C o D Fire Hydrant Question

**nativegirl** · May-01-09, 12:29 PM

Why are our fire hydrants painted yellow at the top? An out of towner asked me that during the Easter holiday weekned and I could not give her a coherrent answer other than "Idunnoknow." Also, does anybody know why our garages are detached from the house and sits behind the house? I told the same visitor that it had something to do with carriages and such when the city first started building houses. Her next question was "why are the developers still building the garages on new houses in the city like this? To which I replied to keep it visually in line with what's already in place.

**Maxine1958** · May-01-09, 12:45 PM

Your visitor has never seen any other houses with detached garages?

Wow, talk about a life long suburbanite! This person has never been in the vicinity of any urban residential neighborhood? Chicago? Baltimore? St. Louis? Toledo? Those are jsut a few places I've been to fairly recently. Where are they from?

**SWMAP** · May-01-09, 01:02 PM

Not everyone wants to have a big butt garage door sticking out in front, taking away from the symmetry of the house. And, I guess in the old days, no one did.

In my neighborhood, we have alleys. Built before the model T, though. Anyway, the alley was where all the commercial business transpired, the coal deliveries, milk and fish deliveries came through the alley into the back door. Then the garages were built and the cars arrived in the garage by driving through the alley.

It must havebeen a nice way to live. They didn't have people with their dumpsters out in front all week. I see that many of the new urbanism communities have gone back to alleys and some of them [[in the south) are building detached garages.

**Jimaz** · May-01-09, 03:05 PM

I would guess the yellow is for better visibility in low light conditions? Our eyes are most sensitive to amber light.

I read that garages were detached in the earliest days of the automobile to better isolate the house from potential fires caused by that new-fangled gasoline horse. You might find that article by Googling "history" and "garage." Contrarily, aerial photos show that our old house went from an integrated to a detached garage sometime in the 1940s. The old driveway curved right into what is now the den's fireplace.

why are the developers still building the garages on new houses in the city like this?

Why wouldn't they? Are we not going to be driving cars anymore?

**Maxine1958** · May-01-09, 04:13 PM

Is no one else flabbergasted that there is a person walking amongst us that has never seen a detached garage before?

Retroit · May-01-09, 05:04 PM

Where is the out of towner from?

Bearinabox · May-01-09, 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by Maxine1958

Is no one else flabbergasted that there is a person walking amongst us that has never seen a detached garage before?

I am, yeah. If I were that sort of person, I think I would have come to the conclusion long ago that all houses were irredeemably ugly, and taken to living in an Airstream trailer or a tepee in the desert.

Sludgedaddy · May-01-09, 07:09 PM

What's even uglier than a huge three car garage that juts in front of a McMansion is a television set placed in front of what is supposed to be a Picture Window! I just love looking at one of those with the ass end of a telescreen pointed toward the street.

**birwood** · May-01-09, 07:48 PM

Actually fire hydrants can be painted any color your city government desires. However, the National Fire Protection Association does have a set of color specs that they ask all communities to use, which makes thing a lot easier should another community be call to assist your FD because you can then figure how much that water that the hydrant your rig is assigned to will produce. The NFPA color code system uses; Red = 0 - 500 Galllons Per Minute, Yellow or Orange = 500 - 1000 Gallons Per Minute, Green or Blue = 1000 Gallons + Per Minute which is suppose to help identify the gallons per minute that the hydrant will flow. Usually it is the top dome or bonnet on the hydrant or the outlet caps, which will signify the gallonage.
Detroits hydrants have a Red barrel and Yellow bonnet signifying 500 - 1000 GPM.
Dearborn uses an all Red hydrants to signify those with 500 GPM capicity and below and all Yellow for 500 - 1000 GPM.
Dearborn Hgts has a few areas where they use a Red barrel and Green ring on the top of the bonnet for 1000GPM or more.
Hope this explains the question, if not, please let me know and I'll try to explain it better
Birwood
Dbn FD, Engineer, retired

Stosh · May-01-09, 08:58 PM

Birwood, thanks for the information. I've never heard of the reasoning behind the paint schemes before, and never had any reason to actually think about why. Interesting stuff.

**softailrider** · May-02-09, 05:05 AM

Originally Posted by nativegirl

Why are our fire hydrants painted yellow at the top? An out of towner asked me that during the Easter holiday weekned and I could not give her a coherrent answer other than "Idunnoknow." Also, does anybody know why our garages are detached from the house and sits behind the house? I told the same visitor that it had something to do with carriages and such when the city first started building houses. Her next question was "why are the developers still building the garages on new houses in the city like this? To which I replied to keep it visually in line with what's already in place.

If you're buliding a house with a 40 foot lot, and you want a two car garage, the only place it's going to look good would be behind the house. That's using most of the plans available out there. Otherwise , you're going to have a front elevation that's almost all garage. It'll look kind of funky [[ to me anyway )

**nativegirl** · May-02-09, 12:52 PM

Thanks Birwood for the clarification of the fire hydrant's color. I rest easy now!

Retroit, this person is from Beaumont, TX. Her questions were quite silly and I kept giving her the

look. Needless to say, this person is middle aged and quite simple minded. An in-law to boot!

**turkeycall** · May-02-09, 01:18 PM

Shortly afetr my wife and I were married in '76, we bought a house on Riad, between Whittier and Yorktown. It was beautiful colonial - all brick. But the house was built in '39 and had a one-car garage; I think the one car was a Model A. The garage had two swing-open doors and it was really too short for the car I was driving at the time.

I remember seeing noses built on to the backs of garages. They stuck out several feet into the alley but there was enough room to park the car in the garage; the hood was in the nose.

We also had an alley where the trash cans were kept and where the trash truck picked it up. The city closed the alley just before we sold the place in '80.

Using our first big tax refund, we had the garage torn down, ripped out the two-track driveway, had a new driveway poured and then had a two-car garage built.

**rajdet** · May-03-09, 06:30 AM

Originally Posted by Maxine1958

Is no one else flabbergasted that there is a person walking amongst us that has never seen a detached garage before?

I had a friend visit from British Columbia who had never seen a revolving door, and another friend from Arizona who's 5 year old kid had never seen a basement. The friend from BC just stood with his mouth agape and a look on his face that suggested that he just seen the face of Jesus on a slice of cheese toast or something.

**French777** · May-03-09, 06:50 AM

even in Downtown Rochester the garages are in the back of many houses. I think it looks better that way

**luckycar** · May-03-09, 08:18 AM

I have seen a few young people stare and looked lost around window cranks in cars.

**Maxine1958** · May-04-09, 11:55 AM

Oh I'm feeling mighty old now.

For what it's worth, I don't like having the garage in front of the house either. Why would I want to open up that usually cluttered workspace as the first impression for passers-by? I understand the short driveway argument for Michigan winters, but I'd rather shovel a path from the back of the house.

Bearinabox · May-04-09, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by Maxine1958

Oh I'm feeling mighty old now.

For what it's worth, I don't like having the garage in front of the house either. Why would I want to open up that usually cluttered workspace as the first impression for passers-by? I understand the short driveway argument for Michigan winters, but I'd rather shovel a path from the back of the house.

Rear-facing garages that open onto alleys have the shortest driveways of all. Of course, then you're relying on the city to plow your alley for you...

**Maxine1958** · May-04-09, 01:10 PM

Bearinabox, that's what made me feel so old. I remember my Grandfather's garage still had the original rear-alley-facing door. He later put a driveway to the street and a modern aluminum door on the front side, but by removing a couple of boards, you could still get those rear doors open.

Where's my walker and reading glasses?

**Rocko** · May-04-09, 07:51 PM

Birwood, very cool! I had NO IDEA that there were some standards for fire hydrant colors and what they meant. I've always noticed that most of Detroit's hydrants are red with a yellow cap on top, which were different from the all yellow one down the block from my childhood home in Dearborn. Very cool, this is why I love this board!

LodgeDodger · May-04-09, 08:33 PM

They're right here...next to my Geritol.

**reddog289** · May-05-09, 01:20 AM

Now I will be looking at fire hydrants all around town, While on the subject in my boiler room at work and on the roof the smaller gas lines are yellow. My "boss" said they should be orange. Would this fall into the same boat as the flow rate or for the Id of the gas line itself. From what I was told that Gas =yellow, Water =Blue, Air=Red.
When I was looking for a house, I wanted one with a detached garage simply because of the fire aspect. I work on cars and have seen what happens when an attached garage catches fire.

**EMG** · May-05-09, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by turkeycall

Shortly afetr my wife and I were married in '76, we bought a house on Riad, between Whittier and Yorktown. It was beautiful colonial - all brick. But the house was built in '39 and had a one-car garage; I think the one car was a Model A. The garage had two swing-open doors and it was really too short for the car I was driving at the time.

I remember seeing noses built on to the backs of garages. They stuck out several feet into the alley but there was enough room to park the car in the garage; the hood was in the nose.

We also had an alley where the trash cans were kept and where the trash truck picked it up. The city closed the alley just before we sold the place in '80.

Using our first big tax refund, we had the garage torn down, ripped out the two-track driveway, had a new driveway poured and then had a two-car garage built.

Obviously you meant you lived between Whittier and YorkSHIRE. I'm from that area too, having grown up on Nottingham. Here's a picture of your old block. Perhaps your old house is in here somehwere!

**birwood** · May-05-09, 08:30 PM

reddog289 I'm not sure about color codes for industrial piping and plumbing, I know RED was Fire Standpipe& Sprinklers, GREEN was Compressed Gas but then property owners complained that the colors clashed with their interior decor, especially in building being retro fitted to a different occupancy.
You could probably play it safe and contact MiOSHA or the local Building & Safety Department, they could tell you for sure. I do know that they are suppose to be marked and most places have now days have a lettered sticker, with a contrasting background and lettering, i.e. COMPRESSED GAS, DRINKING WATER, FIRE MAIN etc, that goes on the pipe and usually with an arrow showing the direction of flow of the substance in the pipe. Hope this helps

**birwood** · May-05-09, 08:45 PM

Another thought in regard to why fire hydrants are painted yellow in some communities. When we changed the color of the hydrants back n the 70's from the Red barrel with Black and Silver trim to all Yellow, people would stop in the station and ask why the change and we'd tell them....The yellow matches the color of dog pee...doesn't show the stain, and they would say Oh!, OK Thank You and Walk Out.