AsktheBuilder.com Issue #1216 (I think)

January 15, 2023

Dear ,

Allow me to speculate. This could be your first issue. I'm happy you're here! My job is to increase your happiness and home improvement quotient. In case you're wondering, I didn't attend summer school for Algebra.

At ego Latinam 1 egi!

Let's get started.

Dan's New Home

Dan reached out to me a few days ago. He's going to be building a new home. If you've never done it before, believe me it's very exciting!

Perhaps you're getting ready to build a room addition. A room addition is actually a small house as it often has most of the things you find in a new home.

That photo above is one I shot while my daughter's home was being built on Mt. Desert Island in Downeast Maine. You can see the well-drilling rig on the right side. It blends in well with the tall trees.

What percentage of homeowners have a HAPPY and WONDERFUL building experience? Take a guess.

Was your conjecture less than five percent? If so, you should go out and get a lottery ticket!! You just missed hitting the Mega Millions jackpot!

Why do 95% of folks like you have a HORRIBLE building experience? One fraught with arguments with the builder, cost overruns, sub-standard products being used, etc.?

It's because the plans and specifications you depend on are decroted pieces of crap. Sorry, but it's true. How do I know this?

I see blueprints from across the nation each week when I use them to draw the plumbing isometric riser diagrams I do for homeowners like you. Most don't have enough information on them.

READ THIS TRUE STORY about what happened to me about 35 years ago to understand why fantastic plans and specifications are so valuable.

Dan wanted to know what products and services I offered to help ensure:

• his plans would be communicate to the builder everything that was EXPECTED 
• the builder would know exactly what to do
• the bids included everything to avoid costly surprises

As you might suspect, I've got what Dan needs. You may need them too! Just click each of the above bullet points to see what Dan is about to order. Each one of the above items will save you and Dan thousands of dollars. Purchase all of them, and you'll probably save over $30,000.00 and be friends with your builder at the end of the job!

Earl and Gas Stoves

Earl reached out to me a few days ago wondering how I maintain my blood pressure. He saw this news story erupt on January 10, 2023. The older I get I'm convinced that faceless bureaucrats who come up with these ideas are convinced that the topic matter is so recondite that they'll be able to pull the wool over your eyes.

But most of us are far more intelligent than those that are trying to control you like a puppet on a string.

Earl reached out because I do review and talk about appliances in homes like yours. Here's a review I did on a washing machine I tested.

Just below is what Earl sent to me.

Here's part of Earl's email he sent to me:

"Tim I do not know how you can be so calm with all the stupidity the government is doing. As a former Power Plant Operating Engineer with almost 40 years experience  I can tell you the power plants of today are 1000 times cleaner than they were in 1970. Cars are 1000 cleaner in emissions than in 1970 and they are much cleaner than a power plant burning coal. which is the main provider of electricity in the world. The average power plant generation unit is 1000 megawatts and a wind generator farm with multiple windmills, which are not reliable 24 hours a day, is only about 30  megawatts...."

If you're as old as I am, you're very aware of how the government has ruined washing machines, light bulbs, toilets, etc. They're ruining pristine vistas and views with the bird-killing windmills. In the past weeks, they're killing whales along the New Jersey coastline using sonar to put in more windmills.

Who do you think OWNS the windmills? I'll bet you think it's your local/regional electric company. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

YOU'VE BEEN PLAYED ONCE AGAIN LIKE A CHEAP FIDDLE. 

DO SOME RESEARCH AND YOU'LL DISCOVER MANY WINDMILLS ARE OWNED BY FOREIGN COMPANIES. THE ONES IN RUMNEY, NH ARE OWN BY THE SPANISH ROYAL FAMILY IS WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD BY RELIABLE NH SOURCES.

WHY WOULD FOREIGNERS OWN WINDMILLS IN THE USA?

Your Overlords are actively trying to ram electric vehicles (EVs) down your throat touting them as Zero Emission.

They're liars.

The only EVs that can claim to be zero emission are those that get ALL of their electricity from solar panels, micro-hydro generation plants, or windmills. 

If you plug your EV into the grid, you're just trading one fossil fuel for another since the vast majority of electricity is created burning coal or natural gas. Also, batteries do NOT make electricity. They STORE it like you store milk in your refrigerator for later consumption.

Do you really understand batteries? The ones in your flashlight, cellphone, the drill in your garage, your waterpik for your teeth, your EV? I'm willing to bet you a two-step hot fudge mocha-chip sundae at Aglamesis that you DON'T. GO HERE and be prepared to be enlightened.

Now we have a Federal agency trying to get rid of gas stoves. The electric grid can't handle the stress of the current EVs much less tripling the number.

And they think making everyone have an ELECTRIC STOVE is a good idea to put further stress on the grid?

WHEN ARE YOU FINALLY GOING TO WAKE UP AND PUSH BACK AGAINST YOUR LEADERS? 

WHEN ARE YOU FINALLY GOING TO STOP OBEYING THESE INVISIBLE PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO RUIN YOUR LIFE?

If anything in this newsletter helps save you time or money, maybe you want to reciprocate and buy me a popover & a cup of coffee? That would be appreciated!

Haters are Gonna Hate 😡

Several days ago I asked for your help. I'm in the final stages of creating my most recent book. It's all about super cool things you WISH YOU HAD in your home. Some of the things you can add to an existing home with not much trouble or expense.

I asked for you to vote on some so-so titles I thought of but then asked for you to come up with your own creative book title. 

Three or four submissions are STELLAR! I'm absolutely going to consider them and I might ask you to vote on the five best titles I feel that came in.

But since each day you're involved in a Game of Thrones whether you like it or not (watch what Queen Cersei says to Lord Stark at the end of this short video), I happen to know you may be one of my subscribers that carries around an unsheathed dagger under your cloak waiting for me to walk by.

Were you the one that submitted the title(s) below?

These book title suggestions made me LOL 🤣 😂  four days ago when I opened up the spreadsheet all the entries dump into.

What do you think about the person(s) that submitted these highlighted titles?

Roman Concrete - La De Da... 💅

It started with Steve my very very good friend in Southern CA. Then I heard from Jennifer, John, David, Ron, and a handful of others.

They all had seen this article about how some MIT scientists had finally figured out why ancient Roman concrete was so strong and durable.

Several mentioned in their emails to me that they had remembered me writing in the past about the benefits of using hydrated lime in brick mortar and concrete.

The MIT researchers must have been so busy looking through their microscopes they didn't do a thorough search of the literature. I say this because my article written in 1998 about Roman concrete didn't show up in their bibliography.

What do you think of this shade of magenta on my finger and toenails??? How long after the polish dries do you wait to buff your nails???

Fractions

If one of your goals is to be an expert carpenter, you need to have a great grasp of fractions. Years ago on the job site my fellow carpenters and I would test each other.

One carpenter would be up on scaffolding and yell down a measurement, "Cut the next piece 84 and one hundred and twenty-eight two hundred and fifty-sixths inches."

I'm serious. We'd goof around like that. If I was manning the saw, I'd pull out my tape measure and mark the board at 84 and 1/2 inches.

Did you know that hundreds of years ago crew members of whaling ships got paid in fractional shares of the amount of oil and ambergris they brought back to the port?

Because many of them were ignorant, they thought that the BIGGER the denominator in the fraction, the greater share of the cargo they'd get! So they signed contracts saying they'd get 1/1,250 of the whale oil, or even 1/5,674 share.

Fast forward to the 1980s and it turns out the buying public in the USA was much like those who hurled harpoons.

Read this fascinating TRUE STORY about how A&W Root Beer's top management overestimated the IQ of their hungry target customers. This was sent to me by Wayne, a fellow amateur radio operator who happens to be my Morse Code student.

Build a Playhouse or Clubhouse

Do you think your child or grand would LOVE to play in here or use it as a secret hideout to hatch a plan to pull a prank?

Why of course they would! Can you build one like this? Maybe.

Can you build one like the one I played in as a kid? Absolutely YES.

Go here and read about Pekka's playhouse/clubhouse we played in.

GO HERE to get COUNTLESS PLANS for kid's playhouses and clubhouses. Let me know which one you select.

If you need ADVICE on how to build it, I can help you.

Have you had enough for today? 

I'll be back next week. Do you NEED HELP with an issue at your home? If so, GO HERE.

Alright, you know how I feel.

That's all.

Tim Carter

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

My Pronouns: Told/You/So

Winter Field Day Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S.