Bain

Me, too. Lots of times people will replace a three-way toggle switch with a regular dimmer switch. That drawing, Bill, is splendid. Much better than the diagrams that typically come with three-way installation instructions.

There aren't any markings on the insulation--that I can see. How's the installer going to label the circuits?

I went through three HP450s, and they all wound up with paper-feeding problems. For three years, I've used the Canon Pixma ip90v, and had no problems whatsoever. They're about three hundred bucks, but they're small, reliable, and the output is top quality.

Yeah . . . I've seen tons of mismatched drains, but never one that was actually leaking. Maybe that's why the plumbers say the things are okay. But if we don't tell our clients the connections are wrong, we'll be paying for the repairs when they eventually sell the house and some other inspector says the mismatched couplings are prohibited. It's a frustrating and recurring theme on our board, here. One tradesperson does something wrong, and a second tradesperson says it's legit after we call it defective. Mike's on the money about the transfer of liability, but still, these mini-quarrels become tiresome.

That's Frank's photo, Chris. I was talking about this kind of t'ing. I know it's wrong, but was wondering if the plumber who came in behind me was aware of something I wasn't. Image Insert: 103.79 KB

I checked out an older house this week that had a bunch of PVC and ABS drain lines glued together. I said they were wrong. The buyer, though, calls yesterday and says his plumber took a look and thought the proper "transition glue" had been used. Fishy? Yes. But I can't honestly say that I'd recognize proper or improper "transition glue." I heard in a CE class early last year that some company had created a glue that would, indeed, meld ABS and PVC, but that the glue hadn't been approved for use, yet. What do youse guys do when you see ABS and PVC glued together?

It simply reloads the page, Les. If you use the back arrows on the screen, you'll likely display the most recent "saved" copy of the page. But when you refresh, you're telling the computer to reload the page from whatever site you're checking out. Refreshing simply gives you the most recent copy of a web site page.

My experience is similar to Mark's. Some buffoon--who's an alleged expert--comes behind me with his bottle of Windex and says everything's fine. I bought a refrigerant-leak detector to better serve my clients, but no longer use it. The HVAC person summoned to repair the leak invariably said the system was fine. It's amazing, how many Schrader valves leak. But I've stopped wasting my time. I have an 8800, as well. But it seldom finds its way out of my tool bag.

In theory, it keeps debris--leaves, mainly--from blocking the vents. The caps are probably superfluous. But then again, they only cost a couple of bucks.

Absolutely, Chad.

No, Scott. They roofed over the flashings. The neoprene boots and other flashings can't be replaced without removing shingles.

. . . I mean, really. Who's this stupid? Image Insert: 127.64 KB Image Insert: 258.13 KB Image Insert: 264.04 KB

What about warnings for idiot HIs like me? More than once, rather than run back outside for a ladder, I've entered those dug-out crawlspaces head first, my hands in front of me, trying to slowly, quasi-cartwheel my way inside. It never quite goes as planned, and I invariably tell myself, "Never again . . . "

You're perfectly right, Walter. But a majority of buyers won't have enough cash on hand to afford a new furnace. And the sellers, if they disclosed that the furnace was a million years old, won't pay for a replacement unless the heat exchanger has failed or there's some other egregious problem. That's why I would have removed the burner shield, stuck my nose in the heat exchanger, and tried to find a reason for the sellers to buy my customer a new furnace. I'm not arguing. Just saying.

That's interesting, Eric. I suppose I'm an old guy. I always remove the burner shield--no, I'm never as technically correct as Mike--to check out the heat exchanger.

It always looks so seamless and easy when performed by someone who knows what he's doing . . . I could probably try that a thousand times and not even come close to actually accomplishing it.

I remember when I first heard the word "tack," Kurt. It was during my first and only attempt at windsurfing. I was with a friend in the Florida intracoastal, using a big--meaning easy to balance for the uninitiated--beginner's board. Anyhow, I had no problem balancing on the thing and pulling the sail out of the water. Then, with the wind at my back and the sun gleaming down from above, that board took off and I was slicing through the swells. It was truly glorious, gliding across the sea, listening to the water slapping against the board, breathing in the tang of the salty air. I don't remember how far we went--a mile, maybe two--but we decided to head back to shore. No problem, right? So I hopped into the water to cool off, turned the board around, climbed back on and pulled up the sail . . . and nothing happened. It wouldn't move. I swiveled the sail, changed positions, and still nothing. "What's up?" I asked my friend. "You're going into the wind now," he said. "You have to tack." "What's a tack?" "You have to let the wind push you to the side and move diagonally back to shore." "You're giving me this f**king lesson now?" Long story short, I tried for nearly an hour to entice that board to move in the right direction and had no luck whatsoever. I got tired, of course, and I was thirsty, and suddenly just remaining on the board became a chore. Ultimately I surrendered and paddled the board, with the sail dragging along in the water, to shore. Not the shore that I had started from. My friend later showed up in his truck to collect my exhausted rear-end and the board. I'm a complete and utter failure when it comes to tacking. I can't even imagine trying to pull off a jibe.

I recently saw a Level II performed on a pre-fab fireplace and was surprised by how simplistic the process was. Maybe it was the person doing the work, but the inspection was far from exhaustive. I've seen tons of rusted and/or cracked B-vents that were pristine below the roof line. Doesn't the zinc coating just erode away after awhile and Mother Nature starts doing her thing?

Isn't it pretty rare to have wooden floor and wall framing within the main level in Florida because of Formosan termites?

Fascinating, Jim. I never would have guessed the cams were capable of seeing so much. There's only one company in my area--that I'm aware of--that scopes drain lines, and I've never been present when they were doing their thing.

How well do those cams work on cast-iron drains? Isn't it difficult to see small cracks and similar problems due to gunk and build-up?

But, too, there are different kinds of intelligence and innate abilities that we are simply hardwired with from birth. My best friend--who now owns a successful company with 100+ employees--and I were roommates throughout most of college. I remember staring into a Calculus textbook when we were freshmen, and saying aloud, "I simply don't get it. This makes no sense whatsoever." He'd say, "Of course it does," and then explain it as if it were as logical as 2 + 2. When it came to writing, though, or truly understanding something he'd read, he was at an utter loss. To this day, and I love him, if he wrote a one-page description of anything, you'd swear it was created by an eighth-grader. It wasn't a matter of one person being more gifted than the other, it was just the way our brains perceived whatever we were looking at. Even now, he's a Sudoku solver whereas I work the NY Times crossword every day. And it's not that I'm not logical or incapable of solving problems--I once belonged to Mensa 'cause I thought it would be a cool way to meet chicks--it's just that my brain isn't wired to wrap itself around calculus equations. I did pass, oh-by-the-way. But only barely.

A foot and a half or so. It wasn't overtly damp, but I didn't check it with a meter or anything. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense. The window was a single pane that wasn't well sealed, and it's been raining here lately.

But it didn't just beep once. The light remained on and the beeping was constant.

So I checked some old wiring in an attic with a voltage tick, and it beeped. Next, without really thinking, I checked the old SE wires--which were connected to nothing--and the voltage tick beeped. I moved the thing away from the wires, but then it beeped again when it was near a wooden window sill. Any ideas about why the voltage tick would misbehave? This is not a Katenesque trick question; I'm nowhere near as clever as he is. Image Insert: 132.74 KB Image Insert: 100.52 KB