Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
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Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
Not sure what happened here, but the display is mind blowing: https://i.imgur.com/gobfTjg.mp4
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
Wow, I've seen two fireworks stands catch fire and go up in flames in my lifetime, but never saw one that had that much stuff continually going off like that. Many of the items are packaged in display cartons so just burn and go off on the ground. That place must have had thousands of rockets standing up in drums to sell to make that kind of display.
Based on the location, it doesn't seem like the place for a fireworks stand. Perhaps it was a warehouse and the camera didn't get there until long after the roof was gone. Still seems odd for so many aerial devices to be shooting skyward, since they are stored laying flat.
So, all I can say is Very Interesting!
Based on the location, it doesn't seem like the place for a fireworks stand. Perhaps it was a warehouse and the camera didn't get there until long after the roof was gone. Still seems odd for so many aerial devices to be shooting skyward, since they are stored laying flat.
So, all I can say is Very Interesting!
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
All I saw was a horrendous explosion of fireworks. Your insights are interesting if not fascinating. I got the video clip off Imgur where they seldom give any background information. It's usually pictures or videos shot by casual and incidental observers. Some of it, as you can see, is quite interesting.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
When Luttrell's fire stand burned, it was mostly an indoor building with a huge awning out front for sales. Hardly any fireworks came out of the building, but there were tons of smaller explosions inside. About the only things that shot skyward were those on the front outdoor sales display, after the canvas awning burned and dropped down on them.
The other fireworks stand was down here after I moved south. Don't know the owners, but it was just a huge tent is all.
And with most of the stuff packed in boxes, and only the stuff sitting upright on the tables ended up shooting skyward, and it was not all that much to see really. Other than all the pops and bangs in the beginning of the fire, it looked just like any other fire after about 15 minutes. I assume this is because almost all the rockets and things like that were in boxes stacked flat on top of each other and with so much stuff in the way, they could only go off in the boxes. A few things escaped and shot across the parking lot, but nothing at all like the picture you posted.
The scariest fire I ever saw was at a propane tank rental place. Their big tank was out in the middle of a large gravel lot, and they would load maybe 20 tanks on a Cushman cart drive out there to fill them, then bring them back and load then onto shelves inside their loading dock area, so their drivers could pick up filled ones and drop of empty ones.
The warehouse had a machine on the left that fed heat shrink plastic sleeves they slipped over the tanks, then ran them through a small heat tunnel to shrink them down to the tanks. The roll of plastic sleeves was huge, about 4 feet in diameter, and they had a couple of them stacked up beside it, but not on the machine which already had a new one on it.
To the right of the warehouse was their offices. And to the right of those, with doors facing outside the building, were other smaller offices they rented out to like an insurance salesman, and other sales groups.
The warehouse had a concrete floor and tons of empty space inside.
One would think it impossible for a fire in the office area to spread through an empty building all the way to the loading dock where those tanks were. They were way away from everything else as it was.
Two of the little Cushman carts were parked inside the building right outside the office inside doors.
What they think happened is, the fire in the office set the first Cushman cart on fire, which caused its gas tank to erupt.
And the gasoline ran across the floor to the other cart and on to the rolls of plastic sleeves. And melting plastic oozed toward the loading dock and had enough heat to cause a tank to explode, and when that happened, there was plenty of heat to set off the rest of them.
At first they said it was arson, but after the fire inspector finished his report, it was obvious to him what had happened. The fire in the office started behind a refrigerator and spread to old wood file cabinets first. Then to carton boxes sitting outside the office on the other side of the wall, and when they fell over that set the Cushman cart on fire somehow. The reason it caught fire was never determined, other than excessive heat ignited the plastic on the body of the cart. The fire had burned for close to an hour before anyone noticed it and called the fire department, and by then the office was totally ablaze. Ironically, none of the rented offices were burned. Which gave them yet another reason to tout the use of 4 layers of 5/8" drywall between offices and warehouse areas.
I would have never seen it had I not been on my way home from a doctors appointment, and stopped on top of hill to grab a Sausage McMuffin on the way home. And even then, I almost missed it, not much smoke for a fire of that size. An explosion is what made me look closer, and then I saw several explosions and some split tanks flying around the parking lot, some flew clear out to the graveled fenced in area, but not flew as far as the roadway. Then when the fire trucks began spraying up over everything, you couldn't see much anymore after that, just steam and some smoke. I finished my sandwich and headed on home after the traffic that had stopped cleared up.
The other fireworks stand was down here after I moved south. Don't know the owners, but it was just a huge tent is all.
And with most of the stuff packed in boxes, and only the stuff sitting upright on the tables ended up shooting skyward, and it was not all that much to see really. Other than all the pops and bangs in the beginning of the fire, it looked just like any other fire after about 15 minutes. I assume this is because almost all the rockets and things like that were in boxes stacked flat on top of each other and with so much stuff in the way, they could only go off in the boxes. A few things escaped and shot across the parking lot, but nothing at all like the picture you posted.
The scariest fire I ever saw was at a propane tank rental place. Their big tank was out in the middle of a large gravel lot, and they would load maybe 20 tanks on a Cushman cart drive out there to fill them, then bring them back and load then onto shelves inside their loading dock area, so their drivers could pick up filled ones and drop of empty ones.
The warehouse had a machine on the left that fed heat shrink plastic sleeves they slipped over the tanks, then ran them through a small heat tunnel to shrink them down to the tanks. The roll of plastic sleeves was huge, about 4 feet in diameter, and they had a couple of them stacked up beside it, but not on the machine which already had a new one on it.
To the right of the warehouse was their offices. And to the right of those, with doors facing outside the building, were other smaller offices they rented out to like an insurance salesman, and other sales groups.
The warehouse had a concrete floor and tons of empty space inside.
One would think it impossible for a fire in the office area to spread through an empty building all the way to the loading dock where those tanks were. They were way away from everything else as it was.
Two of the little Cushman carts were parked inside the building right outside the office inside doors.
What they think happened is, the fire in the office set the first Cushman cart on fire, which caused its gas tank to erupt.
And the gasoline ran across the floor to the other cart and on to the rolls of plastic sleeves. And melting plastic oozed toward the loading dock and had enough heat to cause a tank to explode, and when that happened, there was plenty of heat to set off the rest of them.
At first they said it was arson, but after the fire inspector finished his report, it was obvious to him what had happened. The fire in the office started behind a refrigerator and spread to old wood file cabinets first. Then to carton boxes sitting outside the office on the other side of the wall, and when they fell over that set the Cushman cart on fire somehow. The reason it caught fire was never determined, other than excessive heat ignited the plastic on the body of the cart. The fire had burned for close to an hour before anyone noticed it and called the fire department, and by then the office was totally ablaze. Ironically, none of the rented offices were burned. Which gave them yet another reason to tout the use of 4 layers of 5/8" drywall between offices and warehouse areas.
I would have never seen it had I not been on my way home from a doctors appointment, and stopped on top of hill to grab a Sausage McMuffin on the way home. And even then, I almost missed it, not much smoke for a fire of that size. An explosion is what made me look closer, and then I saw several explosions and some split tanks flying around the parking lot, some flew clear out to the graveled fenced in area, but not flew as far as the roadway. Then when the fire trucks began spraying up over everything, you couldn't see much anymore after that, just steam and some smoke. I finished my sandwich and headed on home after the traffic that had stopped cleared up.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
My wife's mom lived on the outskirts of a small town in Iowa. No utilities ran out that far other than the electric and phone lines. So, her house was heated by propane gas. The tank held, I dunno how many gallons of propane liquid. Maybe 200 or more. It was fenced off to keep the cows, or something, away from it. Nothing notable ever happened, but each time we went out there I had an uneasy feeling about that tank blowing up. I have used small tanks of propane for my BBQ grill and was assured they can level my house. Kept them outside all year long, sheltered, and never had a problem. But ... if 20 lbs of propane can level a house, I can't imagine what 200 gallons of the stuff could do.
I got to give those fire inspectors a lot of credit. How they can find the source of the fire is way beyond my comprehension. When I was a teenager we had a house fire that didn't do as much damage as the fire department did trying to extinguish it. The walls in the second floor apartment above ours caught fire. The fire Marshal determined the origins were really down in our flat and due to a poor electrical connection near the floor. I never would have guessed that, but these guys do it for a living and presumably they know what they are doing.
I got to give those fire inspectors a lot of credit. How they can find the source of the fire is way beyond my comprehension. When I was a teenager we had a house fire that didn't do as much damage as the fire department did trying to extinguish it. The walls in the second floor apartment above ours caught fire. The fire Marshal determined the origins were really down in our flat and due to a poor electrical connection near the floor. I never would have guessed that, but these guys do it for a living and presumably they know what they are doing.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
In many cases, where and how a fire started is fairly easy to ascertain.
Most of the house I bought at auction for renovation had suffered a fire and were put out by the fire department.
Lots of hazmat issued to deal with the city over on each too. But I was licensed to clean up fire residue, so had no problem getting the permits, then doing it my way anyhow, hi hi.
Just look for the hottest area and that is usually where the fire started, even if the people quickly disposed of what probably caused it, like a portable heater or some dumb thing they did.
I know they claim cigarettes were often the cause of a fire, when later inspection proves otherwise.
A fire that starts in a couch or bedding is almost always blamed on cigarettes.
Even when they were told it was a cupcake with a birthday candle in it that fell over after being set on the arm of the chair.
One of my uncles houses burned down, and in his case it was from a cigarette, even though he doesn't smoke.
He had a couple of guests over, and apparently a cigarette fell out of an ashtray and rolled under a couch.
Also apparently the under liner of the couch had sagged down and was touching the floor so the cigarette got it to smoldering. The odd thing is, the fire started long after a cigarette would have gone out. Like at 3am when everybody left before midnight. There was no smoke when they cleaned up and brought everything to the kitchen before going to bed. Seems like if something was smoldering, it would have produced an odor.f
One house I bought, the fire was started by an extension cord that when they moved a pole lamp over, it was sitting on top of the extension cord. The weight of the lamp eventually compressed the sheathing of the wire and allowed it to short out against the base of the lamp. But instead of blowing a fuse, it just heated the wire up like an electric heater. The burn mark in the flooring was obviously from a long heated item, aka the extension cord burning.
Most of the house I bought at auction for renovation had suffered a fire and were put out by the fire department.
Lots of hazmat issued to deal with the city over on each too. But I was licensed to clean up fire residue, so had no problem getting the permits, then doing it my way anyhow, hi hi.
Just look for the hottest area and that is usually where the fire started, even if the people quickly disposed of what probably caused it, like a portable heater or some dumb thing they did.
I know they claim cigarettes were often the cause of a fire, when later inspection proves otherwise.
A fire that starts in a couch or bedding is almost always blamed on cigarettes.
Even when they were told it was a cupcake with a birthday candle in it that fell over after being set on the arm of the chair.
One of my uncles houses burned down, and in his case it was from a cigarette, even though he doesn't smoke.
He had a couple of guests over, and apparently a cigarette fell out of an ashtray and rolled under a couch.
Also apparently the under liner of the couch had sagged down and was touching the floor so the cigarette got it to smoldering. The odd thing is, the fire started long after a cigarette would have gone out. Like at 3am when everybody left before midnight. There was no smoke when they cleaned up and brought everything to the kitchen before going to bed. Seems like if something was smoldering, it would have produced an odor.f
One house I bought, the fire was started by an extension cord that when they moved a pole lamp over, it was sitting on top of the extension cord. The weight of the lamp eventually compressed the sheathing of the wire and allowed it to short out against the base of the lamp. But instead of blowing a fuse, it just heated the wire up like an electric heater. The burn mark in the flooring was obviously from a long heated item, aka the extension cord burning.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
About the only hint I would have to find the source of a fire would be that it had to start at the lowest level of the scorch marks. In my story the upstairs was flaming and smoking, but the cause was a relatively small patch of charred wall around an electrical socket in the wall below the main fire. My instincts at the time told me something fell down from the top floor to scorch the electric box, but the fire dude had other ideas. It really didn't matter where it started in our case. The cause was due to the electrical wiring and it all had to be replaced throughout the entire house. It seemed irrelevant at the time to even bother determining the source. But, I'm guessing the insurance on the house depended on exactly what made it happen.
It never would occur to me that one would need a license to clean up fire residue. Maybe at a chemical plant, but in residential homes?
It never would occur to me that one would need a license to clean up fire residue. Maybe at a chemical plant, but in residential homes?
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
Houses with aluminum wiring were always a nightmare to deal with. How it ever got passed to be allowed to be used is beyond me. I'm sure it was someone with a lot of bribe money to get it through.
I can't count the number of houses I had to go into to repair the damage in pull boxes from aluminum wiring. And the owners were always pissed I had to run new copper wiring to the boxes as well. Means holes in the drywall, but at least I fixed them so they didn't have to call someone else like they would have with a normal electrician.
Oh My - Yes, cleaning out a burned out home is considered a HazMat operation.
Almost the same when you encounter Black Mold, that is considered a HazMat operation as well.
The trick is, handle the problem before the inspector comes to give you a permit to repair the damage.
More often than not, a burnout has been sitting for a long time with no buyer of the property.
So you can get in there, tear out those items that trigger a HazMat clean-up, then call the inspector and tell them this is the way the house was when you bought it.
When I find Black Mold, I just blast the entire area with 9% chlorine bleach to kill the mold, wearing the proper type respirator of course. Then wipe it down the next day with either muriatic acid or diluted lye formula depending on what the substrate it was on was.
HazMat licenses have many different forms, and mine was one of the lowest classes. So on a couple of houses I did have to call in a licensed HazMat team to remove some things the inspector saw that I somehow missed. As an example: My license did not cover removing truss style rafters and sheathing. So I usually just cut out a bad sections and sistered in new rafters, which is legal if you leave the old rafters and coat them twice first. Some inspectors have eagle eyes on some things, and are blind as a brick-bat on others that are even more important.
I can't count the number of houses I had to go into to repair the damage in pull boxes from aluminum wiring. And the owners were always pissed I had to run new copper wiring to the boxes as well. Means holes in the drywall, but at least I fixed them so they didn't have to call someone else like they would have with a normal electrician.
Oh My - Yes, cleaning out a burned out home is considered a HazMat operation.
Almost the same when you encounter Black Mold, that is considered a HazMat operation as well.
The trick is, handle the problem before the inspector comes to give you a permit to repair the damage.
More often than not, a burnout has been sitting for a long time with no buyer of the property.
So you can get in there, tear out those items that trigger a HazMat clean-up, then call the inspector and tell them this is the way the house was when you bought it.
When I find Black Mold, I just blast the entire area with 9% chlorine bleach to kill the mold, wearing the proper type respirator of course. Then wipe it down the next day with either muriatic acid or diluted lye formula depending on what the substrate it was on was.
HazMat licenses have many different forms, and mine was one of the lowest classes. So on a couple of houses I did have to call in a licensed HazMat team to remove some things the inspector saw that I somehow missed. As an example: My license did not cover removing truss style rafters and sheathing. So I usually just cut out a bad sections and sistered in new rafters, which is legal if you leave the old rafters and coat them twice first. Some inspectors have eagle eyes on some things, and are blind as a brick-bat on others that are even more important.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
I recall back in the day when there was a big push to allow aluminum house wiring. I think the cost of aluminum vs copper was the justification, but the electrical properties were not nearly as good. It heated up too much to be safe. It became legal in the Chicago area for a while, and I don't recall how long that lasted. But, it wasn't very many years before they switched back to copper. There could have been some bribery going on, but the push went well beyond Chicago. So, that kind of took the local politics out of it.
Going into a burned out home certainly would be a hazard, but I would think the structural problems would be greater than anything else. Then, again, many of the building materials are synthetic and toxic. You must have had a lot of skill, or luck, when you messed with trusses. LOL They are strong and serve the purpose well as a solid unit. But, when you start cutting out sections and rebuilding them, the whole thing can fall apart. You were a pretty daring fellow, I must say. Which should not surprise me given that I know you also changed light bulbs on top of transmission antennae.
Going into a burned out home certainly would be a hazard, but I would think the structural problems would be greater than anything else. Then, again, many of the building materials are synthetic and toxic. You must have had a lot of skill, or luck, when you messed with trusses. LOL They are strong and serve the purpose well as a solid unit. But, when you start cutting out sections and rebuilding them, the whole thing can fall apart. You were a pretty daring fellow, I must say. Which should not surprise me given that I know you also changed light bulbs on top of transmission antennae.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
The types of houses I bought that suffered a fire, the fire itself was usually contained to a single room, although the heat and soot turned the inside of the house jet black.
I think I talked about the house I bought on California Street that the fire burned long enough to burn away part of the wall up to the roof and part of the roof above the upstairs window.
Because it was a two story frame, I would not have bought it, except it had a covered back porch and the roof of the porch was still sound. So I could do the outside repairs standing on that roof, and not even needing a ladder to do so. Well except for replacing the roof sheathing after I cut away the damage.
In Missouri, they do not allow stick-built rafters and ceiling joists, you must buy pre-made trusses, which are of thinner wood that I don't like.
But in some cases, like even with my house down here that was originally stick-built rafters, you are allowed to Sister in new lumber over the existing rafters and joists. Provided the original truss or rafters and ceiling joists are still structurally sound.
In the case of the California house where only the end of one truss was burned completely away, and two others were still intact and structurally sound, although charred. I would be allowed to use a replacement half-truss, sistered over the old truss, since more than 2/3 of the truss was structurally sound.
I knew this before I bought that house, while all the other contractors just passed it by due to a truss being burned.
In the end, I only had to gut that room and remove its hardwood floor and subfloor, and removed the lath and plaster from two adjoining rooms, but not the ceiling in those other two rooms or the hallway.
The worst part of the whole job would be cleaning out all the soot and smoke damage.
This is why I owned a VonSchrader Deterger machine. They are normally used to clean walls after removing wallpaper to get the glue residue off. But they had the right tools and flow control for the chemicals that I could use what I needed in it to clean up soot and smoke stains easily.
I guess they don't have the one named Wall Deterger anymore, but the one they call VersaTile lower right on the page looks like the unit I had and reads about the same as the blurb for the one I had many years ago.
http://www.vonschrader.com/equipment-and-supplies
Every time I had to work in a house with aluminum wiring, I hated it.
Most of my calls came from realtors who were trying to sell the house and found none of the switches or outlets were rated for aluminum wiring, and if they were, they did not have the proper conducting salve on the terminals.
I did get quite of few of these to do, and almost always I would hit a hot box, often in the ceiling, and often over the kitchen sink, which means running new copper wires is almost always out of the question. So these houses ended up with a second pull box with a plain cover over them where I made the transition from copper to aluminum in a separate box, which by law must be exposed and accessible. Well, unless I lucked out and there was an attic over the box, then they didn't need another hole in their ceiling, hi hi. Rarely was I that lucky!
I think I talked about the house I bought on California Street that the fire burned long enough to burn away part of the wall up to the roof and part of the roof above the upstairs window.
Because it was a two story frame, I would not have bought it, except it had a covered back porch and the roof of the porch was still sound. So I could do the outside repairs standing on that roof, and not even needing a ladder to do so. Well except for replacing the roof sheathing after I cut away the damage.
In Missouri, they do not allow stick-built rafters and ceiling joists, you must buy pre-made trusses, which are of thinner wood that I don't like.
But in some cases, like even with my house down here that was originally stick-built rafters, you are allowed to Sister in new lumber over the existing rafters and joists. Provided the original truss or rafters and ceiling joists are still structurally sound.
In the case of the California house where only the end of one truss was burned completely away, and two others were still intact and structurally sound, although charred. I would be allowed to use a replacement half-truss, sistered over the old truss, since more than 2/3 of the truss was structurally sound.
I knew this before I bought that house, while all the other contractors just passed it by due to a truss being burned.
In the end, I only had to gut that room and remove its hardwood floor and subfloor, and removed the lath and plaster from two adjoining rooms, but not the ceiling in those other two rooms or the hallway.
The worst part of the whole job would be cleaning out all the soot and smoke damage.
This is why I owned a VonSchrader Deterger machine. They are normally used to clean walls after removing wallpaper to get the glue residue off. But they had the right tools and flow control for the chemicals that I could use what I needed in it to clean up soot and smoke stains easily.
I guess they don't have the one named Wall Deterger anymore, but the one they call VersaTile lower right on the page looks like the unit I had and reads about the same as the blurb for the one I had many years ago.
http://www.vonschrader.com/equipment-and-supplies
Every time I had to work in a house with aluminum wiring, I hated it.
Most of my calls came from realtors who were trying to sell the house and found none of the switches or outlets were rated for aluminum wiring, and if they were, they did not have the proper conducting salve on the terminals.
I did get quite of few of these to do, and almost always I would hit a hot box, often in the ceiling, and often over the kitchen sink, which means running new copper wires is almost always out of the question. So these houses ended up with a second pull box with a plain cover over them where I made the transition from copper to aluminum in a separate box, which by law must be exposed and accessible. Well, unless I lucked out and there was an attic over the box, then they didn't need another hole in their ceiling, hi hi. Rarely was I that lucky!
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
This house in Missouri is the first one I've owned which did not have any wallpaper anywhere on it's walls. Even the house we built had to have wallpaper in the hallways and master bedroom. Wife loved the look, but not for very long. We spent a lot of time taking paper off the walls and trying to prepare them for painting afterward. Little did I know such a thing as that VersaTile Cleaning System existed. I might have even purchased one given all the papering we were destined to put up and take down.
That ranch house we built had trusses, but it was an option which the contractor didn't particularly like. He would have rather made the roof out of sticks. Indeed the lumber on those trusses were not the traditional 2x construction. Plus, the trusses were on 24" centers instead of the 16" that sticks must maintain. I never had any discernible problems with the trusses, but the plywood sheathing started to separate after about twenty years; just in time to put on a new roof. Ten sheets needed replacement at that time. I never saw plywood come apart like that and I've lived in some pretty old houses. Well, the first house I lived in didn't use plywood on the roof. It was all planking. Not only that, but the studs were hard wood and actually measured 2" x 4". It was an old, very old, farmhouse at one time.
Perhaps homes that are damaged by fire look worse than they really are. It takes an experienced eye to determine if it's worth fixing. You apparently had a better eye for such things than many of your peers. I guess sistering replacement timber on a truss is better and easier than cutting and rebuilding it. I think you knew more tricks of the trade than the average bear.
That ranch house we built had trusses, but it was an option which the contractor didn't particularly like. He would have rather made the roof out of sticks. Indeed the lumber on those trusses were not the traditional 2x construction. Plus, the trusses were on 24" centers instead of the 16" that sticks must maintain. I never had any discernible problems with the trusses, but the plywood sheathing started to separate after about twenty years; just in time to put on a new roof. Ten sheets needed replacement at that time. I never saw plywood come apart like that and I've lived in some pretty old houses. Well, the first house I lived in didn't use plywood on the roof. It was all planking. Not only that, but the studs were hard wood and actually measured 2" x 4". It was an old, very old, farmhouse at one time.
Perhaps homes that are damaged by fire look worse than they really are. It takes an experienced eye to determine if it's worth fixing. You apparently had a better eye for such things than many of your peers. I guess sistering replacement timber on a truss is better and easier than cutting and rebuilding it. I think you knew more tricks of the trade than the average bear.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
The amount of tricks I learned over the years really is amazing when I think back on how I did things before I learned about them.
Removing most wallpaper can be done with a simple spray bottle, filled with water and a 2 or 3 drops of dish-washing liquid, like Joy or Dawn. The little bit of soap makes the water wetter so it soaks through the paper faster and loosens up the glue.
In old houses that used the type of wallpaper that had overlapping seams. I would just run an orbital sander over those seems to get them down flat, and prime the walls, right over the wallpaper with a waterproof stain-block type of primer, not a latex type of primer. Then I could see if there were any spots that needed a touch of mud before painting the walls with latex primer. I always used the latex primer before I painted on walls like this to make sure no ripples appeared from the old wallpaper. If not, then they would get painted with normal wall paint, usually a washable off-white, so the finish was not matte or shiny, more like satin. Looked great too.
This house was built using 2x4 rafters on 24 inch centers, which is why everything sagged after about 50 years. This house is now around 75 years old give or take a year. Back when it was built, they used whatever materials they could scrounge up after the war. I don't think a single 2x4 in the whole house is the same dimensions, hi hi. Especially after what I found when I redid the kitchen.
I forgot to mention above, that plywood sheathing can delaminate due to the high heat of the sun beating on the roof.
I've stuck my foot through a few roofs over the years. No biggie since I was having the roof replaced anyhow.
One thing I always check before buying an old house to renovate is the rafters and ceiling joists. I've seen way to many older homes where the ceiling joists were not part of the rafter system, and they used only a small cross piece about 2 feet below the peak so they could stick a room up in the attic area.
If the ends of the rafters are not tied to the ceiling joists, it could push the walls outward.
You may have seen some older buildings with a big metal star on the outside with a nut holding in place.
What they do is run a metal rod through the house between the outside walls to pull the walls back up to vertical again.
This is actually a major undertaking, because on the inside of the house, they keep plastering up the cracks around the edge of the exterior walls, so you first have to go in and cut that all back. Plus the ceiling joists may have slid off the sill plates so a vertical stud was added to it and fastened to the rafter which adds even more weight causing the sag to occur faster.
Best just stay away from those, the extra labor and materials to fix them properly will send you to the poorhouse.
That being said, I have bought a couple of houses where a foundation wall was being pushed into the basement, but not by much or I wouldn't touch it.
What I do in that case is I dig a hole outside the house about 6 feet away from the house and drop an I-Beam down in the hole that I bored a hole into. A 1" diameter steel rod is then fed from inside the basement to the I-Beam. The end that will go through the hole in the I-Beam is threaded about 2 inches, and about 1 foot of the end that would be inside the basement wall. My goal is not to move the wall back, but to make sure it won't bulge any further into the basement. In some cases I can pull the wall back a little, but usually not by much due to the dirt outside against the wall.
I think I mentioned once before that concrete forms are placed over the wall up the floor joists, and new concrete poured. This also gives the old partially rotted ends of the floor joists a new footing to sit on. Once set, and the forms taken down, than new wall isn't normally going to go anywhere. They may have lost 4 to 6 inches in the space in the basement doing this, which is no big deal really.
Most older homes have plank sheathing which is easily replace in the burned out areas.
The lath and plaster, and/or drywall, fairly well protects the studs and joists.
Most of the time they may have some scorching, but not true burn except where the fire got through the drywall.
I may have to saw through a burned joist four or five times before I'm back along the burn far enough to have a full 1-1/2 inch area of solid unburned wood. A new joist is run between the cut out area, held in place with truss plates, then a second joist at least six feet longer than the replacement piece is centered and sistered over it. In some cases I just make the sister the full length of the room too. Have to keep it legal for the inspectors, hi hi.
What I failed to mention was any charred or scorched wood has to be coated with an odor blocking heavy coating. I usually apply three coats sometimes more if I see any cracks at all over the charred or burned areas.
Don't want the smell of a fire creeping through a few months down the road!
Here's a little trick many don't know about.
That New Car Smell! Or in my case, an odor masking trick.
Vulcanized Rubber Sheeting, and/or a cheap brand of car floor mats cut into strips and stapled to a few studs in a room.
The rubber smell does go away after a few weeks, but leaves just enough of an odor to make something smell brand new again. And it hides the residual smoke odor for a long time, a few months anyhow.
Also, there are Ozone Generators that you can crank up in an empty house, or car, to kill the odors too, especially in a house where there were a lot of heavy smokers and the drywall itself smells like cigarette smoke.
OK, that's enough of my old tricks for one day!
Removing most wallpaper can be done with a simple spray bottle, filled with water and a 2 or 3 drops of dish-washing liquid, like Joy or Dawn. The little bit of soap makes the water wetter so it soaks through the paper faster and loosens up the glue.
In old houses that used the type of wallpaper that had overlapping seams. I would just run an orbital sander over those seems to get them down flat, and prime the walls, right over the wallpaper with a waterproof stain-block type of primer, not a latex type of primer. Then I could see if there were any spots that needed a touch of mud before painting the walls with latex primer. I always used the latex primer before I painted on walls like this to make sure no ripples appeared from the old wallpaper. If not, then they would get painted with normal wall paint, usually a washable off-white, so the finish was not matte or shiny, more like satin. Looked great too.
This house was built using 2x4 rafters on 24 inch centers, which is why everything sagged after about 50 years. This house is now around 75 years old give or take a year. Back when it was built, they used whatever materials they could scrounge up after the war. I don't think a single 2x4 in the whole house is the same dimensions, hi hi. Especially after what I found when I redid the kitchen.
I forgot to mention above, that plywood sheathing can delaminate due to the high heat of the sun beating on the roof.
I've stuck my foot through a few roofs over the years. No biggie since I was having the roof replaced anyhow.
One thing I always check before buying an old house to renovate is the rafters and ceiling joists. I've seen way to many older homes where the ceiling joists were not part of the rafter system, and they used only a small cross piece about 2 feet below the peak so they could stick a room up in the attic area.
If the ends of the rafters are not tied to the ceiling joists, it could push the walls outward.
You may have seen some older buildings with a big metal star on the outside with a nut holding in place.
What they do is run a metal rod through the house between the outside walls to pull the walls back up to vertical again.
This is actually a major undertaking, because on the inside of the house, they keep plastering up the cracks around the edge of the exterior walls, so you first have to go in and cut that all back. Plus the ceiling joists may have slid off the sill plates so a vertical stud was added to it and fastened to the rafter which adds even more weight causing the sag to occur faster.
Best just stay away from those, the extra labor and materials to fix them properly will send you to the poorhouse.
That being said, I have bought a couple of houses where a foundation wall was being pushed into the basement, but not by much or I wouldn't touch it.
What I do in that case is I dig a hole outside the house about 6 feet away from the house and drop an I-Beam down in the hole that I bored a hole into. A 1" diameter steel rod is then fed from inside the basement to the I-Beam. The end that will go through the hole in the I-Beam is threaded about 2 inches, and about 1 foot of the end that would be inside the basement wall. My goal is not to move the wall back, but to make sure it won't bulge any further into the basement. In some cases I can pull the wall back a little, but usually not by much due to the dirt outside against the wall.
I think I mentioned once before that concrete forms are placed over the wall up the floor joists, and new concrete poured. This also gives the old partially rotted ends of the floor joists a new footing to sit on. Once set, and the forms taken down, than new wall isn't normally going to go anywhere. They may have lost 4 to 6 inches in the space in the basement doing this, which is no big deal really.
Most older homes have plank sheathing which is easily replace in the burned out areas.
The lath and plaster, and/or drywall, fairly well protects the studs and joists.
Most of the time they may have some scorching, but not true burn except where the fire got through the drywall.
I may have to saw through a burned joist four or five times before I'm back along the burn far enough to have a full 1-1/2 inch area of solid unburned wood. A new joist is run between the cut out area, held in place with truss plates, then a second joist at least six feet longer than the replacement piece is centered and sistered over it. In some cases I just make the sister the full length of the room too. Have to keep it legal for the inspectors, hi hi.
What I failed to mention was any charred or scorched wood has to be coated with an odor blocking heavy coating. I usually apply three coats sometimes more if I see any cracks at all over the charred or burned areas.
Don't want the smell of a fire creeping through a few months down the road!
Here's a little trick many don't know about.
That New Car Smell! Or in my case, an odor masking trick.
Vulcanized Rubber Sheeting, and/or a cheap brand of car floor mats cut into strips and stapled to a few studs in a room.
The rubber smell does go away after a few weeks, but leaves just enough of an odor to make something smell brand new again. And it hides the residual smoke odor for a long time, a few months anyhow.
Also, there are Ozone Generators that you can crank up in an empty house, or car, to kill the odors too, especially in a house where there were a lot of heavy smokers and the drywall itself smells like cigarette smoke.
OK, that's enough of my old tricks for one day!
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
I too have painted over wallpaper, but the prep time seems to be a wash. It was just easier to take the paper off first most of the time. We had a roller that was something like you would use for painting but it had spikes instead of fabric to hold the paint. Running this roller over the wallpaper before applying the soap and water would poke holes in the paper and allow it to saturate better than any other method we tried. The actual removal was easy but cleaning the remaining paste off the wall generally was messy. There is a primer called Kilz (I think that's how you spell it) that covers any stains or left over paste. A coat of latex primer on top of that makes the actual painting go quicker. Some of that Kilz stuff has primer in it already, but I never used that. On my basement wall there was a special formula of Kilz for unfinished plasterboard. The raw board really sucks up the primer quickly, but the final coat went on smooth as silk.
The roof on the ranch house had a shallow angle rise to it. I'd guess 30 degrees. The house was oriented north/south so that the sun hit the roof nearly all day long. I don't know why laminated wood panels last as long as they do, but this old house was the first one I've seen come apart on it's own.
I don't know what was going on with that last house, but the bricks had vertical cracks at all four corners of the house. It broke some of the corner bricks in half so that it wasn't just the mortar being faulty. It appeared as if the walls were falling outward and away from the house, but the cracks were hairline and not severe. We had it tuckpointed and disclosed it all to the buyer, but he didn't seem to care. The tuckpointing, by the way, was excellent. The mason tinted the patch mortar to match the color of the existing mortar. The patchwork was hardly noticeable unless you were looking for it.
When that house was new we had an ozoneator installed in the water supply. The salesman told us it would keep the supply and the drain pipes clean. None of that black slime would build up with ozone in the water. Also, he put magnets around the supply line. This too kept the water clean, supposedly. I read up on it and the idea came out of some lab in Germany. Apparently they also put magnets around fuel lines in automobiles and furnaces to keep the burning cleaner. None of that made sense to me, but I did it anyway. LOL
The roof on the ranch house had a shallow angle rise to it. I'd guess 30 degrees. The house was oriented north/south so that the sun hit the roof nearly all day long. I don't know why laminated wood panels last as long as they do, but this old house was the first one I've seen come apart on it's own.
I don't know what was going on with that last house, but the bricks had vertical cracks at all four corners of the house. It broke some of the corner bricks in half so that it wasn't just the mortar being faulty. It appeared as if the walls were falling outward and away from the house, but the cracks were hairline and not severe. We had it tuckpointed and disclosed it all to the buyer, but he didn't seem to care. The tuckpointing, by the way, was excellent. The mason tinted the patch mortar to match the color of the existing mortar. The patchwork was hardly noticeable unless you were looking for it.
When that house was new we had an ozoneator installed in the water supply. The salesman told us it would keep the supply and the drain pipes clean. None of that black slime would build up with ozone in the water. Also, he put magnets around the supply line. This too kept the water clean, supposedly. I read up on it and the idea came out of some lab in Germany. Apparently they also put magnets around fuel lines in automobiles and furnaces to keep the burning cleaner. None of that made sense to me, but I did it anyway. LOL
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
Ah yes, the needle roller. Only had to use those on vinyl coated wallpaper, which I rarely hit in older houses.
On walls I most often used PVA Primer. The type of Kilz I bought was very expensive, because it would hide even water stains, the normal Kilz didn't do that very well. Kilz is also who made the smoke eater heavy coatings, but due to their price I always bought the kind Porter Paints made, before they sold out to the foreigners. After that I had to buy from an insulation company their product, still cheaper than the Kilz for fire damage coverage.
If floating floors are not installed properly so they can expand and contract with temperature and humidity changes, they will either buckle or pull apart. End seams will keep getting wider and wider on slab floors due to the cold, dust getting in the end cracks so they can't move back together again.
I've had a couple of laminated floors have the top clear laminate bubble and/or flake off.
What kills me is the expensive thick floating vinyl tile I installed. The glue failed where the pieces overlap and this causes them to lift and dirt get into the glue areas so the seams keep getting higher and higher. I'm really POed about that too, since it is MY kitchen this happened in.
Yeppers, if a wall sags outward it can destroy those corner bricks.
I honestly FEAR being around old buildings down in the city.
Even though they are tuckpointed, you KNOW the mortar has turned to sand behind the tuckpointed front of the bricks.
What keeps them from falling down is beyond me.
I've torn down some brick houses, and all we had to do was push outward on the brick wall from the inside using a hydraulic jack, so we were outside safe, and just a tiny little push and that wall came down on itself, in a nice neat little pile.
You only have to worry about mold in the water pipes if you are on a well or cistern that is piped in.
I had a water filter in our kitchen for years that used both Ozone and UV light as part of the multi-stage system.
We had to replace the UV light every six months, the needles on the ozonator part once a year, and of course all the different filters once every three months. I didn't think it was worth it to clean city water of chlorine and it sits in my garage no longer used. In it's place is a multi-stage compressed silver-impregnated carbon filter. I use an OTO test to see when to change the cartridge. If I get a tinge of yellow during the test, I go ahead and change it. Takes about 2 to 3 years since we only use the water through it for cooking and drinking, or mixing drinks like Kool Aid or Tea.
At our greenhouses, to keep gunk out of the pipes, because we used pond water for years, we had a chlorine gas injection system. Just enough to keep the pipes clean, but not enough it would cause chlorosis in the plants.
Which was a big problem after we switched to city water. So there too we had to install a huge carbon pile filter to get the worst of the chlorine out, but we didn't want it all out or the pipes would get gunky again. Cousin George took care of that system and I never paid much attention to it myself.
Magnets remove heavy metals that are ferrous, like iron in the water. But it will build up inside the pipe where those magnets are and eventually clog them up with rust in that area.
I too have used those gas line magnets. Never saw they made any difference. In fact I think I still have a couple of them in my storage shed, but only because I used the around computer cables that didn't come with a coil on them already. Like most keyboards these days. But now I have smaller clamp on type since the USB ended type won't fit through the hole in the gas line magnets. PS2 connectors would go through about three or four passes.
I have a paper shredder here in my office, and before I use it, I always jump to computer #3 on the KVM switch. This way I don't mess up the other computers, and the one on KVM #3 has magnets on all of its wires. It is rare for the paper shredder to mess with it, but it does happen sometimes, even with the magnets. The shredder is on a different electrical circuit, different breaker than the computers, so I know it's not getting in that way.
On walls I most often used PVA Primer. The type of Kilz I bought was very expensive, because it would hide even water stains, the normal Kilz didn't do that very well. Kilz is also who made the smoke eater heavy coatings, but due to their price I always bought the kind Porter Paints made, before they sold out to the foreigners. After that I had to buy from an insulation company their product, still cheaper than the Kilz for fire damage coverage.
If floating floors are not installed properly so they can expand and contract with temperature and humidity changes, they will either buckle or pull apart. End seams will keep getting wider and wider on slab floors due to the cold, dust getting in the end cracks so they can't move back together again.
I've had a couple of laminated floors have the top clear laminate bubble and/or flake off.
What kills me is the expensive thick floating vinyl tile I installed. The glue failed where the pieces overlap and this causes them to lift and dirt get into the glue areas so the seams keep getting higher and higher. I'm really POed about that too, since it is MY kitchen this happened in.
Yeppers, if a wall sags outward it can destroy those corner bricks.
I honestly FEAR being around old buildings down in the city.
Even though they are tuckpointed, you KNOW the mortar has turned to sand behind the tuckpointed front of the bricks.
What keeps them from falling down is beyond me.
I've torn down some brick houses, and all we had to do was push outward on the brick wall from the inside using a hydraulic jack, so we were outside safe, and just a tiny little push and that wall came down on itself, in a nice neat little pile.
You only have to worry about mold in the water pipes if you are on a well or cistern that is piped in.
I had a water filter in our kitchen for years that used both Ozone and UV light as part of the multi-stage system.
We had to replace the UV light every six months, the needles on the ozonator part once a year, and of course all the different filters once every three months. I didn't think it was worth it to clean city water of chlorine and it sits in my garage no longer used. In it's place is a multi-stage compressed silver-impregnated carbon filter. I use an OTO test to see when to change the cartridge. If I get a tinge of yellow during the test, I go ahead and change it. Takes about 2 to 3 years since we only use the water through it for cooking and drinking, or mixing drinks like Kool Aid or Tea.
At our greenhouses, to keep gunk out of the pipes, because we used pond water for years, we had a chlorine gas injection system. Just enough to keep the pipes clean, but not enough it would cause chlorosis in the plants.
Which was a big problem after we switched to city water. So there too we had to install a huge carbon pile filter to get the worst of the chlorine out, but we didn't want it all out or the pipes would get gunky again. Cousin George took care of that system and I never paid much attention to it myself.
Magnets remove heavy metals that are ferrous, like iron in the water. But it will build up inside the pipe where those magnets are and eventually clog them up with rust in that area.
I too have used those gas line magnets. Never saw they made any difference. In fact I think I still have a couple of them in my storage shed, but only because I used the around computer cables that didn't come with a coil on them already. Like most keyboards these days. But now I have smaller clamp on type since the USB ended type won't fit through the hole in the gas line magnets. PS2 connectors would go through about three or four passes.
I have a paper shredder here in my office, and before I use it, I always jump to computer #3 on the KVM switch. This way I don't mess up the other computers, and the one on KVM #3 has magnets on all of its wires. It is rare for the paper shredder to mess with it, but it does happen sometimes, even with the magnets. The shredder is on a different electrical circuit, different breaker than the computers, so I know it's not getting in that way.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
The best application of that Kilz stuff was in my old house on the concrete basement walls. There was a special formula for concrete and it was expensive as all Hell. I did only half the basement with it because that is where wife had the laundry and the more or less white walls brightened up the area. I was shocked at how little a gallon of Kilz will cover concrete. Seems like I used about five gallons on 90 linear feet of wall. It worked well, but paneling probably would have cost less. LOL
I laid down some laminate flooring in the hallways and in my computer room the week before Windows 7 was released to the public. That's also the time I had the Silver Yogi built. They supplied spacers that were to be used at the edges by the wall during installation so that the flooring would not butt against it directly. Since the floor molding was already in place I added some quarter-round to cover up the crevasses. Looked good but it was made of the same stuff the flooring was made of and not wood. I did that for the color match. I would clean the floor with a damp mop, vinegar, water, and a dash or two of dish soap. Then I would get a towel and wipe it down to remove any standing water. Mom thought she would be good to me and washed the floor with a wet mop and let the residual stand to evaporate on it's own. By the time I got home the joints on many of the boards were beginning to curl up. Fortunately they dried to their original state and I told mom I would be happy if she only vacuumed in the future.
The separating laminate I was referring to is the 5/8th plywood they used on the roof sheathing. Being a newly built house there was only one layer of shingles that were pretty thin, but I don't think that was the problem. The sheets were dry and never showed signs of leaking in the attic space so that I can only assume you are correct to say the heat from the sun got to the glue after so many years.
Once in a while the toilet bowl would acquire a black fungus (perhaps mold) ring at the water line. Anytime the plumbing was serviced there was a coating on the inside of the pipes. Always black and slimy inside the drains, but more like calcium on the supply side. The ozone and magnets were supposed to prevent that from building up. And, it did. About ten years before we moved I had the ozone system removed. The cost to service the filtering tank doubled since the time I bought it and I didn't think the benefits were worth the yearly maintenance fee. We had charcoal filters in a few spots and that only kept the rocks our of our coffee mugs. There was a lot of iron in the village well, and the magnets might have helped with that situation. After only a few years of living there the village switched to buying water from Chicago which had less iron and a higher price.
Oddly enough the paper shredder I use never caused a problem with the computers. They are all on the same circuit in the same room. It's a good point, however, but since I seldom use the shredder and never saw a problem I am happy the way things are.
I laid down some laminate flooring in the hallways and in my computer room the week before Windows 7 was released to the public. That's also the time I had the Silver Yogi built. They supplied spacers that were to be used at the edges by the wall during installation so that the flooring would not butt against it directly. Since the floor molding was already in place I added some quarter-round to cover up the crevasses. Looked good but it was made of the same stuff the flooring was made of and not wood. I did that for the color match. I would clean the floor with a damp mop, vinegar, water, and a dash or two of dish soap. Then I would get a towel and wipe it down to remove any standing water. Mom thought she would be good to me and washed the floor with a wet mop and let the residual stand to evaporate on it's own. By the time I got home the joints on many of the boards were beginning to curl up. Fortunately they dried to their original state and I told mom I would be happy if she only vacuumed in the future.
The separating laminate I was referring to is the 5/8th plywood they used on the roof sheathing. Being a newly built house there was only one layer of shingles that were pretty thin, but I don't think that was the problem. The sheets were dry and never showed signs of leaking in the attic space so that I can only assume you are correct to say the heat from the sun got to the glue after so many years.
Once in a while the toilet bowl would acquire a black fungus (perhaps mold) ring at the water line. Anytime the plumbing was serviced there was a coating on the inside of the pipes. Always black and slimy inside the drains, but more like calcium on the supply side. The ozone and magnets were supposed to prevent that from building up. And, it did. About ten years before we moved I had the ozone system removed. The cost to service the filtering tank doubled since the time I bought it and I didn't think the benefits were worth the yearly maintenance fee. We had charcoal filters in a few spots and that only kept the rocks our of our coffee mugs. There was a lot of iron in the village well, and the magnets might have helped with that situation. After only a few years of living there the village switched to buying water from Chicago which had less iron and a higher price.
Oddly enough the paper shredder I use never caused a problem with the computers. They are all on the same circuit in the same room. It's a good point, however, but since I seldom use the shredder and never saw a problem I am happy the way things are.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
My dad did his basement walls in a mixture of white oil paint and cement, it is called White Medusa Paint, but you won't find it doing a web search. Most contractors never heard of it. Only the older contractors remembered it, but none knew what you mixed together to get it, all they came up with were various Whitewash formula's, hi hi.
Almost all of my contracting career I used White Tampico brushes for swirl patterning ceilings.
Go to a hardware or paint store and ask for one of them today, and all you get is a stare like a deer in the headlights.
Although I never do any wallpapering, I happen to go into a wallpaper store because they were close to a job I was working on, and had some trim paint I needed. Lo and Behold they had an entire rack of White Tampico brushes on a corner wall. I forget what they called them, something like sizing brushes I think. But I bought six each of the three sizes I used most often, and put their name in my where did I buy it book, hi hi. The next time I needed to buy some, and although they were far away from me, I made the drive up there only to find although they were still open, they no longer carried paints, they only sold wallpaper and a few adhesives, that was it. A year later they were out of business.
About the time I wore them out, I found out many masonry stores carry them, but not necessarily in the narrow width I preferred, most were too thick for what I used them for.
Hmm, anaerobic bacteria should not back up into the toilet bowl.
But I do know in areas that use well or cistern water, their pipes and vents are usually loaded with the black mold.
But in these places it is considered beneficial. You don't find it in homes with city water due to the chlorine gas in the water. Probably wouldn't hurt to flush a cup of bleach down the toilet every now and then, to keep the upper pipes cleaner.
The only computers that seem to be affected are the ones I don't have the magnets on. Which is why I always switch the KVM to #3 before using the paper shredder, and even with all the magnets I have on it, and my keyboard, it still sometimes messes up a computer on me.
I have two 11 sheet shredders, the oldest one is down at the house, and I have to take it apart and pack grease in the bearings, which are badly worn. The one up in my office I got by for years without having to take it apart to grease, and it is the one which is used the most. Usually three to five times a day if not more often. Paper does not go into our waste cans, unless it is sticky or oily. Heck, I even shred my soda cartons, twinkies boxes, etc. besides all the paper I go through up here. I use it all as mulch around the bushes. But lately I just dump it all by the slope of the deck my wife had built to keep the weeds at bay, now that I cannot mow there anymore.
Corrugated cardboard I lay on the ground behind the deck, between the garage and fence, where I walk every day to feed the birds. The falling leaves from the pecan tree cover it up this time of year, but we have enough boxes I can usually keep that entire area free of weeds and grass. No way to get a mower back there anymore either, hi hi.
Almost all of my contracting career I used White Tampico brushes for swirl patterning ceilings.
Go to a hardware or paint store and ask for one of them today, and all you get is a stare like a deer in the headlights.
Although I never do any wallpapering, I happen to go into a wallpaper store because they were close to a job I was working on, and had some trim paint I needed. Lo and Behold they had an entire rack of White Tampico brushes on a corner wall. I forget what they called them, something like sizing brushes I think. But I bought six each of the three sizes I used most often, and put their name in my where did I buy it book, hi hi. The next time I needed to buy some, and although they were far away from me, I made the drive up there only to find although they were still open, they no longer carried paints, they only sold wallpaper and a few adhesives, that was it. A year later they were out of business.
About the time I wore them out, I found out many masonry stores carry them, but not necessarily in the narrow width I preferred, most were too thick for what I used them for.
Hmm, anaerobic bacteria should not back up into the toilet bowl.
But I do know in areas that use well or cistern water, their pipes and vents are usually loaded with the black mold.
But in these places it is considered beneficial. You don't find it in homes with city water due to the chlorine gas in the water. Probably wouldn't hurt to flush a cup of bleach down the toilet every now and then, to keep the upper pipes cleaner.
The only computers that seem to be affected are the ones I don't have the magnets on. Which is why I always switch the KVM to #3 before using the paper shredder, and even with all the magnets I have on it, and my keyboard, it still sometimes messes up a computer on me.
I have two 11 sheet shredders, the oldest one is down at the house, and I have to take it apart and pack grease in the bearings, which are badly worn. The one up in my office I got by for years without having to take it apart to grease, and it is the one which is used the most. Usually three to five times a day if not more often. Paper does not go into our waste cans, unless it is sticky or oily. Heck, I even shred my soda cartons, twinkies boxes, etc. besides all the paper I go through up here. I use it all as mulch around the bushes. But lately I just dump it all by the slope of the deck my wife had built to keep the weeds at bay, now that I cannot mow there anymore.
Corrugated cardboard I lay on the ground behind the deck, between the garage and fence, where I walk every day to feed the birds. The falling leaves from the pecan tree cover it up this time of year, but we have enough boxes I can usually keep that entire area free of weeds and grass. No way to get a mower back there anymore either, hi hi.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
Now that you mentioned it, I have heard of Medusa Paint. That's all I can tell you about it because it was so long ago. LOL
Me and plumbing never got along very well. It seems as if every time I need to replace something, they stopped using or making that part years ago. It got to the point where I simply gave up and called a plumber. A couple times he had to come out to clean out the kitchen drain. The kitchen was at the opposite end of the house as was the exit to the sanitary system which means the water had to travel nearly 100' to get to it's final destination. After about three times servicing the same pipe he recommended taking out the garbage disposal. He claimed that people who have them installed give him the most work. Wife wasn't too happy about it, but she agreed. We never had to call the plumber back to clean the kitchen drain after that. This all happened, by the way, after the ozone system was removed.
I think I have a white Tampico brush in with my painting supplies. It would have been used to apply wallpaper because they are not good for painting. I've not tried to get one lately but more than likely the one I have came from Ace Hardware or Home Depot. Those were the only two places I bought such things. Then again, there also was a wallpaper store we patronized. The brush could have come from there.
You are way ahead of the game with all that shredding and mulching. I don't shred anything but potentially sensitive financial information. I also have one of those 11 page shredders which works exceptionally well. They say, however, to put a few drops of vegetable oil on the cutters before shredding. I guess that keeps things sharp. I don't do that every time, but I have done it. I don't think I would know where to find the gears to pack with grease even if I wanted to. The first shredder I owned lasted at least twenty years. The current one is going on ten. If I use it once a month that would be about right. Undoubtedly that is why mine lasts so long. The only computer with magnets on the line cord is the laptop. Now that I think about it, I unplug the laptop in order to free up a spot to plug in the shredder. The tower, however, is on the same circuit.
Me and plumbing never got along very well. It seems as if every time I need to replace something, they stopped using or making that part years ago. It got to the point where I simply gave up and called a plumber. A couple times he had to come out to clean out the kitchen drain. The kitchen was at the opposite end of the house as was the exit to the sanitary system which means the water had to travel nearly 100' to get to it's final destination. After about three times servicing the same pipe he recommended taking out the garbage disposal. He claimed that people who have them installed give him the most work. Wife wasn't too happy about it, but she agreed. We never had to call the plumber back to clean the kitchen drain after that. This all happened, by the way, after the ozone system was removed.
I think I have a white Tampico brush in with my painting supplies. It would have been used to apply wallpaper because they are not good for painting. I've not tried to get one lately but more than likely the one I have came from Ace Hardware or Home Depot. Those were the only two places I bought such things. Then again, there also was a wallpaper store we patronized. The brush could have come from there.
You are way ahead of the game with all that shredding and mulching. I don't shred anything but potentially sensitive financial information. I also have one of those 11 page shredders which works exceptionally well. They say, however, to put a few drops of vegetable oil on the cutters before shredding. I guess that keeps things sharp. I don't do that every time, but I have done it. I don't think I would know where to find the gears to pack with grease even if I wanted to. The first shredder I owned lasted at least twenty years. The current one is going on ten. If I use it once a month that would be about right. Undoubtedly that is why mine lasts so long. The only computer with magnets on the line cord is the laptop. Now that I think about it, I unplug the laptop in order to free up a spot to plug in the shredder. The tower, however, is on the same circuit.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
You're going to love this. At my house in Creve Coeur, I had two garbage disposals, one on each side of the sink. The reason being is the kids were forever having dirty dishes on both sides, so I had to clean out the sink strainer often.
These were big heavy duty disposals too, that reversed direction each time you turned them on, so they would never get jambed. My 1-1/2 inch trap and pipe went into 2 inch vent, down into a 4 inch over to the 6 inch vent. Would have been impossible to clog that set-up.
The old kitchen only had a 1-1/2 inch all the way to the stack, even so it never clogged. Perhaps the trap clogged a few times from heavy things we ground up that didn't wash through easily. But just filling the sink all the way up then pulling the stopper would handle that.
Perhaps if you just replaced the small pipe with a larger one it would have ended your problem?
Here is where PVC waste pipe shines. Cast iron is rough inside and catches things that build up.
PVC is nice and shiny inside, slick as a whistle, so it is hard for things to get caught in them.
Both of my shredders use motors that have brushes in them, which is really unusual for motors used around paper.
Yes, about once a year I put a little oil on the cutter blades so they don't bind together from passing past each other.
Your shredders may use brushless motors, which is the proper way to make them for safety reasons.
A little 6 or 7 page shredder I once had would jamb on even thin cardstock, or if I shredded a credit card.
When I bought the two 11 sheet shredders, I did so because a guy was using one to shred leather scraps, and even thicker pasteboard boxes like cigar box thickness to show they had the horsepower not to jamb.
The downside to these two shredders is you have to lift the top off to empty them, and they are heavy.
My little 7 page shredder had a door on the front and sat tall so you could see when the can was full.
On the upside, the 11 page shredder compacts the shredded pieces so although it is full, you can still do another hundred pages before it needs emptied. Just slip something like a ruler in the slot and wave it back and forth before taking the top off and it is fairly clean, so you don't have to pull paper shreds from the bottom. I like them!
These were big heavy duty disposals too, that reversed direction each time you turned them on, so they would never get jambed. My 1-1/2 inch trap and pipe went into 2 inch vent, down into a 4 inch over to the 6 inch vent. Would have been impossible to clog that set-up.
The old kitchen only had a 1-1/2 inch all the way to the stack, even so it never clogged. Perhaps the trap clogged a few times from heavy things we ground up that didn't wash through easily. But just filling the sink all the way up then pulling the stopper would handle that.
Perhaps if you just replaced the small pipe with a larger one it would have ended your problem?
Here is where PVC waste pipe shines. Cast iron is rough inside and catches things that build up.
PVC is nice and shiny inside, slick as a whistle, so it is hard for things to get caught in them.
Both of my shredders use motors that have brushes in them, which is really unusual for motors used around paper.
Yes, about once a year I put a little oil on the cutter blades so they don't bind together from passing past each other.
Your shredders may use brushless motors, which is the proper way to make them for safety reasons.
A little 6 or 7 page shredder I once had would jamb on even thin cardstock, or if I shredded a credit card.
When I bought the two 11 sheet shredders, I did so because a guy was using one to shred leather scraps, and even thicker pasteboard boxes like cigar box thickness to show they had the horsepower not to jamb.
The downside to these two shredders is you have to lift the top off to empty them, and they are heavy.
My little 7 page shredder had a door on the front and sat tall so you could see when the can was full.
On the upside, the 11 page shredder compacts the shredded pieces so although it is full, you can still do another hundred pages before it needs emptied. Just slip something like a ruler in the slot and wave it back and forth before taking the top off and it is fairly clean, so you don't have to pull paper shreds from the bottom. I like them!
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
The drain from the kitchen was indeed PVC all the way. And, the plumber we called so often did in fact suggest replacing the piping with a larger diameter. That is why we decided to remove the disposal instead. It was a lot less expensive doing it that way. It took a little bit of practice to keep the larger chunks of food scraps out of the sink once the disposal was removed. That was a small price to pay compared to the cost of having a plumber do his thing.
This is pretty close to the shredder I own: https://www.staples.com/fellowes-powers ... t_24369207 Mine has a separate slot for CD's and credit cards which don't get chewed up into as many pieces as does the paper. That's fine for CD's but I have special ways of destroying old credit cards using metal snips. The bin tilts out so that you can tamp down the shreds. I just take it over to the trash can in the garage and sprinkle the contents all over. I am a little hesitant about putting paper shredding out as mulch because I don't think the ink used on the paper is very clean. I read that some of it is even toxic. I don't have a vegetable garden but I also don't like the idea of putting unknown chemicals in the soil.
This is pretty close to the shredder I own: https://www.staples.com/fellowes-powers ... t_24369207 Mine has a separate slot for CD's and credit cards which don't get chewed up into as many pieces as does the paper. That's fine for CD's but I have special ways of destroying old credit cards using metal snips. The bin tilts out so that you can tamp down the shreds. I just take it over to the trash can in the garage and sprinkle the contents all over. I am a little hesitant about putting paper shredding out as mulch because I don't think the ink used on the paper is very clean. I read that some of it is even toxic. I don't have a vegetable garden but I also don't like the idea of putting unknown chemicals in the soil.
Re: Pyrotechnics Gone Wild
That's a nice shredder, a step-up from mine, also sold at Staples
https://www.staples.com/Fellowes-Powers ... _IM1DM8648
One thing interesting is yours cost about 10 bucks more and runs slower, rated personal.
The one we have runs faster, and rated as commercial. I see it runs longer before overheat shut-down.
Before I had this one, I had one that did a double-shred, and produced little diamond shaped waste.
I like this because you could do a whole lot more paper before needing to empty, because the waste laid flat.
These crosscut machines the paper is more like excelsior and take up a lot of space. But it does compact down on its own.
The downside to that one is the cutter heads are totally different and wear out real fast.
It overheated after only about 5 pages, but was super quiet. Ran much slower too!
My brother had a paper shredder that could eat an entire county phone book, the city book was too thick if you didn't split it in half. It would also eat wood pieces up to about 3/4 inch thick. It had the same type of teeth our Fellows units have. The only thing about it, the teeth were 6 inches below the top slot, maybe more so you could not get your had down as far as the teeth. Might have been 8 inches. It stood at counter height, had a cabinet door and bin inside the door. An electric eye would shut it off if the shredded paper was above the top of the can.
He even stuck a computer circuit board in it once and it ate it up like no tomorrow, hi hi. Didn't seem to hurt any of the teeth either. He had bought a second grinder module when he bought it, and never had to replace it. He did have to replace the motor once, but that was his fault it went bad. I forget now what he said he did to the motor, but it burned the winding out. Knowing him he probably connected it to a 220 outlet, hi hi.
I never used shredded paper from glossy magazines around my garden or flowers, I reserved those batches for around trees over plastic weed stop cloth around large trees that still got mulch over it.
Newsprint uses soy ink, and most printed papers are done using lasers or ink jet. Not enough to build up to any toxic levels.
Around bushes, newsprint takes on a brown shade, while office paper stays white. I used this to advantage back when Debi's mom was alive. Thus the reason for two shredders in the first place, hi hi. Newsprint in one, white in the other, save the magazines for later, hi hi. Now I don't much care, all paper and cartons go into the shredders, hi hi.
https://www.staples.com/Fellowes-Powers ... _IM1DM8648
One thing interesting is yours cost about 10 bucks more and runs slower, rated personal.
The one we have runs faster, and rated as commercial. I see it runs longer before overheat shut-down.
Before I had this one, I had one that did a double-shred, and produced little diamond shaped waste.
I like this because you could do a whole lot more paper before needing to empty, because the waste laid flat.
These crosscut machines the paper is more like excelsior and take up a lot of space. But it does compact down on its own.
The downside to that one is the cutter heads are totally different and wear out real fast.
It overheated after only about 5 pages, but was super quiet. Ran much slower too!
My brother had a paper shredder that could eat an entire county phone book, the city book was too thick if you didn't split it in half. It would also eat wood pieces up to about 3/4 inch thick. It had the same type of teeth our Fellows units have. The only thing about it, the teeth were 6 inches below the top slot, maybe more so you could not get your had down as far as the teeth. Might have been 8 inches. It stood at counter height, had a cabinet door and bin inside the door. An electric eye would shut it off if the shredded paper was above the top of the can.
He even stuck a computer circuit board in it once and it ate it up like no tomorrow, hi hi. Didn't seem to hurt any of the teeth either. He had bought a second grinder module when he bought it, and never had to replace it. He did have to replace the motor once, but that was his fault it went bad. I forget now what he said he did to the motor, but it burned the winding out. Knowing him he probably connected it to a 220 outlet, hi hi.
I never used shredded paper from glossy magazines around my garden or flowers, I reserved those batches for around trees over plastic weed stop cloth around large trees that still got mulch over it.
Newsprint uses soy ink, and most printed papers are done using lasers or ink jet. Not enough to build up to any toxic levels.
Around bushes, newsprint takes on a brown shade, while office paper stays white. I used this to advantage back when Debi's mom was alive. Thus the reason for two shredders in the first place, hi hi. Newsprint in one, white in the other, save the magazines for later, hi hi. Now I don't much care, all paper and cartons go into the shredders, hi hi.