hausdok

Yeah, there are other solutions but they are all going to be expensive. Unfortunately, discussing them here is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine; because, nobody here can know, by what you describe, everything that's going on with that foundation. Advice you get here might help, but at the same time it might make things worse. It was probably a bad idea to start jack hammering your basement floors as a do-it-yourself project without finding out more about your building site before you began. Since your house is on clay soil, Before you do anything else that could cause those foundation walls to buckle at their base, you need to seek guidance from local drainage and foundation professionals .

Mia, Are you trying to drive yourself insane? If you find out that the sample you've taken contains asbestos what will you do - move out of your home never to return? I've got news for you. There is no place on the planet you can go to eliminate the risk of asbestos exposure. However, if you're so afraid that you're going to inhale asbestos fibers, go out and purchase a full face respirator with P100 filtration, wear it 24/7/365 and only take it off to eat. That won't get the asbestos out of your lungs that you've already inhaled, but it will prevent more from getting in there - except for the asbestos you breath when you take it off to eat. Let me put it in perspective for you. Do you use a blow dryer on your hair? If so, you've already inhaled thousands of asbestos fibers and that wasn't the first time. You've been inhaling it your entire life and didn't realize it because, thanks to the fact that so much stuff was made with it, especially car brake pads, it's everywhere. Some people who've been exposed to asbestos eventually develop cancer and die - that's a fact. It's also a fact that most who've been exposed to it don't die. It's one of those things in life where you really can't do much to affect the outcome; so you're better off not to dwell upon it. I'll bet there is a statistic somewhere that says that the odds of you dying from exposure to asbestos is a tiny tiny fraction of the odds that you'll die in a car accident or exposure to someone else's filthy cigarette smoke. Let it go!

If you guys didn't have power and/or heat for a while I'd be more concerned with the system freezing up. If it freezes up and ice expands and cracks the coil, as soon as the ice defrosts they'll begin leaking like crazy. Coincidentally, my own sister, who lives in Virginia, has one of these systems. When it began acting up on her, she googled it and found her younger brother's blather about the system on here. LOL.

Chances are that the seller had already broken it but placed it so it would look normal, hoping you wouldn't test it.

I think the roof was probably installed on a very hot day and as people walked around on the roof some of the tabs moved and then re-bonded after the sun went down.

It's about time! Why Are Certain Electrical Panels Ineligible for Insurance (harrylevineinsurance.com)

About twenty or so years ago, there was this forensic engineering firm in North Carolina that reported issued with 200 amp Siemens load centers. They would get hot and eventually melt down and burn through the back of the panel. At the time, they'd investigated about seven cases and were looking for more. I bet that Google could find that report for you. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I call those damned things anti-inspector devices. Yung would go around the house and remove every one of those while I was doing the contract with the client. Otherwise, if I'd run into one the client was liable to hear a little bit of the slightly salty language I tend to use when my curmudgeon comes out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Is the floor platform constructed with I-joists? I joists sometimes exhibit a lot of bounce and vibration while still being perfectly functional from an engineering standpoint - as Jim already pointed out. The Engineered Wood Association has published a paper about how to stiffen up I joists in order to reduce floor vibration. Click on the attachment. I-Joists Vibration Retrofit.pdf

How old was the unit? I've been out of the loop for a while, so I don't know if they're out there yet, but a while back - probably about ten years - I read an article about new heat pump tech that was allowing heat pumps to work at far colder temperatures. I might have posted something about that here. Check the archives.

I'm more interested in what looks like a Studebaker truck in the background.

Yeah, all four are broke; it's just that the second from the left is more broke than the other three. Ha ha.

Hi, Just about any HVAC firm should be able to assist you with the air handler. It's just a big hot air mover with a coil stuck in the center. If the coil isn't leaking it's probably the blower motor that's the issue. Try contacting Greenwood Heating and Air.

Hi All, I think that the insurance agent is overstating the issue based on what the agent thinks he or she is seeing from the ground. I seriously doubt that an insurance agent put a ladder against that gutter and climbed up there to get a close look at the cover and the darker algae-covered areas appeared from the ground to be denuded of protective granules. Had the cover been properly cleaned prior to the agent's visit, the agent probably would have graded the roof acceptable. Just my opinion, based on what I'm seeing and knowing how lazy prone to overstatement some agents can be. "Biological" growth? Why mince words - it's fungal growth. Moss, lichen, algae, mold (mildew) are all fungal organisms and all have one similar trait that is harmful to asphalt roofs - they all secrete various degrees of oxalic acid in order to digest what they are trying to eat and they are particularly fond of lime - one of the minerals found in plenty of roof granules and in fillers used in some asphalt lamina formulations. The oxalic acid breaks down lime so it can be digested and for some reason it reacts with the asphalt/fiberglass lamina beneath the granules and over time causes shingles to harden and become brittle more rapidly. The lichen in particular, when it is removed, will leave dark spots where there are almost no granules left. Keeping the roof free of fungal growth can slow the process; and careful cleaning of a roof suffering from widespread fungal growth can help to extend the life of the cover, but those areas that are already completely denuded of granules, such as those dark spots left where lichen had probably been growing, without granules to lessen their exposure to UV are going to degrade more quickly. That cover has a service life expectancy of about twenty years. Look at the third photo and you can see that granule density is near 50% of what it originally was. Look at the first photo and you can see that the edges of the tabs at the keyways are beginning to lift. These are both signs that the cover is most-probably somewhere between fifteen and twenty years old. It's not at point of no return - the point at which the cover won't gain any benefit if cleaned - but, if it isn't properly cleaned soon by next fall that fungi growth is probably going to get it there. That cover can be cleaned. Just understand that, like Jim said, it's not a good idea to push the envelope and wait for that cover to become unreliable - especially given the winters and snow you have in New Jersey. If the job is done properly, and the cover is carefully maintained after that, the homeowner might be able to squeeze another five or six years out of that cover, but by then those shingles will be so far gone that the granules will slough off so easily that walking on the cover will be like stepping onto ball bearings. I used to recommend using a 20% solution of sodium hypo-chlorite (swimming pool chlorine) and water for removal of fungi growth, but that's a pretty unforgiving solution. If a homeowner isn't careful to wet down and cover up any shrubs and flower-beds close to the house, before using the solution - and doesn't rinse those areas down after the roof is done to further dilute any overspray that's soaked into the ground around the covered areas, you can end up with dead plants and grass. Today there are biodegradable solutions like Defy Roof Cleaning Concentrate or JoMax Roof Cleaning Solution. I like JoMax. It still uses a bit of regular household bleach mixed with the JoMax concentrate and water but it's far less corrosive than a 20% solution of swimming pool grade chlorine and JoMax has been around as a mildew-removing house wash for decades (They are owned by Rustoleum so you know they have to be big.). Clean the gutters and clear the downspouts first, so that they'll drain properly and won't overflow during the cover cleaning process. Wet down any vegetation within ten feet of the house prior to beginning. You'll need to apply more water on the sunny side than the shaded side or things will dry out before you get started. Lightly cover more sensitive plants such as rose bushes or flower beds with plastic - just don't leave it on for too long or strong sunlight will damage them (In fact, it's best to do this on a cooler day when overcast skies are expected but rain isn't due inside your roof cleaning window.). Apply your pre-mixed solution to the cover where cleaning is needed - there's no point in cleaning where there isn't any fungal growth - allow it to work the recommended amount of time and then rinse off with a soft spray of water. A second application may be necessary if the first go-round doesn't loosen the grip of the material on the cover and allow it to be rinsed into the gutters. Once the cover is free of growth and has been very well rinsed, go down, rinse off the vegetation close to the house again, remove any plastic covering sensitive plants and rinse those areas again to ensure any overspray that's soaked into the ground is heavily diluted and the vegetation is cooled down. Look up, if your gutters weren't already clean before you started, and you were sloppy and got overspray on the gutters, they may be covered with vertical streaks that are going to require you to clean the exterior of the gutters, so it's best to have cleaned the exterior of the gutters before even beginning this task. I'm betting that cleaning will dramatically improve the appearance of the cover from the ground. Then, if the agent is brought back and it's explained that the discoloration the agent perceived as granule loss was actually algae staining, the agent might revise his or her initial assessment. No guaranty - you're mileage may vary and all other disclaimers I can think of implied, etc.. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I wouldn't even call it thinly disguised, Jim. Point number five is Get Insured. There are links in there only to Inspector Pro. If one really wanted to write an objective article about business strategies, and one of those strategies was to Get Insured, one would expect there would be links to a list of all insurance companies that specialized in home inspectors, not just IPro. Yes, very much like click bait. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

They've been around for about 15 years in the Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond area of Washington

Half-joking repair recommendation = Flex Glue

Hi, I'm not a plumber, but I've seen a lot of these setups where basements have been remodeled with a new basement bath. Typically a two-inch line runs from the lift pump up to the underside of the floor joists above (or through them if ceiling height is an issue) and then down into the topside of the main. Make sure that you vent the setup properly according to your local code. Do that and you'll probably be fine. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Bobby Jim, Maybe I'm sensing that you feel a little put out by one or two answers here. If so, my best advice to you as a newcomer here is to not take comments here personally. You won't find any single group in the profession that can provide you with the depth of knowledge that TIJ's moderators and regulars can. No other site in the profession is on the same level. I know 'cuz I've spent time monitoring and participating in all of them. It's true that you won't find as many folks actively chiming in here as on other sites in the profession, but there are huge numbers of inspectors that just come here and lurk - not participating and educating themselves by following the commentary here and reading through the thousands and thousands of previous threads in the archives. What you will find here is a group of consummate professionals. On other sites you'll see people go off on tangents and get into the equivalent of a shouting match for no other reason than their egos have been hurt by another inspector that didn't agree with something they've said. We don't allow that kind of bullshit to occur here. If you can't endure constructive criticism and want to be able to go all caps and give some other inspector a piece of your mind, do it on one of those other sites where folks revel in watching online slugfests, 'cuz, if you do it here you'll see your responses either edited or deleted. Yeah, you might notice that some of the guys here are kind of prickly; and that means you have to have a thick skin, but, that's the way it is in any profession. Think about it - an intern in a hospital might not like the tone a prominent surgeon uses, but, if he or she wants to learn, it behooves that intern to endure it and to open the ears and mind and really pay attention to what's being said, focusing on the lesson and not on the attitude - 'cuz only then can one really learn. Do that here, and before long your depth of knowledge will rocket past that of your inspector peers. I can promise you that. I'm not kidding when I tell you that the moderators here are some of the best, if not the best, inspectors in the business. When we started this site 18 years ago we chose our moderators very carefully, so as to ensure participants here get the best advice and education about inspecting that they can. That has always been the mission here and it will remain that way. Besides, if you met these guys in person (Especially Katen) you'd quickly realize that they are friggin' brilliant and are anything but prickly - except me of course, I'm a low-down son-of-a-bitch who doesn't think twice about coming down on someone and making them feel like shit. So, soak it up. Be a sponge and accept us for what we are. You won't regret it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The picture really isn't clear enough to tell. That said, what difference does it make? There is clearly second and third stage woodrot visible, which means the entire thing is infested with first stage rot and has to go. Looks like a special kind of idiot is responsible for that mess. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If it's like here, it only applies to roofers when there is an emergency with a roof that needs fixing - it doesn't allow you to accept a new job if/when there is nothing about the old roof that's considered to be an emergency/life threatening. There is a Facebook site called Washington Home Inspectors where inspectors who are ignoring the governor's order are trying very hard to parse the governor's declaration in such a way as to allow them to ethically violate the law and perform inspections. Myself and others have told them repeatedly in no unvarnished terms to STAY THE F**K HOME and they still don't seem to get it.

Hi, Around here (Seattle region) it's very common not to find any fire separation above condos from the 70's that share attics. It seems like those didn't come into common use here until the late 80's or so. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, You called it a town house. What are the rules? Is it part of a condominium complex with townhouse style condos? If so, who is responsible for the attic and crawlspace areas - you or the HOA? If the HOA, they have a right to padlock it and keep you out of there. You can still request access once a year to check to ensure that any vents from your home remain properly connected to their terminals at the roof, but that's about all. If you are responsible for maintenance of any part of that, find whoever has the key and demand a copy for your own use.

Hi, The white powdery substance you are seeing is mineral salts caused by a chemical reaction between the acids in the exhaust gases and the zinc contained in the galvanized pipe used for the single-walled vent connector. To make that relatable, think battery post corrosion in your engine compartment. That length of single-walled pipe from the collar allows those exhaust gases to cool, get heavier and slow down way too early. When that happens, the gas cools to dewpoint and condenses on the inner walls of the vent somewhere above the connection between the single-walled connector and double-walled vent pipes. Wherever the acids in that condensation comes into contact with galvanized pipe, that reaction occurs. Then, when all of that excess condensation drains back to the joint between the vent and connector and leaks out of the joint, the water evaporates and leaves the salts behind. That's why gas exhaust vents and connectors should be double-walled all the way from the collar of the appliance to terminus. The fuel-gas code used to require only B vents to the collar in attics and concealed spaces and anywhere considered to be cold, but it seemed like the majority of HVAC installers ignored that rule anyway if the furnace or water heater was installed where it's readily viewable in unheated areas like garages. Somewhere back around the 2003 - 2005 timeframe that requirement disappeared from the code and they allowed installation of single-walled connectors in areas other than the attic or concealed spaces as long as the area wasn't any colder than 5-deg. F. in winter. This despite the fact that a lot of condensation can occur even in vents that are luke-warm to the touch in such areas like garages. I'll bet you a box of donuts that most HVAC installers still couldn't care less and are still using as much single-walled material as they can, in order to squeeze as much profit as possible out of every job. Too much salt indicates an issue with the exhaust vent system. A little bit of salts isn't really too much of a concern at a single-walled to double-walled connection, if there isn't any issue at the vent terminus (Excessive rusting, cracks, holes due to condensation and acidic vapor lingering around the vent once it leaves the pipe), but a lot of salt is telling you there's an issue with exhaust gases cooling too rapidly - especially if there is a lot of salt sifting back down from the vent connector at the collar and ending up in/on the furnace. Cause could be the single-walled connector from the collar, if it's too long and it's in an unheated (cold) area. The fix could be to replace the single-walled section with a double-walled section, but a lot of the time that doesn't necessarily stop it if the installer didn't properly calculate the vent size requirements using the vent sizing tables in the code or if he/she didn't pay attention to the rule about limits on number and degree of bends in the vent between collar and terminus - bends that violate the 'no bends greater than 45-deg but one bend of no more than 60-deg. rule, slow those gases. The more bends, the slower the gas moves - even if the furnace has an exhaust gas inducer. Around here those numbskulls will use two to four 90-deg. bends to detour around furnace filter access doors instead of using 45-deg. vents to go around. Another thing to look at is whether or not the appliance has enough makeup air. If they've installed it in confined space with insufficient makeup air, or in a laundry room where there's a clothes dryer and no makeup air openings to the outside, those gases will stall - even with an inducer integral to the appliance. There have been thousands of times I've stepped out of my vehicle, glanced up at a rooftop, saw a heavily-rusted vent terminus and knew right away that as soon as I checked out the furnace I was going to find issues with stalling exhaust gases. Sometimes, the issue was so bad that condensation would literally leak out of the vent connector connection at the collar and drip onto components in the controller bay - eating holes through the floor of the bay and sometimes causing electrical connections to severely corrode. So, when someone tells you, like the gent above, that the salts mean nothing, take it with a grain of salt and thoroughly inspect that vent installation anyway. It's good that you're asking questions about this. I've always said that inspectors need, more than anything else, to understand basic building sciences, and need to look at the whole picture, not just the tick marks their report format asks them to check, that are taught by a lot of so-called inspection schools, in order to really do this job well and be able to make the client fully comprehend the implications of issues found. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike