In the US, lights, including halogen work lights, typically have their own on-board switches... seems more convenient to control the work light at the work light.

Actually I believe it was one of my first post about it the higher voltage requiring it for safety. If it not for safety it would be stupid to have.

Nor would you want to touch it with any dry part of your skin either. It probably won't kill you, but it will give you a hell of a bite!

You sure those arent LED? Sure looks like it.

If you ever worry about old wires arcing for some reason, you can get an Arc Fault Interrupter (AFCI).

https://www.leviton.com/en/products/residential/gfciafci/afci

We had a lightning strike nail the house. Direct hit, really interesting following the path it took. I knew the insurance company wasn't interested in checking the wiring in the walls near the strike (nor did I want my walls torn apart), so I got them to pay for AFCI breakers in the panel.

A childhood right of passage, dared to lick a 9 volt.

did-you-ever-lick-a-battery-1860948446 (resized).jpg

i still do this to test 9V's. how else do you test? Tingle test

I prefer a meter - but Neo will be Neo ..

rd

Hey punkin,

Thanks for starting such an interesting thread. From my experience growing up in a 2-story home with an unfinished basement (near Detroit), I miss having that security during a major storm. Now that I'm down in North Carolina, basements are rare and tend to be walk-out at the backside of home. While I've given up on having a basement, I went for the next best option: 3rd floor/finished attic. What a pain getting games up to that level, but I love the space. Doesn't solve the issue with storms/tornadoes...oh well.

For me, a true basement is almost completely underground with those little rectangular windows just above grade. It's amazing how we never experienced flooding while several neighbors (even directly across the street) were flooded. Also, we did not have a sump pump. There was a floor drain near the washer/dryer hookup.

As I look back, our yard seemed to have well-drained soil (loamy/sandy/organics). As kids, when we would dig holes at a friend's house across the street, soil was very compact and clayey (which backed up to the woods). Down here in the North Carolina piedmont, we have a lot of the compacted clayey soil. I bet the expansion/contraction of clay due to water (and occasional freezing) would cause basement/foundation wall cracking, leading to leaks.

Ok, that really wasn't much of an answer to your question(s). More like my life story. Point is, once you have a basement, you always want a basement.

These are the best kind for bringing pins in or out.

I love being able to put a NIB on the pallet in my basement. I can’t imagine dropping a NIB on pallet into basement that’s not a walkout.

I love your set and can see how that would be awesome!!!!

Another reason why Pinside is just becoming a dumping ground for more and more ridiculous and pointless threads.

You one of these people that shows up at other people’s birthday parties and complains they aren’t serving your favorite cake and beer?

You literally navigated to an Off-Topic category thread, and dropped a turd in here… so… speaking of ridiculous, dude…

Flooding is a more than annual occurrence down in Houston. No basements that I'm aware of in the greater Houston area. Tons of converted garages and single level addons/sheds though.

Heat and humidity also play a big factor, and pretty much require you to have A/C in any addition you plan on using for recreational purposes.

Up here it's the opposite. It's rare to find a house without a basement. Even in flood zones. Just make sure those sump pumps are working and have battery backup.

It is a bad idea to try and keep your basement dry during an actual flood. You are depressurizing your basement and the sediment coming through any crack will cause your walls to cave in.

Lots of interesting information here...

https://moss-design.com/basement/

"WHY DO CHICAGO HOMES HAVE BASEMENTS

... Cold weather above ground translates to freezing soil below the surface and the colder the air, the deeper the frozen ground. The freeze thaw cycle that take pace in that frost region can crack a concrete building foundation so its important to dig the foundation for any building down below the typical frost line. ... Excavating four feet of soil out from under a new building takes a lot of equipment and effort – but once you’ve begun, it takes only a little more to dig down a few more feet and have enough headroom for a whole ‘nother level of the house. Or better yet, dig down just those required 4’ and then set the “ground floor” a few feet above ground level."

Yes... reminded me of something I neglected in my previous replies. It's not dig down 42" and you're "halfway to a basement". You are more than halfway, since many foundation walls are poured to stick out of the ground several feet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basement

"... However, basements are considered standard on all but the smallest new buildings in many places with temperate continental climates such as the American Midwest and the Canadian Prairies where a concrete foundation below the frost line is needed in any case, to prevent a building from shifting during the freeze-thaw cycle."

If you have enough flood water to wash away concrete walls, no normal sump pump could keep up anyway.

There are situations where if water is allowed to leak from under floor drainage pipes, it can wash dirt into the sump pit and large voids are created around the foundation, and eventually the entire building can shift or sink.

If you had a nice bidet you might not feel so itchy and grumpy.

All this bidet talk got me seriously thinking about getting one. A question I have is, do I have to get the whole toilet or is getting just the seat part almost as good? I don't really like the styles of the toilets and more importantly, neither does my better half.

You must be exhausted after a whole year and 27 posts here.

Nope I put ours onto our existing stool. I did need to add a electric outlet by it.

We've only used the seat attachment versions so far, and they're great. I would recommend going at least with one that provides a heated seat and a reservoir of heated water, meaning you'll likely need an outlet close by. You'll never want to go back after that. For the simple one we started with, I did tap into the hot water from the sink, but you have to wait for it to warm up similar to the shower. Plus, it has a knob to start the water that also adjusts the pressure. Meaning that if you were unfamiliar you might crank the knob all the way and have water shooting up to the back of your teeth. The fancier ones you just select a setting to your liking and its a simple on/off push button.

Perfect, now I know what my next project is.

Check out Tushy.

There's always that one guy who jumps on Facebook only to post a bitch-session about the stupidity being posted on Facebook.

So, a serious question concern I have about bidets is: how reliable are they?

Because as simple as a basic toilet is, they (like all plumbing it seems) are more of a PITA than they should be. Flappers and valves wear out, levers crack and break, floats need to be adjusted, and god forbid you have to replace any of those random pieces after 10 (let alone 20-30-40...) years because oh that particular bespoke part/brand might not be made, and the ones available don't fit 100% but could be close enough, maybe, for how long? Thus you either have to frankenstein a mousetrap and pray it works AARGH or throw the whole damn toilet (or larger subcomponent) away just for a tiny $2 part.

So what is the brilliance of taking all of that, and adding things like motors, pumps, nozzles, pressure control valves, and possibly electric elements like heaters and controls? Those are more maintenance and failure modes and "oh we're sorry that particular part is not made anymore" discussions. I have visions of hard water like we have here in KY calcifying the nozzles and pumps. And needing maintenance or replacement. Or the various seals for those appliances causing leaks at some point. And not being fun to replace.

I mean, as aggravating as a toilet can be to work on, at least they CAN and DO last multiple decades without needing much. Somehow I can't see a bidet lasting even 10 years before causing some sort of problem and needing to be replaced. "Oh your heating element finally burned out, have fun replacing that if it's even still made"...

I came here for the basements, and left here with a bidet?

My cheap one from Amazon has been going strong for 6 years so far, zero issues. There is nothing to it really, no electronics, heater, etc. I'd say you are way overthinking things. They are like $40, what is there to complain about if you do actually have to replace it every 10 years? Probably last longer than an AC unit.

Ok yeah a $40 clip on one from Amazon, I agree might be no big loss. But those don't have all the features some folks have evangelized. So I was mainly referring to the complete "in-built" units with the controllable pressures and oscillating nozzles and pre-heated water and the like. You're not getting those for $40.

The thread has really gone down the crapper.

NothingToSeeHerePunkin

We do not have a bidet, but we do have a heated toilet seat,
which my wife swears by.
No more cold tush shock on those cold mornings.

Several years ago, my mother asked for one for Christmas. I had never heard of such a thing and thought it was ridiculous. Then I tried it. Life changing.

No clue, our fancy model is too new. But everything is built into the seat, so if there was some catastrophic failure that required just replacing the unit it's modular and wouldn't mean disturbing the toilet itself.

Everyone I know who has one says they'd never want to go back. I know it's the most random topic, but since this is the OT forum and we're all just BSing why not change your life?

Pooping away from home must be rough?

First time you run into one of them squat toilets that look like a urinal laying down. Might not be rough, but it is an adventure.

LTG : )

My buddy sent me a pic of a bathroom he used in India. It looked like a strange combination of a shower and a urinal that was mounted flush with the floor that you squatted over. It appeared the only way to use it would be to completely remove your pants and underwear.

Interesting discussion on bidets, but I guess to save the world we should go slab..

https://www.ecohome.net/guides/2279/slab-on-grade-technical-guide/

Won’t somebody please think of the concrete trucks?!!
It looks pretty good but I don’t think we were designed to run around on concrete all day. My father was a mudder, my mother was a mudder…

Wasn’t radon dismissed as a flawed study? It’s all over southeastern WI so somebody made a fortune. Housing market going ballistic did away with even home inspections so we’ll see when normalcy returns. Was new to home ownership and they sealed the sump well for the radon pump, so couldn’t tell sump had failed- flooded entire remodeled basement. It also didn’t help that former owner didn’t put a window well cover over the window above the sump.

That's for sure.

But the article makes dubious claims, is poorly written, and factually problematic.

"In a cold climate zone a basement foundation counts on being buried at depths of between four and five feet to protect the footing and basement floor from freezing temperatures."

"Whether you start construction with a slab-on-grade or a foundation, in the absence of bedrock both will be resting on dirt. So one is not more 'stable' than the other, or more suceptible [sic] to frost heave than the other"

Yes, everything is resting on "dirt" and that's about all they got half-ass correct in that sentence, spelling and grammar included. (Is it still considered "dirt" everywhere... what about sand? I digress.)

When a foundation is on "dirt" BELOW the frost-line, it is more stable and not susceptible to frost heaving. When a floating slab is on "dirt" at grade level ABOVE the frost-line, it is less stable and completely susceptible to frost heaving. Even without frost heaving, there are certain ground conditions where a slab is much more stable with a foundation or footings.

I always thought radon was a bit overblown, reminds me of when they took apples out of school cafeterias decades ago. I mean, you open shut/doors, furnace stirs up the air, some tile systems routinely have a drain near a window well (i.e. that's a vent right there). I doubt anyone living in a house doesn't have some air exchange from daily activities. While radon itself might be an issue, I'm not sure if it's an issue w/respect to a sump pit in a house. I just read where 21,000 people die from it each year...wonder how they prove that?

I was thinking the same. I am not 100% sure, but radon became more of an issue when houses became more sealed up and energy efficient. The gas gets trapped and accumulates as opposed to older homes where it can be replaced by fresh air leaking in windows and other cracks.

I am not sure how they attribute radon with specific health conditions. Google says the main health concern is lung cancer, but I don't know how they pinpoint the root cause, especially if somebody has other lung cancer triggers... industrial environment, smoking, etc.

There is a lot of good information on it and how free radicals damage people’s lungs and can lead to cancer. My home was like 9 times above the acceptable limit, I can ship you some. No cost