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Sweet! What did the main panel look like? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, When I saw the photo the first thing I thought of was those homes with stone roofs (soapstone) in the Caribbean. Don't you guys remember the This Old House series of episodes about a decade ago where they rebuilt a pretty beat up house in Bermuda (?) and went to the quarry to cut the stone used for the roof? Weren't those lapped like that and then coated with a thin layer of concrete? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I assume you meant plumbing vent, not B vent. That said, the IRC (2003) doesn't say that the vent must go through the roof, just that it must terminate above the roof. I don't have a newer versions of the IRC, I'm still using the copy Brian Goodman gave me - it just showed up in the mail one day. NY says that it must go through the roof. Enlarge the photo and look closely, that metal vent goes right up the side of the building and through the roof overhang behind that plastic vent stack. The lack of soot and the rust indicate that it's a gas vent. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I did it once about a decade ago. Good ethical realtor and her team had been referring me for years. They were putting together information packets for potential clients. They'd get a lead and send out the packet to the prospect. The ad was a business card sized ad that looked exactly like my business card 'cuz that's what they'd copied. It cost me $350 - about the price of my cheapest inspection back then - and, as far as I know, I never got a single job from it. When I'd get a referral from that agent, I'd ask as I always do where the client heard about me and they'd all responded something like, "Oh, Julie raved about you, " or some such. It soon became apparent to me that I'd helped pay for the cost of those slick folders but that maybe the potential buyers really weren't reading the ads on the folders so much as thinking to themselves, "Man, this realtor has really got her act together and is well connected!" I never renewed. When she ran out of folders a few years later and I demurred, she stopped referring clients to me. Go figure. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

That B-vent shouldn't be run up the outside of the building like that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

That's one way to get out of jury duty. Guess I need to add it to my list. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I see it done all the time. I don't have a problem with it as long as everything conforms to the rules. Sometimes, though, it's easy to tell that it was done by a do-it-yourselfer or a moron masquerading as an electrician. When I find those, I call for an investigation and correction by a reputable licensed electrician. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez, If you two yardbirds are going to be there, maybe I oughta go. Four hours of sitting in the back of the room with a pea shooter spitballing Randy sounds like it would be fun. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, I was doing a little poking around the Seattle City website this morning and was surprised to learn that gray water systems are permitted within the city limits and that they've apparently given much thought to them. The system design looks like these systems can be a little technically challenging. I Guess I'd better study up on them a little bit. To read the rules, click this hotlink. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

This one was a hoot. They'd apparently replaced an old 125 amp panel with a new 200amp panel and mast. Guess they didn't want to do any demo, so they left the old mast in place. There are plenty of things to criticize about the strike, the way the mast is sealed, height of the mast (It's a low slope - essentially flat roof), height of the conductors above the roof, etc., but what I thought was really "special" was the way they'd connected the neutral cable from the utility to the neutral conductors on both the new and old strikes. Click to Enlarge 48.35 KB The second picture shows what I think is the end of the old conductors from the strike to the old panel. Note the flexible metallic conduit. Had me scratching my head about what it must have looked at at the other end where those cables left that and entered the mast. You'll get a chuckle out of the owner's doorbell transformer solution hanging there cobbled onto the previous one. Lots of stuff in this house. Bank owned 50's house that had been owned by some elderly folks. Lots of did-it-myself-cuz-I-live-on-a-fixed-income scary stuff done throughout the home. Click to Enlarge 46.1 KB So, electrical gurus, you know electrical is kind of like math to me, pretty mysterious, what bad things, if any can happen? I'm thinking that old grounded service entrance cable would like nothing better to find a new path to ground like someone grabbing the end of it while touching the plumbing or something like that. What say ye all? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Google "Certainteed Master Shingle Applicator Manual Online" ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Good choice. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

In order for that stuff to work, the manufacturers say that there has to be an air gap between it and the surface that you're trying to insulate or you get conductive/convective heat loss. Reflectix recommends cutting long strips of their material and taping them to the surface about an inch apart and then applying the wrap over that and then taping all seams. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Kurt, I see them every few months. So far, haven't seen any reason not to like them. It's pretty wild when the client looks in there and goes, "I don't get it. I thought that is a gas-burning furnace. Where'd all that water come from?" ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Has anyone bothered to ask the homeowner what the hell it is? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Fracking as in petro "fracking" or as in Battlestar Galactica kind of "fracking"? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It's quite simple really, It's used during an alien invasion to repel really, really queasy aliens. Upon word that the mothership is hovering overhead, each member of the family drinks one gallon of phospho soda and then mans their toilet,...er, firing station. The captain of the home,...er, earthship, activates the system and collection tubes emerge from under the occupants bum's,.....er, weapons breaches and begin sending ammunition to the firing ports which are disguised as common ventilation fans in the attic. The airspace overhead, and thus the surrounding countryside for hundreds of yards, becomes filled with aerosolized fecal matter; and the aliens, super grossed out, beat a quick retreat and go invade someone else's neighborhood. I'm simply amazed that I have to explain this kind of thing. Don't they teach anything in schools anymore? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

A crawlspace is a basement, just a really, really short basement.....most of the time - I've had some that were 20 feet high but, because they were unfinished with dirt floors were still called crawlspaces. Go figure. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Very good. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, A friend send me a request for info. I recommended he stop in here and post but he hasn't done so yet; so I'm posting it for him. Maybe someone here has some answers. Here's the gist: Either embedded or attached, find two pictures of a boiler I, today, ran into. It's a normal boiler with an abnormal name. I cannot decipher the age of the unit from the boiler plate. It appears to be 1960's to very early 1970's vintage. Company is no longer in business or, if it is still producing, the CIA is keeping it a National Secret. I'd like to know an better guess at its age and any known problems with this equipment, history of company, etc. BTW, the boiler was shut down and the only heat supplied to the house today was a 2.5 ton heat pump with NO aux. furnace...house was built in 1945...it was a wee bit chilly this morning (What the Hell happened to Spring anyway?). Understand the house couldn't have electric resistance elements for the aux. furnace because we already had an electric clothes dryer, electric water heater, a 16.0 amp RLA heat pump and four electric resistance, plus all of the standard 120 volt modern loads including multiple plasma tv's, halogen lights...all on 100 amp service. I give you......The ACK-O-MATIC Boiler: Click to Enlarge 41.64 KB Click to Enlarge 51.31 KB

If this was part of the initial inspection, I agree, I wouldn't charge for it. However, if this were a situation where I got called back to inspect a new roof that had been installed in response to something that I'd written in my report, it would be charged. My fees are based on a one-time visit to the property and the time it takes to prepare and deliver that report. Any re-visits to the property are charged by the half hour at twice my normal hourly fee and I charge for time on the road coming and going to the site, time on site, time it takes to prepare any written responses and any time I have to spend on the phone arguing with any agents, sellers or contractors. I tell folks that my fee structure for reinspections is very much like a lawyer's. I tell them that when I recommend they get work done by a specialist, ie. electrician, framer, plumber, HVAC tech, roofer, etc., they should ensure that the contractor used has a good reputation, warrants his or her work and hold that pro's feet to the fire because I'm not in the business of endorsing anyone's finished work. Most get it. I do maybe a half dozen reinspections a year. Those are usually to go up on a roof to verify that something that can't be seen from the ground was fixed, 'cuz the client doesn't want to go up on a roof; to go up into an attic to verify that something that can't be seen from the hatch was fixed, 'cuz the client doesn't want to fall through the ceiling; or to go into crawlspaces to verify that something that can't be seen from the hatch was fixed, 'cuz the client doesn't want to go into a dark, close place that's dirty and might have insects or other critters. I almost never hear from contractors. If you guys are doing reinspections, I hope you're charging for them. I didn't charge for reinspections for the first four years I was in this business and would get dozens, maybe more than a hundred, requests a year to do them. When I eventually went back and totaled up what I might have made had I been charging for them, I realized why I'd gone to the brink of bankruptcy after my fall in 2000 and I began charging for them. Don't be a schmuck; get paid for your work. If you're doing this gig, you're worth it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I see exterior-mounted panels about once in a coon's age; it's been so long since the last one that I can't even remember how the conductors that left that panel went into the house. How do they normally run those for exterior-mounted panels? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Looks like Jersey Shore chic. Don't suppose that was the home of a mafioso was it? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If it's older tile I just tell 'em to assume that the tile and the adhesive both contain asbestos; and, if they want to know for sure send samples to a lab for testing. I tell tham that if they do that and a test turns out positive, make sure they are careful not to grind the stuff up into fine powder and then snort it, 'cuz if they do they might end up with asbestosis or mesothelioma about a quarter of a century later. Older folks chuckle; younger folks not so much. Guess younger folks' sense of humor isn't as refined as that of us old geezers. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'd go with the second option. I'd probably also recommed they saturate the hell out of all of the framing and flooring in those areas with BoraCare just to be safe. (I'm tend to take a sort of a belt and suspenders approach to stuff.). ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike