11/3/2010 10:47 AM, dpb wrote:
> > Robert Green wrote:
> > ...
> >
> >> I've never been able to figure out why some areas of the countries
don't
> >> have basements. ...
> >
> > Clearly you've never had a leaking one or failed walls from clay soil
> > heave, etc., etc., etc., ...
> >
> > --
> A properly built and drained basement makes those occurrences extremely
> rare. I know the soil conditions and water tables in some areas make
> basements problematical, but unless I absolutely had to live someplace
> they were totally impractical, I would find a basement, or go with a
> well built slab house. I hate crawls with a passion.
I've never been under one, never want to be, either. You just can't do your
best repair work choking on rotting raccoon dust squished in like a sardine.
We've nearly rewired the house to be all grounded circuit outlets (it was
two wire). If I had to do it from a crawlspace and not the basement, it
wouldn't have gotten done.
One thing I noticed in the crawlspace they showed on DJ's was all the loops
of unsecured wiring under the house. Probably not professional work but
I'll bet neatness suffers when the repairman is unhappy. Those loops make
it doubly hard to move without snagging and breaking something. I think
I'll go have a party for my basement in my basment tonight. I didn't know
how good I had it until I saw the raccoon ridden crawl space exploration on
Dirty Jobs.
> Or if cost was no object, I'd find a lot that was big enough to make a
hill that was above
> the water table.
> (That last tactic is pretty common with McMansions in bayou country.
> Looks nicer than the houses on stilts.)
At least you could take a workboat under a house with stilts. I'm assuming
that no basements are standard in areas like NOLA because they bury people
above ground which has to be a testament to how unstable the ground is.
I've only lived in the north and mid east, and real estate values probably
help dictate the desire for basements. The more it costs per square foot,
the more temptation there is to expand that real estate upward and downward.
The area we're looking in has a lot of basementless houses. Since I can't
crawl around under them anyway anymore, I shouldn't care. It's a younger
man's worry now I suppose.
I'm having enough trouble deposing of the stuff that builds up in a basement
over time - stereos that need fixing, broken appliances, not quite dead yet
auto parts for cars I no longer own, old porch lamps, new porch lamps that
are waiting for new porch, plywood scraps, pipe scraps, useless plexiglas,
half dead batteries, dead battery tools awaiting rebuilds, old PCs, lots of
spools of wire, soda bottles filled with paint (so they don't rust in the
bucket), plumbing tools, wiring tools, old shoplites, new shoplites, so much
stuff to get rid of. Hmmm. That wouldn't happen with only a crawl space.
Maybe they do have a use.
--
Bobby G.
Edward Reid
<robert_g...@yah00.com> wrote:
>I am now thoroughly convinced NEVER to buy a
>house without a basement.
You're not moving to Florida, then. (Might be a good thing for those
of us already here as well as for you. My mom used to have a bumper
sticker "leaving Florida? take a friend".) Basements are rare in
Florida, and pretty much non-existent in residential building.
>I've never been able to figure out why some areas of the countries don't
>have basements.
High expense when it's not needed to get below the frost line. In
north Florida, the frost line is about 1/4" below the surface. In
south Florida, it's at the top of the grass. Plus the water table is
almost never 8' down, so a basement has to have a floor and the walls
and floor have to be not only watertight but keep out 2 to 4 psi.
Basically you have a houseboat.
If you don't like repairing something in a crawl space, try repairing
it when it's embedded in a slab.
But I agree, an 8" crawl space is beyond stupid. They don't have to be
like that. I can sit up in mine in the most cramped corner. At the
access door, I can sit up and have space between my head and the
joists. Eventually I plan to seal it with 6 mil poly and put down
boards to slide on -- cleaner and keep the humidity out.
So the problem is not a crawl space per se, but a crawl space that's
stupidly small.
Edward
Robert Green
news:akg4d6hc82g92foah...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 3 Nov 2010 10:35:49 -0400, "Robert Green"
> <robert_g...@yah00.com> wrote:
> >I am now thoroughly convinced NEVER to buy a
> >house without a basement.
>
> You're not moving to Florida, then. (Might be a good thing for those
> of us already here as well as for you. My mom used to have a bumper
> sticker "leaving Florida? take a friend".) Basements are rare in
> Florida, and pretty much non-existent in residential building.
No worries, I'm not moving to the Hurricane Belt. Got socked in with Opal
in Montgomery, Alabama. Once is enough.
> >I've never been able to figure out why some areas of the countries don't
> >have basements.
>
> High expense when it's not needed to get below the frost line. In
> north Florida, the frost line is about 1/4" below the surface. In
> south Florida, it's at the top of the grass. Plus the water table is
> almost never 8' down, so a basement has to have a floor and the walls
> and floor have to be not only watertight but keep out 2 to 4 psi.
> Basically you have a houseboat.
That makes sense. Another mystery of life revealed.
> If you don't like repairing something in a crawl space, try repairing
> it when it's embedded in a slab.
On the one hand, the slab would keep critters from chewing on wires, but on
the other hand, when you need to do something, it's a hell of a mess.
> But I agree, an 8" crawl space is beyond stupid. They don't have to be
> like that. I can sit up in mine in the most cramped corner. At the
> access door, I can sit up and have space between my head and the
> joists. Eventually I plan to seal it with 6 mil poly and put down
> boards to slide on -- cleaner and keep the humidity out.
That makes more sense, but it seems that you have to be vigilant about the
keeping the vents screened and with something a little sturdier than
aluminum screening.
> So the problem is not a crawl space per se, but a crawl space that's
> stupidly small.
I'll still take a basement every time. (-:
--
Bobby G.
Robert Green
news:m134d6pvdtru73tm9...@4ax.com...
It seems to me a slab is just as troublesome as a crawlspace, just in
different ways. At least you won't have rotting skunks in a slab. My wife
freaked when she learned that critters especially like to nest in the area
up and around the bath tub in houses with crawlspaces.
--
Bobby G.
rlz
> <cl...@snyder.on.ca> wrote in message
>
> news:m134d6pvdtru73tm9...@4ax.com...
>
>
> > >Robert Green wrote:
> > >...
>
> > >> I've never been able to figure out why some areas of the countries
> don't
> > >> have basements. ...
>
> > >Clearly you've never had a leaking one or failed walls from clay soil
> > >heave, etc., etc., etc., ...
> > There ARE other options
> > Basement, or on slab, I'd never buy a house with a crawl-space. (or a
> > flat roof)
>
> It seems to me a slab is just as troublesome as a crawlspace, just in
> different ways. At least you won't have rotting skunks in a slab. My wife
> freaked when she learned that critters especially like to nest in the area
> up and around the bath tub in houses with crawlspaces.
>
> --
> Bobby G.
ok, which is worse. Crawling on your back in a cool crawlspace to fix
an electrical issue, or getting in an hot attic of a slab house in
July in the South.
Red Green
news:105c7144-fb44-48d7...@p7g2000prb.googlegroups.com:
errrrr..... depends :-)
Done both - in the south. No creepies in the attic and it's dry. At least
you can go up in the morning or later evening when it's cool or plan it
on a rainy/cloudy day. Lot easier to bring stuff in as well as move
around.
Then again, you can't always plan when you do it.
Went up in the attic once with the AC guy, in the south, 96 (temp &
humidity) and sunny. I thought it couldn't get worse. Then he fired up
the map torch.
DerbyDad03
Watch this excerpt from Modern Family, Season 1, Episode 16.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/132151/modern-family-truck
If you can find the entire episode someplace, the "RC spy car as
crawlspace inspection device?" question will be answered for you.
cl...@snyder.on.ca
<robert_g...@yah00.com> wrote:
That depends how it is built. In a slab, wires can run in "ducts" or
"conduits" - no strapping required - to replace just drag the new wire
in with the old in a conduit, or remove the duct cover in the floor -
but MOST utilities in on-slab are run overhead.. MOST on-slabs are
also only single storey construction (bungalow) so all the utilities
are in the attic - and very often also the furnace and central air.
Forced air heat requires significant pre-planning if you want floor
mounted registers, but in-floor radiant heat is very common in on-slab
homes.
cl...@snyder.on.ca
It's a toss-up. They should build on-slab housed with "lunch box"
roofs in the south. Just pop the roof open when repairs are needed
inside.
Side benefit - if a huricane takes the roof, just clip a new one on
:}
DGDevin
"deadgoose" wrote in message
news:90a8192a-b4de-4008...@y23g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...
> IIRC, there was a show on the history channel showing such a strategy
> to explore one of the air shafts in one of the pyramids. Worst case,
> you would have to crawl in and retrieve it.
That was interesting, they got to a door made of a huge slab of stone with
some copper fittings to keep it from being raised to open it, and that's as
far as they got. I wonder if they ever figured out what was on the other
side of the door? <cue spooky music>
Robert Green
news:M7CdnR13I9BxEUnR...@earthlink.com...
Geraldo Rivera.
--
Bobby G.
Robert Green
"Steve Barker" <ichase...@notgmail.com> wrote in message
news:UdOdndckS49650zR...@giganews.com...
Tell that to my Marine buddy and his son who went coon hunting near Quantico
and ending up covered in ticks. Close to 300. Little things can hurt you
just as badly as some of the big ones. (-: Squirrels laughed at my first
attempts to screen them out of the attic. Now the vents are covered with
1/4" thick metal gridwork of the kind seen on metal stair risers on old
front stoops. Apparently if the squirrels were raised in the attic, they
want back in very badly and will chew wherever they can catch a whiff of
their old haunts.
> as for your question about no basements, well in someparts of the
> country it is solid rock. Can't dig. Hard enough to put in a frost
> footing.
That makes sense. It also makes sense, as other have suggested, to have
basement in an area with a high water table or in areas prone to flash
floods. It's sound like areas without basements have some serious "other"
issues to consider. When I see interviews with people in flood areas on the
news saying it's their fourth or fifth total innundation, I ask myself
"What does it take to get people to move to higher ground?"
> In other areas, no tornadoes, so no basement needed. Build on
> a slab.
Are basements really built outside tornado alley just to provide refuge? I
wonder if it's a throwback to the days of root cellars and once the trend
of basements got going it didn't stop - until it met areas where it was not
a good idea.
> It's cheap. Ever watch extreme home makeover on sunday
> nights?? Those fancified mcmansions are ALL built on slabs.
Watching them would just encourage them. (-:
> It's the
> only way they can do it in a week. Crawl spaces are not the end of the
> world,
No, they're just the *gateway* to the end of the world . . . (-"
> but i sure do wish the folks in the old days would have made the
> house just 8 or 10 inches taller off the ground. LOL! I'm not as skinny
> as i used to be.
When you get to be as skinny as you were when you're older than say 50, it's
usually not a very good thing. Be thankful for that fat. Well, some of it,
anyway.
> And the house i live in has the joists 8" off the
> dirt. and NO access to the space anyway.
Mike Rowe was working in a damn tight space - so tight he was getting his
butt snagged when backing up. It couldn't have been much taller than 12 or
14" inches worth of space. And all they were doing was inspecting and
removing dead raccoon and skunk carcasses. Working under there just has to
be grim. What I would worry about is how long it could take to get out of
there if you had an accident, got some chemicals in your eye or whatever?
Tank crews have a loop on their backs for quick extraction and they're not
cramped at all compared to some crawl spaces. Of course, your average house
won't blow a 100' crater if the stored ammo lights up accidentally.
--
Bobby G.
Robert Green
news:5d1e9d5d-934c-44dc...@x42g2000yqx.googlegroups.com...
I'm beginning to get the picture.
--
Bobby G.
Robert Green
news:67758fe5-3596-4d98...@s4g2000yql.googlegroups.com...
<2 words: flash floods>
That sounds like a good reason. I've never seen rain like I saw in
Orlanda, FL when I visited one spring. Had to pull off the road it was
raining so hard and even that was just guesswork. I figure the windshield
wipers couldn't have kept up even if the wiping speed was increased 100X.
It was like walking under a waterfall.
--
Bobby G.
Robert Green
news:a529d61d882kojr5k...@4ax.com...
What about the toilets, sinks and tub drains? They surely can't run *those*
overhead. (-"
--
Bobby G.
The Daring Dufas
The problem I have in attics in the summer is the fact that I sweat like
a thunderstorm and my sweat shorts out electrical items.
TDD
Jim Elbrecht
-snip-
>
>Are basements really built outside tornado alley just to provide refuge? I
>wonder if it's a throwback to the days of root cellars and once the trend
>of basements got going it didn't stop - until it met areas where it was not
>a good idea.
Anywhere the winters are cold cellars started as safe storage for
edibles. Then when central heat came along [even if it was just a
coal/wood burner in the basement under a grate- the cellar became heat
storage.
One of the houses I grew up in had;
1. a furnace room
2. a coal room
3. a cold storage room
Another had a 1000gallon cistern in it.
Both had parts of the house that were later additions with crawl
spaces.
Jim
aemeijers
Don't over-analyze it. Assuming you don't have a high water table, and
the ground isn't full of rocks, basements are the cheapest square
footage you can add in new construction. You have to put in a foundation
system anyway. With modern digging machinery, the cost delta to dig a
little deeper, and pour a little more concrete and/or lay another 8-10
courses of block, is trivial compared to the overall cost of the new
house. Not at all like the old days when foundations were mainly
hand-dug, and the dirt had to be hauled away in wagons if you had no
place on the property to dump it.
IMHO, THAT is why basements became popular in the early part of 20th
century. The fad started in urban areas, of course, because it made it a
lot easier to hook up to city water and sewer, especially if they
happened to be deeply buried on the street in question.
Of course, all of the above assumes the builder wasn't clueless about
drainage and foundation sealing, or too cheap to put them in, figuring
he'd be long gone. I've been in 1930s basements that were bone-dry and
odorless, so they did know how to do it back then. I've also been in
1990s basements where mushrooms were growing.
--
aem sends...
The Daring Dufas
The last home my father and us boys built on the family farm, was dug
into the side of a slope. One side of the basement is at ground level.
I'm not sure if there is a specific term for that sort of construction
but it has a spectacular view of the valley below since the house is
only 100 yards from the top of the mountain. Dad wanted to build right
at the peak but Mom wouldn't allow it because when the project was begun
me and my siblings were little kids. There is a cliff at the peak
with another spectacular view and it's a very long way to the bottom.
It's a wonder any of us kids survived.
TDD
Robert Green
news:ib2mar$s7e$2...@news.eternal-> On 11/5/2010 10:29 AM, Red Green wrote:
> > rlz<ro...@ellzey.net> wrote in
<stuff snipped>
> > Went up in the attic once with the AC guy, in the south, 96 (temp&
> > humidity) and sunny. I thought it couldn't get worse. Then he fired up
> > the map torch.
>
> The problem I have in attics in the summer is the fact that I sweat like
> a thunderstorm and my sweat shorts out electrical items.
>
> TDD
On trick I learned right here in AHR is to aim a garden hose on the area
you're working it. It really does cool things down even though it makes
your neighbors think you've gone loony, watering the roof.
--
Bobby G.
Robert Green
news:bpcad6lua3j7qu3l8...@4ax.com...
I grew up in a similar house, built in the 1880's. The coal bin eventually
got replaced by a oil tank - no more shoveling!
--
Bobby G.
The Daring Dufas
What actually works best is one of those ducted fans like the utilities
use to ventilate manholes.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/24j2xqw
TDD
Robert Green
That would be my guess on why they became so popular. Cities like New York,
Boston and Philly were immigrant centers and any extra space built had the
potential to be rentable. So as you say, the marginal cost of adding a
basement had the potential to pay for itself with extra tenants.
> You have to put in a foundation system anyway.
Most builders do. (-: I recall seeing one house when I was looking for
fixer uppers in the 1980's where the foundation consisted of bricks, bottle
jacks and an odd assortment of other supports. I couldn't believe it hadn't
been condemned which I believe did happen as soon as people starting looking
at it and began asking questions about its ability to get a C of O.
> With modern digging machinery, the cost delta to dig a
> little deeper, and pour a little more concrete and/or lay another 8-10
> courses of block, is trivial compared to the overall cost of the new
> house. Not at all like the old days when foundations were mainly
> hand-dug, and the dirt had to be hauled away in wagons if you had no
> place on the property to dump it.
Based on the number of basements in old houses I've seen in big cities, they
are the rule, not the exception. As others have noted, once you got to
areas where land was cheaper, basements made less sense.
> IMHO, THAT is why basements became popular in the early part of 20th
> century. The fad started in urban areas, of course, because it made it a
> lot easier to hook up to city water and sewer, especially if they
> happened to be deeply buried on the street in question.
That's an interesting thought. Some architecture student must have done a
research project on American basements. Maybe I'll give it a Google.
> Of course, all of the above assumes the builder wasn't clueless about
> drainage and foundation sealing, or too cheap to put them in, figuring
> he'd be long gone. I've been in 1930s basements that were bone-dry and
> odorless, so they did know how to do it back then. I've also been in
> 1990s basements where mushrooms were growing.
Yep. There's been good work and bad work since the dawn of time. I would
have like to have been there to see the look on the Pharoh's face when the
first early step pyramid crashed under their own weight. It took them a
while to realize that steepness had its limits.
There was a program on Nova just a while back on collapsing cathedrals.
Quite a few of those toppled before they understood the dynamics of flying
buttresses (which my nephew thought had something to do with fast, fat
waitresses the first time he heard it).
--
Bobby G.
notbob
> Tell that to my Marine buddy and his son who went coon hunting near Quantico
> and ending up covered in ticks. Close to 300. Little things can hurt you
> just as badly as some of the big ones.
Death by tick is a common problem for moose and other large animals up in
Canada. We're talking thousands of ticks jes bleed the poor animal
dry.
nb
k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz
wrote:
>On 11/3/2010 9:35 AM, Robert Green wrote:
>> "deadgoose"<dead...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:90a8192a-b4de-4008...@y23g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...
>>> IIRC, there was a show on the history channel showing such a strategy
>>> to explore one of the air shafts in one of the pyramids. Worst case,
>>> you would have to crawl in and retrieve it.
>>
>> Tie a string to it so if it flips, you can haul it out. After watching a TV
>> show where they were hauling dead and maggot-ridden possums and skunks out
>> from under the crawl space, I am now thoroughly convinced NEVER to buy a
>> house without a basement. Repairing *anything* serious in a crawl space
>> turns a fairly routine job into a near-lunar expedition, complete with
>> bio-hazards from the parasites and other creatures that inhabit living and
>> dead possums, skunks, raccoons, etc. You have my sympathy. Gives me a good
>> idea, though. Start a plumbing and electrical company staffed by midgets
>> specializing in crawlspace work. (-:
>>
>> I've never been able to figure out why some areas of the countries don't
>> have basements. It was probably a good building strategy when there was no
>> plumbing, CATV or electric in houses, but now? Uh uh.
>>
>> --
>> Bobby G.
>>
>>
>
>It's easy enough to keep the serious critters out of a crawl space. The
>bugs and small things won't hurt you.
>
>as for your question about no basements, well in someparts of the
>country it is solid rock. Can't dig. Hard enough to put in a frost
>footing.
In those cases it's not necessary. The ledge *is* the frost footing. Anchor
to it.
>In other areas, no tornadoes, so no basement needed.
Nonsense. As others have pointed out, you still need to get the foundation
down below frost, so a basement is essentially free; just dig out a little
more dirt (and often use it for fill on the same lot).
>Build on
>a slab. It's cheap. Ever watch extreme home makeover on sunday
>nights?? Those fancified mcmansions are ALL built on slabs.
Ever notice how many of those are in the Southeast? No need for an 8' frost
footing in GA. HGTV comes out of Atlanta, IIRC.
>It's the
>only way they can do it in a week. Crawl spaces are not the end of the
>world, but i sure do wish the folks in the old days would have made the
>house just 8 or 10 inches taller off the ground. LOL! I'm not as skinny
>as i used to be. And the house i live in has the joists 8" off the
>dirt. and NO access to the space anyway.
My current house (100mi from Atlanta) is on slab. About half around here have
crawl spaces and basements are rare. The only house with a basement that we
looked at when we bought this house was built into a cliff. It looked like it
was going to slide down into the abyss any minute. A 20' high retaining wall
was all that was holding it onto the hillside. OTOH, the real reason we
didn't buy it was that SWMBO didn't like the kitchen. ;-) It had a 2300ft^2
unfinished basement that I would have *loved*.
The Daring Dufas
UG! 2300sq ft, good size for man cave. 8-)
TDD
k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz
Precisely! Unfortunately, I only got about 450ft^2 of unfinished attic and
it's going to be tough getting the tools up there after it's finished.
cl...@snyder.on.ca
<robert_g...@yah00.com> wrote:
snipped
>
>> as for your question about no basements, well in someparts of the
>> country it is solid rock. Can't dig. Hard enough to put in a frost
>> footing.
>
>That makes sense. It also makes sense, as other have suggested, to have
>basement in an area with a high water table or in areas prone to flash
>floods. It's sound like areas without basements have some serious "other"
>issues to consider. When I see interviews with people in flood areas on the
>news saying it's their fourth or fifth total innundation, I ask myself
>"What does it take to get people to move to higher ground?"
>
>> In other areas, no tornadoes, so no basement needed. Build on
>> a slab.
>
>Are basements really built outside tornado alley just to provide refuge? I
>wonder if it's a throwback to the days of root cellars and once the trend
>of basements got going it didn't stop - until it met areas where it was not
>a good idea.
Up here you need to get below frost for the footings.
If you are going to dig a hole anyways, why fill it, when for the cost
of a concrete floor you have doubled the floorspace of a bungalow, and
increased the floor space of a 2 storey by 50%?
It is the cheapest space you can build, when the hole has already been
dug - and going deep enough for a 7 1/2 foot deep basement instead of
a 4 foot one isn't much more expensibe if bedrock is not involved.
In the summer my basement is the coolest part of the house, and in the
winter the warmest. It is fully finished except for the furnace room -
and with the house being only just over 20X30 feet, the extra room is
welcome.
cl...@snyder.on.ca
<robert_g...@yah00.com> wrote:
Nope, but it all runs under the basement floor eventually too.
Having the drains in and under the slab is not generally an issue.
cl...@snyder.on.ca
wrote:
The house I grew up in, the main basement was only just over 5 feet
high, the cistern was out behind, and when we built the addition on
the back in '64 it got a full basement under the part of the addition
that was not over the cistern.
cl...@snyder.on.ca
It's called a walk-out basement or a "bank house"
The Daring Dufas
Cool! Now I know what to call it!
TDD
The Daring Dufas
I suppose when you're married, you must make compromises to stay that
way. I'm uncompromising, that's probably why I'm single. Of course the
drooling and the crazy eyes may have something to do with it too. :-O
TDD
Robert Green
news:oGeBo.11580$Ou2....@newsfe20.iad...
When I saw the extent of the bites I can easily understand how they could
kill moose AND people. My bud and his son had built a blind and were
sitting in it and said they felt little if anything as those suckers climbed
up and hitched a ride. I certainly never felt the one that I found clamped
on the tip of my you-know-what when I went to take a leak after mucking out
a friend's stable. I imagine that when hundreds start sucking at the same
time, enough blood volume loss can make some people faint.
My jarhead friend spent a few days taking turns with his son sitting in a
bathtub of clorox solution. It was the only thing that even put a crimp in
the itching. Now he's got to be innoculated for and tested and retested for
all wonderful diseases ticks carry. This is the same poor guy who after
pulling all the weeds surrounding his new home got the almost the worst case
of poison ivy I had ever seen. His arms looked like bloody loaves of bread,
the skin was splitting open.
After seeing that, even on the hottest days in the garden you'll find me in
long pants, boots, long-sleeved shirts and gloves. I remember getting a bad
case of poison ivy reeling in a 100' extension cord in my hands that had
passed through a small patch of the crap as I pulled it in. The dose on my
thumb was so high it left a permanent mark on the skin. That was the finger
that wiped along every inch of the stinking wire as I reeled it in.
The worst case was a guy I knew was way back at school who used leaves to
wipe his butt. He was enough of a naturalist to know what leaves were OK -
except they were all entwined with poison ivy which he failed notice. It
was rubber inner tube and screaming in the bathroom for a long, long time.
Reminds me of the story of PT109 and how they were so thirsty one night that
they licked the dew drops off the plants until to find out the next day they
were covered with guano.
--
Bobby G.
k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz
<the-dari...@stinky.net> wrote:
Kinda. When we were looking for this house, we both had a "veto", which even
a couple of years ago limited our choices considerably. I liked one house
that had a 3-car garage, until I measured it. This one at least had some
space that could be converted into a shop. I'll have to cut a hole in the
garage ceiling to hoist the tools up.
After ~40 years at least the "drooling" part pretty much dries up.
Douglas Johnson
>Kinda. When we were looking for this house, we both had a "veto", which even
>a couple of years ago limited our choices considerably.
When my wife and I were looking for this house, we had three criteria: I liked
it, she liked it, and we could afford it. We looked at a lot of houses. It was
easy to get two out of three. This was the first one that scored 3 of 3.
-- Doug
k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz
wrote:
;-)
The one rule that I didn't mention was that she wanted a new house. We didn't
even look at older homes. That wasn't my decision, but I didn't have the time
to look at many more than I did (new job, long move and all). I really wasn't
into a fixer-upper or a new roof, either.
The "could we afford it" part was easy. We had long decided to look well
below what we could comfortably "afford"; we were looking to pay the mortgage
off in ~5 years (not our first rodeo). Bottom line: if it wasn't in our price
range we didn't waste the RE agent's time[*] or ours.
[*] Never tell an agent what your real financial situation is. We set her
sights lower, knowing that their MO is to up-sell. ;-) We came in at the
upper end of our target, but well below what I had in mind for the walk-away
limit.
Robert Green
news:4jibd65spct5g3897...@4ax.com...
Further evidence supporting your theory is NYC. They blast six story
basements out of the bedrock when building because land values are still
ridiculously high and probably always will be. You can rent out parking
spaces in the basement for incredible sums - at least they were incredible
the last time I had to park in Manhattan ($500 a month in nineteen eighty
somethings). They probably get $3K a month now.
> In the summer my basement is the coolest part of the house, and in the
> winter the warmest. It is fully finished except for the furnace room -
> and with the house being only just over 20X30 feet, the extra room is
> welcome.
I agree. That's why I'd pay a premium for a house with a basement although
I must confess, my stores mostly junk since I live in one of those 100 year
flood zones that now floods every 10 years. We had close to 12" of rain in
ONE day:
"Places like Federalsburg, Maryland had to be evacuated when over ten inches
fell in only 24 hours. Washington DC and Columbia, Maryland had similar
conditions on June 25th, when seven to ten inches of rain fell in only 24
hours. Northeast Maryland, just east and northeast of Baltimore, experienced
extreme rainfall on June 25th, when seven to ten inches of rain fell in only
24 hours. One of the highest rainfall totals in the entire region was at
North Bel Air, MD, just north of Baltimore, which had nearly 12 inches."
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QRF/is_6_48/ai_n16852983/
That kind of water turns streets into waterways. I saw cars flooded up to
the hood. I began wondering whether I should have built an ark in the
backyard.
--
Bobby G.
Robert Green
Well, if you want the Rolls-Royce of cooling technologies, those portable
airconditioners they use for the A-line stars on movie sets would make the
attic most workable. Directors can't afford to have a drop of sweat ruin a
makeup job that can easily cost 10's of thousands of dollars, especially the
prosthetic workups.
However, neither a ducted fan or a portable AC unit is in my future. A
garden hose is. I mounted the hose on an old, heavy duty photographic
lightstand and clamp rammed into a hole in the ground. I should go to
google and look up who posted that suggestion because it's one of the most
useful things I have learned here. (Speak up if you remember, anyone!)
It's also a "D'oh" moment because I should have been able to think of it
myself.
--
Bobby G.
The Daring Dufas
It also works in an emergency when the condenser fan goes out on an AC
system. You tie a water hose and sprayer to a stepladder and water
the condenser coils with a medium shower, not too fine or too coarse.
The water will keep it running until the fan motor can be replaced.
TDD
cl...@snyder.on.ca
Well, my house is built at the high point of the street, on a
sandmound just over half a mile from the grand river, which would have
to rize over 200 feet to reach my house. I don't even have a sump
pump, or provision for one. The "T" intersection beside our house (we
are a corner lot) has occaisionally filled withwater when the 3 storm
drains all get plugged - usually with ice from snow-plough ridges, and
we get a heavy rain/thaw. Only had a trickle of water in the basement
once - before we replaced the rotted sill to the back patio door.
Smitty Two
"k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" <k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote:
A wise choice. But when g.f. and I bought house B two years ago, we were
quickly reminded that the price / quality graph is not linear. Spend 25%
more and get twice the house. And twice refers to size, quality,
location, everything. Spec creep sets in pretty readily, and it doesn't
take an RE agent to up-sell. We ended up at more than twice our original
target, although to get there we had to redefine our objectives.
notbob
>> It's easy enough to keep the serious critters out of a crawl space. The
>> bugs and small things won't hurt you.
Crawlspace homes are common in CA where it's not wet or damp. I went
under mine to run some tv cable and was surprised at the total lack of
most everything, even spiders. Jes dirt and wood flooring. Here in
CO, it's similar. OTOH, I have an freaky aversion to spiders. The
solution is cleanroom suits. When I went under our park model home to
plumb a new sewage run, a cleanroom suit was perfect for the job.
Kept me clean and kept the crawlies out.
I jes happened to have a couple, from working in clean rooms at one
time, but "bunny suits" can be purchased for home use. I've found
them as low as $8 ea. Since they are pretty tough, even the disposable
paper suits, they can be reused a couple times.
You can get 'em as low as $5 ea if you're willing to buy a couple
dozen. If I gotta go where the bug count ain't low, I'll gladly shell
out a twenty for a couple suits and shipping. ;)
nb
k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz
wrote:
Sure. The price-feature curve certainly isn't linear and varies significantly
by location and market conditions. We bought this house two years ago, which
was pretty good timing. The market was obviously on the down-slide but there
was still a reasonable inventory of spec homes. Builders were quite
motivated, at least those who hadn't rented. I'd likely have looked higher if
I didn't have a short end in sight (retirement) and wasn't somewhat concerned
about the job lasting. It's not like we need more space (two people,
2600ft^2, 3BR, 3-1/2 bath). My cave is the only real shortcoming.