hausdok

Hi Kyle, Follow the link below to the American Wood Council site to download a free 40-page guide in PDF format entitled Plank and Beam Framing for Residential Buildings and you can get a better understanding of the system. It's pretty common out this way. http://www.awc.org/pdf/wcd4.pdf ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Don, It's all right here in the HVAC forum in past threads. You just have to go back and look for it. Did you know that TIJ's archives are searchable? Hmmmm? Here: http://www.tijonline.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2981 ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Caoimh?, You know, there's a bunch of good 'ol boys (contractors mostly) over on the building science forum at the Journal of Light Construction Online (http://www.jlconline.com) who could use a dose of your common sense. I moderate that forum and over the years have been worn down by some of them to the point where now I practically never contribute to the conversations and mostly simply edit out the name calling and rude posts. Stop on by. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sounds about normal. Neither does the adult or kid exist who has never breathed asbestos if they've ever ridden in a car with the windows open. [:-magnify OT - OF!!! M.

Did you have it tested? Not all vermiculite contains asbestos. More than once, I've grabbed a teaspoon of vermiculite, closed it in an envelope and directed the client to take it to a local lab and spend $30. to get it tested for asbestos. So far, only about 50% of those tests have come back positive for asbestos. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, My Protimeter SM is 6 years old and still works like a charm - despite 3 separate emergency surgeries ($10. ea) by the local TV repair shop to repair that tiny transformer coil that keeps breaking loose. Brand new townhouse 2 days ago. The place looked perfect. Read moisture beneath a newly laid tile floor behind a toilet. Felt dry to the touch and the adjacent wall was dry, but the SM insisted there was moisture beneath that tiled floor. The agent thought I was barking up the wrong tree. Then the client's boyfriend, who didn't like the style of the escutcheon used around the supply tube stub-out to the toilet, reaches down to twiddle with the escutcheon and brushes the side of his hand against the supply tube connection and water starts dripping out to beat the band. The danged thing was only finger-tight! When it's flushed and pressure in the tube is lowered while the tank fills, it drips like crazy. Once the tank fills and the ballcock shuts off the water, the pressure stops it from leaking. Downstairs in the kitchen, it insisted that there'd been water on the dust cover on the bottom of the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink. Everything looked and felt dry. Got myself in under there, reached up and lo and behold, there was another finger-tight connection that was only leaking when the faucet was turned on. Like I said, 6 years and still going strong. OT - OF!!! M.

I report on what's there. If even one window in a house has a screen, then I consider all of the remainder to be missing their's and I report it as such. If there are screens installed on the entire house and they are torn or worn out, I report is as such. If there aren't any screens, and I don't see any in the closets, basement or garage lying around, I'm not a soothsayer and have no way to know whether there ever were any, so I don't bother to report it. Rats/mice in a crawl and the inspection was done six months ago? How does she/he know whether the crawl was clear and the infestation has occurred since then? The nasty beasts have litters about every six weeks and the damned things can bear young in about two months or so. Hell, they could have taken up residence after the inspection! How does she know? Did she carbon-date the crap? OT - OF!!! M.

Nope, can't say that I have. I have seen a lot of old coal bins though or dark back corners of basements that obviously used to be coal bins with the foundation walls all dark gray to black and the floor joists above where the bin was torn out all covered with dark dust. I've run into a fair amount of old coal chutes too, but most of the existing octopi I run into look like they were rigged for wood or clinkers. There's a town in southern King County - Black Diamond - which is named after the Black Diamond coal mine. That mine was the big money earner in King County in the late 1800's early 1900's. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jim, I think there's a lot to be said for what Jim said. I think sawdust and charcoal clinkers were common here because I've seen at least a dozen old furnaces in basements with clinker auger doors or modifications and about half a dozen clinker augers off to the side no longer in use. However, King County and Roslynn, just over Snoqualmie pass, had huge coal mines and King county was the principal supplier of coal to the entire west coast for decades, so getting coal here wouldn't have been difficult. Today, there are over 230 mines in the state and there's a coal miners museum up over the pass in either Roslynn or Ellensburg. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Don't get me started on the worst new roof installation ever seen, or I'll have to go out to some former jobs and take some pictures of some work that makes that work look like a Lexus compared to a Yugo. I don't know about New Jersey, but here in Washington I think becoming a roofer is easier than going down and applying to flip burgers at the Burger Whopper. There oughta be an additional hunting season with incompetent roofers and those guys who use pressure washers to clean roofs as the legal prey. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Randy, I see the oil line stub-out sticking out of the slab there. Did you find an abandoned tank on the lot? OT - OF!!! M.

Nah, that's not the place. I'd bet that it's the same brand/age boiler, with the same conversion, though. Did one a few years ago for the owner of Genesssee Fuel Oils in Seattle. That house had one of those old gas-converted boilers that was about as old as dirt. The customer knows furnaces pretty well, because they put them in and maintain them. Other than its age, I didn't find any reason to condemn the boiler. He listened to my summation of the age/condition of the boiler and said, "I concur." He kept the boiler. Said, since it had gone nearly 100 years without failing, he might as well. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Randy, Where is that? I think I've inspected that house before. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi again, OK, here's what I got when I looked it up in the 2003 IRC: E3903.8 Wet or damp locations. Luminaires installed in wet or damp locations shall be installed so that water cannot enter or accumulate in wiring compartments, lampholders or other electrical parts. All luminaires installed in wet locations shall be marked SUITABLE FOR WET LOCATIONS. All luminaires installed in damp locations shall be marked SUITABLE FOR DAMP LOCATIONS. E3903.9 Lampholders in wet or damp locations. Lampholders installed in wet or damp locations shall be of the weatherproof type. E3903.10 Bathtub and shower areas. Cord-connected luminaires, hanging luminaires, lighting track, pendants and ceiling-suspended paddle fans shall not have any parts located within a zone measured 3ft. (914 mm) horizontally and 8ft. (2438 mm) from the top of a bathtub rim or top of a shower stall threshold. This zone is all-encompassing and includes the zone directly over the tub or shower. I checked the electrical definitions and general definitions sections of the code and did not find "Wet Location" or "Damp Location" specifically mentioned. I've seen a lot of recessed lighting fixtures over showers and most have a lens below the bulb. However, other than the lens, they don't look a whole lot different from the attic or the shower from any other ordinary recessed lighting fixture and even those don't have anywhere that water can "enter or accumulate in wiring compartments, lampholders or other electrical parts." I think the sole purpose of the lens is to prevent water getting splashed on the bulb and causing it to shatter, which is something that you are concerned about and is a real danger. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Scott beat me to it. I was just about to post a direct quote from something that Douglas Hansen wrote somewhere a while back. Although it seems to fail the common sense test, I don't know that an exposed bulb in a recessed fixture is necessarily prohibited if the fixture is designed for damp locations. Someone else on this board probably does though. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Jim, Yeah, last year I had a situation where I had a difference of opinion with an electrician about the location/height of the drop and strike.. In order to get the 'bible' answer, I contacted Puget Sound Energy and they sent me to their own document:

Hi Randy, I just took a look at the Seattle Residential Code in an effort to find anything that directly refers to these things. I found out that Chapter 20 of the IRC - Boilers and Water Heaters - hasn't even been adopted by the city. If memory serves, they're still on the UPC (1997, I believe) but I don't have time to poke around over there right now. If you want to, here's the link: http://www2.iccsafe.org/states/Seattle/index_main.htm Maybe you'll find something. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

No, He's talking about a round styrofoam pad about 3 - 4 inches thick. I see them all the time, but I don't know whether they are specifically required by any law or regulation. My CodeCheck Plumbing does say: On the ground-3in. pedestal (concrete, etc) req'd.....(IRC 1305.1.4.1/UPC 510.6) OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I write them up all the time too, but, being realistic, one has to make the client aware of the difficulties they'll encounter getting them corrected, so that they don't let a seller, listing agent, or their own agent minimize the issue. Sellers, and their agents, will say that it's fine, because the power company hooked up to it. The sellers might not know any better, but the agents do. They say it even though any agent who's listing a home has also been on the other side of the deal and probably already knows, from attending past inspections, that it's wrong. They know that it's in a sort of catch 22 limbo that'll complicate their transaction, so they seem to do their best to steer the client past it and years later, when the client goes to sell, it rears it's head again. Around here, it's not uncommon to find an older house that used to have 3 individual conductors coming to it from the utility pole, where the anchor bracket is bolted horizontally directly to the roof of the house with the wiring only inches from the roof at the bracket, less than a foot above the gutters at the eaves and the extra - what we typically call the "drip loop" lying on the roof or curled up above the bracket and weatherhead. With a lot of these, the mast projects barely a 18 inches from the roof and this was allowed when the house was built. We'll see a triplex cable anchored to that old bracket, barely off the roof, and wonder why the hell the power company would even connect to it. It doesn't do any good to call them up. The typical response is that they hook up to what's there and aren't responsible for making sure that a homeowner has a mast high enough to get the wiring the requisite distance off the roof. That, plus they've been given a blanket "by" and don't have to necessarily comply with the NEC. When you explain to the client it's wrong and is a safety issue, they don't always understand why. Lots of them live in homes where they've got the identical issue and so don't all of their neighbors. You also have to make them understand that correction involves more than just moving the anchor point from the roof bracket to a bracket on the weatherhead mast - it might require replacement of the entire mast and meter socket, if the mast isn't beefy enough to support the whole weight of that triplex cable without bending, if the meter socket won't accommodate a beefier mast, or if the mast is too short to get the wires the minimum distance off the roof. All of that knowing that both agents and the seller will most-probably resist the client when he or she tries to insist that it be corrected. In the grand scheme of things, given the cost of a home these days and the rapid increase in cost of homes, if a seller doesn't want to fix this, it's not the end of the world, because it won't cost the client that much to correct it, at his or her own cost, if it's not corrected as a condition of the sale. Just inform the client that it's incorrect, why it's incorrect, make sure he or she understands all of the issues involved with correcting it, write it up and don't waste any more time dwelling on it. You've done what you were paid to do, now it's the client's responsibility. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I agree with Chris. There are recalls that affect everyone across the country and then there are regional recalls. In my area, if you weren't aware of the Cadet heater recall, you could find yourself in hot water. It's just the nature of the beast. I have a very thick looseleaf binder that's full of printouts of every recall I could put my hands on. It resides permanently in the little throne room where I'm forced, due to IBS, to spend an inordinate amount of time, and every once in a while I'll crack it open and study a recall that I haven't read before. It wasn't hard to put together. I went to the CPSC website somewhere around 1998 and then searched for recalls by product. Then I printed out anything that I thought could remotely apply to a home inspector. After that, it was just a matter of scanning everything in the book once, in order to become generally acquainted with the stuff, and then occasionally studying it in more depth to re-familiarize myself with some recalls while learning more about newer ones. After that, I visited the site regularly to obtain new recalls and since 2002 I've been posting them to TIJ. Every time I post a recall to TIJ, it ends up printed out and is added to that book. The ones that I'm more likely to encounter on a daily basis - Cadetco heater recalls, L-P siding, dishwashers, water heaters and gas control valves - I keep a separate copy of those in my vehicle for direct access while I'm on-site. Still, I agree with you, I think it's impossible to know about every single recall there is out there, but I don't think any reasonable person expects you to, any more than they expect every single doctor to know the side effects of every single medicine in every drug store, or any judge can know the intricate details of every single case that's ever been tried. As long as you do your best to stay as current as you can, I don't think any reasonable client, judge or jury will ever fault you for it. It's only when you take a, I don't bother with that because it's too much trouble, stance that I think you open yourself to liability. My opinion, worth what you paid to get it. I'm not a jurist and don't play one on TV. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Buster, If whatever air change method you've got is set to change the air in the home at least 4 hours a day, and that the relative humidity in the home is maintained at 45% or less, there's probably not a whole lot more you can do to stop that condensation from happening. Are you quite certain that your furnace is vented properly and isn't back drafting exhaust gas into the home, because that will put a lot of water into the air? When I was growing up, we had a gas stove in the kitchen with a permanently lit pilot light and that used to ice up all of the windows in the winter. When my Dad finally replaced that stove with one with an electronic igniter, the ice buildup was practically eliminated. You don't have one of those ventless freestanding gas stoves, do you? I'm assuming that when you say "metal" you're talking about aluminum window frames. We see a lot of those here and see the condensation all the time. You could try performing an experiment. Rent a dehumidifier to see whether using it to reduce the humidity in the home still further will stop the condensation from forming. I think you'll reduce it, but I doubt that you'll be able to totally eliminate it. Aluminum is a wonderful conductor of heat to cold and that's just the nature of those aluminum window frames. However, should it work, you might consider getting one and using it when the weather is very cold. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I'll quote Mike Casey's book, Residential Plumbing Inspection, directly: INDIRECT AND SPECIAL WASTE SYSTEMS GENERAL The purpose of an indirect waste (air break or air gap) applied to any appurtenance or device used for the purpose of handling of prepared food, is to prevent the possibility of wastes backing up to a compartment where food is being stored or being processed and contaminating it. The improper connection of equipment of this type would present a severe heath hazard and it behooves the installer to be well aware of the regulations governing such installations. No evaporative cooler, air washer or similar air conditioning equipment and no cold storage room, refrigerator, cooling counter, compartment, receptacle, appurtenance or device which is used, designed or intended to be used for the storage or holding of food or drink shall have any drain pipe in connection therewith directly connected to any soil, waste or vent pipe. All such equipment shall be drained by means of an indirect waste pipe. All wastes draining such equipment shall discharge through an air break into an open floor sink or other approved type receptor which is properly connected to the drainage system. Exception: The foregoing does not apply to any dishwashing or culinary sink in any food preparation room, unless such receptacle is used for soaking or washing ready to serve food, or to walk-in refrigerators and combination walk-in, reach-in refrigerators used for storage and sales of products packaged in bottles, cartons or containers. APPROVAL REQUIRED No plumbing fixtures served by indirect waste pipes or receiving the discharge thereof SHALL be installed until first approved by the Administrative Authority. An indirect waste pipe is a pipe that does not connect directly with the drainage system but conveys liquid wastes by discharging into a plumbing fixture, interceptor or receptacle which is directly connected to the drainage system. An Air Break is a physical separation which may be a low inlet into the indirect waste receptor from the fixture, appliance or device indirectly connected. Elsewhere in the book he says: No evaporative cooler or air conditioning condensate drain shall connect directly to soil, waste or vent pipe. Indirect waste connections to the drainage system, oftentimes seen at a clothes washer drain, is permitted. The airgap-drainage shall not be less than one-inch between the drain termination and the rim of the receptor. When permitted, the air break may terminate below the rim of the receptor, such as seen at a lavatory sink drain indirect connection (connection belongs at the fixture side of the trap). Dishwasher should not be directly connected to the drainage system; an approved air-gap device should be used. Dishwashers should not be connected to the waste side of a garbage disposal. One other common method of connecting dishwasher drain lines is the 'High Loop" method. Many jurisdictions have not required the air gap device, however, they still recognize the logic that should the sewer line become blocked and waste is backing up, you would not want t contaminate the dishwasher. By installing the drain line in a loop up under the sink as high as possible the waste will spill over the rim of the sink before it forces it's way into the dishwasher.

Hi, It looks to me like wood that was milled after infestation of a wood fungus - pocket rot or something like that. I see wood like that every once in a while and as scary as it looks have never found any frass or wetness or anything else to support the idea that it's an infestation. It always appears to have been milled after infestation. If so, the kiln drying prior to planing would have killed any organisms. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Denis, Well, we all wish you the best of luck with your job search. Unfortunately, most of us are no longer in the construction industry, so we can't provide you much direct help. However, there are a lot of construction jobs available in the U.S. for qualified people. The reason is that most kids today can make more money in one of the many hi-tech professions involving computers, so they no longer want to work in construction. If you are persistent, I'm sure you will find a job. Is there a particular area of the U.S. you would like to live? Maybe if you gave us that information, inspectors in those areas could scan the employment section of their Sunday paper for something that's appropriate for you. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Again, Back in the early summer, I made a post wherein I posted the information I had for ages of furnaces. You'll find that post in this thread on page 2: http://www.tijonline.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2981 According to the information I'd gathered, the age of Trane furnaces is figured this way: 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. I think this is wrong and I got my notes crossed up somewhere, especially about the date they began placing the date of manufacture on the label, because I don't recall seeing it on any furnaces that old. When you get back onto Preston's, maybe you can help me straighten that out Randy. OT - OF!!! M.