hausdok

I have a Veto Pro Pac. To hell with lugging all that crap around on my hips. I just pick it up and move it when I move from one place to another. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yep, I'm remembering one exactly like you describe with a bunch of rot at one corner and a chimney crown all cracked to hell because there was a single wythe perimeter with a tile up the center and a plywood lid buried under mortar that had rotted out revealing that there were huge open spaces around the flue tile. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Mark, I wonder if it could be this stuff, which is designed to be used on interior basement walls. I agree with Jim, whatever it is, it's coming off that wall because moisture has gotten into the concrete behind it. They use something similar around here but they usually protect it with Typar Delta Drain or something similar so it won't be damaged by stone in the backfill or by equipment. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Rob, Is that house in Issaquah? I know of a whole neighborhood with variations on that theme. OT - OF!!! M.

Try this. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, This is my favorite place for learning stuff about private water supply systems. http://www.purdue.edu/envirosoft/private/src/main.htm ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Is it just a single block or is it part of something larger - perhaps a cistern. Are cisterns used in those parts? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

On Sunday, October 18th, two people, one of them a professional home inspector, Paul A. Craig, 59, died in what is said to have been an electrical accident involving a hot tub in Federal Way, WA. The Medical Examiner's office has yet to issue a formal cause of death but friends are saying that investigators have told them that the cause of the death was most likely accidental. Craig's son disputes that and claims that the hot tub has been used safely for more than five years without an issue. To read more, click here.

with Regis Philbin

Kurt Mitenbuler puking

on the flowerbed

I'm not disagreeing with you. I don't think you got it. Ask this question three times fast. How many taps could a wire tap tap if a wire tap could tap taps? Then answer it three times fast. It'd tap all the taps that a tap could tap if a tap really could tap taps. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sure, you'd... tap all the taps that a tap could tap if a tap really could tap taps. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

wife.

These will go fast. [:-magnify Click here!!!

Apparently they succeeded. One more example of how Jim K. is one sharp cookie and why I'm not kidding when I say I'm dumb as a box of rocks. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, it's not excessive condensation at all, it's the natural byproduct of burning gas and it condenses more in the exhaust of a high-efficiency furnace because more heat is extracted from the exhaust; that's why the furnace is equipped with a drain in order to remove it. Yes, it's supposed to be glued together. Good catch. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Here on TIJ we always try to emphasize that clear and unambiguous writing is the hallmark of a good report writer and will keep an inspector out of trouble; well, how about when it's someone else's writing, like a manufacturer's, that causes the problem? We all know that in this business a manufacturer's listing and labeling is supposed to be the final word when there's an argument about whether a product is correctly installed or is being used correctly, right? I used to think so until I recently wrote up the roof on a 3-year old home and learned that sometimes even the manufacturer gets it wrong. In that case, as I'd done with thousands of homes before that one, I'd discovered that the roof cover had been installed without any drip edge flashings at the rakes or eaves and with the shingles overhanging the fascia about two to three inches and sagging deep into the gutters. The roof had a fairly significant pitch, so I knew that water being pulled back up under that sagging edge and soaking into the edges of the deck wasn't likely; however, I was also concerned about the possibility of damage to the edge of the roof when some kid working for a local handyman tries to bend those shingles up out of the way in order to muck out the gutters. There wasn't any gutter at the fireplace bumpout at the side of the house, so I was able to easily point out from the ground the lack of drip edge flashings and extended overhang to my clients - a nice young couple from India. I explained to the husband that, with such a long overhang, there was a good chance one or more of the shingles overhanging the gutters could easily be damaged by himself or anyone he hires to clean the gutters, and cautioned him to only attempt to clean the gutters when outside temperatures are warmer and the shingles will be more flexible and not so brittle. The client wanted to know why the roof cover had been installed that way and whether doing so was a "code violation." I explained in a matter-of-fact manner that, though it's contrary to best practices recommended by roofing experts, roofers here typically omit drip edge flashings and instead extend the roof edge deep into the gutters. I went on to explain that I didn't know what that particular municipality's requirements had been at that time the home had been built; but that, as far as I knew, it was not a violation of the model code - though there was the possibility that it could be a violation of the code, if if the shingle manufacturer doesn't allow for a 2-1/2 inch overhang and requires that drip edging be installed. I remarked that, as far as I knew, only one manufacturer, lets call them Roofs R Us, actually "required" drip edge flashings. Finally, I explained that I had no way to determine who had manufactured those particular shingles, so I couldn't say one way or the other, and recommended that he check with the builder and then look up the manufacturer's instructions on the internet for himself. The issue was included in my report, as it had been thousands of times before, and I really didn't think anything of it. A few days after the inspection, I got an email from the listing agent asking for clarification about the location of another issue mentioned in the report and requesting that I contact the tech rep for the roofing manufacturer, Roofs R Us, in regard to the drip edge installation; because I'd been wrong (Apparently, the clients had followed up with the builder and the builder had pushed back). I admit I don't take instruction well from listing agents who are pushing back, so I responded via email that I didn't need to call Roofs R Us, because I'd personally read Roofs R Us installation instructions on the web many times and on bundles of their shingles, and that they unambiguously state (pay attention to the bolded portions): 3. Underlayment - On decks with a pitch of 4" per foot or greater, for new construction or when old roofing has been removed, apply a single layer of underlayment felt complying with ASTM D226 or ASTM D4869 and the building code. Lap the felt 2" horizontally with 4" end laps. Lap the felt a minimum of 6" from both sides over all hips, ridges and valleys. Drip edges are made of corrosion resistant materials that extend 2" minimum back from the roof edges and bend downward over them. Apply drip edges directly to the deck along the eaves and over the underlayment along the rakes. I opined that, if I was wrong, than Roofs R Us had some 'splainin to do. I included links to the Roofs R Us instructions on their website and figured that would be the end of it. Nope, apparently this particular listing agent, and the builder, weren't going to be dissed by a mere home inspector, because the next day, as I was tooling down the interstate on my way to a job, I got a phone call from a nice gentleman from Roofs R Us. He was calling because he wanted to send me written verification that, contrary to what their own labeling seems to indicate, Roofs R Us doesn't require drip edge flashings. Why then, I asked him, do their instructions seem to be written in the imperative and clearly state that drip edging is to be applied over the underlayment at the rakes and under the underlayment at the eaves. His response was that when he'd written those instructions he'd only intended to make it clear that, if drip edging was used, the drip edging had to be installed on top of the underlayment at the rakes and under the underlayment at the eaves. He explained that, as much as he would like to see drip edge flashings used at every roof, he couldn't mandate that. I admit that at that point I was a little irked by his response, especially since I'd always considered Roofs R Us to be the one shining jewel of all roofing products manufacturers for precisely the fact that they alone had required drip edging, and now I didn't even have that. I probably didn't do a good job of hiding my irritation when I then asked him why the hell a reputable roofing products manufacturer wouldn't clearly write instructions that mandated that the best practices recommendations of the National Roofing Contractor's Association (NRCA) and the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturer's Association (ARMA) be mandatory. His response; because his company's lawyers had advised against it. Apparently, if a manufacturer ties their warranty to a requirement to install a particular component, such as a drip edge, they somehow incur some kind of liability if the component is installed wrongly and results in damage to the home (What the......?). That evening when I got home there was an email waiting for me that read: Re: Drip Edge Application Dear Mr. O’Handley: The statements regarding the application of drip edge found in the Directions For Application for Roofs R Us Premier® laminated shingles is an affirmative statement for the application location (over the underlayment at the rake and under at the eaves). It is not intended as an affirmative statement that drip edge is required when installing Roofs R Us Premier® laminated shingles. Roofs R Us recommends the use of drip edge, but it is not required for Roofs R Us acceptance. Sincerely, So, now I know; regardless of the tenet of this profession that "a manufacturer's instructions almost always trump code" don't always rely on a manufacturer's written instructions to be correct, unless you intend to personally take the time to call the manufacturer's technical experts and verify with them that what they've written in their instructions is what they'd intended when it was written. It's time to eat some crow for a client. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, it looks like Jimmy's made up his mind, so there's no point in arguing about it. Honestly, I don't know what all the fuss is about. If one realizes early on that Vista is crap and avoids it one won't have any problems. I have two windows machines; well four if you count the laptops. My office desktop and one laptop are MX, the other laptop is NT, and the desktop my wife uses is a Vista machine. I understand the complaints about Vista because nearly every time I've sat down to use her computer it's locked up on me. That used to happen occasionally with the WIN98 box I used to have, but I've never had that problem with MX or NT programs. Since she doesn't really use her's for anything other than streaming her Korean dramas VIsta hasn't been a big deal for us and I work primarily off the $200 MX machine which has been pretty solid. MS has known about all of the problems with Vista ever since shortly after it debuted. I do homes for a ton of MS employees so I'm always prodding them to talk to me about their products. I don't think I've ever had one of them dispute the fact that Vista has serious issues. More than one of them has told me that they've been using an in-house version of the Win7 for nearly a year and a half while looking for hiccups and are liking it a lot. That's a lot of beta testers! and I think they've learned their lesson. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hee, Hee [:-scared]

Yep, Go here, save it to your documents folder so you'll have it in the future. Look on the bottom of Page 10 http://www.wrcla.org/pdf/WRCLA_Installing_Siding.pdf ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Time is short for this sale. Here it is, a new laptop pre-loaded with Windows 7 and Microsoft Office for about $400. Not too shabby. To see more, click here.

If you know you should have expanded your personal library long ago but have been putting it off, you might want to visit the JLC Bookstore real soon. For a limited time only, JLC is selling every book in their inventory at half price. To learn more, click here.

Did you pull one cover and look? Are you sure it was built in the late 80's? Somewhere around the middle of summer I had a building they told me had been built a little more than a decade ago. Outwardly, it looked like it was about a decade old but when I started digging into it I started noticing things like 5-panel doors, 70's vintage stoves, old service panels, etc.. It turned out that the ground floor was new but that the second level was nearly 80 years old and that the original one-story triplex had the original roof torn off, been jacked up and a new truss roof installed; so they could shove a series of garages and another unit beneath. So, there were lots of ungrounded 3-holers on the second level and 1970's panels where they'd replaced the fuse boxes; and on the ground level everything was newer and properly grounded. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I don't think it would be that difficult for him to do; he's already got a checklist setup that looks just about like what that mandatory Texas form looks like. OT - OF!!! M.