Doom averted with two small pieces of wood and a tire.

[mrissa]

Today, perhaps in honor of timprov's birthday, we had the final inspection on the basement. It passed! No more contractors going in and out! Yay! We still have to do the floors and carpeting, but that will not mean hordes of contractors routinely in our space for months on end. Very nice, polite hordes. But still. There will be fewer extra monkeys in my space, and there is much rejoicing.

The thing the inspector found that needed fixing--which the contractor fixed on the spot, fairly quickly--is that apparently the city of Eagan requires a hand rail on the stairs to have "returns," the little thingummies that connect the ends of the rail to the wall so that you don't, in the words of the inspector, snag your coat on the end of the rail and fall down the stairs to your doom. I would like to think I am something of an expert in falling down the stairs--wait, no, I hate thinking that, actually, but it's true all the same--but never once have I found my doom. However, it didn't take long, didn't affect the price, didn't make me suddenly hate the (very plain and functional) hand rail, so whatever. If they feel it makes our house less doomful, that's fine.

Also perhaps in honor of timprov's birthday, but really more likely not, our car, which was fully functional this time yesterday, will be fully functional again. He and I went out for sandwiches after the US/Japan curling match was over, and he hit a pothole going all of 15-20 mph, and I don't know if someone crept out to edge the potholes with razor blades or what, but it completely took out the driver's side front tire. Eeeesh. So Dad (a Hero of the Revolution) and timprov attempted to repair the tire, with me helpfully shouting instructions from the front seat, but it was past repairing, so Dad took T and me home, and the nice Volvo Roadside man took Lucy to the shop where they are fixing her.

And really, while one prefers not to have to cope with these little, um, bumps in the road, we can in fact cope, and it will be fine, and situations that can be kept from being doomful by the application of two pieces of wood and a tire replacement we can afford, well, those could really be a lot worse.

Comments

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I have caught clothing on the end of a hand-rail, and while I haven't fallen to my doom, I definitely approve of returns to prevent that happening. (What an odd name for them, though. I guess they return the rail to the wall?)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Also, I keep reading the header as "Doom averted with two small pieces of wood and a fire." Thus proving, once again, how much of reading consists of your brain filling in what it expects to see.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I periodically catch a sleeve (especially bathrobe sleeves, they're a bit fuller) on the end of a handrail at home. No doom, not even any full-fledged falling yet, but I can't say their requirement is bogus.

Potholes are nasty things. I haven't lost a tire to one yet, and I plunge fairly often (I have a policy of only dodging if I have time to make one last check for what's around me; never to dodge wildly based on my current picture of where things are around me for anything less than a cat running into the street).

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Yes, building codes require that handrails return to the walls from whence they came. For the very reason quoted to you. I am a bit surprised that the relevant contractor did not do this automatically.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Building codes are local. Mostly they're based off model codes, and they even get updated some, but they're still, in the end, local.

None of which helps let the contractor off the hook, since he's local too. This does seem like something he should know, unless perhaps it just recently changed in the code there. None of the rails in my house (in a different city) have returns, from which I deduce that this hasn't been a requirement forever. In fact I've just started noticing them in the last decade.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Apparently they are local enough that some South of the River suburbs require them and some do not.

Were that the case, I would probably do them automatically, since it took him less than half an hour and the aforementioned two small pieces of wood. But there are probably half a dozen small variants like that from suburb to suburb around here, so maybe I'm wrong about what I'd do.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

The national "model codes" have required that for decades. What mainly varies is whether the local code (and Code Enforcement Officer) applies these requirements to owner-occupied residences. I suspect you'll find much wider compliance in buildings for public use and occupancy.

Our house, being of 1850 vintage, is "grandfathered" for most such questions. Even though I use it for a home office as an architect . . .

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

As you see from Marissa's comment, it's apparently not consistently in place (or enforced, or something) in the newer suburbs down south of here. Many of those houses are only a decade or a bit more old.

It's rare enough here that it still looks funny to me on the rare occasions I run into it; at least with wood railings.

[tanac.livejournal.com]

In Chicago, one can apply to the city for the cost of a new tire/repair if it was a city pothole that caused the damage. One imagines, with a towing record of the car, that you could do the same for whichever municipality has responsibility for the road you were on at the time.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

And while the money may not be that important (with the tow presumably covered by Volvo roadside assistance), getting the message through to the city that people care about road maintenance may still be.

[akitrom.livejournal.com]

Your refusal to treat these things as great drama or causes for Job-like grief stands as a good example in these halcyon Internet days. May a blessing rest on your house and its up-to-code basement.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Your refusal to treat these things as great drama or causes for Job-like grief stands as a good example in these halcyon Internet days.

I was just going to say this. But, um, rather less elegantly.

[pameladean]

We don't have returns on our handrails (I am now envisioning a system where one ships them back to the factory with the shine scraped off if not enough people use them after a month), and I am forever catching sleeves and sweater pockets on them. No doom yet, but that's because I have become quite paranoid about the situation.

I note that I am much wider than you are and also tend to wear looser clothing.

P.

[brooksmoses]

I find myself wondering if, for the cheaper mass-market handrails, you'd just ship back the scraped-off shine and pulp the remaining handrail....

[pameladean]

No doubt! Or just cut a little notch out of the wood and send that back.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This description is also true of timprov, though. So.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

Yeah, given how often I manage to catch myself on my doorknob, I'm glad of this.

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

Hooray, a way in which you're less-than-usual prone to tumbling downstairs!

[mightyjesse.livejournal.com]

eeeeeEEEEEEEEE! The prezzies came in the mail and I am awash with pleased amusement. I love, LOVE the bib! But have told everyone about the fantastic onesie. Raised by WOLVES. In a BARN. Bwahahahaha!

As we say among my people: "I ruv you. You make me raff."

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so glad. I thought you could use a dose of something that was not pink and entirely devoid of ruffles.