Useless Conversation

[Yegolev]

Interestingly, they one place I stayed which had an enormous oven/stove/boiler was a townhouse in Edinburgh.  That was on the ninth day of the trip and that was when I figured out how to turn on a steam radiator.

[Sky]

If you have time to enjoy it, I love splitting wood. When I got in my delivery of what ended up being just shy of 2 full cords (I ordered 5 face cords, so got almost an entire face cord free), I had to get it all in the garage before 1am when the rain clouds were set to come in. That was a bitch, mostly because I haven't done that in years. And I had to build retaining walls in the garage and didn't get started chucking wood until after 8pm, got about half stacked and then just chucked it to keep it dry.

I took out the blower mechanism they had on the old woodstove, because it was a massive honking box. I'm going to put in a more modern fan and new ductwork at some point when I can afford it.

Forgot I had those pics on flickr, before and after (though the after is still a year and a half ago, so doesn't have more of the work that was done, like the smaller heat shield..and the wicked new ceiling fan I put in a couple weeks ago):

In the evening I run it in fireplace mode, with the main flue open, front doors open with a fireplace screen in front.

[Yegolev]

I remember that red wall and not much else.

[Viin]

God who would put fake bright red "bricks" on an interior wall? *Any* wall?

Damn hippies.

Edit to add:

We have a gas cast iron stove, that's "inserted" into our fireplace and uses the fireplace chimney for venting. Works well to heat up the living room, looks nice, and has a little blower fan to push some hot air out.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Speaking of cast iron stoves, one day this will be mine.  I'll just need to build my house around it since that would probably be cheaper than any installation would be in the long run. :D  Of course, if I could afford one of those stoves, I'd be getting a new house anyways.

[NowhereMan]

My Grandmother spent her whole life wanting an Aga. personally I do not understand them, why would I want to replace an oven where I can set the temperature with one where I have a choice between the hot oven and the not so hot oven?

[Signe]

A version of that Aga is exactly what is in Righ's house.  Only it's a Rayborn, I think.  Same thing, really.  The radiators all get really hot so I suppose there must be some sort of heating going on, besides the kettle for tea.  I must miss the actually heat what with all my shivering and constant tea cravings.

[Sky]

God who would put fake bright red "bricks" on an interior wall? *Any* wall?

The red was painted over pink and at least one wall (opposite) was also pink.

[voodoolily]

A version of that Aga is exactly what is in Righ's house.  Only it's a Rayborn, I think.  Same thing, really.  The radiators all get really hot so I suppose there must be some sort of heating going on, besides the kettle for tea.  I must miss the actually heat what with all my shivering and constant tea cravings.

You guys live separately? No wonder your marriage is a success! 

Just joking, Agas are gorgeous.

[Yegolev]

We have a gas cast iron stove, that's "inserted" into our fireplace and uses the fireplace chimney for venting. Works well to heat up the living room, looks nice, and has a little blower fan to push some hot air out.

Mine is a ventless and makes a lot of heat.  A lot.  Uses LP.  No blower, but without a vent ....

[RhyssaFireheart]

When my parents built their house 4-5 years ago, they got that model of Aga installed.  I thought they were crazy, first because of all the effort that was needed to install the thing (reinforced flooring, special installs, it's a huge fucking cast iron stove that's always on...) and especially once I heard how much it cost (YIKES!).  But then I got to spend several weeks with my mom after she had her hip replacement surgeries and used it regularly.  Talk about convenient!  Yeah, you have a choice of hot, hotter and hottest for the ovens, but think about how much time is taken up waiting for the oven to come up to proper temp, and if you are cooking multiple items that all need different temps and changing each one out for the next and hoping the oven hasn't gotten too hot in the meantime, simple stuff like that.  And the slow cooker oven works like a charm too (overnight hot wings!).  It took me a bit to get used to the heating plates instead of burners on top, but that wasn't too hard after all (and you can cook directly on the plates if you want).  About the only drawback the stoves have is the size of the ovens.  They are about half the width of a normal oven and that means you cut larger things in half. Actually using one for a period of time turned me into a convert, that's for sure.

[Samwise]

Wait, a giant oven that's always on?  What does that do to your gas bill?  Or to the temperature of your house in the summer?

[Signe]

Wait, a giant oven that's always on?  What does that do to your gas bill?  Or to the temperature of your house in the summer?

Uhhh.  I don't know what to say.  You had nice hair.  Why did you cut it off?

[NowhereMan]

Wait, a giant oven that's always on?  What does that do to your gas bill?  Or to the temperature of your house in the summer?

I think Agas are relatively efficient and also act as central heating. Like I said they really date from before people having central heating. The problem with them is I believe they take about a week or so to properly heat up so people tend not to turn them off (though I believe there are newer versions that can indeed be turned off and on relatively easily).

[Sky]

[RhyssaFireheart]

Wait, a giant oven that's always on?  What does that do to your gas bill?  Or to the temperature of your house in the summer?

As Samwise said, they are pretty darn efficient and don't give off tons of heat, IMO.  I noticed the heat the first few times I'm near it when I visit, but after that, it just doesn't register.  My mom said her gas bill hasn't really gone up either.  It's really no worse than your hot water heater being on all the time.  I guess as a trade off, she no longer has a hot water heater (has one of those instant water heater things) and instead has a cool fire engine red hunk of cast iron in her kitchen to cook with. 

It also helps that her house is an open floor plan so any heat given off dissipates into the surrounding air instead of being trapped in a room where you might notice it more.  I wonder if I have any pics of her kitchen anywhere to show... Maybe I'll give her a call and see if she can email me some.

[Samwise]

Wait, a giant oven that's always on?  What does that do to your gas bill?  Or to the temperature of your house in the summer?

Uhhh.  I don't know what to say.  You had nice hair.  Why did you cut it off?

Ham!

[Oban]

I have been watching a series of videos on youtube by a user named Illdoc1:

http://www.youtube.com/user/illdoc1

Very interesting way to present philosophical issues, the video regarding Roman Polanski is quite well done as was the discussion on racism.

If you have some spare time, I would suggest a look.

Edit, and he has a web site of course : http://illdoctrine.com/

[NowhereMan]

I'd say it's really more some fairly well done social criticism. I mean philosophically there really isn't anything interesting about the Polanski case unless you want to argue that rape isn't immoral, which I don't think that anyone does (although in some way it would kind of awesome if it turned out at least one of the people signing pro-Polanski petitions actually argued that he should be able to get away with it because he's too talented for it to count or some shit. It would be horrible but awesome because at least it would mean they accept the actual fucking facts rather than just supporting some dude cause he's famous and their friends/agents/studio bosses tell them he's cool.)

Edit: I also find it a little weird that a balding white guy seems to be identifying as an african american. Maybe its the whole cultural rather than racial thing but it just seems kind of weird.

[Oban]

Since I had a black dad and a white mom, visually I'm sort of racially indistinct,

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106057582

Social criticism yes, but you are focusing on his Polanski video.  For examples of what I considered to be his philosophy:

http://www.youtube.com/user/illdoc1#p/u/1/G86FVfR5iBk

http://www.youtube.com/user/illdoc1#p/u/12/0TpmJgSfZ_8

[RhyssaFireheart]

Painting is really awesome - when you're fucking finished.

Gods, I'm so glad that's done.  Painted the upstairs hallway and one of the walls coming up the stairs.  Foyer is 2 storeys and stairs up are part of it, so trying to figure out how to paint the foyer wall and the upstairs hall was a PITA.  Now that I know (sorta) what to do, it'll be easier to finish the top half of the walls in the foyer.  I painted the first floor part of the foyer walls over Memorial day, just now getting to the rest of it all. 

Anyone else used those edging tools to paint with (like this one, except mine has a movable handle)?  It worked really well, but I had trouble with getting paint under the edge rollers and then I had to try cleaning it out so my edges stayed neat.  Except for needing to tape the baseboard, I was rather pleased by how easy it was to do the ceiling edge of the wall and then around the doors.  Much less taping hassles.

[rattran]

Just have to be extra careful to keep paint off the wheels. I've started just using that frog tape for edging. Works remarkably well.

[Oban]

I just realized it is pronounced douche-matic.

[rattran]

We love you even if you're a bit slow.

[Yegolev]

Dear Eastern Europe,

Please pick a currency and stick with it.  kthxbye

Love,
Y

[SnakeCharmer]

My wife bought our soon to be 3 year old son a drum set for his birthday.  It's just a snare, bass, and a couple cymbals.  A hi-hat might be one of them.

How much hell am I in for?  How do you soundproof a room?

[Nerf]

My wife bought our soon to be 3 year old son a drum set for his birthday.  It's just a snare, bass, and a couple cymbals.  A hi-hat might be one of them.

How much hell am I in for?  How do you soundproof a room?

Houses are already pretty soundproof, so I wouldn't worry about the neighbors hearing the screams all that much.  Where most people get caught is in the forensics after the fact - make sure you cover the entire room in 3-4 layers of plastic first, varying where the seams are and using a couples layers of duct tape on each seam.  Report her missing right away, and dissolve the body somewhere offsite in a big ol drum of strong acid.  Pay cash for everything, and shop at different local hardware stores that don't have CCTV installed.

That is what you were getting at, right?

[schild]

My wife bought our soon to be 3 year old son a drum set for his birthday.  It's just a snare, bass, and a couple cymbals.  A hi-hat might be one of them.

How much hell am I in for?  How do you soundproof a room?

Houses are already pretty soundproof, so I wouldn't worry about the neighbors hearing the screams all that much.  Where most people get caught is in the forensics after the fact - make sure you cover the entire room in 3-4 layers of plastic first, varying where the seams are and using a couples layers of duct tape on each seam.  Report her missing right away, and dissolve the body somewhere offsite in a big ol drum of strong acid.  Pay cash for everything, and shop at different local hardware stores that don't have CCTV installed.

That is what you were getting at, right?

This is the best post you've ever made. You should really quit while you're ahead.

[Fraeg]

My wife bought our soon to be 3 year old son a drum set for his birthday.  It's just a snare, bass, and a couple cymbals.  A hi-hat might be one of them.

How much hell am I in for?  How do you soundproof a room?

egg crate foam like you for your bedding, will help muffle things.  You can also buy these things:

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sound-Percussion-Total-Drum-Set-Mute-Prepack?sku=417029

depending on how far you wanna go what I have seen work rather well is hanging a second layer of sheetrock withing a room along with the eggcrate foam.  Basically the room was entirely redon with an additional layer of sheetrock and paint then the eggcrate stuff.

the drum mutes I linked work well, but the drums sound like crap..... JUST make sure your kid wears hearing protetion whenever he plays.

[Sky]

Egg foam doesn't really do a whole lot for soundproofing, that's more about reducing reflections to deaden the room.

I wouldn't do anything until you know if he's going to stick with it. Then you're looking at creating a floating drum riser, but even a good non-floating riser would reduce the bass thump. The one I'm planning on putting in my basement is going to be cheap, thus conduct a lot of sound. If you go with a frame that only contacts the ground in a couple spots, it should reduce most of the bass thump. Bass drum is probably the toughest thing to reduce, because of the long wavelength, almost impossible if you just sit it on carpet.

Then you want to stud out new walls and fill the cavities with sound-deadening insulation and use 5/8" drywall to finish it off. Even better if you can stud it out a foot or so from the existing walls for a good air space break. Put in a second door on that wall, or at least put an exterior door on the room.

Dunno about windows, we walled them off for both soundproofing and security.

Hearing protection - I just use a good pair of headphones that completely enclose the ear, because I usually play along to music. Have to be good headphones, though, or you'll cause even more damage.

Basically, if the kid turns into a drummer, it's well worth going through all this. But as I said, hold off and put up with it until you're pretty sure. And be warned: most drummers are weird mofos.

[Yegolev]

My wife bought our soon to be 3 year old son a drum set for his birthday.

Does this woman live in the same house as the boy?

How do you soundproof a room?

Scotch.

[SnakeCharmer]

That is what you were getting at, right?

 

That's...surprisingly good to know.

Basically, if the kid turns into a drummer, it's well worth going through all this. But as I said, hold off and put up with it until you're pretty sure. And be warned: most drummers are weird mofos.

egg crate foam like you for your bedding, will help muffle things.

Good info.  Thanks.  I don't think we'll be doing that to our house though.  I was hoping for some magical wall board stuff, something with more sound proof qualities than egg crate foam that we could hang temporarily without having to do so much reno.  He's a high energy kid who has taken to beating on pots and pans and such with wooden spoons.  Sounds surprisingly good when banging around to whatever is playing on the stereo. 

Weird mofos, eh?  Maybe I should just get him a guitar in a year or two.  Or a piano.

Does this woman live in the same house as the boy?

LOL...Yeah.  Actually she's a stay at home mom for the time being, so she gets to listen to him during the day.  I'll just make a rule of 'no drumming after 5 pm, and no drumming on weekends'. 

Scotch.

For him?  Or me?

[Brogarn]

For him?  Or me?

You. Kid wouldn't appreciate it so he gets the cheap stuff.

[Oban]

I really wish I had invented this:

http://www.lessloss.com/blackbody-p-200.html

The LessLoss Blackbody is not a power filtering device. Rather, it complements your power filtering device by addressing the audible imperfections incurred by your gear's direct interaction with ambient electromagnetic phenomena. Where a power filtering device leaves off, the Blackbody, as a field filtering device, takes over.

[JWIV]

Start up BabyWatch!  Guess she's too busy to post on here, but looks like VL is going to have a busy night.


From twitter:
voodoolily
Gah, my bp is a tad high and midwife wants to induce. Like, *now*. Guess he's gonna be a T-giving baby after all! How a propos. :)