mridgeelk

The door is hinged.

I have installed a lot of cabinets but this never crossed my mind. Instead of lazy susan maybe lazy bubba. Click to Enlarge 30.99 KB Click to Enlarge 32.77 KB

This may help you with your Sonotube footing http://www.sonotube.com/products/tubeba ... chart.html With this base you can backfill before the concrete is placed which also helps prevent the tube from moving or lifting when the concrete is vibrated. Thanks for the idea. That will both address my concern and add extra strength. My concern was that posts of different depths, if any heaving did happen, would be uneven and might put more stress on the structure. Since this doesn't seem to an issue, I won't worry about. I've over-engineered the deck plans on purpose based on weight capacity that I never expect to come close to so I'm probably safe. Thanks for the advice everyone.

The movement I have observed in western Colorado is seasonal. It can become somewhat permanent if the watertable rises or if something occurs to keep the site more wet than than when the building was constructed for example year-round lawn watering.

Is the soil in your area high in alkaline content? I added more to my original post with more info...and some more photos here. Click to Enlarge 52.27 KB Click to Enlarge 38.23 KB

There is also the mind warp/Escher factor in these stairs pictured. (not at my place) I have been visiting Jamaica since 1987, these are unique, even for Jamaica. This home was built all at once, the stairs are not a result of a remodel/addition. Click to Enlarge 53.05 KB

I can find only what appears to be a date of manufacture and possibly a product code, but no Knauf anywhere. The picture is of what the salt dew has done to my Dewalt compound miter saw as Kurt mentioned. The hinges came from a Wisconsin company marked as solid brass. Click to Enlarge 55.78 KB

Aluminum gets a form of leprosy when exposed to salt air. Plants seem to be affected by the salt air, some seven-leaf plants are growing in what I thought was our scotch bonnet pepper patch. How does aluminum react with salt air? Frank

Since I have lived at 6000' or greater and 800 miles to the sea most of my adult life I need some advice on our recently completed place in Jamaica from someone about controlling corrosion. The hinge shown is solid brass and is corroding after two months exposure. Our Jamaican staff says that the sea air is causing the same effect on our potted palms. I think the palms have not been watered properly and/or need to receive less sun. Do the brass hinges need to be routinely polished or oiled? The last picture is to give you an idea of the exposure, the wind comes generally from the east. The home is about 95% concrete. Thanks, Ed Click to Enlarge 15.15 KB Click to Enlarge 13.82 KB Click to Enlarge 60.14 KB Click to Enlarge 41.36 KB

Here is another picture but no info. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingclipon/474870533/

The service cable is about four feet at minimum distance from the white roof. My concern wasn't hot metal and gases but the service cable coming in contact with the metal flue. It is interesting that there is no clearance requirement. Ed I'm not aware of any restriction on the distance between the service drop and the b-vent. How far is the white metal roof from the drop wires? - Jim Katen, Oregon

I have checked through the NEC and the IRC and can not determine if the distance between the service and vent pipe is incorrect. (my gut feeling is that it is too close) Is the vent pipe considered to be part of the roof structure and should have three feet clearance? Ed Click to Enlarge 43.56 KB

Some breakers in this panel have a small amount of a white powder on the plastic next to the point of attachment screw, most evident on the fourth wire, the white used as a hot. A similar powder is evident in one of the drain valves in the crawlspace. I told my client that the valve likely dripped causing the buildup. The water is extremely hard which probably explains the buildup at the valve, but I don't have a clue what caused the deposit on the breakers. Any ideas? Image Insert: 137.37 KB Image Insert: 132.78 KB

The subfloor boards appear to be recycled. Any chance that the rim was recycled and the staining occured in another location?

It is actually a manufactured home, I had a conversation with my neighbor about the new home a couple of months ago and at that time I thought he said it was a modular unit. Today the owner of the MH company was at the site and due to the homeowner's concerns about the underlayment and how poorly the hinged parts of the roof came together agreed to strip the entire roof including the underlayment, properly repair the hinge joint areas and reshingle the roof. Thanks for the identification of the material.

The roof in question is on my neighbors' place where they have replaced their old ranch house with a modular. The shingles are placed on a kraftpaper-like material with no identifying markings. What is this stuff? Thanks Image Insert: 125.9 KB

Does a purged title on a manufactured home remove the requirement that a gas-fired water heater should be able converted to run on LP or natural gas? This question has nothing to do with combustion air supply. Thanks, Ed

If a home was built on expansive soil using the sketch design there would most likely be some sort of void placed under the concrete beams. Another design to deal with some expansive soils is to overexcavate, as in the case I am familiar with, three feet and then compact class 6 roadbase back to the original elevation. A convential foundation was then constructed

I have never heard it called a grade beam on piers/caissons, but for the sake of this discussion let's call it that. The piers can be usually from 6 to 12 feet on center. The bearing (footprint)size of the piers varies also with each structure and the depth is usually not reliant on frost depth but how far it is to stable soil. The paper filler is exactly what Mike said. I spoke with the current building inspector today, he could not find any record of it being an engineered foundation. This foundation system may have been just a bad guess on how to construct it as the subfloors vary several inches in elevation. My clients decided against buying the home because of the movement evident and also the moisture issues that I have not mentioned. I built a home a few years ago that on one end the soil was expansive and the end was on soil that consolidation was a factor. It was to be built on a crawlspace but due to the varying conditions and a favorable soil strata at about seven feet it was constructed on a full basement for only slightly more than the engineerd foundation would have cost and also doubled the size of the home.

I hope this picture helps explain. The sometimes extremely expansive soils in this area can be avoided by this design. I could not determine exactly, but this home may be supported by only 30-40 sq. ft. of concrete columns extending to a stable soil strata. The concrete on the right in the picture is one of those column portions. The piece of 2x8 form material should have been removed when the forms were stripped. The paper void is to the left. The white stuff on the ground is a patch of alkalai. The paper filler is avoiding the soil? I'm still not following. Image Insert: 142.32 KB

My question involving a soils engineer is why the pad is on soil that is being avoided by the use of the paper filler under much of the foundation. The picture here shows one of the pouches stuffed into a hole that looks like where mice have been. Image Insert: 145.62 KB

These little pouches were in many locations. Are they some form of mousebane? There was a bottle of something called Sonna (sp) just inside the crawlspace. Also, the foundation may have been engineered as there is a a great deal of paper void in place under the stem wall to isolate the structure from the soil yet the post was on the concrete pad placed directly on the soil. I told my client that it may not be proper and to have it evaluated by a soils specialist/engineer. I also have left a message with the building dept. to see if there any records on this home that would help clarify this situation. Image Insert:

I apologize to Tiger for the slam.

The Home Depot posts are Tiger brand. It sounds suspiciously Chinese not like from Ohio.

I just found the posts at Home Depot, they are well within their rating. The clue was that all the exterior doors had 2x4 jambs even though they were set in 2x6 walls. Home Depot sells only 2x4 jambed exterior doors.