jon_ran

I may be wrong, but I believe that the requirement is that the vent must be within 10' (piping length) of the fixture being drained. If the distance is over 10', additional vent(s) should be installed. Air admittance valves could be installed under fixtures more than 10' from the vent. If you have any gurgling in a fixture while it or another is or has completed draining or bubbling of a fixture while it or another is draining, venting is insufficient. Ells are nothing more than 90's, but they are long sweeping 90's with a more gentle bend. They take up are about 2 1/2 times the size of the 90's that you used and help the fixture drain faster while reducing clogs. You will be much beater off correcting all of the issues with this setup now before you drywall. If you have not corrected it prior to selling your home, the buyer may require you to do it then if they have a competent inspector.

There is a chance for asbestos to be in anything related to an older home (pipe insulation, ceiling/wall insulation, textured coverings, tile, siding, soffits, fascia, roof, etc.), but specifically in rock wool - I would say no unless other materials are present that contain asbestos. If the home has vermiculite insulation, then the chances are very high because vermiculite is mined in the same areas that asbestos is.

What is holding that floor up???????? By judging the appearance of the joists and sub-floor, I would say that that home is much older than the PVC drain pipe, and the cuts look fairly fresh. Not that plumbers are not responsible for actions such as that, but I would say that it was definately a DIY job. That means that it most likely was not inspected. As others have said, the plumbing inspectors job is to inspect the plumbing. He/she may have little or no knowledge about structural (or any other) issues.

A few of you stated that you "had too many business cards left", either to change your name or you logo and someone stated that you want only one or 2 colors in your logo because of business card prices. I used www.printsmadeeasy.com for mine. You design it on their site and upload your own artwork. 2000 cards with glossy coating on the front cost me $89 plus shipping. (5000 are only $161 plus shipping). There cards are high quality card stock and the picture is photo quality. It really makes your cards stand out against the plain one and two color ones. Attached is a sample of my card. Image Insert: 10.68 KB

See.... That is why I come here, learn new things all the time.

Did the vents terminate into the attic or were there air admittance valves? Open vents should not terminate in the attic, but air admittance valves are okay in most areas. There are a sort of vacuum breaker -- closed under normal circumstances, but open to allow air into the system when water is being drained. Like a studor valve, only for the entire system instead of an individual fixture.

I think that he means that instead of having 120/240 capability, the SEC is split to go to 2 separate services, supplying each with 120. The concept can be confusing if you don't understand it. We call a service with a single SEC as 120, 2 SEC's is 120/240, but 3 SEC's is 3 phase.

Don't know if this will help, but.... I have noticed that on ungrounded outlets (non GFCI protected), an outlet with proper polarity will show as reversed when the test button is pushed.

You did note that that meter was rated for 15 amps, right?

We have to remember that carbon monoxide is an emission from incomplete combustion of the fossil fuel. True combustion should only produce carbon , hydrogen and oxygen (C and O combine to produce CO2 - carbon dioxide, H and O combine to create h2o- water). Pure combustion of natural gas and propane produces a blue flame, incomplete combustion produces yellow or orange flames. The hydrogen atoms are easiest to satisfy and will be greedy and be satisfied first by attaching themselves to an oxygen atom (2 hydrogens/1 oxygen) this will fill all of the atomic rings and satisfy all of the hydrogen atoms released, creating water. The carbon atoms left over because they were not all burned up will start grabbing the left over oxygen molecules trying to create co2, but being a friendly bunch, they do not want to be stingy and therefore share the oxygen atoms so that they can all get slightly satisfied, instead of simply gorging themselves until they are stuffed. Since the carbon was not completely, there will be an excess of carbon atoms and not all will be satisfied. The resulting molecules will be carbon with one oxygen (CO) and in severe cases, pure carbon (soot). CO2, and H2O from complete combustion are relatively harmless in low or normal concentrations. CO, on the other hand, is dangerous in low doses because our bodies will absorb it before oxygen even when oxygen is present. A vent less fireplace uses a catalyst plate (like the calytic converter in your car's exhaust) which increases the temperature of the flue cases to a point that the carbon atoms are more thoroughly burned up. This allows what little carbon that remains to fill itself with oxygen and become carbon dioxide. Regardless, I always highly recommend a CO detector in the home. Catalyst plates can and do get coated and need replacement over time.

May be a bad tester. I know that if the outlet is not grounded, the 3 light tester will not work, but you said that the outlet was properly wired (according to the tester). It may be a false ground. Unscrupulous sellers have been known to run a jumper from the neutral terminal to the ground terminal on the outlets. This makes the outlet appear to be grounded, according to a 3 light tester, when it really isn't. I am not sure about this, but If there is a false ground, the tester may not work, even though the test button on the GFCI caused it to trip. I'm sure that others will respond and either confirm my suspicion or provide the correct answer. Either way, I'm anxious to find out for sure.

No..... It has actually been added for extra traction.

No disrespect, but... I know that cold weather is not as common in Nashville as it is in Indianapolis, but have you never winterized/de-winterized a home? Keep in mind we are talking about a vacant home without the water turned on. Water lines should be (but aren't always) empty. Ever inspected a home under construction? The plumbers are required to "blow water supply lines full of compressed air", how else can the check for leaks. And they are required to keep the pressure on the lines. How is what I am doing any different. Keep in mind that I said I use a regulator and have it set far below what the maximum water pressure should be. I am extremely thorough at everything I do and you can rest assured that as I do this, all of my I's are dotted and t's are crossed. If you bought a home that was a foreclosure and didn't have the water turned on, what would you do? I doubt that you would just willy nilly turn the water on.

Good point, I did not reference the IRC prior to posting. I was simply going off of a personal conversation with the water proffing company.

My understanding is the following: 25' is the max length. You subtract 5' for every 90 and 2.5 feet for every 45. Transition at the dryer does not count as a 90. 25 feet - 15 (horizontal run) - 4 (verticle rise) = 6 feet 6 - 10 (2 90's) = -4 (or 4 feet too long) If the horizontal run is 12', you are still 1' too long. I would call it out for improvement, but I don't think that the extra length is siginifigant and wouldn't make a huge deal over it. However, it will accumulate lint more quickly due to it being in an unconditioned attic. Condensate will form on the inside of the pipe and attract the lint. It shouldn't plug as quick as the white flex vent in the 2nd picture, but it will need regular cleaning. I would recommend replacement of the foil vent (from the dryer to the pipe) with a flexible aluminum pipe.

I know that others will disagree, but here is my take. If the water is off to the home, I do one of three options. 1. Nothing, capture on the report that the water was off and nothing was done with the water system. 2. I will check the lines using compressed air from a compressor ($20.00). You have to ensure that all valves/faucets are closed and use a bungee to hold the toilet float up, but you can let the pressure build up during the inspection and check it when you are done with the exterior. I set my regulator to 60 psi to mimic what most homes are supplied with and shut the compressor down and close the valve when pressure is attained. I record the pressure at this time and again at the end of the inspection. I then document that the lines were tested using air pressure and pressure was held at ??? psi or that it bled off during the inspection to ??? psi. Also document that you did not verify that all supply valves were open and that the drains could not be tested. Check for air flow at all fixtures. An ice blockage (in colder climates) could allow the system to maintain pressure, even if it has a burst line past the blockage. If any fixture does not have flow of air during cold temperatures, assume that it has an ice blockage and that the line may be burst at/beyond that point. If lines will not pressurize, I report that they will not hold pressure, indicating a leak in the system. I will usually try to locate at least one leak and notify them that more leaks may be present and that a licensed plumber will need to repair as needed and recommend another air pressure check prior to turning on the water. 3. If the client insists that the water be on, (and I recommend that it is because you can not evaluate the supply or drainage system properly with it off) they will have to contact the water company to re-install the meter and turn it on. After passing the pressure check as described above, I will turn it on to the home (slowly at first, you can achieve maximum pressure on the lines without having a high flow rate). Fill the water heater and ensure that the air is out of all of the lines by running 5-10 gallons of water to each fixture. Be careful with the toilets, if the have frozen and busted, it may not be visible. If you can not maintain a water level in the toilet BOWL, do not fill the toilet. Shut the water off to the home again and leave a hot water faucet open on the top floor of the home to accommodate expansion as the water heats. After about 1/2-1 hour, check ceilings, walls and floors for water stains (or check with a moisture meter). Water stains in the ceiling and walls will be visible at the joints long before the water penetrates the drywall itself. If all is good, I re-open the water to the home and test all fixtures as normal. When I am done, the entire home gets re-winterized at a cost of $150.00 (plus the pressure test) to the client. The client and agent signs a release of liability waiver covering any issues with the plumbing system and damage caused from it's operation. A statement goes into the report about what was done and notes that though no issues were found during the inspection, most of the system is hidden from view and that there still may be hidden issues that were not discovered. The pressure test will give you an idea about the supply lines. If there is a compromise in the drain lines, hopefully it will be found with the 5-10 gallon per fixture test. If any damage occurs from the drain lines it will have been a failure under normal testing conditions, after all the only way to test the drainage system is to run water through it. Items that fail under normal testing conditions are outside the scope of liability to the inspector. ie. an upper sash that falls, due to an inoperative counter balance, when the latch is released and damages the window A garage door that is not square in the track and is damaged due to binding or coming out of the track Rotted roof decking that the inspector puts his/her foot through A fiberglass tub that is not properly supported and allows the inspectors foot to go through it. Any part of the waste drainage system that leaks when water is flowed through it.

At least they used treated lumber on top of the column. [:-magnify

I have actually talked to national foundation repair and waterproofing companies that market their above the footer drainage systems. I had always thought that the drainage system at the bottom of the footer was correct, until I considered the folowwing logic. They say that this is the "clean water" zone. Any water getting to that point will have had to flow upward and is perforated through the pea gravel fill. One method of footer construction of a crawl or slab is to dig out and pour the footer. After the footer has set-up overnight, the soil inside the "footprint" is removed to a level even with the top of the footer. After the foundation is built the pea gravel is spread out inside the footprint. If the drainage system is placed on top of the footer, any water entering will have perforated through the pea gravel, with the dirt/silt hopefully resisting the flow of the water and staying in place instead of defying gravity and flowing vertically into the tile. In a system where the soil is removed to the bottom of the footer, even though you still fill with gravel the soil can still flow horizontally into the drainage area, especially with a deep footing, where it actually flows down. This can cause undermining of the floor/footer and even fill the drainage tile with soil. I know that a membrane is usually placed over the tile to prevent soil from passing through, but it may eventually plug and render the drainage system useless. After all, it is still a filter. The job of a filter is to prevent material from passing through. What gets filtered out of the water gets stuck to the outside of the filter and continues to build. Have you ever tried re-using a coffee filter? How many uses do you think you would get before you have it overflow.

I saw one of these today at Frys Electronics. The key board is split between both sides on the upper corners with buttons about the size of a pencil erasor. Very portable, but as you said it is too small.

You don't have to have the 2007 version of MS word. If you have a copy of a previous version, try to install it. I installed MS Word 2003 as a part of the MS Office 2003 package and had no problems. Computers used to come with all of these programs included and ready to use with no free trial period. It kind of ticks me offf that to use a brand new computer for it's intended purpose, you have to purchase all of these programs. By the way, several people are not happy with Vista. I would recommend that you find someone who has Vista already and play around with their computer for a while before deciding to keep and opening yours. I reformatted my hard drive after about 2 weeks and installed XP on a brand new lap top because I didn't like it. Also, check out your existing software to ensure that it is compatible with Vista or has an upgrade available. Most software (including my inspection software) were not compatible when I bought mine, which helped in the decision to "downgrade" to XP.

Most narrative programs allow you to customize each "boiler plate" comment to your communication method. There are narrative programs out there that utilize a word document as the base template while you are performing the inspection, this allows you to change a comment that you have just inserted into the report if conditions dictate that more or less must be stated.

I have had no formal training in the mold field and could not tell you the difference from penicillin and stachybotrus, but I can guarantee you that if I see mold, it goes into my report. This has been a sticky area in the past and will continue to be an issue well into the future, especially for ones with health issues. I do not even attempt to identify the mold. I state that it is present, where I found it at, issues that may be contributing to its growth and are in need of repair/improvement and recommend testing by a lab of they are concerned with it. It is also important to state that all homes will have mold of some kind somewhere within the home. Most molds are in-active and will remain that way with proper humidity levels and ventilation. Have a moisture issue and see how fast it goes from inactive to active though. If there is mold, call it as such. Don't skirt the issue to keep the realtor happy and for your own sake, don't keep your mouth shut because you are not "mold certified". If it is mold, it is mold. Call it as such but don't even attempt to say that since it is not black mold it is not hazardous. Only an analysis can determine that.

There are actually a few things wrong with that set up. 1. No support under chimney, unless it is supported by cantilevered beams ( I don't think cantilevered joists would support the weight). Unless that is an artificial brick such as Z-Brick. 2. Too close to condensing units. 3. Inaccessible hose bib and conduit connections for one condensing unit. 4. Refrigerant lines buried in the concrete waste, which means that they weren't protected from damage.

As Gary said, they run on smoke. Just like every piece of electronic equipment. The smoke is magic and is installed at the factory. What ever you do, do not let the magic smoke out. Once the magic smoke is released it can not be replaced as it is not a user servicable piece of equipment. You may get lucky and retain enough smoke for it to work at a reduced capacity for a short amount of time, but more often than not the item simply will not function without it's smoke.

I think that the pic is turned sideways. You have to look at it with your head laying down on the desk.