Bain

The first question that needs to be answered is WHY is the brick shifting? Is there a foundational problem, or is the root cause something as simple as contraction and expansion of the clay soil beneath that downspout in the third photo? The staircase in the first photo suggests the house is on a basement. Were you able to see what was going on beneath the shifting brick?

That is one disgusting horse . . .

I agree it's wicked cool, but if you took it home with you, what would you do with it?

I won't easily relinquish my state's title, but that wouldn't fly here due to the Americans with Disabilities Act. I can almost envision someone in a wheelchair, toppled over on the ground, shaking his fist at that light pole. Although not very p.c. I had to laugh out loud. Me too. Sometimes I think Bain missed his calling of being a comedian. Nah, he's still a comedian. What I've never figured out, is that women find me entertaining when I first meet them. But after a month, sometimes two? No matter what I say, they just glare at me with expressions that make The Evil Eye seem warm and inviting by comparison.

I won't easily relinquish my state's title, but that wouldn't fly here due to the Americans with Disabilities Act. I can almost envision someone in a wheelchair, toppled over on the ground, shaking his fist at that light pole.

I see spiders fungified like that pretty regularly, but have no idea what the thing in Brandon's photo is. It must be something fun, or he wouldn't titilate us.

I geek out on this stuff, too. But don't forget that maybe one out of a hundred customers will care and/or take time to read what you've written RE the electrical service, much less understand what it means. Like so many other things, they just want to know whether it's okay or not. The Standards require a description of the heating system(s), as well, but how many of your customers can tell you what the BTU rating of the "heater" is a week after the inspection?

I'm not suggesting anything, so don't get worked up. But . . . have the Docs performed a blood test lately to make certain your Lithium dose is where it needs to be? The docs say that Lithium won't help. Actually, it's very sad. It seems that the effects of raisin exposure in my early life was too great and can't be treated. Interesting. I, myself, had a raisin problem at one time. I was on the vine for . . . maybe five years. Ten to twelve ounces a day. Every day. I pretty much couldn't function without a little raisin resin in my bloodstream. But finally, I got help. It wasn't easy and it wasn't quick, but it worked. I've been raisin free for seven years now. It was my understanding that the resin dissipated--albeit slowly--over a period of months till it was completely gone. I suppose I should see a raisin specialist who attended a three-day seminar to determine whether I've sustained diminished capacities due to raisin exposure. I hope I haven't. Then again, maybe I hope I have. Lawyers love raisin-resin cases. Maybe I can find one who will file a lawsuit and grab a big-ass judgment for me. Yeah, that sounds like the ticket . . .

I'm not suggesting anything, so don't get worked up. But . . . have the Docs performed a blood test lately to make certain your Lithium dose is where it needs to be? I like Jim's style. Very critical to minute details, hits the nail right on the head, without being rude or caustic. It elevates the performance of the forum. Just MHO. Marc I appreciate you standing up for him, but fear not. My tone and intent will be readily understood.

I'm not suggesting anything, so don't get worked up. But . . . have the Docs performed a blood test lately to make certain your Lithium dose is where it needs to be?

The typical argument that you mention is complete crap. It's the fall-back position of the lazy, the incompetent, & the fearful. That said, I believe that each inspector should consider his own abilities & comfort zone when deciding what to do once he's stepped beyond the standards. In my own case, for instance, I'm happy to break down a furnace into its constituent parts when I suspect a crack in a heat exchanger (or just for the heck of it). On the other hand, I probably wouldn't dare to operate a low-water cut off on a steam boiler -- heck, I might not even be able to find the low-water cut off on a steam boiler because I only see one every 10 years or so. In those cases, I tell the customer that I'm about as familiar with steam boilers as I am with polar bears. I've read about them in books & seen them in the zoo, but as for first-hand experience, well, they need to bring in a polar bear keeper for this one. RE steam boilers, it's gratifying to hear you say that. I read some of the boiler threads, here, and have no clue what people are talking about. I see a boiler about every five years, and unfailingly tell my clients to get it checked out by someone more in the know.

Not necessarily true, is it? I've seen cases where contractors come in to upgrade an old 60 Amp service and the only thing they did was install a 200 Amp panel. The original SEC and meter base were still there along with the original power coming wiring to the meter base. - I've seen that a few times, myself. Maybe it only happens in ass backwards Kentucky.

Something that hasn't been said, is we all miss things. Whether it's your phone ringing, the sun glinting at just the right angle, thinking about your gal for a second or two, or whatever, it's gonna happen. Regardless of how bright and conscientious you are, you aren't perfect. I make three passes around the exterior of a house (along with unfinished basements) and sometimes on the third go-around, I'll notice some glaringly obvious flub that completely escaped me the first two circles. When I first started doing this, I thought, "I'm so f**king smart, I don't miss a thing." Now . . . I know better. And overlooking the occasional defect actually humbles us and makes us better at our jobs.

Mike ... you have a link for that document/website? If you Google mvma installation guidelines, it will be the first link listed. I think their web-site is currently down, however.

Forgive my ignorance on the subject, but if it is true stone, shouldn't the base rest on a support ledge due to its weight, like Mr. Luttral wrote? (vs. a weep screed). PS: When is the last time you've seen a weep screed used with cultured stone? Never. Not once. The builders and subs don't even know what one is.

I actually ENJOY being a sociopath. I've never had a bad day in my life because of it. What Terry said about being cold, calculating and manipulative? Doesn't hurt my feelings the slightest 'cause I don't have any. Gotta run. I'm having a new friend for dinner . . .

Have you been sniffin' Drano, my brother? What about kids getting burned or asphyxiated by those flues? I've never seen a B-vent terminate a couple of feet above grade (with the exception of the occasional DIY job). And what about burying the flues? I Googled and couldn't find anything definitive, but those things aren't allowed to be installed below ground, are they? I've never seen installation instructions that describe how to install subterranean B-vents. Oh, I suppose a kid could touch one one time and singe his finger and from that point on wouldn't hang around them. We have direct vent fireplace flues all over the place around here and I can't remember every hearing or reading about any kind being grieviously burned by one. They probably don't even get that hot; I've touched plenty of them and have never been burned. I've seen kids playgrounds with sewer vent stacks surfacing right in the middle of them too; I can't remember ever hearing about a kid dying out on the playground because he'd inhaled sewer gases. The burning thing aside, once that gas hits the outside air it dissipates pretty quickly. what's a kid going to do - go over to one of these throw a garbage bag around it and then stick his head in the garbage bag along with the flue and inhale deeply? I don't think so. There are bibs around the base of each of those. Those bibs are probably integrated into whatever type of waterproofing has been applied to the top of that bunker under that gravel. Those bibs take the brunt of the weather and whatever else touches them; not the B vent. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Imagine how quickly the metal will corrode when buried in soil. Also, how well will the gases draft when the flue is surrounded by frozen ground? If you have to maintain flue-pipe-termination distances from doors and windows, it only makes sense that there would be similar termination distances from pedestrians.

No you don't. There's specific reasons, all having to do with controlling the medium. Apple's control freakiness is one of the reasons all their stuff works. On one hand, no flash sucks. On another hand, how many times have other people had stuff hang up with varying versions of Flash? I've had it happen a lot. Most of the time, I shut flash off. It's another MS hairball pain in the ass AFAIC. Flash may be a pain in the keester, but sites that use it are so pervasive, one almost has to have it. Apparently, lots of merchandise order-forms use flash, and they're unusable with the iPad. Heck, my own site uses flash so that the lovely and gracious Sarah Jane can tell you how wonderful I am. No flash=no Sarah Jane. Doom, despair, and misery.

I was going to buy an iPad, but read the reviews on BestBuy's site RE the lack of flash, and opted not to get one. I'm sure it's been debated as nauseum by folks more in the know than us, but you DO have to wonder why Apple would create a web device that doesn't work with lots of sites.

Have you been sniffin' Drano, my brother? What about kids getting burned or asphyxiated by those flues? I've never seen a B-vent terminate a couple of feet above grade (with the exception of the occasional DIY job). And what about burying the flues? I Googled and couldn't find anything definitive, but those things aren't allowed to be installed below ground, are they? I've never seen installation instructions that describe how to install subterranean B-vents.

I dunno. What I DO know is that I squawked about it more than once several years ago and got overruled by my local AHJ every time. Here, on older houses, one finds 30# felt beneath whatever the siding of choice may have been. It's something folks did just 'cause they knew it was wise. Now, someone who builds 500 houses a year has a kid with an accounting degree determine how much can be saved per unit by adhering only to the absolute minimum that's required by law.

You're probably right, but I was talking about the IRC, which as Bill recently pointed out, didn't require anything behind vinyl till 2006.

It wasn't even required until a few years ago. We have a top-50 (nationally, in units sold) builder here that has thousands of houses sitting around with no WRB. I haven't heard any horror stories--yet--but not a good thing. A problem you'll run into is that the WRB wasn't mandatory in '94. Unless you found some gunk someplace, selling it as a "big issue," is gonna be tough. I'm not disagreeing, mind you, but I've traveled that path, and others just like it, in the past.

Those babies would have to be treated like chimneys in my area, so they'd have to terminate above the roofline. I've never had to look it up, 'cause I haven't seen it, but I can't imagine a B-vent is rated for direct burial.

What Terry said, but more specifically, do you want a two-year-old playing on the deck and sucking in those flue gases? Besides which, normal clearance requirements should apply. All the instructions I've ever seen mention sidewalls, not overhead, horizontal walls, but logic suggests everything about the configuration in the photos is wrong.