hausdok

Hi Tom, I owe you an apology. You'd posted this in the wrong place under the 'post a new article for submission to TIJ' and I didn't see it because it was during the time I went back east to bury my little sister. Doubtless, you've probably got your answer by now, but I've moved it over here to the electrical forum so that you can get it answered anyway. By the way, this particular issue has been discussed many times here and can probably be found by searching the previous posts in this particular forum category. Shooting from the hip, the builder is full of it up to his eyebrows, unless (There's always an exception to everything, it seems.) the breaker is designed and approved for use with more than one conductor. Square D and one other manufacturer whose name escapes me at the moment make these. So, if the breakers were one of these two particular types and are approved for use in that particular panel and no more than two conductors are being used for each, his eyebrows wouldn't be so encrusted. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Go to the 'resources' tab above and then choose 'downloads' from the dropdown. Once on the downloads page, scroll down to the "Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide" by HUD, open it and scroll to Appendix E. It's a hard copy report. Not the format that most commercial companies who produce those lousy hardcopy checklist reports, but it'll work if need be. If you're new to the business and have a good fast printer, you should print out that whole book. It's a pretty thorough basic reference and very helpful for new folks. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I would have told her that I'd do it as long as she'd allow me to take out a life insurance policy on her.[:-devil] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, No. It isn't. But I don't intend to continue to argue the point with you, so have it your way. OT - OF!!! M.

No, That is not what I described. I described a ledger attached directly to the rim joist at the side of the structure. The ledger being flashed and protected with joist hangers hanging off the ledger. That ledger being the only support inboard. Then, about 4 or 5 feet from there, depending on whether it is an 8ft. deep deck or a 10ft. deep deck, a line of posts with a transverse beam supporting those joists at mid-span. Finally, another beam and posts at the outboard end. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, You know, I've read this MAC vs. PC stability argument for years, but have yet to experience it. Anytime that my box locked up or caused me a problem, and I've blamed it on something else - such as the operating system - further investigation revealed that it was me causing the issue and had nothing to do with the computer at all. Just what the heck is everyone referring to? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I Disagree. Every manufactured home that I've seen has had a long double backbone chassis with steel web supports perpendicular to the backbone like fishbones along a fishes spine. On top of that, are 2 by 6 or 2 by 8 stringers running the full length of the structure - the band, or rim, joist being one of these. The actual amount being supported by the rim joist isn't more than about 4 or 5 feet before there is an intermediate post and beam supporting the deck. As long as it is properly flashed to keep out water and properly bolted to the rim joist, I don't see where attaching a deck to it will be an issue. Will they have to detach it if they move the home? Sure, but 99% of these, at least around here, are never moved and the decks rot out long before the structures do anyway. Around here, I see carports attached directly to the sides of these structures, supplemental laundry and storage rooms and all sorts of add-ons. I haven't seen any of these cause any issue that wasn't water infiltration or rot related in nearly 10 years and every one of those issues could have been avoided if the person attaching the supplemental structure had paid attention to how the supplemental structure was attached and had flashed the transition properly. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, The ARMA and NRCA manuals both recommend drip edge flashing and the rakes and the eaves of all asphalt roofs. Some manufacturers require it or the warranty is void, but that knowledge doesn't do you a whole lot of good unless you have the ability to look at an asphalt shingle and know who manufactured it and what each manufacturer's requirements are. That said, it's used about 1/2 of 1% of the time on homes out here on Puget Sound. Roofers out here extend the felt and the edge of the roof about 2 to 2-1/2 inches into the gutter and call it a day. Consequently, I find rot at the edges of the deck on about 5% of the homes I look at where it's been omitted. I write it up every time I find it, but I tell people not to expect anyone to do anything about it, 'cuz that's just the way it is around here. Any customer that has ever asked for it to be repaired has been turned down flat. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Scott, Where I come from in upstate New York they are not a temporary repair - they're used as regular support posts in new construction in homes with basements. Never saw one fail. Screw was usually on top. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, PB has had some problems in some parts of the country. However, there are other parts of the country where it is and has done fine. It probably has something to do with water quality and what's used to treat the water supply. I'm in Washington State and I've seen quite a bit of it and have never found any of it damaged or failing due to exposure to chlorine or anything else in the water. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I dunno, Herr Cramer has been around this computer stuff a lot longer than most of us have been in the business or have had anything to do with computers. He's pretty darned smart too. If he told me to ignore it, I'd probably follow that advice rather than reformat my hard drive and take a chance on screwing things up even more. But that's just me. Format away if your comfort level requires it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I agree with Jim, it could be scale from galvanized pipes. Sometimes, scale will get into a stop valve or the valve for the shower, lie there and not be a problem until you turn the water up to a certain volume and then it moves into position and clogs things. I had an inspection one time where there was almost no water volume at all to anything in the house. The house had galvanized pipe. I wanted to find out how bad it was, so I took off the aerators at the kitchen sink and in the bathroom and removed the showerhead. Then I had the realtor go to one outside petcock, the customer to another, the customer's spouse to the kitchen sink and I stayed in the bathroom. Then, on my commmand, everyone began randomly turning every faucet under their control on and off to full volume. Everyone reported chocolate water for the first few seconds and then it began to clear up. We did that for between 8 to 10 minutes and stopped. I flushed out the aerators, put the shower head back on and it was like the house had been completely re-plumbed. Everything was stellar. It seriously freaked out the realtor, because she'd been planning to have them ask for a re-plumb. I told her that now that she could see how badly the pipes were scaling and causing stuff to get stopped up that she had an even clearer picture of why it was about time to do just that. She stopped freakin'. For years, when I've had a home with galvanized pipe, just to remove any scale buildup, I've told clients to have one of these flush parties as soon as they move in. I also warn them that the likelihood of clogging one or two stop valves by doing this is very real, so they need to be prepared to turn off their water and clear the stop valve involved. The experienced homeowners get it, the novices do only sometimes. So far, 9-1/2 years and counting, I've never had the phone call where it's caused anyone a serious issue. Oh, and the couple with this particular house? I inspected another house for them about 4 years later, after they'd accumulated some equity and were buying up. I asked about the pipes. Seems the seller had refused to re-plumb, they'd bought the home anyway, had been doing flush parties about every 6 months since, and hadn't had a problem at all. They told me that they planned to explain the whole thing to their buyer and would be giving whoever bought the house a $2,000 credit toward re-plumbing. I told them to look into having the pipes rehabilitated by Ace DuraFlo or one of the pipe re-lining companies. They did, and ended up having the pipes rehabbed in order to avoid the issue altogether. I've had about 8 referrals from that couple. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hmmm, I used to have Norton and it hogged all of my ram and used to have so much stuff running in the background that my box ran like a dial-up. I dumped it more than two years ago and went with McAfee and nothing, absolutely nothing, with a virus has gotten past it since. There have been a couple of times when I thought something got past and I freaked a little, but upon further investigation everything was clean as a whistle. I guess everyone's mileage varies, depending on what they've got and how they've got it configured. Mine's pretty simple - just two computers networked together on cable. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I refer people to a sweep for a Level II all the time. I recommend they get on the internet and search for a local fellow at http://www.CSIA.org. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Kurt, I think the rule for vents applies here. Nothing more than 45° but one up to 60°. Go to http://recalls.gov and see if Majestic recalled that model. I seem to recall that Majestic has a recall within the past couple of years. Let us know what you find. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Thanks for posting that. We actually had run this as a headline last year. It's at this link: https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... IC_ID=1427 ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, My Dad had one in the last house he had. It was a Buderus. Made in Germany. Once helluva beautiful piece of work. He could stoke it with coal or wood on Monday, it would burn down by Thursday and then the oil burner would kick on and heat the home until he re-stoked it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the manufacturer named below, today announced voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed Name of Product: Robertshaw R110 Series Gas Control Valves Units: About 178,000 Manufacturer: Robertshaw Controls Co., of Long Beach, Calif. Hazard: Screws on some water heater valves could break. If this happens, gas could leak from the valve, which poses a risk of gas explosion and fire. Incidents/Injuries: None reported. Description: The R110 Gas Control Valves being recalled are installed on natural and liquid propane (LP) gas water heaters. The recalled valves were manufactured between July 25, 2005 and August 14, 2005 with production date codes 5-31 through and including 5-33, although not all valves with these date codes are affected. The recalled valves were installed on the following water heater brands: American Proline, Bradford White, GE, GSW, Hotpoint, Jetglas, John Wood, Lochinvar, Premier Plus, Powerflex, Rheem, Richmond, Ruud, Vanguard, Whirlpool, and U.S. Craftmaster. The model and serial number can be found on the manufacturer's label on the water heater. Electric water heaters are not included. Sold: Installed on water heaters by gas appliancedistributors and retailers, including Home Depot and Lowe's, as well as plumbers and plumbing/heating equipment suppliers. The gas valves also were sold separately through gas appliance service providers. Water heaters sold or serviced prior to July 25, 2005 are not affected. Assembled in: Mexico Remedy: Consumers that believe they may have an affected water heater, please click on www.robertshaw.com. Have the model and serial numbers of your water heater ready. For further assistance, please contact Robertshaw. The model and serial numbers can be found on the manufacturer's label on the water heater. Robertshaw will arrange for a free repair or replacement, if necessary. If you smell gas near the appliance or in the building, immediately leave the area and call your gas company or a certified gas technician to investigate the cause. Consumer Contact: Call Robertshaw at (888) 225-1071 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET , Monday through Saturday, or visit the firm's Web site at www.robertshaw.com to review a list of the appliances with recalled valves and to register for the recall. To view this recall online and see photographs of the recalled products, please visit the CPSC Website. Release # 05-274 Robertshaw's Hotline: (888) 225-1071 CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772 CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Hi Kurt, Dense packed cells is also a pretty good option and is one that Fred Lugano advocates. He's written a number of articles on the subject for FHB over the years. David can check out Lugano's stuff at: http://www.weatherization.com/intro.html ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Chad's approach is a pretty good one, but if you use Icynene, which is an open-cell foam, you'll need to be very careful to include a vapor barrier on the interior before you drywall and install some type of air exchanger. There was an article in the July issue of Energy Design Update that discussed problems a Vermont couple had in a 3-year old home insulated with icynene. It was a tiny house - no wider than 14 feet and no longer than 24 feet.They'd used Thermo-Ply sheathing on the exterior and T & G paneling on the interior walls and cathedral ceilings. No air exchanger and no vapor barrier on the inside of the walls, as recommended by Icynene for homes built in climates with 7,500 or more heating degree days. The only ventilation was the windows and a small bathroom ceiling fan that is manually controlled. They began seeing mold along the baseboards so they went running for a lawyer. The lawyer hired a contractor and had the walls and ceilings opened up. The contractor found the icynene soaking wet. So much so that you could squeeze water out of it. Being an open-cell foam, moist air was migrating through it by vapor diffusion. When that moisture-laden air reached the Thermo-Ply, which has a vapor permeance of 0.53 to 0.63 perms - essentially a vapor barrier on the wrong side of the walls and ceiling, it condensed on the Thermo-Ply and collected there. Not only were the wall studs rotting but the plywood decking on the roof was delaminating. In order to preserve the interior, they ended up spending $25,000 to strip off all of the siding and the roof to reinsule it from the outside by shooting the whole thing with closed-cell foam. They've sued the builder and Icynene but the thing isn't resolved yet. This was a self-inflicted wound if I've ever heard of one. Using Chad's method you could very carefully seal the perimeter and joints between panels of the foil-faced foam with foil tape, but I'd definitely install an air exchanger or, at a minimum, through-wall vents and a fan controlled by a humidistat set to come on automatically at anything above 45%. Alternatively, you could use a closed-cell foam and still make sure you're careful about air sealing the inner face of the foam. I agree that Chad's method shouldn't need to be vented, but, despite the science, some roofing manufacturers won't honor their warranty when foam is used and no ventilation is present, so you need to know what your roofing product manufacturer's position is on that. If you don't know, you'll want to consider some type of ventilation. If you're not replacing the roof, you could use foam air chutes from eave to ridge, overlap them in drainage plane from ridge to eave, seal them at the joints, install a full-length ridge vent and then use Chad's method beneath - being careful to create the vapor barrier on the interior face of the wall by sealing the foil-faced foam. If you've stripped off the cover and are planning on a new roof anyway, you could consider Chad's method without the chutes and use a vented nailbase foam for the deck. That'll give you some additional R-value while preserving the roof warranty. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I agree with Jim 100%. It's time to stop pussy-footing around with this builder and take off the gloves. He's screwed up big time somehow and the fact that another month has passed while he hasn't rectified this mess is indicative of an incompetent. You need to put this builder and the mason on the carpet and tell 'em in no uncertain terms, with an attorney standing there in a $1000 dollar suit and quoting a figure that will get him a new yacht, to get it fixed now or else you're going to own their companies real soon. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I've never heard of a prohibition based on number of receptacles. Here's a tip. Unless common sense tells you it's patently unsafe, don't make calls based on things you aren't certain about. You'll only look a little foolish trying to backpedal later. You're better off, saying something like, "Hmmmm, you know that seems like it's a lot of receptacles for one GFCI, but I don't know for certain that it's not allowed. For all I know, the number allowed could be unlimited. I'll check it out and then we'll both know. If I find out it's not allowed, I'll note it in your report and give you a call to let you know. So, if I don't call you about this by X o'clock tomorrow don't worry about it. It's a non-issue." That said, load calcs say you're supposed to allow 3,000 watts for two small appliance circuits in the kitchen. If one circuit is alloted 1500 watts, then I guess you can't exceed 12.5 amps total load, which is weird since they're supposed to be 20 amp circuits. See, that's why I don't worry about this kind of stuff, just thinking about it with my math-disabled brain makes my hair hurt. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Eyahh, Yah caant get theya from heya. OT - OF!!! M.

Mmmmm, Maine lobstah, havahnt had thaat for more'n thaty yeahs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Tom is talking about post-tensioned slabs. I've seen a fair amount of those, but none ever had a doohickey like that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike