hausdok

Open it up, unscrew the board, flip it over, and look at the corner of the tiny little transformer. The wires are thin as a hair and they break from vibration and dropping, etc.. Get it soldered, make sure that the transformer is glued in place well and then use some Kleenex stuffed in the housing and pressing against the board to make sure it'd held in place and won't shake loose. My SM went over 10 years old last month. It's had about 4 broken transformer wire repairs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I think that the fact that nobody has a ready reference for it is a good clue that it's well beyond the end of its normally-expected 20-year service life. When I find gas furnaces that old around here, it automatically triggers my old-as-Methusaleh comment wherein I warn them not to be surprised if it fails as I'm backing out of the driveway. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, I think he was testing you. I've only seen them on hot tubs and such, so I posed the question to google in a way that I thought that a curious engineer might have asked it with, "Is there such a thing as 240-volt ground fault circuit interrupters?" and got some interesting results. One of those was a discussion about 240-volt GFCI's on Mike Holt's forum and I think it's probably it's just the kind of stuff an engineer probably sits around thinking about. Me? I'm too dense to follow half of the results that were kicked up. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, It sounds like he was gaging how much knowledge you have by asking you about something that's so nebulous that an engineer is likely to know it but the average Joe won't. Maybe he wanted to know how credible you are and wanted to see if you'd try to invent some off the cuff answer just to appear smart. If I'd known he was an engineer asking me those questions, I might have responded with something like, "I'm not really sure; you're an engineer and you've probably got a better understanding of this stuff than I do. What do you think is the reason?" ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Public meetings will be held in Florida over the next few weeks for stakeholders in the mold assessment and remediation professions to address those portions of Senate Bill 2234 (2007); an act relating to the regulation of building inspection professionals, that deal with the regulation of mold assessment and remediation professionals within the state of Florida. This bill will become effective July 1, 2010. It provides for licensure and regulation of mold assessment and remediation professionals but does not provide for a Board of Mold Assessors and Remediators and will be administered by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DPBR). Prior to the effective date of the bill, the DPBR is working with stakeholders to establish a regulatory structure for the profession within the state. The DPBR intends to have all licensing requirements, including certification exams, ready by July 1, 2010, so that they can begin accepting applications for licensure on that date. Under section 468.8423 of the Florida Statutes, persons who perform mold assessment or mold remediation “may qualify to be licensed by the department…if the person meets the licensure requirements of this part by July 1, 2010." As written, there is no clear distinction in the statute between an applicant wishing to be grandfathered and and applicants who have no prior mold experience. In order to develop recommendations to the Florida state legislature to clarify the standards applicable to businesses that have historically provided inspection services, the DPBR is holding meetings to hear from stakeholders. The meetings will be held in Tallahassee on September 29th, Jacksonville, October 1st, Orlando October 13th, and Ft. Lauderdale on October 14th. At least one organization is already mounting substantial effort to influence how this bill is implemented. Representatives of the International Association of Certified Indoor Air Consultants (IAC2), an outgrowth of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, are planning to attend the meetings and the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors is urging its members to show up in force at the meetings and is coaching its members to use the following talking points: The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors online mold course should be used to certify Florida mold assessors. International Association of Certified Home Inspectors online video mold course should be used to certify Florida mold assessors. IAC2 members who have completed an approved mold course should be grandfathered without further training or examination. A report by the U.S. Department of Education that was recently released proves that online education is better than classroom education. Classroom courses harm consumers for a variety of reasons IAC2's "How to Perform Mold Inspections" book should be adopted as the required mold inspection training textbook. For more information about the times and dates of the DPBR meetings click here.

Public meetings will be held in Florida over the next few weeks for stakeholders in the home inspection profession to address Senate Bill 2234 (2007); an act relating to the regulation of building inspection professionals. This bill will become effective July 1, 2010. It provides for licensure and regulation of home inspectors but does not provide for a Board of Home Inspectors and will be administered by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DPBR). Prior to the effective date of the bill, the DPBR is working with stakeholders to establish a regulatory structure for the profession within the state. The DPBR intends to have all licensing requirements, including certification exams, ready by July 1, 2010, so that they can begin accepting applications for licensure on that date. Under section 468.8324 of the Florida Statutes, persons who perform home inspections and "may qualify to be licensed by the department…if the person meets the licensure requirements of this part by July 1, 2010." As written, there is no clear distinction in the statute between an applicant wishing to be grandfathered and and applicants who have no prior home inspection experience. In order to develop recommendations to the Florida state legislature to clarify the standards applicable to businesses that have historically provided inspection services, the DPBR is holding meetings to hear from stakeholders. The meetings will be held in Tallahassee on September 29th, Jacksonville, October 1st, Orlando October 13th, and Ft. Lauderdale on October 14th. At least one organization is already mounting substantial efforts to influence how this bill is implemented. The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors is urging its members to show up in force at these meetings and is coaching its members to use the following talking points: Members who have fulfilled all educational requirements for that organization should be grandfathered without further training or examination. Members of that organization are in a separate class in comparison to other Florida inspectors and deserve extra consideration in comparison to non-members. That organization's online and online video inspector education should be counted toward the 120-hour educational requirement in the bill. That organization's online and online video inspector education should be accepted toward Continuing Education requirements. A report by the U.S. Department of Education that was recently released proves that online education is better than classroom education. In-classroom courses harm consumers for a variety of reasons. That organization's online education has been awarded more accreditations and state approvals than the rest of the inspection industry combined. That organization's online inspector exam should be an accepted option for the required testing. Inspectors caught financially supporting through their membership dues any home inspection association that organization has termed a "diploma mill" should be disqualified from licensure due to lack of good moral character; this includes any inspector association that, in the view of that organization's founder, has no entrance requirements; or any inspection association that uses an exam such as the National Home Inspectors Exam promulgated by the Examining Board of Professional Home Inspectors (EBPHI), to award full or certified membership status. According to that organization's founder, the NHIE is a "beginners exam." For more information about the times and dates of the DPBR meetings click here.

Drummer boy? OT - OF!!! M.

What was that I heard something did you hear something I know I heard something I wonder what it was did you hear something it was like this pinging sound did you hear it too? I did a 1981 home yesterday. It didn't seem to be too bad although the original interior finish choices sucked big time. Click to Enlarge 22 KB I was at Ft. Devens, MA in 1981 running the MPI shop for the PMO. Young Sgt. O's neighbors up in Salerno Circle housing area used to get entertained by listening for the noise level to go up at the O'Handley hooch. Then they'd go stand out on the front porch and wait for married-less-than-two-years Sgt. O'Handley to come rocketing out the door of his quarters in his socks, shoes in hand, with the Korean konnection hot on his heels throwing pots, pans, knives and whatever else she could find at him. Poor Sgt. O, he never was able to explain those dents in the roof and the trunk lid of that government issue Volare or the occasional facial mouse. 29 years married last April, together 31 years last February. She's a good 'ol gal. I think I'll keep her around a couple more weeks. Click to Enlarge 31.83 KB I was chasing coke heads in those days. My trick to stay awake all night is to take a swig from a water fountain and then, with the water still in my mouth, empty a packet of MRE coffee directly into my mouth, swish it around and swallow it. If I didn't have MRE coffee I'd use two teaspoons of Folger's instant. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Howzat? Download Attachment: WaterHeaterSerialNumberDecoder.doc 81.34 KB Download Attachment: WaterHeaterSerialNumberDecoder_3.pdf 100.52 KB ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Kewl! Just in time for Halloween! Did you get an IR photos of water-logged ghosts walking around? OT - OF!!! M.

Oh, I guess I missed the part where you explained that it was open overhangs with frieze blocking; I thought we were talking about soffits. Check these out: http://coravent.blogspot.com/2007/03/ne ... -vent.html http://www.dciproducts.com/html/smartvent.htm ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, it's not "insulated" siding at all; it's just siding with a foam backing that's molded from EPS and fits inside to give the siding rigidity. It does absolutely no good as insulation because cold air gets between it and the house. OT - OF!!! M.

Scott, You're seeing that installed 1 to 2 ft. from the edge? If it's that product - that would be wrong. Certainteeds installation instructions say that it's only to be used at the edge of the roof. OT - OF!!! M.

LOL, I guess I should have specified Jim Katen 'cuz his requirements usually somewhat mirror what goes on here; or,..are you answering Jim Katen's original question? OT - OF!!! M.

This one was not bad. The entry hole was at least 10" tall and some of the crawl was up to 30" high. Some only 16" though. That is why I stay thin. I think I'd have to follow Randy's lead and charge extra for a crawl like that. Tom Charge extra? I'd knock some off. I wish the crawl spaces around here were that nice. Most have to be dug out to crawl in, otherwise you might get your head in. Also, seen a king snake about 2' long the other day on a crawlspace to small to fit in (8" tall by 16" wide). How do you approach this? I have heard in my area (now NE Oklahoma) the King snake is no longer natural enemies with copperheads or rattlers, and they are beginning to breed. (Will be black with black markings, very hard to make out at times, sometimes deadly, sometimes not) Report it as inaccessible due to hatch size and exclude everything in there beyond what you can clearly see from the hatch. I think the snake thing is a myth. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Paul, Is this the full-length soffit vent material you're talking about? If you don't want to have to stand on a ladder craning up to cut that strip out of the soffits, consider the vented drip edge option that Brandon posted above. Besides the vented drip edge at the link that Brandon gave you, Certainteed also makes an Edge Vent that's kind of like a ridge vent cut in half. This is designed for houses with little or no eave overhang, though. By the way, you can download the installation instructions in pdf format for any of those from the Certainteed site. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Coffee table? Are you referring to the painted water heater stand? Jim, are they requiring FVIR water heaters to be mounted on stands down your way? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Brad, How long has that been configured this way? It might be working fine now, while the weather isn't too cold, but I'm skeptical about how it will perform this winter once it's trying to make a large slug of cold air. If they have to shut that water heater down for any reason in cold weather and then try to restart it, it's going to want to use the path of least resistance which is going to be back into the house via the draft diverter. Also, right now there's liable to be a whole lot of condensation occurring in that large flue pipe that's draining to the bottom of that pipe and that's liable to eat a hole through that bottom elbow on the other side of the wall. It seems like it would have made more sense to have run that 4" vent right up through the 12" vent and to have used a thimble on both ends to create a double-double-walled vent that would keep those gases nice and warm and buoyant for that three story trip to the outdoors. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Randy, Please start a new topic re. the chimney lining question so we don't take this thread off-topic.. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Scott, In order to upload a photo you have to ensure that it's in an acceptable format and there can't be any gaps or symbols, like parenthesis, in the file name. For spaces use underscore and remove all special symbols and upload them again. Also, if you are using Firefox or Netscape, depending on the version, you might encounter difficulty. If that's the case, open up an IE browser and try again. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Thought some of you might be interested in knowing about this sale. These go very fast. The last time I posted something like this, they'd sold out by the time I'd posted. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I've occasionally used the terms shot, toast, kaput or completely screwed up. It just depends on the circumstances and, like Kurt says, on the customer to a certain degree. I've only had one person ask me for a better definition and that was a 'zoid who wasn't happy with me anyway. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Truthfully, That one really doesn't look too bad to crawl at all. OT - OF!!! M.

PALM SPRINGS, CA--(Marketwire - September 21, 2009) Environmental Service Professionals, Inc. ("ESP") (OTCBB: EVSP), known as an innovator in environmental home inspections, today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Laborers' International Union of North America ("LIUNA") in which LIUNA will assist the Company with procuring full service environmental home inspection contracts that meet the goals and objectives of both LIUNA and the Company. The details of this agreement are contained in Form 8K filed with the SEC on September 15, 2009. LIUNA is the most progressive, aggressive and fastest-growing union of construction workers, and one of the most diverse and effective unions representing public service employees. Under the agreement, LIUNA will assist the Company in promoting ESP's services and expanding its business model and participate in joint meetings to help ESP procure home inspection and bio-remediation contracts, with a specific focus on employing large numbers of veterans. ESP, through its wholly owned subsidiary Environmental Safeguard Professionals, Inc. ("Safeguard"), has developed a standardized training, certification and inspection process to address mandated energy certification, construction defects, moisture and other environmental issues in commercial and residential buildings. Leaders in the insurance, mortgage banking and real estate industries have an innate interest in "best in class" annual environmental inspections for improved risk assessment and mitigation. Rocco Davis, LIUNA Vice President and Pacific Southwest Regional Manager, said, "LIUNA shares ESP's commitment to establish standards for environmentally healthy homes, especially those that are on the market due to foreclosures resulting from today's economic crisis. We also share the goal of providing employment to as many of the nation's veterans as possible. We look forward to helping ESP obtain funding and create a long term mutually beneficial strategic relationship." Ed Torres, CEO, Environmental Service Professionals, Inc., said, "We are very pleased to form this strategic alliance with LIUNA, whose commitment to quality service, a clean environment and good working conditions, benefits, and family-supporting pay for its members supports our goals at ESP -- especially our goal to be the single national company employing the largest number of U.S. veterans other than the U.S. government." About Environmental Service Professionals, Inc. ESP (OTCBB: EVSP) offers various inspection services that include energy/efficiency audits addressing mold and moisture intrusion that can have an acute and chronic negative impact on the indoor air quality of commercial and residential buildings. The first company in the moisture inspection industry vertical to become a publicly traded company, ESP has embarked on a strategy to acquire businesses dealing with environmental issues and resolving environmentally sensitive problems. It has completed four acquisitions and is in various stages of discussion with additional companies that management believes are a good philosophical, operational and economic fit with ESP. For additional information, please visit: www.evsp.com.

Hi, I think 60's is about right. I've seen old 40's and 50's GE furnaces out here and they had a dark brown wrinkle-paint finish with really rounded corners like one would see on those really old Coke machines; nothing like those ones. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike