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For house construction in flood risk areas, the choice of building materials and finishes should maximise flood resilience by minimising damage and the time taken to refurbish. ABI in its guidance document 'Strategic Planning for Flood Risk in the Growth Areas Insurance Construction' points out that unless sufficient precautions are taken to minimise potential flood damage, many homes may be uninsurable. The ABI highlights specific measures that may assist in reducing flood damage, in particular the use of 'concrete floors instead of wood'.

We can already build structures that will withstand any load that you can specify. The question is just one of how much you're willing to pay. The other question is one of getting the structure properly built. There's the rub.

Over the years Fine Homebuilding magazine has done post-mortems on houses that haven't survived natural disasters. http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/index.asp One thing that usually stands out is substandard materials and workmanship. Usually the local building code adequately takes the expected disasters into account.

My favorite example: During Hurricane Andrew, shingles that weren't applied perfectly would lift. Rain would blow up under the shingles and soak the particle board (not plywood) roof sheathing. The sheathing would swell and the staples holding them would cut through the swollen wood (the staples weren't pulled out of the rafters). The particle board roof sheathing would blow off and, when the wind got in, that was it for the rest of the house.

So, what do I think of these marvellous new nails? We don't really need them. Some cheap builder will get an engineer to sign off on a design that uses half as many nails. A roofer won't get one of the nails in the right place and won't drive another one to compensate. The building inspector won't notice. The contractor will save ten bucks per house. Someone will die.

Why am I so cynical about contractors and tradespeople? I know building inspectors and engineers.

Nonsense! There is nothing wrong linking linking as often as Wikipedia does

I'm a beginning woodworker with not a lot of experience beyond the eternal stepstool and a winerack but I can honestly tell you that the workmanship on the laptop SUCKS ASS! cheap plywood with no joinery slapped on top of an old boxy laptop. Pretty embarrassing actually. At least he didn't use bird's eye maple for it or something...

I'll have to agree, the workmanship is poor, especially the picture marked PCMCIA slots.
This guy is no finish carpenter. Maybe he should subscribe to http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/index.asp finewoodworking magazine for a while and try again once he's developed some woodworking skills.

I'm most excited about getting a Linux Journal in the mail, and I read each Perl Journal cover to cover, but some other favorites:

DownBeat for the music

Fine Woodworking and its sibling Fine Homebuilding for one of the hobbies

Babybug for the kiddo

You have no idea. ;-)

Thanks for the book references.

I think that learning how to live without the grid will be a vital skill for anyone now living in the industrialised world today. It is clear from recent and past world events that oil supply is going to be a future problem, that governments have yet to address. The uk oil blockade during 2000 brought that home to me very clearly. During that time food was unavailable in supermarkets, travel was limited and the scope of emergency services were limited. I expect to see that type of problem occur again within my lifetime.

I am employed and can afford to have contractors to work on my house, however I chose to landscape my own garden and fit my own kitchen. During the past year especially I have had practical experience in many forms of building work and spent the cash I saved on the tools I needed. If I ever have to live off the grid I know that I have at least some of the neccesary skills already. I do quite a lot of work for a large London based building contractor, and even there most of the surveyors and estimators have zero hands on experience. They mostly seem surprised that I want to do this kind of work myself.

I read a lot to gain the skills I have learnt, and while most of the books I read are not really on self suffiency they may be of interest.

Taunton Press do a whole range of good books on a whole range of building and woodwork related subjects. They can be found at www.tauton.com. They also publish magazines such as Fine Homebulding and Fine woodworking . I have bought quite a few of their books in the past, and they are mostly very good.

Lindsay books publish a whole load of obsolete engineering books, as well as the classic Gingery series. These are invaluable for those wanting to make tools on a very low budget.

Steve

Thanks for the book references.

I think that learning how to live without the grid will be a vital skill for anyone now living in the industrialised world today. It is clear from recent and past world events that oil supply is going to be a future problem, that governments have yet to address. The uk oil blockade during 2000 brought that home to me very clearly. During that time food was unavailable in supermarkets, travel was limited and the scope of emergency services were limited. I expect to see that type of problem occur again within my lifetime.

I am employed and can afford to have contractors to work on my house, however I chose to landscape my own garden and fit my own kitchen. During the past year especially I have had practical experience in many forms of building work and spent the cash I saved on the tools I needed. If I ever have to live off the grid I know that I have at least some of the neccesary skills already. I do quite a lot of work for a large London based building contractor, and even there most of the surveyors and estimators have zero hands on experience. They mostly seem surprised that I want to do this kind of work myself.

I read a lot to gain the skills I have learnt, and while most of the books I read are not really on self suffiency they may be of interest.

Taunton Press do a whole range of good books on a whole range of building and woodwork related subjects. They can be found at www.tauton.com. They also publish magazines such as Fine Homebulding and Fine woodworking . I have bought quite a few of their books in the past, and they are mostly very good.

Lindsay books publish a whole load of obsolete engineering books, as well as the classic Gingery series. These are invaluable for those wanting to make tools on a very low budget.

Steve

Thanks for the book references.

I think that learning how to live without the grid will be a vital skill for anyone now living in the industrialised world today. It is clear from recent and past world events that oil supply is going to be a future problem, that governments have yet to address. The uk oil blockade during 2000 brought that home to me very clearly. During that time food was unavailable in supermarkets, travel was limited and the scope of emergency services were limited. I expect to see that type of problem occur again within my lifetime.

I am employed and can afford to have contractors to work on my house, however I chose to landscape my own garden and fit my own kitchen. During the past year especially I have had practical experience in many forms of building work and spent the cash I saved on the tools I needed. If I ever have to live off the grid I know that I have at least some of the neccesary skills already. I do quite a lot of work for a large London based building contractor, and even there most of the surveyors and estimators have zero hands on experience. They mostly seem surprised that I want to do this kind of work myself.

I read a lot to gain the skills I have learnt, and while most of the books I read are not really on self suffiency they may be of interest.

Taunton Press do a whole range of good books on a whole range of building and woodwork related subjects. They can be found at www.tauton.com. They also publish magazines such as Fine Homebulding and Fine woodworking . I have bought quite a few of their books in the past, and they are mostly very good.

Lindsay books publish a whole load of obsolete engineering books, as well as the classic Gingery series. These are invaluable for those wanting to make tools on a very low budget.

Steve

If you really mean the grounds (green or bare copper wires) then this is a problem. But if you are talking about the neutrals (white) then the code forbids them to be bonded to the grounds at subpanels. They can only be grounded at the main panel.

If the neutrals and grounds are intermixed, then the grounds, and everything connected to them, will carry return current. The grounds are only supposed to carry fault current.

This is one of the most common wiring errors. An excellent example of the traps waiting for the unwary, and why you should hire a pro to oversee and direct any work you do, and to do the critical stuff, like 220, three-phase, and main panel work.

And with some carpentry skills, some basic soldering skills, and an I-PAC, and some parts you can have a very authentic feeling cabinet to play them in. Fun!

Oh yeah, make sure to finish like a piece of furniture (use expensive lumber) so your wife lets you keep it in the house...

Also, photos of the purple potatoes. Note that the article says that purple potatoes "have always been used" in the Andes Mountains. In other words, they are a natural variety, not one that is genetically engineered.