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Jeez, I'm startin' to feel good over here because I don't hit the 55 until September. Guess I was too conditioned by my soldiers when they used to say that "Top is older than dirt." Kewl! Keep it up, I need to hear more. [:-bonc01] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

This one will be sold by bid in June: http://www.historicproperties.com/detai ... y=mapet059 Someone should tell Bill Loden about this one: http://www.historicproperties.com/detai ... y=scpen001 ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, A couple of months ago, after I put together that serial number decoder for water heaters, a few of you asked for something like that for boilers. In response, I asked folks to send me information about how to date various boilers, so I could compile same. So far, almost nothing, so I'm going to try another tactic - you guys give me the names of the boilers and I'll track down the manufacturers and try to find out how to date them myself. I'll start the list and you guys add to it. Okay? Peerless Dunkirk Pemco Buderus Weil-McLain Burnham Okay, I"m not in boiler country, I've exhausted the boiler brands that I've encountered, you guys add to this list. Thanks. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Dave, Dunkirk uses the first four digits of the serial number, and it's the week followed by the year, so that one was manufactured the 50th week of 2001. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Nah, No escrow. Not anymore. I allowed it a few times and had to jump through hoops to get paid. One guy said that it had been an error and said he'd pay me out of his own pocket when the escrow folks didn't send me a check. It took 4 months to get paid and then the only reason I got paid was because I showed up at his doorstep on a weekday evening, stuck my foot in the door and wouldn't budge until he'd paid me. I've been at inspections where the realtor pulls the client aside and has them sign papers and then fork over a check for thousands of dollars. As far as I'm concerned, if they've got the wherewithal to buy a house they can afford to pay me right away. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, I think I've just found a way to stay in this business a few more years when my bones are too old and tired to do the daily belly crawls anymore. [:-party] Look at the P448 at the bottom of the page. http://www.pearpoint.com/cameras_tractors.htm Here's a closeup [] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, L-P says that you have to leave about 3/16 to 1/4 inch between the upper and lower panel, slope that Z-flashing so that it will drain and do not caulk the drip to the flashings. Does anyone do it? Nope, I haven't seen it done right even once. You're right, the bowing panel is only capturing water. were the windows installed in the rough opening and then the siding installed around them or were they nailed directly to the siding. If that latter, what's he done to keep water from getting in around the nailing fin behind that trim? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'd give 'em a class on something really basic that they can use but isn't above their head, like a class on the basics of how a water heater should be installed, so they can be sure to have their seller clients fix the danged things before we get there. ie: Proper seismic bracing, properly configured T & P discharge, wired or vented correctly. Tell 'em how long to expect a water heater to last in your area and print out a bunch of the serial number decoder here in TIJ on card stock and hand them out to everyone in the class. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Pools and I are strangers. I think I've had only 5 - 6 homes with pools in 10 years. That said, I think it has to be at least 5ft and on a GFCI so I think you're OK. Now watch Norm or Mark come on here and nuke the guy from the opposite corner of the country. [:-scared] OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, Sort of the belt and suspenders method. I think it's a good idea. With the old style water heater, even if it was more than 18 inches off the floor you could still end up with an explosion in a tight garage if you had a car with a serious gas leak. The FVIR heaters are designed to contain the "combustion" but the results of containing the combustion essentially ruins the water heater and it needs to be replaced. So, the argument is, "So what, at least the house didn't burn down?" True, but if it's on the stand it's far less likely to be exposed to fumes than if it's on the floor, so there's even less of a chance of even that happening. This is sort of Peckian logic, I know, but it works for me. I don't write them when I see FVIR water heaters on the floor, but I certainly don't criticize the fellow who wants to continue to mount them on stands. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Gordon, Don't think so. If it's wrong, it's wrong. An 18inch partition isn't going to change that fact. If it is accessed from the garage and shares air with the garage it is "in" the garage and needs to be raised. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I think Les might be right. I used to build silos all over New York State and New England as a teenager, so I took a keen interest in how the older ones were built. Many of them were built with large glazed interlocking bricks. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I don't think it will affect temperature and ventilation at all. I suppose a thicker deck might slow down solar gain during an initial temperature rise, say just after the sun comes up and the sun has to heat a cooled-down roof, but only as long as it takes to warm the sheathing at which point temperature would be the same as it would with a thinner roof. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Your wallet would be flatter. Otherwise not a whole lot. There's a plywood product known as 'dryply' used to deck the roofs of mobile homes which is essentially just that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I've got two LG clones. Compared to an extension ladder or step ladder these things are incredibly stable and I'm able to nest the two of them nicely in the bed of my Baja so I no longer need a tall van with a rack on the roof to lug ladders around and now I can get into every single parking garage in the city and park in smaller parking spaces. That's the two ladders peeking out of the bed of my truck in the picture below. Download Attachment: Baha2.jpg 100.04 KB They're Gorilla ladders made in China and sold at the big orange box. They're rated for 300 lbs. The finish isn't as nice as the LG's, they don't work as smoothly as the LG's and they are heavy. Guess they need to be to make that 300 lb. rating. The two of them cost less combined than one LG - A savings of about $450. For the huge cost savings I'm willing to put up with a rougher finish and a little stiffer action. Mine are 13' and 21'. The 21' gets me up onto most of what I need to get onto. Sometimes I need to use one to get to the roof of a garage or addition and then use the other from there to get up onto the upper roof, but they get me there most of the time. For the taller homes I sometimes wish I had one of the 26' LG's (There isn't any in the Gorilla brand), but with this herniated disk I'm not sure I'd be able to move it around and set it up without hurting myself further. For those taller homes I use binoculars, if I can, or exclude the roof as inaccessible if I can't actually see it. If they want me to come back to look at a roof that was too high to reach with these, I'm always happy to have a 30' or a 40' extension ladder dropped off by Hertz Rentals and then I return. I charge my normal hourly rate plus the cost of the rental to return to look at those. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well Hey George, It's been a while since we've heard from you. Good to see that you're still in the game. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Nah, If you remove it, you've got to get the hole patched. Given the skill pool I've been seeing, that's a pretty iffy proposition. I usually tell 'em to get that cap stuck on really tight with some black waterproof tape or butyl and look up there every once in a while and make sure the sheath is still on it. That way, it's there for their use, if they want to use it, and anyone doing maintenance for them will have something to attach to. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Perhaps the problem is that HVAC guys aren't required to be licensed (Like a whole lot of us) and anyone can jump into that business. Plumbers and electricians have to go through a lot of training and get certifications of basic competency - not so with the HVAC guys. OT - OF!!! M.

Yep, I can hear Bill Medley croonin' in the background. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I think this is it http://www.grundfos.com/web/HomeUs.nsf/ ... AVA-53CT8Y OT - OF!!! M.

Jeez Jimmy, If you think you're poor now as a home inspector wait until you start farming. Go for it, but whatever you do, don't give up this gig for that. OT - OF!!!

Hi, I've never seen it done that way. I'm kind of the opinion that if you need to use caulk on flashings that they aren't installed correctly. Always open to new ideas though, so convince me. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Anyone ever wanted to have a little farm? Built about 1825 and near Worcester, MA. Supposedly needs a total rehab. Is being sold at foreclosure auction in another week or so. Includes a barn, 51 acres (20 crop). http://www.resales.usda.gov/FSA/fsaprop ... 5&cnty=027

Yes, there is a "tight" fitting rubber boot like you'd see on a plumbing collar. The vinyl cover, sock, condom, sheath - whatever you want to call it - is pushed down over the rubber boot and is supposed to stay in place from friction. I just don't see them staying very well though. I think the cover is really meant to keep these things from rusting because I've found a few without covers that were rusting pretty badly. However, the "tightness" of the boot is relative to the care used by the roofer when he nails the boot down and interlaces it into the roof system. I've often found them stretched out of shape and making poor contact with the anchor and this has allowed some water to get by. When the homes are only a few years old, this doesn't seem like it's worth even worrying about because the amount that leaks past the seal is usually pretty small and the water evaporates or is absorbed into the wood of the truss chord or rafter before it can drip clear and fall onto and saturate the ceiling below. However, by the time they are 8 - 10 years old there can be nasty little punky sections around the bracket. So, if it isn't dripping off onto the ceiling and leaking into the home why is a problem, right? Well, folks sometimes think of "rot" as being able to break off a chunk of wood with one's hand. If they don't find that, they think everything is fine and no rot exists when that might not necessarily be true. Sure, where there's advanced rot the wood will break off in your hands, but there's actually three stages of rot - incipient, intermediate and advanced. In the incipient stage the rot can't be seen but it is already weakening the wood. In the intermediate stage (where I first see visual evidence with these) a probe will go in more easily and one might notice discoloration or deformation of the wood surface. In the advanced stage (I've yet to find a rafter so badly damaged by these that it's been in the advanced stage.) you can grab the wood and crumble it in your hand. It's that little bit of water draining down the bracket onto the shanks of those nails holding that bracket to the truss that is the issue. The nails split the wood as they enter and water seeps in around the nails. If one is in a relatively rainy climate like I am, this can keep the truss or rafter continuously damp for months on end. In late spring and summer, when the rains stop, any rot spore stops spreading, but the next season when the moisture returns it is revived. 8 to 10 years in without correction and you've got a rotten truss or rafter. Bob, I apologize for going onto a Rot 101 thread drift. Of course you guys already know this stuff. I just have this propensity to allow my fingers and thoughts to ramble on, and on, and on.... ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Les, Yeah, like Jim said, they're pretty common here - in high-end homes anyway. I wouldn't have been able to identify a B & G motor on a boiler. Hell, I only saw boiler number 10 in 10 years earlier last week. It's too bad we couldn't have inspector exchange programs where we swap markets with inspectors from other parts of the country for a couple of weeks and can get some more experience with systems that we don't see a lot. I'd love to be able to spend some time in the northeast to get some more experience checking out boilers and steam and hot water heater systems and then a few weeks in the south to get the more experience with air conditioners, heat pumps, swamp coolers and pools. I guess I've seen about a dozen air conditioners in 10 years, probably only about 2 dozen heat pumps, I've never seen a swamp cooler, and about half a dozen pools. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike