May 24, 2013 AsktheBuilder Newsletter & Tips
It's a Friday morning here in the USA, just before a major holiday weekend.
I'll be VERY brief.
I've got three quick things for you so you can go have a blast this weekend. The official start of summer is here!
Drive Safely if you're traveling.
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
First, it's Memorial Day Weekend. Have you seen the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy? Galadriel said,
"And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge."
I'm able to write and publish this newsletter without fear - and you're able to receive and read it - because millions of people gave the ultimate sacrifice - their lives - to protect and defend the US Constitution.
My Dad was one of these people. His early death - I was a very young man when it happened - was directly related to his service in World War II.
The things he saw as a medic and his thirteen months in a German POW camp where he grew potatoes for the German Army caused the PTSD that tormented him. The deep depression he experienced was responsible for his death. Of that, there is no doubt.
Memorial Day is the day we honor those sent back to Heaven so we, the living, can enjoy the freedoms spelled out in our Constitution.
However, I'm afraid that many are forgetting this, and the true meaning of Memorial Day is being lost. We can't allow this to happen.
We can't allow Memorial Day to become a myth.
When you're with family and friends this weekend enjoying a hot dog or hamburger, please gather young kids as well as young adults around and educate them.
Tell them why they get Monday off here in the USA. Tell them about all those patriots stretching back over 237 years that died so you could enjoy precious freedoms that hundreds of millions wish they could have.
Thanks Dad. I wish you could be here this weekend. I'd grill you your favorite T-bone steak. Medium rare, or was it rare? It's been so long, I can't remember.....
CANADIAN CONCRETE BLOCK WALL
Matthew, from Creston, British Columbia, Canada wrote to me. It gets COLD in Creston, as it's just across the US border from Idaho.
"I bought a hundred-year-old house on a slope. The front main section is on wood beams (logs) on cement blocks on dirt. Rear half has a poured wall/footer for a portion of basement. At the transition, the dirt has washed into the basement leaving a 5-foot-high by 4-foot-wide hole.
It does not need to be load bearing as I have already shored up that section with a cross beam on joists and a telepost to the cement floor. Can I use a block wall to fill this gap, and if so how far down should it go? There is no footing in this section."
Matt, you can use a block wall, it needs rest on a steel-reinforced footer, and the bottom of the footer needs to be deeper in the ground than the level that frost penetrates in Creston. It's that simple.
Your building department can tell you what the frost depth is, but I suspect it's going to be near 5 feet.
Tim built custom homes and did ultra-custom remodeling for 20+ years before launching his Ask the Builder media presence. He was selected as one of the Big 50 by Remodeling magazine in 1993. This award gave birth to Ask the Builder in October 1993. Tim also operates https://DrawPlumbingPlans.com. His @askthebuilder YouTube channel was the first home improvement channel on YouTube.