hausdok

Hi Jodi, Cells (the linty stuff) is literally saturated with borate so it will not burn. It's not "sucked in" at all, in fact it settles rather rapidly and consolidates so well that it's one of the best combination insulators/vapor movement inhibitors you can find. I'd say that the only thing one would have to be concerned about is whether borate will cause a furnace and flue to corrode; I can't imagine that it does, since literally millions of attics are insulated with cells and many thousands of furnaces garner their combustion air from attics. Still, if you want to stick to your position, you'll need something more than your preference to prohibit it. I usually take down the model and serial number of every furnace I inspect; that way, if I need to back up my findings with something more substantial, I can call the manufacturer, explain the issue over the phone and get backup - or not, depending on the manufacturer's point of view. That's what I suggest you do. If the manufacturer can't provide you with substantial reasons for why scavenging combustion air from a cells-filled attic shouldn't be done, I'd call the builder, meekly apologize for being so stubborn and invite they guy down to the local café to laugh it off over coffee and a cruller. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Randy, Call me stat at 425-298-8413. OT - OF!!! M.

Exactly so. I'm chairman of the changing business practices sub-committee and it is my group that's been writing the state SOP, ethics rules, and formulating other business practices rules for HI's here. It helps when dealing with these issues to have some kind of statistical input, however meager, from the field. We've completed the SOP and it's been posted to the DOL website. A CR-102 has been filed proposing to create a new rule - WAC 308-408C – Standards of Practice. A public hearing will be held on the proposed SOP on February 24, 2009 at 10:30 A. M. at the Washington State Department of Licensing, 2000 4th Avenue W (2nd Floor Conference Room), Olympia, WA 98502. DOL and the board want to hear from all interested inspectors whether for or against this rule. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I have a reproduction. I have an original 1896 copy of The National Electrical Code - An Analysis and Explanation of the Underwriters' Electrical Code, Intelligible to Non-Experts. And the bidding will begin at.... OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Mike, from what I understand compressing the R19 batt is essentially the same as turning it into a high density batt. There will be a loss from the compression, but not the full R3.5 loss that one would expect. They'd save money and get the same gains ( in my mind) by just detailing with foam and installing the VP directly behind the interior wall plane. Hi Chad, I don't actually know what the loss in total R-value would be by compressing insulation an inch or so. What I do know is that R-value is supposed to be dependent on the amount of trapped air that you have in the insulation; and, that since air is never really trapped in fiberglass insulation - just sort of slowed down as it tries to pass through - it seems to me that there's no way that a layman can accurately guess. Therefore, in my mind it makes sense to deduct the full 3.55 you'd get by losing an inch of insulation. I figure that if they want accuracy, they can install a high-density batt that's not as thick and they'll have the manufacturer's lab testing to back them up. I still don't think that you're going to see moisture condense in that wall. After all, if you wouldn't have seen condensation take place in a conventionally insulated wall with nothing but plywood or OSB for sheathing covered by Tyvek or some other type of polyolefin barrier, why would you have condensation on the inner face of closed cell that's eliminated all telltale drafts and has moved the inside face of that outside wall further into the heated zone? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I uploaded and opened 2 or 3 and didn't have any problems. I think they were the '81, 93, and 97 series. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, The advantage to the closed-cell foam is that it will stop more air movement than insulation; so, you might get an R25 but you end up with a wall that costs energy wise like a leaky wall with R30 or better batting. I'm not so certain that you'd get condensation on the back of the FG with an inch of foam there. first, he really wouldn't need a vapor barrier because of the foam and, unless the temp at the face of the foam is low enough to cause condensation, I don't think it's going to be an issue. If the foamer does a good job and the wall is properly draft sealed, the warm air migrating in there should be enough to keep the foam warm enough to avoid condensation. Two inches would be better, but one might work fine. It's becoming pretty common to use a 1-inch layer of foam on the undersides of roofs and then use unfaced batting below it in unvented catedral ceiling roofs, so it might work fine. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Kurt, Unless it's a high-density batt, an R19 batt is sized to fully fill a 2 by 6 cavity. If he blows in an inch of closed cell, he'll compress the batting an inch and reduce it's R-value by roughly 3.55, which will result in a wall of only 15.45 + 6 or R21.45. He'll come closer if he uses an R15 high-density 3-1/2inch batt and two inches of closed cell. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

OK, Here's one for the guy/gal who's tired of the real estate folks always making excuses for certain electrical issues by saying that they're probably "grandfathered." To get full free pdf downloads of the 1981, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996 and 1999 NEC click here. Caution: Make sure you've got plenty of free space in your documents folder, some of these suckers are over 700 pages. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sometimes there isn't any heat in kitchens; sometimes there is, but, if it's hot air heat, whoever has put down the new floor covering has covered up the registers. Also, unless tile floors have radiant heat imbedded in them, they do tend to be a little colder. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, What you are describing is short cycling. If you can't afford to have a tech look at it, do as I suggested - go to the library, get some references and then follow their trouble-shooting steps to diagnose short cycling. Frankly, we've done about all we can do for you; after all, this is a site for home inspectors, not HVAC techs. We usually run a system, note that it's short cycling and then recommend that the client have the system inspected and diagnosed by, guess who (?), an HVAC tech. We don't try and diagnose the issue or prescribe a fix 'cuz that's outside of what we do. Good luck with that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It sounds like it's short cycling for some reason. It's probably unrelated to the motor. It might be overheating due to a clogged filter or there might be something obstructing the flue or any one of a dozen other potential causes. If it's not too old a unit, it might be blinking a code at you telling you what ails it. Check the manual. There's no way that we can diagnose it for you over the internet. Go down to the library and sign out a copy of Time/Life's Fix It Yourself Home Heating and Cooling and then work through the trouble-shooting guide in that. If you don't have the ability to, through the process of elimination, follow that guide and figure out on your own what's causing it to short cycle, it's probably not a good idea to dink around with it or you risk doing something that could poison you and your family with CO. You're better off calling a repairperson than gambling that someone here can help you sight unseen. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well that's fine for you to say, Walter, but what about us 2-digiters? We don't think it's kewl either.[:-dopey] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Pardon my thickheadedness, but I've never given any thought to the two-digit group (snip) many of whom dropped out of school at 16 so they could get a job killing rats in the basement of the cotton mill. WJ Well, where do you think I learned to fear rats more than I fear death? [:-scared] OK, 'nuff said, I'll let you all get back to talking about septic systems. I'm off to apply for a job as one of the President's new economic advisors. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well that's fine for you to say, Walter, but what about us 2-digiters? We don't think it's kewl either.[:-dopey] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Looks like 2250 to me, unless the instructions say to add volume for certain installation conditions. Either way, you should be OK. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, Do some clients ever try to get you to tell them what it's going to cost to do remodeling projects and ask you whether such projects are worth the investment or not? Of course they do and, like me, you probably tell them that they'll need to do their own homework in that department because you're not in the remodeling business, you're a home inspector and you prefer to focus on inspections versus all of the stuff related to remodeling. It doesn't make them happy but it's an answer. Well, every year Hanley-Wood's Remodeling magazine produces a cost versus value report that is exactly what this type of a client needs. The next time a client tries to sidetrack you with this type of a question, just say this, "Five words - cost versus value dot com." They'll be able to research data for their region on their own at their leisure and then decide whether the cost of the project will be worth the return on the investment. Check it out at: http://www.costvsvalue.com ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I believe that the water heater was manufactured in December 1973 but I don't have a clue about a Heil that old. My suggestion would be to google Heil, find out who used to own them and then check out the coding procedure for that brand name. If you solve it, please shoot me a PM or an email with the formula so that I can add it to the chart. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Just a question, Did you do the combustion air calculation to ensure there'd be sufficient air for that unit to combust properly? Basically, garage volume has to equal 50 cubic feet per thousand BTU? If not, you're going to have to open a vent to the outside for air, because you can't take it from the house, and that is going to make the whole thing an exercise in futility. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, I inspected a house with a huge old coal-burning octopus that had been converted to an oil burner after WWII. It was actually working fine but it was an energy waster and was taking up about 25% of the basement and 75% of the headroom. The client wanted to know about cost to remove it along with all of the old ductwork with the asbestos tape in it. I told him to take a photo and send an email to half a dozen reputable local HVAC firms describing the work wanted and with a photo of the furnace attached. The lowest bid that came back to remove the octopus and ducting and install a cheap 80% contractor-grade 60,000 Btu gas-burning furnace (very small bungalow) with new sheetmetal (the house was already piped for gas at the kitchen stove) was $6500. The bid included more than $3K paid to an asbestos remediation firm to come in, break up and remove the octopus and all of the ducts and then clean the house before the HVAC guy would allow his employees to enter the house. There was a separate $1200 bid to "decommission" the underground storage tank in accordance with state law. The nice thing about the net - you can do things in two hours that used to take days to accomplish. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Steve T., Test aside, I bet some of the brethren would love to know how you go about finding that kind of work in this market. How about starting a separate topic on that subject in a marketing thread? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, I found those other links - they were from the EPA and they were in my favorites cache. I really need to get all of that cache into the links on this site - it's gotten enormous since I first got on the internet in 1997. The first link is a PP presentation for educators and homeowners. I think it would be an excellent link to send to a homeowner who is planning to purchase a septic system and has the misbegotten impression that inspecting these is somehow part of a normal home inspection. Once they realize the potential complexity of these systems, they'll understand why home inspectors don't normally inspect them. http://www.purdue.edu/dp/envirosoft/sep ... c/main.htm http://cfpub.epa.gov/owm/septic/septic.cfm?page_id=271 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/625r00008 ... 8chap4.htm ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Again, I couldn't find the exact PP presentation that I was looking for, but the link below is where I started when I did find it and there is no shortage of links and graphics on that site that will help one understand these systems. http://www.onsiteconsortium.org/ ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hey Jimmy, You know I love you, Cuz, and I wish you nothing but the best, but I think you could be biting off more than you can chew by dinking around with septic systems. They're a lot more complicated than they seem to be. Consider the information at the following link. I've got another link I've misplaced that has a powerpoint presentation; when I find that I'll post that as well. I do think that we need to know as much as we can about how they are supposed to work and about the various modern types and options, and we need to have a ready list of competent septic contractors to refer folks to, but I tell folks from the get-go that I'm not going to uncover the tank but that they're bank is going to require the tank to be pumped and they should have an inspection done by the septic pro at that time. A few times folks have had the septic guy show up at the same time I showed up and those guys have opened up those tanks and pumped them out. Phewwwwweeey! - talk about stink, stank, stunk! http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dwq/pdf/insp ... idance.pdf ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Cute, there are a few new "home inspectors" running around the Seattle area right now that must have climbed out of one of those. I also thought it might have been easier to install that heater at the back of the garage instead of by the overhead door opening. OT - OF!!! M.

Perhaps because it's the front wall of the garage and not a common membrane between the garage and the house. It really depends on what the jurisdication requires. OT - OF!!! Mike