mgbinspect

The thing that throws me, is that from the inside of the home, you can see the underside of sections of sod, which is the start of the system. I can only imagine the topside greenery becoming a slimy dead slick under the thatch. Help us out Bill. How's it all come together?

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Visited the Frontier Museum in Staunton, VA, where they have relocated farm homes from Germany, Ireland, England and several throughout America to show the European influence in early American architecture and frontier life. It was nice. I was wondering if Bill Kibbel had a hand in the development of this museum? Click to Enlarge 58.25 KB Click to Enlarge 83.01 KB Click to Enlarge 64.25 KB Click to Enlarge 48.66 KB Click to Enlarge 47.29 KB The roofing is apparently clay tiles, as seen from the attic. Click to Enlarge 42.99 KB

Si, Scott. And I've never used 11 - 13 years on a gas water heater. I'm thinking more like 15 - 20 years and more. They seem to do quite well. In my area a gas water heater will last on the average 8-10 years! Mostly due to the high amounts of minerals and the hard water we have. That's interesting. I always figured that it was maybe the higher heat with a gas water heater that somehow prevented condensation between the insulation and the tank or some such thing. Of course, I do understand that water heaters on well water in general need more routine maintenance and don't last as long. I assumed that gas water heaters, in general, across the country probably outlast electric ones, but apparently not. Gas water heaters here seem to last a very long time with no significant problems. Like Bic pens, they take a lickin' and keep on clickin'. Now, to the contrary, I posted photos here in a thread called "They Don't Make 'em like they used to", back in January of 2007, of an electric Westinghouse water heater in service for over FIFTY YEARS and still working fine. She was a beauty!!! https://inspectorsjournal.com/forum/top ... IC_ID=3960

I know I'm repeating myself, but especially when duct work is in the crawlspace, it sure is nice to take that thirty to forty percent heat gain and loss off the energy efficiency concerns list. Sealed and conditioned crawlspaces ROCK in my view - no downside other than possibly overlooking termite activity.

For what it's worth, I have warned folk about new clothes washers on 1.5" drain line and had them call back to tell me, "You were right, it tends to overwhelm the line and back up toward the end of discharge." I'd change it out. Can't help you on the plumbing side - not that good. Apparently, some of the new clothes washer pumps are a bit too mighty.

Si, Scott. And I've never used 11 - 13 years on a gas water heater. I'm thinking more like 15 - 20 years and more. They seem to do quite well.

Two different beasts. Vacuum break device for hose bibs: Click to Enlarge 13.09 KB Freeze proof hose bib: Click to Enlarge 13.77 KB Marc Thanks Marc! Now that you show a photograph of each, I have seen them both. I must admit, though, that I thought they were merely different versions of the same thing. I did not realize that one was freeze proof only. [:-graduat

It's interesting that there are things you can miss viewing a roof with binoculars and things you can miss walking a roof. I always walk around a building twice, once clockwise and once counter-clockwise. I look at each elevation close up and far back with high powered binoculars. Usually, through that exercise, you have a pretty good list of "notes to self" to formulate a plan of attack from. And, it is especially helpful in highlighting the areas of a roof and flashing that you want to get close to.

I was so glad to see our local building department finally approve sealed and conditioned crawlspaces. They have been consistently over my career the most trouble-free spaces I ever see. Builders resisted the idea for years. Back ten to fifteen years ago, when I would propose them, builders would tell me I was an idiot - "A homes gotta breathe." they'd always tout. All I knew was that Ryan Homes - a pretty run of the mill builder here - was doing sealed and conditioned crawlspaces, where they could get away with it (with the access hatch to the basement or garage), for probably forty years. And their crawlspaces were consistently the best crawlspaces I ever saw. That was enough to sell me on the idea.

[:-thumbu] Life is good. Outstanding attitude, Chad. When the going get tough, the tough get going." [:-thumbu]

In surfing for information on built up roofs to write a commercial building inspection (a restaurant) I ran across this pretty impressive chart of building component life expectancies. http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advic ... ancy.shtml In case Mike needs to wipe out the link, it can be found on oldhouseweb.com and search "life expectancy"

Isn't it actually MORE than simply a frost-free feature? I thought they were equally, if not more, in place as an anti-backflow preventor to prevent water being pulled back into the domestic water or city system. Or, are those two different beasts? If they are different, anyone have pictures showing the difference?

I'm usually rather blunt about the whole thing. I usually say to the shopper, "You are about to make the single biggest investment of your entire life. Are you sure you wish to shop price, or should you shop background?" Then I spew my entire background and number of inspections performed and encourage them to shop that and, "If you find someone with more related background and inspections done, book them." About 2/3 of the shoppers pause for a moment and book with me. So, I use a slightly different, but equally successful pitch to Mike O's. Funny story: One time a foreign price shopper called - heavy accent. I quoted him a price and he immediately said, "You too high! Can you do it for $xxx?" I had been through a really rough day and I was feeling pretty ornery already. So, on a whim I said to him, "OK, but NO CRAWLSPACE!" He paused for a second and blurted, "NO! Gotta have crawlspace." to which I said, "Oh, well then you want the full price inspection." I think I ended giving him a tiny break, but not what he was shooting for. [:-tophat]

There few and far between. We just lost our lead installer at my day job, he left for greener pastures. We have hired two guys, each with a dozen years or more of experience, to replace him. These guys are so green that I have been out in the field doing installs two or three days a week to keep the schedule moving. I have been in sales for the last twelve years and have gotten fat and a little bit rusty, but I can work circles around these guys. These two are the best of over a dozen candidates that we talked to. The trades is where you go when you can't make it anywhere else[:-banghea Tom, this is a true story - I was taught masonry from a real stickler for perfection, from Holland, who always told me, "Learn it right and the speed will come." He would go BALLISTIC if he ever heard you touch a brick with the handle of your trowel - a waste of time. If your mortar is perfect, you can merely roll a brick to the line, cut off the excess mortar and clip it on the next brick to lay and keep on keepin' on. Consequently, when I worked commercial jobs, I could be on a LONG gymnasium wall and TWO men would be FRANTICALLY working their asses off to meet me in the middle of the gymnasium wall, and their work LOOKED LIKE HELL and mine didn't even need to be cleaned! Funnier yet, they went home beat and I went on to lay another four more hours of brick on a side job. Best of all, because of my speed and clean work, when the economy tanked in the mid-70s, they laid off HALF of their 150 man work-force before they finally laid me off, even though I was the last bricklayer they hired. I was making them too much money. [:-eyebrow Only when they finally got down to the bricklaying families that were two and three generations deep in thier workforce did they finally lay me off. Now and then, one actually gets rewarded according to their capabilities.

Marc, Words cannot adequately describe my feelings when I behold a mess like this. It's the kind of stuff that makes ripping the yellow pages book in half easy. What ever happened to tradesmen?

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Oh, I go in every crawl too. If I can exhale hard enough to get through a hole, I'm going. I just HATE the design idea of putting a house on a crawlspace - not a good idea. Too much potential for a lot of bad things. Now that we're moving in the direction of 100% sealed and conditioned crawlspaces (something I've been trying to push for about twelve years), crawlspaces have finally become a pretty inert space.

I use wool fingerless military sharp-shooter gloves (surplus). I like still having my fingertips free for camera work, etc. I usually go try on a bunch of knee pads and go with a pair that feels like they'll stay in place - usually with a thigh and calf strap. The ones that surround your knee and head down you shin seem to stay in place best. I don't fool around regarding a respirator. If it can be filtered, I'm filtering. [:-snorkel

This is, unfortunately, crawlspace mecca - probably approximately 8% basements and maybe 5% slabs. The crawlspace is king here, which makes no sense to me. I'm about as fond of the idea of a crawlspace, as I am attaching decks to buildings.

(Or in the now famous words of Fireside Theatre, "We're ALL Bozos on this bus.")

And this is my 1,000th post. [:-party] Marc Congrats Marc - 1000 posts in so short of time. You officially have no life. [] Yeah, it took me four years to get to a 1000. Hard to believe isn't it? (two year sabbatical... but who's counting?...) BTW, you can all blame Terence for my return. He's the one who shot me an e-mail and asked if I was still alive. That's gonna cost you a blanket party for sure, Terence. Sorry.