Bain

Michelle, You need to know that 48-hour tests are permitted for real estate transactions, but because the levels vary so divergently, NEHA says that a minimum 6-month test should occur to accurately test a house for radon. So . . . the two-day test won't really tell you whether the mitigation system is operating correctly, and if it's a fail after six months, then your family has been exposed to radon for that length of time.

Those aren't shims. They're stacked boards that are serving as a pier. Something no one has mentioned is the prevention of uplift and lateral displacement. And don't you want the components of a pier to serve as a single, supportive member? As we know, in real time, those piers could perform swimmingly for many, many decades. But if someone is spending his dough, and buying a house, why not buy one a little less idiotic?

I know a certain dumbass who turned one of those things on once, decided it was functional, and went about his business. Ten minutes later, this same dumbass walked into the living room of the house he was in, and was dismayed to see soot and ashes covering the furniture--and still dancing in the air a little--along with pretty much everything else in the room. Dumbass then realized that the fireplace damper was open when he switched on the whole-house ventilation fan, and that the contents of the firebox were sucked into the living room. Dumbass learned a very important lesson that day. Signed, Dumbass

I don't have anything empirical to support my position, but I've seen the little tendrils burrow into masonry joints and cause them to . . . delaminate, for lack of a better word.

I think you nailed it, but one has to wonder why the galvanized "vent" to the right had to be replaced with PVC. Maybe the drain to the left was the original vent, and the tee was reversed because someone grew tired of the clothes washer dumping water into the backyard.

As a friend of ours said during a lecture I attended in the recent past, the old portion of the house usually isn't too bad, it's the crappy additions with the horrid crawlspaces that are all screwed up. (And see, some of us actually paid attention to that rap you were laying down). I'd want to know how many additions there are, what's beneath them, how many HVAC systems are in place, and other pertinent info before telling them what my fee would be. Marc, with nothing but fondness and respect, your are giving your time away if you'd check out 11K sq. ft. for eight hundred bucks. I'd charge somewhere around three times that much here in ass-backward Kentucky.

Bill: Roger that. John: Like Jim said, it's fairly common. You can typically eyeball the intake- and flue-pipes and know whether they're correct. If a finished basement is involved, you can put a hand on the draft hood horizontal-vent-termination ports when the furnace is fired to see what's up.

There have been some recent threads about sizing furnaces and ductwork, and other installation nuances. I was reminded of those threads when I saw the draft hood in this photo. There's one way to do it correctly, and one way to do it wrong and, almost predictably, the schmuck got it wrong. Do I want THIS installer telling me how large my furnace should be, and how the ductwork should be configured? hahahahahahahaha . . . . . . Click to Enlarge 60.21 KB

Ha, ha. Can you two take anything seriously?

. . . is just there, and serves no purpose. Is there a name for this particular architectural detail that is sort of, but not really, a widow's walk? And was there any sort of ostensible reason--real or imagined--for the door to be there? To me, the door is the nose in the middle of a large smiley face that has some sort of Goth shit on its cheek. The small window--which I assume is above a staircase--detracts from the symmetry of the rest of the house and doesn't really make sense to me either. FYI, the house is in my neighborhood and when I'm walking my dog and not thinking about myself, which seldom happens, I sometimes stroll by this house and wonder how its design originated. Click to Enlarge 120.73 KB

Coincidentally, I've been going through a phase recently, but I'm not quite sure how to measure across my generator terminals. Might be fun, though . . .

Which is why I shouldn't eat dinner, check out the news, and tap, tap, tap on TIJ with fried synapses after a ten-hour day. But I'm sure it will happen again . . .

I'm sure it depends upon the moisture content, but white book-page paper doesn't combust until it reaches 451 degrees (With a nod to Kurt Vonnegut). I imagine the paper in drywall is somewhat similar, so 180 degrees is well below its ignition point.

Well, but if you've ever used Manual J and tried to apply its principles--and I have--you'll learn that it ultimately requires some subjective reasoning, and small amounts of guess-work and interjection-of-experience. A baseline is necessary, I suppose, but don't for a minute think you can use Manual J, enter a bunch of values, and wind up with absolute figure for what a particular house or building needs.

I see the same thing all the time and, while it seems wicked unsafe, I've never heard of any problems associated with it. And . . . probably more than half of the fireplaces I come across have big-ass televisions above them.

There were two really good articles in the NYT about this maybe . . . three weeks ago. The first article detailed how efficient and amazing the production process is, and the second described the deleterious effects on employees. It was fascinating stuff.

Oh . . . right. Nevermind.

Ha ha. Those things are 40-50 years old, and I have no clue why they were ever necessary. Maybe the disposals were more fragile if run dry. Or . . . maybe the doodad salesperson was good at convincing contractors to buy something they didn't need.

I mentioned Pila chargers in this thread--and Kurt responded--but now the post is missing. It doesn't really matter, but why would it disappear if I didn't delete it?

Kevin posted a photo of one of these gizmos recently, and I found another today. Mine was disconnected from its power source, and its cover had been removed. I realize the purpose of the thing is to prevent the disposal from operating unless water is running. But I'm not sure about the exact process. Apparently the spring on the bottom of the rocker arm maintains a connection between the adjustable screw-contact on the upper portion of the rocker arm and the contact on the wiring box. When water is run, I'm assuming there's a little impeller in the pipe that overcomes the tension of the spring, separates the contacts, and somehow makes the electrical connection. I'm curious, though. What actually happens when the contacts between the upper rocker arm and the box containing the wiring screws are separated? By what process does that allow current to flow? Download Attachment: DSC06407.JPG 1984.76 KB

Actually, there isn't any check box for missing septic systems. Rather there's a section of the disclosure in which "Private Septic" or "Public Sewer" is checked. I assume in Erby's instance, neither box was marked.

Here's a dirty coil. I'm looking through old photos--that aren't at all organized--for my web site and can zap more to you as I find them. I'm certain I have some frozen coils. Download Attachment: DSC02612.JPG 926.83 KB

I vote lame, as well. Deal Killer is a complete misnomer. Everything can be addressed, and everything can be righted. The questions are what's it gonna cost, and who's gonna pay for it? The deal is "killed" when parties can't come to terms or, as often happens, the agents lack negotiating skills to work out the problems. The physician/specialist cliche is . . . well, lame. The guy had an opportunity to actually explain something to the realtor and blew it. By the way, that guy totally looks like G. Gordon Liddy.

(Or you could tell people there's a f**king step beneath the garage door and they need to be mindful of it. )

Marc definitely was not giving Chad "the look." He simply didn't understand how Jeopardy is played. Chad absolutely gave Marc "the look," but it was the subtle and often misunderstood reverse-look variation. Chad's reasoning was correct, cause wit that has to be explained is an epic fail--sort of like if you have to add a smiley (In my opinion) to let a reader know you're joking, the writing was weak in the first place (In my opinion). No "looks" at all were cast by Jim Katen. He was politely explaining--in a dorksome kind of way--why Chad's joke was amusing. On a side note, Jim didn't respond to my recent "Is she a post or isn't she?" question because he was aware that I was joking, even though my question was sans aforementioned smiley face (Or, perhaps he considers me a moron beyond redemption and didn't want to waste his time. I, being a large fan of repression, choose to believe the former.). Marc now gets the joke, but I would wager he first Googled "Jeopardy" to make certain Jim was playing straight with him and that a second joke wasn't occurring that he wasn't aware of. I am currently the recipient of "the look" because my dog refuses to believe anything is more important than having balls tossed to him in my backyard. Interestingly, if I had placed a smiley face behind balls in the last sentence, people would read it again because they would think the word "balls" was meant to be perceived in a lewd way.