WUI (Writing under the influence)

I had the water supply lines ready to be buried but the inspector said that a sleeve for each line was required to safely go trough the basement wall. In theory it's not a bad idea given that PEX pipes expand and contract with changing temperatures. This is OK when the pipes go through wooden studs but it can be a major problem when they go through concrete.

But a short sleeve protecting just the length of the pipe going through the wall would cause the rain water to enter the basement so I had to extend it all the way to the end.

Time to build something.

I had to finish the new sewer line and at least get it through the basement wall because of the rain. So I did it today and called for an inspection tomorrow morning. Once the inspector says the slab looks good and I can bury the new sewer line, I can start building the addition.


I used the new version of Great Stuff for filling big gaps, which is water-resistant. Perfect product for this application.

I had to rent this tool to make holes in my basement to connect the poker room. It was well worth it. I paid $60 for these holes and by the end of the week, my poker room will be united with the rest of my humble property.

Given how much rain we are going to get, I wanted to finish connecting the new sewer line to the house's main stack. So I continued digging today and I discovered something very interesting albeit not surprising.

At first I though this was a 100-year-old man hole. But after digging a little bit more and breaking some cast-iron pipes, I realized this used to be the original septic tank.




I will probably just pour some concrete in the hole but if I had more time I'd dig out as much dirt as possible just to see if there is a dead body at the bottom.

I've been very critical of Catholics, especially of the church "elders" because of their apparent ignorance of basic economics. The church, being opposed to abortion and homosexual marriage, supports for the most part the economic policies of the Democrat party, which, since FDR, have been wrecking the US economy. Not to upset the political landscape, the church complains about abortion and homosexual marriage mostly in spring to take advantage of people's short memories. This is what the government does having the tax day exactly 6 months between elections.

If the church just took a hard look at the world history, it would easily realize that the more a country leans to the left, the bigger its transgressions against human dignity are and so much worse are the living standards of its citizens.

People in essence become the property of the state. Remember? Even slave holders cared about their slaves. They have free housing, food, health care. Of course, the quality of each was directly proportional to the value of labor each slave could deliver. So you old, uneducated, or otherwise dispensable people beware.

If the cap-and-trade bill passes in the US, this will a typical headline in the mainstream news outlet.

Heat Prices to Go Up This Year

Heat prices will grow on average by 10.5% this year and its distribution costs - by 9%, according to energy regulator URE forecasts quoted by the daily Rzeczpospolita .

This should translate to bills higher by 10%.

Afterwards, prices should remain stable at least until 2013, when some 5-34% rises can be expected, depending on the CO2 emission rights allocation by the European Commission.

Did you get that? Some bureaucrats, probably the same sitting on the death panels, will decide how much CO2 each country can emit. If a country like Poland, whose abortion policies are not to EU liking, doesn't change its mind on such issues, its allocation of CO2 will be lowered beyond the pain threshold. To hell with democracy!

Ironically, the prices will go up even further as the global warming turns into global cooling, as it's been happening for a few years now, and there will be more demand for heat fuel. Of course, the rational politicians in EU and soon ion the US will simply tax the rich to distribute the wealth and assure themselves power for a few decades. When the economy is totally destroyed and most corporations have moved abroad, said politicians will start trade wars and wreck the world economy. What will follow will be far beyond what Cheney and Halliburton had ever dreamed of.

Lastly, the slab indeed looks good. It will be raining for a few days so I don't have to worry about curing. I will however have to do something about those disconnected downspouts.

I thought I was done and the only thing missing was about 2 cubic yards of concrete. Was I wrong!

I had bought the least expensive material to make the forms: OSB. I even made sure that I would put the slick side in so the concrete wouldn't soften it. And look at those stakes. Surely they will keep the forms straight as I fill them with hundreds of pounds of concrete, right? Besides, the inspector (yes, I have a permit) didn't mention that using OSB was a very stupid idea. So I paid $400 in permit fees, another $475 to remove a lot of dirt from the driveway; then $200 for sewer pipes and other miscellaneous items; finally, $250 for the concrete, and only $20 for material to create the forms? And I came this close from ruining everything!

So far so good. The guy shows up 10 minutes before the scheduled time so I didn't have enough time to complete a few preparation steps. I had to hold those two ABS pipes to create two holes for the water supply as he starts pouring.

The first sign of trouble: the front form starts bending dangerously. But the guy doesn't stop so I have to shovel. I'm praying the form holds until he's gone and I have time to brace it.

As the forms are filled all the way across they become more even but I can almost hear the screws being torn from the stakes.

The guy leaves. I start moving pieces of old concrete that were hidden under the gravel in my driveway before I had it removed to braces the forms. Those concrete pieces and a couple of pieces of a cut up 2x3 (sic!) and a few sledge hummer pounces seemed to help save the day.

The forms are relatively even and the final product (too dark to take a picture) looks good.

So, children, learn from my mistakes and buy a 3/4" plywood for your forms and put your stakes every 12" or so. Better yet, stacked 2x12 would have worked much better.

Next, we are raising walls next weekend. I will try to connect the sewer line to the main stack in the house, which will involve some heavy-duty concrete drilling.