hausdok

Hi Robert, I used to have a copy; but I loaned it to someone and I can't remember who. Sooo.... I do have a draft copy of the 2000 edition that Douglas sent to me for comments somewhere around 1998-1999. You're welcome to borrow it if you'd like. I'm headed to Olympia on Thursday to DOL to participate in an exam writing session with the new testing vendor. If you'd like, I can bring it along and you could swing by Olympia and pick it up at DOL. Let me know what you'd like to do. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm sorry, I can't make heads or tails of what you just wrote here. First, tell us what you are describing when you say "fresh air vents" in your first sentence and tell us what kind of moisture problem you'd experienced. Ice dam? Do you mean some frost accumulating on the cold concrete because the soil outide that wall is frozen solid and the wall has dropped to freezing? That would be normal in a completely sealed space with no way for moisture to escape and a wall that's 32°F or lower; but I guess you know that and you're only trying to show us that frost is accumulating on the wall.Click to Enlarge 29.3 KB You just lost me again. What's 7inches off the floor in a five gallon bucket? The water heater? The fresh air vent? Where is this bucket; inside or outside? If outside, don't you mean 7inches off the "ground". Are you now describing a fresh air combustion air vent - meaning that you've got an ordinary gravity vent type of water heater in that space with air pair of combustion air ducts coming into that area? Again, very confusing explanation. Is this a 4-inch exhaust or fresh air intake vent next to a a 6-inch exhaust or 6-inch intake vent? When you say "for the plenum" are you talking about a vent that dumps fresh air into the warm air system when an exhaust system comes on to remove moisture-laden air from the house? If you are talking about a Category IV (direct vent) furnace and Category IV water heater, then you need to be explicit about whether you are describing intake vents or exhaust vents and where they are located, if you expect us to be able to understand correctly what you are describing. Also, if you have a system that uses fresh air pulled into the heated air supply to periodically replace the air in your house; and that's the "plenum" vent you are talking about, you need to more carefully desribe that system to us. So far, it sounds like you've disconnected a fresh air intake system from the house's return air system - which is going to play hell with indoor humidity. Which vents? Furnace intake vents? Furnace exhaust vents? I see what look like fresh air intake vents of the type one normally sees connected to a pair of ducts that provide combustion air to a space containing gas appliances - one usually ending within a foot of the ceiling and the other within a foot of the floor. I still can't figure out what you're saying because I don't know what each of these "vents" does. If the 6-inch "vent" is a fresh air intake and the 4-inch "vent" is an exhaust outlet, this would be very bad; however, based on the descriptions above I can't even guess what you're saying here. Can't say until I can understand what it is you've described. First you said that you had a direct vent furnace but a direct vent furnace gets all of it's combustion air from outside. There is no way that a properly installed direct vent furnace can cause a dryer to backdraft because it's not getting it's combustion air from inside. The same goes for a water heater if it's a direct vent type. If the water heater is a conventional type with a gravity vent, having a clothes dryer in the same air space as the water heater is dangerous because whenever the dryer kicks on it will depressurize the space around it and cause the water heater to backdraft to the dryer. When you shut the dryer off, the water heater may continue to backdraft into that space if the draft from it's own exhaust vent isn't strong enough. The only way that the direct vent furnace can cause the dryer to backdraft is if you've got a cold air return intake in close proximity to that dryer. In that case, when the blower in the air handler comes on, the return air intake will depressurize the area around it and cause the pilot (if there is one) or the dryer burner to backdraft if the suction from that fresh air intake exceeds the suction caused by the dryer intake. Also, if there is a cold air return in that basement and you've got a gravity vent type of water heater, and you haven't provided sufficient outside air, every time the furnace air handler kicks on and depressurizes that basement the return air will cause the water heater to backdraft into that basement. As for the dryer, it sound like you might have a clogged, or nearly completely clogged, exhaust duct on that dryer and exhaust from the dryer is backing up into the drum. In other words, you've got a lint fire waiting to happen and you might be starving the water heater for oxygen. A backdrafting water heater caused by a dryer in close proximity, combined with a clogged dryer vent, would explain a lot of excess humidity in the basement. Clean the dryer exhaust duct all the way to terminus and eliminate any corrugated flexible ducting or connectors. Make sure that the joints are taped and sealed but don't use any screws at the joints. If the dryer is within close proximity (10ft.) of that water heater (if it's a gravity vent type water heater) - move it much further away and get plenty of fresh air from outside into that basement, or build a room around that furnace and water heater with fresh air into it from outside and seal tha room off from the rest of the basement and especially away from that clothes dryer and any other fan sources in the basement. That's all I could make heads or tails of. Until you do a better job of describing what you've got, we're all left wondering what the hell you're talking about. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Richard, Thanks very much. That one got saved to my own files. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yep, Rag wrap. 60°C cable. It doesn't like heat at all. Does well in our region but not so well in attics in hotter parts of the country. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I spent a year at the Presidio of Monterey about a hundred miles south of San Francisco learning German back in 1983. I can attest to the fact that it gets pretty danged cold there. What is it Mark Twain once said? "The coldest winter I ever spent in my life was spent in Monterey" or some such. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

But your question was answered early on. Then when those answering opined that what you say you did in the OP to correct that house is wrong, you started touting your "experience" again. Are you saying that a city building inspector, who may have never been an electrician or in the trades, just by virtue of his/her position is better informed? If so, you're in the wrong venue for that, because we routinely see poor calls made by municipal inspectors here and many of us have had to show municipal inspectors on multiple occasions why the calls they've been making are flawed. If all you came away from that link with is the idea that a crimp tool is required, you clearly didn't bother to do any in-depth reading over there. I'm through here. There's no point in responding anymore when it's obvious you aren't listening. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Plummen, You're still standing over the tables of other patrons who aren't listening to you and spraying spittle on them. If you don't like the fact that the other guests in here criticize some in the trades, I suggest you go out the door, drive down the street and go to an establishment frequented by trades where you'll feel more comfortable. You keep talking about your "experience" and seem to expect that folks here should accept your opinion as gospel, because you are in the trades, when you clearly haven't educated yourself on the proper methods to be used for resolving aluminum wiring issues. Give it up, you aren't going to earn any props in here for standing there and trying to defend a jacklegged and dangerous way of cleaning up aluminum wiring. Even a newbie home inspector an hour out of a decent training program, without any experience in the trades, is still making a better call, by recommending correction with Copalum or Alumiconn connectors, than you are by stating that it's ok to smear anti-oxidation paste on dissimilar metals and then shove them into a wire nut that's not designed nor rated for connecting copper to aluminum wires, paste or not. I'll put the link up again, this time not imbedded in text. Please go to that link and do some reading, so that you can educate yourself about what works and what doesn't work to fix aluminum wiring. Once you've finished reading about the research that shows that what you've done is dangerous, please go back to your customer's house and clean up that very dangerous pigtailing job that you did. Here's the link: http://www.inspectapedia.com/aluminum/AluReduceRisk.htm ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Rename the photo and make sure that the name of the picture file doesn't have any spaces or special symbols in it and it will post. OT - OF!!! M.

They're providing ventilation with a whole house heat recovery ventilator with merv filters and ventilation to each room. There's really no reason why sick house syndrome would be an issue due to tightness. With that kind of ventilation and filtration, the air in the home is probably healthier than the typical new tract built home. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, this is a home inspectors' site and the "patrons" are home inspectors, aren't they? Now, if I went and hung out on an HVAC forum and started dissing the patrons there, I'd probably be doing exactly what, oh, I dunno, YOU are doing, wouldn't I? I know the thread you are referring to, can you tell me the specific post where a home inspector called himself or home inspectors Gods, or is that a little bit of theatrical embellishment made by you because you felt slighted by the tone that thread took? I'll bet you I can go to any HVAC forum on the planet right now and find one or two posts where the HVAC guys are bitching about those damned home inspectors. Maybe I'd even find you participating in one or two of those discussions, and laying into those (sneer) so-called home inspectors. No? You're still spending most of your time not bringing anything to the table here. We've got other trades that hang here regularly who are very helpful and want to help make our profession be better. They don't spend a lot of time trying to find fault here and they, like us, know there's a lot of room for improvement in their own profession, so they've adopted a thick hide when here and very graciously take it and return it by helping here and earning the respect of the brethren. Do you think you're big enough of a man to do that, or is it more important for you to find fault here. I'm beginning to think that you might have recently been traumatized by something a home inspector wrote and hanging out here and sniping at inspectors is your way of getting payback. Is that why you are really here? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I think he's talking about a tee on the bottom of the flue where all of the detritus that accumulates as a result of condensation collects - sort of a like a drip leg on a gas pipe. Those seem to be used a lot for oversized flues and they eventually rust out. However, most of the condensate ends up in that cap area instead of draining back down to the furnace, so the furnace or boiler isn't damaged a lot and an oversized flue can continue to be used. If it's what I think it is, I'd call it a jackleg practice unless someone could show me where it's required by code or recommended by a manufacturer. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Good for him. Unless you were using Ideal purple wire nuts, I think you made improper connections. The Ideal purples are the only nuts I'm aware of that are rated for connecting aluminum to copper. I prefer, the Alumiconn connectors, by the way. Check them out. Home inspectors should be checking for aluminum wiring at the panel. Most inspectors don't remove coverplates from receptacles or switches. If a home inspector sees aluminum wiring in the 15- and 20-amp branch circuits he should be recommending, at the very least, further evaluation by an electrician. - Jim Katen, Oregon ive got a state electrical contractors license and several city of omaha inspectors that say i can do it that wayWell, that's a concept that we home inspectors are very familiar with - contractors that use outdated and even unsafe methods to do stuff and then when questioned about it fall back on the old - the local inspector says it's OK - excuse for continuing to do it that way, instead of taking a little time to learn something new and better. I gave you an excellent link in my previous post. Did you even bother to go to that site and read any of the information there are do you think that there is absolutely nothing you can learn from any of us (sneer) home inspectors? Why'd you come here if your only purpose in visiting our establishment was to denigrate the patrons and their chosen field. I've already explained to you that the purpose of this site is education and improvement of our profession. It would be nice if you could bring some of that to the table instead of looking for ways to criticize. Did it ever occur to you that perhaps you can learn a few things here? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I wouldn't toss the SureTest. It comes in really handy when you have a house with aluminum wiring for pinpointing excessively high voltage drop that can indicate a corroded copper-to-aluminum connection. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The rule of thumb is that the exhaust vent has to be equal to the largest connector plus 50% of all others. So, a 4" connector has an area of 12.56 square inches. The second connector is also a 4" so half of that is 6.28. Add the two together and the minimum allowable flue has to have a cross sectional area of not less than 18.84 square inches. A 5" vent has an area of 19.62 square inches and a 6" vent has an area of 28.26 square inches; so a 6" vent is literally 50% larger than the smallest allowable flue size. A 5" vent would work fine. You might experience some condensation issues as a result of using that larger vent. There are other factors that come into play. The installer should have sized the flue according to tables published by the NFPA for sizing gas appliance flues. There is an excellent article that give you insight into this process at the Journal of Light Construction Online that was published in a 2003 issue of JLC. You can find it here. Unless you are a JLCOnline member, it will cost you $2.95 to download it but it will go a long way to helping you to understand how critical gas appliance vent size is. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Oh Yeah, The owner is talking through her hat. Get a tank company to survey that property for a forgotten tank. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, did he "write up" the house, or did he simply point out to the prospective buyer that the kitchen appliance circuits were not GFCI protected, because the home was built before GFCI protection was required on any kitchen circuits (1987 within 6ft of the sink and 1996 for all receptacles serving the countertop), and recommend that, for safety, it would be relatively easy and prudent to have a couple of GFCI receptacles added by an electrician? We can't order anything to be done but we sure as hell can recommend a safety upgrade be done when it's to the benefit of our clients. If our clients then demand that of the seller and the seller agrees to do it, even though there is nothing requiring the seller to do do it, we shouldn't be accused of being over-zealous when all we did was recommend the client make an upgrade that might possibly save the life of the client or someone in the client's family someday. So, is that even allowed? I thought that the only way one was allowed to pigtail copper to aluminum wiring is with connectors that are specifically designed and approved for that (Copalum and AlumiConn) and with receptacles marked CO/ALR. I think you should check this out, 'cuz you appear to be using unapproved and out-of-date methods to pigtail copper wiring to aluminum wiring. Home inspectors aren't required to disassemble electrical boxes though we do pull the deadfront cover off panels to investigate the conditions inside. If we find aluminum wiring in the panel, we need to make sure that the breakers those wires are connected to are approved for both copper or aluminum and we then have a reason to dig a little deeper and to pull a receptacle cover or switch cover to see whether the other end of those aluminum conductors are pigtailed properly. Even then, we might not be able to see much if the aluminum wiring stops somewhere inside of a junction box and copper wiring has been used from that junction box to the switch or receptacle. At that point, all we can do is report to the client that the house has aluminum wiring and that a licensed electrician needs to follow up to check and make sure that all connections where aluminum wiring is used have been made in accordance with best practices. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, It certainly looks like the vent tee for a UST. What kind of chimney flue did you have up on the roof? Large clay flue with sulfur damaged sides? OT - OF!!! M.

First he had lunch at the local pub. OT - OF!!! M.

$10 says it isn't mold. - Jim Katen, San Francisco Yeah, it kind of sounds like dust being sucked into the carpet from the walls by the ventilation fans. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I never smoked. I can think a woman is the most beautiful creature in the world until I see her put a cigarette in her mouth and then she never looks quite so beautiful to me again. You're right; it is a killer - it took my little sister at the age of 38. She'd quit four years previously but I guess cancer doesn't pay attention to that kind of thing. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez Phillip, And here I thought you were my friend. You guys have no idea how much time it takes to upload some of this stuff. The more I do it, the more tired I get of doing it. I've got mountains of crap to upload and no time or energy left to do it. However, it you're feeling frisky and bushy-tailed, go for it. The brethren will be everlastingly grateful. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, It sounds like what one large roofing company here calls glass mat. It's essentially a really stiff building paper with a fiberglass mesh reinforcement. Around here, the hacks that use that stuff put down a layer of mastic, lay that stuff in it and then slather on a surface coat of mastic, kind of like doing a BUR, and call it a roof. It lasts about 6 to 7 years. It's cheap and quick. The stuff is pretty thin and it tears easily. I have no idea whether it's a modbit product or not but I can tell you that it makes for one lousy cover and I can't even imagine blanching it with a torch. You might be seeing something different though - something that's not a real modbit but isn't glass mat or anything like it. Wouldn't it be simplest to just go to the roofer and say, "Yo Bro, show me the stuff you used on so-and-so's roof and look at the packaging and then google it? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Erby, I thought Richard had it right, since a tool when describing a person is a stooge. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez, Just trying to let folks know about someone's ideas and now we've got soap boxes and protesters on the corner. Can we keep it to a discussion about what, if any, advantage this might have for our profession and steer it away from the political speech? I don't want to have to delete folks' comments or lock the thread. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, It's supposed to be an engineered floor. That essentially means it's veneer bonded to a plywood substrate, which usually means acclimitization isn't an issue and all it needs is a little room around the edges so it can expand and contract without bumping into anything and humping up. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike