patrick.net

Why do you wash your cat? We’ve never washed ours, and he’s outdoors.

I washed my cat before and she hated me for a week. The cat hospital was able to do it nicely though. Strange.

Do you notice how no man has proclaimed he DOESNT pee in the shower?

I proclaim that I do not pee in the shower.

SP,

Yeah, G shaped stalls are nice. Not very space efficient though.

I guess the shower-bathtub combinations are a lowest common denominator solution that covers the builder's backs - the lowest common denominator being 3 years. That's why we have water temperature regulators so water is never hot enough in winter. That's why the bathtubs are extremely uncomfortable for anyone over 10 years old and hazardous as showers. And the problem is, once the builders design spaces for these awkward tub-shower combos, nothing else really fit into them because they're too narrow for showers and too short for soaking tubs.

I do squeegee. But Pleasanton has really hard water, so the glass still look like it's caked in baking soda. I guess I should use something acidic for them rather than the alkolid cleaning stuff though.

Peeing in the shower is efficiency in action: kill two birds with one stone. Also saves a couple minutes when you're in a big hurry to get ready --very helpful.

LILLL, embrace it, don't fight it. Btw, can I stay over/shower at your place sometime? :P

Peeing in the shower is efficiency in action: kill two birds with one stone.

How about a shower/tub/urinal/sink combo?

Not design advice.

Nothing wrong with peeing in shower while water is running (though this statement does not mean I endorse it or does it myself), the salt and uric acid is pretty benign compared to the bathtub cleansers and athlete's foot fungus issues - those things would keep me from bathing in a hotel room.

Isn't there a urinal sink combo on the market already? In northern China, you'll sometimes find squat toilets built over showers.

(now how's that for disturbing?)

Isn’t there a urinal sink combo on the market already? In northern China, you’ll sometimes find squat toilets built over showers.

I only wet my mouth with water during the day when I travel in China. Public bathrooms are never nice but they are downright horrible in China.

I am going to have nightmares tonight.

I'm lucky to have a strong bladder and an easy to block out memory. Chinese public toilets are generally things of nightmares. If you get desperate, try a McDonald's. They're your best bet for a reasonable clean flush toilet.

(Oh no! Some memory of that hostel toilet in Kangding is coming back!)

"It’d be more like showering in a toilet than peeing in the shower."

Yes, it's not a design innovation I plan to ever make, no matter how cramp my apartment gets.

Chinese public toilets are generally things of nightmares.

Which country has the best public bathrooms? Surprisingly, Japan has squat-toilets as well. At least in the US, seat covers are usually provided.

My apartment in Hell’s Kitchen had the tub in the kitchen; with the addition of a hinged hollow-core door to cover the tub, you had a instant dining room table.

Huh?

Hate: Vauted ceilings.

How about coffered ceiling? I kinda want a Las Vegas fake sky at home. :-P

Bathroom doors that hit the toilet

I hate that too. Door should operate freely even with the person sitting on the toilet.

Squat toilets are quite sanitary, as long as they are used properly. The main problem with rural Chinese toilets is that they don't flush or ventilate. (I actually like ventilated compost toilets found in national parks and isolated rest stops, they're very eco-friendly. The Chinese really need to discover the wonders of ventilated composting toilets).

Squat toilets are quite sanitary, as long as they are used properly.

My wife hates them. Ventilation is essential.

Christmas light plug-in under the eaves with a switch in the garage.

I always worry about Christmas lights catching fire though.

Well. To go really OT, should say I've just tasted my first pawpaws. They're not quite as good as I imagined. They're kind of like a slightly insipid banana with overtones of pineapple

To go really OT, should say I’ve just tasted my first pawpaws.

Food is never OT. :)

Don't get me wrong, I don't like squat toilets either. I've been forced to use them on a couple situations of extreme duress, but they're not experiences I care to relive.

Most people are not trained to squat for long periods of time. Plus the newbies would fear soiling themselves.

I would like to live in a glass house located in a really scenic, isolated lot. Barring that, I like designs that incorporate private walled balconies into bathroom/bedroom areas, to bring more natural light into private rooms.

Yeah, a kitchen pantry is much more useful than cabinets. I would like a kitchen with a pantry for storage, plus a rack to pots and cooking utensils and a stainless steel shelf for for plates. That provides much better visibility and utility.

That's the idiocy of the American McMansion phenomena. They want all this land and all this interior space, but they put it all together really poorly and you end up with no privacy from neighbors and no privacy from other people in the house. Most McMansions have their curtains/blinds drawn all the time, which makes you wonder why they got windows in the first place.

One thing that builders never offer are industrial strength kitchen ventilators that vent out. That's incredibly asinine because you really can't cook much unless you have decent ventilators. Without a good ventilator, a kitchen is just a place to chop vegetables and boil water.

His and her closets are a very good idea. Much more important to family tranquility than his and her bathrooms.

alien,

Sorry to be so nosy, but I'm curious where your mentor lives and how much he spent. I agree, it is a really nice way to live.

I've been sketching ideas for underground subdivision housing. The houses would be entirely underground except for the garage doors, roads and a few skylights per house. The space above would open space for play space, gardens, and communal green space. That would offer much better privacy, soundproofing, and insulation than traditional suburban housing. I think the excavation costs would be a bit higher and you need to be careful about drainage and waterproofing, but it seems like a solution that would please open space/green space fanatics.

Has anyone here seen real plans or proposals for this sort of community?

Coos Bay is a lovely area. Actually, all of coastal Oregon and coastal northern California are gorgeous, much more so than the stretch from SF to SD.

I wasn't thinking of individual houses but of whole communities. I figure that would cut down on excuvation time and costs (since modern subdivisions already move dirt around and do a lot of compacting). So it's not really an alternative life style, but a green and energy efficient spin on "traditional" suburban housing. The selling point would be the lower running cost(good in really hot and really cold areas), privacy from neighbors (that would not otherwise exist with that kind of density), soundproofing (good for developments near busy roads) and the greater availability of green space.

*unlurks*

From showers and tubs to eco houses! Astrid, you sure have similar interests to me.

My personal favourite is the cordwood house. Essentially, it's short sections of wood (aka firewood) set so that the cut ends form the inside and outside wall surface, long dimension facing in (or out) and stacked with lots of mortar between the cordwood. If you're in a cold climate, like me, your cordwood house can have two layers of cordwood, with a layer of insulating material (e.g. all that sawdust from your construction?) in between. Otherwise, one layer can suffice.

I like it because it looks easier to build, being small chunks of wood that even a small woman can heft. See this website for more details:

http://www.cordwoodmasonry.com/Cordwood.html

The round shape of the houses (looking hobbit-like) is favoured because of the ease of construction, and because a round shape contains more interior area for the same number of linear wall perimeter than rectangular or square shapes. A round house could be interesting for furniture layout!

The dream now (soon as we're done paying off this city house hopefuly in 7 to 10 years) is to get 40 acres located 2 hours (or more) outside of Toronto in good farmland, 50% covered (or more) with woodlot, and build me one of these.

If I buy a plane ticket will Surfer-X also invite me to his next blog party?

*relurks*

Absofuckinglootly

All southern exposure would be nice, though I was thinking of fully underground so there would be fewer site problems. I know that most earthship houses are exposed on the southern side, but I think going completely underground might offer greater flexibility.

It's all a brain fart though. I'm no land developer (which is a good thing) and I would like to live in a temperate climate with lots of glass. But when I hear about $1000/month heating bills in Minnesota or upstate NY, I really wonder why they don't build underground.

TOLurker,

Interesting article, though probably not my kind of house. I like concrete and glass and steel. If that happens for you, please email me and let me know, I may still have viable vegetable seeds from my entirely too large stockpile.

SFWoman,

China is not too bad now. Many tourist areas have upgraded their facilities and the major cities now have westernized and clean bathrooms. You're unlikely to ever run into a problem if you stay in a three star or above hotel. Some of my crazier run in with bad Chinese toilets were from ten years ago, and the rest are in really backwoodsy areas.

Even the train toilets are getting upgraded, which makes sleeper trains a much more pleasant experience.

*Unlurks*

Thanks, X. I'll have to monitor these boards a little more closely though to make sure I have maximum notice to get said plane ticket. I'm usually a week to three days behind on the threads.

Astrid: See, you definitely have tastes and interests paralleling mine. I also like to garden, though said city house has a shaded south garden. I've often thought of digging up the front (north) lawn to plant a veggie garden. It's the only spot that gets direct sun thanks to the mature trees in my back yard. I suppose the neighbours might have a problem with veggies in the FRONT lawn but maybe they'd be OK with it, particularly after peak oil hits and food gets pricier...?

Of course, with the crappy, heavy clays, nothing grows well, not even the existing lawn. I have considered digging up said lawn, top 4" of clay, replace with triple mix and seeding with this drought-resistant eco-lawn seed mix:

http://admin.wildflowerfarm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=1&Category_Code=E

Damn that's a long URL, I should really tinyurl it. well, here's there front page:

http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/about.htm click on Ecolawn.

Don't know if they ship to the U.S.A. (control of food, seeds, plants crossing the border) but maybe...?

As far as heating bills go it cost us $1,000 for the whole year's natural gas last year. That's without a protected rate plan -- we paid the going rate at Enbridge which adjusts every 3 months to the market rate. Our 58 year old postwar 1 1/2 storey is not particularly well insulated, which I fixed this May (somewhat, attic only). But we did have a high efficiency furnace. $1,000 a MONTH? What kind of leaky, uninsulated house with a crap furnace is that? Then again, I saw an unrenovated, 2,500 SF 1870s house in London Ontario -- it had an ancient, 60+ or 80+ year old boiler of a kind I'd never seen before. THe oldest boilers I've seen are usually 1940s to 1960s cast iron boilers for commercial buildings. This looked like a coal-powered *engine* from the 1910s or 20s (doubt it), but it wasn't coal. The property manager claimed it cost $70,000 to keep it heated with heating oil. House was later torn down for condos.

Now that I'm completely OT I'll get lost again...

*relurks*

Yes. Such communities should come with their own hop trellises.

*unlurks*

I'm going to have to change my handle if I keep this up. Dirty washrooms:
the Globe and Mail had a series on the matter of dirty public washrooms at the beginning of the month. I'm going to tinyurl these because my other comment just got stuck in moderation:

Germs, ahoy!
It's not easy being clean. If dirty bathrooms are leaving you fuming, Mike Crosby of Irving Oil wants to share a little secret: You can find clean-toilet relief if you skip to his loo
http://tinyurl.com/n2og6

and another the same day:

Health pitfalls aplenty in public washrooms
Experts advise you to trust your eyes and nose if they're telling you 'yuck'
http://tinyurl.com/mhgmq

A tale of terrible travellers' toilets
The Globe surveys men's washrooms along Ontario's Highway 401
http://tinyurl.com/lmmv7

*relurks*

One thing that builders never offer are industrial strength kitchen ventilators that vent out.

I hate microwave/hood combo! If I buy my house I am going to throw away that microwave non-sense!

I still do not trust microwave oven. It is a voodoo oven!

Having travelled extensively in Southern Europe and Greece in the early 80's (and survived many, many outdoor festivals in the UK) I learnt the technique of squatting over the hole.

Actually, without wanting to gross anyone out, as a woman, its generally quicker to squat and pee than sit and pee on a normal western toilet. Something to do with the position you're in when squatting helps all those 'pee' muscles.

And yes, you do get thighs strong enough to crack walnuts..;-)