hausdok

I think you've got it wrong. The current will take it's easiest path back to earth - through the grounded conductor, because via the ground path via the equipment-grounding conductor is a higher-resistance path. It's why you can touch a grounded (neutral) bus in a panel and not get knocked on your keester unless you disconnect the grounded conductor from that bus and grab the end of it to turn yourself into the only available path. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

November 1975. Just before the warranty band are the letter-digits L-75 and then it shows the length of the warranty on that band. L is the month of November (I is skipped) and 75 the year. I didn't get this from any document; it's how I analyzed what I saw, so, I could be full of it up to my eyebrows (Don't think so though). ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, That company is still in existence. They manufacture furnaces down in California. If you Bing them or Google them I'm sure you'll be able to pull them up. I'm not so certain that if that unit is so old you can't make out the nomenclature that you should even be using it. Gas appliances are designed to last about twenty years and gas furnaces tend to develop holes in their heat exchanger thta can be caused by condensation of acidic exhaust gases. It might not be safe to use anymore if it's really old. Before you use it, consider having it looked at by an HVAC tech who can ensure the heat exchanger is hole-free and safe. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike P.S. Whoops, just noticed that you said it was an oil furnace. Not sure if that's the same company or not.

It sounds like they are offering her a Sto E.I.F.S lamina covering. STO does E.I.F.S. too. The E.I.F.S will work well bonded to concrete block. I'd never use it over wood framing though. If it's a factory-trained applicator they should know what they are doing and be able to stay out of trouble. If the contractor isn't factory trained I'd stay away from him/her. Too many painters and plasterers going around calling themselves E.I.F.S. contractors who have no idea what the hell they are doing. If it were me though, I'd want to be absolutely sure that if I put E.I.F.S. over the block it wasn't going to get in; so I'd take it right down to the raw cement block, wet the wall down and coat it with an application of crystaline waterproofing material (Xypex). Then when they put the E.I.F.S. system on; even if they do screw up the drainage plane in the underlayment the water still can't get into my concrete wall because the CWM will keep it out. Make sure they show you detailed drawings of how they intend to flash every penetration in that E.I.F.S. lamina. There needs to be head flashings over windows and doors, the lamina needs to be completely back-wrapped with fiberglass that's properly imbedded and there needs to be a weep termination above those flashings and at the base of the wall so that any water that does get behind that lamina can get out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

That's right, I got the company wrong; it was Amprobe they bought. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If memory serves, Fluke bought Extech and the stuff is made at the same plant in Everett where the other fluke stuff is made. The last Fluke seminar I went to they showed up with a huge case full of an "inspection kit." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Find Fred Lugano. He's a weatherization contractor that used to write a lot of articles about insulation and weatherizing houses for Journal of Light Construction and Fine Homebuilding. He used to run Lake Construction in Charlotte, VT. I believe that he's semi-retired but still available for consults. Google the guy and you'll probably pull up a bunch of articles. Who knows? One might just be about how to properly insulate a Cape Cod style house. If anyone will know how to properly insulate a Cape Cod house in that part of the country, Fred Will. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Wonder if I could train Peanut to use one of those? Click to Enlarge 56.47 KB ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez, And it has been so quiet and peaceful around here lately. Guess I should have known it wouldn't last. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Exactly, Jimmy! I've been saying that for years. It came true for me a long time ago. I'm turning away double the amount of work I can take in right now and the overwhelming majority of it comes my way by word of mouth from former clients. If I hadn't been injured last year and could physically handle all of this work now I'd be sitting pretty. Just resolve to do a good and thorough job, pretend that every job you do is being done for your mother or the most litigious lawyer on the planet, and don't concern yourself with trying to finish up within a time that fits someone else's (realtor's) expectations and not your own. If it takes five hours to ensure that the client understands every facet of the home and all of the client's questions are answered, so be it; if the realtor doesn't like it he/she can lump it. Ignore their body English. When they put themselves in your sightline behind the client, find a way to keep the client moving around you in a circle - it causes the realtor to have to try and maneuver too. After they find themselves blocked by a holly bush or two or can't catch your eye for a solid hour they'll realize that you're not interested in exchanging meaningful glances with them, acknowleging their subtle body cues that are directing you to emphasize or deemphasize areas and that you don't follow the "code." If they keep placing themselves in your line of sight behind the client and are constantly looking at their watch and dropping their arm in frustration, stop and ask them, "I see you keep looking at your watch. Have you got someplace to be that's more important than this is right now? If so, just go on ahead. I'll lock up. I do it all the time." Getting them out of the equation is nothing more than putting them out of your mind and paying attention to the only person(s) you're supposed to be paying attention to at the inspection - your client(s). ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Probably because it's part of the furnace and not a "kit." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

According to an article October 12th in the New York Times, decisions in state and federal courts in recent weeks involving a major Chinese manufacturer of drywall could signal a turning point for thousands of American homeowners whose homes had been renovated with Chinese drywall that subsequently made them sick. To read more, click here.

Kurt, If the porosity of the split-faced block is the biggest issue, could one not create an EIFS final coat like material using CWM (Xypex), wet down the face of one of these buildings and spray a light coating of that onto the face to 1. get 100% coverage and 2. form water-blocking crystals at the molecular level for several inches from the face? An E.I.F.S. final coat is part polymer and waterproof and when bonded to concrete is just about impenetrable. E.I.F.S. achilles heel is when it's installed over a wood-frame exterior; when it's over concrete it performs real well. I should think that somehow combining xypex in an E.I.F.S. final coat might be the magic bullet those buildings need. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Nope, No bends greater than 45? except one of 60?. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Is the stucco actually touching that steel? I think there's a lot of alkalinities in Portland cement that don't play well with steel when the steel is exposed to the air. Sandblast that baby and POR-15 the hell out of it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Robert, If it's becoming a stick one, you could consider having the client contact Robbins & Company. They've been around for half a century. It's a family owned business. Family members who grew up in the business went off to college, got degreed as engineers and now work for the company. Foundation problems are their stock in trade. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez, You're as bad as that yodle guy. I don't get why you guys don't get it. Why do I need a website if I'm turning away more work than I can handle without one? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

OK, I'm confused (Well, I'm confused as a general rule, anyway....), Rob are you dealing with Yelp or Yodle? The guy from Yodle quoted me $799 a month with no increase for a year. When I yelped about it, he lowered it to $499 and when I got ready to hang up he said he'd forego his $50 commission, as would his supervisor, to get me onboard at $399 a month for the first year. What the hell?!!! $4788 to get me into first page search engine position and guaranty me X-number of calls per month? I said, "Maybe I'm a dummy, but since I'm turning away about twice as much work as I can handle right now, why in the world would I want to pay you $4800 a year to push even more work at me that I can't handle and have to refer to other inspectors. I guess I am a dummy, because he kept explaining it over and over to me like I was a school kid with A.D.D, when everyone knows I'm an adult with A.D.D., and I finally had to just say Thanks, but no thanks and hang up. I still don't get it. He made it sound like I'm going to be swallowed up by the apocalypse because I don't have a website. I pointed out, "And yet, I keep getting all those pesky calls all week long wanting me to do inspections that I can't accommodate 'cuz my schedule is as full as I can allow it; I must really be an idiot." Maybe I should have opened a clock shop when I left the military; things would probably have made more sense in that environment. For me, being in a clock shop is like being in church - serene and calming. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, A mini-split would be a nice alternative to tearing up a home; but wouldn't it be necessary to install several of them in a home to get complete coverage? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Scott, Not sure I get that. Compared to installing a forced hot air system in a house that wasn't built for it, the cost of replacing the ceilng panels will be pretty small. I remember the franchise pounding into my head that statistics say that most folks keep their home, on average, about 7-1/2 years. If I have to shell out $15,000 to bring in a gas line, install a FHA system and construct soffits and chases all over my house to hide all of that ducting, venting etc. where the designer never planned for it; I'm never going to see a payback from energy savings in my lifetime. The added value you talk about (Which I'm not so sure is really there) is pretty much zeroed out by the cost to install the system. I think I'd rather spend the little bit more on electric heat and use those savings to enjoy life a little more rather than see it all sunk into a messy retrofit that's pretty much a black hole for my money. Maybe it's just me though. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Rob, Well, I think calling for an engineer is the right call; although I don't think the client will get much out of it. I can imagine the engineer saying something like, "Well, what they've done might be just fine or it might not; without seeing exactly what they've done here and why they've done it, I can't be absolutely certain." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike P.S. I wonder what tightening that nut is designed to do every month with that kind of pressure on the other side of that wall? Strip the threads? Snap off the threaded rod? Bend that plate?

If it were brand new, I'd call it. How old is that place - 20 years - 30? What were the rules used at the time it was built and who knows how the local code guy interpreted it back then? If that is downdrafting, don't you think there'd be evidence of that - soot all over the top and cap of that chase? 10'2" to that vertical wall plane? Maybe it is borderline but I'd say it works. If I saw evidence that it has been an issue I'd call it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

How does that work? When the potential client makes first contact on the phone do you tell the caller that it's your policy not to go up onto roofs to inspect them; or do they learn it after they show up for inspection? Thanks for the tip about the ladder. I might bite. I've got the 13footer and the 21footer; it would be handy to have something in-between. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Duh, No it doesn't; heated air rises. Heat from ceiling heat radiates evenly in all directions from it's source. Your feet were concealed from the radiant heat source when you were standing or sitting with your legs under a table. When you put your legs up on a footstool and reclined in a sofa your body, legs and feet were all exposed to the same amount of heat. That's how it worked. Hell, it's how the sun works. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah it was, I waltzed in there to attend the September meeting as an observer and was surprised not to see you. Charlie Buehl has filled my slot. There's another one open I believe so keep on lobbying. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike