hausdok

Hi, You get your phone number from Magic Jack. Right now, you cannot port your phone number over although they say they are working to fix that. OT - OF!!! M.

I think MS will end up supporting XP beyond that date regardless. I think they'll be pressured by the computer manufacturers to do so. Hell, AsusTek just came out with an XP version of their eePC which had been selling like hotcakes with a linux based operating system. It'll probably take off again with an XP operating system. They'd be nuts to not support it 'cuz the eePC is a platform that is really, really attractive to folks in third world countries. Heck, it's just about the perfect under $500 starter laptop for a kid here. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, the furnace decoder chart is in the file library under Heating Systems. I last updated it in March. Just remember that it's compiled from notes sent to me from inspectors around the country and not from any authorative source, so I don't guaranty it's accuracy. That said, based on my own experience I think it's probably better than 90% accurate. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot in there about boilers. I once tried to begin compiling information for a boiler chart but I didn't get a whole lot of contributions; I think the reason might be that there are too many brands of boilers and the serial number systems change even within the same company's products. Anyway, Fraser, Johnston, and Luxaire were purchased by York in 1980 and York has been Unitary Products since 1984. The year of manufacturer is indicated by the 3rd position in the serial number beginning with the year 1971 and they skip the letters I, O, Q, U, Z. So, if the chart is accurate, the letter A is either 1971 or 1992. 1971 - A 1972 - B 1973 - C 1974 - D 1975 - E 1976 - F 1977 - G 1978 - H 1979 - J 1980 - K 1981 - L 1982 – M 1983 – N 1984 – P 1985 - R 1986 - S 1987 - T 1988 - V 1989 - W 1990 - X 1991 – Y 1992 – A 1993 - B 1994 - C 1995 – D 1996 - E 1997 - F 1998 - G 1999 - H 2000 - J 2001 - K 2002 - L 2003 - M 2004 - N 2005 - P 2006 - R 2007 – S Hope this helps. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I've fixed the photo. Please, People. Try to make your photos as small as possible before you post them. There are plenty of free image resizer tools available on the web that work great. If you've got XP, just go to Powertoys for Windows and download their image resizer there. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, If it's popping the breaker, you're exceeding 7200 watts. Seems like a lot but I don't know much about your dryer. Do a google search for the brand and model of your dryer and try to find an owner's manual online where the specifications will be listed. If it's supposed to be pulling less than 7200 watts get it fixed. If more, get the size of that breaker increased. Note: I can't remember seeing a dryer that uses more than 30 amps so my money is on there being a problem there. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It would save me $604 over my Vonage office phone and nearly that on the Comcast Digital Voice on the house phone - not counting the long distance charges. OT - OF!!! M.

I agree, Can't be as tough as the submariners have it; that's for sure. If it does, I guess I'm kind of a wimp, Gary. The thing I liked about this military documentary - more than all others - is that most of it was centered on the junior enlisted men and women. It always ticks me off to see the media try to do some piece about the military, that's supposed to make people understand what things are like for troops, and then 95% of the folks they interview and center on are very junior or very senior officers with hardly a mention of an enlisted man or woman. Ya couldn't help feeling bad for that young seaman at the end being dumped by that girl when she was carrying his kid and all he'd done for six months at sea was look forward to the day that he could be back with her again and be a new Daddy. I wanted to reach into the TV and throttle that pea-brained twit of a girl. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It's not land line, it's not Vonage, it's not Comcast Digital Voice; it's something called Magic Jack, and it's kind of an attractive option in these times when money is tight for our businesses. Check it out!

Hi Jim, It looks to me like they put the stuff on wet and that the cracks developed when it dried and shrank. Perhaps they put it on wet and didn't get a perfectly straight line. When the stuff dried it would crack wherever one edge was crowning. I know, that sounds weird, but this stuff is cement, silica sand, and processed wood fiber after all. It's going to swell and shrink a certain amount when exposed to moisture and when it's allowed to get wet and then nailed into place things are going to happen when it dries out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Freezing? What is that. A cold winter day is 40 degrees. I'd rather see all mechanicals in a closet on the exterior of the home. One in a blue moon I see that in a home. Common in the commercial world. No more work for the day so it's time to dope up the foot. See the ladder thread. Nope, Bill's talking about a situation where you've got 1/4 inch of pipe exposed between a couple of pieces of pipe insulation on a -15°F night and it's enough to freeze the pipe solid and split it wide open. The nipples coming out of the top of the WH, the shutoff valve, the pipes connected to it are all vulnerable. An unheated outside utility closet where I grew up wouldn't have done any good unless you'd completely packed the space around the water heater with insulation and had air-sealed the whole room. OT - OF!!! M.

Gee, I'm sorry to hear that, Charlie. I know how much of a hassle painful ankles can be. A couple of years ago, I rolled one of mine when I stepped off a curb and I think I fractured that little outside bone on my leg that connects to my upper leg, 'cuz I'd done exactly the same on the same leg years before in the military. I didn't bother to get it x-ray'd, I just put on the old lace-up ankle brace the army had supplied me with. Then, about 3-4 weeks later I did exactly the same thing with the other leg. Crap! For about six months I walked around with a lace-up brace on both ankles. I looked like one of those kids with the heavy corrective shoes and it made roof walking painful and scary. Get well, Buddy. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Jim, Thanks, I stand corrected. It wouldn't make much of a difference here anyway, I think I've seen, maybe, two houses plumbed with CPVC in the past 12 years. Both were DIY jobs. OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, I saw my first one on a brand new water heater in a conventional home not too long ago. It was labeled for that use so I didn't make a big deal about it. IAPMO is a whole lot bigger than my pipsqueak little butt. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Erby, I think that's true, but aren't you just telling John to check with his local AHJ? Isn't the prohibition against PVC for all potable water an individual jurisdiction issue? I don't think there's any actual model code restriction against it for cold water. "Quite a few places," could mean a few hundred out of many thousands of jurisdications in the country that do allow it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Except there are also engineered wood floors that are the floating type and aren't paper. It's been a while, but I think Bruce is one brand. OT - OF!!! M.

Accelerated? It's an 18 year old furnace that has an average life expectancy of only about 20 years from install. It wouldn't be unusual to find one toasted at that age. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Chad, Yeah, I stepped on it with that one. Problem is, though I knew instantly exactly what you were referring to, try as I might, after you'd pointed it out I couldn't remember the correct spelling of course for some reason. I finally had to go to the dictionary and look it up before I could get my spelling memory to reboot itself. This getting older memory has an insidious habit of sneaking homonyms in when I'm typing and they just aren't registering the way they used to. Most be the early signs of mad cow. Denny Craine! (Now I can't remember if he spelled it Crane, Craine, or Crain) [:-banghea ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Aw, Don't go over there, Jimmy - they'll only insult you and talk about your lineage; at least they will if any recent postings are any indicator. It's gone from soap opera to circus over there lately. Besides, Brian is just pulling your chain there aren't any sounds attached to your's or Scott's avatars........yet. OT - OF!!! M.

Run it over Randy's avatar and see what happens. OT - OF!!! M.

OK, now I think I'm tracking. Being British, when you're referring to "garden" you're talking about the entire yard, not just a small area planted with flowers or vegetables. The fence on the left in the photo is stepped and climbs away from the photographer, so I'm guessing that the photographer is standing at the house looking away toward the back of the yard and your intent was to get the yard draining away from the house in the direction of the dog; thus the excavation. I hope your retaining wall isn't going to be some posts or stakes in the ground with a board or two propped behind it like I see in the photo, because it won't work; any wall you build will need to be anchored into the earth behind it or it will eventually belly and collapse. Go to your local library and pick up a book that explains how to build proper retaining walls that are secured in place with dead-men (the term used here for such anchors). By the looks of that excavation, by the time you reach the area where that dog is you're going to need to make that retaining wall U-shaped. How is the terrain at either side of the yard? Are you inadvertently creating a retention pond where all of the runoff from your neighbors' yards is going to collect? Image Insert: 922.13 KB Don't worry about the long question. It's short compared to some of my ramblings on here. Scott may be right about the spring or maybe all of the runoff from that slope is saturating the soil you're throwing in there. Has it been raining there lately? In any event, if you're plan is to dig out that entire yard so that it slopes away from the photographer and throw all of that excavated soil behind a retaining wall, you'll also need to ensure that you've incorporated proper draining into the area behind/behind the wall to capture and divert the water that's going to inevitably still be trying to drain toward the house. You've got your work cut out for you. Have you thought about paying a professional landscape/drainage architect just to design what needs to be done there so that you can do the work? Seems to me it would be worth the investment. Otherwise, you're going to end up with an even bigger pond a whole lot closer to the house. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Go here, download the coarse, and study it at home. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

OK, I've read it several times and, frankly, I'm lost. Anyway, I'm not sure I could help anyway. I'm a home inspector not a landscape architect or a pond guru. Maybe someone else can offer some suggestions. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, The next time you see a house with the green wrap on a portion of it, stop and take a brief look at it. It's probably drainage wrap and is woven in such a way that it has little raised vertical ribs so water can drain out of the wall. Usually used where there's going to be a veneer of some sort applied. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Yeah, but it's not just the 18 to 20 year olds. Most folks in the military go in young and mature in the military so they tend to continue that behavior the older they get; even the noncoms. When they talk about "work hard - play hard" that's exactly what they're referring to. Everyone is trained to do his job and is expected to know how to do the job of the persons immediately above him or below him in his chain of command, so work time is exactly that; they've got a job to do and they do it and anyone slackin' get a rope snapped in his ass real quick. What's tough is bottling them all up in that small space for months without a means for them to vent, and then trying to keep them from kicking the crap out of each other when they're tired and tempers are short. Back during Desert Storm we had a whole friggin cruise ship in Bahrain that everyone dubbed "The Love Boat" where we'd rotate troops for 3-day R & R's. That ship was the only place in the gulf that a troop could get openly shit-faced on alcohol and even those who normally didn't drink usually came back from there with hangovers. It worked though, it gave them someplace to vent and someplace to look forward to venting; kind of like liberty call in a port for that ship. That's where the camaraderie of the "play hard" part helps; troops are more likely to listen to and respect a firm supervisor that they view as one of them than they are a prig who's got a rule book crammed up his ass. Noncoms are critical in that regard because officers are literally forbidden to openly fraternize with enlisteds. Oh sure, they can play sports with them at the gym or have a friendly conversation about most any topic, and even make a courtesy call on a troop's party have one drink and leave but they aren't allowed to buddy up. Remember the one guy who explained the officers as being the idea guys, the troops as the doers, and the noncoms as the guys who get the doers to do it? That's exactly how it works and it works well. That Command Master Chief is the equivalent of an army Sergeant Major and is the most feared and most loved guy on that whole ship. I bet that'll come out before the series ends. By the way, I see that Mike B. has been having a little bit of fun. Some of you folks should pass your cursor over your avatars. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If it's a floating slab and they didn't leave enough room at the perimeter to allow for expansion the sides will butt against the base of the wall and raise the center. Remove the baseboards and trim the edges to allow more room. It should lie flat. OT - OF!!! M.