HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hess@boi.hp.com (Kevin C. Hess)
Subject: Re: How about corded power (drywall) screwdrivers?
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 14:56:48 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard / Boise, Idaho
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1.3 PL5

Michael Amato (mja@philabs.philips.com) wrote:
: 
: Now that a lot of bandwidth has been used up on drill recomendations, I need a
: recomondation for a power drywall screwdriver. I picked up a Makita
: catalog the ohter day and this only got me slightly more confused.
: 
: My requirements are as follows:
: 
: I will be putting up drywall for an addition (large - ~1000 square ft).

Yea, I'm doing my basement - 1,200 sq ft.

: Now Makita makes what they call a drywall screwdriver Mod# 6820V, 0-4000rpm,
: variable speed, reversible, and weighs 3.0lbs. It is rated at 5.2 amps.

I have one - works great!  Best tool investment I ever made!

: Questions: Do I need 4000rpm?

It helps when punching through particularly dense wood.  Having a clutch is a 
must to setting the screws to the proper depth.

:          What about other manufacturers?

Don't know about particular models from other manufacturers.

:  
:          Am I going overboard on this? Should I just get the cheapest drywall
:          screwdriver and leave the other chores to other tools, like a drill?

If you do, you'll regret ever trying to do a sheetrock job.

You should also consider the purchase of a rocking router.  This is a small
router, about the size of a soda pop can, which accepts a particular size of
drill bit.  This is used to cut out around electrical boxes, windos and doors.
It does a *much* better job than using a hand saw.  Cost is around $90.00.

Get one!

--
Kevin C. Hess                 The Hewlett-Packard Company
Network Printer Division      11311 Chinden Boulevard
Mail Stop 524                 Boise,, Idaho  83714-0015  USA
hess@hpbs907.boi.hp.com       (208) 323-3384

"There can be only one!" - Conner McLeod of the clan McLeod
"I will not be pushed, filed stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or
numbered - I am not a number, I am a free man!" - Number 6
From: jfox@hooksett.East.Sun.COM (John Fox - SunExpress IR)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: This Old House
Date: 13 Oct 1992 13:31:36 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: jfox@hooksett.East.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: hooksett.east.sun.com

In article 6198@merlin.hgc.edu, jens4813@hgc.edu (Kevin Jensen) writes:
>I saw the show but I cant believe the $250,000 apprasal. Also they said that
>other houses in the neighborhood were going for $400,000 outrageous!!
>I have a funny feeling that the apprasel price is inflated for financing of
>the addition. There is no way that there improved house will get $400k
>unless they live practically inside the city.


And don't forget the "donations". What the owners pay (ie. loan amount)
vs. what goes into the house would make any lender happy. I'm sure there
is no need to play with the numbers to make the financing work.



John
From: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Surge Protectors no good if no ground?
Date: 16 Oct 92 05:17:28 GMT
Organization: Elegant Communications Inc., Ottawa, Canada

In article <1992Oct15.200051.10438@SSD.intel.com> brad@ssd.intel.com (Brad Rullman) writes:
>Someone stated in another article that a surge suppressor won't work
>if the outlet it is plugged into is not grounded.  Is this true?

>I use a surge protector on my stereo.  All of my stereo components
>have only a 2-prong plug.  They are all plugged into the surge protector,
>the 3-pronged plug of which is plugged into a "2-prong" outlet via an
>adapter plug.

>Is this a useless setup?  Thanks...

A MOV is the most common component of surge supressors.  They
are connected across two wires, and will conduct when the voltage
between the two wires exceeds some amount.  Thus tending to short out
the excess voltage instead of letting it through to the equipment.

Some supressors have a MOV (Metal Oxide Varister) connected between
neutral and hot wires.  Which will protect against what are called
"differential mode" spikes.  That is, where the hot wire goes to
too high a voltage relative to neutral.

If your supressor has one of these, it will be functioning normally.

Somewhat better quality supressors also have MOVs connected between
hot and ground *and* neutral and ground.  Which will protect against
what are called "common mode" spikes - where the hot or neutral go
too far away from ground.  (yes, the neutral is theoretically connected
to ground, but major surges from nearby lightening strikes have a way
of seemingly being able to ignore such things ;-)

If your supressor is one of the above, then without a real *input*
ground, it won't do much at all.  (the two MOVs are connected together -
essentially, the two MOVs are in series and the surge activation
voltage will be double the intended rating)

And some supressors just have both of the above (total 3 MOVs).
They will be partially working.

I have no way of knowing what type of suppressor you have.

Does your adapter plug have a ground wire?  Where is it connected?
Is what it's connected to grounded?  If so, you're in good shape.

Audio equipment is fairly immune from static zaps, though, if they have
digital circuitry, they may be more susceptable. 

Ditto w.r.t. power surges.

Grounds are more essential to digital circuitry (MOS t:wqechnologies,
(like home computers) particularly).
-- 
Chris Lewis; clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca; Phone: Canada 613 832-0541
Psroff 3.0 info: psroff-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Ferret list: ferret-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: jhunter@mta.ca (John Hunter)
Subject: Masonite siding, what type of paint?
Reply-To: jhunter@mta.ca
Organization: Mount Allison U, Sackville, N.B. Canada 
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 23:48:25 GMT

Hi Gang,

Well, I'm thinking of purchasing my first house.  The siding material is
origional "Masonite" pressed hardboard.  It has been painted recently, but
is starting to peel.  I heard that this type of siding needs yearly 
maintenance (paint touch-up and caulking).  So my questions are:

1) What type of paint is best? (latex, oil based etc...)

2) How should I remove the old paint? (burn, scrape etc...)

3) Where do I caulk? 

4) What type of caulking is best?

Anything else I should know?

Thanks in advance,
-John
From: jfox@hooksett.East.Sun.COM (John Fox - SunExpress IR)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Driveway snow melting
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:45:00 GMT
Reply-To: jfox@hooksett.East.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: hooksett.east.sun.com

Does anyone have any experience with the various systems used to melt
snow from driveways, walks, etc?
It's something that has interested me for a while, and given our
lot may has a bit of a slope going to the street, I thought I should
at least look into costs, effectiveness, etc.
Some methods I heard of:
o  electric cables (more for small areas)
o  separate zone off of house system (seems like overkill)
o  wood/coal stove rigged with circulator pump (potentially inexpensive?)

The latter 2 options required a durable piping laid under the driveway,
filled with anti-freeze of some sort...

Sounds doable, and the last option could provide conventional heating
with the pump turned off, keeping the overall cost a little lower.
Any first-hand stories, experience out there?


John
From: jis@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: buy a model home?
Date: 7 Oct 92 16:59:51 -0500


Is a "MODEL" home usually sold with furnitures or not? 

I am interested in a model home, but I am told that because it is 
PROFESSIONAL decorated (living, family, dinning and master bedroom), 
it costs $10,000 more in addition to the house price. It is a 4 bedroom
house. Three other bedrooms are not decorated.

So my questions are: 

1. is it worth to by a model home? 

2. how to assess value of the furnitures and decoration?

3. how should I negotiate its "decoration" price?

4. can I start to negotiate the sale price with decoration and try to
   reach the sale agreement first, then let the builder
   remove all decoration so that the price can be reduced by $10,000?

5. what kind of problems does it usualy come with a model home?
   

Thanks for any thought,
jennifer
From: vln@icpsr.umich.edu (Victoria Neff)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: This Old House
Date: 15 Oct 92 14:39:20 GMT
Organization: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
NNTP-Posting-Host: tdis.icpsr.umich.edu

In article <Bw538F.D0r@jfwhome.FUNHOUSE.COM> jfw@jfwhome.FUNHOUSE.COM (John F. Woods) writes:
>In <1992Oct14.160907.19385@beaver.cs.washington.edu> pauld@cs.washington.edu (Paul Barton-Davis) writes:
>>In article <1992Oct13.203044.29571@i88.isc.com> jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist) writes:
>>>If they are going into the project understanding all that, fine.
>>>Two blocks from us is a formerly small house.  The realtor advised them
>>>that building an addition would not increase the value of the house.
>>>The owners did so anyhow.

>>               The "realities of life" are that for various reasons,
>>real estate is often the odd man out amongst our typical financial
>>investments in that it frequently fails to lose value, and often gains it.
>
>That said, it is frequently more cost effective to obtain more living space
>by "simply" moving rather than by building; after the fact expansions usually
>cost more than the incremental cost of a larger house (all things being equal,
>which they never are, of course), and has the advantage of having a higher
>eventual sale value.  THAT said, anyone who has actually done that probably
>knows why I put the scare quotes around ``simply'':  just trying to buy my
>first house is proving frazzling enough, and I'll bet the process of selling
>one is just as enjoyable.  

No, no, no.  Selling is MUCH *worse*, trust me!!  An order of magnitude worse,
at least!!  You have all the same hassles of buying (dealing with realtors
[even if you sell yourself, trust me], inspectors, assessors; waiting for
banks, title companies, etc; dickering over price; etc), with all the added
extra fun of keeping the house clean enough to show, agonizing over how much
to charge, and maybe, if you're really lucky, owning and paying for and
taking care of two houses at the same time for 10 months!!!!  

>                           That, plus the hassles of moving and adjusting to
>a new neighborhood, might well be worth $40K to someone who isn't insane.
							     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
or VERY naive/forgetful....

>Housing *is* more than just an investment decision.
From: jfox@hooksett.East.Sun.COM (John Fox - SunExpress IR)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: when does PMI stop?
Date: 7 Oct 1992 12:16:13 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: jfox@hooksett.East.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: hooksett.east.sun.com

In article 6712@cbnewsm.cb.att.com, mks@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (manishkumar.sharma) writes:
> In article <35430@cbmvax.commodore.com>, brian@cbmvax.commodore.com (Brian Fennimore) writes:
> > 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?......
> > >> 
> > >In our case it was the _assessed_ value...... 
> > >______________________________________________________________
> > 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.
> 
> Can the assessed value be less than the appraised value? or is the
> assessed value always some multiple of the appraised value?
> Thanks.
> 
> -Manish Sharma
>  ...att!trumpet!mks


The assessed value is often less than the appraised value, but not by design.
When real estate prices were climbing, assessed values in towns that do
infrequent assessments were often *half* or less what the property was
worth at that given point.
In general, when prices are going down, assessments are too high, in the
reverse (if that ever happens again) they are too low.


John
From: whit@milton.u.washington.edu (John Whitmore)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: why don't we live in prefab concrete houses?
Summary: It has been tried... in the Soviet Union
Date: 12 Oct 92 22:26:43 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct12.222643.1480
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <1992Oct12.160415.29420@Happy-Man.com> Joshua_Putnam@happy-man.com writes:
	<much about testing costs on small concrete pours>
>This is expensive, but the original poster's suggestion of
>*prefab* concrete makes it much simpler.  Factory-produced
>concrete components allow better quality control and easier
>testing

	As I recall, there was a demonstration of prefab concrete apartments
at an old World's Fair in Montreal; the Soviet Union did this kind of
thing routinely, but there were problems.

	First, the fit of the units was poor; there were lots of cracks
between sections that had to be hand-grouted.  Second, the various utilities
(HVAC, plumbing, electricity) had to be installed on-site, and this
means chopping holes in the concrete (expensive) or prearranging
the holes (means nonstandard units in many cases).  Third, the
units were rather ugly; covering 'em with ivy helped a bit.
Fourth, Soviet construction of this era had substantial vulnerability
to earthquakes; you can't just stack blocks in a high-activity
region like the US west coast.

	John Whitmore
From: shoaf@helix.nih.gov (Susan E. Shoaf)
Subject: Re: Did the $5k first-time deduction die?
Organization: (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD)
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 14:18:06 GMT

In article <LOWRY.92Oct9105807@rotor.watson.ibm.com> lowry@watson.ibm.com (Andy Lowry) writes:
>In article <1992Oct9.002556.19189@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> pjs@euclid.JPL.NASA.GOV (Peter J. Scott) writes:
> > I know, it's a forlorn hope, but I just want to make sure: did
> > the $5k deduction for first-time home buyers that Bush trumpeted
> > in his state of the union address survive, or did it die of
> > neglect?  I never even heard of Congress debating it.
>
>Last I heard, there was a $2500 version that was kicking around for a
>while but eventually got dropped from the tax bill that Congress
>finally passed last night before final adjournment.  That bill is
>expected to be vetoed by Bush.  So bottom line, unless what I've heard
>is wrong, is no credit (which, incidentally, is what it was supposed
>to be---much better than a deduction) this year.  Sigh...

The CREDIT is dead.  It was also modified to be for first time buyers of new
construction (to stimulate the economy-buyers of existing houses don't 
stimulate enough I guess).

Susan
Bought a house anyway.                     shoaf@clinpharm.niaaa.nih.gov

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: matth@progress.COM (Matthew J. Harper)
Subject: Re: Sears tools (was Electric Drill Recommendation)
Organization: Progress Software Corp.
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 15:18:18 GMT

rgh@camo (Richard G. Hash) writes:

>>IMHO (OK, I'll use it), the people who bad mouth Sears tools are either
>>buying a $29 tool and expecting it to perform like a $200 professional
>>model, or don't check into what the warrantee says before buying. My
>>own impression is that you get the about the same value at Sears that
>>you would in any of the do-it-yourself level of tools in any
>>of the big names like Black & Decker or Skil.

>I'll second this one. I've gone thru several Sears tools, but they
>were cheap ones, and I got more than my moneys worth.

>An interesting side-note - I have a Sears router from 1958-1959 (I'm
>the 3rd owner) whose trigger switch just broke - so I called the
>Customer-Response folks, who dug up the microfiche on it, found the
>part ($5.someoddcents) and mailed it to me within 5 days. Complain
>about that - five whole days downtime in 35 years.. Whata crummy tool..

>Caveat emptor.

  While I'll agress that people can be ignorant regarding warrantee's and such,
you cannot compare Sears tools from the fifties with tools made today.  The
tools amde back then were stringer and sturdier than the ones you get today.
As such, they lasted longer.   There's also the fact that Sears just doesn't 
make power tools like they used to.  I'd take my dad's 20 year old Radial Arm
saw (craftsman) off his hands anytime, but I'd never buy one today.

-Matth
--
          Matthew J. Harper ! Progress Software Corp. ! {disclaimer.i}         
   God created heaven and earth to grow barley and hops. Now he homebrews !-)  
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: kalagher@mitre.org (Dick Kalagher)
Subject: Re: This Old House
Followup-To: misc.consumers.house
Organization: The MITRE Corp.
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 12:20:43 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.172116.18106@pbs.org>, croman@pbs.org wrote:
> 
> > Locally, the new season starts one week from tonight (october 9).  TV
> > Guide says the first project is working on a house built in 1958 (not
> > 1858, but 1958).  I wonder if they'll ever show the final results of the 
> > flat in London from the end of last season.
> > 
> 
> Hey, just so happens that I work for PBS and that listing is incorrect...it is
> a 1858 hours NOT 1958!!! And the new season does begin in October.
> 
> As far as the final results from last season, seems the local station was doing
> it's own thing...I'd call them directly.
> 
> That's all from PBS.

I have seen the first show.  It was on last Sunday.  It is a 1950's
house--not
an 1858 house.  It's a 50's style ranch that the homeownewrs have outgrown.
From: vermilye@Oswego.EDU (Jon R. Vermilye)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Dealing with ungrounded outlets
Date: 15 Oct 92 20:51:01 GMT
Reply-To: vermilye@oswego.Oswego.EDU (Jon R. Vermilye)
Organization: Instructional Computing Center, SUNY at Oswego, Oswego, NY

In article <1992Oct14.203118.28764@news.arc.nasa.gov> doshay@ursa.arc.nasa.gov (David Doshay) writes:
>In article <1992Oct14.183011.4407@ulysses.att.com>, smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>|> In article <DRAND.92Oct12111042@spinner.osf.org>, drand@spinner.osf.org (Douglas S. Rand) writes:
>|> >    The other area of concern is bedroom where we
>|> >    want to put a computer.  It has 2 prong
>|> >    outlets.  Will replacing these with GFIs be
>|> >    sufficient?
>|> > 
>|> > Yes.  Find the first outlet on the branch (usually tracing the wiring 
>|> > in the basement is easiest) and replace it with the GFCI outlet.
>|> 
>|> Umm...  I'm not certain I agree with that.  A GFCI will certainly provide
>|> protection for *you*.  It won't provide a good solid ground for the
>|> electronics in the computer, nor for any surge suppressors.
>
>You must provide a ground. The GFI needs a ground to work. I cannot think of 
>why your computer needs to be on a GFI circuit. I have a house like that in the
>original posting. We ran new 3 wire circuits to the bathrooms and for the 
>computer. If you are careful and plan well then you can do this without having
>to rip out plaster. We did ours while remodeling the bathroom. We got the whole
>upstairs on 3 breakers now instead of having one fuse for all up and some of
>the downstairs.
>
A GFI *does not* need a ground to work.  This has been discussed before, and
I believe that it is addressed in the FAQ file.  On the other hand, it is
important that a surge suppressor have a good ground.  Without the 3rd pin
at ground potential, many designs of surge protectors will offer little
or no protection.  If there are other grounded recpticles in the same run,
the ground pin (and case of devices connected) could be at a line level
potential to a real ground.  Although the GFI should trip under these
circumstances, I would not like to rely on it.

>David		doshay@soma.arc.nasa.gov
>
>The thought police insist I tell you:
>my thoughts, not NASA's


Jon R. Vermilye                          		         315 341 2138
Department of Theatre, Tyler Hall                  vermilye@oswego.oswego.edu
SUNY Oswego                                         ..rutgers!oswego!vermilye
Oswego, NY 13126                                     vermilye@snyoswva.bitnet
From: jfox@hooksett.East.Sun.COM (John Fox - SunExpress IR)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re:  This Old House
Date: 13 Oct 1992 17:25:03 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: jfox@hooksett.East.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: hooksett.east.sun.com

In article 5561@colorado.edu, wouk@alumni.cs.colorado.edu (Arthur Wouk) writes:
>in this discussion about the new season of this old house, there is
>one question no one has raised either on the show or here. that is: we
>have a typical two story 'ranch' (a contradiction in terms if i ever
>heard one, but then realtors have a lot of gall) which is 'too small'
>for a family of four. but as i observe it, it seems to be on the
>generous size in the first place. what is the estimated square footage
>of the new old house?
>
>i admit the residents want to upgrade because they have a lot of
>things there which do not fit, but i lived in the boston area in such
>a two story ranch from 55-62. mine was 1100 square feet, and obviously
>a lot smaller than the one in question. i would guess they have about
>2,000 square feet of finished space, and seem to want about 3000 to
>4000.
>
>i am not commenting on the entertainment value of the program,
>just about the reality of the owners requirements. is this a case of
>more money then sense?
>-- 
>arthur wouk 
>internet: wouk@alumni.cs.colorado.edu


I can see the logic in their undertaking.
When deciding whether to upgrade or buy, you need to look at which will
get you what you want for the least amount of money (both now and when
you sell). In the case of the TOH clients, they came to the conclusion
that to buy a house the size they are looking for, in the area they live
now, would cost more than what they are spending now (plus what they could
get for the house, etc...).
Given their preference to the neighborhood, their lot in particular, 
the value of the houses around them, etc, it seems to make sense to me.
The critical thing is will the final product look like an "upgraded ranch".
I suspect the end result will come out very well, and be a very livable,
spacious house, that one would not guess began life as a ranch.



John




Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Subject: Re: Hanging a heavy cabinet
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1992 16:54:24 GMT

patter@dasher.uucp (24224-guthrie) writes:
>clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis) writes:
>
>>One way is to fasten strips to the back of the cabinet.  Say, 1x3.  They
>>should be screwed into whatever "real wood" they cross on the back

>As Chris says, this results in the cabinet being set out from the wall.
>If this is undesireable, see if you can attach a 1x3 or 1x2 to the inside

Or, as an alternative, once the cabinet is up you can frame the outside
of it with the appropriate type of trim (for example, crown molding) to
cover the space.

Also, for locating the studs to mount the thing, it's probably worth the
$10-$15 to buy an electronic stud finder - they are far more useful than
the magnetic variety.
-- 
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
        There are many things a person should experience in a lifetime.
       Among them are an infant's first cry, and an infant's first laugh.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house