
edwardh1
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Everything posted by edwardh1
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on one of the 3 condo buildings the condo board hired an "English is not our first language crew" who installed the Hardie but decided to face nail it for some reason tho almost all HARDIE HERE IS BLIND NAILED. they over drove the nails 1/2 way through and seemed unaware that there is actually an adjustment on the compressor that can reduce the nail gun power. you can't fix stupid as ron white says. we love Hardie otherwise, my house has some, sons house etc, great stuff.
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Handyman Plumbing from a trailer inspection,
edwardh1 replied to Inspector1's topic in Plumbing Forum
Possibly those hose clamps need to be Marine rated as its near water (or will be soon)? -
Do you ever see insulation on the t and P relief valve , not on the discharge line from the valve, but on the standard side screw in valve body itself? ? on a tank, electric, heater? not factory installed insulation? Some forum folks say water heaters come with a foam like cover (like an outside faucet cover) to fit over the valve. These valves are usually warm to the touch although touchable, and really stand out in my opinion as a heat loss area, especially on a heater build to the new Post march 2015 energy standard. Cant find anything on the net, except one link to a man that tried to sell them, but that was in the past.
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Chimney chase, access to
edwardh1 replied to edwardh1's topic in Fireplaces, Chimneys & Wood Burning Appliances
what is the term , in referring to the metal top cap on a chimney "cap", that describes the practice of putting a slight raised crimp(s) or bent up crease into the top metal to make it slightly higher such that it will drain (rather than it being flat?? Thanks -
does that levitation transmit a lot of noise into the house?
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sorry. I see postings that say a electrical service disconnect is required for tank water heaters in homes. Not clear about if it is new construction or replacement of an existing heater in an existing home. But what about similar "electrical things" like dishwashers, or trash compactors, do they need a service disconnect ps English IS my first language.
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but what about a dishwasher, it (in my opinion) will get worked on more, or a wall oven, or trash compactor. cabinet mounted disconnect will look cool in the kitchen!@#$%^& does the code only mention water heaters?
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Chimney chase, access to
edwardh1 replied to edwardh1's topic in Fireplaces, Chimneys & Wood Burning Appliances
prefab fireplace with metal multi wall flue pipe, , all outside the house wall, has own foundation, so no access from house crawl space, has a prefab flue pipe inside the chase. whats a Tee? -
my house has a wood sided (lap siding) chimney chase up the side (2 story). Room inside the house there is a 2 story room with a tall ceiling (no attic access to the chimney chase). Has anyone ever seen any kind of access door or hatch to allow inspection of the inside of the chase (for water leaks etc?)
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It could have been any current-carrying part. There are lots of little bits of metal in there. Something worked itself loose or developed a small fracture or something like that. It's also possible, but very unlikely, that there was actually arcing going on inside the receptacle. Did you save it? no, I thought about it tho, 1989 house leviton or whoever would probably have blamed it on abuse, or possibly lack of scheduled maintenance in accordance with owners manual (LOL) but to me it was an odd failure. I think it was maybe 120 degrees or so you could hold your finger on it, but it was warmer than warm but cooler than too hot to touch. another web site said "dirt" will cause this but it was in my hall. house is somewhat clean (using Southern standard of course) note capital S
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no back stabbing just terminals. so. something inside the recep fAiled but what
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but what inside it failed?
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what gas do marinas in chicago sell? ethanol or pure gas?
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could not find much of this on the web. thought Id ask you folks. had a plug in flashlight, in a standard wall recep. took it out to use it, found it warm around the plug in prongs.. so I plugged it in somewhere else it was not warm. back to the outlet , still warm between the upper and lower plug in places. , so I said ,maybe a loose wire, pulled it out of the wall box, no loose wires, but it was a feed thru rcep with things downstream, I turned those things off, still warm, almost hot actually, so I replaced the receptacle (20 years old) . then it was cool normal--- ever seen this? wonder how much its cost me in heating it for all the years
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true, on my own home I saw a big variation on sheating replacement from 5 roofers. several wanted $150 a sheet of plywood. others wanted $50 a sheet with first 3 sheets free (knowing that on old roofs that there would be damaged sheets, roofers worked only with full sheets (4x8). my personal home had 8 sheets replaced (with no known inside leaks) and neighbor has 17 sheets replaced. it can be a big cost factor. roofers must be a strange breed, one man son team got angry when I asked about use of ice and water "felt" under the shingles in valleys, said they had installed shingles without it for 25 years w no leaks, said I was trying to tell them what they were doing, the other bidders laughed at that and said most manufacturers require it, and even have a cartoon on the bag showing use of the ice and water material OT somewhat but I found talking to roofers difficult, found a good one tho
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long time lurker. Might be a seller of a family home soon. One owner, one story, "mid century" how I hate that word - 1957 roof is 1x6 planked, with asphalt shingles, roof is old 20+ years. buyer will have to replace, tho it does not leak. from inside the attic there are two defects visible, - one a dark area on the edge of a roof plank where about 1 inch wide and 8 inches long where a roof leak from a pushed up roof nail was. that has been fixed years ago , it does not leak. other issue is a broken in area also on the edge of a 1x6 plank about 3 x 4 inches where in a hurricane a tree limb broke the roof plank and when it was reroofef (shingles) the roofer missed that piece. it does not leak either. I can cover these up with 1x8 planking or plywood but seems it would then be a suspicious area (whats under the wood.?) seems both can only best be fixed when the roof is replaced? agree? disagree? thanks house will most likely have a home inspection/
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any idea how a homeowner can inspect a 2 story chimney chase to detect failure of the metal /galvanized top of the chase. leaks into the inside of the chase are hard to detect as you cant get into the chase. what can you do, just a visual of the top to check for holes from rust? chases need access doors to allow inspection. Maybe I need to hire someone with a long ladder
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ips makes some great ones that go over the old ones
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yet another foreign country question- watched HGTV about 3 wellington australia homes, in different parts of the city. most of the interior doors seemed to have the door knob about 5 ft off the floor - almost face high on my short wife-and neck high on me. whats that about?
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off topic I know but whats up with foreign countries that tell you to put used toilet paper in a trash can next to the toilet? that is, dont put ANY paper in the toilet. Peru is like that and Turkey. Is it a toilet fixture problem (the toilet itself?or the buildings piping? or the streets piping?) I stayed in a semi expensive Peru place that had granite bathroom, 4 head adjustable shower flow, jacuzzi, heated tile floor that you controlled, towell warmer, and oxygen piped into the room (high altitude) but dont flush paper down the john per the big sign on the wall. The john brand was Centy, and it did a real poor job with just human waste. Seems it would be a real disease source in hot weather if there were flies about. Peru rail is like that too, and the small trash can for the paper really overflows on the floor- a mess. Made me glad to get "home", least our water is clean and we treat the sewage.
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do home inspections "test" or inspect water quality? even visually? I helped someone move their washer and before hooking up the new hoses to the new washer we flushed them. after many many many flushes I was still getting what looked like a few resin beads from the hot water side, pin head size but big enought to count, she said they had had a filter system for many years that was never used and the beads were in the system due to failure of the bead canisters, I suggested that she try flushing the hot water side using the bath tub faucet due to higher flow rate, maybe her hot water heater is full of them, I wonder about the long term health risk if any as you must be eating or drinking them if you eat or drink anything made with hot water. seems at some point they would go away from flushing but I probably did 30 full flow washer hose flushes, amount reduced but still getting some. she said 3 or so years ago all the solenoids clogged up- washer dishwasher shower head, and a plunber fixed those but must be residual beads are still there.
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Surface mounted breaker boxes - Holmes show
edwardh1 replied to edwardh1's topic in Electrical Forum
Thanks jim -
maybe its a Canada thing? On The Holmes HGTV show filmed around Toronto I think you frequently see the home's main breaker panel flat / surface mounted typically on a basement wall on a larger piece of plywood. Most of the ones in the U.S, seem to be flush mounted, that is recessed into a wall. Is that US practice a code thing? The Canada style makes the wires easier to get to as they are clearly visible, but maybe more likely to be damaged
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Mini splits are really really popular in the caribbean islands, and in new high end construction around here, especially for mother inb law suites or rooms over garages. Caribbean units are quiet and have infinetly variable air speed with remote control. I thinkj "Mericans" are afraid of them because of the motel units in the usa that are very very loud and usually clatter and thump when they shut off, they think mini splits are motel units and I have seem HVAC people try to sell the motel units, Mitsibishi invented them but there are many other mostly Japanese or foreign brands, sanyo, etc. I like the ones I have seen