Kyle Kubs

In this case I'd say you are likely correct but be careful using the diameter of the conductor. There are SE cables that have the stranded conductors compressed to reduce their cross section. If you look at a cut section from the end, the material deforms into all the voids that are normally between the round strands. The outside diameter is now reduced but it retains it's 2/0, 4/0... rating.

Never heard of him or the song. He didn't come by the holes in his blue jeans honestly, his music is purile & mawkish, and his house is absurd. - Jim Katen, Oregon Jim, I could come up with several reasons why I like you. This statement is just one of the finer ones.

Thanks Kurt. Yes there were lintels. Poorly installed like everything else, some painted, some not, most installed pretty much flush with the face of the brick so there is no hope of keeping the joint sealed and no, no flashing of any kind, no weeps anywhere... Top of Garage Doors Download Attachment: DSCN2021.JPG 947.99 KB Well the second picture doesn't show it very well but the trim around the windows is EIFS style trim with styrofoam behind it and the field of the wall is all modern hardcoat. Should there be an expansion joint/control joint between them? I really hate new houses.

That was pretty much my feeling when I looked at it. "I'd want to see sills, drip caps, thru wall flashing, end dams, wicks, and some semblance of an architectural design/detail that diverted water around the opening. Could be lots of things, but it looks like there's not anything." I figured, and was hoping, you'd be the first one to reply. Such detailing involving brickwork is definitely on my list of things I need to improve on. Anything you could point me to that would show me what it should look like?

Ok, obviously these windows are not sealed properly but what kind of detailing would you expect to see here? Just caulking? Some kind of casing bead to terminate the brick and then Caulk? Click to Enlarge 55.77 KB Also, does EIFS type trim around the windows and door need to have a control joint between it and the hardcoat? Click to Enlarge 45.07 KB This is a $1.1 Mil McMansion with every shortcut under the sun hangin in the breeze. Some of the more obvious hardcoat stucco errors. Download Attachment: DSCN1996.JPG 959.46 KB Download Attachment: DSCN2002.JPG 878.03 KB Download Attachment: DSCN2013.JPG 1063.33 KB Download Attachment: DSCN2016.JPG 894.31 KB

I'm still trying to wrap my pea brain around this. Say the ungrounded conductor shorts to the grounded conductor. The grounded conductor is attached to the neutral terminal bar, so power can return to that bar. You won't get a 240 v. reading, because you've only got power to one leg. Wouldn't current travel back on the neutral and give that reading? You've just explained a normally functioning circuit.. I think what dnoel said has merit. It would explain how there is current on the ground but the breaker doesn't trip. Probably one of those really fine quality $0.59 receptacles with a crack in just the right place. I do my run through the rooms checking outlets and such last, sometimes this is the problem with that lineup, you run into something like this and you want to pull the cover and check it out but, it's always one where you've been there 4 1/2 freagin hours already and you just don't care anymore.

Sweet. Someday I'm going to get one of those things. If nothing else I'll be able to see where animals are waiting in the woods at night before I tell the dog he's allowed to go dump. Two weeks ago I turned around and he's standing right next to a skunk! [:-bigeyes

I'd say those two things are your most probable choices but in thinking about it, what did you get between the hot & the ground?

Hi Frank, It makes sense that the through bolts would make a substantially stronger connection. But at what point does that strength become moot? I suspect that long before the bolted ledger-to-rim joist connection would fail, you'd see a failure of the connection between the deck joists and the ledger. Is there any point to making the ledger connection to the house stronger than the ledger connection to the deck joists? Isn't it kind of like trying to make a chain stronger by making one of its links *really* big? - Jim Katen, Oregon Not that it should matter in a perfect world where the whole thing is done right, but I think when you have poor or no flashing the lags will be more prone to letting go.You only need to rot the wood directly around the lag threads. With the through bolts it has to get to the point where the entire rim joist will let go or is rotted out sufficiently to let the entire washer come through it.

The nice thing is that tributes to his skill, tenacity and integrity dot the landscape or the east coast, and so they shall for hundreds of years to come. Someday, a home inspector, hopefully made more skillful by the future offshoots of the TIJ website will take a look at one of them and say something like, "they knew how to build them back then..." Makes me miss my own Father.

I don't have my books at home but I think it's R703.8? On this topic... should we have a category for interpretation? Maybe we could call it "Speaking in Code"? Our state code's R703.8: Approved corrosion-resistive flashing shall be provided in the exterior wall envelope in such a manner as to prevent entry of water . . . Silly-Putty pretty much fits the bill except for the "approved" part of the citation. The problem around here, though, is none of the local enforcement people want to take a stand and say what is or isn't approved. There is something more specific about what approved flashing is or is not. My head is swimming with several other things right now but I'll look for it. Often I find this type of supporting information not in the codes but in things like ASTM standards. As far as the felt goes that is pretty easy, the manufacturers specs list a limit of exposure to UV light... Never a shortage of dumb asses among builders.

I'm going to interject here for clarity. What Mike is talking about (NM, yellow, orange...) is the cable sheathing, the outer covering that encloses the insulated individual wires. There's typically a lot of confusion and cross use between sheathing and insulation around here so for those who are still getting familiar with what's what... The insulation is the stuff that coats/encloses the individual wires, separates them or should I say, insulates them, from contact with each other. The outer jacket being the sheathing which basically holds the individual wires together creating a cable and protecting the insulation from damage. That said, the original wiring, Knob & Tube and then eventually assembled cables such as old NM or BX had the wires insulated with a cloth loom, usually woven cotton and latter Rayon, that was saturated with rubber. (I grew up calling this Loomex, I think it was a trade name but not certain) Components in the rubber are corrosive to the Copper so it was tinned to create a barrier that protected the Copper. The outer sheathing may have been cloth loom, BX, & later PVC, still with rubberized cloth loom insulation on the enclosed wires. Once we moved to more modern plastics & thermoplastics for the insulation there was no longer a need for tinning the wire. So, if you see rubberized loom insulation it will be Tinned Copper. If you see any type of plastic it will almost certainly be Aluminum. The outer sheathing 98% of the time is also a cloth loom or BX, or unsheathed Knob & Tube when it is tinned Copper but there was an era when the outer sheathing was plastic and the insulation was still rubberized loom (I have seen this only once or twice in my career, I'm fairly certain it's not just my recent lack of sleep getting to me). Aluminum will always have a plastic insulation and non woven sheathing. By the time Aluminum came around, grounded receptacles were required by the NEC. Also if you've got an older cable that has a ground wire present but it is smaller then the main conductors, that will also certainly be Tinned Copper.

I don't comment about that stuff whatsoever. I tell my clients flat out, I'm not here for cosmetic stuff, I'm here for important stuff... Structural, major mechanical, safety hazards. They can see the carpet, floors & cabinets as well as I can. The only place I may make an exception would be if I saw damage of some kind in an otherwise pristine home or if it is a new house.

Sure, just post one and buckle in for a ride! [] [:-bigeyes - Fair warning, you'll be sorry...

There's quite a bit of heavy stuff in there for a Condo... Is it all electric? (Heat, Stove/oven, water heater, dryer)? Yes CH definitely made a split bus. As has been said, that is not one, but they did make one.

Nice... And you didn't even break the glass. Cool barn. Was that a slate roof on it?

As Bill stated, yes, the GFCI can do it's job without the ground in place. Your tester however cannot. The typical three light tester or the Suretest have to simulate a ground fault by faulting a small amount of current to ground, so when the ground isn't present, it's like calling out to someone who isn't there... In this case if it works with the test button of the receptacle it is fine. The NEC [210-7d] allows an exception for replacing ungrounded receptacles with 3 slotted, grounding receptacles on a two wire, ungrounded circuit as long as they are GFCI protected (the GFCI protection does not have to be at that receptacle), the receptacle must be clearly labeled "No Equipment Ground". (They never are, as if 99% of the population would know what that meant to them anyway...) This is considered an acceptable remedy for bathrooms, kitchens and such but it still will not provide all the protection of an equipment ground in other places, like where you would plug in a television or computer, you rely on the equipment ground for static dissipation and for things like surge bars to be able to do there jobs. Curious, what did you mean when you said "I connected the ground wire and still got an open grounded outlet with the tester"?

I have one really great reason for taking pictures if you don't. You don't have to take notes anymore. I take a picture, or several, of everything I need to remember for the report, my camera is my notepad and my memory, 1 gig.. It's really great, all the info on an A/C data plate comes home with me from one click, along with proof of how the attic was packed solid from end to end if ever needed for litigation, and it just makes the report look good. The clients get a big smile on their faces when I come down off the roof, tell them whats up there and finish with, "don't worry I took pictures, you'll see exactly what I mean". I can't even tell you how many times I've noticed something in the pictures that I didn't on site while the clients, agents and homeowners were bantering at me. Ok, so it was several reasons.

Amen. And then some.

That crap is so prevalent in this State it's unreal. I've been on jobs where they are so blatant they just walk in spouting crap like "wish I had tickets to the Yankee's game" or some other BS. Darren, you should go visit him in the slammer once a month, just to rattle his cage. Ask him if the tolerance on his backside is still up to spec.[:-bigmout

The first picture looks like what I've always called Japaneese Beetles, wouldn't have given them a second glance on an inspection. The second & third photo's are definitely Carpenter Bee Damage. They're very prevalent here. You often see them hovering around the holes this time of year if they are active. Download Attachment: DSCN1553.JPG 967.41 KB

Couldn't get under it because it is filled under the masonry deck? Maybe wicking up moisture. A seemingly odd question. What was the exterior siding on the house? Stucco perhaps?

Robert, just to enforce proper nomenclature. That is not a "B" vent. A B vent is a listed, double walled pipe. You probably already knew that, but if I don't post more, I'm going to be a two star member forever....[:-dunce]

Sounds ridiculous. It's going through the foundation wall, outside then coming back to the chimney? So if I understand what you are saying, some codes you might look at would be; Flu connector is required to be as short as possible and direct to the chimney. Sounds like it has enough bends in it to violate the maximum length of a flu connector just by the equivalent length of the bends. Pitch requirements Was there room for a barometric damper which is required. I'm sure there are others. Don't take this wrong but, are you sure you're seeing what you're seeing? What you are explaining sounds totally absurd.

Wayne, it would help if you would elaborate a bit about what kind of system it is. Venting underground to where? Is this a downfire burner? What kind of boiler, how old? Pictures? The only material I know of that you may be talking about would be Transite pipe. Asbestos/cement composite. To my knowledge there is no such specific code.