Conversation

David R. MacIver
@DRMacIver
It's interesting, this is the first time I can think of in recent history where my infrastructure for living has been materially affected by rain. (It has in the past at my parents' place, but they have a river running literally under their house, so it's much easier to do)
Quote Tweet
Michael Ashcroft
@m_ashcroft
Today in hyperlocal Twitter, much of London is going to be flooded by the end of today We don't seem to get 'normal' weather anymore. It's either way below average temperature ("lol what summer?"), a suffocating heatwave or now 'monsoon-like rainfall'. twitter.com/ret_ward/statu…
Show this thread
1
13
David R. MacIver
@DRMacIver
The lifts in my building have been out since the last heavy rain, and my bins become inaccessible if there's heavy rainfall because they're in a basement area that is easily flooded.
1
4
David R. MacIver
@DRMacIver
None of this is a massively big deal, but it highlights the degree to which these buildings (which are I think only about 20 years old) were not designed with this sort of weather scenario in mind.
3
5
Nicholas Schiefer
@nschiefer
Replying to
@DRMacIver
This is really interesting, because it's in contrast to how I want building design to work. Part of what I want to buy when I purchase shelter is "someone has thought through and designed around the many possible extreme events", but I don't think that's the case at all.
1
David R. MacIver
@DRMacIver
Replying to
@nschiefer
Yeah. In general I feel like the entire design of this building is the opposite of that - it just feels like everything is superficially fine but nobody has thought through any of the details of what living in it would actually be like.
1
1
Nicholas Schiefer
@nschiefer
Replying to
@DRMacIver
"superficially fine but nobody has thought through any of the details of what living in it" is something that I get unreasonably angry about. I don't want listings to tell me about the fancy bathroom tiles; I want to know the technical details about the HVAC systems!
2
David R. MacIver
@DRMacIver
Replying to
@nschiefer
I think fundamentally there's a market for lemons here. The cost to disaster proof a building is nontrivial, and it's almost impossible to know in advance of a disaster whether it's actually been done, so it becomes price ineffective to offer it.
1
1
Nicholas Schiefer
@nschiefer
Replying to
@DRMacIver
I guess this is sort of the function that building codes are supposed to have? But they don't seem to be doing a good job. My last apartment had a gas oven/stove, but literally no active ventilation except a bathroom fan. Apparently that's up to code in Massachusetts!
1
David R. MacIver
@DRMacIver
Replying to
@nschiefer
Gosh, yes. I got a CO2 monitor recently and fortunately it turns out my flat is fine if the windows are open and rapidly ramps up to about 800 ppm if not. I haven't seen if it goes higher than that, but probably.
1
Nicholas Schiefer
@nschiefer
Replying to
@DRMacIver
That's pretty typical for indoor CO2, unfortunately. I'm usually content with ~700 ppm. If you haven't already, it's fun to try exercising in a ~closed room with a CO2 monitor. Makes it very clear that carbon mostly leaves our bodies in our breath.
1
Show replies