kurt

Impressive. Like a Houdini entry and escape. Who's the brother that crawled into one of these things, the ground gave way, and he found himself in a pit full of rats...(?). Was that Amaral in Boston? Seems I remember it being someone in Boston.

Freezer compartments came in around late 30's, early 40's, didn't they?

I'm guessing late 30's.

At least.

It isn't UFFI. UFFI is very soft, turns to powder when you touch it, very slightly yellow color, and when you see it in this sort of location it's squeeze out from above. My WAG...... It's a pile of hard ass efflorescence that someone's been trying to paint, cover over, or otherwise deal with moisture in all the wrong ways. I'm watching a job now where, what we thought was very thick white paint is actually very thick efflorescence, and it looks kinda like this.

Also.... I got one of these. I'm finally getting it programmed nicely after a couple seasons experimenting.

Condensate spitting out of an air vent means the vent is toast. There's a float/diaphragm/bimetallic element....or something depending on the type of vent.... that's supposed to close the vent down when the radiator has achieved temperature. If it's spitting, you got no pressure, boiler runs continuously trying to keep up, etc., etc. Steam performance is all about vents. I use the Maid-O-Mist Jacobus Vents They work. Easy change orifice so you can play with sizing and balance the system. Made right here in Chicago down on Pulaski.

I agree. The long term problem that I've found isn't that they don't work. It's that the small bit of condensate sitting at the base can corrode the iron to a point where drainage from the last radiator cell is blocked. But, that's pretty rare and it's usually due to poor quality iron more than lousy drainage. Or so it seems.

It's usually possible to shim then up without disconnecting the radiator. Try lifting it as a start; most of them are easily lifted and shimmed. Sometimes you have to cut the flooring to give the pipe a small space to move in. Sometimes you can't shim them, but in my experience, it's an extreme rarity. There's some element of familiarity with old pipe that's necessary. It's like tightening a closet bolt; you got to have the feel for how much is enough and what's too much.

Yeah, they are.

I don't know. Maybe. They're cool looking though. You did try to steal them, didn't you?

It says "Not A Fuse" on the blue thing. I don't understand. Beautiful though...

I actually remember when Lumberman's Warehouse was still supplying the Midwest with WR Cedar and crystal clear Doug Fir. We'd order bunks of cedar (about 1000bf), and if there was a knot or split in any board, we'd send it back and the yard guy would apologize and give us a new one. Then, like Kaiser Soze', it was gone.....

It is, sort of.

That's right. It's taken nearly my entire career to appreciate the vast difference between old growth timber and tree farm punk wood. Can't do it like this; can't. The stuff goes to compost.

So, New Yorker's are also unaware that one shouldn't jam wood into a concrete pocket without capillary breaks and moisture management. We apparently have a nationwide epidemic on our hands.

Dropped this on the crew today; cracked everyone up. I gave you attribution.

They build them now. I look at new load bearing masonry homes all the time. I'm not expert in much, but I'm pretty good with masonry stuff. It's a city thing. I only see them in the city proper, but I see them a lot.

That's what's interesting. It hadn't been raining in there. It had been soaking it up like a sponge for years. Nothing was visible except the sag. It's only in the last year they noticed the moldy smell. It's frightening. This stuff can be hidden for years without us knowing it. You couldn't have convinced me of this until now.

Cavity wall. Not bad flashing....no flashing, cavity full of slump mortar. Staging is a logistical ballet, this is in the heart of rich urban professional territory. Neighbors, literally about 3' away, have to also be mollified. Appearances must be maintained. Interestingly, when the drywall came off, we found someone had painted the inside block face with waterproofing paint.

(Insert sound of harsh, dry, cynical laugh in this space.....). You have entered our world as a brother. Expanding on Chad's comment, find the local supplier of lime putty mortars. There's folks in New Jersey. http://www.lippincottsupply.net/. Strangely, no one in NY. Go here. www.limeworks.us/headquarters.php. See if they have contractors they recommend for your area. Go here. http://usheritage.com/ See if they supply in your area. Don't necessarily trust landmark society folks. Sometimes they're just weird old people intent on telling everyone what to do while not knowing themselves. It's a jungle out here. Skilled trades aren't in a power dive, they fire balled a long time ago. Skill exists in small little pockets and you have to search for it. Thank you for your support.

That's full tilt white rot. The webs on the TJI's are literally compost mush. The whole thing is settling about 5" on a 20' span. This one could have collapsed into the FR; it's not just a balcony; it's about 500sf of nastiness. Solid load bearing masonry exterior walls. No capillary breaks/boots on the joist ends. No squash blocks. No flashing under the coping. No nothing. Mold food joists set in wet CMU's. Woof.... I have a few photos of the topside, but the owner is understandably traumatized and adamant that no identifiable photos be distributed. I'm only allowed to show the rotten areas and the subsequent repairs for "public education". No identifiable anything. Just the mess. I think he's being reasonable. Most folks wouldn't even let me do this.

It's unreal. You couldn't have convinced me 10 ears ago that I'd be seeing stuff this bad.

A big, expensive deck. On a big expensive house about 10 years old. It'll take a couple weeks to get to the point where we're staring up at the sky, another week to frame in new structure, and several weeks to button it all up and rebuild a new deck. Or something like that. All because someone thought one didn't need flashing under stone coping. Stone is waterproof, right? No water migrates through limestone, right? Click to Enlarge 81.81 KB Click to Enlarge 63.02 KB Click to Enlarge 81.81 KB Click to Enlarge 64.19 KB Click to Enlarge 84.18 KB

Yep.