Notes for the “Occupy” Movement

Hello,

Just wanted to put my two cents in, though I’m sure you really won’t care…

Firstly: I’m glad you’re calling this an “occupation,” since many of you are getting paid by your unions to be out there, and others of you are professional protesters. That this is what you do for a living is clearly evident. Of course, there are some out there that are not getting paid, but every movement needs dupes.

Secondly: That you purport to speak for the “99%”  of us out here that are not in the upper income bracket is a joke. In fact, I find it offensive that you claim to speak for anyone other than yourselves. Please stop with the “We are the 99%” garbage. I’d wager, after listening to a few of your leaders spout their rhetoric, you might represent 1% of the fringe of the far left.

Thirdly: Most hardworking Americans want to get money from the rich the old fashioned way, by providing them a product or service that they are willing to pay good money to get.

Fourthly: You are protesting the wrong group. The present financial crisis was created by Washington bureaucrats who were trying to gain the system to get more people into home ownership. A laudable goal, to be sure, but when the means to this end consists of making it possible for anyone above room temperature to get a 110% mortgage at the height of a real estate bubble, seems to me somewhat problematic. When the inevitable defaults on these loans began, and all the devices that were backed by them failed, instead of blaming the perpetrators of the error (the politicians and “activists” who pushed for the rule changes), you march on Wall Street.  Of course, you don’t really care about the truth, you just hate capitalism.

Fifthly: Every political or economic system is unfair. Even in your cute little “General Assembly” consensus there are people who disagree with the consensus. Is it “fair” that the individual has to bow to the tyranny of the mob? Consensus is more often about who can bully everyone else into agreeing with them than it is about finding agreement.

Lastly: Well, I could go on and on, but…for the sake of brevity, I, and many many others out here in the community, are going back to work today. That is in essence our way of saying, “no, we don’t’ agree with your occupation.” At some point or another you are going to realize that most people think you are sad and pathetic. At that point you are going to have to make a decision. See, the only way you can really make your neo-Marxist dream come true, is by holding a gun to everyone’s head and saying, “You’re either with us, or against us.” Thousands of people stream across the southern border of this great nation looking for opportunity. I suppose one way to get them to stop would be to turn it into the kind of  thug-ocracy they are trying to escape.

Oh look, it’s snowing!

At the End of the Day

I can’t stand that everyone uses this awful phrase. I hear it everywhere, from Obama on down to the everyday person, and especially in discussions of news people types. It is one of the worst cliche lines in circulation presently, and it is just lazy speech that grates on the ears of anyone with half a mind on the way information is presented.

It seems to me, on balance, taking all things into account, when all is said and done, it’s as plain as the nose on your face that using that phrase is as useful as a lead balloon, and is just the tip of the iceberg to show that person’s  lack of originality, from my perspective, for what it’s worth.

Politics and Science

Science is by its nature prone to radical changes in outlook. “Based on the evidence, we conclude…” But, when confronted with new evidence that may alter the understanding, even completely reversing previously held positions, scientists have no problem flipping around to a new understanding of reality. One need only look at the long running debate over eggs, or the new conflicting studies about salt in our diet, to see that concrete knowledge about how science understands things is actually tenuous at best.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/health/research/04salt.html

In the late 1950s the fundamental driving theory of mountain building was called the Geosynclinal model. I won’t bore you with the details, since it has been proven outdated, and replaced with the Plate Tectonic model. Back then, as related by one of my geology professors, there was, however, quite a push-back against this new theory that challenged the dogma of the day. So much so that students were warned against going to lectures promoting this new theory. Of course, they went anyhow, I mean, what do college students do when they are told, “don’t do this!” ? Soon the Geosynclinal model was laid on the ash-heaps of history, and I’d wager most of you reading this have never even heard of it.

An interesting thing to note is that even with this new and improved model, no one is sure how the whole thing is driven. What forces inside the earth are driving these huge plates all around the globe? Lots of ideas out there, but nothing has been “proven.”  The more we know, the more we know we don’t know.

Take also the latest fad in physics: darkness. Dark matter and dark energy are the headlines coming from our buddies with the formulas. We can’t see it, we can’t detect it, but it “has” to be there, our calculations won’t work without it. Or, rather, our calculations don’t work as we think they ought to, so there must be something out there influencing things that we can’t get hold of right now. I’m sure I’ve got it all wrong, and some physics person would shake their head, “You poor civilian.”

What is interesting to me, though, is how science is perceived in the public sphere. It seems to me, scientists are seen as the ones who “know.” If we have a problem with our bodies we go to the doctor, a scientist. If there is a question about how to construct something, we go to an engineer, a scientist. If we have  questions about the weather, we go to a meteorologist, another scientist. On and on it goes. These are the folks who study and test, who observe and catalog,  who confer with one another in the ivory towers, and occasionally deign to come down to us mortals to try explain to our feeble minds the nuances of the more potent reality they know.

And tell us not to pay attention to what they said yesterday, because the new study came out, the new observation was made, the new calculation was done, and so there is a new way to look at things that, uh oh, just completely contradicts what we told you yesterday.

Of course, this doesn’t apply to “natural laws”, like gravity, or physical constants,  like say, the speed of light…oh wait,  wasn’t there just some finding about neutrinos? Never mind.

Science does work, though. All we need do is look around our rooms at night to see the many LED’s (light emitting diodes) to remind us that our world today is filled with scientific improvements to our lives. And we are grateful.

Politics is the playing out of societal interactions. As we are presently so keenly aware it is also how the money is spent. Our money. Quite a bit of this is founded upon the insights science gives us into the nature of reality. Hence, since salt is bad for us, we need to have a notice put onto the packaging of the product telling us the sodium content. We also need to have laboratories set up for the company to send their product to to get tested to see how much sodium (and saturated fat, and, and, and…) is in there so we can make “informed” decisions about all that. Oh wait, but is salt bad for us now? And if it isn’t, what about all that wasted time and effort that went into determining how much was in there? What about all that marketing that was wasted on promoting “low sodium” foods? What about all those wasted doctor visits where the scientist calmly explained that, yes Mrs. McGillicuddy, you really need to watch your salt intake, since studies have shown that salt in your diet increases hypertension, and if you have salted french fries your heart will probably explode right there in McDonalds? I’m sure the FDA will blithely change all the rules, and come up with some great new graphic to explain how salt is improving our lives, while latching onto the latest news from science to warn us about the next dreaded ingredient to manage.

For me the problem is there is no accounting for this. Whole industries are forced at gunpoint to change the way they do business, spend tons of money coming up with ways to address some issue that politicians have learned about from scientists. And then, as science is oft seen to do, the data changes, the understanding is more nuanced, another factor is identified, and, oh, well, that wasn’t really what the deal was, so here is the new way to look at it. Meanwhile, all that effort was completely wasted.

I just wonder what effect a low salt diet had on people who religiously followed one? Were they harmed by this? Would they have been better off with a “moderate sodium intake?”  And if there is a danger to that, and people were harmed, who should bear the responsibility for it? Not the scientists, of course, since they were only going off what the data showed. Not the politicians and bureaucrats, they were only following what the scientists were telling them. Not the food companies, they were only complying with the regulations imposed on them at gunpoint by the bureaucrats who were just following what the scientists were telling them.

There are some areas where we can be sure about what science can tell us. We shouldn’t put belladonna in breakfast cereal. When political power uses science to impose strictures on personal liberty, there ought to be some kind of accounting, in case, oopsie, our study didn’t factor in for the positive feedback effect of  exposure to the sun (or, whatever), so just ignore that last little missive about how this can kill you.

Have a day!

Guacamole

Some people have commented in the past that I make a pretty good guacamole. I’ve tried different things over the years, and this is the place I’m at right now, but I’m open to suggestion. Here is my recipe.

guacamole

So, first you have to start with avocados that are absolutely perfect. I prefer the Haas variety strictly, but if you have success with others, it’s really up to you. I find the Haas to be less sweet than other varieties, which works better for my taste.  I suppose there is a range of acceptable firmness, but you definitely have to do the squeeze test to be sure. At the very least there must be some response to your finger pressure, if it is hard as a rock, just go on to the next one. Often these are stocked in the grocery store from one batch, so more than likely if one is hard, the rest will be also. Too soft is even more to be avoided, as the interior will start to brown, and a stringyness will be evident. Still, search around a bit to see if you can find soft, yielding specimens. If not, go to another store and try again. I have had to got to three different stores sometimes before finding just the right avos. Of course, you can buy them hard, then let them ripen at home, but you have to keep an eye on them, then use them within the optimal ripeness window.

Once you have the avos, get a bowl a bit larger than you would need to serve the finished concoction. Today we will focus on a two-avocado guacamole, the amounts can be adjusted for one, or a dozen. Take a butter knife and cut the avo to the pit, starting at the stem hole and working your way around. Be sure to remove any bit of stem that may still be there at that end. With a gentle twisting motion pull the two halves apart. If the optimal ripeness has been achieved, the flesh should detach cleanly from the pit. The flesh will have a graded color, darker green towards the skin, pale green towards the pit. I remove the pit by driving the blade of the knife into it, then twisting and popping it out. Be sure to use a dull knife for this operation, it works just fine, and you won’t cut your fingers off if you miss. Use the butter knife to gently separate the flesh from the skin, I rotate the avo half in my hand as I work the knife around.

Sliced and ready to mash

The goal is to scrape as much off the inside of the skin without leaving any skin on the flesh. The skin tastes yucky. Drop the half into the bowl and proceed until all your avos have been disgorged of their flesh.

Next we mash. I like to use a potato masher, as shown below. The technique is simple: just mash them.

The masher I prefer

I do prefer to have a few larger chunks of avocado left in the mix, so I won’t completely pulverize it all. Sometimes I’ll also save a couple slices to dice into the finished product.

So now we are ready to begin adulterating the mix.

smashed

At this point it really becomes “Your Guacamole.” Sweet, savory, mild, hot, minimalist or store-bought (oh never!). I tend toward the savory with a hint of heat. Now some may feel they really need to spice it up and add the cayenne or jalapeno,  but my feeling is that guacamole serves the function of a coolant in the meal.  If you want the hot stuph, put it in the salsa, or make green sauce that those who prefer the asbestos end of the scale can enjoy.  Leave the guacamole alone. Well, not completely alone, but you’ll see.

Spicing it up

I start with garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder. Now here is where I get a little vague…you just need to put in enough of each. I typically start by sprinkling on the garlic powder, then the chili, then the cumin, all by eye. It’s an art, or a feel, though I guess if you had to pin me down to an amount I would suggest about a teaspoon of each to begin with. But really, I don’t measure this at all, I just open the bottle and shake some on.  The next photo gives you and idea of what it looks like before I start mixing it all in with a fork.

The spice is on

Oh, I forgot the oregano. So, yeah, I also usually put fresh oregano from the garden in at this point too, and you can use the dried kind too. I like it to be un-crushed so you can crush it right into the mix, and leave a few leaves intact.

Mix it up with a fork, and now we can have a first taste-test. A tortilla chip is great for this, though I suppose you could use a spoon. When you chew, open your mouth a bit and let the fragrance enter you nose, breathe in. Taste is mostly smell anyhow, so you really need to let it get in there. Do you get the garlic? Is the cumin coming on? The chili should hit you in the nose and mouth, so can you feel it and smell it? Is the oregano giving you that warm green note? This is the time when things can get a little out of hand, so you need to be careful not to overdo anything. There is this point at which any one flavor will begin to dominate, or everything together will overwhelm the avocado itself. Approaching this point, but not blasting beyond it, is the art of the thing. Add a little more, taste again, think and smell, add more if you dare, then stop.

A little secret: If at this point you have overwhelmed the guac with garlic, or anything else, you can add some more fresh avocado to the mix and it can help. That is, if you have another avo…

body

The final step is to give it some body and class.  A good guacamole is creamy and vibrant. (“Vibrant?”) I add a heaping tablespoon of sour cream for this two-avo recipe. If you look closely you can see it is “light” sour cream. This is our nod to watching our diet, I mean, let’s face it, it’s an avocado, not really your low fat thing. I do recommend not using “fat-free” sour cream, as the consistency is somewhat akin to old shaving cream. Not what you want in a guacamole.

The other item is your favorite salsa. Now you might ask, “Steve, wait a minute. We just spent all this time making this guacamole ‘our own’ by adding all those spices, specially measured, and tasted by our own palate and nose, and now you are telling us to take some store-bought salsa and adulterate our creation?” Yes, that’s what I’m saying. Now if you make your own salsa, awesome! Go for it. Then it will truly be “your own.”

Ready for eating

But I think if you have found a salsa you like, adding it in at this point will not overwhelm the other efforts we have made to create our own taste, especially if we only add a couple tablespoons at the most. What this does is add some body to the whole mix, and gets some chunks of onion and tomato and whatever is in the salsa in there. I suppose you could add some chopped onion and tomato and more oregano, whatever, but I like to think that your taste in salsa will probably enhance the taste of the guacamole. This is another place where you can adjust the heat a little, also, and as you can see, I use a “medium” hot salsa.

time to taste

Mix it all up, and get another tortilla chip ready.

If, at this point, something is still lacking, it is not too late to tweak the mix. I would say, though, that whatever you do, spicewise, will probably end up being the dominant note in the concoction. If you add more garlic powder here, it will be a more garlicky guacamole. Which, maybe, you would prefer. But the beauty of the guacamole is the blending of the flavors. If you can let the mix sit for an hour in the fridge it will give all the different nuances time to co-mingle, get to know one another, start a relationship that can help this side dish tell a deeper story of flavor and texture.

The last thing to say is, experiment! There are many  more spices to try, tarragon, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. (Ugh, did I really do that?). Some people like to put lime and lemon in there. Find that balance of ingredients you like, and it will become your guacamole, and maybe people will begin to say about you , what they say about me, “Oh, (enter your name here) makes a great guacamole!”

huzzah!

Let me know how it goes…

Level, plumb and square. Yeah, right.

Remodeling is an adventure. Whether you are “just” replacing a window, or completely renovating everything above the foundation, working with an existing structure poses its own unique opportunities and circumstances. It also requires someone with a different set of mental tools. I had a plumber friend who bought an old house and asked some of the carpenters he knew to come help him. They were all new construction guys. The house was solid, but had issues, especially since it was on post and pier foundation, and had already been added onto once or twice. After explaining what he wanted done, the guys got to work, but soon were yelling and shaking their heads in dismay. “It’s gotta be level, plumb and square! That’s the basics of building. Nothing here is any of that.”  Welcome to remodeling, boys.

Start with what you have

Occasionally you can tweak what is there and get it right before you begin, but often you’re called in to work on a place that has been subjected to multiple previous projects, perpetrated with varying degrees of expertise. One Victorian house comes to mind, where I was called in to put a new bathroom upstairs. The original 1920′s era house had numerous additions and changes. A large addition had been attached to the back, but this had apparently been done after the back had settled a little (one inch). Then this too had settled (another inch). I was asked by the owner if I could jack up the floor there to get things level again. “Which floor do you want level?”

Now, I suppose I could have tried to separate the two-story addition from the main structure, then jacked them up right, but there was this little thing called money involved. Needless to say, we just supported what was there where it was, and went on with the bathroom upstairs.

If the walls are out of plumb, and the floor isn’t quite level, and you can’t really do anything about it without doubling the cost of the project, you just have to go with what you have and make whatever you do as right as possible. With additions, it’s fairly simple to do, Just start from the crooked part and build level, plumb and square. But if you are using the existing structure and space, sometimes you have to fudge things a bit, and make calculated decisions.

Match existing

We can’t get too serious with this, but for the most part you want whatever you do to blend in with what is already there. If the window you are replacing is in a wall that is out of plumb, and the jambs and casing are all skewed, you could pull it all off and redo it, or just put the window in the hole and make it work. Many things like this go unnoticed, it is a matter of what catches the eye. It is also a matter of the budget. Some might say this is a “quick and dirty” building technique, which, I suppose it is, but if the owner can get a functioning new window in an existing location with minimal cost, I think it is appropriate. Aesthetics are important, if you can afford it.

It is also tempting to save money by using less expensive materials than what is already installed. Say you have an older house with lap siding, but want to add on a new room. You could use plywood siding and save quite a bit over trying to match the lap style, but the result would be quite noticeable. Same goes for window treatments and finish trim. The value of the addition will be greater if it blends with the style and materials you already have.

Expect issues

So you want to open a new doorway from the dining room to the living room. Great, just knock down the wall and patch the floor and ceiling right? Oh, wait, what is that wiring doing there? And what is that pipe for? Why is the roof sagging since we took the wall out? Bearing wall, what’s that? Why don’t the two floors line up? Why is this brick flue here?

Ah yes, the unseen. Even the most thorough pre-construction investigations can miss important details that can make the project balloon. Having an experienced remodeling contractor will save you much headache, but even we can miss things too. and often you never know what is inside the wall until you open it up. Most people figure at least a 10% contingency into their cost estimates. I often go as high as 15% in my bids, and owners should plan for needed extra work to be covered.  There are just some things that no one can foresee.

Be flexible

One of the great satisfactions I get doing remodel carpentry is addressing the daily issues that come up. It is a constant battle coming up with solutions for all the new considerations. How do we deal with the fact that 2×4 lumber was one quarter inch wider in 1950 than it is today? Dose it matter that post is in the wall? If we put the window here, does it interfere with the cabinets? I want the door to be bigger, how can we do it?

Try not to be too constrained in your original ideas. Once you get into a project, things change, but it is ok. There is often more than one way to accomplish a design goal, and sometimes there have to be trade-offs. One thing I try do with any project is figure out what the most important design element is to the client. Once I figure out what that is, then any other considerations can become secondary. I was bidding a house for some people on a lot near the ocean. The owner kept talking about two things: He wanted a conditioned room to store his instruments; and his wife wanted a platform above the hallway where she could look out the living room windows and see the ocean. Those were the keys to the project. As long as I got those things right, everything else could be negotiated.  As an owner, try figure out what the most important thing you want done is, then be flexible with everything else. It will make the project go smoother, and you will end up with what you want, but maybe done in a different way.

Expect dust

Anyone who tells you they will do your project without creating some dust in your living environment is lying. Most contractors will do what they can to minimize the dust, but if you are set on living in a jobsite, you will get dust in places you never thought you could get dust in.

Keep your sense of humor

Remember, it’s only money. And at the end, you get a great new space, window, door, bathroom, kitchen, floor…

Driving Past

I have been reading some travel stories of late, and I have wondered in the past just what the impression my little town makes on those who whiz past on their way to somewhere else.

When I am travelling on the coast, or just about anywhere, but more often in Oregon, on the windswept stretches of two-lane highway carved out of the landscape by surveyors of old, I pass by some small by-way. There might be a stop sign for them, and often a bland green road sign naming this paved path into the hinterlands. Occasionally there is nothing but a wider space on the main way, a break in the white line on the right hand shoulder, and some pocked asphalt leading up into the darkness of a patch of trees. What lays beyond this anonymous opening?

Perhaps there is just a few yards of pavement, then a gate where the Forest Service closes off the way, or Simpson Timber has an access road. “Watch for Trucks Entering Highway” signs temporarily show up when the clear-cutting begins. Maybe it leads to a house, lonely on the coast, or a whole subdivision hidden away in the folds of the blanketed hills. Houses that have stood for decades, homes where people have lived and died, cut lawns, raised chickens, ended loves, began furtive romances, all pass by at fifty-five miles an hour. Maybe the road leads way up into the hills to another road, and another and beyond into the fog enshrouded distance where imagination runs wild until the next rest stop.

What do people think of when they pass “Clam Beach Road” exit? They are probably looking out at the Pacific Ocean, wondering, ‘Are there any clams on Clam Beach?’ They don’t know there are, but there are fewer, and years ago my friend George and his family would go down there at low tide with shovels and buckets and cut their hands on the razor clams trying to get away. Down in the sand, their soft necks probing up through the grains, the clams await the next high tide to feed. Overhead the horses run, the kites fly, the two-wheelers get stuck and the four-wheelers laugh, and for fifty dollars will pull you out. Overhead, once each year, the runners come for the Clam Beach Run, pounding the sand, and breasting Little River. Do they even know it’s called Little River, these passers-by? Do they see the little white sign at the bridge?

Do they see the road, Central Avenue, that turns quickly into the forested valley there? Do they know of the bar just out of sight with the bad reputation?

They’ll never know, just up the hill there is a farm, sold twice now but once owned by my brother-in-law’s ex-mother-in-law. She used to tell her daughter to go see if the stream was running backward so there could be some private adult time on the ranch.

They’ll never know that just beyond that, up another road to the end, two miles away, is the old Forest Service Nursery where millions of trees were grown to replant those clear-cut lands even further up, past the gate at the end of that road. The dirt road that leads into what my mother would call the ’forest primeval’, but was really just on the edge of my other brother-in-law’s twenty acre parcel. And next to the nursery is the organic blueberry farm where my children could go and eat all they wanted as my wife picked our store for the year, ‘One whole pail-full, and three more besides.’

They’ll never know, as they whiz past, that just over that hill and up a ways a girl grew up raising hamsters and chickens and a tame crow named Mordecai. That she lived next to a lady with dreams and goats that bleated names into the night, “Be-e-e-eth” who now has an award winning goat cheese, and  moved away to a further valley where the winery is, and the organic apple orchard.

They’ll never know.

They will drive on past, looking up the hill, past the vista point, “Have you seen a sign showing how far it is to the city?”

The next exit is “Airport road.” The Eureka/Arcata airport in Mckinleyville. Will they know the statue of President McKinley is not in McKinleyville, but in Arcata? Will they know that Phillips Camera Shop in Arcata is named after the camera man who sat in the nosecones of B-17s as they drifted down through the fog to land at this self same airport? How can they know that the Army Air Corps, or was it the Air Force by then, built this airport in the foggiest place they could find. With concrete runways poured ten feet thick to support the fully loaded warplanes, trying to find ways to disperse the fog. Corporal (or was it private?) Phillips sat in the Plexiglas forward dome of the B-17 as it plunged down and down through the enveloping mist, straining to see the first glimpses of fifty-five gallon barrels of burning oil, or whatever else the engineers could dream up to disperse the fog. The fog of the rainforest hovering just over the next hill. Click-click-click. They never did figure out a way to clear the fog, and to this day we descend to the tarmac through shrouds of grey, peering out the side windows, wondering if we’ll see the ground before feeling it. Please oh please.

Of course, Phillips Camera shop was sold to another man, who’s first name was Phillip, so they didn’t really need to change the sign much. But he sold it also, and now it is an art store. They’ll never know.

But if they look carefully now, they will see to east, over the ramshackle houses along 101, the two antennae on “The Worlds Tallest Totem Pole.” Will they know how those antennae were installed only fairly recently, because someone else had carved a taller totem pole, and this one had lost its distinction? Here in the back of the shopping center it stands in the town where “Horses Still Have the Right of Way,” though you rarely see horses there anymore unless you are in town for Pony Express Days.

They will pass on, over the Mad River.

“It doesn’t look mad to me.”

Years ago it was diverted into Humboldt Bay so logs could be floated more easily to the mills. Of course, this silted in the bay more quickly, and maybe that’s why the quay at Arcata had to be lengthened longer and longer until it stretched way out. And if you stop at the Arcata marsh you can still see the pilings lined up out across the water, or mud, depending on the tide.

They drive past the flake-board mill my children always called “the cloud factory” since it spewed forth steam from the kilns.

“Oh, there, San Francisco: 248 miles.”

My little road has passed.

Deferred Maintenance

Damage from a leak left unfixed

Ooooo, nasty words. This is the kind of thing that keeps homeowners up all night, and gives contractors glee. You know there’s a problem, but you don’t have the ready money to fix it. If it keeps on going it will just get worse, and cost more. This is definitely a “pay me now, or pay me more later” scenario.

Some things are actually ok to let go for a while. You can live with that awful shag carpet from 1967, though if you do still have that, you might consider donating it to the Smithsonian or something. A creaking board in the hallway, a broken door from some angry teenager’s rant, vinyl floor coverings from the dark ages, broken drywall, missing interior trim, paint or wallpaper from the dark…ok you get the picture.

A building official once told me the code was set up to ensure structural integrity, sanitation, and safety. Under the safety category comes fire and electrical. Obviously there is more to it than that, but those are the essentials. So when looking at your maintenance issues you need to consider firstly if they are a danger. Is it damaging the structural integrity of the building? Is it causing an unsanitary situation? Is it unsafe? Is there a fire hazard? Is there an electrocution potential?

Probably the most serious issues are fire and electrocution. Often these are related. Old wiring can be taxed by the demands our wired lifestyles present these days, and if you find yourself using multiple splitters you might want to consider getting some outlets added. The code is changing every year, providing new ways of protection, and it is prudent to consider upgrading your electrical system as much as possible to take advantage of the new technologies. This is especially true for those of us who have older houses. A licensed electrician can come and evaluate your system, and often will do it for free, as long as you allow him to quote you a price for repairs.

Fire kills. All the recommendations you hear about smoke alarms etc. should be followed religiously. Fireplaces, stoves, cooking appliances, boilers, heaters, water heaters, furnaces, whatever you have that uses electricity, natural gas or propane, heating oil, etc., these are sources of danger when it comes to fire. Most utility providers will come to your home and inspect your furnace, and may even provide maintenance for free. I had an issue with the gas meter at our house, and the guy who came out to replace it also cleaned out our furnace firebox when he went to relight the pilot light. Most of the time these appliances will work for decades, but having them regularly serviced will keep them running efficiently and allow for any problems to be noticed and repaired before they become a danger. If you smell gas, call right away. Don’t wait. Do it now.

Sanitation is what the plumbing code is all about. Delivering clean water to your faucets, and taking waste away has been around since the Roman times. Most of the world still lives in the last century when it comes to this, and we should be extraordinarily thankful that we have clean drinkable water delivered right to our homes 24/7/365. Even more we should be thankful that our ‘effluent’ is taken away sight unseen. Anyone who has traveled abroad can tell you horror stories about toilet facilities and the lack thereof as they traveled in even some quite civilized place. In our homes the main issues are leaks. If you look back at some of my earlier posts you can read about water damage and pest infestation due to the presence of water. It is the enemy of building materials, and if left unchecked can over time cause thousands of dollars of damage for what could have been easy fixes at the beginning.

Any contractor will be able to evaluate most issues you might have, and would also be able to recommend specialty contractors to look at things beyond his expertise. Most of the time we will come and look for free, just let us give you a quote for doing the work. A donut is nice too. Remember to make sure we are licensed, it counts for something, get more than one bid, and check references.

And, if you have questions, remember, you can go to the ‘Ask a Real Building Contractor’ page above and get that answer right away!

Waiting for the phone to ring

Spring is on the way, and hearts turn to love, flowers, gardening, and, hopefully, remodeling. So far this winter has been really lean. As things go, it is fairly typical for building to be slow in the winter, so this is not unexpected, but with the last year being a kind of down year in general, it is getting a bit creepy just how quiet the phone has been.

Most contractors have a number of regular clients who make up anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of their business, and can usually be relied upon to come up with something small even in the most quiet of times. These usually come without notice or advertisement, “Hey, if you have some time in the near future could you….” and we make our best attempt to fit them in, since they are, good return customers. these types of phone calls dried up sometime last month.

Normally I don’t pay much attention to the ‘new housing starts’ statistics, since I’m mostly a remodel guy, but lately it seems to be a bellwether for business at this end of the scale. Yesterday we saw the absolute worst number in the history of keeping the statistic. This combined with the continued inclement weather has brought us to  blogging about our misfortune.

That having been said, if you are considering having some work done on your place, this would be a great time to have someone come out and take a look. There are many hungry contractors out there, and even the good ones have space available in their schedules, and would probably be willing to cut deals just to keep their crews busy. The word out on the street is bid prices are getting lower and lower. My concrete contractor friend said he’s seeing quite a few low-ball quotes from way out of towners. I’m in a pretty rural, out of the way area (Humboldt Co., CA) and when we see companies from Redding or even Sacramento and southern Oregon bidding local projects, you gotta know things are getting tight there too.

Tip of the day: When things are slow in the building sector, it is a good time to get a discount price on that project you have been wanting to have done.

Of course, all of the usual caveats apply: check references; get multiple bids; be wary of extremely low bid numbers; make sure everyone is bidding on the same project scope; get an actual contract for the work to be done; and only deal with licensed businesses.

The builders of the country thank you!

Termites

Crunchy wood

I am not, repeat, NOT a licensed pest inspector. In fact, I have heard that for me to even say the words ‘dry rot’ in the context of damaged wood could get me in a heap-a trouble. If you suspect you may have water damage that could be fungus related, or think you might have creepy-crawlies chewing on your McMansion, I suggest you contact a licensed and qualified and highly recommended pest inspector to do that thang he do so well.

Having said that, however, I can give you some unofficial observations I have made, and relate some things I have heard said experts relate.

Most of the residential construction that exists in the world today is framed with yummy crunchy well preserved meal items highly sought after by various insects. Where I live, the most common are two types of termites, and one type of beetle. I’m sure there are more, but these are the ones I encounter the most.

Subterranean termites are the smaller variety, around 1/4″ long, pale yellow in color, and they live in the ground and eat your house. Damp-wood termites are the larger of these two, up to around1/2″ long, pale yellow, with some that have dark brown coloration also. These critters live in and eat your house.

Actually, they live all around us here, doing the job God created them to do, which is help break down dead plant material, particularly wood. As mentioned above, though, our houses are the target meal for them.The main way we avoid our houses becoming breakfast, lunch and dinner for these guys is to keep them from figuring out  there is anything there to be eaten.

The most common phrase you seen in pest reports is “earth to wood contact.”  This is most to be avoided, especially when it comes to the subterranean variety, who, as mentioned above, live in the ground, and eat your house. They get to your house by finding the earth to wood contact, and crunch, crunch, crunch, ‘C’mon children, here’s our new food source.’ Another way these subterranean  dudes get in is to make tubes out of mud to get from the ground up to the wood. I have heard stories of mobile homes having multiple tubes extending up from the ground beneath them.  After the damaged mobile home was removed, and the tubes knocked down, the owners put a new mobile home on the same site.  How nice of them to provide a new source of food after that other one got so chewed on. Apparently there is what is called a ‘hive memory’ and they just rebuilt the tubes and crunch crunch crunch.  The pest guy said you needed to put down a chemical barrier in the soil in order to deter them.

I’m only relating what I’ve been told.

As far as the ‘damp-wood’ termites, from their name you can tell they need water to survive. If you have a leak in your roof, or your plumbing, or ‘damaged’ siding, allowing a continuing supply of water, these types can find a way in and set up housekeeping. Which means eating your house.

Proper construction practices, maintenance, and yes, periodic inspection, will do wonders in keeping these guys at bay. Common rules include: 6″ minimum distance from wood siding to earth, 1″ to concrete. Any wood that is in contact with the foundation or earth should be pressure treated. do not attach fences, or decks, or railings, or anything in contact with the earth, to the house. I know this is more convenient, and seems stronger, but it is is just asking for trouble. Any place for water to get trapped, or any path from the ground to your house is bad. If you must attach something to the structure, put galvanized metal flashing between the house and the attaching member. I just billed out nearly $1500.00 to replace a ledger attached to the side of a house. It was not pressure treated, and it and some of the siding behind, and even some of the framing at one corner were so damaged I could remove them with a spoon. Thankfully there was no evidence of insects.

Repairing leaks in a timely way is another good way to prevent infestations. The longer the leak goes, the more apt the termites are to discovering it and moving in.

A prudent homeowner will regularly have their home inspected. Pest inspections are typically good for two years. $200.00 or so every two years can prevent thousands of dollars in repairs down the line.

One other insect I have run into is what is commonly called the Powder-post beetle. I have actually never seen one of these, or their larvae, but I have seen the destructive force of them many times. Typically they are evidenced by what is called “shot-gun”  damage, small holes in the wood members. You may have even seen this in old furniture. The holes are actually the emergent holes when the larvae pupate into adults. Therefore, if you see the holes, the damage has been done.

The story I got from my pest guy friend is the adult females fly around, land on wood, and taste it to see if the starch content is right. If so, they lay eggs, and go on. The eggs hatch, and the larvae start chewing away. Apparently there is no set life cycle, and these larvae can keep eating for years without becoming adults. The result is the wood gets eaten from the inside out. The term ‘powder-post’ derives from the fine dust that falls from the emergence holes. I have seen large beams so chewed on that you could grasp them in your hand and tear huge chunks off with ease. Regular inspection and chemical treatment is about the only means of preventing damage.

I have never encountered carpenter ants before, so have no information to share, except to say you can  tell you have got them by all the tiny beer cans they leave behind.

What’s it like being a Real Lisenced Building Contractor?

The View from my Office

The money just pours in. Then it disappears, into the hands of subcontractors, suppliers, liability insurance carriers, workman’s compensation payments, payroll, taxes, license fees, more license fees, did I mention taxes?

Ask any small business owner what they go through, and that’s the story behind every contractor. The only difference is that with every job, my “office” changes location. Granted, some contractors have a real office space, but most of us out there have a truck we work out of, a portion of the dinner table, perhaps a portion of an area loosely termed “the office” at home, and perhaps some space on the home computer.

Our days usually start early. If we have an ongoing job we will try figure out what we want to accomplish that day, what materials we have to get to the job site, what portion of the vast array of tools  we have will be needed. (more than likely the one we really will need will be left behind…) If we have no job on schedule we worry.

We head to the lumber yard, and any other supply house we need to get things from, have some rot-gut coffee (see earlier post), hear the latest jokes and news and rumors. Depending on whether we have a remodel or new construction to do, we have to time arrival at the job site with the schedule of the occupant. Often we get to see people in the least becoming part of the day, bed-headed and pre make-up (“you look just fine, ma’m”).

Then it’s the million little details of the job. Lining out your crew, if you have one, coordinating the subs, standing around scratching your head wondering just how you are going to  accomplish that feat of engineering fantasy the architect/designer (often yourself…) expects of you. Answering phone calls, rescheduling subs, deciding how to tell the client the fixture he really wanted is going to be another two weeks until delivery, wondering if it’s going to rain, explaining, again, why we can’t have the wall there.

Lunch time comes and while the crew is relaxing you run to the store to get some more materials, eating your sandwich on the way. You have to go to three different places, because they are out of that special adhesive you need. When you return, another sub has arrived and got the wrong information form your lead guy, or another sub, or the client, and you have to straighten things out and smooth things over with him.

The day winds down and you look to see what you’ve done, and what you need to have for the next day. Some days you spend installing one board, then realize you have to take it back down because you forgot the to install the thing behind it, or the client changed his mind, again, and wants it over one inch. Other days you accomplish major activity and can really see progress.

Quitting time and everyone rolls up their tools and heads for their trucks. You make the final list for things to get in the morning for the next day. You figure how long before the next draw, and what subs will need to be paid when.  You talk to the owner one more time about the progress, then climb into your truck to head home.

A contractor I know once said, “The best views of the job are on the first day through the windshield, and the last day in the rear view mirror.” I would add that there are a few days, right in the middle, when everything is a madhouse of dirt and sawdust and yelling and music blaring and bangs and bruises that are quite satisfying too.