Travel Chess Set - Lots of Fun in a Small PackageHere's my 50-year-old travel chess set. Most of the new ones you can buy today are magnetic and don't use the wood pegs and holes. I really treasure mine. It's made from real inlaid wood, not plastic! Mine is only 6 x 6 inches when you have it all set up. It folds up to 3 x 6 x 1 inch when you store it. CLICK or TAP HERE to order a set very similar to mine. The post Travel Chess Set appeared first on Ask the Builder. via Blogger Travel Chess Set
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KFC Firelogs - Flavor From Your FireplaceYou can smell delicious Kentucky Fried Chicken as you have a fire! WOOT. CLICK or TAP HERE to order a few now. This makes a perfect prank or fun Christmas gift! The post KFC Firelog appeared first on Ask the Builder. via Blogger KFC Firelog Pull Start Fire - It Really Works! Put on a Magic ShowI tested the Pull Start Fire product over the past month. It's pretty amazing and I can tell you I have three of them in my survival kit. IMPORTANT NOTE: This is truly a life-saving invention or tool. You SHOULD absolutely have three of these if you feel the need to stay warm in some sort of disaster situation or accident while out traveling. CLICK or TAP HERE now to order. What is So Fantastic?You don't need matches to start a fire! Just about every other fire-starting method relies on matches, or a lighter, or a fire piston, or a magnifying glass, or who-knows-what. With Pull Start Fire, you simply pull a string and you've got a roaring fire in three minutes - assuming you know how to stack firewood using increasingly larger sizes in a cross-hatched pattern like cribbing. How Big is Pull Start Fire?The magic box is about the size of a traditional ice-cream sandwich. It's 1 inch high, 4.5 inches long, and 2 inches wide. Will It Ignite Wet Wood?The manufacturers claim it will. It's KEY to stack the wood like cribbing and to have smaller pieces of wood situated over the top of the Pull Start Fire box. Use common sense.
The post Pull Start Fire Review appeared first on Ask the Builder. via Blogger Pull Start Fire Review Tommy Thompson Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue SeaTommy Thompson screwed his investors out of the $12.7 million dollars they put up in the mid-1980s to fund his expedition to locate the S.S. Central America. Once he found the ship and salvaged the gold, his troubles started to mount from a slew of lawsuits from insurance companies claiming rights to some or all of the gold. It turns out international marine salvage law is as complicated as Chinese arithmetic. The gold then consumed his life, his marriage, and then convinced him to go on the lamb until being captured by US Marshals. What a price to pay for greed! There was PLENTY of money for everyone! He was such an IDIOT. CLICK or TAP HERE to read Gary's fascinating book of how Tommy found the S.S. Central America and how he drank from the poison chalice of fame and money. How much money? The S.S. Central America had 21 tons of gold in its hull. At today's price (October 29, 2020 of $1,870 per ounce) that's $1,256,640,000. That's $1.2 BILLION dollars. Can you imagine being so greedy that you couldn't split the hundreds of millions of dollars with the investors that believed in you? CLICK or TAP HERE to read about his capture.
The post Tommy Thompson Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea appeared first on Ask the Builder. via Blogger Tommy Thompson Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea Follow the Fine Homebuilding Podcast on your favorite app. Subscribe now and don’t miss an episode: Help us make better episodes and enter for a chance to win an FHB […] The post Podcast 295: Black Windows, Sagging Roofs, and Mold Control appeared first on Fine Homebuilding. via Blogger Podcast 295: Black Windows, Sagging Roofs, and Mold Control Before the windows can be installed at the 2020 Fine Homebuilding House, the build team needs to prepare the openings to accommodate exterior insulation. Mindful of thermal bridging, they built […] The post Prepping for Windows appeared first on Fine Homebuilding. via Blogger Prepping for Windows LJ Smith Stair Systems - Many Styles and SpeciesI've used LJ Smith stair systems for decades. The one in the last home I built for my family was stunning. Here's a photo of the staircase in my last house going from the entrance hall to the second floor. Watch this video to see a more sleek system incorporating white oak with powder-coated balusters and newel posts. Look below at the stark before and after photos of my daughter's LJ Smith staircase! Listen to the second caller in this podcast to discover more about LJ Smith: The post LJ Smith Stair Systems appeared first on Ask the Builder. via Blogger LJ Smith Stair Systems Richard P. Anderson - April 16, 1946 | October 25, 2020Richard P. Anderson was my best friend in Cincinnati, OH. I can't begin to share with you the depth of his wisdom, generosity, integrity, diligence, determination, and discipline. He was an inspiration to me in so many ways and as often happens, I failed to tell him how much I admired him and how much he meant to me before he was sent back to Heaven on October 25, 2020 on very short notice. Have you made that mistake before with someone you've loved? Don't make it twice. I feel it's important for you to know as much as possible about Richard because sterile obituaries often just give you the view of a person's life from 30,000 feet. I want you to come to know the Richard I was with down in the trenches of life on a weekly basis. Mark Ossege's HouseRichard and I came to know one another through a mentor of mine, Bill Lange. Bill was a retired engineer, mechanical I believe, who was a friend of my father and mother-in-law. He had a lovely wife named Helen and they lived in Maderia, OH. One day I was with Bill at an old Cincinnati company called Stampco. This was a company that sold heating and cooling ductwork supplies and they made custom ductwork. HVAC contractors would purchase their extended plenums from Stampco. An extended plenum is the large sheet-metal box that fits on top of a furnace. I was about to build my first custom home for Mark Ossege, the owner of Dillionvalle IGA. Bill and I were at Stampco getting some part and he asked one of the counter employees who was the best small HVAC guy that came in to purchase supplies. "Oh, that's easy. Richard Anderson of Sergeant's HVAC." The Stampco employee wrote down Richard's number and that was the beginning of a most wonderful 35-year friendship. Richard came to the new house job site as we were framing the house to get a set of blueprints. He was dressed in crisp and clean professional dark-blue uniform pants and a matching short-sleeved shirt with a "Rich" name patch over the left pocket. He also was wearing a Sergeant's HVAC baseball cap. I would come to find out that this is exactly how Richard was to dress whenever I saw him in a work environment. He was the consummate professional. Do It Right, Not OverRichard installed a complex heating and air-conditioning system in Mark's house. It was the first custom house I built. I knew just enough about building at the time to be very dangerous. Richard was six years older than I was and it wasn't his first rodeo. It became crystal clear within days that he only did things one way - the right way. One of the things I noticed right away was how clean all of his equipment was and how at the end of each day he cleaned up any and all debris he had created. Most other sub-contractors, and I hate to say this, were slobs. Not Richard. He swept up every day and by the time his white van was driving away, you'd never even know he'd been there. My customers came to love Richard as much as I did. It was as obvious as the nose on your face that he not only cared about his work, but he also cared about the customer's home. That construction characteristic in workers is rapidly transitioning from history, to legend, to myth in today's job-site environment. One of Richard's favorite tools was a hammer he used to assemble his sheet metal. It had a brown handle and a very square head much like my geologist's hammer from college. I remember how he guarded this hammer as a mama bear would protect her cubs. I hope one of Richard's sons or his daughter keep this in the family as a cherished heirloom. I can only ponder how many times Richard grasped this hammer in all sorts of weather on countless jobs to tap together ductwork for a system that kept homeowners comfortable in their homes. WisdomRichard was extremely intelligent. He was wiser than many who have a Ph.D. after their name, yet I'm quite certain Richard didn't graduate from high school. Some of his best mental skills were those about people. Richard is the one who tamed that wild mustang inside of my head when I was in my mid-30s. This brusque attitude caused me to want to be right all the time in any conversation I had with anyone. "Tim, you need to know that the strongest person is the one that offers the olive branch." That statement seemed so wrong to me. My brain screamed that it should be the weakest person that caves first or offers up an apology. Once again, I was wrong and Richard was right. Richard always was thinking of things that didn't exist yet, or if they did, we didn't know about them. For example, twenty or more years ago he thought cars should be equipped with a remote ignition kill switch so in police chases, the police could just turn off the engine to the speeding car. Brilliant! Well, many cars today have such technology. You can start your car without being inside it. VietnamRichard enlisted in the Marines back in the 1960s if my memory is correct. He became a sergeant and platoon leader. I know after his first tour of duty, he went back a second time. I often attempted to talk with him about his battle experiences trying to get a feel for what my Dad went through in the great WW II. But Richard never seemed comfortable talking about certain things of his time as a Marine. I'm positive it brought back lots of bad memories. This is why it was never talked about in my own home growing up. My Dad was haunted by demons from his war experience as a medic and German POW for seven months. One day while at a job site I asked Richard, "How close were you to the enemy in a typical skirmish?" Richard had a way of rapidly blinking his eyes when he was nervous or in deep thought. He didn't answer right away, got up, and picked up a rock that was about the size of a tennis ball. "Throw this for me as far as you can." He said while handing it to me. I did and it went 60 feet, maybe a little farther. "That's how close we were. You just threw a hand grenade." It was a sobering moment because I thought about how accurate rifles were at close range like that. In my head, I thought battles were fought at much greater distances. Richard received great honors while in Vietnam. If I remember his story, he and his platoon were put in charge of a village. As best as I can understand it, Richard was the governor and he had to set up all sorts of services to help make life better for the Vietnamese people in the village. I'm certain he told me about a young teenage girl in the village that knew English. She acted as his translator. I so wish I would have tape-recorded all of this twenty-five years ago when he shared the story. When the general flew in to give Richard his medals and awards for this great work, I remember him saying the general was very short and Richard was not to look down at him giving him eye contact. The general was very sensitive about his height. Someone took a photo of Richard getting the award or medal and I got to see this priceless moment in time captured with silver bromide crystals on photographic paper. Being in the Marines no doubt helped polish Richard's amazing diligence, determination, and discipline. My guess is those qualities are beat into recruits in boot camp. I doubt they had to work hard with Richard as they were already instilled in him. One of his funny war stories was about the transport ships that took him to Vietnam. It was hot and miserable on the ships and often the ships would stop in the ocean and Richard and hundreds of others who could swim jumped in the water to recreate and cool off. The trouble was US Navy sailors were issued rifles and posted as lookouts on the deck to watch for sharks. At some point after swimming a few times, Richard watched the sailors practice their shooting skills. They would throw an empty 55-gallon drum overboard and use it as a target. Suffice it to say that many of the sailors couldn't hit the drum. If they couldn't hit a large floating drum, how ith the world would they shoot a moving shark? I don't believe Richard swam after seeing this poor exhibition of marksmanship! Speaking of marksmanship, Richard was an excellent shot and got all sorts of high marks for his skills and accuracy. I believe he had the highest rating for both rifle and the .45 1911 pistol. Ask the BuilderI'll never forget Richard and his wife Linda being my biggest cheerleaders when I decided to stop building and invest all I had in my fledgling Ask the Builder media career. He always offered encouragement and supported me. Just months after launching my Ask the Builder newspaper column, I started a talk-radio show on 1450 WMOH in Hamilton, OH. I was horrible on my first show. I'm almost certain Linda called in with a fake question to try to get me to calm down. After the show when I got home, Richard called me to tell me how great I was. He was so very good at being mendacious! Richard and Linda gave Ask the Builder its first dollar. I'm sure you've seen this before in bars and other businesses where they frame the first dollar they get from their first customer. I still have the check for $1.25 they sent for the first Builder Bulletin I published. I framed the check and it was in my basement office. That framed check is now packed away in a box in my garage, but you can bet I'm going to dig it out and proudly display it in my current office. The Swimming PoolRichard and Linda had a giant above-ground swimming pool in their backyard. It was an oasis of fun and memories. I had an open invitation to come over and swim on hot humid Cincinnati days. My two youngest kids have great memories of these adventures. I have wonderful vivid memories etched into my gray cells. I had just made the transition from builder to columnist and money was tighter than a banjo string at the Carter house. I couldn't even think of taking my kids to Kings Island - it was far too much money. Swimming at Richard's house cost $5 in gasoline to get there and back. One of the things we'd do each time is create the infamous Richard's Whirlpool. "Let's make a whirlpool!" Richard would exclaim. Everyone would get next to the railing on the outer edge and we'd all try to run in the water around the pool in the same direction as fast as possible. This would get thousands of gallons of water swirling in the pool. It was exhausting trying to battle your way through the water, but fun. Many a game of Marco Polo was played in this pool. My kids learned to swim in Richard's pool. Linda would always have hot dogs, hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, and other treats for us. She loved my kids as if they were her own. Richard did too. Projects on Howard RoadRichard and I would never hesitate to help one another. If I needed service on my furnace or AC unit, Richard would fix it as a magic elf might do it. He'd always refuse to take money and for bigger jobs that took the better part of a day, I'd have to force it on him. Many years ago his house needed a new shingle roof and I put it on with my two helpers in a couple of days. I remember helping Richard extend the drain pipe from his septic tank down into the creek that ran behind his house. The crazy plumber that installed the septic tank put it too deep into the ground. Idiot! One day Richard came to a job site of mine and said, "I want to build a cool shed in the back yard. Do you have any tips?" I remember helping with much of the shed and framing the roof is a vivid memory because I was horribly sick with the flu when I did it. A task that should have taken two hours took all day I was so weak. Richard set up a model train setup in the shed and it was his fun adult clubhouse if I remember correctly. MusicRichard loved music. He liked all types. One of his favorite songs was Joe Walsh's Life's Been Good To Me. Wo would both enjoy it on many a day when we'd drive from my house to lunch at Skyline Chili in Kenwood. PoliticsBack in the mid-1990s, Richard was consumed by politics. He'd watch C-SPAN and would tell me all about exactly what this or that politician had said in a speech on the floor of Congress. I was so crazy busy trying to scratch out a living with my new Ask the Builder venture I had no time ever to watch any television. What's more, I had my head in the sand about politics in general at that point in my life. Richard loved to go on and on about how this or that politician was lying or telling half-truths. Little did I realize that this was foreshadowing what I'd learn from Louis Katz, a prominent Amberley Village attorney that I served with on Amberley Village Council. One day Lou said, "Tim, you know why when a person is sworn in that they have to say they'll tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" "No, why?" I responded. I had never really thought about that oath. "It's simple. A half-truth is a whole lie. Judges and juries need to hear the whole truth to make correct decisions in legal matters." Richard thought the act of telling a half-truth was hateful. Drifting AwayUnfortunately, the farther I walked down the pathway of my Ask the Builder media career, I noticed that Richard and I started to slowly drift apart. When I was still building, we would see each other frequently on the job site. Richard worked so very hard at staying connected after I started working from home and anytime he was working near my house, we'd always try to go out for lunch. He'd stop by the house and come down to my basement office to get me. Off we'd go in his trademark white van filled with all the tools and parts he needed to service furnaces and AC units. He preferred Gold Star Chili over Skyline - my favorite - and he'd never complain if I nudged us to go to Skyline. We also had many a lunch at Pleasant Ridge Chili too. When I moved to New Hampshire in the summer of 2008, I know it made Richard very sad. I hated leaving him, but it had been a life-long dream of mine to live in New Hampshire. I always encouraged him and Linda to drive up to visit, but he never was able to pull it off. The phone calls became more and more infrequent over time, but I knew that we were still the best of friends. Looking back now, I can tell you I made a grave mistake of not calling Richard at least once a month to share what was new and how things were in New Hampshire. He subscribed to my weekly newsletter, but I should have given him a personal full report instead of him getting the version everyone else got. I'm not ashamed to say I loved Richard, but my only regret is I never said those words to him. When Linda called us here the day after Richard passed, she shared a funny anecdote. Richard always said he wanted to go first and he told Linda, "Be sure you put $300 in my pocket before they take me away." "Why?" Linda asked the first time he said this. "It's simple. I'll need it to pay your way into Heaven." I hope he took enough money for me too! RIP Richard, I'm going to really miss you. The post Richard P. Anderson Cincinnati OH appeared first on Ask the Builder. via Blogger Richard P. Anderson Cincinnati OH Follow the Fine Homebuilding Podcast on your favorite app. Subscribe now and don’t miss an episode: The Fine Homebuilding podcast is recording a second weekly podcast focusing on the issues […] The post Podcast 294: PRO TALK With Tara Murray appeared first on Fine Homebuilding. via Blogger Podcast 294: PRO TALK With Tara Murray QUESTION: Tim, I need you to weigh in on a remodeling conundrum. Two plumbers and one handyman say that two plumbing vent pipes can’t be relocated to an exterior wall. I took the drywall off the back of a linen closet to open up the space for my soaking tub. I want to have extra space for candles and wine bottles. I live where it can get really cold and they say this can be a problem. Do you know anything about plumbing? Can the vent pipes be moved, yes or no? Can I just cap them off below the floor? Also, what about moving wires and ductwork? Can that be accomplished? What’s involved when moving all these utilities? Suzanne B., Minneapolis, MN Have you experienced that “Uh oh” moment at some point in your remodeling escapades over the years? You know, when you gleefully start to tear down a wall and find all sorts of unexpected things going up through and between the wall studs? How easy is it to relocate pipes?The fast answer for Suzanne is the vent pipes can be moved. I can say this with a considerable amount of authority as I’ve been a master plumber since age 29. The follow-up question might have been, “Tim, how easy will it be to relocate the pipes?” That question can only be answered by a visit to the job site to see what framing is in the way and what additional demolition needs to be done to create a pathway that will allow the vent pipes to drain any condensate back into the drainage part of the plumbing system. Local codes may require the vent pipes be put in certain walls. That’s up to your local inspector. CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE BIDS from local plumbers that can move vent pipes or water lines. Can you cap off a vent pipe?Never cap off vent pipes. These pipes are vital as they deliver air into the plumbing system. Most people think that the plumbing vent pipe up on the roof is like a factory chimney that exhausts smoke. Vent pipes work in reverse. They deliver air down into the system each time you flush a toilet, drain a sink, or run water into a fixture. The moving water not only pushes air ahead of it as it travels to a septic tank or sewer, but it can also create a vacuum as a slug of water passes a drainage branch within the system. Why do vent pipes need to be sloped?Vent pipes need to be installed just like regular plumbing drain pipes. They need to have a slope so that any condensation that does form in the pipes can drain by gravity into the plumbing system on its way to the septic tank or sewer. This same condensation can be a pesky problem in cold climates as hoarfrost can choke off a vent pipe. This is why in very cold climates the main vent stack is often full-sized and a 4-inch-diameter pipe. The larger pipe size means that much more frost must form to choke off the air supply. Can vent pipes be installed on a cold exterior wall?Vent pipes on exterior walls in cold climates should be located in such a way as to be as far from the cold exterior wall surface as is reasonably possible. You want as much insulation space between the pipe and the outer wall to hopefully keep the pipe temperature just above freezing. Can electrical wiring be relocated?Electrical wiring can also be relocated in a remodeling job. There can be significant challenges and the paramount thing you must realize is you or a worker should never ever bury a junction box. If you have to create a splice to add additional wiring, the junction box must be visible. You can often achieve this in a closet. I always wrote a note and included a small drawing in the junction box of what had to be done to move the cable. Trust me when I say a future electrician will cherish reading this note. It might help him diagnose some future problem within the circuit as he’d have no idea that remodeling work might have happened fifty years prior. Are HVAC ducts hard to relocate?Heating and cooling ductwork is, by far, the hardest thing to relocate. The size of the pipes and ducts in the first challenge. The second more sinister issue is poor performance because extra fittings and ductwork need to be added to make the change. The addition of a 90-degree bend to a typical heating or cooling duct line is like adding ten extra feet of pipe. The air moving through a heating or cooling duct is very sensitive to extra friction caused by additional fittings or pipe. More friction equals less conditioned air being delivered to the room where it’s needed. Be sure to have a frank discussion with your HVAC professional about this if the room being served by the ductwork is currently on the edge of being comfortable in extreme hot or cold weather. Will photographs during construction help future remodeling?If you’re building a new home or a large room addition, you can do yourself, remodeling contractors, and future homeowners a huge favor. Try to take as many photos of all the walls, ceilings, and floors in your new home or room addition as possible before utilities are covered with drywall or insulation. Store these photos on a simple storage device like an SD card or micro-SD card. These are so very inexpensive and can hold thousands of photos. Put this memory card in a plastic bag and label it. Tape this bag to the front or inside cover of the circuit-breaker panel. You have no idea how valuable these photos will be to someone in the future and they’ll toast you that day at lunch or dinner! Column 1377 The post Move Pipes in Wall appeared first on Ask the Builder. via Blogger Move Pipes in Wall |