we picked the downspout which picked up the most roof area, which also happened to be closest to the basement door.

actually, that one downspout fills the barrel up in no time and it starts to overflow. we've had to hook up an overflow line to the barrel to route the water farther away from the house. but the barrel/overflow setup SLOWS the water down enough that the ground around the basement access can absorb it before it gathers too much. pretty amazing, really, how much you get out of slowing the water a little. even the biggest fastest rain dumps this year haven't flooded us, where last year two inches an hour meant a lot of mopping...

We had three inches in one hour, twice in one week. Basement flooded both times. We are planning on getting 2 rain barrels, for the 2 worst areas. I have done some research online and have seen barrels with built in overflows, they attach to your downspout and when the barrel is full, the water just continues down the downspout. Not sure if it is worth the extra hassle or not. How many gallons are yours Steven? 

Wow, very interesting conversations. Speaking of gardens, I am completely blown away by the flowers in Carmel. It's like people spend all their time maintaining their flower beds, or they pay a lot of gardeners todo it for them. It is cold here, but it's nice. I think were heading up to Monterey today. Hey, I'm on actual architect time!

ours is just a 50gal, bec. here it is: http://www.rainbarrelsource.com/rain-barrels/rain-barrels/algreen81002agua50gallonrainbarrelterracotta.cfm

i notice the price has nearly doubled since we bought it last fall! ouch.

I'm at the beach!  Spent the morning watching the waves!  Drove toy cars at Nascar Park this afternoon!  Drinking wine all evening!  Headed off to eat fried seafood galore!  The only buildings I see here are totally appalling affronts to my eyes and conscience!  But the wine helps!

holy exclamation points! 

something about beaches, nascar, fried seafood, and architectural travesties seems to flow together. but shouldn't you be drinking bud lite lime or something?

that's cool steven.  impressed that is enough to make the difference.

sounds fun donna.  enjoy.  for myself i am off to work on a sunday morning and expect to be working through the sunday night so i will have time to work on monday morning at my other job.  there is something crooked about this picture.

i live in the garden district. there are lots of great yards here and  a great garden on the grounds of the family who figured out how to bottle coca cola. its thundering now! yay. i love this neighborhood full of craftsman bungalows and a few larger homes that are well done. somehow in the 60s a few apartment buildings were put up that are pretty fugly and not in too good of repair. lots of cats. also, a block from the river which has a great levee to walk along. lots of crape myrtle in bloom. lots of magnolias, palm trees even. azaleas, cannas etc...

n_____ sorry you're in a mood. i listened to the "one" cd from cd swap times.yesterday. still one of my fave cd mixes.

all the women of tc are succesexy!

ugh. i was off work on monday and i've still worked 60hrs this week.

too much.

time to go home. 

love the rain barrel talk! nobody's mentioned the bladders that hang on a wall, or those rectangular tanks that fit between 16" o.c. joists under a deck. but they are $$$ compared to a simple barrel - even if they are the more architectural solution.

hope everybody is staying cool out east - the weather is gonna get better as today in MN was about as perfect a summer day as possible 80 degrees, low humidity! (it will blow east soon enough).

rain barrels was good timing.  one of our clients wants to have a bit of green features in their home and we were talking about how to keep the water on the land to water the garden and of course that went straight to rain barrels.

they are also wanting to use the hydrogen powered water heater but the govt subsidy just ran out of cash (it's annual budget was used in 3 months), and still thinking of solar power.  this is the first client who has come to the table with information on insulation and wondering if we should go with rock wool, glass wool, or maybe think about cellulose.  i am still a bit shocked

and hey btw yall think piero is real person?  his name means clown.  is he a joke?

Jump - Intuitively it seems like it, but I hope not because people seem to be responding seriously. I've noticed that the "real vs anonymous" thread popped up from before, and I was thinking again that what really turns me off to this forum (or any forum I suppose) is when there seems to be disingenuous discussions/ baiting. What is interesting to me is that in another forum I visit (that is not architecture related), its really obvious when someone is being facetious, but here they're so damn subtle.

Philarch, I have read an interesting article in Guardian newspaper titled, "How the internet created an age of rage" and I remembered that there was a discussion thread about it here in Archinect and decided to link/archive this article there. I agree with you on subtlety. Lately, I am having hard time distinguishing ad-spam posts with real ones. I think spammers are getting really smart and actually participating in forums. This guy makes reasonable comments on threats but really selling golf clubs...

I encourage those of you here to use to Flag button:

when you come across posts or comments that are spammy, trolly, whatever, so it can catch the attention of the moderators. We don't always catch the problems internally. Clicking the flag button will not remove the post or comment... it will only highlight questionable content so a moderator can take a closer look.

I agree, the worst posts are the really subtle baiting that fools some people into giving serious replies.

Oh, and by the way Rusty, regarding your previous comment, even though your comments tend to get a lot of flags, we've never removed any of them ;)

Paul, my comment that disappeared did so at the exact same you did the major site update (getting out of profile beta). I'll chalk that one up to civil unrest in Greece. 

So the flag button works more like a 'dislike' feature. Makes sense.

I look forward to basic profiles getting 'contant user' feature back. I miss the hate mail. When they take time to let you know how much they hate you is so much more personal. On a few occasions I had to point out that sending such greetings from your work e-mail is kind of unwise. Boy!

Another random question. Is it safe to assume a custom made wrought iron trellis system is $$$?  One of my clients brought up the idea to separate a sit-down area within a larger store, but I have a feeling her taste is more expensive than what her boss is willing to shell out.

rusty got hate mail?  anything worth sharing?

I agree, the worst posts are the really subtle baiting that fools some people into giving serious replies.

the absolute worst offender is this guy "paul petrunia" -  every time he posts something everyone acts all serious like he runs the place.  I'm not fooled, though. ;-)

@melt: my raised beds are 24" deep.

*m - custom=expensive, but wrought iron can be cheap. 

I'm bummed out because the founder of my former office just died, Leonard Parker was 88 years young and a disciple of Eero Saarinen.

@melt - might I suggest PVC pipe.  it's pretty cheap and I'm sure both you and your client would be absolutely thrilled with the results!  I'd just paint it flat black with cheap acrylic paint - or maybe neon colors and install a blacklight.  the possibilities are limitless!

see?  it looks absolutely nothing like the ceiling in your basement or something from a blueman concert.

i'd love to reveal my identity, but the main reason i come on here (aside from the gardening tips) is for the frank conversation about professional issues. the cultish nature of our field unfortunately means that those who don't toe the line (or even those who don't show the expected levels of enthusiasm about the status quo) are penalized in strange ways or completely blacklisted (remind me to tell you someday about the time i made a complaint about the alcoholic coworker who used to grab drawings off my desk to pass off as his own at meetings...)

unfortunately, if we all revealed our identities, it would be more like the 'real' world, where you have to hold your tongue pretty often...and in fact it would be worse, since i assume there are people who read this stuff but don't contribute, and we have no way of knowing who they are...

i appreciate the friendly chat with all you supersuccessexy folks (put that on a t-shirt, paul, asap!) but i'd actually prefer to remain anonymous for the time being, even if it means dealing with the occasional troll or spammer or just plain weirdo.

ps--who the heck is rusty02?  is he multiplying??

i am totally not anonymous here but like the jump tag.  kinda takes me back to childhood days when smokey and the bandit was cool and we all ran around the yard pretending to be truckers with cool monikers.

btw, barry, you have any thoughts on sustainable insulation?  we ruled out cellulose but is there something else out there that no one knows about yet, better than glass or rock wool?

nanogel...Jump if you have very thin walls and one heck of a pocket book!

oh along the lines of people falling asleep.  I was in a meeting a couple years ago when a guy who worked for the state was blabbering along and dozzed off mid sentence.....then he woke back up about 45 seconds latter and appologized cause his dog kept him up all night long....I said ya right the guy was most likely staying up late looking at porn on the internet.

I can say today  was not a great day....I think one of my projects is near tanking because of the economy and well it is in mid construction. This leaves things in a hell of a mess, cause I personally recommended alot of the sub contractors and well I'm afraid the owner is just going to slip out of the country and leave everyone hanging....I'm sure I'm going to do alot of dreaming (nightmares) about it tonight.  I have put alot of personal energy into this project so I hate to see it fade away.  Why the Fuck don't the People In Washington Get What is Going on in America?

snook that sucks....

i think the distinction between a handle and anonymity is a good one to make as well jump. While elinor, you are correct that some of the appealing frankness of Archinect would be gone. 

I think supersuccessexy folks would make a great tshirt.

Jump, what does that have to do with truckers?

And that PVC railing is kinda cool, but man is it going to suck with it starts to break and get brittle from UV exposure.

Man it sucks to be home.

yeah, but you probably avoided the heat wave.  was there a heatwave in texas...or is there always a heatwave in texas?

(you are in texas, right?)

avoid pvc - it's a nasty, nasty material at any point of it's life cycle (even if the manufacturers claim its just made from salt).

as too insulation, nanogels may have a LCA that doesn't justify spec'ing them even if they have the best r value of any material. look for recycled denim insulation (even if they have toxic borates/flame retardants), or go for straw bale construction. Non-formaldehyde fiber-glass insulation isn't bad, just not great. Rigid insulation has it's pluses and minus. spray insulation can result in sick building problems if not properly installed and adequate ventilation is detailed in. I'll ask my arch colleagues tomorrow - they should know more.

not sure of the culture anymore sarah but when i was a kid truckers had cool fake names and they talked at each other over the internet/cell-phone of the time (CB's) using those names as call-sings and with all kindsa funky lingo.  this was before the age of cell phones and a redkneck still looked like burt reynolds not timothy mcveigh.

thasa 10-4 good buddy, and all that.

pretty much just like the internet really.  except different.

Should evolution be thought at schools? Miss America candidates answer this important question. Vermont and Washington, you girls cute AND smart. The other 48? Scaaary.

So, USA folds operations by next Tuesday? If there's a liquidation sale after that, can we have your Bourbon?

And if you watched the above video, check out the "should math be thought at school?" Vermont wins again.

morning all.

Maryland had a good argument, but WOW New York.  A lot of those girls need a refresher course on the Constitution, don't they.  Or have we as a nation forgotten about the First Amendment.

This whole showdown is totally pissing me off.  It makes me angry that at this point in the game they are still putting their own interests before the good of the nation.  What difference is it going to make if you keep your promises to your district if it goes down in flames?

Jump, the lingo still persists.  We listen to a CB sometimes when driving long trips, and you can't understand a dang word of what those guys say.

And no, the heatwave was here when I left, and still here when I returned.  It was 105 officially yesterday, and that's no heat index.  24 days straight of over 100 degree temps.  It's a record of some sort, though not one I'd brag about.

PVC is made from salt?!  Since when?

o.m.g.  you can actually hear the wind whistling between miss indiana's ears.

Do schools not teach evolution? I thought they did. Not that anyone pays attention in school anymore.

I think schools should teach about prehistorical aliens. :)

snook, that sucks.

Seriously, guys, we're going down.  Not even in flames, which would be dramatic and spectacular.  We're going down like a couple of toddlers pulling each others hair over an already-chewed piece of gum one found on the playground.  

Well it was fun for a while.

I asked my teacher-husband. He said they teach evolution, yes, but call it natural selection and use real examples like moths.  

Donna - I regret to say that there's a lot of truth in what you write above. I'm ancient and have been watching DC for a long, long time. I've never seen polarization like this before -- even during the late 60s and early 70s.

I've been writing my members of Congress nearly every day for the past several weeks, asking them to get over it, do their job, and compromise for the good of the nation. I expect I'm just wasting my time.

I decided that Washington Politics were a waist of my time a while ago.  They seem so far detached that I don't even feel like what they do actually affects me in any real way.  They pass a bill, and before it actually trickles down to me, it's turned over, and another bill takes it's place.  But I still feel how State politics affect me.  My dear ole governor cut all the funding, and I blame him for my lack of job prospects.  Are my state politicians still out of touch?  Yes.  Most definitely, but I feel what they do in a real way.  I will continue to vote for governor and such, but I'm not so sure I care to vote for president anymore.  I mean really, what has any president done lately to actually affect the people?  It's all talk and fighting.

" I mean really, what has any president done lately to actually affect the people?"

notsureifserious.jpg

quiz, not sure what your political leaning are, but you are being too kind in your analysis there. The new republican tea party would rather see half the country burn down to the ground then see a black man get reelected. Their only goal is to see recession extend into 2012, in time for elections. This is treason.

Rusty: I deliberately downplayed my own politics because, right now, I'm much more concerned with the Congress and the President reaching a compromise than I am starting a flame war here on Archinect. I have graduate training in finance and I have no doubt that the tennis match going on in DC is leading us straight to perdition. If that happens, there will be no winners.  We, as architects, will continue to be among the biggest losers.

Nevertheless, my own personl views are almost an exact mirror image of what you write above.

Fair enough quiz. But if a knife wielding, suicidal maniac came at you, what kind of a compromise could you hope to achieve? Negotiate down the number of face stabs?

A more civil analogy: Your client is asking you to stamp drawings for a project  that's intentionally designed to collapse. Yet, the future tenants are yelling at you to just start building the damn thing. weee. 

It's mostly grandstanding in my opinion.

The problem with even beginning to calculate government debt is that the debt is not all equal and those debts are concurrent. It's hard to even estimate how much me actually owe at any given time.

Should be try to find a better balance? Absolutely.

But it's a little difficult to find said balance when you deal with significant uncertainty. Tomorrow, we could have another Katrina 2.0 and then have to fork out tens-of-billions of dollars. If not Katrina, a highway in Los Angeles could collapse. Or the worse case scenario is that we get invaded by angry race of aliens from Gliese 581 g who didn't like the way that we wrapped up I love Lucy. I'm not even sure what the cost would be on an interstellar war. Or Yellowstone erupts. I'm pretty sure the giant cloud of poisonous gas and the entire breadbasket being cemented over would be pretty significant.

But operating at a razor thin budget is dangerous because it will more or less hold us hostage to these ongoing budget discussions. Stalemate, in this case, is as dangerous and if not even more damaging than having a relatively clear picture of the situation.

Smart business types can plan for anything if given adequate warning. Changing the rules of the game every 10 minutes is not even financial gambling with a high risk, it's playing Russian roulette with a semi-automatic pistol.

PVC has chlorine, and most Cl comes from salt. See the LEED PVC task force for more details of how the USGCB was strong-armed in the first round of LEED to accepting PVC, which has now been overturned...

I just lost my best vacation photos.  Anybody have any ideas of where they went?  I cut and pasted them from the SD card onto my computer, looked at them, rotated them, and then when I went to get them to for photoshop, they just disapeared!  They aren't on the card.  They aren't on the computer where I put them.  I even did a search based on file name, and nothing.  I had a few crappy photos in the recycle bin so I tried to restore one, but now even that one is gone.  Where does the restore restore it to?

I'm crushed.  Anybody have any help?

Sarah, open the program you used to rotate the files and click on file/recent items or so.

In not there. open explorer and click on edit/ undo move and check the card again.

If not there, give your SD card to someone who knows about computers. They should be able to restore them. Do not continue using the card.

Other than that, NEVER cut and paste from a card. Apple computers won't even let you see the card mounted as a drive for that exact reason (very common user mistake).

If Yellowstone erupts I hope to God it kills me and kills me quickly. 

Anyone one here read the Hunger Games.  It's a young adult trilogy but it is very profound.  I'm on the third book and it's crazy how much it parallels what's going on today.  Scary stuff to think about.