hausdok

Awright, dats it! Where the hell is that damned voodoo doll? Yung, where are the candles?

That's one of Fred's oft-repeated claims - that dens-packed cells in a roof/ceiling plane don't require vapor retarders because the cells themselves are so effective at stopping air movement. He's been packing rafter bays in Vermont for years and is still in business. As cold as it gets up there, there's got to be something to it or he'da been sued outta business years ago. OT - OF!!! M.

In most cases, the paint used on the walls and ceilings is as effective a vapor retarder as foil or kraft facings on batt insulation. I don't know about your area, but around here cells is a real good vapor retarder and Fred Lugano, a Vermont insulating contractor and frequent contributor to Fine Homebuilding swears that it's as effective at retarding air movement as any other method used. I never see vapor barriers with cells around here. Then too, the heating climate here is radically different from yours. Is a poly barrier reguired behind drywall in new construction where you are? OT - OF!!! M.

Ah, Pain,..unbearable...,applying lidocain directly to affected area as mousse. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I say he used the wrong material. Roofs done that way around here typically extend out beyond the edge of the roof and droop into the gutter a little bit or end right at the end of the wall on top of a piece of coping. Some of them even install a piece of one-by material along the top of the wall with a piece of drip edge. They adhere the cover to the top of the drip with mastic and extend it just beyond that so it and the gutter are clear of the wall. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Danny, That's not actually a drip-edge flashing. It's a gravel stop. Usually see those with a built-up roof and several nice thick layers of felt and tar bonded to it with a layer of gravel ballast on top. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Jim, I guess you're right. My bad. I suppose it might be the shadows and the coloring, but it looks to me like a sanitary tee, not a sweep tee, that's been flipped upside down. I thought there is a little flap of pipe extending into the that vertical leg in a sanitary tee that will capture water draining from above when it's installed with the "opening" downward. However, I just checked Mr. Cauldwell's "Remodel Plumbing" and he shows a sanitary tee flipped over on a vent configuration just like that and says it's OK. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Uh guys? I agree that tying the basement vent in with a tee above the sanitary tee from the bathtub would be better, but didn't anyone notice the orientation of the sanitary tee to the right of the green arrow? It's upside down! OT - OF!!! M.

Ugh, Individually wrapping each hair with itsy bitsy elastic bandages. OT - OF!!! M.

My hair's starting to hurt! OT - OF!!! M.

It's a converted church and that wall wasn't there before. That's where the ol' geezer stood and rained fire and brimstone down on his flock. [:-bonc01] OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I've not wanted to get into this one because, to me, understanding electricity is akin to understanding string theory (or algebra), and therefore undicipherable. I think you're looking for too pat or too simple an explanation. When 240 volt circuit is actually working it expends it's energy. There is no "return" to earth per se. If there were, we wouldn't have to keep purchasing power because it would constantly replenish itself. Just be glad that they've figured out how to make it work to man's advantage and don't sprain your brain trying to figure out intangibles. Einstein used to try and do that and look what it did to his hair. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, I thought some of you might be interested in reading about a nightmare stucco job in Pennsylvania. The lady who owns the house came onto my building science forum on JLC on May 11th of last year to describe how her house was rotting away around her and to seek some advice from professional builders. Some of the guys were resentful that a non-contractor had signed on and was asking for information, but most of the guys sympathized with her plight and it turned into one of the best-discussed topics we'd ever had. In the end, through an interesting collaboration of contractors on the JLC forum, her own contractors and a lot of pluck, she's finally nearing the end of her ordeal. There're some interesting learning points in that thread for any home inspector that regularly sees stucco. Here's the link to the thread on JLC: http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/show ... hp?t=26688 Here's the link to her blog with nearly 400 photos from discovery through the nearly-completed and resided house: http://www.imageevent.com/platow/defectivehouse ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Same here. I've had them where they're wired off with the nozzle halfway into the jack opening and found the decking around the opening rotting. I suppose there are climates where one can get away with it but I'd call it nonetheless. There's a reason that there is a male extension on exhaust fan outlets. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It's a coil. There's a shellaced paper wrap around the windings. It's definitely a solenoid or activator of some sort and it's rotating a cam back and forth that is controlling those contactors. The only question is ....for what? Marquee for an old movie theater? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I think the thingy on the left is definitely a solenoid that rotates that wood cam 90° and connects/disconnects those contactors, I just can't imagine what for. The only thing I am sure of is that it's going to be another one of those things I'll feel like an idiot about. OT - OF!!! Mike

South and West sides, right? OT - OF!!! M.

Or a controller for a lawn sprinkler system? OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, I think the object in rhe left end of the box is definitely a buzzer of some sort, it's just a question of what sort. I used to play in the Spingarn mansion at Troutbeck in Amenia, NY as a kid. It had been abandoned for decades at the time. 4 story high, real-timbered Tudor with telephones and wait staff buzzers in every room plus dumbwaiters and an elevator. There were gizmos like that all over the place in the basement. I didn't touch 'em 'cuz I had no idea what they did and I didn't want to get fried. The place is a $1,000 a night B & B and weekend conference center now. Who'd a thunk it? Jeesh Bill, you must go through every day just steeped in nostalgia! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Grandfather of all alarm systems? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Yep, that's it and I found it in the irrigation plumbing section at the big orange box. The reason it was there is that is exactly what it was designed for. I don't think Toro, which is famous for irrigation equipment, ever intended it to be used by home inspectors, some fellow at P.E. probably just stumbled on one at the big orange box and figured it would be a good product to seel to inspectors. I doubt that Toro objected. As I said, at the big orange box it was less than half the price of the one sold by the home inspection equipment companies and it was exactly the same product. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Man! That could bring new meaning to the word chimney fire. OT - OF!!! M.

I feel like an idiot now. I helped a buddy restore a 1923 Model T back in 1973 and it had a smaller version of that thing on one running board to fuel the headlamps. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, I remember P.E. was selling them for over $100. in 1996 and I bought one then for less than $50. at the big orange box. OT - OF!!! M.

You know, it 'sort' of reminds me of the drip heaters we had in the army. You fueled 'em up with gasoline and then let the gas drip down into a little combustion chamber where it would burn one drop at a time. We'd huddle around the darned things in the cold. A railroad platform heater? A heater for farm hands in the fields? A smudge pot to prevent frost in orchards? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike