hausdok

Im not exactly sure. I've never seen one. I found one in a crawlspace a few months ago. New house in 2008 but never sold until now. I discovered the plug only after testing everything and going into the crawl to inspect the crawl. Nothing backed up, so I guess it was deflated at the time I found it. Here's a pic of the thing installed. 145_0129_00030.jpg[/url] 151.29 KB

If they overshot white paint into the attic spaces the fine white dust is probably latex overspray that dried before it settled on the insulation. I see it all the time in all kinds of construction. You guys really need to stop thinking "Mold." If you were around back then, think back to fifteen years ago; was anyone talking about or worrying about "toxic mold" back then? Answer - No, because "toxic mold" is something what was fabricated by the media and lawyers. There is no such thing as "toxic mold." There is only fungi - the same fungi we've lived around since man first walked on the planet, which was here long before we were. If it were so toxic we wouldn't have been able to populate the planet. Fix the danged fans so they're venting outside and stop worrying about the mold bogeyman. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Your problem stems from the code and what was required by the code in force where the house is located at the time it was built 23 years ago. The manufacturer would have researched the local codes in effect at the time before starting to fullfill the order for that house. My father built modulars in New York state before he died and the manufacturer was based out of PA. The manufacturer built the mod occording to his local code requirements and that meant that when my father ordered the house he would have to very carefully review the spec sheet on the order to ensure that they'd dotted all of the I's and crossed all of their T's before approviing the order. Just two code cycles ago here in Seattle Table 703.4 of the IRC did not require WRB under vinyl siding and stated only that vinyl siding must be installed in accordance with ASTM D3679. The Seattle Residential Code now requires a WRB under vinyl. It's possible that 23 years ago (possibly even today) the codes in PA didn't require WRB (Look at exceptions allowed under R703.2 and then look at Table 703.4). A manufacturer isn't going to install anything that it doesn't have to if it's going to save on construction cost and increase profits; that's just the way it is. So, the real question is - what condition is that OSB in after 23 years beneath vinyl siding in a state with winters as severe as Pennsylvania's? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I doubt that the water company plugged the main waste line. Why would they? It's more likely that the previous owner was pissed about the house being foreclosed on and shoved a bunch of stuff down the toilet to intentionally foul the line and screw the people who were going to get his house cheap while he was going to be stuck with a huge bill and ruined credit. Another possibility - while the house wsa winterized some numbnuts came in, had a very cleansing experience and then flushed the toilet and that 1.6 gallons didn't move everything to the sewer and deposited the deposit somewhere downline where it dried out and solidified in the pipe while the house was vacant. Perhaps it would have been prudent to ensure all the sinks and the toilets were draining ok before filling up a tub with five or six times the volume of water that a bunch of toilets can send down the pipe and then releasing it into the system? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

You can see the outline of the upleg of the head flashing on the siding above the window where the paint is peeling. Since I've never seen that with HP before, I suspect that it doesn't extend behind the WRB behind the siding. If it doesn't extend behind the WRB, it wasn't working anyway and caulking the gap probably didn't help much and didn't make it any worse. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The line between where the slab was when it was placed and its current height is just above the slab. You can see a narrow clear area just above the surface and then the bottom edge of the rough surface where the fresh concrete splashed against the face of the stemwall when it was placed. It's so narrow that I don't think it's settled - it probably ended up there when the slab had finally finished curing and shrinking. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm with Jim, It looks like the back of the garage got hit by a car. The old drywall is the brown stuff and the new drywall is the white stuff to the right. If the rebar in that stemwall didn't extend up into that last few inches from the top, and the wall got hit hard enough, the stemwall might have cracked horizontally just above the rebar. The report was painful to read. You know it's bad when you've been doing this stuff for 16 years and you read someone's report and have to stop to ask yourself, "Now did he mean this, or did he mean that?" Total inspectorspeak. Call him up and ask, "What is your basis for telling me to seek the opinion of an engineer? What is it about the crack that is unusual or abnormal? What are the possible consequences of leaving it the way it is and not doing anything about it? What can an engineer tell me from a strictly visual inspection of that crack that you couldn't? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Around here there're pretty much the same until you get into the crawlspace and find out that was is backing up and overflowing the mudsill into the crawl and is rotting the mudsill because there's noplace for the water to go when it gets to the bottom of the wall. I wouldn't be too concerned about the vertical cracks, they're all appearing in places where you'd be required to install an expansion joint under today's rules. If you caulk them with a polyurethane it'll crack out. A stretchable acrylic like Big Stretch would work better. I'd still leave them open a little at the bottom to allow any water to seep out of that lamina though. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Erby, Do you know what the cause was? Did they omit head flashings and just go with J-channel around the window - something like that? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Law of subrogation. If someone relies on his expertise to purchase the home and it turns out he was negligent or erred, even if they didn't pay him they may have the right to sue him. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

NAHB Residential Construction Performance Guidelines states 3/4-inch. Most manufacturer's instructions I see specify no greater than 3/4 inch beyond support. I think your answer is 3/4 inch. Not to get off-topic, but around here maybe - maybe - one roofer in a thousand installs drip edge at the eaves and it's normal to find the roof extending an inch to an inch and a half at the rake and anything from about an inch to three inches at the eaves. This is a typical "drip edge" here. How would you like to be the poor sap trying to clean that gutter without damaging that bottom course? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Nope, haven't seen that. I'm not a petite person; more like second cousin to a hippo, and I can't remember ever splitting a shake by walking on it. Maybe they're made out of something up there that splits easier than what we've got down here, 'cuz I haven't seen that. Don't know why, just haven't. What, you and I and Jim are describing probably shows that there are regional differences that can be just a few hundred miles apart. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

T1-11 is a pattern designation for the reversed board on batten pattern of APA 303 plywoods. APA applies the term equally to plywood, OSB or any wood-based structural panel product using that pattern, including any fiber-cement panels that present the same appearance (The "Fiber" in fiber-cement siding is wood). ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

L-P never stopped making OSB siding; they simply changed the formulation. The lawsuits covered products produced from about 1985 to 1995 and 1996 to 2000. L-P SmartSide and SmartPanel is still being installed by some builders around here and I've inspected a fair amount of it that was installed as a replacement product for InnerSeal under the class action terms and I'm not seeing any failures with properly installed products. The additional wax and borate in the formulation seems to have done the trick. Vinyl siding looks fine when it's installed by a pro who makes it look better than it is; but my guess is that is probably less than 10% of vinyl siding installers, 'cuz I only see about 1 in 10 vinyl siding installs where the contractor has properly flashed the product and carefully followed the guidelines of the Vinyl Siding Institute. It looks like the vinyl siding installation business is really easy to get into if you don't know anything about anything, haven't figured out how to install a saw blade in the right direction and want to get into your own business really really cheaply. Currently, the James Hardie fiber-cement products are king around here in our damp climate. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I dunno, unlike Richard I'm out in the burbs in a lot of high-end neighborhoods where shake roofs are the norm and comp roofs and other types of roofs aren't allowed by CC & A's. I've walked on an awful lot of shake roofs and never felt that walking on a dry shake roof is any more dangerous than walking on any other type - in fact, I've found that they're a lot safer to walk on than metal roofs. I agree that stepping onto a shake roof that's even the slightest bit damp is like stepping onto a puddle of grease, but I've never had an issue with loss of traction on a dry shake roof walking them with my ordinary rubber-soled Rockports. There is a steepness limit I reach after which I can't get any traction somewhere around a 10:12 when I have to have a valley to scale or I can't get up there, but it seems to be about the same angle as I encounter when going up comp roofs and it's pretty darned steep. I've never worn korkers or cougar paws; so I don't know if those would provide better traction on those steeper slopes than I get with the rubber-soled shoes, but I really don't see that there is any appreciable difference between a dry comp roof and a dry shake roof; in fact, a dry comp roof might be more hazardous because of the tendency of those roof granules to slough off under pressure at steeper pitches. I'm not advocating against wearing the golf shoes and I'm not advocating for walking on shake roofs without 'em; I just don't agree that walking on dry shake roofs without them is any more dangerous than walking on any other roofing product. Then too, one has to know one's limits. A rookie at this business can't exect to be able to, and shouldn't be, inspecting by walking on them the same roofs as long-time vets, unless that rookie has had previous experience with high roofs and different roofing products and how to properly and as safely as possible negotiate them. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Why would it be any worse than having a water heater there with the B-vent exposed above it? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, That shake roof is shot. Anytime you've got more than 25% of your shakes with butt rot it's time to replace the cover. The low slope roof is newer and the guy who put it on is an idiot unless the surface beneath it is 100% sealed with ice and water membrane. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! M.

Xuehong, Seriously, I'm not seeing much there to be concerned about. As myself and a couple of folks have stated above, a tight vapor barrier is needed, but let's be realistic that place is already, what, six years old? If things look that good after six years down there, despite being open to the weather with your very humid climate, I wouldn't be complaining. I'm jealous as hell, I don't want to hear any moaning from you North Calinky boys about how awful your crawlspaces are. That one's like a Rolls Royce compared to some of the nasy beat up Yugo's I have to crawl around in. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm pretty sure that if you charge for a WDO inspection that state law requires SDI's to perform a full WDO inspection and not a partial one. Find that in the statute or get a "finding" from Dan Soumy and then wave that in their face via email before you go out there. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

He could also get the Carson Dunlop CD. He'd need to be careful though. Some of the stuff in their texts is, well.....just plain wrong. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm surprised there isn't a wall hatch in a closet somewhere on the second floor to access that area. I did a similar design last week where a built-in bookcase in an upstairs closet had to be removed in order to unscrew an access panel and enter that area. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, It does have a barrier; it's just that it's clear plastic instead of the black type and it's been applied very poorly. If they close the vents without fixing the barrier, the amount of moisture escaping from that soil will become an issue. If they leave the vents open in North Carolina's very humid climate, the amount of humidity that will condense all over everything in that cool crawlspace in mid summer will make it look like it's raining in there. I'm surprised it looks as good as it does for a six year old house. I'd still like wider shots of the crawl and the layout of that flooring system so I could understand why that beam runs parallel to those joists. The only thing I can think of is that it supports a wall somewhere above and that the joists are able to span that crawl without midspan support. If they span the entire crawl and are at their absolute span limit, or are overspanned, they might be stretched to their limit in which case walking across the floor will be sort of like walking across the head of a drum. I don't see any bridging either. That might be contributing to the vibration, though I've heard for years that research had discounted bridging as being unnecessary. Xuehong, Can you get some wider shots of the floor system that show the entire span of the floor? That vapor barrier needs to cover 100% of the soil floor of that crawl. In your climate, it works best if that barrier practically covers the entire interior face of the foundation, the vents are closed and the crawlspace is conditioned. There's a contractor out your way by the name of Jeff Tooley who has written numerous articles on the subject for Fine Homebuilding and the Journal of Light Construction and makes his living fixing crawlspace moisture issues. I'm sure if you google him you can learn much more about how sealing a crawlspace in the humid southeast is better than venting one. Also, visit Advanced Energy Corporation's crawlspace knowledge page; they've done extensive research in your region on crawlspace ventilation issues. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, There is a professional plumber named Dave Yates who writes a lot of articles for Contractor magazine. A few years ago he wrote an article about how he'd struggled to find the cause of a drain restriction and it turned out to be that the homeowner had bought one of those new high capacity washing machines that pumps out about 2-1/2 times the volume of water per second than the old washing machines used to and the old 1-1/2 inch pipe couldn't handle the volume. He increased the size of the pipe from the laundry room to the main line and the problem disappeared. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Ya think? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike