hausdok

Hi Frank, Yeah, I see what you mean. I saw that Nature Mill thingy on the history channel when it aired. I think it's a great idea except what would folks in a city with noplace to dump that compost do with it - put it out to the curb so that the city can haul it off and use it for fertilizer for the park gardens? Plus, the thing is limited to only 5 lbs of organic waste a day. Hell, my wife is Korean and she is constantly preparing varieties of kimchi and canning them. She's already been forbidden by me to put most of the organic waste she makes down the disposal, but she could easily outstrip that Nature Mill thing's ability to keep pace. It seems to me like city-wide composting programs make more sense. They need to have those supercharged composters on the Gigantor size; then they can sell the compost and use the profits to support city programs for kids recreation, the elderly, and the disabled. It would be better than letting folks keep compost piles in their back yard; hell, wars have been fought over compost piles in city neighborhoods. Gardeners are nuts about that kind of stuff; here in Seattle, the Woodland Park Zoo has a manure giveaway every year and the gardeners line up in their cars and trucks for that stuff. I gardeners would be willing to pay for that kind of compost produced by a city if it were priced less than what they'd pay at a nursery. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sorry, I didn't catch that. OT - OF!!! M.

No, it's not just you, Jim; I'd thought the same thing. It's hard to tell, but it look almost like a double-wide that they didn't want to re-divide in two before transport because they'd added a garage to it. If so, they can usually flex quite a bit without suffering major damage. Ever seen one flexing up and down as the box is hauled down the highway? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Is it a permeable membrane or just plastic? I'd use Airlok - latex mastic. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Neal is right, I'd guess that, since there is no intake pipe and the door to that area is louvered, that the area around the furnace meets the manufacturer's requirements for adequate combustion air without an exterior air source. However, it's been my experience that a lot of the time these furnace guys don't take into account things like gas clothes dryers and gas water heaters that are operating in close proximity to these devices and which impact combustion air requirements. That looks like the manual for the furnace on the right side; did you pull it out, open it up and read the combustion air requirements? Also, sometimes they'll have louvered doors opening into a little room that, when the door to that room is closed, provides far far less combustion air than is required. You've got to look at the whole picture. If there are other gas appliances in close proximity, I generally estimate the volume of the adjacent space, total up the BTU/HR requirement for all appliances, divide that by a thousand, and then multiply it by 50 to see if the it meets the basic rule-of-thumb combustion air requirement for gas appliances. If not, and I can't confirm with the manual that the existing space is adequate despite being less than that required by the rule of thumb, I write it up to be checked out by an HVAC pro. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Steve, Do you know how old that is? I seem to recall a paper a few years ago wherein someone, I think it might have been ASHRAE, conducted an extensive study of fiberglass and rockwool and found that it did not pose a hazard to workers. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Was there anything else plugged into the same circuit? I think I had that a time or two when there was something else plugged into the same circuit drawing power. OT - OF!!! M.

Question: How much does a house weigh? Answer: More than a rural two lane bridge can hold. House for sale. Beautiful view overlooking stream. Good roads to house. Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Many thanks to James SimmonsUser Name: Mr. ElectricOlympia, WA

Hi, Go to HeatingHelp.com and click on "The Wall" and see if any of the heating guys there can suggest anything. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Joe, Have you called Amtrol about this yet? Seems like the seller should realize that "steam" would mean a crack someplace and how in the world does condensation take place on a warm pipe? The photo tells the tale. Tell your customer to stick to his guns. Do they do a hold back where you are? Around here, buyers would probably demand that a certain amount be placed in escrow at closing until they can have their own boiler guy inspect and repair the boiler. Once the repairs are paid for, the balance is refunded to the seller. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jodi, Flux is a chemical cleaner used to prepare the metal for soldering. If a plumber isn't careful about wiping down the pipe after the joints have been soldered, the acid in the flux will react to the copper and cause that green corrosion to appear. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jodi, No, it's not normal. That discharge pipe is dripping. There are only two reasons that valve should be opening - excess pressure or exess temperature. Both reasons indicate that something is amiss. The design of that puff shield says that's a pretty old water heater. Have you got exceptionally hard water there with lots of limestone around? You might have a situation where a buildup of crud is preventing the control valve from sensing temperature properly and it's taking the water up to boiling temperature and causing the valve to open. Did you check the water temperature at the tap? OT - OF!!! M.

Its an idea but I'll skip that one. If I do it this way it will start shoving things onto following pages and have a potential for messing up my intended layout. Not if you're placing page breaks between sections. OT - OF!!! M.

It's always fun to read home inspector punditry. Check it out!

Once more with fervor! Click Here!

Or, You can type the whole thing in one font, and, when you're finished, go back through and highlight the stuff you want changed to each type of font and then save the document. OT - OF!!! M.

Hmm, I dunno, here's an article that claims that radon kills more people every year than drunk drivers. If that's true, that's not a small number, since there were nearly 75,000 deaths caused by drunk drivers from 2001 through 2006. I suppose one could say it's a lot less than the number of people that die from natural causes every year, but it's still significant at an average of 14,492 people a year.That's an average of 289 people per state; if in every state 289 people suddently keeled over at the same time, Jonestown style, and it could definitely be linked to radon, everyone would be freaking out. Thoughts? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, Here's another one that just cam in via Google Alerts. OT - OF!!! M.

Ah, So it is. Serves me right for responding before I'd put my glasses on. Without them, it looked like a cooked motor. OT - OF!!! M.

Not just faucets; also galvanized piping prior to about 1963. I do warn clients about that in older houses with galvanized pipe, of which there are many here. I think warning someone of lead in older pipes and faucets makes more sense than talking about asbestos in rockwool, though. OT - OF!!! M.

The manufacturer specifies that the grate be taken off and the heaters vacuumed out about every six months. If they'd done that, they might have seen the damage. Richard, looks like a model RM to me. OT - OF!!! M.

Is that a flue pipe over a draft diverter behind it? If so, it might be spilling a little bit of exhaust gas and that would corrode any copper it comes into contact with. OT - OF!!! M.

Is the brick ledge an integral part of the foundation or is it separate? If it's not an integral part of the structure, the ledge may be moving independent of the rest. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jim, Each of those white panels on either side of the silver band in the middle fold out and back to reveal the buttons for programming and turning the heat on and off behind them. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Don't know. I've had a couple that required removal of an entire panel to access the underside of the tub. Do you have a photo? OT - OF!!! M.