HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tmis1692@altair.selu.edu
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: MS-DOS based design program? Where at?
Date: 28 Sep 92 13:06:26 -0600
Distribution: world
Organization: Southeastern Louisiana University

Are there any MS-DOS based programs that will help you design your house, print
the plans and produce a bill of materials?

Thanks for replying, 

Kevin

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*  Kevin Calmes                           Internet: TMIS1692@SELU.EDU         *
*  Library Programmer                     IP#       147.174.1.5               *
*  Computing Services - MIS               Bitnet:   TMIS1692@SLU.BITNET       *
*  Southeastern Louisiana University      Voice:    (504) 549-3645            *
*  Box 409 SLU Station                    Fax:      (504) 549-5092            *
*  Hammond, LA  70402   USA               Location: 30.30.15N  90.27.40W      *
*                                                                             *
*  "S'cuse me while I kiss the sky" - Jimi Hendrix                            *
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From: olney@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Doug Olney)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Termites in my Firewood
Date: 28 Sep 92 19:33:50 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Santa Rosa, CA



Hi!

I had occasion to move my woodpile yesterday, and found it riddled with
what I assume are termites.  While the woodpile is well away from the
house, just the thought of those destructive beasties on my property
makes me nervous.

So, I thought I'd tap the net.wisdom on how to deal with them.  A look
at the hardware store turned up some chemicals which will kill termites,
but I am very concerned what will happen when I try to burn wood
impregnated with bug killer.

Has anyone successfully dealt with this problem?  Is there a Round-Up of
insectisides that disappears two weeks after you use it?  Or should I
just live with them?


						Thanks,

						Doug Olney
						Santa Rosa, CA
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: patter@dasher.uucp (24224-guthrie)
Subject: Re: Electric Drill Recommendation
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 92 19:50:12 GMT

In article <25765@oasys.dt.navy.mil> plumpe@oasys.dt.navy.mil (David Plumpe) writes:

>    I got a DeWalt last year I'm real happy with.  

For those who aren't familiar with this brand, this is Black & Decker's
top line of tools.

>    All ball bearings (ball or roller bearings much better then sleeve)

To assist you in reading spec sheets, roller bearings are also sometimes
called "needle bearings". You should look for them if you would expect
to place sideways pressure on the shaft (this is only occassionally done
with drill motors). Ball bearings are the thing you want in just about
any other application. Sleeve bearings are only acceptable in a location
which is subject to lots of exposure to dust (like the blade driveshaft
of a circular saw), and usually a sealed ball or roller will do a better
job there.

patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    |
George Patterson -  | Of course truth is stranger than fiction; after
                    | all, good fiction must make sense.
                    |                        Samuel Clemens
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: ahill@boi.hp.com (Andy Hill)
Subject: Re: Refrigerator light
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 22:42:18 GMT
Distribution: misc
Reply-To: ahill@boi.hp.com
Organization: LaserJets by Bill & Dave
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

Well, three possibilities come to mind (in approximately order of likelihood):
  1) Door switch is intermittent.
  2) Bulb socket is intermittent.
  3) Bulb is staying on when door is closed, melting frost is dripping on
     bulb, cracking bulb.

Does the bulb burn out when you open the door, or is it DWO (dead when open)?
Does it look cracked?
From: patter@dasher.uucp (24224-guthrie)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Questions, rockwool, NJ
Date: 28 Sep 92 15:26:44 GMT
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ

In article <1992Sep26.224910.10090@cbfsb.cb.att.com> smc@hotsc.att.com (Steven M. Casagrande) writes:

>...............  Besides, there's lots of other legitimate reasons to
>move from NJ.)

Amen. Do they need any help out there?

patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    |
George Patterson -  | If you maintain your motorcycle yourself,
                    | eventually you will have two of them.
                    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer)
Subject: Another dryer venting question
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: Dept. of Independence
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 11:01:00 GMT

Is there any reason not to vent a dryer into the furnace flue,
that is, the chimney?
From: cnorman@weber.ucsd.edu (Cyndi Norman)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Hanging a heavy cabinet
Date: 6 Oct 1992 19:02:45 GMT
Organization: U.C.S.D. Department of Communication
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: weber.ucsd.edu

I would like advice on the following problem:

1) The Wall

The wall is between the living room and the kitchen and is standard
construction for a Southern California house.  Meaning, wooden vertical
studs and dry wall with paint.

2) The Cabinet

The cabinet is approximately 3 feet wide and 4 feet high (including a 1
foot "lip" that is meant to balance the cabinet when it sits on a desk).
It has wood-framed glass doors, a couple of shelves and mail slots on the
bottom (above the lip).  The back and mail slots are good quality plywood
and the top, door frames, and sides are 1 inch thick wood.  The entire
piece weighs 51 pounds.

I got this at a garage sale from a man who got it from a demolition sale.
It appearently was used in a hotel front desk.  The wood is a bit battered,
but I got it cheap.  The piece was designed to sit on top of a desk and
lean against a wall.  I have a roll top desk I intend to put this cabinet
over, but I don't want to put any weight on the desk.  Instead, I want to
hang this cabinet on the wall.

The problem: how to support the weight of the cabinet on the wall and also
avoid the plywood ripping from the back (I don't know if this latter issue 
is a problem at all, but the cabinet was not built to be hung and it is
very front (and top) heavy).  Note that screw heads showing on the inside
of the back piece are not a problem.

My roommate and I have come up with the following ideas:

1) Screwing through the back plywood directly into the studs.  We haven't
considered number of screws yet--6? (3 and 3), 8?  Assume we will use good
quality wood screws.

2) Screwing a wood strip to each of 2 vertical studs and screwing the
cabinet into that.

3) Screwing 2 or 3 wood strips horizontally into the studs and screwing the
cabinet into that.

4) Any of the above with speciality screws/bolts instead of strong wood
screws.

5) Any of the above with additional bottom support for the cabinet.

Any other suggestions?  Will #1-3 work?  Which is best?  Do we need #4-5?
Do we need to further stabilize the back-to-sides joints?

Thanks for your help,
__________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me.  Maybe there's                Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG)         cnorman@ucsd (bitnet)
______________________________________________ cnorman@ucsd.edu (internet)
-- 
__________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me.  Maybe there's                Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG)         cnorman@ucsd (bitnet)
______________________________________________ cnorman@ucsd.edu (internet)
From: rrw@elden.cse.nau.edu (Bob Wier)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Marathon Water Heaters
Date: 6 Oct 92 06:08:41 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ
Originator: rrw@elden.cse.nau.edu

I have a friend who is building a house and recently we stopped by the
power company to transact some business. While there I got to noticing
a promotion they were running regarding water heaters.  Turns out they
will give a 4$/gallon rebate if you replace your old water heater with
a new energy efficient electric model (I initially thought it was only
if you were converting TO electric, but no, it's even if you are 
replacing an existing electric unit).  The one they were promoting is
called the "Marathon". It has some interesting characteristics. For 
example, instead of the usual glass inner envelope, the entire unit
is made of some type of heavy duty polymer (ie, plastic) except for the
heating element/wiring and the drain valve.  The warranty is impressive...
guaranteed for as long as you own your home, AND for 15 years from the
date of installation for anyone buying your home with no extra warranty
charge.  It's rated as 95% efficient (not sure exactly what that means...
why wouldn't it be 100%?  Maybe with the superinsulation 95% of the 
electricity goes into heating the water instead of also heating the air
around the unit?).  Since the unit is so efficient, the power company
wants customers to install as big a unit as possible (82 gallons in my
friend's case) and a timer so that the until heats during the evening 
off-peak hours.  (I'm not sure how reasonable this might be - if I
run low on hot water, I don't think I'd be patient enough to wait
for the next low load period before I finished my shower - still on the
average it might reduce peak demand substantially).  The rebate makes
it attractive - you get this super insulated model in the 80 gallon
size for $120 or so.  (In fact, It appears that for a 50 gallon "low
boy" model they will PAY YOU to take it - since the quoted price (exclusive
of tax) is $197 and you get $200 rebate...I havn't called 'em to check
out if that's what they had intended :-)

Anyone who is familiar with this unit, kindly drop me a note and I'll
pass it along to my friend...

THANKS

 - Bob Wier

  ---------- insert favorite standard disclaimers here ----------
                   College of Engineering
      Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Arizona
  Internet: rrw@naucse.cse.nau.edu | BITNET: WIER@NAUVAX | WB5KXH
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: cthorne@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Charles E Thorne)
Subject: Re: Modular Homes
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 14:24:51 GMT

In article <1992Sep21.172541.8068@linus.mitre.org> m19823@mwunix (Ron Zahavi) writes:

>I am interested in hearing anyone's experience or thoughts on modular homes.
>My wife and I came across information about modular homes and the floor 
>plans that are offered look really nice.  The factory is close to us and 
>we will be going to look at the actual demos soon.  My questions are:

Construction is a very localized business and so any information I have is
probably of little value to you.  Our local home builder's market has so
much low cost labor that what is true locally is probably not true in 
many more dense or more sophisticated markets.

We had a local company building apartments and motels in several factories
although they're presently in bankruptcy.  The advantage of apartments and
motels is that they can all be identical.  One advantage of factory construction of houses is that the quality can be better due to better machinery and
supervision than on site construction.  Moving this after building it is
another issue.

The principle reason that construction is so localized is that local zoning
and building codes make a uniform product almost impossible to create (some
jurisdictions allow plastic plumbing, while others insist on iron or copper).

My recomendation is that you look at what's produced in your area and talk to
someone who actually purchased one (home buyers usually become much more
sophisticated as they face problems they have purchased).

Charlie
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Installing deadbolts in steel doors
From: gary@cdthq.UUCP (Gary Heston)
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 92 18:59:34 CDT
Organization: Garys' Home for Obsolete Computers

jdelsign@BBN.COM (John Delsignore) writes:

> I have three run-of-mill steel-clad entry doors on my house...these
> are your typical insulated steel entry doors.  They currently have
> keyed knob sets, but I want to also install deadbolts in each of the
> doors.
  [ description and sketch deleted ]

Ah yes, deadbolts. Just installed four of them (two houses) a month
or so ago. Slow going; took about 2.5 hours per lock. Most of the 
time went to chiseling out the recess for the bolt and striker plate.
A router would have made it go much faster, I think.

> I've got some questions:
> 
> 	1. What's behind the plastic?

Your wood core, most likely. I doubt that there's a pre-drilled hole.

> 	2. Where do I drill the holes relative to plastic knokout?

Probably roughly in the center of the opened area.

> 	3. How easy is it to drill the opening for the deadbolt
> 	   through the steel?  Is there a special drill bit required?

Haven't done that myself, but there are installation kits made for
steel-clad doors. Pop the plastic to drill the bolt hole.

>        4. How do you keep the drill perpendicular to the door?

My B&D has a bubble level on the back end, which helps; however, when
you run the hole saw blade against the door, you can square it pretty
close by evening the contact pattern of the blade, then brace yourself
in that position and feed the drill on in. Your hole doesn't have to
be perfect, you can wander 1/8" or so off course with no ill effects;
just center and square again for the other side (I drilled a small
pilot hole all the way through; easier to keep it on track).

> 	5. What's going to go wrong?

Sawdust will go everywhere. Be ready.... (I slit the side of a garbage
bag, and taped it to the door to contain most of it to the immediate
vicinity. Worked pretty well.)

Gary Heston, at home....
gary@cdthq.uucp
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: patter@dasher.uucp (24224-guthrie)
Subject: Re: Square-D electrical panel
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 18:40:39 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.175416.22810@col.hp.com> cab@col.hp.com (Chris Best) writes:

>Ah, yes - "Federal No-Blows" is what we used to call 'em.  In my
>few years as an electrician, I never hated a breaker box and
>breakers as much as FPE.  Several reasons:

That's what was in my house when I bought it. I had lots to do the first
year and was a little slow, but I finally got around to making a wiring
map of the house. You, know, cut off each breaker & see what goes out?

Well, five of the seven live breakers didn't cut anything off; that is,
they were still live even with the handle in the off position. About
three-quarters of the house had *no* breaker protection. The breakers
had broken in the on position. I have no idea how many times they may
have tripped before breaking this way or how long they had been broken.

I put in a GE panel. Years later I was describing some of the crazy
things about the house to my next door neighbor. She said the former
owners had had at least one electrical fire.

patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    |
George Patterson -  | "Statistics": A means of presenting your personal
                    |   prejudices in convincing political disguise.
                    |         Kelvin Throop - The Management Dictionary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: egreen@east.sun.com (Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re:    FREE REFINANCING
Date: 6 Oct 1992 19:02:00 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, RTP, NC
Distribution: world
Reply-To: egreen@east.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: laser.east.sun.com

In article 111851VANCE@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU, Valery Nesterov <VANCE@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> () writes:
>
>We have loans at NO COST at all to you!!

SLAC is publically funded.  If you check, I believe you will find that
using their facilities for advertising a for-profit business is
illegal.

At the very best, it is in extremely poor taste.

Free enterprise is a wonderful thing.  Please PAY for your advertising,
just like everybody else.

>We'll come to your home to fill the application.

How about tomorrow night?  I live in Cary, North Carolina.  Say, 5:30?

Even IF this posting were legal (which I doubt), and IF it were not a
violation of net.ettiquete (which it is), posting a local offer to a
world-wide forum is stupid.

---
Ed Green, former Ninjaite |I was drinking last night with a biker,
  Ed.Green@East.Sun.COM   |and I showed him a picture of you.  I said,
DoD #0111  (919)460-8302  |"Go on, get to know her, you'll like her!"
 (The Grateful Dead) -->  |It seemed like the least I could do...

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Styrofoam? Paper? Or Wood?
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 16:19:33 GMT

In article <1992Oct3.135706.3775@porthos.cc.bellcore.com>, patter@dasher.uucp (24224-guthrie) writes...
>Both of the panels you mentioned first are insulating foam. The foil serves
>as a vapor barrier in the second one. It's necessary primarily because the
>vapors produced by that type of foam are a health hazard. The stuff you

The foil isn't a vapor barrier, its purpose is to reflect radiant heat.  Normal
insulation stops conductive heat, but does little or nothing to stop radiant
heat.  A vapor barrier on the outside insulation would be a bad thing since
it would tend to trap water vapor and lead to rot.

As to "health hazard vapors" I think you're thinking of UFFI foam insulation
which is outlawed for new construction.

-Mike
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Styrofoam? Paper? Or Wood?
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 17:49:14 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.155538.17938@porthos.cc.bellcore.com>, patter@dasher.uucp (24224-guthrie) writes...
>You learn something new every day. The stuff must not be real foil then?
>A solid foil will serve as a vapor barrier whether you like it or not.
>Any idea what it's made of?

Actually what's important is the _inside_ vapor barrier must be better than
any others present.  This allows water vapor to exit faster than it enters
to prevent water buildup and rot.  I don't know how the foil releases the
vapor, perhaps it has microscopic holes.

>>As to "health hazard vapors" I think you're thinking of UFFI foam insulation
>>which is outlawed for new construction.

>Nope, I was just repeating what I heard. Actually what I was thinking of
>was some insulation board matching this description which I saw at Home
>Depot a few weeks ago. There's a warning printed on the board that 1/2"
>sheet rock or thicker must be used to cover this stuff if it's used in
>the house interior. I had assumed that this was because of the outgassing
>I'd heard about, but it could be for fire protection, I suppose.

Yes, fire protection.  The stuff _does_ release toxic vapors when it burns.

-Mike
From: clark@cme.nist.gov (Steve Clark)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Oil-heat questions from new homeowner
Date: 1 Oct 92 17:33:33 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology
In-reply-to: gary@cdthq.UUCP's message of 26 Sep 92 00:23:00 GMT

I'm sure I'll be neither the first nor the last, but ...

>>>>> On 26 Sep 92 00:23:00 GMT, gary@cdthq.UUCP (Gary Heston) said:

Gary>  ( 3.14 * thickness + flat_height * thickness ) * length / 244 

       (3.14*(thickness/2)^2 + flat_height*thickness) * length / 244

-steve		clark@cme.nist.gov
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: cfwpm@ux1.cts.eiu.edu (Bill McGown)
Subject: Re: old light fixture
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1992 22:24:54 GMT
Organization: Eastern Illinois University

In article <1992Oct1.021354.2793@adobe.com> vonzelow@adobe.com (Jon von Zelowitz) writes:
>
>I replaced the (cruddy, corroded) lamp sockets and rewired everything. Keep
>this in mind if you have old light fixtures.

After having been greeted with the "Great BALLS of FIRE" light show on
too many occasions I now, as a matter of routine, remove the bulbs in the
fixture and check the thing with an ohm meter. 
Also remember that even if this checks good the hot side of the circuit
could be in contact with a metal part so it is a good idea to check each
side of the circuit to any metal parts as well.

My advice on old fixtures is to just rewire regardless of the looks. If 
it is old it is probably time to replace the wire.


Bill.

-- 
**************************************************************
W. P. (Bill) McGown                     Eastern Ill. Univ
cfwpm@ux1.cts.eiu.edu                   Psychology Department
                                        Charleston, Il. 61920
From: brian@cbmvax.commodore.com (Brian Fennimore)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: when does PMI stop?
Date: 28 Sep 92 16:47:19 GMT
Reply-To: brian@cbmvax.commodore.com (Brian Fennimore)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <6728@transfer.stratus.com> amy@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Amy McNulty) writes:
>In article <6720@transfer.stratus.com> btarbox@sw.stratus.com (Brian  
>Tarbox) writes:
>> I bought a house recently and want to calculate when I stop paying
>> private mortgage insurance.  Is the following correct?......
>> 
>> Is that right?  In other words, is the percent ownership based on
>> the assessed value or on the paid value.  If its the latter, then
>> when I have 88,000 left on the house I'll own (22,000/110,000)
>> or 20%.  Which is it?   Thanks!
>
>In our case it was the _assessed_ value...... 
>______________________________________________________________
>amy_mcnulty@vos.stratus.com  OR  amy@vineland.pubs.stratus.com
>Amy McNulty -- Stratus Computer, Marlboro, MA
>Stratus pays me to write, but not to write this!

OK, the key word here folks should be *appraised* value _not_ assessed.
It is the appraised or market value used by independent appraisers that is used to calulate the LTV ratio. The assessed value is what is mutliplied by a 
certain millage amount to determine the real estate taxes to be paid on the
property.

Brian
From: tanner@bcsaic.boeing.com (Jim Tanner)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: The programmable thermostat jungle...
Date: 2 Oct 92 05:12:05 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle

In article <1992Sep30.182523.12312@clpd.kodak.com> staffan@ca.serum.kodak.com (Kenneth Staffan (x37507)) writes:
>I saw the earlier post on thermostat questions, but I didn't jump on to that
>because I didn't want to bury that person's original questions.
>
>My questions - I've been shopping for programmable thermostats.  I've
>seen some Honeywell, Robertshaw, Hunter, and a couple other brands I can't
>recall offhand.  Problem is, the places I've stopped rarely have complete
>lines, and it's really hard to compare features between brands and models
>(even when the owner's manuals are pulled out).  So...
>
>	question 1 - Has anybody seen (magazine, etc.) or have a table
>			which compares features and prices across
>			different makes an models?
>
>	question 2 - Barring that, can anyone suggest brands & models
>			which allow programming each day differently,
>			have a temporary override which is effective only
>			until the next scheduled time/temp change, and 
>			have a vacation override which is effective until
>			disabled manually?

Honeywell MagicStat/30, aka MS 3000.  6 time/temperature settings per
day, each day of week completely independent (42 settings/week).
Temporary override until next scheduled setting.  Manual override until
manually canceled.  I had one for 5 years in my old house, bought
another one last year for my new house.
>
>	question 3 - Any mail-order sources for programmable thermostats?

Techmart.  (800) 688-1280.
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