Richard Moore

Oh boy...you had to see the FUBAR irrigation system to believe it. Most of the PVC was exposed above ground, some just laying on the grass and some attached to the side of the house. The best part was the fenced rear yard. He had the PVC running along the back of the wood fencing with sprinkler heads poking through every few feet halfway up the fence. I've never seen anything like it...real Rube Goldberg crap that was already broken in a few places. I told my clients that the irrigation system should not be considered an asset. Actually, I hope they run away from this one. I think they will. They were certainly wavering when I left them. The house had good bones, a nice metal roof and mostly fine exterior, but everything else needed repair or replacement. Nothing that money wouldn't fix but, IMO, just too much to take on for young, first time homeowners with two small children and without a clue about houses, no matter what they can negotiate. I dropped all the hints I could. It's not a pretty report!

Back to copper clad aluminum. Our state SOP has the following... I think most associations' SOPs have something similar. Note that there's no "except when it has a nice shiny copper coating". The lack of any empirical data, one way or the other, doesn't give me the confidence to treat or report the stuff any differently from any other solid aluminum conductor.

1954, one owner home (which translates into "Never been inspected"). This guy was the "master" of lamp-cord permanent wiring, although he changed it up now and then with orange extension cords. Besides all the usual ungrounded three-prong receptacles, air splices, etc, there was an amazing array of crap on exterior walls (gotta love the power strip open to the elements). The Zinsco panel was now in a bathroom, part of a converted garage, and directly over the toilet. But, my favorite bit was the circuit wire tapped directly off the main lug. Notice how he "correctly" re-identified the white wire with black tape. That way you will know it was a hot when the house burns down! Just a taste for your viewing pleasure...there was so much more. Click to Enlarge 22.83 KB Click to Enlarge 34.22 KB Click to Enlarge 34.11 KB Click to Enlarge 40.74 KB Click to Enlarge 27.11 KB Click to Enlarge 21.85 KB Click to Enlarge 26.33 KB Click to Enlarge 40.42 KB Click to Enlarge 18.7 KB Click to Enlarge 48.82 KB

Talking of obvious plumbing leaks, here's the crawl from today...1954, one-owner home. Download Attachment: 110306X 098s.jpg 130.06 KB The pipe on the right is the water service entry, and on the left is what appears to be a cold joint. You can't really tell from the photo but water was cascading down the wall from both areas like those decorative water features. Just outside is the era-typical bent rod shut-off. Looked like it had been reefed on at some point. Click to Enlarge 55.88 KB Is "Further Excavation Needed" a report category?

I would consider an open carport to be very well ventilated. As long as there are no building openings within 5 feet or mechanical intakes within 10, I would say it's OK (with your caveat about vehicle protection). http://www.propane101.com/images/propan ... tances.gif

Mike...I found one reference to a "CH double split bus panel", which described it as a rare but good panel. Not the most authoritative site though (garden web). http://ths.gardenweb.com//forums/load/w ... 05.html?11 (6th post from the top) But it does indeed look like you might have a 12-12-12 arrangement there. If the house was vacant I would have been tempted to try the two mains and use a voltage sniffer on the lower breaker wires to see what turned off what. Of course I say that as an armchair quarterback, having had a while to think about it. In reality, I would probably be posting the same photos and kicking myself for not thinking to try that on-site. [:-banghea (Not a Guru on anything)

Before I got into this business I did a woodworking project for a young couple with two cats. My work wasn't related but they had erected what could only be described as a cat aviary at the end of their back yard. It was about 12' x 12' by 8' high, completely meshed in with chicken wire, and filled with various perches, boxes and dangling cat toys. Between the cat door at the house and the aviary was a long cat-walk running along the fence, also enclosed with chicken wire. So the cats could let themselves out, travel to their pen to enjoy the open air, but never actually be free. Cat people are weird!

Wow, that sounds like they have a R-idiculous value. I've done a bunch of homes up there (haven't we all) but have yet to see that. This home had "wood cathedrals" for attics, so walking the truss crotches was fairly easy. I don't think I want to come across it in a smaller, lower sloped attic.

That was one disadvantage. I was very hesitant to step on it even directly over the bottom chord of the trusses as it seemed my weight would transfer to the sheetrock below. So I transversed the spaces by walking in the crotches of the trusses. An interesting point, but probably not enough to say it's a problem. The roof was wood shake, but very recent and in excellent condition. I earned brownie points on this one by doing the roof (and decks) a couple of days earlier due to expected snow fall. We never did get anything heavy but there was still enough snow on some slopes that it made the prior visit worthwhile and much appreciated by the client.

Thanks. Can you think of any reason (other than Erby's) to have these? They appeared to be purposely added but it didn't seem like a logical area to have a bunch of "machines that go beep".

I found these receptacles in a living room, in the middle of a window wall that already had "regular" receptacles at the usual spacing either side. I don't know why they would need the extras but my main question is what the little green and orange pictograms are supposed to be or represent. They all tested as normal 120 volt receptacles. Any ideas? Click to Enlarge 28.62 KB

A first for me. REALLY nice 4800 sf, 1991 home today. Major renovation/upgrade in 2006. The two huge attic spaces were totally insulated with expanded foam. I saw the invoice for this and it was done by a licensed insulation contractor, also in 2006. The order specified a minimum of 5½ inches. There was at least that as far as I could tell. I've checked a couple of tables and the R value of 5½" would be right at 38...so that's good. Any input on attics insulated this way? Pros, cons? Click to Enlarge 54.16 KB

Scott, Take a look at this thread. https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... C_ID=10694 There are photos of most of the common split-bus panels there.

That's like saying don't have a built in dishwasher. Unlike here, it's very normal to have the laundry in the kitchen in Europe and if I cared at all what my kitchen looked like, I wouldn't hesitate to go the built-in route. I've been away from Blighty too long to say this with 100% certainty, but I would be willing to bet that there are very standards sizes as well as rough-outs and that replacement, if and when needed, wouldn't be a hassle at all.

I would say that Joe nailed it in one. Or Bill. [] Off topic, but it is relatively rare around here to see PVC used for DWV. ABS seems to be the material of choice by far. Is it a regional thing, and is there any good reason for one over the other?

Mike, I thought that was true and I did register a long time ago. When I went there this morning to check it still existed, and using a new browser (firefox), I was prepared to re-register as I have forgotten my username/password. However, I found I was able to access all the technical PDF's without signing in at all. The site has changed a lot since my last visit. Maybe the rules have too?

I have found good stuff in the past at the Brick Industry Association. If you go to http://www.bia.org/ , then click on Technical Notes, then Full List, it will bring up a bunch of PDF files on construction, water-proofing, materials, etc.

Whatever turns you on, Jim. Click to Enlarge 9.58 KB

The size of the poop I saw would leave a squirrel with a very sore ass. It sounds like Mike's scat (not his, the critter's) would also rule out anything smaller than a possum. There is always the infamous Norwegian Roof Beaver, but I'm fairly sure those are mythical. When we still had cats we would feed them on top of one of those carpeted cat towers in the basement. They had a cat door to the exterior and another to the main house. At one point, a possum figured out the exterior cat door and took up residence in the box section of the tower. Nasty, toothy things when you confront them!

I had something similar a couple of months ago. Never did figure out what it was or how they got in. This was the photo I put in the report... Click to Enlarge 37.21 KB Like yours, no signs of rat or mouse droppings. I googled images for raccoon & possum droppings. I'm not sure you could tell them apart.

So, there's no direct vertical support for at least three of the exterior walls of that room structure above the garage. Kind of unusual, isn't it? Any idea what they used for the garage ceiling/room floor joists? Were there central posts in the double garage space? Given everything else, I would be surprised if the brick veneer didn't crack, quake or not. I wonder if it was originally designed/engineered to have three single door openings, but then someone decided they wanted a double. Or maybe the bonus room wasn't in the original plans?

I had a quick scan over at Mike Holt's site and the consensus there is that a 3-wire (no neutral) feed is legal if only 240-volt loads are to be used. Not the smartest idea, but not breaking any codes. They do say it would be good practice to label the sub-panel clearly with something along the lines of "240 Volts Loads Only - No Neutral Available".

Definitely a yellow jacket problem.

Well...it does take your eye away from the butt ugly red and green faux finished walls! So Blair, what are the chances they adequately reinforced the floor/ceiling framing cut-out? Slim would be my guess.

Hi Jim. If we are talking about the circuit grounding conductors, from the panel to the outlets, I'm having a hard time with why those would be any more energized, or have more potential, in the OP's set-up over those emanating from a service panel where the grounds and neutrals are correctly bonded. I thought (think) the main difference and safety issue was the way neutral current is passed back to the service panel. With an improperly bonded sub, some of that current will be present along any grounding path between both panels. The whole parallel path thingy, no?