AsktheBuilder.com Issue #1332 (Not Sure!)

April 6, 2025

Dear ,

Several days ago I alerted you to the rain event in the central USA.

It turns out, for those in far western Kentucky and northwest Tennessee, this could be a 500-1,000-year rain. In less than a week, some might experience 18 to 21 inches of rain.

My college major was geology. Flash floods, flooding, etc. are Mother Nature's way of whittling. Just as a wood carver takes away all the wood that doesn't look like a horse when whittling one, Mother Nature chips away at the surface of the Earth in her never-ending pursuit to transport land back to the oceans and seas. She employs water, wind, ice, etc. as her chisels and jackhammers.

That said, she's schizophrenic. At the same time Mother Nature carries land back to the ocean depths, she is busy uplifting mountains.

How would you like to read a fascinating easy-to-understand book that describes how mountains are built and then worn away? Did you know the Appalachian mountains were once as high as the Andes mountain chain on the west coast of South America?

Did you ever wonder about how gold and silver deposits are formed? What would you say if I told you that Las Vegas is going to be located on the edge of an ocean just like Miami? Yes, oceanfront property in Las Vegas!!

It's all in Rough Hewn Land. This book is a fascinating read for the non-geologist!

You should be cognizant of where you live. Your house needs to be immune from flooding of any kind if at all possible. You can own a piece of land that will not flood unless God decides He is going to do a sequel to the Great Flood. Who will be Noah 2.0?

This is but one reason I was hired to go to Kentucky ten days ago. My client wanted me to make sure the new house would never flood AND the basement would be BONE DRY FOREVER.

I happen to be an expert at how to build a bone-dry basement and how to STOP water from entering your leaky basement. 

Years ago I created a handy checklist that allows you select a great building lot. This SAME CHECKLIST should be used by you when you look at an existing home to purchase.

After all, you want that home to be immune from all sorts of hazards.

CLICK HERE to purchase this handy checklist. It's the BEST $15 you might ever spend in your lifetime.

Sewer Lines and Serpents

When you install sewer lines in the desert Southwest, you need to be aware of many things. Serpents should be high on your list!

About a year ago, an energetic DIYr named Don Kimball reached out to me. He was starting to build a house by himself in the desert.

He asked if he could hire to me help him do the plumbing. He knew he was out of his comfort zone and didn't want to make a grave error or two or three.

I accepted the challenge, but told Don I'd not charge him money. Instead, I floated the idea to join him via video to impart all he needed to know to get all of his plumbing installed. Don thought that would be a great idea even though it required extra work on both of our ends.

We've decided to do a collaborative video series to help folks like you who want to save TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars.

CLICK HERE to watch video #1 in the series. The serpent's reference will make sense early in the video. If you have a YouTube account, be SURE to subscribe to Don's channel. 

Shower in the Clouds

I'm in the home stretch helping my son finish his huge basement. The project includes a full bathroom. It's located along the front wall of the basement as far away from the stairs as you can get.

CLICK HERE to see the floor plan of this basement remodel job.

We decided to finish all the other rooms in the project, including the amazing Embassy Ceiling suspended ceilings, before we tackled the bathroom. CLICK HERE to watch video #1 of this three-part series. I have video #2 complete, but am waiting for Embassy to approve its release.

Days ago I built the treated lumber platform that will allow the shower to drain by gravity to the city sewer.

The drain will be located on the right wall. The platform extends 11 inches past the front of the shower basin.

You'll step out of the shower onto this large step, then down to the bathroom floor.

You may wonder, "Tim, how in the heck did you get a toilet to work?" 

Easy, we are installing a wall-mount Kohler toilet much like you see in a hospital, airport, office building, etc.

The issue is the house sewer line exits the foundation wall about 3.5 inches ABOVE the concrete slab. I'll get a short video of this for you next week. I intend to record a video showing how to install the shower basin on top of this platform next weekend.

Yes, I already installed a piece of 3/4-inch treated plywood on top of the treated 2x8s I had to rip to a custom height.

I knew you'd wonder about that.

Are you in need of HELP trying to solve a vexing plumbing problem or ANY other conundrum at your home?

Why not get on the phone with me and allow me to SAVE you THOUSANDS of dollars. 

I can empower you, just like Don Kimball, to do things you never thought possible.

CLICK HERE so you and I can get on a fast phone call.

#DoNotComply

Once bitten, twice shy...

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

The BEST Love Story of all time - well, maybe a close second.

That's enough for a Sunday morning.

Peace out.

Tim Carter (PhD, FullyAwakeology)

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Electromagnetic Adventures: www.W3ATB.com

My Pronouns: Told/You/So

Do It Right, Not Over!