Kevin Olson

David Wieland wrote:

Kevin Olson wrote: Laying the subfloor boards on the diagonal provides a stiffer floor

From the 1997 edition of Canadian Wood-Frame House Construction (p. 74):
Diagonal subflooring permits finish strip flooring to be laid either parallel to or across the joists.

Well, that makes good sense.  I wonder if that's the original reason for so doing, or if that's a convenient side effect?

Mikel Salazar wrote:Thank you Kevin for your reply.
...
Another option is to use Opus signinum in flat clay tile shape pieces, but it could be a lot of work to create them. ¿Maybe not so much work thinking in the long term? Maybe in bigger sizes...

You're welcome.  I am far from expert in these matters, especially in a permie way.  A decade or so ago, before I was properly acquainted with permies, I used expanded polystyrene and 6 mil poly sheeting to create an insulated and waterproof barrier around part of my basement, since we had "water features" every time it rained hard - old house with stone walls - and no drains.  I spent several furious evenings with a shop vac, sucking up water almost as fast as it came in, and hoping and praying for the rain to ease.  Desperate times, desperate measures.

I think the opus signinum would be a good choice, but I haven't yet experimented.  It's a form of what is now termed a geopolymer, and the lime should be self-healing of small cracks.  There are some broken bricks in a vacant lot near me, which would be prime candidates for such an experiment, but I don't know who owns them, so a bit of leg work on my part may be in order to discover at what price they might be had (hopefully free for the hauling!).  I also have a sack and a half of hydrated (steam slaked) lime, left over from when I tuck-pointed the sandstone wall of my dad's basement.  But, I have enough irons in the fire that I may not get to that experiment before snow falls.  In which case, the broken bricks will keep until spring, I'm sure.

From what I can gather, most of the AGS-like projects have used plastic sheeting or EPDM roofing membrane (or pond liner), and foam insulation.  It would be good to have a proven approach that doesn't require these plasticy materials.

You'd also mentioned a high water table.  Will you be berming the earth up around your house, somewhat of an "earth sheltered" approach, to avoid digging down near the water table?

I have a small piece of raw recreational land which also has a high water table (old beach dunes and swales, likely dating from the beginning of this interglacial, now many hundreds of meters back from the present lake shore).  I think the only reasonable way of building an Oehler or Hait greenhouse structure there would be to build on grade, then berm the sand up around and over the top of the building.  It might be possible to make a dome-like structure of a concrete like substance )perhaps opus signinum or similar) over the mass of sand, then cover the dome with sand, soil, etc.  But, I don't know if that's really practical.  I'd seen an attempt to pre-cast modular dome panels, then assemble them into a shell.  Also, a vault system which used interlocking blocks, which was quite interesting, but looked somewhat unwieldy, because the blocks had to be threaded over reinforcing rod which was about half the arc length of the vault section.  I don't think either of these really appeals to me, as interesting as they are.

I do have John Hait's monograph on creating concrete box sections, but they are proportioned and sized more-or-less like marine shipping containers.

Sorry for not being able to provide any real guidance on this.

Can you do a small scale experiment to prove out the opus signinum, before you "go for broke"?

Are you considering doing a variation of john Hait's annualized geothermal?  I'm just trying to make sure I am answering the question you are asking.

Could you bury a layer of expansive clay (e.g. bentonite) as the waterproof layer, then back fill with topsoil, or gravel or whatever, depending on your intended use, lay paving stones where needed, etc?  Roots could penetrate the clay layer, especially if trees are grown on it, but even deep rooted grasses, alfalfa, etc. might.  So, I think you'd want to be cognizant of that likelihood when planting.  But, the clay should be somewhat self-healing of minor penetrations, also.  Seasonal dryness of the subsoil at the waterproofing depth might lead to cracking, though.

Clay may not be the solution...

Ken Barston wrote:In a wall the diagonal will solve racking problems if each half of the wall is oriented 90 degrees from the other half. If all of the boards are oriented the same across the complete wall it will greatly aggravate the problem.

Oh, for sure, and it's good to keep that point in mind.  Similar to knee (and elbow) braces in timber framing, both diagonals should be present within a wall to stiffen the structure against racking.  The modern scheme is to use plywood (or, heaven forefend, OSB) as the shear diaphragm to prevent racking.

But, I am more skeptical about floors racking, in general.  Not that it couldn't happen (mud flow/lahar/snow slide or dump truck mishap or something), but racking of a floor out of square in the plan view isn't very likely under ordinary circumstances, and forces that would tend to cause racking seem most likely to involve catastrophic occurrences.  However, if the additional floor material needed, and the extra time and effort to lay it, aren't impediments, then I'd say go for it.  I don't think there's much harm (other than the foregoing, and slightly longer spans between the joists), and it might be helpful.

I'd be curious just when laying subfloor on the diagonal came into vogue.  Any older structures with wooden suspended floors that I've seen or seen documented have the floor boards laid parallel (or perpendicular) to a wall - generally perpendicular to the smallest cross section floor beams/joists, though R. J. Brown in "Timber-framed Buildings of England" does show floor boards laid between, and let into, closely spaced floor beams.  I may be able to find an illustration of this approach.  But, I'm not anywhere close to enough of an architectural historian to be able to point to when people began laying diagonal subfloor.  On edit: I've attached a PDF of a page from Brown's book, showing historic methods of suspended flooring on the other side of the water from me.

John C Daley wrote:I have never heard of diagonal boards in the sense explained here.
In Australia we do not have sub floors, what is their purpose

John -

It was typical, in US homes with a higher degree of fit and finish, to use a sub-floor as the structure over the joists, with the finished flooring material over that.  The finished flooring could be ceramic tile, laid in a mortar bed, or a more durable hardwood flooring, or (more recently) carpet, vinyl tile or snap together laminate.  Our 1890s vintage house, with additions made as late as the 1920s, has board subfloor with tongue and groove maple flooring over that, in the ground floor.  The upper storey has tongue and groove pine flooring only, as both subfloor and finished floor all in one.  Rougher structures would have had planks or log puncheons or some other sort of sturdy flooring, with the top surface more or less well finished, depending on the time and tools available, and the purposes to which the building would be put.  This is for suspended floors, of course, rather than floors built directly on the soil.

Laying the subfloor boards on the diagonal provides a stiffer floor - at least theoretically.  I would think that installing bridging between joists would actually do more.  For wall sheathing?  Sure, diagonal board sheathing would provide a structure stiffer and more resistant to wind racking than boards nailed on square to the studs, but I am less convinced that it would make a whole pile of difference for flooring.  Nevertheless, my grandfather would only lay board sheathing and subfloor on the diagonal.  He also believed in let-in bracing for stick framed walls until his dying breath, even if sheathed with plywood.

But, he was old school; his father built wooden boats from trees, and my grandfather wasn't far removed from that, even though he did paying work until the early 1980s.  I still have his claw hammer, and a portable saw vise that I believe was his, which could be clamped to a 1" thick rough sawn board, and would hold a hand saw steady on the job site, so one could give a saw a quick touch up with a triangular file at coffee or lunch break time.

I may be able to find a reference to Townsend's "Carpentry", which was my grandfather's favorite carpentry book (it went through multiple editions).  My brother has my grandfather's copy, new enough to discuss plywood, but I think I may have a PDF scan of one edition or another.

On edit: I have attached a screen grab from the 1949 edition of Gilbert Townsend's "Carpentry", showing diagonally laid board subfloor and diagonal exterior wall sheathing.  I could not see any place withing the text proper where Townsend addressed laying the subfloor on the diagonal, though he does discuss diagonal sheathing as a means of bracing the frame.  I could only spot one illustration in this 1949 edition which shows board subfloor not laid on the diagonal, though illustrations abound showing the subfloor laid on the bias, as seen here.  Curious...

On further edit:  Townsend's "Carpentry" is an interesting window into the transition from heavier timber framing to lighter (and faster) stick built construction.  He still details heavy posts for corners, with girts gained into them by mortise and tenon; shows tusk tenons for housing the ends of main beams on which dimensioned lumber joists will rest (but also shows built-up beams, made from multiple pieces of dimensioned lumber); details how to properly house beams into a masonry wall, so that, in the event of collapse of the floor, due to overload or fire, the masonry wall remains intact; etc.  Here's a link to the 1949 edition on Open Library (there was also a 1936, and a 1953 edition, at least, and maybe others):
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL16333977M/Carpentry

A while back, I'd seen some instructions for making Tarahumara (Raramuri) huaraches, using a piece of tire tread for the sole, which looked particularly good.  But, can I spot the instructions, now?  If I do find the auspicious looking instructions, I'll post the link, though instructions abound.  Not sure if DIY is really what you are looking for, in any case, but they looked both tough and repairable.  And, by definition OG ultra-marathon runner grade.

I'd like to try growing Nicotiana rustica (wild tobacco) as an ornamental and for its insecticidal properties.  But, it's not an urgently needed thing - so many projects, so little time!  Sounds like it wouldn't be too difficult.

I have seen a YT video series of a fellow who was making his own pipe tobacco blends.  He got leaves of several varieties, aged them (if I recall correctly, he sweated them in plastic bags), pressed the mixed variety of leaves in a little homemade wooden press with casing (honey?  I don't quite remember, now), and hung it up in the sun to age for (several?) weeks.  Then, he took the plug out of the press and sliced it thinly with a manual food slicer, then rubbed out his blend and smoked it in a pipe.  I am endlessly curious about how and why people do things, especially anything "unplugged" or old fashioned.  I still recall my great uncles rolling their own - Bugler in a can, as I remember - using a rolling machine with a canvas web, though one of them could roll a smoke with one hand, no machine required.  Clearly, he was a professional!  Pretty darn cool for a young guy of 9 or 10 to be allowed to hang out with the old codgers while they were smoking under a big shade tree, telling tall tales about horses they'd known in their younger days (saddle horses, rather than draft horses, though all of them had farmed with horses, so must have been acquainted with plenty of draft horses, too, and likely oxen as well).

For anyone interested in the pipe tobacco curing project, I'll see if I can track down the channel and link a video or two here.  On edit, here's likely the series I was remembering, but I don't see the press aging video, so maybe I am mistaken, or maybe it was another of his videos:
 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxC94OIiSU3mYrlAJdGF591NcyBZ3eLga

And, on further edit, this is probably the plug press and flake video I was remembering, but not from the same YT channel:

Pete Grego wrote: start with stick and a cheap arc welder which you can snap up for about $20-$50 second hand. nothing fancy.

I do have a very light duty 110 volt arc welder (maybe a Montgomery Ward?) which I picked up very used for $5 or some such, long (long) ago.  But it is such a miserable welder that I can't even bear to give it to someone - it would just be cruel and unusual punishment.  It can only be used with 1/16" diameter rods due to the low heat output, and even then it's a bear to weld with.  Preheating with a gas torch is nearly mandatory for any useful welding.  Otherwise, rods just stick.

I also did once try to weld with a pair of 12 volt deep cycle batteries in series - very sketchy, but worked better than this really crummy welder.

I guess my point is that it is possible to get too cheap (not too inexpensive, but too cheap) of a welder that will be nearly impossible to use.  I can't bring myself to throw out this welder, but it wouldn't be fair to inflict it on anyone else, either.  So it sits, condemned to the gloomy darkness of my basement, in case I reach some fevered state of desperation for a welder which barely works.

I do have an old Leece Neville heavy truck alternator (rated for 200 amps at 24 volts, if I recall correctly - a u-pull-it scrap yard find) which I may eventually turn into a portable welder.  There is a lot info online, if you poke the right corners of the interwebs, on cobbling up homemade underhood welders from alternators - whether a separate dedicated alternator, or the vehicle's stock charging alternator - since the Jeep and offroad crew like to be able to do trailside mending.  Maybe try searching for "weldernator"...  Somewhere, I have suggestions on how to build a homemade Zena (brand name) underhood welder, the key benefits of which seems to be DC welding and adjustable heat at the stinger by twiddling a potentiometer.  It has been suggested that the circuit diagram in Zena's patent may contain errors, whether intentional (to preserve trade secrets) or otherwise.  As I haven't built the circuit, either with or without the alleged errors, I have no comment on this, and I am insufficiently skilled at circuit analysis to be able to judge for myself.

But, homemade welders may not be the easiest place to start when learning to weld.  Any more than was the Montgomery Ward welder a good beginner's welder.  I believe I paid $50 for the Lincoln (though maybe it was $100 - very cheap, for the welder it is), and the fellow who sold it to me thought he'd burned maybe a dozen rods with it, and it would have been a much better first welder.  So, good deals do exist, as you said.

I have an older Lincoln AC/DC tombstone welder, which I bought off Craigslist from a local fella, and an old Clarke brand wire feed (just flux core, not gas shielded) which I picked up from a used tool store locally for $75.  Both weld better than I do, though that isn't saying much.  But, I don't do a lot of welding, just whatever is needed to patch things back together - exhaust system hangers, gardens tractor bits and bobs, the occasional cracked shovel blade, etc. - no serious fabrication work, though I do have some bigger projects in the offing.  And, mostly I can get stuff stuck back together.  I did get some training about 20 years ago - maybe 10 class hours or so - through the local job service, when I was laid off and between jobs, but I have only fairly recently obtained the welders.  As yet, I'm not much of a welder, but I'm pretty mean with an angle grinder, so...

I will second a previous assertion in this thread that wire feed (and preferably gas shielded MIG, but flux core is better than nothing) is easier to learn than most other processes.  Especially if trying to weld thinner material.  Trying to weld cracked shovel blades with a stick welder is - erm - "challenging" if you are a tyro; either adhere the rod to the metal, or burn a hole through it, but not much in between.  I do have plans for building a high frequency arc starter circuit which could be wired into the tombstone welder to help get the arc established at low amperage settings - I even started collecting some of the necessary parts - but haven't yet built it; it needs a serious Faraday cage to prevent EMI from leaking out and messing with electrical appliances, the neighbor's pacemaker, etc.  The little flux core is a lot easier to weld with than the tombstone welder - zap and cool, lather-rinse-repeat, with minimal fuss other than the occasional birdsnest of wire.  I have used "real" MIG welders - the sort with gas shielding during the welding class, as I recall, they had  Lincolns  - and I believe the exact words that fell out of my mouth were "You could teach a monkey to weld with one of these!".

I will also agree with another poster that an auto-darkening helmet is a game-changer.  My old hoods are like welding blind, in comparison; they are now relegated for use by the welder's helper.  There are tricks, if you must use the old fashioned sort of welding helmet to stick weld - not least using a carbon gouging rod in your "off" hand as guide to get your arc rod to approximately the correct location "by braille"; just press the end of the carbon rod where you want to start welding, and then slide the arc electrode down it to the base metal to start the arc and thus be able to see what you're doing.  An acquaintance from church is a "real" welder (i.e. is certified and has professionally welded, including TIG'd fancy Inconel helicopter exhaust systems), and he says he basically wouldn't weld without an auto-darkening helmet.  My helmet is a "Metalman" brand from TSC (a Christmas gift from my brother), so nothing fancy, but there are plenty available, at various price points; get the biggest window you can.  A couple of other things to try:  A scrap piece of copper buss bar to back up welds in thin stuff may help with sag and burnthrough until you get the hang of heat control.  Preheating heavy stuff with a gas torch (even a plumber's propane or MAPP gas torch) may help prevent the rod sticking at low amperage settings.  Some rod formulations are easier to deal with than others.  If you don't do a lot of welding, you may want to bake old rods in an electric oven or other dry heat situation to get moisture out of the rod flux.  Don't stint on the ventilation - I can't believe inhaling welding smoke will do you any good.

And, speaking of my brother, of the auto darkening helmet gift, he bought one of the Miller 120/240 volt multi-process lunchbox welders - with the right accessories, it'll do most any electric welding process - during the COVID shutdowns at a steep discount, and he's used the daylights out of it, mostly as a MIG or with the aluminum spool gun, but also configured for stick welding.  It will do TIG, also, but he doesn't have the torch, foot pedal and correct regulator.  I don't believe he's had any proper training, but, needs must he's welded up a lot of stuff - bucket loader snow pushers, farm gates of impregnable design, a crane tower for a service crane to be mounted high on his band sawmill trailer, etc.  He's also burned more rod with my Lincoln than I have - by many pounds -  mending equipment trailers, loader buckets and whatnot, since the tombstone welder will make more heat than his lunchbox welder.  But, the lunch box welder will do light work on a 110 outlet - even on a 15 amp circuit for very light stuff, though the breaker may trip if it's pushed - and these small multiprocess welders can be obtained pretty reasonably in the "house" brands from Harbor Freight, Tractor Supply, Home Depot and auto parts stores, as well as the bigger name brands like Lincoln, Hobart and Miller.

All this being said, if you can find a mentor, or a community education welding class, it will be a big help.  But, you can learn a lot from YouTube University.

r ransom wrote:Germination usually takes two or three days for chickpeas.  It makes them taste delightful for both cooked and if we let the sprouts grow longer than the pea, taste fantastic raw (like bean sprouts).

I've read soaking (and changing the water just before cooking) makes beans less gassy and easier to digest for some. I haven't noticed much difference, but I like the savings of using less electricity to cook them.

Thanks for the info.  It sounds like some experimentation chez nous is in order!

I wondered about nutrient profiles because there has been a lot of clamor regarding "anti-nutrients" of late - phytates, in particular - present in legumes and whole grains.  As best I can tell, phytates functionally bind stored nutrients until needed by the germinating seed, at which time various enzymatic processes break down the phytates, releasing the sequestered nutrients.  Malting grains and sprouting legumes might thus make more nutrients bioavailable, but I haven't yet found anything analytically definitive on this as relates to foodstuffs.

A certain well-known television health guru here in the US has been advising people to avoid eating legumes and whole grains because of these anti-nutrients.  He seems to be advocating for consumption of white flours and white rice to minimize phytates and avoidance of legumes entirely for the same reason.  Since people have been eating whole grains and legumes to  greater or lesser degree since before the agricultural revolution, I am rather doubtful that they are such a problem.  However, I can imagine that traditional (if time consuming) methods of preparation and processing might have mitigated any deleterious effects - methods which have been largely dispensed with in the interest of modern convenience, factory throughput and shelf stability.