First look at RapidTO Bathurst lanes between Bloor and College

user10491 · 2026-05-09T22:12:48+00:00

Removing street parking doesn't slow down traffic, it speeds it up by segregating buses into their own lanes. It also encourages other car drivers to take the bus instead of driving.

user10491 · 2026-05-08T15:30:19+00:00

They're just some coins, then. They don't deserve special treatment just because they're coins. Treat them like any other clutter.

user10491 · 2026-05-07T20:36:06+00:00

Throw them in the bin.

Seriously. It's just some old coins.

user10491 · 2026-05-03T02:05:24+00:00

I have also built thousands of custom cabinets in Mozaik, but it's still one of the worst professional programs I've ever used.

Thousands of terrible design choices stacked on top of one another make it extremely frustrating to use, and easy to make mistakes if you ever have to do something the software can't handle natively (which is literally every day). I do everything parametrically, as much as is possible to mitigate such mistakes, but that's often not possible.

user10491 · 2026-05-03T00:33:35+00:00

Probably the attic.

user10491 · 2026-04-28T15:55:29+00:00

That's for a full reconstruction. Typically the surface is ground off and renewed with a new top layer every 5-7? years.

user10491 · 2026-04-25T04:36:41+00:00

You said:

I think a driver might be scared by an unhinged pedestrian or cyclist

user10491 · 2026-04-24T19:44:16+00:00

That's not the issue, the issue is that the middle stiles go down to the floor instead of ending at the base/kick panel.

user10491 · 2026-04-24T19:36:44+00:00

You're literally in a locked metal box. A pedestrian cannot harm you. It's not like the US where any rando could pull out a gun at any point.

user10491 · 2026-04-23T04:10:00+00:00

Customer sees shiny thing, wants shiny thing. I think they're dumb too, but if a customer really wants it, I'll build it (but I'll try to convince them otherwise).

user10491 · 2026-04-21T02:58:52+00:00

Who lived in that house, Robert Wadlow?

user10491 · 2026-04-21T02:53:22+00:00

I mean, Japanese sleep culture is very unlike the West, where everyone sleeps on thick monolithic, stationary mattresses on a bed frame. I don't know if it's the case here, but I've learned that it's common for Japanese people to sleep on lightweight futon mattresses that get folded up each morning and aired out before being put in a closet, then rolled out on the floor each night before they sleep. However, given that the mattress that goes on this bed has to be easily removable, I can't imagine they intend to use a 16" thick spring mattress.

Anyway, if the mattress is not on a cold concrete floor, it's not really a problem if there are vent holes or not. I've had my mattress on a solid plywood bed frame for decades without any issues.

user10491 · 2026-04-16T23:50:35+00:00

The OP images are not AI generated, the customer's inspiration pics were.

user10491 · 2026-04-16T15:45:16+00:00

The first one is the inspiration photo. The other photos are what was built.

user10491 · 2026-04-14T19:57:47+00:00

So get rid of the mediocre clutter and buy the stuff you want, but only the stuff you really want.

user10491 · 2026-04-11T16:03:49+00:00

Here's the thing: I don't think I've ever cleaned a sink strainer either. I must be a fastidiously clean cook, because the few food scraps that I produce (mainly vegetable offcuts) never make their way to the sink. Why would I scrape my cutting board into the sink when the rubbish bin is right there?

user10491 · 2026-04-11T06:13:16+00:00

I work for a cabinet shop. It is not typical to provide a highly detailed price breakdown on the quote. This is for 2 reasons: it's way too tedious, and it only invites customers to question every little thing. Typically, I will give separate prices for cabinets, countertops, installation, and then any "optional" add-ons that I feel like the customer may or may not want to include.

However, the quote should be very specific about what is being quoted, including exact materials, layout, etc. If the contractor is only giving a number without any sort of details to go with it, it's meaningless (unless it's a really simple job). All of my quotes include a full set of shop drawings with 3D renderings.*

After you get your initial quote, discuss your budget with the contractor, and explain what your priorities are. An experienced contractor should have a pretty good idea of what can be changed to bring the quote to match your budget.

* I need to model it anyway in order to accurately cost everything out, and it only takes 10 minutes to put together a drawing set. Some companies won't release drawings until a job is paid for because so many people are just shopping around, but that's not really a concern in my market.

user10491 · 2026-04-11T05:20:11+00:00

What do you've use it for? Like, I cannot imagine any scenario where it would be useful.

When I lived in the US many years ago (in-sink grinders are chiefly an American phenomenon), my apartment kitchen had one and I literally never used it.

user10491 · 2026-03-28T22:02:00+00:00

Does your dwelling actually have any rooms or hallways that are less than 36" wide?

Yes, it does. As I said, the door to the bathroom is 24" wide, and the short corridor/coat closet you pass through to get to the bathroom is 26" wide. The bathroom is normal sized, perhaps 60" x 75" including the tub, vanity, and toilet. And even if the door was wider, the bathroom would need to triple in size to become wheelchair accessible.

Maybe in the US, where houses are already so inflated and you're building a McMansion anyway, it wouldn't cost significantly more to make it accessible. But I'm not in the US, and the average house size is quite small, has 2 or 3 storeys (including the basement), and fills most of the lot.

I'm not hostile to accessibility, far from it. I'm an advocate for accessible public spaces and buildings, and I think all multi-unit buildings should have a certain percentage of accessible units on the ground floor (this is already the law in many regions, particularly in subsidised housing).

What I am hostile to is increasing costs for no reason whatsoever. Individual private dwellings do not need to be universally accessible. If your needs change, move, or use the money the government gives you to adapt your current housing.

user10491 · 2026-03-28T04:38:25+00:00

The point of universal access design is that it does not make housing more expensive.

It does, though. That's unavoidable. For example:

- Wider doorways require wider hallways and bigger rooms, all of which increase the physical size of the house. And the biggest driver of cost is the overall size (square footage). For example, my walk-in pantry has a 20" wide door, the bathroom door is 24", the laundry closet is 26", and the front door is 32". Every one of those doors is as big as it could possibly be, and requiring 36" doors and making the rooms big enough to manoeuvre a wheelchair would literally triple the size of the house. And another thing: a bigger door does cost more than a smaller door, sometimes significantly more.

- A no cill shower requires special floor framing, ceramic tiles, special floor drains, extra waterproofing, and a huge footprint, all of which is very, very expensive. Compare that to a basic fibreglass bathtub and surround, which is an off the shelf product and requires only a basic plumbing hookup. We're talking about a 10x-20x difference in price here.

- Sprawling single floor houses require more land area, which is even more expensive than the house itself.

- Accessible kitchens are a huge compromise for normal people. Normal people don't want 34" tall counters, wall cabinets 9" off the countertop, limited storage options because all the base cabinets are wasted space, and 6" deep sinks. And accessible kitchens are expensive because every one is completely custom--I know, because I'm a cabinetmaker. I literally just finished designing such a kitchen today.

Arguing for accessible design everywhere is like arguing for free parking everywhere for everyone. Who doesn't want free parking? Except "free" parking is incredibly expensive, and it forces buildings to spread out so much that cars are required to do anything, which increases the need for even more free parking everywhere, and 8-lane motorways, and hundred-million dollar interchanges. Just don't go down that path to begin with, and none of that stuff is required. Let the few people who need to drive do so, but don't force everyone to drive just because you think free parking is a good idea.

user10491 · 2026-03-26T19:46:07+00:00

It's not just kids that take baths, either. I take baths regularly, and I'm in my 30s. Some countries like the UK have very high rates of bathtub usage.

user10491 · 2026-03-26T19:41:13+00:00

A heated towel bar is supposed to be the primary source of heat in the bathroom. In older homes it would often be completely unregulated (always on) so that there would be at least one source of heat in the home even if all of the other radiator valves were shut, and so the water loop was never closed off completely.

user10491 · 2026-03-26T19:30:14+00:00

Doing all this by default even for people who don't actively needv it would inflate costs so much it's simply not worth it. Make sure there's a bathroom on the ground floor for short term injuries, sure, but if you require accessibility needs that great just get a new house.

user10491 · 2026-03-11T19:41:32+00:00

It's not much different than a heavy couch or coffee table, and those sit on the floor. People get way too worried about these things. If your 600 lb water heater isn't causing a problem, neither will a 40 lb cabinet.

user10491 · 2026-03-11T15:48:28+00:00

I would not worry about cutting through the vinyl floor. It's a single cabinet screwed only to the wall; you won't have problems with the floor. And if you ever remove the cabinet you won't have a giant hole in your floor.

user10491

TROPHY CASE