Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Montague]

Gravity goes straight down, basically, so a plumb bob works. Fluid in a glass is basically horizontal, depending on things like surface tension.

You just answered your own question.

It might be tricky to form an accurate template from a set-up like that, though. I'd be close enough to work, though. Really, straight lines and perfect angles are physically impossible, because of the gravitational pull of everything in the universe, a perfectly straight line is a metaphysical concept anyways.

I live in California, so I don't have much experience with brick... because the brick buildings here all fell down. Wood frames, though, they flex. A well-built wood house, one that isn't half-buried with no foundation, should last a nice long time. Longer that 20 years, at least.

Modern wood frame houses with metal rafter clips and framing angles, sure. I'd still say brick works out better for most places. They are ok for most earthquakes so long as they are not two story structures or taller. Then they get that mechanical frequency deal that tears them down.

[DJ]

The main reason wood is preferred to brick is labour costs. Timber frame house takes days to build, while a brick house takes weeks.

[PTTG??]

In the context of a DIY Summer Camp / beta village, labor is going to be expensive. In the context of a survival situation,I'm not so sure. The more people you have, the more pressing food and water concerns are... so you might have less of a labor pool for construction.

[Virex]

I'm still not completely sure: does or does this not require, in any point of the process, crude oil?

I'm assuming "no" after googling a lot of the parts. But, if the answer is "yes", that could create a sustainability problem as oil becomes scarcer.

Plants, iron and a solar furnace. There's your oil (well, not exactly, you'll need to process the plants first. Still, nothing is stopping you from making some oil yourself)

[PTTG??]

I was discussing this earlier and someone compared it to those reenactment villages with blacksmiths and farms and stuff. And it occurred to me that you could bill this as a post-apocalypse... "pre-enactment" village. Or compound.

Still, I think the main focus needs to be betaing and developing the machines.

[Jake]

The main reason wood is preferred to brick is labour costs. Timber frame house takes days to build, while a brick house takes weeks.

Availability comes into it as well. Brick houses are very nearly universal here in Britain because there's not much in the way of forest left outside of national parks, so most of our timber has to be imported. Clay on the other hand we have in relative abundance, though we're nowhere near self-sufficient for that either these days.

[Carnes]

hah, i love your phrase "Post-apocalyptic pre-enactment".

So far, the only thing on OSE that i'd like to try is a coffee can (or flowerpot) furnace.  Smelt down my aluminum soda cans (i currently recycle them through WasteManagement) and cast them into... i have no idea.  Forks, spoons, knives?  Other tools like a spade, hoe, garden rake? Nails? If only there was a good reason to smelt soda cans

If you could make things from metal, what would you make?

[MaximumZero]

Swords, obviously. Handheld digging equipment and water pipes, not so obviously.

[Montague]

The main reason wood is preferred to brick is labour costs. Timber frame house takes days to build, while a brick house takes weeks.

Well, that's partially true, wood frame houses are simpler to build, pretty much anybody can do the basics of carpentry and there is a greater tolerance for error with wood frame, while brick and CMU structures really need to have skilled people to build them to standard.

Although in the USA at least, the costs of building a brick or CMU structure is about the same as a wood frame for the same square footage. CMU structures do take a little more time to construct, though.

[Truean]

The main reason wood is preferred to brick is labour costs. Timber frame house takes days to build, while a brick house takes weeks.

Well, that's partially true, wood frame houses are simpler to build, pretty much anybody can do the basics of carpentry and there is a greater tolerance for error with wood frame, while brick and CMU structures really need to have skilled people to build them to standard.

Although in the USA at least, the costs of building a brick or CMU structure is about the same as a wood frame for the same square footage. CMU structures do take a little more time to construct, though.

Is it really? I'm honestly asking, because I was always told building with brick both takes longer and costs about 10% more?

[Montague]

The main reason wood is preferred to brick is labour costs. Timber frame house takes days to build, while a brick house takes weeks.

Well, that's partially true, wood frame houses are simpler to build, pretty much anybody can do the basics of carpentry and there is a greater tolerance for error with wood frame, while brick and CMU structures really need to have skilled people to build them to standard.

Although in the USA at least, the costs of building a brick or CMU structure is about the same as a wood frame for the same square footage. CMU structures do take a little more time to construct, though.

Is it really? I'm honestly asking, because I was always told building with brick both takes longer and costs about 10% more?

It costs like, maybe 2% more for a CMU structure, if that, but general contractors will usually quote the same price for wood frame or CMU for a single story structure. CMU is inexpensive compared to wood-frame since there is less cutting and fitting and waste as a result, especially true for custom buildings. For mass producing subdivisions of identical McMansions with 2 stories, wood frame probably ends up costing 10% less.

[Sheb]

A popular technique over here (well, in eco-construction at least) is wood-and-straw houses. Wood frame, straw for the walls and a clay covering. Great insulations, really easy/quick to build once the frame is done.