Those who do know shit about tools

[Rasputin22]

 

[Diarmuid]

Let us maximize potential energy of our dishware!

 

[167149]

Let us maximize potential energy of our dishware!

you can bet somewhere, some time either in the past present or future there'll be some boffin trying to work out just how to generate electricity probably via bluetooth or similar from the velocity of a falling object, kinda like standing on top of a cliff and chuck enough rocks off to fully charge your phone, could be handy mid tasman

 

[Diarmuid]

you can bet somewhere, some time either in the past present or future there'll be some boffin trying to work out just how to generate electricity probably via bluetooth or similar from the velocity of a falling object, kinda like standing on top of a cliff and chuck enough rocks off to fully charge your phone, could be handy mid tasman

Yeah, these are the peeps who string a wire between two trees and get excited when it shows a voltage. "We could power the world with this one cool trick/passive energy collector!!!"

Now put a load on that wire & see what happens to yer static voltage, son.

Although convincing people to toss their phones off high places to wirelessly charge them might be a fun social experiment. "I hear you can also use a microwave oven to fast-charge your iPad." (Disclaimer: don't attempt this)

 

[167149]

Although convincing people to toss their phones off high places

that would be doing this world a huge favor

 

[SloopJonB]

you can bet somewhere, some time either in the past present or future there'll be some boffin trying to work out just how to generate electricity probably via bluetooth or similar from the velocity of a falling object, kinda like standing on top of a cliff and chuck enough rocks off to fully charge your phone, could be handy mid tasman

It's been done - it's called hydroelectric generation.

 

[Grande Mastere Dreade]

 

[Liquid]

1918 build, NW PDX

Sorry bad pic of the original part of the kitchen:

The upgraded part! Anybody got a guestimation on the year of this range, '60s or '70s?:

All nicely wrapped around the chimney stack:

 

[Mrleft8]

60s I'd say. Early 60s I believe that's a Tappan "Fabulous 400".

 

[Diarmuid]

A brick chimney occupying the kitchen was a nightmare design feature of many Sears Roebuck kit homes. Lots of people were still cooking and heating with wood or coal stoves, plus maybe a coal burner in the cellar. Running the furnace flue up the middle of the house let you plumb your range & a parlor stove right into a central stack. I've had to design around several of those chimneys. At least it solves the 'inside corner cabinet' question right away.

 

[IStream]

We demolished a brick chimney running up the center of our first house as part of a remodel. The recovered volume on every living level was substantial. Stacked laundry closet on one floor, additional square footage for the adjacent room on another floor, linen closet on a third. And we used the antique brick for an awesome outdoor patio. Huge bang for the buck.

 

[fukupananvil]

A brick chimney occupying the kitchen was a nightmare design feature of many Sears Roebuck kit homes. Lots of people were still cooking and heating with wood or coal stoves, plus maybe a coal burner in the cellar. Running the furnace flue up the middle of the house let you plumb your range & a parlor stove right into a central stack. I've had to design around several of those chimneys. At least it solves the 'inside corner cabinet' question right away.

My first house was a Sears kit house with a chimney up the middle of it through the kitchen. Original structure was something like 29x29' with a hip roof. I was told most Sears kit houses were built near railroads since the whole house arrived on a railcar. Mine no exception.

 

[Diarmuid]

Yep. This was a depot railroad town from inception. And local timber was hard to get at. So we have lots of Sears houses here. Pretty nice for the most part! Many lack cavity insulation tho -- wasn't part of the package in 1916.

My house is an all-steel kit home. Arrived on a flatbed truck. The kit is less than half the cost of the finished structure -- you supply groundwork, concrete, plumbing, wiring, windows, interior finish, and insulation -- but it did allow me to break ground in April and dry in by October, working largely by myself. In retrospect, I might have done it as an ICF building like the shop is. ICFs were really expensive at the time, tho. Only one or two US sources of them and I hadn't yet met my buddy, who was an ARXX dealer.

 

[fukupananvil]

Yep. This was a depot railroad town from inception. And local timber was hard to get at. So we have lots of Sears houses here. Pretty nice for the most part! Many lack cavity insulation tho -- wasn't part of the package in 1916.

My house is an all-steel kit home. Arrived on a flatbed truck. The kit is less than half the cost of the finished structure -- you supply groundwork, concrete, plumbing, wiring, windows, interior finish, and insulation -- but it did allow me to break ground in April and dry in by October, working largely by myself. In retrospect, I might have done it as an ICF building like the shop is. ICFs were really expensive at the time, tho. Only one or two US sources of them and I hadn't yet met my buddy, who was an ARXX dealer.

Mine was 1910 vintage as I recall. Deed had N, S, E, and W 180 degrees backwards. Surveyor got it wrong also. I caught it before paying him, argued, and finally said come out tomorrow morning and if the sun comes up on this side of the house I will deed it to you free. He started listening. Turns out the whole plan had the meridian backwards. Never went sailing with him.

 

[Diarmuid]

We demolished a brick chimney running up the center of our first house as part of a remodel. The recovered volume on every living level was substantial. Stacked laundry closet on one floor, additional square footage for the adjacent room on another floor, linen closet on a third. And we used the antique brick for an awesome outdoor patio. Huge bang for the buck.

That's a non-trivial demo job.

 

[Raz'r]

That's a non-trivial demo job.

We did it in our house. The contractor gave a guy a sledgehammer and a wheelbarrow - was done in a day. No saving bricks done that way...

 

[Diarmuid]

We did it in our house. The contractor gave a guy a sledgehammer and a wheelbarrow - was done in a day. No saving bricks done that way...

If the internal brickwork is in decent shape and it can be taken down in a balanced, methodical fashion, it's not so bad. They have a habit of going Jenga on unsuspecting hammer-wielders, tho.

 

[Raz'r]

If the internal brickwork is in decent shape and it can be taken down in a balanced, methodical fashion, it's not so bad. They have a habit of going Jenga on unsuspecting hammer-wielders, tho.

Our guy started at the top and worked his way down...

 

[IStream]

Same here. It helped (a lot) that the mortar was like plaster after 90 years. A 5lb sledge was all it took to separate the bricks and didn't even require much of a knock. Starting at the top, they dropped the bricks down the chimney, working their way towards ground level. As I recall, the lower 5 feet or so of the structure was pretty much where the growing pile of loose bricks on the inside matched the height of the shell coming down.

 

[bmiller]

Same here. It helped (a lot) that the mortar was like plaster after 90 years. A 5lb sledge was all it took to separate the bricks and didn't even require much of a knock. Starting at the top, they dropped the bricks down the chimney, working their way towards ground level. As I recall, the lower 5 feet or so of the structure was pretty much where the growing pile of loose bricks on the inside matched the height of the shell coming down.

The mortar was lime and sand, no cement, common practice back in the day. Mortar made with portland cement doesn't just soften up over time.

And you don't use an s to pluralize brick.