hi all,
just thought you might like to see this. house accross the street blew up when town was digging up water main and hit gas line after the gas company marked it out somewhere else. go figure. I’m repairing this house which was accross the street.
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Replies
And here they are reduced in size to fit on-screen:
Fighting Ignorance since 1967
It's taking way longer than we thought
Looks like everything held up except the vinyl. If it was another product, the house would probably look fine.
Not to say that there may be some hidden structural damage from an explosion. Mike
Trust in God, but row away from the rocks.
Even the windows look good.
Odd "Blow up".
actually the vinyl coating on the anderson windows melted and the outer glass layer on the sashes shattered. Also a fair amount of plaster broke loose inside. fun
Fun is right. Good luck getting the utility to accept any guilt. Probably get his homeowners cancelled after all is done. Lots of headaches for whoever has to deal with that situation. Mike
Trust in God, but row away from the rocks.
Looks like some of the homes here in Texas with vinyl siding after a hot summer.
I kind of like the look. Something similar to the attached.
New sitcom. "Architects on Acid."
Honest, boss, my level musta been a little off and it was really windy when we snapped lines.; )++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
looks like some of the houses I have to trim where the GC swears the house is level and plumb within reason and all I have to do is cheat the trim.
Cool
I'll use those pics the next time one of the salesman tells me that vinyl is better than hardie plank.
Do you look to the government for an entitlement, or to GOD for empowerment. BDW
Here is a pic showing how well vinyl holds up in a hail storm. The gray spots are duct tape used to patch the holes.
>>"The gray spots are duct tape used to patch the holes.
Well there ya go. Duct tape can be used to fix anything.
Ins. co. must a insisted on that as the fix? Keeps those claims down. ;-)
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
>>Well there ya go. Duct tape can be used to fix anything.Do you know what duct tape and the Force in Star Wars have in common?
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They each have a light side and a dark side ...
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And they each hold the universe together!
Fighting Ignorance since 1967
It's taking way longer than we thought
ROAR!
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
Wow, how does that saying go 'VINYL IS FINAL',lol
No shots of the house that blew up?
Had a gas explosion in a house in my small town a dozen or so years ago. Leak in the basement ignited. House looked fine from the outside but was totally trashed and had to be torn down. Apparently curtains hanging on a basement window were found wedged under the mud sill, so apparently the whole house jumped up in the air a few inches.
There was a house across the street from the local ABC station at the time and it had a gas leak inside while the owners were away. Other than small pieces of debris, the only thing left in that yard was the basement. We talked to a neighbor the next morning and he said he was in his front yard when it happened. The front door went out to the street and turned left, going about fifty yards south. It was a Saturday night and we were watching TV when we heard a low rumble, which turned to a louder rumble and the sliding glass doors in the china cabinet started making noise. A couple of minutes later, the TV station showed what had happened.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Gas explosions can do strange things. Folks have been inside a building during an explosion and been blown through a wall with barely a scratch. Other times the structure is only slightly damaged but the occupants are killed. The explosion can just blow out walls a bit, or it can turn the building into splinters. All depends on the amount of gas, where in the house it is, and how well it's mixed with air.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
Many years ago I had an engineering professor who did a fair amount of failure analysis consulting on the side. He had some great stories.
In one case, he showed up at a house that he said looked like a dollhouse being constructed. All the walls, gable end, etc. were laid out flat on the ground like someone had just peeled the house apart.
Apparently, an electrician was working in the basement, and there was a gas leak. He survived relatively uninjured, as he was directly in the center of the pressure wave. He did mention that he thought he smelled something just before the blast.
"He did mention that he thought he smelled something just before the blast."That'll teach him to eat beans!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
the house accross the street was leveled, charred pile of crap. now it is a parking lot.
Interesting the way the vinyl siding melted and looks to have an ~8" exposure, as compared to the unmelted that has maybe a 4" exposure.
In another thread "Kid - don't quit your day job" I wrote that different people have different aptitudes.
A neighbor of mine wanted to finish his basement. Hired me to do the framing. He said he wanted to help and I said OK since I was working by the hour. The first thing I had to do was teach him how to read a tape measure - He was not english-first-language, so I thought OK - maybe it was just a cultural thing. He is some kind of big wheel with a software company. Later he had me back to do some other work, which I declined because the cheap &0@ just didn't really want to pay. While there, I saw some tile work that he did. White tile with black grout. I guess he didn't know you were supposed to wipe the grout off the while it was still wet :-). Definitely provided me with a smile... I could give other examples.
A few months later I saw him at Home Depot - he asked me which fittings he should use to hook this gas pipe to that for his furnace.... I told him to hire a professional for safety's sake... He proceeded to tell me that he had it all under control... A few minutes later I saw him talking to the HD salesmen showing the guy the gas fittings....
For probably 6 months afterwards, occasionally, as I drove by his house on my way home I'd just look over there to see if it looked like anything blew up yet...
Interesting the way the vinyl siding melted and looks to have an ~8" exposure, as compared to the unmelted that has maybe a 4" exposure.
Looks to me like it was all 4" exposure and the "folds" just straightened out. Pretty amazing to see.Tom
Douglasville, GA
Kinda on topic I guess, thought some of you may like to see this.
This house was a 3 million dollar project under contruction, nearing the final stages. A beautiful home right on the water in historic Newport, RI.
Im led to beleive the heating system has just been installed the day before. This happened the following evening.
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Melted Forklift!
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These trees were on the other side of the street!
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As was this truck.
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This was just after christmas this year. Construction has begun to rebuild.
Just last week we had a church here in KY go BOOM. Flattened like a pancake.
Seems a back hoe hit both the sewer line and a gas line, the gas vented into the building via the sewer line. So they say, A new water heater had also recently been installed. Preacher just left for his house next door for lunch when it blew.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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How did it explode (what was the spark source?) if there was no electric meter? Were they using a generator?
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
diamond... that used to be Ade Bethune's house... quite the lady
i see they're pouring a new foundation nowMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Whoever said vinyl was finyl? ;-)
Gas explosions are extremely rare so it is not something to really consider when selling siding, but you might be able to sell Hardie on this job. Even the shrubs did better than the vinyl.
We had one a few years ago where a termite fumigator had the house tented. There was a gas leak inside, and apparantly a clock radio or some such thing with a mechanical switch was left on and timed to go off about 6 AM. Major damage for blocks around, and to make the litigation more complex, it was right on the border between two of the little South Bay cities.
Reminds me of a joke from Ireland:
"What's the difference between the IRA and Dublin Gas?" "The IRA give you a warning."
-- J.S.
In Louisville, KY about 20 years ago, someone poured about 100 gallons of something like benzine down a storm sewer. Blew up about 10 city blocks. Luckily no one was seriously injured, IIRC, but dozens of homes were destroyed.In Rochester, MN about 7-10 years ago, gasoline from a gas station leaked into a utility conduit. Blew holes in the roadway a half-mile away.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
Another one: Pemex had a gasoline leak into the sewers or storm drains, IIRC, in Mexico City. It made one of those cable TV disaster shows.
-- J.S.
Date line Columbus, OH
Winter 2005 sometime....
Some fool breaks into an unoccupied house in the Hilltop neighborhood (Sullivant Ave I think) and tries to steal copper water pipes to get his next fix. Pulls a lot of pipe in the dark. Gets out.
One of the pipes was a gas line, not entirely shut off.
Later in the morning something sparks and the house goes boom. Levels it, leaves debris all over the block. I don't recall if any of the neighbors were hurt, but several other houses were damaged.
Dan, I've seen the notation "IIRC" a few times. What does it mean?
If I Remember Correctly
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Thanks, Nice portfolio by the way. How can I link my site to these posts?
Nice web site. Just thought you might like to know that some of the links under "services" don't correspond to the right pictures. They're all there, they just don't map correctly. Like when you click on "bathrooms", you get "porches and decks".
-Don
Well, maybe from the porch you can at least see the bathroom.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
Don,Thank you for pointing that out. DanT told me that weeks ago but at the time I forgot that there are links to the "portfoilo" page from the "services" page. Thanks for your help.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I knew that vinyl siding reminded me of something.... ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Persistence_of_Memory.jpg
-- J.S.