hausdok

Hi, Standard 3-tab in the US are 12" by 36". Enlarge that photo and count the tabs. The roof is a tad over 8ft. long from rake to wall and that B vent is less than 8ft. from that sidewall. The DW vent and the B vent both need to be extended. That's going to look like hell and require a bunch of ugly guy wires about every 3 ft.; they'd be better off to construct a chimney chase and bring the vent up through that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I stand by my statement that 3 tab is crap.............. anyone have any pictures of newer blown off architectural shingles.. shingles that are within 20 years old. (excluding natural disasters) I wish I'd take pictures; several months ago I did a 6 year old house up at Snoqualmie ridge where huge chunks of the roof had had architectural-grade shingles that had been snapped off by the wind. As I sat up there on the ridge looking down at the mess, I looked around at the houses around me and noticed snapped off shingles everywhere - all architectural-grade; that neighborhood doesn't use 3-tab. FWIW, 3-tab has been around for about 80 years in various forms and has worked just fine. I was taught roofing by my father and was weaned on 3-tab roofs long before architectural-grade shingles ever came on the scene. I know that those roofs lasted far longer than they were designed to last; it's easy to know that when you come from a town of 1100 people and everyone knows everyone else so anytime you screw up, everyone hears about it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Richard, Think combo gas furnace and AC unit mounted on the roof of a commercial building and it's essentially the same thing. I've done about a dozen of those on various commercial buildings and in one case on the roof of a high end condo. They're not much different than an ordinary gas furnace only they're placed outside and they don't require a chimney. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The majority of housing stock that I look at is over 80 years old and has 2 by 4 rafters placed 24-inches on center with a 1 by 6 ridge board and 1 by six rafter ties. On top of that, there's often skip sheathing, an initial layer of cedar shingles, and two or three layers of comp shingles. Sometimes they'll crack at knots or sag a few inches (kind of like my midsection) but it's pretty rare that I find them actually collapsed - only had one or two after the last deep snowstorm we had that dumped about 10-inches of snow on roofs (1996). ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Rich, I've seen those many times but usually the electrician will have snipped away the little strip of metal between the two halves of the 2-pole breaker so that the cover can be removed. There's a little indentation in the metal there; snip the center and bend the two halves back and forth and they break off very cleanly right at the indentation. Very strange that they did that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm still trying to figure out the "mechanical" comment. Next time you're sitting in a public restroom, just look around at the drum trap lids on the floor. OT - OF!!! M.

Seattle, WA The ASHI Western Washington Fall Educational seminar will be held September 12th and 13th 2008 at the Cedarbrook Center in Seatac, WA. This year the seminar is themed "Historic Homes and New Technologies" and is presented by Peter Drenan and Douglas Hansen. On Friday September 12th, Jerry McDonald with the Washington State Department of Licensing will be available between 1 pm to 1:45 pm to give inspectors an update about the new home inspector licensing law and to answer any questions from the audience. On Saturday September 13th, Vendor tables will be setup in the Lobby outside the seminar room. Vendors, such as Code Check Books, Brinks Home Security and Flir will be available to answer questions about their products or services. For more information about the seminar click here or contact Darrell Marsolais at 206-478-1427.

That'd be my guess too. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I think your taking this too far. The only way that a case for liability for future damage could be brought if it could be proven that the future damage is directly related to the specific shingle that one pried up. So, if the edge of the roof below that specific shingle were damaged they'd have a case to say, "Hey you, you've got to pay for replacement of the rotten decking and this shingle," but they could not possibly make him liable for damages that occur elsewhere on the roof. I'd guess that about 40 to 50% of the roofs around here aren't properly sealed down and I routinely recommend having them hand sealed; nobody does it. The number of times I've actually seen damage other than a snapped-off shingle occur due to not being sealed down I can count on one hand out of many many thousands of roofs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Mechanical? Got a code cite for that? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I understood what you were saying the first time. The only thing that has changed is the door. Sensors are only required when the operator was manufactured post 1993. Lets put it this way - if there wasn't an operator would you still have asked the question? The rule applies to the operator. Does it make sense to recommend that they have optical sensors? Sure, but if you're going to recommend they spend the money to do that, they might as well install a new opener. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The optical sensors are required when you equip any overhead door with an operator that was manufactured post 1993. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi John, Yes, They're meant to help keep water out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

A home inspection licensing bill that was initially strongly supported by many home inspectors in Michigan is now being opposed by those same home inspectors due to a last-minute amendment to the original bill that would make inspectors liable for anything they miss for an indefinite period. The bill, HB 6088, was originally intended to establish minimum education standards for inspectors and require individual licensing but the amendment was added at the bill's second reading. Michigan home inspectors feel that if the bill is passed it will make it impossible for them to obtain insurance at a reasonable cost and could conceivably wipe out the home inspection profession in the state of Michigan. To read more click here.

Not so. The same companies that make the one-piece boots also make two piece boots that can be installed around masts when the old boot is so trashed it needs to be cut off and thrown away. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, This is the morning sun focusing the reflected light off of some double-paned windows on the vinyl siding of the townhome across the way. The center point where those arcs criss-cross is too hot to touch. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Image Insert: 34.44 KB

It's a 3-year old house. The owner's father is apparently a retired carpenter with some pretty decent skills because he did a wonderful job of converting this garage into a media room. However, I think that the carpentry is where his skills leave off. He never got a permit to convert the garage into interior living space, didn't install the appropriate number of electrical receptacles, built these cabinets right in front of a service panel instead of leaving adequate working space, and, the coup de gras - he packed the service panel with this pile of cellulose; apparently to prevent heat loss through the back wall of the garage. Those 4/0 SEC's were pretty warm to the touch with only a light load on 'cuz the owner has moved out. I used a wood dowel to brush as much of the cellulose out of the panel as possible. Within minutes, those two cables began cooling off. Some folks can be kind of light in the common sense department. Image Insert: 57.77 KB ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, you didn't tell us whether it's a gas-burning furnace or an oil-burning furnace - although I suspect, being in Texax, it's probably gas-burning. The description of an 'iron horse' is interesting. I have seen a few old gas furnaces from the 1950's that were built far heavier than the typical gas furnaces are today; these were essentially furnaces that were designed to burn either gas or oil. They were fabricated with heavy cast iron faceplates and heavy welded steel heat exchangers with ceramic fire pots. From the outside, except for the burner, they look exactly like an oil-burning furnace but they aren't conversions and they have factory-built-installed gas burners. Even after more than half a century, those were still in pretty good condition and that's sort of a puzzle when one realizes that the typical gas furnace today is built so light that it's only expected to last about 20 years. I wonder if this is what you've got. Can you take some digital photos of the furnace, including the type of burner array and the exhaust pipes and upload them here? If you can, take a couple wide establishing shots showing the whole setup before you take any closeups. Even if you can post photos here, there isn't going to be a whole lot that we can tell you from here; you'll ultimately need to decide which one of the experts that's already looked at it that you want to trust. I can't comment on that type of AC system; we don't see a whole lot of them here in the Seattle area. Wait a minute while I reach over here and open my own air conditioner up and allow some fresh air into the office. Jeez, it's time to clean the glass. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, in the week that it's been discussed, he could have tracked down the installer and got it from the horse's mouth a hundred times. That's what I typically try to do when I have a puzzle like that; find out who installed it, look 'em up in the phone book or google 'em, and then I contact 'em directly, tell 'em who I am and why I'm calling and give 'em the address. Most folks are very cooperative and happy to tell me all about why they did what. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Are you certain it's still in use? It looks like those fuel lines are broken and I don't see any others coming out of it anywhere. OT - OF!!! M.

The job is all about learning and then educating others. Just had to give you a nudge. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

To me, the stuff that I think you were calling soot in the second photo looks more like a vent where the rust is coming through the metal from the inside out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Here are the rules, you tell us. http://www.lni.wa.gov/TradesLicensing/R ... 39-222.pdf ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Maybe they stressed those while bending them. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, The answer to the original question is quite simply "No." Write it up - The yadda-yadda draws a 30-amp load and is only wired for a 20-amp load; if this isn't corrected the wiring will overheat and might even start a fire. This is a fire hazard; get an electrician to re-wire the circuit to the yadda-yadda now." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike