Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Ya we are restoring our house too but central air is just too damn expensive. Too bad we didn't realize what a money pit it was going to be to do it too. LOL Ever see that movie called "Money Pit"? Well that basic story is our house. We just found out through this lovely flood we had that our basement brick is crumbling.......you touch one and half of it crumbles away. It looks like someone's playing a joke on you and then you realize they aren't and that smile just melts away. Now I know why the previous owners had foam up, it certainly wasn't for insulation purposes. /sigh

[Raitox]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Yeah, there was a storm here in Virginaia recently -- one of our neighbor's basement got flooded right after they totally re-modeled it... $60,000 in repairs. Good thing they had insurance.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Not sure if our insurance covers it. Talked to my insurance guy and he said we have the "Supreme" policy so it looks good but the adjuster has to come out and look at it. Funny thing is, the guy won't be out here for a few more days and by then the god damn basement will be clean and dry. Wtf does he need to see then??

I lost a HUGE portion of my video game stuff/collectibles. I've been collecting for over 30 years now so it was a lot of stuff. I don't know how they value it but to me some of it was priceless. Some of the figurines/statues are fine but no longer mint in box. Depending on how much we get, I'll be replacing them and selling off all of the other stuff. But some of the figures I'm giving to the grandkids to play with. LOL

[Jarre]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

TGM Take pictures and video of the damage now so you have some evidence. If you can video/photo using a film camera as well as a digi (in case the film gets screwed at processing), even better (my friend became a cropper in a court case with his insurance as the insurance company said that because his photos were digital, it was easier to touch them up to show more damage than there was so he couldn;t proove they were 100% genuine) Insurance companies are bastards, they take your money and do their best to screw you over. I just hope yours is fine TGM.

It sounds liek you need to have the basement dried out slowly (can take 2-3 weeks) then the walls may require re-pointing (the mortar redoing between the bricks) then re-lining with a bitumous damp proof membrane / tanking, then some moisture resistant insulated plasterboard (dri-wall). I don't know what systems you have in teh US but we would normally use bituthene and newlath 5000 tanking support system and British Gypsum Thermaboard super. Maybe its worth have a submersable pump installed as well.

I'm sorry your having to go through this TGM, there will be some testing times, but you will get through it, the main thing is everyone in the house is fine and safe. If you were in this country I could have drawn u a specification for remedial works for you free of charge. unfortunately US and UK regulations are miles apart and they wouldn't accept anything from me.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Aw Jarre thank you for the offer. I guess I'm just being such a ninny because I've had quite a bit of stress lately and this didn't help one bit. Just seems like god decided to take a dump on my part of the world lately. LOL

Well back to more digging the gunk out. I underestimated what I had in that basement. I'm only NOW just 1/2 done and the rest is densely packed up to the ceiling so this might take a week at least. I have been taking some pictures and my son has also. More to just remember things that need to be replaced actually. I wish I had taken pictures of the water in the basement but I didn't. >< I hope they don't try and screw me but with my lucky lately that seems to be a given. LOL

[Feba]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Hey Jarre, I'm surprised I've never thought to ask you before, but what do you think of Catalog of Monolithic Dome House Plans ?

[Akashimo]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Murphie's title makes me thing Aksannyi got her paws on him oO;

[Feba]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

...Aksannyi?

[Jarre]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Hey Jarre, I'm surprised I've never thought to ask you before, but what do you think of Catalog of Monolithic Dome House Plans ?

Its an interesting idea but it has many flaws.

1. Concrete buildings are proan to frost and damp, looking at the construction details I am concerned by the very thin waterproof membrane and the lack of internal vapour barriers to prevent interstitial condensation.

2. Other than the main window/door, windows to other rooms are very small making the amount of natural light and thus natural ventilation (via trickle vents and open able windows) very small which increases the problems of condensation.

3. The designs floor plans are a bit unimagined and the rooms are very small, in fact the bedrooms in 60% of the designs are the minimal standard of the Uk and believe me, they are tight!

4. The expense of this technology and the shelf life of the home make it not very economical. Great for the moon yes, but here on land, no.

5. They should consider improving the water proofing, thicken the shell to be able to take 2 feet of earth and berry it in the earth so the finish is a grass hill with windows in, then it would be a great eco home as the grass and soil would be excellent insulation, add some sun pipe and rooflights, a passive stack ventilation system and a heat pump and you have a perfect eco home. they really need to think about it more.

The expense is in the specialist elastic properties of the concrete and its application, I had a seminar on it and it was very tricky to do right as the smooth finish requires is an art form and dodgy companies have stipple rendered these to cover up a poor finish. I would also love to see the local planners face by suggesting one of these, being in a city which is 80% in a conservation area, there would be a big fat NO.

[Feba]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

1- Damp? You mean mold?

I remember reading something about the cracking problems not being very bad with these, but I'd have to look it up.

2- It's not really a concern of mine. However, you can get larger windows.

3- Yeah, but they recommend having a customized one for what you like anyway, which is likely what we'd do.

4- This would be a matter of opinion, really. If you're living with it the rest of your life, it's not a big deal.

5- I don't know about the waterproofing, but they are capable of doing earth berming. Below Grade: Understanding the Ups and Downs of Building Underground. they claim they have them up to 15 feet underground.


Getting approval for the house is obviously a problem, but we can't even decide on what region we want to move to. Moving to the next county wouldn't be a huge problem.

[Jarre]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

1- Damp? You mean mold?

Nope, concrete is porous and if not protected correctly with adequate damp proofing and tanking can allow the passage of water, aldo if this happens and the cocnrete is reinforced, then the reinforcement rusts, when this happens it expands and contracts which over time leads to the reinforcement breaking up the concrete making it loose its integraty. Its all to do with workmanship, but curved structures allways suffer if greta care isn't taken, and with mass production or get any old builder to do it, that workmanship plumets as ina lot ofc ases they have never done it before.

2- It's not really a concern of mine. However, you can get larger windows.

true but larger windows mean less of a skin which means more reinforcement is required to keep the shape, which costs money.

5- I don't know about the waterproofing, but they are capable of doing earth berming. Below Grade: Understanding the Ups and Downs of Building Underground. they claim they have them up to 15 feet underground.

Thats alot of soil above, 15 feet = approx 5m underground. Taking into account the weight of standard soil being 1.6 tonnes/m3 (1600kg or 15.8KN) you would need a minimum thickness of 250mm concrete with 2 layers of mesh reinforcement and dove bars to the base to take a load of 8000Kg per m length. That is a big job considering their standard shells are only 50-75mm thick.

[Feba]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Nope,

What the hell is damp then?

you would need

well, keep in mind 15 feet below grade isn't exactly common. They say that it usually only requires an extra couple inches of concrete and thicker rebar, and a wider base. They do say it adds about %20 on the price of the building, but they don't make it clear what they're talking about there. Obviously some very minimal earth berming on top of a dome would be much cheaper than having it built completely underground.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

It's like arguing with an existentialist why the sky shouldn't be blue.

[Jarre]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

What the hell is damp then?

Damp is when water penetrates through a materials and the inside is wet, it can lead to mold growth, but that is normally the signs at a later date, the usual symptons are discolouration of the materials, a prominent line to the highest point of the damp spread and wall being wet to touch (no shit!)

As I said mold is only the by product of damp being left untreated for a long time, i.e. a few weeks to months depending on the environmental conditions in the inside of that particular room.

[Feba]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Damp is when water penetrates through a materials and the inside is wet,

So leaks?

EDIT: I suppose I haven't made it clear; in American English "Damp" is an adjective that describes something as being slightly moist. Using it as a noun doesn't make sense.