Designers vs. engineers

On Wed, 6 Mar 2019 22:08:40 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 3/6/2019 8:38 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

Re log books... But how often does one make modifications to a house.
Certainly it can be done but in reality it very seldom happens.

Well, we've been in this house well over 30 years, so I've done a lot. I
tend to document stuff, so for some of it (like the finished room in the
basement) I have my drawings and notes.

But over the years there have been times I wished I had more
information. I can remember wondering about brands and colors of paint I
used, about which breaker controlled which circuit, which damper in
which air duct controlled the heat or AC to which room, etc.

Regarding documentation: At my first engineering job, we were putting
some new restrooms into a new medical clinic in the plant. There was a
sewer line about 20 feet away, we were told, but somehow there were no
drawings showing the existing sewer lines. We dug up a lot of concrete
looking for that one.

The really weird part was, one guy claimed he could find it by dowsing,
using two welding rods. He walked forward with the L-shaped rods
pointing straight ahead, and at a certain spot the rods swung outward.
"It's here" he said. I grabbed the rods and darned if they didn't do
exactly the same for me.

We dug extra deep there, but still no sewer line. Then someone notice
there were water pipes running exactly overhead of where the rods swung
out. I have no explanation for that.


My grandfather could douse for water and I know that he found a spot
near the first house that my father built and when they dug there they
found water.

Of course, no one bothers to dig a second well just to see whether
there is also water ten or twenty or thirty feet away :-)

--
Cheers,
John B.