# Giant vertical ruler on a house (picture) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2007, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898 "2007-05-29T12:48:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/21 "2007-05-29T15:17:23Z")
[QUOTE=groman] A brilliant friend of mine just offered a very plausible explanation: What if there’s a translucent tube down the length of the ruler? Measures rainfall! I love her! [/QUOTE] Heh. If there’s any chance of 19 feet of rain falling in the comfortable emptying interval for your rain gauge, I don’t think there’s much point building the rain gauge, as the house will be washed away. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/22 "2007-05-29T15:22:43Z")
I’m going to go with **KCB615** on this one. Why else would there be a notch cut out on the roof? Nearly every municipality has code for clearance of the outlet of the chimney, i.e. must be three feet higher than anything within ten feet. Some have code for total chimney height. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/23 "2007-05-29T15:38:13Z")
It looks like the siding has been cut out. With the eve cut out too, I’m betting they put in a wood stove, and they are building a chimney chase. And My guess is the same as **the raindog**. I think it may well be one post for pump jacks. Now I’ve never seen just one used before, maybe the other has been taken away. Or there may be a system I haven’t seen that allows you to use just one. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/24 "2007-05-29T15:45:36Z")
[QUOTE=groman] What if there’s a translucent tube down the length of the ruler? Measures rainfall! [/QUOTE] Or maybe the translucent tube is like the one on the side of coffee urns. It shows the level of the liquid inside–so if the house is ever flooded, nobody will have to open the door to see how deep the water is inside… 🙂 Seriously, **vetbridge** , you just _gotta_ investigate this one for us… Call the real estate agency, call the owners, call the county building inspector…maybe even call out the national guard…But don’t leave us stranded! Do it for uncle Cecil …It’s just too wonderful a curiosity to remain ignorant of. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/25 "2007-05-29T16:29:22Z")
Maybe it’s a float measuring the level of some underground tank. Lord help 'em if it’s for the septic. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/26 "2007-05-29T16:30:33Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] Seriously, **vetbridge** , you just _gotta_ investigate this one for us… [/QUOTE] OK, I will do whatever is necessary to unravel this mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/27 "2007-05-29T16:32:29Z")
[QUOTE=enipla] It looks like the siding has been cut out. With the eve cut out too, I’m betting they put in a wood stove, and they are building a chimney chase. [/QUOTE] I dunno. The ruler looks more like a semi-permanent installation (although it’s hard to tell because the picture is indistinct in the important details). The thing is, if you were building a chimney chase, would you really bother with constructing a nineteen foot ruler when a tape measure works so well? And those brackets holding the ruler to the house would make it difficult to construct anything in the ruler’s place. What about on the far side of the house? To the right of the ruler, there looks to be another protruberance. It could just be a vent pipe, but is there a chance that there’s another ruler on the far side of the house? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/28 "2007-05-29T16:42:21Z")
Is there a bell at the top and a sledgehammer near the base? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/29 "2007-05-29T16:49:46Z")
[QUOTE=Finagle] I dunno. The ruler looks more like a semi-permanent installation (although it’s hard to tell because the picture is indistinct in the important details). The thing is, if you were building a chimney chase, would you really bother with constructing a nineteen foot ruler when a tape measure works so well? And those brackets holding the ruler to the house would make it difficult to construct anything in the ruler’s place. What about on the far side of the house? To the right of the ruler, there looks to be another protruberance. It could just be a vent pipe, but is there a chance that there’s another ruler on the far side of the house? [/QUOTE] That’s just it. It’s not a ‘ruler’. I think it’s a pump jack pole. The foot markings would only give the operator a general idea how high he is. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/30 "2007-05-29T16:50:39Z")
Is it the scar where a chimney has been removed? That would explain the notch in the roof. ---
**Author:** ![t-mobileguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@t-mobileguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-mobileguy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/31 "2007-05-29T17:18:53Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Nah, Giraffe-o-meters aren’t graduated in feet - they have fewer markings; one near the top that says ‘giraffe’, and several nearer the bottom that say ‘probably not a giraffe’ [/QUOTE] Mangetout that is the funniest thing I have read in my life!!! 😃 (or I could be having a really bad day and it made me laugh when I needed it. Works both ways I guess) As for the OP, I called a friend of mine who does roofs and chimneys. The only thing he could come up with was maybe the guy left his tape measure at home and with the price of gasoline it was just cheaper to build a really big ruler than to drive home. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/32 "2007-05-29T18:02:31Z")
Can you take a closer picture? Because if the top of the ruler says “14 kinds of gradation in a fire place diagram” I think we have a winner. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/33 "2007-05-29T22:32:33Z")
“Pump jack pole”, while vaguely provocative, simply cannot be the answer. It’s too boring. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/34 "2007-05-29T22:35:13Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] For the record, there is no water nearby so a “flood ruler” is unlikely. [/QUOTE] They’re planning ahead for the 1,000-year flood level. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/35 "2007-05-29T22:36:48Z")
I’d say snow. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/36 "2007-05-29T22:42:46Z")
If it’s a thermometer, please inform them that they have yet to beat the world record proudly held by my home state: Baker, California has the world’s largest thermometer > **[World's Tallest Thermometer, Baker, California](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2893)** > > Built in 1992, the World's Tallest Thermometer's 134-foot height matches the nearby world's highest recorded temperature of 134 degrees. 134-ft.-tall, a height chosen because of the record high temperature in the US, in Death Valley, 134°Fahrenheit in 1913. 33 tons of steel and almost 5000 lamps went into the construction of this Wonder of the World! ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/37 "2007-05-29T23:58:17Z")
Something’s got to keep the pole vault crossbar in the air, right. One more upright and you’re set! ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/38 "2007-05-30T01:00:20Z")
There is no way this is part of scaffold, or a pump jack. THEY CUT A HOLE IN THE ROOF AND THE SIDING! Looks pretty frickin’ permanent to me. Interesting enough, it looks like they wrapped the fascia around the notch in the roof, yet let the siding be bare in that spot. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/39 "2007-05-30T01:01:58Z")
You wouldn’t put pumpjack colums up _against_ the house–at least not the ones I’ve seen and used. They usually stand off the house with braces that hold 'em vertical. The obvious notch, and lack of siding going vertically up tells me that there was at one point a fireplace on the side of the house or they’re building one. That ‘ruler’ thing doesn’t appear to be fastened, does it? No telling what it is until we get a closer picture. Tripler Hey **vetbridge** , you should dress up like Bill Murray in _Caddyshack_ and sneak up for a better picture. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898/40 "2007-05-30T02:24:01Z")
Yeah, chimney was Bossman’s opinion, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-vertical-ruler-on-a-house-picture/405898.md?page=3)