iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The traditional American style floor mounted water closet is another obstacle. The hole through the floor is determined by the location of the WC, which could be in an unlucky spot over the concrete. There’s a lot of flexibility however for European style WCs, which are available in the US but rare.

Wikihow photo showing the WC flange 12 inches from the wall

Photo of WC elevation showing where the outlet through the floor is

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This building was built in 2016 with post-tension concrete and will be a nightmare adding holes in the slab for the new plumbing. Before core drilling for 5"/6" pipe sleeves, they'll have to x-ray the concrete to identify where the holes can be drilled through the floor to miss the rebar/tendons.

Image of PT slab before concrete is poured

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Whimsical yet slightly unsettling.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It looks good on new and old facades.

Photo of green 6 story residential building with pink shutters

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This climate resilience technology requires no electrical connections or batteries and pairs well with heat pumps.

Cloud in a blue sky with shutters closed and open along the building facade

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This also seems to be a story of PPB quiet quitting on a murder.

Home Forward sued to evict Moe, citing the footage. But investigators were ultimately unable to determine whether Dortch was dead
when Moe wheeled her out of his apartment.
Police found no probable cause to charge Moe with a crime, and Home Forward later dropped its eviction proceedings against him.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

One argument against trap venting requirements in the 19th century was the tendency to increase evaporation rates of water seals. Boston architect J. Pickering Putnam, a single stack proponent, vividly described evaporation as a thirsty monster that will “lick the water seal out of our traps”. 👹👅💧

Excerpt from Plumbing and Household Sanitation from 1911:
More than half of this complication is due to the absolutely and at all times worse than useless so-called "back vent" system, a system founded on misconception and perpetuated by ig-norance, prejudice and humbug. Indeed, so far as the science of plumbing is concerned, this system is already a back number, for the leading authorities in plumbing and sanitary engineering have placed themselves squarely in opposition to it.
Of course it will be useless to study the various plumbing fixtures of a house and the proper methods of connecting them up with the piping until we know what that piping is to be, and accordingly our first duty is to tackle this
"back vent" monster and destroy it, for being a thirsty creature, it will, if left on guard over us, be certain in time to lick the water seal out of our traps, or else, by gorging

Excerpt from Plumbing and Household Sanitation from 1911:

itself with grease, to lose all consciousness and abandon the trap seal altogether to its enemies.
Like the cholera germ, this most pernicious infliction cannot stand light. The science of hydraulics and pneumatics is fatal to it and shall form for it our club of extermination.
The Hydraulics and Pneumatics of Plumbing.
The agencies which tend to destroy the water seal of traps are siphonage, evaporation, back pressure, capillary action, leakage and accumulation of sediment.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The shower grate here is also removable for cleaning access. Really nice design.

Photo of the stone shower pan with a perimeter drain

Photo of bathroom with a door that fully closes for the shower

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

There are plenty of shower pans in Europe to choose from but they must really like making water damage insurance claims.

Photo of hotel with shower pan in the UK

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Maisonettes characteristically featured two-levels dwelling and would be stacked sometimes in 16 story buildings.

Black and white photo of four buildings attached to a central core

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I recently came across a pair of 11 story buildings each 633 ft/193 m long in a small city outside of Barcelona. They’re part of a larger development that’s basically Spain’s Pruitt-Igoe and they will soon face a similar fate.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This requirement was put in place in 1881 as part of an effort to prohibit the use of lead piping (before plastic existed), but as with many requirements in building codes, the justifications shifted over time - newer and better materials became prevalent in the mid-20th century and nothing changed.

point near the front of the house. This trap must be furnished with a hand-hole for convenience in cleaning, the cover of which must be properly fitted and made gas and air tight with some proper cement.
15. There must be an inlet for fresh air entering the drain just inside the trap, of at least four inches in diameter, leading to the outer air and opening at or near the street curb, or at a convenient place not less than four feet from the nearest window.
No cold-air box for a furnace shall be so placed that it can by any possibility draw air from this inlet-pipe. The inlet-pipe should never be carried up to the roof inside or outside the house.
I6. No brick, sheet-metal, earthenware, or chimney-flue shall be used as a sewer-
ventilator, nor to ventilate any trap, drain, soil, or waste pipe.
17. Every vertical soil-pipe and waste-pipe must be of iron, and where it receives the discharge of fixtures on two or more floors it must be extended at least two feet above the highest part of the roof or coping, of undiminished size, with a return-bend or cow!. It must not open near a window, nor an air-shaft which ventilates living-rooms.
I8. Soil, waste, and vent pipes in an extension must be extended above the roof of the main building, when otherwise they would open within twenty feet of the windows of the main house or the adjoining house.
19. Horizontal soil and waste pipes are prohibited.
20. The minimum diameter of soil-pipe permitted is four inches. A vertical

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It’s vertical transportation day.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The lower escalator is even longer. Both the upper and lower escalators are replacing an existing ones that have been there since at least 2008 based on what I can tell on Google Maps.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Hopefully they finish installing this one soon. Pigeons are getting worn out taking the stairs.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Freshly minted TKE spotted. 👀

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This would be a big deal for both Canada and the EU because Canada’s economy is about 20% larger than Spain, which is the 4th largest economy in the EU.

Tables of countries by GDP from Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Noise ordinances are one of those very obvious and necessary things in urban environments. It’s also incredibly funny watching cops shushing grown men.

Sign reading “No loudspeakers at the beach. Fines of up to €3000 for anti-social behaviour.”

Shhh face on sign on a pedestrian street with €3000 fine

Sign asking people to be quiet with microphone above it

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The best fire access to the building was on a pedestrian street, which the truck had no trouble accessing, despite being narrowed for construction.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I witnessed a fire today in an abandoned building and they dispatched the largest fire truck I’ve seen in Barcelona (yes, still small).

Photo of fire truck turning down a street

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Make sure to talk about the AmazingShrinkingRoomStudy™️. This is widely referenced work on HPWHs installed in small rooms.

Photos of test rig showing louvers in different areas impacting the COP

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This is why WCs in Europe today are different than in the US. The 1992 EPAct finally forced manufactures to make comparable WCs to the European ones and they are better in every way than what was being used in the 1980s.

Photo of 1908 journal with highlighted text reading as follows: The disadvantage of the majority of syphonic action closets is
that you require a special flushing cistern, as a rule with a capacity of at least 3 gallons, and as some of the water companies do not allow more than a 2 gallon flush, this puts the syphonic action closet out of the question.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I think I’ve just found one of the most blatant examples of appropriation of American rural culture.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It’s easier to understand looking at an elevation, but the manhole acts as a relief valve rather than your plumbing fixtures. Sewage flooding homes due to a missing backwater valve is incredibly common unfortunately.

Illustration showing where a backwater valve is required with three houses connecting to a sewer

https://www.portland.gov/ppd/backwater-valves

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

@musicologyduck.bsky.social’s forbidden bidet appears to be sewer back pressure due to a blockage in a combined storm sewer system. Plumbing codes require a backwater valve where lowest fixture in the building is below the nearest upstream manhole (i.e. overflow) but these are often missed.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I’ve only been to Phoenix once and never stepped foot in Wisconsin or Michigan so these results are puzzling.

Map of US showing light red for the western US, lighter red for the North East with darkest red in Phoenix, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Cities most & least like you
Interpolated from the nearest survey responses.
MOST SIMILAR
1. Phoenix, AZ (51%)
2. Milwaukee, WI
(51%)
3. Chicago, IL (51%)
LEAST SIMILAR
1. New Orleans, LA
(44%)
2. Houston, TX (45%)
3. Dallas, TX (45%)

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

All wrong. It’s pronounced “hose bibb”.

Survey question 33

“Do you use "spigot" or "spicket" to refer to a faucet or tap that water comes out of?”

spicket
spigot
I use both interchangeably
I say "spicket" but spell it "spigot"
I use both with different meanings
I don't use either version of this word
other

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

When you live in the mountains, the trains drop you off in your living room.

Photo of train entering Liziba station inside a building

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

This is either an omen warning me of imminent doom or I’m standing inside a gigantic cuckoo clock. Maybe both.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Failing to launch a federally-funded WPA-style housing construction program during the Great Recession was a such a missed opportunity.

Graphic of housing by year, showing a big slump starting in 2007

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Speaking of which, these elevated sidewalks on the sides of buildings in Horta-Guinardó is reminding me of Chongqing.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I love how in neighborhoods with steep hills, Barcelona just casually drops an escalator down. I haven’t seen this many outdoor escalators outside of China.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

While you won’t find windowless bedrooms in Spain, you will find workarounds like a <9” “window” in a bedroom that opens onto an interior stairway (the only stair in the building).

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Not a fan of the this trending headline because it seems to imply that we are just now realizing he’s not a medical expert whereas a good 60% of the country knew he was a sociopathic eugenicist before he was confirmed . 🤷🏻‍♂️

Bluesky trending headlines with the top one reading “RFK Jr faces mounting health criticism”

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Street containers will never door you.

POV photo of a bike on the bike lane with street containers creating a protected path between the sidewalk

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The stack vent, which is open pipe extension of the drainage stack above the roof, is what allows nearly every sanitary drainage system in Europe to eliminate all the extra piping you see in these diagrams. The extra trap vent piping and auxiliary vent stack compensates for the missing stack vent.

Illustration from the uniform plumbing code illustrated training manual
14 story building with the vent stack, not connecting to the highest section of the drainage stack

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Graphic Content Warning: synthetic turds This experimental drainage test rig, constructed by Steve Wright in Australia, clearly shows the impact of 🧻 +💩 with an actual flush. This drain is installed at a gradient of 1.25% so it’s still steeper than what’s typically installed in the US.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The tensile strenth of TP after being submerged in water is another important factor in drainage performance, which is why ‘wet wipes’ have been so succesful in flooding people’s homes with sewage. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Image showing the tensile strength between TP and wipes

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This is clearly an American WC and if we assume this installation is code compliant, there’s a vent installed here. There’s likely a major blockage and this WC is also probably installed directly above the base of a drainage stack, forcing the reflective pressure wave from the shower thru the WC.

Diagram from Transient Airflow in. Building Drainage Systems by John Swaffield showing the positive pressure zone at the base of the stack.

Illustrations from Transient Airflow in. Building Drainage Systems by John Swaffield showing the positive pressure zone at the base of the stack.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I remember the rat being 10 times scarier than this.

Photo of pixilated rat in the middle of the path

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

In China, it’s KFC coupled with han characters that phonetically read Ken-de-ji (Kentucky).

Photo of a KFC on the second floor of a building with 肯德基 which is essentially a phonetic of Kentucky

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Here’s a few +10 story buildings though this is outside of the high density km2 somehow.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Single stack drainage configuration on every building of course, since it’s Europe.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Here’s a building that just finished construction. 3 bedroom corner unit apartments with wrap-around balconies for less than €1900/mo. Older buildings with 2 bedrooms can go for under €1200.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Quite a few wide open plazas and parks.

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