Recent content by TexMedium

First ten years of married life, the wife and I tended her grandfather's rental properties in a college town. So, a Codes Inspection was required every time commercial tenant changed (the actual leases had to be filed with Codes!). The residential apartments were every three years. And the...

Bridge rail, or crane rail, is a decidedly different product from railroad rail. Because it is usually continuously supported by the crane structure, bridge rail will have smaller base and a shorter vertical profile. It will also, usually, have a much bigger and flatter rail head. Think, "lots...

Decades ago, doing commercial swimming poll rehabs, the designs always called for the pool deck expansion joints to be caulked. The expansion joint material was ripped an inch, then pinned back together with finish nails. After the concrete was poured, we'd peel off the rip, pack the joint with...

Wasn't me, but i was a laborer for a millwright outfit nearly thirty years ago. The company was run by, but not owned by, three brothers, one was Good Cop, one was Bad Cop, the third did all the work. Anyway, we were doing modifications to an old commercial bakery, for a new operation. Me and...

Regarding the legalities of "owning" a piece of rail, well the FBI isn't going to come knocking on your door about it. However, most REPUTABLE scrap yards will not touch anything that would be identifiable as "railroad materials", unless you had some documentation of ownership. Roll onto a scale...

My father taught me that if your mother doesn't toss the bum out on his *** when he quit working FOREVER at age forty, then i should have moved three to five time zones away from them when i turned eighteen. Otherwise, you get stuck supporting both of them into your own old age.

Want to screw with your foreman? Use 5-12-13 to wrap a square corner around a hospital corridor turn. That poor devil is probably still there, thirty years later, STILL trying to figure it out..... He just didn't get it!

It wasn't really much of a debate in my mind. More curiosity about something i've never had any experience with. A new bar, ONE new chain and $97.50 out the door of the second place I went to. The first place wanted the serial number of the machine, kid behind the counter said, "we have to check...

I think I already know the answer, but, hope springs eternal... I dropped a tree in my backyard this afternoon and the thing bit my saw bar. Can a bent bar be straightened? Should a bent bar be straightened? How would a bent bar be straightened? The saw is a Stihl if that might make a...

Never mind the "stuff". If you have ANYTHING of ANY value, people will show up and relieve your heirs of MOST of the trouble of disposing of the "stuff" But, do the kids and grandkids a favor NOW. While you are still upright. Take care of YOURSELF, NOW. Get the knees fixed, get the hips...

There are three fundamental Laws Of The Universe: 1. Machines break; 2. Systems fail; 3. People screw up. God wrote them. Which brings us to Rule Number Four: 4. No ****** legal team ever changed Rules One, Two, and Three, above. Those pliers are what warranties are for.

In my zip code, replacing the panel in my house was quoted by the ONE contractor who actually showed up at around $40-$50,000. The local municipality owns and maintains the "grid". Their own trucks, linemen, etc. AND, they hold us up to their own "electrical code". AND, they have a very short...

Every house i've ever lived in had this problem. This is 100 year old row houses to 1960's era tract built stuff. I replaced all of the plumbing in my own home with PEX. In a home built sort of way, that is, i've got 3/4" copper from the main to the meter. That was about all i saved. From the...

I did one in a 1995 C-3500HD, IN THE STREET, in front of my house about eight years ago. During an absurdly cold spell in November. That would have made me about 52yo. The street is sloped some, and it was an NV-4500 transmission, heaviest god-damnned box i ever wrestled with. No jacking on the...

A tubing cutter with a blade for copper will make short work of Sch.40 PVC, without reaching the wire inside. It WILL leave a raised burr, just like with copper, though. Easy enough to remove, which should be done if there is any possibile need in the future to pull more wire.