Rob Amaral

Thanks Mike!

Anybody out there know of the name of a NH-based window-restoration company that services the Boston area as well? I believe they spoke at a chapter meeting a few years back. I have a client in the So End (BOS) that needs historically-correct window renovation to her curved sash front bay windows.

Jim---there was something like that on TV the other night. An epoxy surface-repair to masonry buildings in SF (down by that Italian Chocolate factory place on the bay). The horizontal cracks in the block I see around Boston are usually frost expansion-related.

Mike, I've found gypsum in a few attics and in one attic, the actual bags were still present. It was sold as 'insulation' for a short period. Said so on the bag... Circa 1920's.. Sand would act as an insulator. Think 'a day on the beach, covered with sand..". You pile sand over your feet to keep them cool.. Too heavy though. Great attic cat box..

Looks like 'wah-tah' to me.. .

Nice post, JD. Nice hat, too! Tracing load paths is critical in home inspection. Separates the yahoos from the know-hows.

I saw that gypsum product just last week in an old bomber in Boston. It looks exactly like plaster in a bag... lays like it, doesn't have fibrous pointy-areas, etc.

That would be PACM to me.. (Possible Asbestos-Containing Material). Have a qualified/certified asbestos analysis lab analyze the material. If it has asbestos, they can advise your client on how to deal with it.

I just saw same-color PEX yesterday in a hydronic system. (Fittings at copper were leaking BTW). That looks like PEX to me. Next time, wipe off the gravel-dust. The letters PEX are printed on PEX tubing. As for in-slab radiant heat, there are pros and cons. One 'con' is that in some cases, due to the 'flywheel' effect, you can actually overheat the space. I've run into that a few times when folks used in-floor radiant heat and then had huge parties on those rooms. All those 98.6 'heating units on legs' coupled with that thermal mass radiating-off heat lead to the homeowners complaining about having to turn-off the radiant heat. "Heat goes to where it isn't" is the heating guy credo... Heat from that tubing is radiating full-blast up/down/around, conducting into the soil/gravel/concrete, etc. You get the picture. It's a case of 'depends on the circumstances" (of install, underlayment of reflective materials, soil composition, installation layout, etc, etc., etc). The orginal poster here may have missed the fact that 'just heating the floor' also 'heats the room' via 'radiant heat' (floor 'giving-off' heat to the other things in the room---including people).

I can't be 100% sure based on these photos, but it sure looks like asbestos-cement composition material from here... but I'm only about 3k mi away.. I call stuff like this 'Possible Asbestos-Containing Material" if I 'think' it might be. Only microscopic analysis at a lab can really tell. If I was there, I could tell by tapping it, scratching it gently, etc. I see this stuff in boiler rooms over boilers and so forth in old houses. But then again, it's a long walk from MA to WA.

A chimney system above it? Incinerator?

Ditto, ditto and ditto, but I'd add that your text is too long. "KISS". Less licks = more communication... I've communicated the same stuff here in the Boston area with 1 third the text. On a lot of old buildings, you can usually find various 'vintages' of repointing. A comparison series of photos "see photos in addendum" tends to 'get them there'. Many times in Boston (Back Bay/S. End) I'll have one building shoddily done right next to a good one. The comparison photos do the trick.

And don't forget to make sure the lid is secured and covered properly: http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegio ... eid=137984 File under: "Idiots" (the last guy who looked at this system)

No problem, Kurt. They ate them, but they weren't 'esteemed' eating. Funny they felt that way because they may have tasted better back then. Go figure. James Hook lobster specializes in shipping lobsters all over the place. They are on the waterfront on Atlantic Ave.

"Mainizz" are the source of lobsters...but they are found all along the New England Coast. Boston has a source: http://www.jameshooklobster.com/home.php Lobsters are not just 'from "Down East" (i.e., "Maine") but all around here. Ancient cottage industry. (Pilgrims were sucking on these suckers from day one...). Enjoy... Rob Amaral Walpole, MA

The LG ladders 'are' mil-spec. Not a toilet seat in a B-52, but 'as good'. Check out shots of air-crews helping the pilots out. LGs... LGs. Why? Positive mechanical design..brains, thought. They were designed to satisfy military specs... Not that a mil-spec toilet seat is needed, but you can bet your GD life it is the best darn toilet seat in the world (maybe) ! Give me mil-spec stuff anyday.

Atta-boy. keep it up..!

I put ladder-mits on all four legs of mine..

mooooooooo Sounded like solid copper conductors. Yes? I would have brought it up but made sure I also said it was 'very easy to resolve'. The 'why' of it is that solid conductors are not supposed to be moved. If moved often, it could possibly break. Simply hard-wire it to eliminate that concern. If you start down-playing stuff to the point of not mentioning it, it can lead to other errors in other areas.

Nice post. I did a rectory here in town (02081) that used a previous church tower's steeple rafters. They were all beveled to create the octagonal upper portion. Stones were re-used for the foundation as well. The congregation 'gathered' here (local parlance) in the early 1700's.. There's a huge former railyard SW of Boston (Readville) that has 'parts of it' in local houses...

The bottom line is that radon and its decay products are 'alpha emitters' and having an alpha-emitter on your lung cell is not cool. The biggest punch, the shortest range and actually the easiest to prevent. Because of that, 'it's an issue'. The powers-that-be cannot downplay ionizing radiation, especially when it is easy to test for and mitigate.

Ditto... PVC 'paver-ballasted' roof system.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12457889/from/RS.2/ You never know when your time is up....

Get the 13'. Closets, weird situations, etc. You can easily get it out an upper window onto an adjacent roof plane in some cases as well. I had the 17'... sold it to client and got the 21'.

It has the '58 Chevy' look... copper? Must be.., right?