hausdok

Hi, It's an Inman News link. There's not much point in posting links to anything in Inman News. Anytime you post a link to something in Inman News the link's lifespan is pretty short. They want you to subscribe to their paid service. If you have their free email subscription service, you can click in to one, maybe two, articles a day before the software starts kicking up a window asking you whether you want to subscribe and conceals what you're looking for. So, anyone with a paid subscription will see the article at that link. All others will get that message. If it's a Barry Stone article in Inman News, the same article has probably been published somewhere else in a non-paid-subscription publication. You just have to go out and search for it. Bob E., what was the article about? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, You might be right. I don't see them listed in my date decoder chart in any of the 105 brands made by the 6 US manufacturers. OT - OF!!! M.

Washington, D.C./March 21st - Release #07-135 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: Maytag and Samsung Brand Front Loading Washing Machines Units: About 250,000 Maytag-brand units and about 20,000 Samsung-brand units Distributor: Maytag Corp., of Newton, Iowa, and Samsung Electronics America Inc., of Ridgefield Park, N.J. Manufacturer Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., of South Korea Hazard: Water leakage onto the electrical connections to the washing machine's thermal sensor could cause an electrical short and ignite a circuit board, posing a fire hazard to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: Maytag has received five reports of incidents involving ignition in the circuit board. Samsung has received one report of an incident involving ignition in the circuit board. No injuries, fires or property damage outside the washing machine have been reported.. Description and Models: The recall involves certain Maytag and Samsung brand front-load washers. The Maytag washers have model numbers beginning with MAH9700 or MAH8700. The Samsung model number WF306BHW or a model number beginning with WF316. Not all serial numbers are subject to the recall. The model and serial numbers are located on a tag at the bottom of the door opening. Maytag models with a serial number ending in the last two letters identified below are subject to the recall: 2005: GA GC GE GG GJ GL GN GP GR GT GV GX 2006: JA JC JE JG JJ JL JN Sample Maytag Serial Number: 10123456GN Samsung models with the six-digit number 100001 through 799999 prior to a letter at the end of the serial number are subject to the recall: Sample Samsung Serial Number: 230854AL300026B Sold at: Major department and appliance stores nationwide from April 2005 through August 2006 for between $1,000 and $1,200. Manufactured in: South Korea Remedy: Consumers should immediately contact the firm for information on how to receive a free repair. Consumers should not return the washing machine to the retailer where it was purchased. Consumer Contact: For more information, consumers can call Maytag toll-free at (800) 868-5109 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or go to Maytag's Web site at www.washerrecall.com - Samsung customers can call (800) 515-7902 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or go to Samsung's Web site at www.Samsung.com/washerrecall Maytag Media Contact: Monica Teague, (269) 923-7405 or monica.teague@Whirlpool.com Samsung Media Contact: Deborah Szajngarten at (201) 229-4090 or dszajngarten@sea.samsung.com For more information, consumers can call Maytag toll-free at (800) 868-5109 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or go to Maytag's Web site at www.washerrecall.com - Samsung customers can call (800) 515-7902 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or go to Samsung's Web site at www.Samsung.com/washerrecall 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.

Washington, D.C./March 21st - Release #07-134 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: Home Decorators Collection Wall Sconces Units: About 900 Manufacturer: Home Decorators Collection, of St. Louis, Mo. Hazard: A missing back plate exposes consumers to live wires, posing a risk of electrical shock to consumers changing the light bulb. Incidents/Injuries: None reported. Description: This recall involves "Oyster Bay" model wall sconces. The Tiffany-style design includes multi-colored glass with a black outline. The following model numbers are involved in the recall. Model numbers are located on the product's packaging. 39651- 39661- 39670- 39681- 40357- 41511- 43567- 39652- 39662- 39671- 40041- 40358- 41512- 43568- 39653- 39664- 39675- 40042- 41418- 41647- 43569- 39657- 39665- 39676- 40206- 41419- 41648- 43738- 39658- 39666- 39678- 40207- 41488- 41649- 43739- 39659- 39667- 39679- 40330- 41489- 43565- 43740- 39660- 39669- 39680- 40331- 41509- 43566- 33049- Sold at: Home Decorators Collection stores nationwide and homedecorators.com from December 2004 through January 2007 for between $70 and $80. Manufactured in: China Remedy: Consumers should immediately contact Home Decorators for information on receiving a free replacement sconce or a full refund, including shipping. With either option, consumers will receive $50 towards the replacement fee. Consumers should not attempt electrical repairs of the recalled sconces. Consumer Contact: For additional information, consumers can contact Home Decorators Collection at (800) 464-0164 between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 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, Yeah, I see the Bio-Radiant systems here all the time plumbed with PEX and coupled to water heaters. Don't know about where you are, but, around here, I see water heaters lasting about 10 to 15 years. I've seen a few where the water heaters had been replaced at about 6 to 8 years, so there may be a penalty for all of that extra BTU output and the extra work they do. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Read your comment. Looks like you already did. Make a recommendation that an electrician correct it. OT - OF!!! M.

Tin-coated copper. Real common up through the 40's into the mid-50s. Don't think I've ever seen it post 55 or so. OT - OF!!! M.

Assuming you don't see anything obvious that points to it and the cause is concealed in interstitial space, there's not a lot you can tell them. Could be a structural issue that needs fixing, might only be where the framer cut some studs on the wrong side of his layout line, in which case it's not a huge deal. Could be where I-joists are installed incorrectly and the flanges are collapsing. Could be any number of things. Unless you've developed x-ray vision you'll be stymied. Make sure they understand that before you even start, 'cuz if the whole thing hinges on your being a swammi, they're going to probably end up dissatisfied and you're friend and you will have altered your relationship. If they don't feel comfortable with that, don't do it. If you do it and your stuck, you could tell them that, absent anything conclusive to show that it's a structural issue, you haven't got enough information to make an intelligent recommendation. Then you could recommend they get the seller to open it up and have it inspected by a structural guy to identify the cause and fix it as necessary, or, if the seller won't pay for it, get permission to have it done at their own expense on the condition that they restore the house to it's previous condition. Just understand that, without proof that it's actually something worth dealing with, no seller in his or her right mind will allow either option. Hell, even if the seller did, their realtor would probably step in and block that big time. You'll have done all you can for them, though. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Okay Guys, Keep it on-topic and about the science. Any more name calling and I'm going to start cleaning the threads up. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, There's also the chance that the house has a newer foundation beneath it that was added decades after it was built. I find houses all the time that were originally built post-on-pier and have basements beneath them now. Sometimes they aren't even post-on-pier types and have conventional box sill construction. Had one yesterday. The client said it was built in 1920. Big flat corner lot with what looked like 40-year old firs growing around it in the yard. As soon as I walked around it, I felt that something just wasn't kosher. Although all of the house windows were brand new vinyl double-paned types, the garage windows were vintage 50's - 60's aluminum casement types and the blockwork of the foundation just had "something" about it that said 60's to me (Don't ask me what - it just did. S'funny, I can look at brick and block and do that with a fair degree of accuracy. Guess I've been doing this too long.). Up on the roof, the top portion of chimney above the ridge line had been re-bricked with 60's era brick and the bottom was older, softer stuff with well worn joints that was really showing its age. When I walked through it, the framing and most everything about the structure said 1920, but the house felt too straight, square and level to be an 86 year old house on a lot that flat and soft. The second I walked into the basement I knew instantly I was on the right track. I Noticed that all of the posts were smooth planed, as were the beams that had been laid up from several planks, instead of being one solid 6 by 6 or 6 by 8 timber, and the box sill framing above those was all rougher surface actual 2" stuff on 2-ft centers with pretty wide T & G dougfir decking. Definitely early 20th century, but not the beams and posts or that CMU foundation. There was lots of 50-60's-era Romex rag-wrap all over the place mixed in with the original K & T, that made it look like the romex was added all in one fell swoop. My gut told me that it had either been built on that lot and had the basement hollowed out and added later, or it had been moved onto the lot on steel. I was thinking to myself that the second option, that the house was sitting on steel when the foundation was added, would explain the perfectly flat floors, when I found the furnace. The furnace proved me right. It was a 1963 GE gas furnace, complete with the original 1963 permits for the furnace, wiring and plumbing but nothing else. A house in that area prior to the 60's would have had an oil furnace, and there would have been other signs of pre-60's site work. So, the 40-year-old firs - probably planted when the house was first placed on the lot, the flatness of the platform that said "STEEL", the chimney that had been taken down to make it easier to move under wires and branches, combined with 60's era windows, rag wrap, '63 gas furnace and plumbing, combined with no evidence of a pre-60's heating method, have me convinced that it was probably moved onto the lot on steel from somewhere else, set on cribbing, and then the footings and basement were bricked up beneath it and it was set down onto the walls. So, your basement could be newer. Is there such a thing as a paleohouseagist? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, When are you going to figure out that the language used in the flyers and such is intended to influence the home inspector's report more than anything else? They're betting that, if you hope to get future referrals from them, that you'll think twice before making them look like a monkey by saying anything contrary to what they've written. OT - OF!!! M.

I've never seen them here. I can't imagine that they'd hold up very well in this climate. (Gee, O. Do you suppose that's why they aren't seen here? D'oh!) OT - OF!!! M.

Oh yeah, Absolutely, home inspectors are forced, by law, in Washington State to be licensed structural pest inspectors and must perform a pest inspection on every house they inspect. It's been that way since 1991. It was a move initiated by the pest guys. They claim that home inspectors who were mentioning rot and insects in their reports were either missing stuff or over-reporting non-issues, so they pushed this law through in order to protect consumers. In private, one of the original authors, told me that they thought by doing this they'd eliminate home inspectors as their competition and then many of them got into the home inspection business, on top of their pest business. Now the pest business is almost dead in the state and most inspectors include the pest inspection without charging anything extra for it - even the newbies who are low-balling everyone. It's a sweet deal for those pest control operators who stayed in the business though and do home inspections, because they get to do the treatments. Talk about conflict of interest. It's artificially depressing fees and saddles home inspectors with a whole other level of liability. You guys are in for some of the same. OT - OF!!! M.

There was a secret meeting in a large blacked out room. A large group of men and women sat around a circular table. The only light in the room came from footlights at the base of the table and nobody knew one another's name. As first order of business, the unknown chairman stood up and said, "Now, statistically, we know that he is likely to become a home inspector 20 30 years from now. I make a motion that we create a confusing system of manufacturing dates for HVAC equipment. If we do this right, young Neal Lewis will be driven right up the wall. Now, for the first piece of the puzzle, I suggest using the word Blackhorse..."

Hi Bill, I hope to hell they're not going to try and prevent you from charging additional fees for that additional service. OT - OF!!! M.

Those are generally specified by an engineer working in concert with the ICF manufacturer's tech support folks. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Chris, I always stress to the client the importance of periodically getting their homes checked over by a pro to spot the little things that they might be missing. I get a couple dozen calls every year from past clients asking me to come out and go over their home, just to see whether things are working OK and if their maintenance schedule seems to be working OK. I suppose if I were to send all of my clients from 2004 and earlier a postcard telling them that it's time to do a periodic maintenance status inspection, I could gin up a ton of work, because selling my past clients on follow-up inspections isn't difficult at all. I just don't have the time and energy to dink around with what it will take to set that up. I'm probably losing money, but that's the price I pay for being a disorganized dullard. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Courtesy of Home Tech. I can't guaranty its accuracy but it's what I use. Based on this, the previous poster is correct. OT - OF!!! M. ------------------------------ AMANA: For tonnage refer to FLA & RLA. For age use the serial number and the "B-L-A-C-K-H-O-R-S-E" code wherein S=1969, E=70, B=71, L=72. B = 71, 81, 91, 01 L = 72, 82, 92, 02 A = 73, 83, 93, 03 C = 74, 84, 94, 04 K = 75, 85, 95, 05 H = 76, 86, 96, 06 O = 77, 87, 97, 07 R = 78, 88, 98, 08 S = 79, 89, 99, 09 E = 80, 90, 00, 10 ------------------------------------------------------------- Bryant:From 1964 to 1979 use the first two numbers of the serial number followed by a date code 1964 = R 1965 = S 1966 = T 1967 = U 1968 = V 1969 = W 1970 = X 1971 = Y 1972 = A 1973 = B 1974 = C 1975 = D 1976 = E 1977 = F 1978 = G 1979 = D Example: 27Rxxxxxx = 27th week of 1964 After Bryant became Bryant, Day-Night, Payne the system changed. In the new systm the first and second digits of the serial number are the week and the last two are the year (Applies to all BDP). Example: 2799xxxxxx = 27th week of 1999. ----------------------------------------------------------- Carrier: Age is incorporated into the serial number. Through 1969, the first digit of the serial number indicates the year of manufacture. Example: 3xxxxxx = 1963, 4xxxxxx = 1964, etc. 1970 and later, a letter followed by a number indicates the month and year of manufacture. Example: A1 = January 1971, B1 = February 1971, C4 = March 1974 etc. A = Jan B = Feb C = Mar D = Apr E = May F = Jun G = Jul H = Aug J = Sep K = Oct L = Nov M = Dec ------------------------------------------------------- Climatrol: No known age code ------------------------------------------------------- Climate Master: Serial number indicates age from 1972 on ------------------------------------------------------- Chrysler Air Temp: Age is shown by the first digit of the serial number and correspons to the last number of the year of manufacturer. Example 0C893745 = 1970. 1 = 1971, 2 = 1972, etc. Use common sense and visual observation to distinguish decades from one another. -------------------------------------------------------- Day-Night: (Prior to BDP in 1979) Age coded into the serial number. First letter is the month followed by the second letter which is the year. A = 1970, B = 1971, Etc. Example: AAxxxxxx = January 1970, BExxxxxx = May 1971. ------------------------------------------------------- Fedders: Through 1977, the last two letters of the serial number show the month/year of manufacture, beginning with September 1964. Example: xxxxAA = Sept 66, xxxxBC = Oct 68.(I is not used) -------------------------------------------------------- General Electric: Age is the last 3 digits of the serial number. First digit being the year and the second and third digits being the month. Example xxxxx241 = 41st week of 1982, 92, 02 etc., xxxxx533 = 33rd week of 1985, 95, 05 etc.. -------------------------------------------------------- Lennox: Before 1974 the first 2 digits indicated the year and the next digit the month. Example: 732xxx = February 1973. After 1973, the first two digits indicate the plant, the 3rd and fourth indicate the year and the 5th is a letter month (I is not used). Therefore 5598C = March o 1998. ----------------------------------------------------------- Rheem/Ruud: The age is coded into the last four digits of the serial number by week and year. Therefore xxxx2302 = 23rd week of 2002. ------------------------------------------------------------ Tappan: Age is the last 3 characters (digits and letter) of the serial number for the year and month of manufacturer. Example: xxxxx85C = March 1985. (I not used) ------------------------------------------------------------- Trane: Begins in 1971. Age is a number followed by a letter in the serial number. Example: 1C-xxxx = March 1971, 81, 91, 01 (Use common sense to distinguish one decade from the next.) Beginning around 1982 the date of manufacturer is stamped on the ID plate. ------------------------------------------------------------- Whirlpool: Begins in 1970. The letter indicates the decade followed by the week. G = 1970's, H=1980's, J=1990's, K=2000's Example: H416XXXXX = 16th week of 1984.

Washington, D.C./March 15th - Release #07-130 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: Amprobe Digital Clamp Meters used for electrical testing Units: About 70,000 Manufacturer: Amprobe Test Tools, of Everett, Wash. Hazard: The meters can fail to give an appropriate voltage reading, resulting in the operator believing the electrical power is off, which can pose a risk of shock, electrocution, or thermal burn hazard. Incidents/Injuries: Amprobe is aware of one report of a clamp meter displaying an incorrect voltage reading. No injuries have been reported. Description: Only Amprobe brand digital clamp meter models ACD-10PRO, ACD-10 TRMS-PRO, ACD-14 and ACD-14TRMS, except those model numbers followed by "FX" or "PLUS," are included in the recall. "Amprobe" and the model numbers are printed on the front of the units. These clamp meters measure 0 to 600 volts alternating current (VAC), and 0 to 600 volts direct current (VDC). In addition, they measure 0 to 400 amps alternating current. The tester body is red and grey and measures 7-1/2 inches in length by 2-1/2 inches in width by 1-1/4 inches thick. Sold at: Industrial distributors, electrical wholesalers and hardware stores nationwide from January 2002 through December 2006 for about $100. Manufactured in: Taiwan Remedy: Consumers should stop using these recalled clamp meters immediately and contact Amprobe for a free replacement clamp meter. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Amprobe at (800) 350-8661 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. PT Monday through Friday or visit the firm's Web site at www.amprobe.com/recall To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled product, 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.

Ordasea, It looks like you are cutting and pasting content from other sites to TIJ without attributing it to it's source. That's a copyright violation and I don't allow it here. I don't have time to cull through all of these posts and determine which is a direct quote from someone else's site and which is your words, so please edit all of the posts you've made above and attribute what's in those posts to the original authors/sites, so as to differentiate them from what you are saying. Alternatively, you can delete all of the cut and pasted material and leave just the links to that material and that will be fine. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike (Occasional owner/editor of this place)

Huh? I'm shaking my head. Guess it's not such a bad idea though. That way, when home inspectors get called out to diagnose what's going on, because the homeowner's roof leaks due to ice damming, and the builder insists its fine, they can make lots of extra dinero as expert witnesses in court. I've got the motto: Attic Furnaces are Gold! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Home inspecting is like giving the house a physical. I'm gonna make your house turn it's head and cough. [:-bigeyes (Now, don't anyone get indignant. He did ask for the perfect one-liner to describe what we do during an inspection!) OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Neal, I agree with you. That's a hard one. In that case, you have to live with the ice dams. It's not impossible. One would have to bring the furnace into the conditioned envelope of the house, by building an insulated enclosure around it or insulating the underside of the roof. It's pretty hard to insulate the underside of the roof well enough to prevent air passages, unless you densepack it with cells or foam the entire underside of the roof. Then it has to be a category IV furnace with a sealed combustion chamber that's getting it's air from outside or you have to ventilate that area. If you have to ventilate that area and still want to prevent ice dams with less than a Cat IV, you'd need to insulate the underside of the roof and the ceilings. It's not cost effective. That's why installing a furnace in an attic in a cold climate doesn't make sense. Do they actually do that in New Jersey?! It gets pretty cold there. I'd expect anyone doing that in New Jersey to be a pretty heavy drinker. OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, Sort of. I don't have a problem with saying that politics influences how a government agency reports something, or doesn't report something, I just don't want to see folks on here talking about crap like the attorney general firings, WMD, Iraq right or wrong, liberals vs. conservatives, impeachment, etc., etc.. that sort of thing. Because I'm retired military, people are always sending me all sorts of political stories. I guess under the assumption that, because I'm former military, I must be a dyed in the wool conservative and will post that stuff to TIJ. Hell, I'm a registered Democrat and during the Vietnam war I was a war protester, albeit one that protested in favor of the war. I don't like to post that kind of stuff, even when I sympathize with whatever it is they send me. Yeah, I confess that I have, on one or two occasions posted something that was probably over-the-top patriotic that dealt with my love of our citizen soldiers, but that's probably about all. Even then, I recall I felt a little guilty about doing it, 'cuz I was breaking my own rules. The bottom line is, once folks start talking religion or politics, I can guaranty you that there's gonna be at least one person who's feelings get bruised and the next thing you know there's some enmity a'brewin. We're all friends here and I'd like to keep it that way by keeping TIJ free of that kind of thing. That's all I'm saying. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

So, There's your answer. When you go in that attic, you're going to find a lot of air passages through ceiling fixtures, wiring that's passing up through the framing, at top plates, etc. That warm moist air is warming the roof enough to thaw the field. The water runs down over the eaves where the overhang is cold and it freezes and builds up a dam that causes water to back up on the surface. Fix the air passages, seal every light switch and receptacle and ensure there's good airflow up the underside of the roof and you aren't using gable vents in combination with ridge vents or jacks at the ridge and eave/soffit vents, and it'll probably be fine. OT - OF!!! M.