Virgil,
Interesting stuff! I've seen one house in this area which has vertical planks on cross bearers fixed onto our normal brick walls, but only on the inside. Very unusual.

Quote

As originally constructed, the Lustron was a one-story, gable-roof ranch with an exterior and interior skin of enameled steel panels bolted to a structural-steel frame and a
concrete slab foundation.

Wow, I bet that made one terrific Faraday Cage! [Linked Image]

Tex,
We've experienced similar problems in this country with earthing as plastic water pipes have become more common. Our IEE started rallying against the use of a water line as the sole method of grounding at least as far back as the 1960s.

I believe that most of Europe (including Austria?) now specifies 1.5 sq. mm as the smallest conductor to be used. In the U.K. our code still allows 1 sq. mm as the smallest.

The 1 sq. mm size is almost equivalent to our old pre-metric 1/.044 lighting cable, except that these days the current rating is much higher, something I dislike.

[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 06-28-2002).]