Rural Australia,a few questions. (appliances, refrigerator, inspector)
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Asbestos doesn't pose a danger when it isn't being cut.
The problem is when it's broken, tiny fibres become air-borne which then can damage your lungs.
I've heard of insulation being sold for rooves in Oz.
Couldn't someone use the same material for their walls,
and for modifying an older home, build secondary walls to hold in the insulation,
so you just lose a bit of interior square-footage?
From other threads, it sounds like Australian homes don't have many "power points" so re-wiring would be easy.
How do Australians measure interior space?
Canadians still use sq ft.
Asbestos doesn't pose a danger when it isn't being cut.
The problem is when it's broken, tiny fibres become air-borne which then can damage your lungs.
I've heard of insulation being sold for rooves in Oz.
Couldn't someone use the same material for their walls,
and for modifying an older home, build secondary walls to hold in the insulation,
so you just lose a bit of interior square-footage?
From other threads, it sounds like Australian homes don't have many "power points" so re-wiring would be easy.
How do Australians measure interior space?
Canadians still use sq ft.
I know, but it's still nasty stuff to deal with and while it's completely banned here, it still appears in older houses.
Yes, we have insulation batts in our celings and you could probably put it in the walls aswell, but I'm Not sure if the building code would allow it? Our homes mainly have a thin aluminium barrier in the walls, to reflect some of the heat from outside (fine in summer, but can get cold in winter).
It's sq metres. We're all metric, unless you were born before the switch?
Last edited by Kangaroofarmer; 07-27-2010 at 08:45 AM..
I know, but it's still nasty stuff to deal with and while it's completely banned here, it still appears in older houses.
Yes, we have insulation batts in our celings and you could probably put it in the walls aswell, but I'm Not sure if the building code would allow it? Our homes mainly have a thin aluminium barrier in the walls, to reflect some of the heat from outside (fine in summer, but can get cold in winter).
It's sq metres. We're all metric, unless you were born before the switch?
Thanks for the warning.
Asbestos used to be common because it was fire-retardent.
At least a fibro house should fair well in a bush fire.
Yeah, I'll have to look into that.
Nope, but I don't want to give away my specific age on a public forum though.
It seems most "newly" metric countries mix-and-match when to use metric.
Metric is used for all official purposes, but imperial is common for a lot of unofficial uses.
Like I'd need to look at my driver's licence to tell you how tall I am in centimetres.
Thanks for the warning.
Asbestos used to be common because it was fire-retardent.
At least a fibro house should fair well in a bush fire.
Yeah, I'll have to look into that.
Nope, but I don't want to give away my specific age on a public forum though.
It seems most "newly" metric countries mix-and-match when to use metric.
Metric is used for all official purposes, but imperial is common for a lot of unofficial uses.
Like I'd need to look at my driver's licence to tell you how tall I am in centimetres.
I meant, when Australia switched in the 1970's.
Imperial is still used in some unoffical cases (bolts, TV's etc..), but it's becoming less and less common, as the 'metric-only' generations take over. There's been very little opposition to metricfication in Australia.
Last edited by Kangaroofarmer; 07-27-2010 at 09:30 AM..
Imperial is still used in some unoffical cases (bolts, TV's etc..), but it's becoming less and less common, as the 'metric-only' generations take over. There's been very little opposition to metricfication in Australia.
Canada also switched in the 1970's.
In Canada, there's been little change with respect to "metricifcation" since the 1980's.
Most young Canadians do not wish for more metric usage; pleasant indifference as are our opinions about the Monarchy.
Is the feeling mutual, or are most young Aussies wanting to act "Euro"?
Australia has a lot of government bodies perpetually making metrification changes?
Go to any licenced establishment in Canada,
and hard liquor is always sold by the ounce (oz) whether as a shot or in a cocktail.
Beer and wine is usually/often advertised by mL though.
Funny isn't it? Yet I've never heard this discussed in Canada, for or against.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kangaroofarmer
I meant, when Australia switched in the 1970's.
Imperial is still used in some unoffical cases (bolts, TV's etc..), but it's becoming less and less common, as the 'metric-only' generations take over. There's been very little opposition to metricfication in Australia.
I thought we switched in 1966, shortly after we got the new decimal currency?
I've heard of insulation being sold for rooves in Oz.
Couldn't someone use the same material for their walls,
and for modifying an older home, build secondary walls to hold in the insulation,
so you just lose a bit of interior square-footage?
I think the loss would be too much, like in bedrooms which are often very small. A lot of kids' bedrooms here fit a single bed, a dresser and maybe a bedside table. And it's still rather tight. A big feature in some houses is when they advertise "double" bedrooms. Allows perhaps a double bed, a dresser and maybe a bedside table.
Different styles of building houses here. Built-in robes (closets) didn't really get popular til the 80's as well. Lots of big rooms elsewhere, some of it useless and wasteful, like "Games Rooms" - an outdated feature big in the 80's when, for some reason, builders reckoned everyone had a pool table Most people just stick couches in there and make it a TV/Family Room. And Formal Lounges (Living Rooms) and Formal Dining Rooms are also, thankfully, falling by the wayside. Home Theatres are the big thing, which seems more practical than a Games Room.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ColdCanadian
From other threads, it sounds like Australian homes don't have many "power points" so re-wiring would be easy.
That was probably me complaining about that! I've never owned so many power bars and extension cords in my life as I do now! Most of the powerpoints, if not all, are on exterior walls, which are the double-brick ones. The wiring's in the wall space. If you want a powerpoint on an interior wall, which is single-brick, they have to gouge out a channel to put the wire in, from the powerpoint up to the roofspace. Unlike in Canada where you just cut through the gyproc and attach it to a stud and the wiring is all in there, exterior or interior. Oftentimes, I'll go to houses where they didn't gouge a channel but just put a cover over the wire, so you see it. Ugly but not much choice. Friend of mine had a bunch of extra powerpoints installed in her house - $100 each! and she had to fix up the mess and repaint.
I think the loss would be too much, like in bedrooms which are often very small. A lot of kids' bedrooms here fit a single bed, a dresser and maybe a bedside table. And it's still rather tight. A big feature in some houses is when they advertise "double" bedrooms. Allows perhaps a double bed, a dresser and maybe a bedside table.
Different styles of building houses here. Built-in robes (closets) didn't really get popular til the 80's as well. Lots of big rooms elsewhere, some of it useless and wasteful, like "Games Rooms" - an outdated feature big in the 80's when, for some reason, builders reckoned everyone had a pool table Most people just stick couches in there and make it a TV/Family Room. And Formal Lounges (Living Rooms) and Formal Dining Rooms are also, thankfully, falling by the wayside. Home Theatres are the big thing, which seems more practical than a Games Room.
Okay, so maybe putting it outside, then adding another "veneer" to cover it would be better.
If home size is measured from the inside, carefully crafted, no one would know.
Quote:
That was probably me complaining about that! I've never owned so many power bars and extension cords in my life as I do now! Most of the powerpoints, if not all, are on exterior walls, which are the double-brick ones. The wiring's in the wall space. If you want a powerpoint on an interior wall, which is single-brick, they have to gouge out a channel to put the wire in, from the powerpoint up to the roofspace. Unlike in Canada where you just cut through the gyproc and attach it to a stud and the wiring is all in there, exterior or interior. Oftentimes, I'll go to houses where they didn't gouge a channel but just put a cover over the wire, so you see it. Ugly but not much choice. Friend of mine had a bunch of extra powerpoints installed in her house - $100 each! and she had to fix up the mess and repaint.
Lots of little differences. No big deal really.
Most powerpoints are outside?
I'm recalling a "...You might be a Redneck If..." joke
"...If you help your cousin move his refridgerator and the grass underneath it has turned yellow..."
So do builders expect people leave toasters and microwaves hooked up on the front porch?
Yet another reason why I'm surprised Australians even bother to build houses.
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