# Construction boners... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-boners/426699 "2007-11-16T16:12:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-boners/426699/1 "2007-11-16T16:12:19Z")
…so titled because not only has someone made a series of dumb mistakes, they also have a fondness for the overuse of phallic-shaped equipment. Context: I recently bought a condo in a new, large development that is still under construction. I live at something called “Garden Level”, which could less charitably be called “Basement with a View”. My back patio door currently opens into an alleyway littered with construction debris. Today, someone on the construction team made the brilliant discovery that it rains in Montreal. That is to say, someone finally paid attention to the fact that this solid concrete sub-ground-level alleyway floods more than the hot tub in an elephant-only spa. At 7 am, I was woken up by the noise of one overseer and one worker drilling though the concrete to make a drain. At 7:30, drilling was complete. A total of one 3cm (one-and-a-smidge inches) diameter hole had been drilled. At 8, the worker was pushing water towards said hole with a push-broom. At 9, he was using a leaf blower to push the water. At 10:30, he was using, lord help me, a Shop-Vac. So, let’s see. A whole morning’s work to evacuate water through one tiny drain that could be clogged by an overfed suicidal mouse. I weep to imagine what springtime will bring… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-boners/426699/2 "2007-11-16T16:14:34Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] …so titled because not only has someone made a series of dumb mistakes, they also have a fondness for the overuse of phallic-shaped equipment. [/QUOTE] Ah. I thought this was going to be about errors during erection. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-boners/426699/3 "2007-11-16T16:17:27Z")
Spaketh **xnylder** , “A whole morning’s work to evacuate water through one tiny drain that could be clogged by an overfed suicidal mouse.” When you hear hooves, think “horses” not “zebras.” I’d check out the prostate… ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-boners/426699/4 "2007-11-16T16:53:50Z")
Having lived once in a similar building, the most important question you need to ask now is **“Where does the water go?”.** Im my case, after percolating through the subsoil it came bubbling up through the floor. Perhaps you’re lucky and there’s an actual drain somewhere that they have tapped into. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-boners/426699/5 "2007-11-16T17:08:19Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine] Having lived once in a similar building, the most important question you need to ask now is **“Where does the water go?”.** Im my case, after percolating through the subsoil it came bubbling up through the floor. Perhaps you’re lucky and there’s an actual drain somewhere that they have tapped into. [/QUOTE] I’m scared to go down to the basement parking lot. I’ve got this image of someone’s convertible holding in the inevitable deluge. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/construction-boners/426699/6 "2007-11-16T18:11:23Z")
I thought this was about what happened to me when I walked by construction sites. Carry on. (Although my similar experience comes from our kitchen flooding… we call up the landlord at somewhere around 9PM and complain, and he mentions that they had to cut a hole in our wall in order to fix something, and then never fixed the hole. ( 😕 ) A maintenance guy left us with a shop vac and a “good night”.)