hausdok

I've always heard that it's made from the slag left over from the steel-making process, which makes it basically an unrefined and poor quality glass. I've never heard of asbestos in rockwool; other things, but never rockwool. I could be wrong, I've been wrong plenty of times before. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Ahem

In this photo, they added a basement bathroom and couldn't install a window; so they installed a fan/light combo instead. The problem is that they reduced the exhaust to a PVC pipe and tied it into the chimney. In the picture, you can see the galvanized water heater connector inside the flue. Click to Enlarge Many thanks to Darren MillerAbout The House Home InspectionsSuccasunna, NJ973-252-1160

Hi, Sorry to take so long getting back to you Randy. Blair is right, you only have to take the test - whatever that's going to be - because you already have the two years and 100 inspections under your belt. This law isn't going to guaranty competency or honesty; no law can do that - just look at Washington D.C. What it will do is identify most of the companies in the state and force every single home inspector who ends up in the database to take a bare bones test of competency to at least ensure they know something about home inspections. It isn't a cure-all but it's also not the worst law in the country by a longshot; at least this one was put together with input from all entities in the profession. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Jay, you keep referring to that as a Hardi trim band. I couldn't tell from the photo that the piece of trim was fiber-cement. If it is, the answer is simple - there must be flashing because Hardie requires a capillary break between their product and concrete or brickwork. OT - OF!!! M.

FWIW, WAR, Washington Realtors - the Washington State arm of NAR - told WHILAG two years ago that they were in favor of licensing but they witheld comment about the bill until they knew that WHILAG and the prime sponsor of this bill had concurrence and then they endorsed WHILAG's position. Their only objection has been to the provision in the first senate version that prohibited realtors from recommending inspectors to their clients and to the idea that they should be limited to a list of some sort. I think we'll have to wait and see how it works out. WHILAG will stay on top of this. They work together well now, despite the fact that they're such a diverse group, and they've learned how things work in Olympia. If a realtor's lobby even approaches this with a pinecone, they'll probably get wind of it pretty quickly and bring all hands to bear on the issue. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I don't think any self-respecting electrician would have put in a job like that. Of course, I'm not ruling out non-self-loathing, drunk, deluded, high on smack electricians. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Well, at least your brick is sloped to drain; the other fellow's isn't. Seriously, there should be a cavity behind the brick to allow drainage anyway. The only reason that you want flashing there is to provide a capillary break between the brickwork and that horizontal wood trim. There should be a little flashed gap of about 1/8-inch to 3/16-inch between the bottom of the trim and the brickwork and the flashing should slope out and down onto the sloped soldier row. So, without the flashing, you've got the possibility of some moisture moving from the brickwork into the woodwork when it rains (if the woodwork wasn't properly primed and painted) and there's a possibility that some wind-driven water will be blown into that little gap under the bottom of the trim at the inner top edge of the bricks. As for the neighbor's house, the guy who installed that horizontal trim on the other guy's house has his head tucked up his bottom. Hi put the horizontal bandboard tight to the flashing and the flashing tight to the brick, and used flashing that has a pre-formed lip, which caused it to bend upward. Now it drains toward the trim instead of away. Gotta wonder what kind of dildo for brains did that work. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, Well, SB6606 cleared the house last Thursday with a vote of 93 yays and 0 nays, and went back to the senate for concurrence. I just got word that the Senate concurred with the house amendments this morning and SB 6606 got final passage; yeas, 39; nays, 8; absent, 0; excused, 2. It's on its way to the Governor for signature. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Thanks , Frank I'd oppose this for no other reason than it specifies that licensees must show proof of membership in one of the recognized associations. If you're a member of one of the associations, forgive me for saying this, but that's bullshit. None of the associations hold the franchise on competence or integrity. Belonging to an association shouldn't be criteria for becoming a licensed home inspector in any state. I've been an independent for longer than the years I spent trying out the associations, and you won't find my customers complaining about my competency, ethics, or integrity. What right have they to force independents to join one of these soap operas? Besides, I'd guess that it's somehow unconstitutional, to boot. OK, I'm done. Now I'm going out somewhere and kick someone's cat. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Some NRCA Roofing Manuals are now available online for free at the NRCA website. Users can view individual pages, zoom in on text or print it out. If you are in an area that deals with a lot of metal roofs and flat roofs, this should be a pretty good web asset for you when doing research on roofs. Make sure you bookmark it! The following manuals are available: Metal Panel and SPF Roof Systems-2008 The NRCA Roofing Manual: Membrane Roof Systems-2007 The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual, Fifth Edition are available on NRCA's Web site. You must be registered as a user to view the manuals; registration is free. I had to battle my vista program a little bit in order to get it to allow me to display the manuals, but after making a few setting adjustments and updating the Java on my computer, everything works fine. To view the manuals online, click here.

I'm getting this up kind of late, but it still is good information. It seems that mylar radiant heating panels that are used on a floor and not a ceiling are a potential fire hazard. Want to know more? click here.

Officials in Sweden intend to use the body heat from subway commuters to heat a nearby building. To read more click here.

Hi Jim, And your contributions are always greatly appreciated. We need more true experts from the various trades hanging out here with us. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Those guys at ZD net are doing it again. This time a reader challenged them to build a Vista-compatible office PC for under $600 - LCD monitor and keyboard included. The guy explains what he did here. It ultimately cost him $305 without the software and $595 with the software. Check it out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Lou, Saw this post early in the morning but didn't have time to respond. I wonder if this is what you need: R802.3 Framing details. Rafters shall be framed to ridge board or to each other with a gusset plate as a tie. Ridge board shall be at least 1-inch nominal thickness and not less in depth than the cut end of the rafter. All all valleys and hips there shall be a valley or hip rafter not less than 2-inch nominal thickness and not less in depth than the cut end of the rafter. Hip valley rafters shall be supported at the ridge by a brace to a bearing partition or be designed to carry and distribute the specified load at that pint. Where the roof pitch is less than three units vertical in 12 units horizontal , structural members that support rafters and ceiling joists, such as ridge beams, hips and valleys, shall be designed as beams. OT - OF!!! M.

Oh hell, I better call up and cancel my call to the Buffalo tips line. Sorry Gary! [:-mischie ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jodi, Please don't take any of the ribbing from these guys the wrong way or consider it harassment; I'm sure they mean it all in the most endearing way. We've had other female inspectors on here over the years and I can't remember of any that weren't accepted. Guys pretty much bust on each other all the time - it's a tendency built into our genetic makeup, I think - and if they're ribbing you it means that they've accepted you. In the Army, I worked side-by-side and/or supervised a lot of female soldiers over the years. Some were good soldiers and some were bad soldiers, but, once they were accepted into the squad, office, or platoon they just became one of the guys and the ribbing was the way the male troops always showed their acceptance. It's when I'd get a female troop in that didn't get ribbed that I'd worry, 'cuz that usually meant that there was something wrong with the way she was integrating into the platoon - either she was screwing around with one of the other troops or they were shying away from her because they didn't trust her - either way was a formula for trouble. That turned out to be true in almost every circumstance. Somewhere out there is Pam Pecor, one of my Team Leaders when I was with the Regimental Aggressor Platoon at Ft. McClellan. Pam could run faster, do more pushups and situps than most men in the platoon, and take off uphill with an M60 on one arm Rambo-style and leave most of us in the dust. Still, when she put on civilian clothes and a dress, the guys would stumble all over themselves and get tongue-tied, 'cuz she was no longer one of 'the guys' or Sgt. Pecor anymore. She was a terrific soldier and I was proud to serve with her. I do have to warn you about Les, though. He's just an incorrigible flirt and can't seem to help himself. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I dunno, Caoimhín I used to think you were the smartest guy that's ever posted on these boards. However, knowing now that you're a cop, and being a retired cop, now I have to reassess my assessment. [:-boggled [:-magnify ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jodi, Frank is kind of an authority on this; he was a plumber in a former life. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jodi, If you're allergic to spider bites, it would be prudent to talk to your doctor about getting you a prescription, or whatever is needed, to keep a syringe of whatever drug they typically use to combat allergic reactions and teach you how, where, and when to inject it. I don't worry about spiders. I don't smack them to kill them; I just push past them. If they get out of my way, they live, if not, I suppose they get crushed as I push by, over, under them. However, once, many years ago, I got finished with a job, collected my check, packed my tools, and was driving home when I felt a sharp hot burning in the center of my back. I thought it might be a bee or something that had gotten into my shirt. I pulled over, shook out my shirt, got back in the truck and continued on my way home. Not far down the road, I suddenly got blurred vision and felt pretty nauseous. It got worse and worse, so I drove myself to my health care providers office which wasn't far away. It turned out, at least from what they saw since I'd shaken out my shirt, that I'd been bitten by a spider and the doctor was convinced that, from the bullseye pattern of redness around the bite that it had been a brown recluse. Anyway, they gave me some kind of medication and I obviously didn't die but I got pretty sick. Later, I remembered that there were an unusual number of large gray wolf spiders in that crawlspace and under the deck of that house. In a pest seminar we'd had not long before that, the state's pest guy had told us that the brown recluse had moved into Washington somehow and that the only natural predator of the brown recluse was the gray wolf spider. For about 6 weeks as that bite healed I lived with the very uncomfortable sensation of someone constantly raking their nails over my back 24/7 and in the end a small piece of flesh about 3/4 inch in diameter got necrosis and is now scar tissue. I still push past spiders - what else can I do, I can't waste time playing around with a dumb stick or something - but now I'm more careful about fastening that top button on my coveralls to keep stuff from going down my back when I'm working. Be careful out there. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Nope OT - OF!!! M.

Which means what, exactly? OT - OF!!! M.

OK Jim, Now that you've knocked the lid off that box, how about telling us all about your theater days? OT - OF!!! M.

So, What you're saying is; radon testing and all of these mitigation measures give folks a warm and fuzzy but it's mostly smoke and mirrors? OT - OF!!! M.