hausdok

Hi, Yes. I mentioned them in my post above. Google "Gloeocapsa magma" and you'll find out all you'd ever want to know about roof algae. Just about every manufacturer of algae-resistant shingles will show up during that search. Better yet, here, I've done it for you: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=n ... apsa+magma OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, You say they are "high" efficiency. Does this mean they are condensing units or is that simply what's stated on the cover of the appliance. According to my CodeCheck HVAC: Multiple Appliances Venting in Common IRC 2424.10.3.4; 2426.6.8.1X2/UMC 809.3 - Flue must equal largest connector plus 50% of others. I'm lousy at math, but to me that means the bottom line is that the cross-sectional area of the common flue must be a minimum of 150% of one of them. If these are condensing units that obtain their combustion air from outside, their proximity to one another won't make any difference. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, Quite by accident this afternoon I was doing a google search for beveled siding, of all things, when I stumbled across a home inspection guide for consumers that was published by the Cooperative Extension Service of the USDA back in the mid-1980's. That pub was based on some other texts from the the 1970's and early 1980's. By poking around on the web with google, I was able to locate one of those references in a read-only format. I thought that those of you who weren't in the business in those days might be interested in getting a little perspective on how inspections were viewed back in those days. Enjoy. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Printable PDF version of the Home Inspection Guide by John Merrill Readable version of Basic Housing Inspection - USPHS 1976 ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Sure, if you want to install them every 3ft. or so about every 10 or courses. After about 3ft. they aren't very effective. The homeowners put them on themselves around here. They invariably leak around the nails used to secure them to the roof because they don't bother to seal them or place them under an overlapping shingle and the danged things get hooked by the wind, break off and then look like hell. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Yeah, it's algae. Folks often mistake it for dirt, weathering or smoke. There's no alleging to it. It's a fact. It eventually develops on the north and east sides of every roof here, unless special shingles that have copper included in the granular coating are used. It also develops on the sunny south and west sides in any areas shaded by trees or chimneys or adjacent roof planes or houses. Algae secretes oxalic acid. Leave it there long enough and it can actually harm an asphalt roof. I've had roofs where the south slope, where the sun hits it, is clean, algae free and nice and supple and the north slope, where the algae stains are, will show more wear and be brittle and nearly crystalized. Same product, installed at the same time on the same house, but with very different conditions of serviceability. I always get a chuckle out of all of the home inspection texts that show the south slope of roofs being the one that will wear out first due to sunlight exposure. That might be true in other parts of the country but not here. Here it's almost always the north or east side or areas in the shade and the sunny sides, where the sunlight kills the algae, can look great at 20 years while the north sides look like they've been on 30. It's easily removed with a mixture of gallon of liquid sodium hypochlorite (swimming pool chlorine) 3-1/2 gallons of water and a pint of non-ammoniated liquid dishwashing detergent. Wet down and cover plants and grass beneath the eaves to protect them from the overspray, mist the roof with a garden hose, apply the solution working from the eaves to the ridge, allow it to work and then rinse it off with low pressure water. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, I used to have one too and used to have a ball on the Autobahn in Germany. That is, until the day a littl red Opel of a model I was unfamiliar with pulled up on my tail while I was linksfahren one day and began flashing his lights and honking for me to get out of the way. I thought, "You gotta be kiddin' me!" I was cruisin' at about 120 and he was on my bumper. I thought, "Watch this troll," and put my foot in it. Well, when I bottomed out and she was doing everything she had and about to redline he was still there, still honking and flashing. I pulled into the right lane without taking my foot out of it and he went by me like I was parked. An Opel fer crissakes! How embarrassing. After that I never linksfahr'd again. Just too humbling for cryin' out loud. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I can understand why they call it a Bermuda roof. The outward appearance of the roof makes it look like one of those roofs in Bermuda that consist of limestone slates lain out on the roof. I once saw them do a segment on them on the This Old House show. I suppose using foam and sprayed grout to simulate one of these makes a nice looking roof, but I'd never install one without complete coverage beneath the surface from eaves to ridge with a layer of ice and water shield. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It looks like ordinary ghosting to me. Nothing too mysterious about it. If you were to open up those areas, you'd find that there are voids in the insulation that are allowing those inside surfaces to cool more than the surrounding wall and ceiling planes. Warm, moisture-laden interior air moves toward those colder spots and clings to the surfaces just above dewpoint temperature. Dust particles in the air are trapped by that moisture and build up at those locations until the wall is discolored. If candles are burned it can be more obvious but candles aren't necessarily needed. There's enough dirt in the air of a home without the soot to cause ghosting. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'd write it up. Code aside, it's a question of workmanship. It's not like the brick trade hasn't known about this - it's only been around since veneer was invented - so I don't look at it as a code issue. I think the reason that it got into the codes is because masons who never learned the craft the right way blew off traditional methods of work and it caused so much damage in so many homes that it was put into the code to try and force the issue with todays crop of younger masons. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Didn't Erby Crofutt tell someone a while back that he had a list and would send them a copy if they wished? Erby? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I think, but am not certain, that most of these are made by the same manufacturer. A few years ago, I did a bunch of google searches on all sorts of fan references while looking for something on ventilation on google. I came across a manufacturer of these devices that had issued a recall. I remember something in the recall that listed all of the different furnace manufacturers that had the device and telling myself at the time to go back and bookmark that section so that I could look into it further. Well, I forgot about it. By the time I did remember it, I didn't have the energy to find it again. Every time I see one of these cracks I remember that site and curse myself for not bookmarking it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Might be or it might just be the amount of traffic out there. You might have noticed that the server crapped out 2 - 3 times over the past couple of days. so it might be an ISP thing. Anyway, Mike says our database is okay and he'll be talking to the ISP in a day or so. In the meantime, please be patient. It'll probably be corrected within a few days. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I remember a few years ago where someone on one of the boards contacted the VSI or someone about that question and was told that it was okay. I personally don't think it is. The OSB functions like a vapor barrier but that doesn't mean that it is okay to repeatedly expose it to water. If you're guy is getting "a hell of a deal" than have him strip it off, islolate it from the OSB with a layer of building paper or some fanfols and reside it. OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, City's been encouraging in-city development like this for the past 5-6 years to try and slow down urban sprawl. I've been on lots where tiny bungalows were torn down and then they put up a block of 8 townhomes with a little cross-shaped drive and garages on the ground level. In order to drive into these things you have to make a couple passes with a car to get around the corner and then another couple to maneuver into the garage. OT - OF!!! M. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jim, Around here it's Russian, Ukrainian, Cambodian/Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and Spanish. OT - OF!!! M.

Mr. Stuccoman, Your enthusiasm and wonderful photos are greatly appreciated but what home inspectors need is a well-written guide or checklist for how to quickly and efficiently inspect a stucco install that is already in place. Lambasting poor installations is a good way to vent but it doesn't go very far in advancing our knowledge. We need to be able to spot the hidden defects that improper installations such as you point out can cause. How does one go about doing that? What tools are needed? What are the tell-tales? etc. How about writing an article on the subject for TIJ? You can submit it above on the blue menu bar where it says "submissions." Make sure it is written from an inspectors standpoint - not an installers - and be sure to include your bio along with contact information. Once you submit it I'll receive it and then will work with you to clean it up and it will eventually be published on TIJ as an article. Let's try and be part of the solution. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

That's pretty bad. That house will be a pile of rot in less than 10 years. OT - OF!!! M.

Don't worry Randy, your reputation is intact> I'm just messin' with your head a little. OT - OF!!! M.[:-pirate]

Tsk, Tsk OT - OF!!! M.

Have you got a source for that? If it's 312.8, you've got to read the whole thing, not just the first part of the sentence. - Jim Katen, Oregon Hi Kurt, This is what I was referring to but you already knew that from Jim's post above. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, There was a very, very, very, long and sometimes contentious debate thread on the ASHI forum between J.P. and D.H. about this very topic a few years ago. D.H. came down on Jim's side of it. Me? I'll always go with D.H.. It's safer. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Yeah, I see them all the time. I had one once that completely filled a rafter bay from the frieze to an upper attic - about 5-1/2 X 19-1/2 inches by 15 ft. long. They are amazing little contractors. Wonder who their architects are? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Steve, Yeah, I can't remember ever seeing a set of stairs with a landing at the top leading up into a shower stall. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Agreed, I see old houses here all the time with the roofs framed with 24ft. long 2 by 4's on 24-inch centers that were framed up in the very early 1900's. Most are sagging several inches at mid-span - either from old age or the accumulated weight of several layers of roofing. That type of construction probably includes about 80% of the housing stock in the city of Seattle, so I don't call them until I find one or more rafters fractured, which is pretty rare. That's another subject though. I was just looking at the slots in those diagonal braces and it looked to me like one could probably unbolt that shorter strut on the outboard side, loosen that big clamping nut and then shorten that diagonal brace to partially collaps the roof. Maybe I'm just not seeing enough of these. A wider establishing shot would have helped to understand it better. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, I tell 'em not to do it in the dishwasher too. I sure wouldn't want some of the stuff I've seen accumulating on those things inside my dishwasher. OT - OF!!! M.