DIY How To Tip: Baluster Template Guide

Symmetrically Spaced Balustrade

Earlier blog episodes featured discussions of how old timey carpenters spaced balusters with
lumber scraps and a firm grasp of Euclidean Geometry.

No fancy tape measures or calculators, just wood sticks and their brain!

Short version:

How To: Euclidean Balustrade Layout

Long Version:

Grandpa Builds A Handrail

Today’s episode features a trip out to the field to demonstrate how to use those
measurements to make a template guide and install balusters with little effort.

Pretty basic stuff. Use your template guide board to tack individual pickets into
place with pin nails and then fasten them securely with coated deck screws.

One note: the treated wood picket is not as carefully milled as an interior baluster
so you may need to keep an eye out for measurement creep and make tiny adjustments
along the rail panel to avoid a large space at the end of the run.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A true Christmas Story from the dusty past……

Raleigh Gardener’s Paradise

1872 Raleigh Garden

Urban Raleigh has always been home to a robust gardening tradition dating back to at
least 1872 when Residences on Hillsboro Street were indistinguishable from miniature
farms with outbuildings, orchards and crops growing in the middle of downtown.

In the (now occupied) former vacant lot at the intersection of Clark and Brooks Ave,
(across from NCSU) a prolific two acre garden in the 1980’s produced vegetables in
nearly truck farm quantities.

Of course, always remember and never forget WPTF 680’s classic Saturday morning
radio staple: THE WEEKEND GARDENER (CLICK THIS LINK)

And, in addition, for the past five years Raleigh has also been blessed with the
presence of a free print publication: TRIANGLE GARDENER CLICK THIS LINK

Mystery Toilet Tank Back Pressure Gas

For many years at the beginning of the month I have gotten calls from people who tell me their toilet partially empties and refills in the middle of the night.

Most of the time they want the tank drain flap replaced. Many times the tank flap is in fine shape and does not necessarily need to be replaced.

Finally, in 2005, I was able to capture on video a toilet tank emitting so much bubbling gas the tank flap could not shut.

My solution was to turn the water off and check later in the day to see if it stopped. It did. And there was no more trouble after that. But I still have no logical explanation.

So, today, from the Pottyology archives my captured video of an unsolved mystery.

What you see here is gas in the toilet tank with enough pressure to keep the tank drain flap open.

Most knowledgeable people (me included) will tell you the design of a toilet makes this type of bubbling gas pressure virtually impossible.

Any engineers with any explanations?