rlskfoster

From what I understand, you can make any stove top gas burner throw off considerable CO by just throwing a pan over the flame. I haven't tested this myself. Anyone else heard this. Buster

For some reason I remember this guys name coming up in the past on this site or over at Inspection News as a Texas Inspector who also did not show up on the TREC list. I am pretty sure that was the name. What about it DesertDweller are you for real?

It sounds like it was formed with a slight lean, if, I understand what you are saying, that the side of a formed poured in place concrete slab has a tilt from the ground to the top of the 8 inch thick of 1/4 inch, in or out doesn't really matter. Is it only on one side of the slab or does the opposite side of the slab have a corresponding lean. If it was just on one side I would think more formed out of square and would not call for a PE.

That is a very good thought, because, they would move independently of each other, I guess it could act like a hinge. The good thing for him is his particular area of North Texas is known for its rock and not clay. I know it is probably in his area, because North Texas full of clay and foundation repair companies, but, we laugh at how long it takes the utility construction to dig down the easements in his particular area. I think that he should plan on having a PE design this thing and not just have a concrete guy come out and poor a slab. Thanks,

Does anyone know what the downside of adding on to a post-tension foundation would be, other than covering some of the ends. A friend is thinking of building an addition on to his house and he was curious if their are any associated problems. I figured I could post it here and see what, if any, the downsides would be. Thanks,

Donald, I agree you gotta write it up and tell people about the hazards of aluminum wire connections. I just sometimes wonder about the process that goes on to come up with a decision about accepted versus not accepted. I gotta believe that the people that work at testing agencies are human and so sometimes I think an agenda can get in the way or an outside influence can be exerted. AMP sure wants to sell you an expensive set of equipment to do it "right". Ideal wants to sell purple connectors. It still goes to the connection and if the testers at CPSC believe that a crimped connection is fool proof, they need to pull their collective head out and see who might be running the crimp tool. CPSC dropped the ball on FPE years ago,in that,if they are as bad as that small sample seemed to indicate, then CPSC should not have caved to big money and outside influence, they should have demanded a recall or at least done a far more comprehensive and definitive study. That alone has always given me pause when I think about any edict they issue. So with that in mind I sometimes wonder if the bad connection issue is similar to telling us that a sweetener will cause the Big C and then later it is revealed the lab rat got cancer after consuming the equivalent of 40 lbs of sweetener a day for ten years(I'm exagerating, but, you know what I mean). I have over the years seen many more associated FPE problems such as fires, smoked equipment and scorched bus bars. The bus bars overheating are almost always related to someone not getting a breaker stabbed right and then having a large continuous load on that breaker. If you only knew how many fires I have been on that started because of an overloaded extension cord. The cord fries and starts a fire. I know a lot of the fires had FPE panels and a breaker did not trip. But I've seen GE, Square D and other brands and if a breaker had tripped there would have been no fire. So was the load enough to trip the breaker or was it cheap extension cords that got hot enough to light off a combustible but not enough amperage overload to trip a breaker? Who knows. If there was a FPE panel I automatically assume it must have been the Federal Breakers but I really don't know. Donald I read your posts and I always respect what you and a number of other guys on this board have to say about this business and the issues involved, so thanks for letting me rant a little and like you said I'll report it and go on about my business. That's all I can do as a HI.

I know I'll get flamed for this, but, here goes. I can tell you that the industry standard in this area (Fort Worth/Arlington) was red scotchloks, de-ox and copper wires to pigtail the aluminum. I know from years of personal experience that this was accepted practice by local contractors. I pigtailed the aluminum in my Mom and Dads house in 1978 or 1979 just as I had been taught and had already done a ton of times in other homes (multiply this times other contractors in the area practicing the same application). I've seen the CPCS articles and pictures of burned connectors and I have never seen any negative problems associated with the way we were doing the pigtails. Flash forward to 2003 and when we remodeled my Moms kitchen I got a first hand look at the pigtailed connections from over twenty years ago in high use areas. So what do you think I found-burned out connections. Nope. Looked like I had spliced them yesterday. This is the most personal connection I have , but, this is a small town and I did this to a bunch of homes. No one has ever called and said, " House burned down. Started in an outlet you "fixed" for me." I have been a Fireman in my home town (Burleson) and Fort Worth since 1983. I can tell you I have made more fires from copper related bad connections than aluminum. I'm not saying I have not seen scorched aluminum connections that have gotten hot and caused a problem. I 'm saying that I have seen far more copper related problems. Here is what I beleive to be true. # 1-Copper is more prevalent than aluminum so I see more copper related problems. #2- It is still all about the connection and who made them. I do believe a poor aluminum connection will manifest itself sooner than a copper one, but, I think that if all the "improper" pig-tailing in this area was truly the horrible aberration that it is made out to be- we would be burning them down every day and that is simply not the truth. A poor connection is a poor connection no matter what the material and I think even the "approved" connectors can be improperly installed and cause a problem. My view from my slice of the world. Flame suit on! Buster

I inspected a townhome yesterday that had both meter and service disconnects on one residents side of the fence. The respective panels were set in side the homes and had no main breaker. I felt that this makes the service disconnect inaccessible for my client. I haven't see this set up before, but, every other townhome in this addition was done the same way. What I usually see is the meter base set in the middle of the property and each meter set on its respective side or in an area that is accessible to both residents. I don't see that many "townhomes", but, I have done alot of duplexes and the duplexes are always set up with meters and disconnects or panels on respective sides. Has anyone run across a set up like this and is it an acceptable practice. Truthfully, I seriously doubt the owners are gonna move the service. thanks, Buster

He is saying that the 15 amp breaker is not defective. The unit is rated at 3.6 kw which pulls 15 amps. So this unit is pulling 15 amps on a fifteen amp breaker. All is well. The wrong part is simply that the manufacturer recommends 20 amps. I think you are confusing the 0-4.8 kw=20-amp part as implying this unit is a 4.8 kw unit. It is 3.6 amps @ 15 amps draw. Buster

Hey Kurt our little town is going wireless. Our city is putting in wireless network that can be accessed for a small monthly fee. I believe that some of the access is free like public info, but, if you want to use it for wireless access you have to pay. It seems that it was pretty reasonable and you can access over a large area. the main reason they are doing it is for Public Works, Police and Fire vehicle mounted computers. it is pretty cool that the rest of the city can take advantage of it. I am sure I'll end up signing up when they finish the system. Buster

Ya gotta love this. 2/0 aluminum THHN service entrance cable from the meter base down the wall and into the panel. I love homes in the county. You never know what you'll find. Download Attachment: Spake 039.jpg 46.32 KB

Thats probably it. The wood is solid and did not seem to be decaying. No vapor barrier. We seldom have a vapor barrier in these parts. Dryer vented into crawl and I'm sure that did not help. Thanks, Buster.

Does any body recognize this white and green stuff. It was all over the joists and girders in todays inspection. It would wipe away like dust. Buster Download Attachment: Stevenson 046.jpg 42.55 KB Download Attachment: Stevenson 045.jpg 44.34 KB

I believe that the weatherproof boxes can only be penetrated in the lower third of the box. Any penetration higher requires a Myers hub or other approved raintight hub and I don't see that on any of the penetrations above the bottom third. Buster

Gotta share this lesson learned. Fort Worth,Texas was hit by a tornado a few years ago and I am on the Fire department Swift Water/Dive/Rescue Team, We had some people swept away in the heavy rains that came with the Tornado. That night and the next day we wore our wet suits as we searched all today in the bottom lands looking for a body. At several points I had to peel the suit down to pee. within a few days I was swollen up like you cannot believe. I had to do the steroids and anti-histamines, also. it took awhile for everything to return to normal. It had to be one of the most miserable times of my life. I was glad to get rid of the sores and itching but it was too bad the swelling went away. If you know what I mean! Buster

I am not up to date on this code, so correct me if i'm wrong, but, back in the day a lite fixture greater than eight feet from ground was not required to be grounded. I find so many newer homes have nine foot and taller ceilings. Does anyone know if this old rule has been changed.

Tom, This looks exactly like what has happened to the shingles in question. In fact, some of the pictures at the web-site could be swapped with my pictures and nobody would know the difference. I have made my client aware and he is going to look into the situation. I appreciate the response because I learned something new today. Thanks, Tom! Buster

The house was built in 1991 and I'm figuring the original roof. The tears were for the most part in the same direction diagonally and it was like this over the entire roof. House was about 2000 sf under roof. There was an active leak in two locations. We have been in a drought for a while but last weekend we got 3 inches of rain over 48 hours. The carpet was even wet in one location. I was even wondering if the whole frame of the house could have twisted as the one corner dropped but I have seen a whole lot more movement than this house has and the roofs don't look like this one. Oh well it may just be a head scratcher! I advised a new roof and an Engineer to look at the one corner. Thanks, Buster

What could cause this type of damage. The shingles are torn at the same angle all over the roof. There was some foundation movement but not much more than typical for around here and it was only in one corner. The attic structure that I could see looked good with no pulled rafters and supported spans with purlins. The home has several vaulted ceiling ceilings so alot of the framing was not visible. The roof was bad and buyer is asking for a new one, but, I am curious about the cause. Buster Download Attachment: Bailey 2 026.jpg 112.34 KB Download Attachment: Bailey 2 020.jpg 108.82 KB Download Attachment: Bailey 2 025.jpg 109.53 KB

That is definately a flush mount inside panel and would not be allowed for exterior use. To expound on mounting a panel upside down, it would would definately not be allowed on a raintight panel because you would have knockouts on the top which could allow water penetration, the exterior cover would open to the bottom restricting access and it would probably catch rain as well. On an exterior panel you cannot even penetrate the upper two-thirds of a panel unless you use a Myers hub or other approved device that prevents water from entering at the penetration. Buster

It does not necessarily have to be a green screw. Most of the ones I see are the same material and color as the bus bar itself or it is a little flexible strap that is also the grey metal color. i would see if I could tell if there was a screw that goes throught the bus bar into the box. If there was no bond screw or strap the panel enclosure and meter base itself would not be bonded to the grounding and grounded conductors. Buster

It is 2 inch pvc and if I remember right it they would probably both tie to the main drain within 8 foot. It is more than four inches, I would say about six to eight inches. One of them was off a tub and the other was from a washer box so it would definately exceed the 24 inch rule. The only vents in this house came from the toilets. I had written up a couple of s-traps under sinks but I forgot about venting the other drains. Could you put air admittance valves somewhere? That was what I suggested for the sink traps. This was an old house out in the country and had been remodeled many times over. Most of it incorrectly. Thanks for the good info on plumbing. Buster

Are these traps functional or is this a total waste of glue and couplings? I have never seen anything like this and I don't know why it would or would not function as a trap. Plumbing is not a strong suit of mine. Thanks, Buster Download Attachment: Trimble Stull 060.jpg 78.5 KB

Small vertical cracks are not generally a concern and can usually be classed as drying a curing cracks. If no other settlement issues inside the house I would feel okay with the sidewalk problems not being associated with a foundation problem and would note them as a possible trip hazard. I live in an area of expansive clay soils in North Texas and see upheaval of the sidewalks and drives that do not reflect on the integrity of the foundation. You are looking at unsupported 4 inch concrete that probably has 4 inch square wire for strength versus a foundation that should have grade beams and steel cables. The post-tension design of a foundation can be "defeated" by the expansive clay soils if proper drainage and foundation maintenance is not addressed. Post-tensioned cable systems were designed for expansive soils and allows for more movement tolerance and flex, but, I still see problems for foundations with post-tensioned cable when the drainage and maintenance issues are not addressed. Buster

Thanks guys, I think it is probably the Icynene and a newer install than from 1973. There was some remants of rockwool insulation in a few places. It was not completely hard, more like a stiff foam rubber, in all places. I was walking on the rafters and it would smush alittle and sorta spring back. It did have some issues concerning the b-vent that needs to be fixed. I just e-mailed the clients with a couple of web sites. I told them I had limited experience with it in this type of installation, but, from what I have read since last night and this morning it should be okay. Merry Christmas! Buster Download Attachment: Sanchez 037.jpg 83.6 KB