hausdok

Hi, According to Hansen's book, the wiring industry first began experimenting with new alloys around 1972 and these weren't as trouble prone. By 1979 the aluminum industry had adopted higher standards and in 1981 the NEC began requiring special allows be used in aluminum wiring and must be at least an AA8000 alloy. As far as the paste, Hansen says, "While the NEC does not specifically require anti-oxidant, it is a good idea for all aluminum wire connections to breakers. The NEC does require that it be applied neatly, and there should be no excess paste inside the panel." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Uh huh, Nope, not taking the bait on that one Les. To answer the original question. No, now there's a tremendous amount of extra weight on that cover and the framing beneath it. For decades it was always said that two layers was okay but three was too many. Someone should have told the City of Seattle. I found an old tudor with about 5 (or was it 6?) layers of comp back in 1997 or 1998. 2 by 4 rafters on 24 inch centers with a chord length of about 24ft. (They made 2 by 4's that long back in the day.) I called the code boys down at city hall and wanted to confirm that it was a violation of local code. "Nope, not a violation of code," the guy said, "If they want to put 10 layers on they can and they're doing it at their own risk." I remember somewhere around 1997 where truss manufacturing engineers were finding problems with trusses built in the 60's with two layers of comp on. The folks in my franchise network were told that the industry was revising its thinking and no longer felt that two layers on a truss were okay - that more than one would cause damage. The franchiser issued a memo about it. I'll see if I can find it somewhere. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, It's "new" aluminum wire. As long as the lugs are compatible there shouldn't be a problem. Lots of folks are still applying the anti-oxidation paste to everything aluminum, but I'm not convinced that with the new aluminum alloys it's absolutely necessary, 'cuz I've never seen a single instance where it was a problem at those main lugs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, Is anyone using this converter? At $50 for a one user license it doesn't sound too bad. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Now this is one small computer. My Casio Fiva was huge next to this thing. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Scott, Well, I don't have a fluke - mine's a Commercial Electric and it does not still sense something after the button has been tripped. Weird story. Last week I was crawling through an attic when I spotted an old light fixture dangling by it's wires from the rafters. I took my sniffer and waved it near the old fixture. Sure enough, voltage. Then I followed the cable up over the rafter for about another foot - where it ended! I was baffled. Couldn't figure out where it was sensing voltage. Then I saw it - a tiny little low-voltage doorbell wire nailed along the backside of the joist passing near the cut end of that cable. Voltage induced Magnetic fields seem to work in very mysterious ways. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Curious, I've got an InspectVue sample disk around here but I've never got around to playing with it. Is it word or data base driven? I use Inspect Express and I've never had that problem on-site or off. The biggest problems I seem to have are always caused by something stupid that I did and had nothing to do with the program. I used to think that it would be neat to be able to do the program from one of these little PDA's, but I used a Casio FIVA for a year (6.4" diagonal screen) and it was too small for me to read. When I sold the FIVA, I went to a touch-screen based computer and the world was right again, 'cuz I didn't have to fuss with struggling to read that tiny screen. Now they've got pen tablets and I'm chaffing at the bit to get one of those 'cuz IE is tailored to work with a touch-screen. I gotta go slow though. If the Korean connections sees me sell a perfectly good laptop and buy another one she'll dissect me while I'm sleeping. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, You probably won't get much of an argument here, but we find it more productive not to dwell on this here. We used to allow ourselves to get wrapped around the axle with it a lot and it just got too nasty. We all know what's what with these organizations and the guys on IN spend days attacking each other over it. I say, if they want to spend endless hours dissing each other let 'em, so long as they keep that crap out of our nice quiet little corner of the home inspecting world. Deal? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, My opinion, buy yourself a moisture meter and a good electrical tester and forego the gas and CO detectors. I use the moisture meter and electrical tester constantly, but the other two rarely leave my bag. There's not really a whole lot that could be causing a CO leak that you can't detect from making a good thorough visual inspection of the appliances and their associated vents and supply pipes and how they are configured. Gas leaks are the same and I'd trust my nose over my TIFF, since any kind of VOC will set it off. On the other hand, the number of times my Protimeter has saved my bacon where moisture is concerned is probably in the hundreds. The scan feature finds hidden moisture in places that look perfectly alright and where there aren't any other overt clues that anything is happening. It's the ultimate iceberg tip finder. My SureTest ST-1D has found thousands upon thousands of wiring anomalies and is a whole lot more accurate than one of those danged $20. 3-light testers. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Randy, Did it have a legal egress window? If so, it's considered habitable and needs receptacles. If not, it can't be legally used as habitable space and is a storeroom. My understanding of this is that a storeroom doesn't need a receptacle but a shop does. What say you Jim? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Try this. I googled "roofing underlayment" and this was the 9th or 10th item on the first page. Read down and look at their claim versus what others offer. http://www.protectowrap.com/newsite/doc ... 20Plus.doc ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Chris, I'm sorry. Somehow I missed this post previously. The answer is in the ASTM standard but to get it you have to purchase it with a credit card off their site. I was taught by my Dad and in the Army that felt cannot be left exposed to weather and UV for more than 30 days without losing most of it's water shedding properties. However, I remember that I was looking at the WR Grace site a couple of months ago and studying some of their products and I remember that their best underlayment is rated for a maximum of 60 days while their Basik® was rated for 30 day exposure. Instead of googling for felt, google for "roofing underlayment" and then search within the results for "UV exposure" or "Maximum exposure". Does that help? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, I've got the Toughbook too. Mines a CF-37 going on 4 years old. Before that, I had the Casio Fiva. I've been using touch-screen friendly software for the past 4 years and like it, but I type most of my stuff back at the office and save the laptop for those times when the client absolutely must have it right now. I have been interested in refining that program some more though and maybe increasing the number of on-site jobs I do. That's why I'm interested. I enjoyed the Fiva, although it was very small, but I needed to haul along a portable keyboard to do my customizing. Like Kurt, I type fast, so typing is not an issue. I switched to the Toughbook so I would have an integral keyboard and still have the touch screen feature - plus it has a daylight readable screen. Still, I do like that convertible feature. That way, I don't have to be trying to balance the keyboard out of the way or accidentally hit any keys when penning the screen. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Folks, Just wondering if anyone has tried out one of these new Fujitsu's and, if so, what they think. I can't believe the way prices have come down on computers. I've gotten in the habit of ignoring all of the hype about most new computers for about two years, because I figure they'll be a whole lot cheaper later on. I remember when FujitSu pen tablets were about $4500 for something that couldn't do half of what this one can. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It certainly shouldn't be drying out in a few hours, so, yes, I think you've got a leak there. Don't know why you think that chiseling through the floor to replace the trap will be that expensive. It's PVC! You can rent a hammer drill and chisels at the orange box to make short work of cutting through the floor slab. Then it's a matter of finding the leak, cutting out the damaged section, cementing in a new section and restoring the floor. Probably two hours max, if that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sure, Place your cursor on 'Resources' above and then choose 'Downloads'. Once you are on the downloads site, scroll down to FM 5-426. Open that file and scroll to Chapter 7 (Roofs) to page 121 where you'll find a step flashing graphic. If any of you folks who don't have a basic construction background haven't downloaded and printed off that manual from this site, you're overlooking a wonderfully and complete source of how things were done back when they built things right and I strongly recommend you download it now. I recommend it for the white throne contemplation room and those times when you finish the paper and want something else to study. While I'm at it, I'll mention again that I've got the Army's Basic Engineer's correspondence course saved on my computer. It is based on 5-426, but only skims the most important basics in the form of a series of small manuals with exercises and exams. If anyone is interested in working through it - either to gain basic knowledge or to refresh their memory - I'll be glad to work with you on it via Email and can function as your grader. Just let me know. It never hurts to refresh the old brain cells. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hmmm, My response upon returning to the home to reinspect that would probably be, "I wouldn't guaranty that for as long as it takes me to reach my truck and drive out of the driveway." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Any roofer with half a lick of sense knows you aren't supposed to use asphalt shingles between a 2:12 and 4:12 pitch, unless you reduce reveal to 3 inches and use a bituthene underlayment or doubled-up felt underlayment. Once below 2:12 or less, it needs to be a product designed for a flat roof - hot tar and gravel built-up cover (yeaach!); mod-bit (SBS or APP); EPDM; or PVC. Malarkey does make an "Alaskan" shingle that is fabricated from mod-bit material and is designed for low-slope roofs, but it too is supposed to have a layer of ice and water shield beneath it. Bottom line, the roofer has his head up his ass so far that he'll need to visit the proctologist whenever he needs dental work done. As for the skylight, who bought it? Did you tell the guy, "Buy this model Velux skylight and install it"? or did you just tell him you wanted new skylights and he went out bought them, installed them and then handed you the bill? If the first, a guy who really knew his stuff would probably tell you that they wouldn't work, but there is a large percentage of folks who'd just install what you told them to and wouldn't even bother to read the instructions. If the second, it should be entirely on the installer. He picked it out, he installed it where it may not be installed and he flashed it. Unfortunately, it's not a big enough issue to interest a lawyer and if you take him to small claims court you probably won't get fully satisfied either. You migth consider arbitration. In any event, find someone who walks upright with his ears free of his anus to do it over - right this time. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I doubt that anyone here can help you. We are home inspectors, not electrical engineers. However, I think you can probably find your anser on one of the forums here: http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=63367&page=1 Good Luck. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Julie, It's a little difficult to advise you about that foundation without knowing what the terrain is like, knowing what kind of a climate your are in, or what sort of soils you have around your home. Also, your description of the issue is a little confusing - especially since it sounds like two different home inspectors have differing opinions of what's actually going on. It sounds like you have a crawlspace that initially had a poly barrier on top of which they've poured concrete and then later added another layer of plastic. Is that right? How about answering these questions: 1. What king of terrain is the home built on, ie., the house is on high ground, on flat ground, at the base of a hill, set into a hillside with the hillside draining past it, etc? 2. Where do your gutters empty - next to the foundation or into a dedicated drain system that empties elsewhere? 3. How far below the siding at the perimeter is the siding graded? Is the rot at areas where soil or mulch had been piled against the house? 4. Are there foundation vents? 5. Are the "two small crack" vertical or horizontal? Are they extremely thin, like pencil lines, without displacement of the walls, or are they wider and tapering? Is water coming through them? What do you mean by "the perimeter drain is very suspicious"? Which perimeter drain - the one at the footers outside (which can't be seen) or is there one at the perimeter inside the crawlspace? Got any photos? You can attach them to your post. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, That happened to me once too - before the fall. I still remember it because it was a wood shingle roof - not shakes. It was just beginning to drizzle as I headed up to the roof, so I wanted to get it looked at and get down before the roof turned to grease on me. Well, after I got up there, the damned realtor grabbed the client and dragged him inside to sign some papers. Meanwhile, the wind came up and blew my (then) aluminum extension ladder over, so when I returned to the ladder it was lying on the ground. I stood there on the edge of the roof hollering for all I was worth for the client, but he and the realtor were busy chatting away in the kitchen all the way at the other side of the house on the ground floor and couldn't hear me. Because it was now drizzling more and the roof was getting slick, I couldn't re-cross the roof to the back and yell down from there and I was trapped. Finally, in desperation because the rain was beginning to come down in half-buckets, I slid down a leader to the porch roof below, where I could stand on a narrow band of dry shingles protected by the deep overhang of the upper roof. To this day I don't know how that gutter or the leader held my weight. I worked my way over to the second floor windows and began pounding on the glass. After about five minutes, the realtor and client walked into the room looking puzzled and opened the window to let me in. It was after that when I bought my first L-G look alike. These things are heavy and don't blow over in the wind - at least none of mine has yet. Still, I wish that I'd established my rule then for someone to remain outside and watch me from the ground. If I had, it might not have prevented the fall in 2000, but at least I would know today how it happened and I might not have almost died (I was knocked unconscious and have no recollection of anything between climbing onto the porch roof and waking up with what felt like a truck on my chest, unable to see and with someone trying to force a plastic airway device down my throat.). ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

That is a good point. Not having someone watching me when I was up on the roof almost got me killed on April 18th 2000. I still don't know how it happened, but I went off a very high porch roof of a 4-square in Seattle on that day and was out cold in the garden when a kid passing by spotted me, knocked on the door, and alerted the folks inside to the "drunk sleeping in the gardent". The realtor and client, who'd been inside measuring for carpeting, found me lying on one side turning a pretty shade of turquise blue due to 5 broken ribs and a collapsed lung. About another two minutes and I'd have been done for. Yep, having someone there looking up might come in handy I'd say. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If it had been me, I would have seen to it that "rats" gnawed through 3 or 4 or those cables. Once customers began bellyaching, they would have gotten off their fourth point of contact. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Kurt, You want either a Hydro-Aire system or a Bio-Radiant system. Both use individual in-wall forced air units fed from the domestic hot water heater through a manifold with a circulator. I'll dig out the link and post it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Okay, It's early morning and I just got up and moved this post. Now that I've re-read it, I notice that you said that your talking about grounded neutral conductors, so it looks like you aren't referring to breakers but are referring to the practice of placing more than one conductor under the same lug at the neutral bus - not at a breaker. If that's the case, consider the builder once again encrusted, because grounded (neutral) conductors may not be doubled under a single lug in the panel. Here's what one code body says: Here's some further discussion on the topic: Log from the NEC Code Panel, regarding the new clarifying language in the Code. (Log #3287) 9- 113 - (384-21 (New) ): Accept SUBMITTER: James T. Pauley, Square D Co. RECOMMENDATION: Add a new 384-21 to read as follows: 384-21. Grounded Conductor Terminations. Each grounded conductor shall terminate within the panelboard in an individual terminal that is not also used for another conductor. Exception: Grounded conductors of circuits with parallel conductors shall be permitted to terminate in a single terminal if the terminal is identified for connection of more than one conductor. SUBSTANTIATION: This revision is needed to coordinate the installation requirements with a long standing product standard requirement. Clause 12.3.10 of UL 67 (Panelboards) states “An individual terminal shall be provided for the connection of each branch-circuit neutral conductor.â€