hausdok

Nope. It's an accessory item to the house. Kind of like the fuzzy dice on a car's mirror has nothing to do with the way the car performs, I'm not real interested in how well that motion detector works, because it has nothing to do with the functionality of the house. All I care about is whether the thing is getting power and whether it's wired correctly - that is, without extension cords or sloppily installed NM, FMC or conduit. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Phew! That wouldn't have been a fun ride for the guy. Hope that, other than the splinter, he didn't injure himself. I fell through a ceiling about 4 years ago. I'd just got done with the attic and was standing next to the hatch when I reached out for the last tall vertical post that I wanted to check and gave it a light tug. Then it started, ever so slowly, to go over. I lunged across several joists to get underneath the center of it and just as I was aiming for the last one the post reached me and I caught it but missed the joist and ended up straddling the thing holding a 12ft long 6 by 6 and feeling like I'd just split myself from crotch to forehead. Kept the thing from landing on this joists, though. If it had, it probably would have done a lot of damage. I was directly over the bathroom and, fortunately, the bathtub, so all of that blown-in rockwool and drywall ended up in the tub. Bag of ice on the old petunkis that evening got me back to work the following day. 'Cuz I was so out of practice, it took me an afternoon to tear out that ceiling, rerock it, tape and mud it and another couple of hours the next day to feather-edge it. I figure once in 11 years isn't too bad, considering I don't inspect from the hatch and, if I can fit into them, will crawl or walk all of them. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Nope, not true Les. At least in Oregon, home inspectors actually have a choice as to whether or not they want to get involved with pest inspections. Not so here in Washington State where the state's department of agriculture has decreed that any home inspector observing and reporting on pest conducive conditions is performing a WDO inspection and therefore must have a structural pest inspectors (SPI) license. Back around 1990, the pest inspectors in this state began getting fed up with the new crop of home inspectors operating in the state who were dabbling in pest inspections. Complaints were made to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) that home inspectors who were commenting about pests were either missing pests or were reporting pests where no pests existed. So, they managed to get a legislator behind the idea of requiring any home inspector who inspects and reports on rot, insects or conducive conditions to have a pest license. Their plan was to, hopefully, dissuade home inspectors from becoming involved with pests, so their own industry would have a monopoly. It backfired, once home inspectors found out how easy it was to get a pest license, most took the test and got their license. Then, because they were forced by law to include the pest report, they tossed the pest inspection in with the home inspection for one price. Years later, the pest guys tried again by getting the law altered so it required all home inspectors to carry either a bond or an occurrence-based E & O policy. Again, it backfired, and today the pest industry is practically extinct in this state, because a huge chunk of the treatment business, that used to be generated mostly by pest inspectors who weren't home inspectors, has gone away, and most of the pest guys are now doing home inspections. The problem we've got is that those who have a background as pest inspectors and later got into home inspections, for the most part spend a great deal of time on the bug and rot end of the inspection, but the actual home inspection aspects aren't very in-depth. Conversely, many of the home inspectors who're being forced to be pest inspectors are doing very in-depth home inspections but are doing far less on the bug/rot end of it - probably about what inspectors do in other states where they are allowed to write up what they see, report it to clients and then recommend the clients contact a bug specialist for follow-up. So, the bug guys are still claiming that too much bug/rot stuff is being missed by home inspectors, and the home inspector guys need to take x-number of hours of continuing education related to WDO every year and maintain an SPI license. The bug guys, on the other hand, are allowed to inspect for bugs, call them out, do a treatment for an extra $500 to $700, and still able to dabble in home inspections. There's nothing stopping all home inspectors in the state from becoming full-blown bug guys and also doing treatments, but the cost of that kind of ramp up and additional liability is huge, while getting into home inspections isn't. Most of the established bug guys are already set up, staffed and insured for the bug end of the business, so getting into home inspections costs them practically nothing, while most home inspectors are one-man operations and don't have the capital or financial agility of well-established multi-inspector bug firms. It places the bug guys in the driver's seat and many home inspectors here feel oppressed and like they're being forced to assume a mantle that they'd never wanted when they decided to get into home inspections. Worse, throughout the state now, realtors tell their buyers that a pest inspection is part of the home inspection, and that a home inspection shouldn't cost them more than about $325 - $350, so they should not be charged anything additional for the pest inspection. So, buyers call up, want to know the price of the inspection, and, when they're told that the home inspection actually costs more than the $325 - $350 the realtor quoted them, and that the pest inspection end of it will cost $X extra, they hang up, convinced that the inspector is trying to rip them off. When licensing was proposed again this year, WHILAG (Washington Home Inspectors Legislative Advisory Group), a coalition of home inspectors from NACHI, NAHI, ASHI, AII, AHIA,WHIA, and independents, submitted an amendment to the proposed law, asking legislators to allow home inspectors who've passed the WSDA WDO recognition exam to observe and report conducive conditions and organisms to their clients, without the need for an additional license or to generate an additional report. The Senator who sponsored the bill, is reportedly not very happy with WHILAG's proposal and low-ball inspectors, who're charging significantly less than others, are happy to keep things the way they are because it drives more work to them, so they've come out in force in support of the status quo, along with the bug guys, who, despite the fact that they acknowledge that their own industry was killed by the law, refuse to let it go. The bill passed the senate with the status quo intact, but got stalled in the house. At last report, it looks like it's too late in the legislative season to get a deal made wherein the bill will make it through the house and get sent to the governor. It looks like it may have gone to a sunrise review committee. If so, it might resurface in the fall as the next session winds up and the battle will probably be re-fought again next winter. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Washington, D.C./April 5th - Release #07-151 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. Name of product: NTI Trinity Gas-Fired Hot Water Boilers Units: About 4,800 Distributor: NY Thermal Inc., of Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada Hazard: Acidic liquid in a drain line can cause a fitting in the boiler to leak, posing a risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: NY Thermal Inc. has received one report outside of the United States of a leaking fitting resulting in a CO alarm activation. No injuries have been reported. Description: The recall includes NTI Trinity gas-fired hot water boilers with model numbers Ti100, Ti150, Ti200 and Ti400. The boilers were manufactured between November 28, 2005 and January 8, 2007. The Ti100, Ti150 and Ti200 are wall-mounted units, and the Ti400 rests on the floor. The boilers are gray in color and "NTI" appears on the front cover. The model number and date of manufacture are located on the ID label inside the front cover of the boiler. Sold at: Plumbing and heating contractors nationwide from November 2005 through February 2007 for between $3,000 and 8,500, depending on the model. Manufactured in: Canada Remedy: Consumers should immediately contact the firm for instructions and to arrange for a free repair. Consumer Contact: For more information, contact NY Thermal Inc. at (800) 688-2575 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's Web site at www.nythermal.com. To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled products, please click here. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

Hi, I was trying to remember which year the NEC began requiring EGC's on all 15 and 20 amp receptacles. I just looked it up in Doug Hansen's book. I was right the first time - it was 1962. According to Hansen: 1951 NEC - Only the laundry required grounding type receptacles. 1956 - First requirement for grounding type receptacles at exteriors, garages and basements. 1959 - First requirement for grounding type receptacles at kitchen sinks. 1962 - All 15 & 20 amp receptacles required to have grounding type receptacles. According to Hansen, thermoplastic wasn't used until the 1960's. He even shows a photo of thermoplastic used in a rare knob-and-tube installation that was done in the 1960's with thermoplastic insulation on the wires. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I called the head gnome about the sss hhh thing. Apparently, those were tags he put in place to help with the programming. Don't see them this morning, so I guess he finished whatever he was working on. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I don't think "cheap" has anything to do with it. In the 11 years I've been doing this, I think I've only had a couple of hundred houses where there was a GFCI in every bathroom. Around here, the baths are usually all on the same circuit with one GFCI receptacle for all. Since it seems to be a fact of life that nothing I do or say is going to change, I don't get annoyed with it, I just make sure the client understands where to go to reset the GFCI if power is lost in one of the baths. The question of whether bathroom lights can be on the GFCI has been discussed at length numerous times. Douglas Hansen's book provided the answer. It explains that since the 1996 NEC a separate 20-amp circuit has been required for the bathroom receptacles and that no other outlets are allowed on that circuit including the bathroom lights unless that circuit only supplies one bathroom, in which case other equipment (fans, lights, hydromassage tubs, etc.) can be on the circuit. So, if that circuit is supplying power to multiple bathrooms, and all of those lights are on that same circuit and being tripped by the GFCI, the electrician screwed it up. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Calling an S trap illegal is like the perception that electrical circuits without an equipment grounding conductor in a 1950'a home are "illegal" and must be upgraded. However, your question about what is the "real" danger, indicates, to me at least, that you're questioning in your own mind whether you should be calling stuff that's (I hate this friggin word) "grandfathered," as the 'zoids like to say. The "real" 'danger' is the potential for siphoning, 'cuz that's got the potential to allow deadly gas to reenter the home. Gas that has the potential to kill you or to explode. That's real, no ifs, ands or buts about it, and the danger is there whether you have an S-trap or a P-trap. The difference is that the danger is increased by the S-trap's propensity to siphon the trap dry. All you need do is tell your client that S-traps are prone to siphoning, and that, today, they aren't allowed for that very reason, and then recommend that the client consider improving the situation by having it reconfigured by a plumber. Who arranges for and pays for that correction isn't your concern. Why worry about who's responsibility it is to correct something? Let your client and the seller make that decision. If you've armed your client with the correct information, you've done your job. Rid yourself of the idea that you somehow "expect" a seller to correct a situation in a home. That's not our function. We have no power or right to expect anyone to do a single thing that we recommend. We are simply investigators who observe a situation and report it to the client, inform the client of it's significance and then recommend that the client take measures to see the issue rectified. When I make a recommendation to fix a plumbing issue, I simply state something like, "have a reputable licensed plumber correct this," and leave it up to the buyer and seller to hash out who's responsible for all or part of that correction. Personally, I don't care whether the seller refuses to do it, even if the issue was caused by the seller, or whether the client ever bothers to have it fixed, because my job is to report the issue - not to enforce it. You need to detach yourself from the process. Otherwise, you'll find yourself getting into endless arguments with 'zoids who want you to doubt your own understanding of an issue and the way your report it, and you'll constantly be fretting about stuff that you have no control over. That, literally, isn't healthy for you. It's like the rookie cop who suddenly comes to the realization that, as much fun as wearing that badge and totin' the gun and putting bad guys away is, his actions could literally result in someone going to jail for decades over something that he himself thinks is a relatively minor offense. Training officers always warn rookies that the day will come when they say, "I'm not sure whether I'm cut out to do this," and warn them that it's a sign that they're becoming too involved with things they have no control over and that's when they need to re-focus on doing the job and not fretting about the consequences. At least the cop has the power to make an arrest and get something before a judge for some type of judgment of enforcement - we don't even have that kind of power. Think about it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, You keep going back to this idea of a "2 wire" versus "3 wire" system, but there is no such distinction. All electrical systems are 2-wire systems, except those after the early 1960's added a non-current-carrying equipment grounding conductor. The circuits are still considered 2-wire systems. As Jim said, all electricity is hazardous around water. The addition of an equipment grounding conductor - the 3rd wire you keep referring to - hasn't changed that one iota. The EGC doesn't factor into whether the cable is going to carry power or not, it's simply an alternative path back to earth for electricity in the event the grounded (neutral) conductor is compromised. Neither does the addition of a GFCI receptacle change the hazard. The hazard still exists after the GFCI receptacle is installed and after it trips, but the means to harm you - power to a device through a plug and cord - has been neutralized, insofar as the GFCI receptacle has severed the electricity's path back to earth. The outlet is still sitting there wanting to electrocute you, it's just frustrated by the traffic cop (GFCI) who noticed that there were too many electrons traveling down the street in one direction and decided it was time to stop traffic before someone got hurt. The equipment grounding conductor really doesn't have a thing to do with making the receptacle any more or less of a hazard. After all, if it did, wouldn't it make sense that every single device should have a 3-pronged plug and all 2-pronged plugs would have been banned decades ago? The EGC is a convenience, and a requirement, but, until there is actually an issue with the grounded (neutral) leg of a circuit, its essentially doing nothing. It's doing nothing before the GFCI trips and it does nothing after it trips. One's proximity to a sink doesn't change the fact that there's a hazard at receptacles. The proximity issue deals with the fact that the likelihood that someone could be electrocuted is increased when a person is in a place where their body can somehow become the path of least resistance for voltage to return to earth. The same hazard exists in a home where there are radiators doesn't it? Someone plugging a faulty appliance into a receptacle that's next to a radiator is at just as much risk as someone plugging an appliance into a receptacle next to the kitchen sink, because they're just as likely to get zapped by touching the fondue dish in the dining room with one hand on the radiator as they are at a kitchen sink. If someone wants to argue that the inclusion of GFCI protection on any circuit lessens the hazard associated with circuitry, they should argue that only a GFCI breaker does so, because it completely cuts off power to the entire cable feeding the receptacle, instead of leaving it idling there revving it's engines and still raring to go. I don't know whether I've helped or made things worse. Probably worse. I should never try and explain electrical issues. They're as abstract and foreign to my one-sided brain as mathematics, financial matters and computers. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike P.S. After I posted this, I saw that Paul had responded better than I could and I noticed that I hadn't spoken to whether I call out circuitry that hasn't got an EGC, so I thought I'd edit this and answer that. I do,....always. Even when not around water. If it's an older home with 2-hole receptacles, or it's pre-1962 (or was it 63?), chances are some homeowner, frustrated with trying to make 3-pronged plugs work on 2-hole receptacles is going to trot down to the big box, buy a handful of 3-hole receptacles and then go home and swap a bunch of them out, so he can use all of his stuff with 3-pronged plugs whenever and wherever he wants. So, knowing that's going to happen, I invariably recommend folks either upgrade their wiring or install GFCI's, to at least mitigate, but not completely eliminate, some of the potential hazard involved. Hope I'm making some kind of sense here. I'm starting to feel like I'm rambling. Always happens when I try to sound like I know sumpin bout 'lectricity.

Hi, Looks very much like showers that I've seen in Germany, France, Saudi Arabia and Korea. Go to any economy hotel in Korea and the entire bathroom will be tiled with a drain in the floor and a shower head and spout will be protruding from the wall not far from the toilet. There'll be a mud pan under the entire room and a curb to step over as you enter the bathroom. The entire bath functions as a bathing area. Lots of typical middle-class Korean homes are set up the same way. It's only the rich pretentious types who have American style baths. I suppose it's possible that whoever owned that house when that shower was installed is from another country and didn't see the need for a tub or fancy shower surround. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Again, Yeah Kurt, that's a good point, but around here they're typically installed on furnaces in unheated garages and they pass directly up through the garage roof to the outside. Sometimes they pass through heavily insulated and well-ventilated attics where the temperatures aren't that much different from outside. They do get some condensation, but nothing on the order of what you'll see in Chicago with your temps or in Mass where he is. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I took a lead inspector's course about 7-8 years ago. The course taught me that it's a very complicated and time consuming protocol and the liability is HUGE. So huge that I never added lead inspections to my list of services. For instance, you have to take 1-inch square samples from surfaces throughout a house, package it properly and maintain a proper chain of custody. It's not as if that was a problem for me. Hell, I did that on crime scenes for years and it's second nature. However, we're home inspectors - who's going to give us permission to take destructive samples of paint from a home that they're selling? And even if they do, then if the buyer walks you've got the seller pissed and demanding that you restore the finishes throughout the home. Too many headaches. Better to leave it for the environmental testing firms. They're already set up for it, insured for it and I'd prefer to let them deal with the sellers, not me. OT - OF!!! M.

Weird! My color looks very crisp and contrast is good from dark green to light green. Don't know what to tell you about that. I suppose these things have color adjustments like televisions do. Maybe the screens just need tweaking a little. Mike, what's the gnomeaning of this? Any idea? OT - OF!!! M.

Hmmm, On my monitor I'm seeing a two-tone bar with a deep kelly green on the bottom half fading to a lighter green on top of the bar. Very good contrast. Is that what others see or does it depend on whether one is using a CRT or a LCD monitor? OT - OF!!! M.

Those are typically exposed to the weather when the protrude from a roof plane, so this isn't any different. It's okay. You just need to ensure a 1-inch clearance to combustibles. Did it have the necessary height above the ridge? From this angle, it looks like it extends more than 3ft. above the roof, so you might have a guy wire requirement. Check with your local AHJ to see what's required in your parts. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, If you have a GFCI on that receptacle and you create a ground fault the GFCI will function and cut power - even without a working ground. So, the safety concern is mitigated but it hasn't gone away. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, I've just spoken to the head gnome. They're still not finished dinking around with things, so expect things to switch up a little in the next few days until they've finished sprinkling the programming dust. For you that bypass the homepage and come right into the forums, click on "Home" and check out the new underwear TIJ is wearing. Kinda Kewl! OT - OF!!! M.

Phew! That's a seriously cheap-quality vinyl window! I wouldn't expect that to stay leak-free for very long, no matter how well they detail it. To answer your question, caulk should not be a substitute for good workmanship. If the window has head flashings and you're confident that it's been properly splined (flashed) beneath that trim and siding, it's not absolutely necessary to caulk that joint. If there aren't any head flashings, the caulk is usually used, in addition to whatever has been used behind the trim/siding to flash the window, and essentially represents a figurative pair of crossed fingers while hoping they got the bitumen detailed correctly. With the vinyl window, the caulk is liable to fail anyway, unless it can move with the expansion/contraction of the window without failing. There is one caulk that might work with that - Big Stretch by Sashco - it's a butyl formulation that doesn't harden and has some amazing elastic qualities. If it's compatible with vinyl and will bond to vinyl and cure properly, it might be worth caulking those joints just to give it a more finished look, but I'd probably leave the bottom un-caulked, just so's there's another path for water to get out from behind the frame and siding should infiltration occur. I should probably add that you'd normally want to use backer rod in anything wider than about 3/16 inch, but with a vinyl window that's not a great idea, because you'll constrain it. That vinyl will want to expand in summer and that gap is liable to close. Pack it with a bunch of backer rod and you probably won't be able to get them open come summer. OT - OF!!! M.

Dis Les man, he too fuuunny! OT - OF!!! M. [:-bouncy]

I'm not sure yet. I think there're some software gnomes dinking around with it, 'cuz nobody told me about it. I'm not going to say anything about it, until I know for certain weather or not they're finished. Pesky gnomes. Anyone got any GnomeOff?[:-bonc01] OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, That's bullshift, to use WJ's term. Vinyl windows expand at twice the rate of aluminum, wood or fiberglass windows and their rough openings need to be slightly larger to accommodate that additional expansion. Otherwise, the outside perimeter of the window gets constrained and when it expands it has nowhere to go but outward. Ergo, the gaps. That builder has his head tucked up his assets. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'll quote Mr. Hansen here. The underlining is mine. Kyle, Hope you've bought Doug's book. It always helps me clear the cobwebs, so to speak. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm not sure yet. I think there're some gnomes in the software dinking around with it, so I'm not going to say anything until I know weather or not they're finished. Anyone got any GnomeOff?[:-bonc01] OT - OF!!! M.

Kyle, Save the pictures as JPEG documents and resize them to less than 100 Kbs. Then, rename them so there are no symbols or spaces in the name. Something like Picture_1 or Picture1, but not Picture 1 or Picture (1) because anything with spaces or special symbols like partenthesis won't load. Then upload them. If you're using netscape, wait until the box says that it's uploaded and then highlight and copy the code out of the upload box and paste it into your post and then click the submit button and it'll be there. OT - OF!!! M.

Chad, You too fuuuunnnny guy, GI! [:-jump]