Chad Fabry

Someone will have to explain to me how a low charge can cause icing at the evaporator. Less refrigerant equals less system capacity by reducing the heat exchange medium, low operating pressures and a smaller pressure differential. None of those factors equals icing at the evaporator. An overcharge may cause icing, but the most prevalent cause would be low air flow.

Jim, It would have been an arc with enough continuity to prevent the breaker from tripping.

Correct

Around here the cause would be ice dams. Is the felt on top of the drip edge? Were there signs of condensation in the attic? Do the owners clean the roof with a hose from the ground?

This is to confirm that GAF Materials Corporation recommends a minimum of 3/8" overhang to create a drip edge at the rakes edges and eaves of the roof. If drip edge metal is installed, the shingle edge should measure 3/8" from end of facia board under the drip edge metal. GAF Materials Corporation does not have a maximum length. That's a reply I got from GAF today.

You didn't say how long it's been since the concrete was placed, but if it's been just a short time, wait and see if it's an ongoing problem. It takes a while for the waterto get out of the concrete and the condensation may be caused by that process.

This month's JLC had an article about yet another type of treated wood. It was listed in the section that is called something like: "The Best Products of 2005". The wood wasn't yet available on the east coast so it was a non emotional read for me and I didn't memorize the name of the product.

Thanks Pete, I knew it was "manufactured" and it irritates me that I used the wrong word. What about the insulation?

I just inspected the first modular home of my career. I didn't know it was a modular before I got there or I'd have boned up on modular contruction beforehand. Who the heck would pay an inspector 400 bucks to inspect a modular? The roof was surface stapled at the gable ends and then the staples were gooped up..presumably to keep the roof on during transport. Is that normal? Download Attachment: blackstuff.JPG 77.72 KB The insulation below the floor was all sagging and about a foot away from the house. What bothered me more was it was all installed with the vapor toward the conventional style (wet) basement. If the modular is on a basement, shouldn't the vapor barrier be against the floor? Download Attachment: insulation.JPG 53.32 KB Here's the water heater discharge. The homeowner has work bench directly below this. The WH intake for combustion is the funky thing next to the discharge. Download Attachment: discharge.JPG 45.52 KB Here's the main waste line. I drew an arrow on the pvc to show direction of intended flow. Download Attachment: horizontal.JPG 19.8 KB Condensate trap: Download Attachment: contrap.JPG 48.34 KB I showed that photo because this is where the condensate goes. So is the trap even an issue? Download Attachment: sump1.JPG 54.02 KB Here are the furnace and WH flues. Download Attachment: foamflue.JPG 27.4 KB Download Attachment: foamflue2.JPG 22.98 KB The basement entry stairs have kickers made of OSB, would you call this, given the environment? It hasn't rained here for weeks. Download Attachment: osb.JPG 43.53 KB The basement was obviously wet. One wall was bowed in the middle and had a general lean from top to bottom of 3/4 of an inch. Someone was just there a week ago and parged the bottom course w/ hydraulic cement. The center of the bow in the wall has a mortar joint that's nearly an inch thick, but I honestly couldn't tell if the wall had been built crooked or has been pushed in and the resulting crack "touched" up. The masonry work is the sloppiest I've ever seen. How would you folks describe the condition? There is no felt or housewrap behind the vinyl siding. The back entry has no storm door and the door that is there(glorified storm door, trailer style) opens over a deck that it clears by an inch. Getting out that door when there's snow will be nearly impossible. The house is 9 months old. The client wants to use the report to sue the builder and with that in mind I want everything to be credible, and verifiable. This is a HUD home.

http://www.jm.com/insulation/building_i ... ia_998.htm

I'm seriously considering switching to Mac, but to stay on topic, I use two antivirus programs, one of which is free from AVG. The other is EZ trust. I don't run firewalls anymore because they slow me down and between these AV programs they catch everything that's been coming my way as it comes. That's a lotta stuff because I was having "blue screen" events nearly every day.

Scott, That was my point.

I feel left out. I passed the NHIE and ASHI has never contaced me about membership. I even passed the ASHI ethics and SOP test and still no invites. I hear about people getting invitations to join but that sure hasn't been my experience.

Just finished looking through the concrete one. It's excellent. Hard Rod and Re-Rod Erect Tooling a joint Bedding Compacted Impacted Mesh Wet Moisten Lay Place All technical terms taken out of context... I'm skipping the wood construction one for now or I'll get all worked up. I'm saving plumbing for last. Nipple, male, female, petcock (I had a petcock but ran away?) ball valve, emergency stop, union, coupling... I can't wait.

Very nice. My wife won't understand why I'm reading it, but I'm going to muddle through tonight.

I'm glad I didn't write it then. There were other pretty serious problems and even if this turned out to be a defect it was minor by comparison. The breaker that was buzzing on what was only a memory of a buss bar did make it to the report. I especially liked the 2 gauge copper feeding a 200 amp main w/ 42 circuits, several of which were for resistance heat. My theory is that they were also using the service entrance as a resistance heater to keep the down spout from freezing.

I inspected an old Queene Anne that had been sodomized, abominized, resized and bastardized into a multiple. There were three separate service panels for the units. Some of the wiring for one of the units passed through one panel to another. It wasn't connected to anything in the first panel but used the panel enclosure like a chase. It was the least of the problems present but I'd like some input if I ever see this again. I'd post a photo, but there's no point because even in person it was hard to see and follow the wiring.

I applaud your effort and noticed that all the miters are pretty darn nice. I'd have drilled a hole in the floor so you're head and shoulders above my approach.

Too big Steven

Electrical Inspection of Existing Dwellings

uh, missed the "detached" part. My bad

I've read this book twice now. The fact is it is readable. I have other text books that I use for reference, but I could never read them. It's one of my most valued resources. Jimmy, I already knew what a Ufer ground was. I learned that here at TIJ. You may want to pay better attention.

The white should be re identified. The splice on the red should be nutted not taped. The ground and neutral should be isolated. 3 wire w/ground should have been run to the panel. The person who wired the panel should be shot for making such a mess of so few wires.

It looks like #2 white cedar to me. Both the #2 part and the white part aren't suitable for roofing. If I was writing the report, I'd call for replacement. That, compounded with the fact that a bunch of shingles are face nailed, proves the roofer was either really cheap and stupid or just stupid.

Just adding real life experience here. Double taps are a bad thing and should be called except in breakers like Brian described. My last home had several breakers double tapped and I planned on replacing the undersized panel. In my normal state of procrastination, I let a few years go by and still hadn't done it and while working in the basement one day I heard a buzzing sound. I narrowed the noise to the panel and pulled the cover about the same time the wires were so hot that the insulation was dripping off of them.