This is part 3 of a 5-part series on the fundamentals of being a household hacker.
Paying attention to function over billing automatically lends itself to some unorthodox uses for certain items. For instance, my water-bath canner is actually a standard stock pot and a chrome trivet, because who needs a dedicated canning rack when all you're really looking for is a way to keep the jars off the bottom so they don't knock around in the boiling water. Before I got the trivet, I made individual jar cradles out of aluminum foil. Such things may not be the accepted way of going about it (although a few quick internet searches show I'm not the only one doing them), but they work. Working trumps proper.
Propriety does not always mesh with the everyday needs of the household. My domestic sphere does not have a dining room table. I love to cook, and take pride in preparing meals from scratch. The house even has a lovely eat-in kitchen with a sliding glass door and view of the back. Still, we decided that we are just not the dining room table kind of household. Any horizontal surface in the house is almost instantly populated with clutter and paperwork, so the odds of ever being able to eat at a dining table were not in our favor. For the record, we eat in the living room, where we also do not have a coffee table. We're just not a big table household, and that works for us. Drove my co-geek's mother about nuts though.
The notable exception to the “screw proper” ethos involves building codes. Household Hacks in no way condones thumbing one's nose at building codes. In that case, proper reigns
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
The Ethos, Part 2: Think Function
This is part 2 of a 5-part series on the fundamentals of being a household hacker.
So you've decided to make your household your own. When it comes to hacking one's household, the key word is “function,” in all of its, well, functions.
Do things function? It would seem readily apparent that, if you are looking to hack part of your household, it is not working as well as it could. This leads us to the next question of function:
What would it take for things to function better? Sometimes, it takes digging to get to what the actual problem is, and it may or may not be the obvious one. Our house came complete with two double-hung windows whose upper pane would not stay up on its own. Complicating matters, these are a type of double-hung window that does not have sash cords, the usual cause of that problem. At first inspection, it would seem that the problem was that a small metal piece had broken, and that piece is not easily replaced short of replacing the entire window. However, a look at it from a functional perspective yielded the insight that the actual problem was that the only thing supporting the upper pane was the latch to the lower pane, and when that was undone, the whole thing fell. The solution, then, was to find a means of supporting the upper sash, in this case a pair of 3 1/2 inch screws, fitted in at an angle so they went through the wooden sash and into the window frame.
How do things function? A basic grasp of the principles by which a household, including the component parts of the structure and systems, functions is absolutely essential. This is one of the reasons why I like to watch the repair guys work. It gives me a chance to pick their brains, and I've found that most are quite open to the idea of explaining the system basics, if for no other reason than it helps you, the householder, better maintain the system in their absence. This goes not just for the structural elements and internal workings of the dwelling, but also for the human components. People are a vital part of the household system, and understanding how they function in relation to the household will allow you to hack it for optimal human convenience.
What is the function? When actually developing a hack—and I have no delusions that anyone will adopt any of the hacks presented on this page without tweaking them at least a little—function trumps billing. Rather than looking at what things are, look at what they do. Wen we decided to ditch the coffee table (which was taking up too much room and just attracting junk deposits anyway), we still needed somewhere to set a cup of coffee while we sat on the couch. The obvious solution was an end table, but we couldn't find one that suited our tastes, needs, and budget simultaneously. Salvation finally came in the form of a piece of furniture sold as a TV stand that was exactly what we were looking for in an end table. The unbent paperclip to reset electronics is another prime example of looking at function. On the occasions when I have found myself with a frozen gadget and no paperclip, I have used a toothpick and even an earring in place of a paperclip, as both have the same small diameter and rigidity properties that make the unbent paperclip useful in that application. Baking soda has some amazing properties as a mild abrasive and alkali, not to mention a few interesting chemical properties. If we only looked at it for what it is called, the world would have been overrun by banana bread years ago.
So you've decided to make your household your own. When it comes to hacking one's household, the key word is “function,” in all of its, well, functions.
Do things function? It would seem readily apparent that, if you are looking to hack part of your household, it is not working as well as it could. This leads us to the next question of function:
What would it take for things to function better? Sometimes, it takes digging to get to what the actual problem is, and it may or may not be the obvious one. Our house came complete with two double-hung windows whose upper pane would not stay up on its own. Complicating matters, these are a type of double-hung window that does not have sash cords, the usual cause of that problem. At first inspection, it would seem that the problem was that a small metal piece had broken, and that piece is not easily replaced short of replacing the entire window. However, a look at it from a functional perspective yielded the insight that the actual problem was that the only thing supporting the upper pane was the latch to the lower pane, and when that was undone, the whole thing fell. The solution, then, was to find a means of supporting the upper sash, in this case a pair of 3 1/2 inch screws, fitted in at an angle so they went through the wooden sash and into the window frame.
How do things function? A basic grasp of the principles by which a household, including the component parts of the structure and systems, functions is absolutely essential. This is one of the reasons why I like to watch the repair guys work. It gives me a chance to pick their brains, and I've found that most are quite open to the idea of explaining the system basics, if for no other reason than it helps you, the householder, better maintain the system in their absence. This goes not just for the structural elements and internal workings of the dwelling, but also for the human components. People are a vital part of the household system, and understanding how they function in relation to the household will allow you to hack it for optimal human convenience.
What is the function? When actually developing a hack—and I have no delusions that anyone will adopt any of the hacks presented on this page without tweaking them at least a little—function trumps billing. Rather than looking at what things are, look at what they do. Wen we decided to ditch the coffee table (which was taking up too much room and just attracting junk deposits anyway), we still needed somewhere to set a cup of coffee while we sat on the couch. The obvious solution was an end table, but we couldn't find one that suited our tastes, needs, and budget simultaneously. Salvation finally came in the form of a piece of furniture sold as a TV stand that was exactly what we were looking for in an end table. The unbent paperclip to reset electronics is another prime example of looking at function. On the occasions when I have found myself with a frozen gadget and no paperclip, I have used a toothpick and even an earring in place of a paperclip, as both have the same small diameter and rigidity properties that make the unbent paperclip useful in that application. Baking soda has some amazing properties as a mild abrasive and alkali, not to mention a few interesting chemical properties. If we only looked at it for what it is called, the world would have been overrun by banana bread years ago.
Friday, November 02, 2007
The Ethos, Part 1: It's Your Household, Make It Work For You
This is part 1 of a 5-part series on the fundamentals of being a household hacker.
When we bought our house, the two most common congratulatory wishes we got were “Happy payments” and “Congratulations. Now the house owns you.” While I accept the payments (actually, I make them and the lady at the bank accepts them, but I digress), I refuse to accept being owned by a house.
Regardless of whether they rent or own, household hackers recognize the fundamental truth that a home is meant to serve the comfort and convenience of the residents, and if it doesn't, we should make it. Sometimes that involves some gentle coaxing, and other times, we just have to beat the home into submission. We also recognize the fundamental truth that, when we try to beat the home into submission, sometimes it hits back. For that reason, I prefer the coaxing route whenever possible.
Not to be overlooked, your household should work for you. Because of that, your household may not work for anyone else. A household hacker doesn't worry about such things. Problems faced in a household are often unique, and the solutions will be equally so, particularly given the resources that the household hacker has to work with. Because of that, the hacks offered here are intended as a jumping-off point. But I didn't need to tell you that, because household hackers rarely follow directions exactly, anyway.
Next: Think Function
When we bought our house, the two most common congratulatory wishes we got were “Happy payments” and “Congratulations. Now the house owns you.” While I accept the payments (actually, I make them and the lady at the bank accepts them, but I digress), I refuse to accept being owned by a house.
Regardless of whether they rent or own, household hackers recognize the fundamental truth that a home is meant to serve the comfort and convenience of the residents, and if it doesn't, we should make it. Sometimes that involves some gentle coaxing, and other times, we just have to beat the home into submission. We also recognize the fundamental truth that, when we try to beat the home into submission, sometimes it hits back. For that reason, I prefer the coaxing route whenever possible.
Not to be overlooked, your household should work for you. Because of that, your household may not work for anyone else. A household hacker doesn't worry about such things. Problems faced in a household are often unique, and the solutions will be equally so, particularly given the resources that the household hacker has to work with. Because of that, the hacks offered here are intended as a jumping-off point. But I didn't need to tell you that, because household hackers rarely follow directions exactly, anyway.
Next: Think Function
Welcome to the New Household Hacks
Welcome to the new, revamped Household Hacks blog. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the Geekis domesticus will bring you original articles on hacking your home, along with easy projects using common household items and helpful hints for better living through tinkering. I also fully expect to chronicle further run-ins with the Plumbing Fairies, malevolent beings who feed on copper, PVC and despair. They are semi-regular fixtures at my house.
I'm a Geekis domesticus, a species of geek that thrives in the domestic sphere. If you believe the reaction of my family to learning that I enjoy gardening, canning, and cooking from scratch, I was something of a feral geek in my early years. They are, by the way, somewhat less surprised at my love of dissecting dead electronics, considering that I may have inadvertently killed a few of their small appliances in my feral years. The domestication of the geek came when me and my co-geek bought our own house. There's something about it being my house that just cries out for me to start hacking it, although much of the content here can be adapted to those who have concerns about security deposits
I'm a Geekis domesticus, a species of geek that thrives in the domestic sphere. If you believe the reaction of my family to learning that I enjoy gardening, canning, and cooking from scratch, I was something of a feral geek in my early years. They are, by the way, somewhat less surprised at my love of dissecting dead electronics, considering that I may have inadvertently killed a few of their small appliances in my feral years. The domestication of the geek came when me and my co-geek bought our own house. There's something about it being my house that just cries out for me to start hacking it, although much of the content here can be adapted to those who have concerns about security deposits
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