mridgeelk

I just spoke with a friend that does a lot of stamped concrete about using water-based concrete sealer to seal the grout. Any pros or cons? Again, thanks for any replies.

After retiring from home inspecting at the end of last year I have been sprucing up our home. My current project is restoring the grout color. When we built it in 1994 we used salmon colored grout for the Saltillo tile. It looked great for the first week. Since then I have resealed the grout numerous times. I am starting to believe that there is no sealer that will last and keep the grout from getting dirty looking. Anybody have a sure fire sealer to recommend? Thanks for any tips.

According to Peerless the unit was made in 1967.

Thanks for the correction and I was leaning to the left, something that I occasionally do.

How old is a Peerless Furnace MM2 21554 with no model number. Thanks, Ed Click to Enlarge 49.04 KB

John, I raised elk for many years. Now I am down to a few old cows and no stinkin' bulls. An elk bull in the rut puts any dairy bull (Holstein, Ayrshire etc.) to shame as far temperment and destructiveness.

Thank you, Marc. Ed

The furnace connected to this flue has about 60% of the combustion air that it requires. Would this cause the white stains on the shingles due to improper combustion? The stains are similar to ones typically found under swamp coolers that leak or have an improperly adjusted float. Click to Enlarge 45.68 KB

The siding in question is on an early 1980s home with Thermax or similar brand sheathing with no spacing between the siding and the sheathing. The siding appears to have shrunk more than usual. Has anybody seen this condition elsewhere? Click to Enlarge 29.81 KB

Is this an improper installation of electric baseboard? The wall is 15 to 20 degrees out of plumb. It is on the inside of a mansard Click to Enlarge 30.57 KBexterior wall. The home is thirty years old with no apparent problem. Thanks for any response.

This is AOL news this morning: http://www.aolnews.com/killer-in-the-at ... n/19731468

Any chance that the soils there are expansive and a spread footing would be detrimental to the foundation?

Today doing a pre-listing inspection I found this evidence of a snake invasion/infestation. Snake skins and numerous small burrows in the insulation, no snakes visible. The attic is not properly ventilated. Would proper ventilation stop this being good snake habitat? Do you introduce a predator? ( I don't know why she swallowed the fly) Remove and replace with another kind of insulation? This home constructed of concrete walls six feet tall on the back side and ends with the eaves about thirty inches from the ground. Click to Enlarge 50.91 KB Click to Enlarge 51.59 KB

Thanks, Jim But it doesn't say horizontal or vertical. It says, "Where horizontal ducts are used . . ." Since the scenario you described uses horizontal ducts, that's the part you follow. - Jim Katen, Oregon

My concern was that it says horizontal or vertical, not in combination. I may be reading to much into it, possibly caused by having two sons and a daughter-in-law that are lawyers. They even find meaning in the spaces beween the words. According to the language in that code section, it should be 1/2000. However, I really can't imagine why it would matter. - Jim Katen, Oregon

Today I observed two 8x16 ducts supplying combustion air from outdoors for appliances totaling 402,000 BTUs. My question is that since these ducts run horizontally for about three feet before becoming vertical, should the 1/2000 for the horizontal or the 1/4000 for the vertical be used to calculate the proper sizing?

I did locate an inspector through EDI but at this point he is too far away to use. (135 miles) I will use a local certified stucco installer/contractor with a very good reputation first to evaluate the system as installed.

Thanks for all the information. Also, I have found a certified person to evaluate the installation.

This home has an EIFS exterior with a lot of cracking. I can't find an EIFS inspector online. There are plenty on the Front Range but none on the Western Slope. Any suggestions? Click to Enlarge 26.14 KB Click to Enlarge 30.62 KB Click to Enlarge 34.93 KB Click to Enlarge 51.02 KB Click to Enlarge 38.49 KB Click to Enlarge 65.31 KB Click to Enlarge 40.61 KB

Jamaica Public Service has installed: concrete poles, a new system neutral cable and a new transformer. Also JPS removed an illegal service connection just down the road from us and trimmed numerous trees that were in contact with the lines. Hopefully this will rectify the problems we were experiencing.

Thanks Billy, I wil contact them Monday to determine the proper product.

I will have to try a mongoose as there are no ferrets on the island and are probably difficult to get through Customs.

After discussing the issue with a tech at an electrical supply house yesterday he made two suggestions. One, that the utility has a too large or a faulty fuse or relay in the area. The other is to install what he called a "purifier" in each conductor just after they leave our meter pole. I hope the second idea works because getting JPS to do anything is nearly impossible.

The problem occurs in the grid of Jamaica Public Service that services our home on the north coast of Jamaica. The first time it occurred when the service neutral separated at a splice, dropped across the two conductors and fed 223 volts through one leg of the service. (I was in the house when that happened and was able to get a reading.) My wife was drying her hair when the dryer went into overdrive. Last Friday a tree fell across the line in the vicinity of our home and again there was a long term voltage of over 220.

I am trying to determine if there is a product that controls long term excessive voltage. Surge protectors provide only short term (a spike) and power conditioners only cover up to 110%. There was a CHSP Ultra installed but the duration was too long and cooked one side of it. Also most everything was on surge protector strips and they failed to protect things such as the internet modem, microwave, the electronics in the range and a TV. I need a breaker that that governs voltage that I could install between the meter and the panel or backfeed the panel through such a breaker. Any ideas? I spoke with the Eaton-Hammer people this morning and they have no product that would control the extended high voltage.