mgbinspect

Since the late 70's, brick have had to be under a set moisture absorption rate, which put some manufacturers out of business and made others truck in necessary materials from other quarries to meet the standard. So, it is most likely a combination of both: a really lousy installation (skimping on the mortar) and a lousy mortar (skimping on the cement). It sounds tragically inexcusable.

That would have been my guess as well. Odd...

Regarding the two front doors: At the time I was renting from an very elderly Jehovah's Witness (early 1980's). He was probably pushing late 70's or early 80's. He owned two huge farms and raised beef cattle and feed. The way he told it, which is probably more folklore but who knows, was that Quakers always had their friends meetings in their homes in the earliest times - no church. Apparently the meetings would be hosted at different homes. And, apparently men and women did not study, worship or pray together. Men went through one door to do their thing, and the women went in the other door to do their thing. (Apparently Mennonites did this as well.) I have no idea whatsoever if what I just laid out is true. It's just how the old man explained it to me.

I normally only see it from the shut-off valve to the unit, but in the last two weeks I've seen several homes with it throughout.

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/two-front-doors.shtml What he linked.. Actually my house looked just like that one, except it had a raised front porch, and it was field stone - not quarried stone.

Well then, what is the solution - total removal and replacement of CSST with steel or copper?

Greetings fellow earthlings, Can anyone offer a compact and concise recommendation statement for this condition (Lack of bonding)? I haven't been able to bang out anything I'm satisfied with.

I'm runnin' an HHR with a 28' ladder on top and 2 other ladders inside. Sometimes I carry a 32' and sometimes a 10' stepladder. I do very little highway and I'm averaging 26 mpg. About two years ago I had the unexpected pleasure of renting an HHR from the airport, while visiting my folks in Florida. I LOVED that thing from the second I took it out on the road! It was deceptively roomy and pretty peppy. I was impressed. It has a retro look that you either love or hate. Being an old fart, I liked the look, while my daughter thought it was ugly. [:-tophat] Unfortunately, I'm resigned to NEVER be in debt again, so unless I can pay cash, I won't be owning one any time soon. Just the same, I really liked the HHR. [:-thumbu]

Ah. That reminds me of the day we came home to watch two black snakes, about six feet or so each, literally climb right up the trunk of a huge oak tree to drop onto our lower roof and disappear into our home. We lived in a 100 year old solid stone masonry Quaker farm house. (Two front doors side by side). It was also in a rural area. Our driveway alone was about 3/4 of a mile long. The closest home to us was about two miles away. The only other structure near us was a very old abandoned milking parlor made of cement blocks faced to the inside with ceramic tile. The stone walls of our home were about 24" thick at the cellar level. Plaster was applied directly to the inside of the stone. It was a masterpiece of a home. We'd been living with those snakes for a couple years and never knew it. Of course, it suddenly made perfect sense that we had never had a rodent problem. On a bit of a side note, I've tracked down and photographed a lot of wildlife, and found black snakes to be really interesting characters in the wild - tough hombres. Most snakes will kinda play opossum when you come up on them (just hoping to blend in with their surroundings by not moving), but not a full grown black snake. They won't charge you, but they won't back down either, if you close in on them. I've seen them raise up like a cobra and hiss. Their the true athlete of snakes - very quick and agile. I've heard, but not seen, that they'll even eat venomous snakes, which wouldn't surprise me after seeing them in close action. They'll get the hairs on you standing on end once your locked in on each other. I've been as close as you one dares to rattlesnakes and cotton mouths, and they never get me as jumpy as a black snake will. You never know what those suckers will do, so you have to be alert. I only know all of this because they're kinda hard to photograph, because they rarely stay put. You have to keep blocking their way in order for them to finally stop and oblige you some snap shot. Of course by then they're moving into offensive mode. Last season one really surprised me - so much so I had to go home and google what it did to be sure it was a black snake. It rattled it's tail in the leaves just like a rattlesnake. I couldn't believe it.

ditto! I used to carry a 28' and a 13'. When the feet finally fell of the 28' from thousand of miles of riding atop my camper shell, I replaced it with a 24', which covers the lion's share of stuff I have to climb. Usually if it's taller, I find another way - out a window onto a lower roof, through a hatch, or get on the adjoining building roof and hop over the firewall (most homes taller that 24' around here are city row houses, so usually I can find a way.) I'm really not all that bothered by heights (normally), and have been on some awfully tall scaffolds. I've only climbed a 40' ladder once - a roofers - and have no desire to ever do it again. [:-graduat The little 13' extension is by far the BEST ladder I've ever owned. It's light as a feather and really versitile - easily shot through a window onto a lower roof, and typically the perfect length to reach the upper roof. I bought a little giant and HATED IT. It's been in my shed since the day I bought it. The dang things are HEAVY and a real pisser to use. I can be up that 13' before one can even unfold the LG. If you haven't checked out a 13' extension, you're missing out.

My photos are of exposure 1 rated OSB installed in 2004. It seems that once the water is introduced to the OSB the lignan breaks down very quickly. The adhesives seem to have very little resistance to moisture. I don't know of any wood based material that can survive the environment your photos reflect for very long. We all know that once you put such materials in a warm moist failry sealed environment, it's pretty much doomed. All things considered, I think OSB does fantastic, and the photos are more a statement about the environment than OSB. Think about it: you're looking at OSB after seven years in the nastiest possible situation. Not bad...

I guess the only thing you have to be careful of is allowing for some expansion, then. The wall in question was about thirty feet by two and a half stories plus a gable - no openings whatsoever. There were only two buckles (each about 48" tall between two studs), but they were pretty pronounced. When I was first called back, I felt the home owner was being really hyper sensitive about the appearance of his home. I had to study the crap out of the home to actually notice the buckles, but the home buyer assured me that when the sun was just right, they stood out quite well. Once the siding was stripped away, they looked like two blisters. I know I'll be considerably more aware of spacing between sheets of OSB wall sheathing, when performing phased new construction inspections.

My personal experience with it is pretty limited. It came along just as I was really getting out of the disaster restoration game. But, a 16 x 16 patch with 1/2 plywood roofing sheathing felt like the whole affair would fold in and your foot would go into the attic. But, that same patch with OSB - you could dance on it. It must be all about that orientation Chad described. The difference between the two options was pretty amazing. All I've ever seen is exposure 1. I just did a framing inspection on a house that, by my estimate, saw 11 inches of rain while the deck was open to weather. the Advantech deck was completely unaffected. I had to call an engineer in one time a while back, because the first floor sheathing of a home under construction had been wet for so long. A hurricane had gone through, which stopped the job for quite a few days. I actually figured that the material was OK. It certainly felt like it was, except some minor swelling of the top wood strands. But, the buyer was so wary, that the only way he'd be satisfied was to hear it acceptable from an engineer. The engineer blessed it. It does handle moisture surprisingly well.

Builders here are beginning to use it as wall sheathing on the entire house, which I think is great. It sure beats fiber board sheathings, in my book. It seems that the OSB out these days tolerates a soaking pretty well.

Granted that plywood is polarized...rated in the long dimension only...but why couldn't it be used in patching a roof deck if it's oriented correctly? Marc It was my call. When you put your weight on a 16 x 16 plywood patch, it feels like a trampoline top compared to OSB, which won't give a bit.

I love OSB. In insurance work, it makes it possible to put in a 16 x 16 patch in roof sheathing, when a roof gets punctured. You can't do that with plywood. OSB is RIGID. Now particle board is trash, but OSB - a champ!

I'm standing on the ground this morning watching siding guys pull off vinyl siding to determine the cause of two buckles in a long expanse of end wall on a home that is a year and a half old. We were all convinced it was bowed studs.To our surprise, the buckles were in the OSB - between studs. Apparently, the sheathing was too tight (no space between sheets). That was a surprise. This wall get direct sun all day long.

Well, since it's not possible to thank the uncounted souls who have laid their lives down on the alter of freedom for us, the best we can do is thank those that have stood, or do now stand ready, willing and able to make that sacrifice for all of us. I offer my most sincere and profoundly inadequate thank you to Michael O, Robert, and every other TIJ guy who's put their life on the line. THANK YOU! [:-thumbu]

Thanks Bill, that really helps in understandding how it works. I imagine the only down-side to those units was getting scalded. Since there isn't a tank, I gather there was no need or application for a relief valve. Or, did the unit merely pre-date such valves?

Very nice. Here's my all time favorite find. I was walking around (basically bar hopping) in Fells Point Maryland and in the waiting room of an office was this ancient Ruud water heater. Bill K explains how it works in the thread "Beauty Ala Ruud" Click to Enlarge 88.63 KB

Another one for the record books: Click to Enlarge 41.7 KB Click to Enlarge 31.91 KB Click to Enlarge 25.8 KB Fifty-seven years old?...

That's what I thought. It still seems so unlikely, but that brick almost has to have caught an edge, and that gob of mortar left and the mortar on the top of the brick just collected, as the droppings fell down the chimney, as it went up. Funny... I honestly don't believe that mortar alone could hold a brick in place in a flue like that. The surface of a flue liner is so slick that even if you could get mortar to stick to the surface, it would just take a tap for it to pop right off.

As a mason, I'm trying to imagine how that came to be there. The only scanerio I can conjure up is that it fell in and caught the top edge of a liner. Then got spattered with mortar droppings as the chimney continued up. Is that photo looking up or down the flue"

In all honesty, once it gets to the vent side, I'm. Just happy if there is one, and don't sweat much other than that. But, that's just me.

I carry extra panel screws with me, but only for use if I lose one. I'd rather write up a defect that fix it. I'm in Mike's camp - Sometimes it just isn't worth the trouble. For instance, I'd rather fix loose receptacles and door knobs. In both cases, it's just a few turns of a screw driver. And, especially in the case of loose receptacles, if there's several of them, the the lengthy descriptions of specifically where they are drive me nuts. I've had folks insist I come back out to literally show them where things are, because they can't find it. (Usually evil folks) When someone calls with the ole' "I can't find it." line, I always wish I could use the trusty comeback that worked so well with my own five kids; "If I find it, can I spank ya? Miraculously they always found it within about the next sixty seconds. [:-graduat Similarly, why is it that we can find tons of rot from the ground, but the carpenter that was called in to "thoroughly inspect, remove and replace" can't? Happens every time...