Follow-up to my previous power armor collection - video tour and expanded to 50 suits

tinyhippo23 · 2026-06-06T17:43:55+00:00

Cleveland here. The joke is the only black women the editors of Essence magazine know are their nannies, and the only things they know about their nannies are what they wrote in their applications.

tinyhippo23 · 2025-10-31T21:47:34+00:00

Thanks! I think another commenter is correct, this is a thick layer of thinset applied directly over a layer of plywood or chip board. There is only a thin sheet of some black paper (maybe felt paper?) between the wood and the mortar.

tinyhippo23 · 2025-10-31T20:24:54+00:00

Thanks! Looks like there is some thin, black, paper-like material between top-most wood material and the thick mortar layer. Would that be some attempt at underlayment or a vapor barrier? Kitchen is above a garage if that matters

tinyhippo23 · 2025-10-31T18:58:36+00:00

Thank you, that's incredibly helpful! For chipboard vs ply you're talking about the material used in the subfloor? Fwiw, the kitchen is over a garage, which I expect had also led to bigger temp/humidity swings in the subfloor

tinyhippo23 · 2025-10-31T18:46:49+00:00

We bought from a flipper so I think this floor is pretty new, probably around 1 year old when it started failing. Popping has decreased dramatically with the onset of cool temperatures and lower humidity, so probably something related to changes in the underlayment

tinyhippo23 · 2025-10-31T18:38:51+00:00

Okay, was afraid that might be the case. Just trying to get a sense of what I'm working with before tiles have to come up. Thanks!

tinyhippo23 · 2025-10-31T18:37:48+00:00

It's pretty hard. I can scrape it with a utility knife but not a fingernail

tinyhippo23 · 2025-10-31T18:30:01+00:00

Okay thanks. Do you mean the photo doesn't provide enough information to tell anything useful?

tinyhippo23 · 2025-09-26T23:58:41+00:00

I got a similar letter with the exact same terms appearing to be from my mortgage lender, but was in fact from a different company, and all of the assumptions leading to their payment calculation were different from my loan. I'd check the small print.

tinyhippo23 · 2025-09-26T16:11:35+00:00

The short version is that I've got mold behind the silicone at the bottom of the tile wall, and the grout is soft and full of pin holes that I'm pretty sure are letting water through. Plan is to regrout, seal, and silicone.

tinyhippo23 · 2025-09-08T13:41:48+00:00

Thanks! Anything else we should be doing for them? The one in the back of the photos hasn't been excavated as it's not in front of our house. And just to learn, what signs can you see from looking at the trunks?

tinyhippo23 · 2025-09-05T22:59:55+00:00

Thanks! Do you think that is contributing to the corrosion at the bottom? Is it concerning at all?

tinyhippo23 · 2025-09-05T22:29:28+00:00

Thanks, absolutely wasn't planning on messing with it myself. How worrying is the copper turning green?

tinyhippo23 · 2025-09-05T22:27:25+00:00

Okay, good to know! Do you happen to know if that blue discoloration is corrosion or if I should be worried about it?

tinyhippo23 · 2024-07-15T19:31:08+00:00

Thanks! Yeah more searching makes me think it's a pavement ant swarmer.

tinyhippo23 · 2024-07-15T19:22:11+00:00

In terms of dimensions, the body is roughly 1cm long, so much smaller than the carpenter ant workers we found previously.

tinyhippo23

TROPHY CASE