Ken Meyer

Pellets from an air soft gun perhaps? Any adolescent boys in the house?

That's a type CH breaker. It's designed to hold two wires. If you were to look at the side of the breaker that's facing down, you'd see, embossed in the plastic, a chart that shows how many of what size wires can be inserted in the lug. Next time you're at Home Depot, look at some of the breakers. Once you've seen the style of lug, you'll remember it. Also, note that, when you put two wires under a CH breaker, you're supposed to tighten the lug to 30 lb/in. That's pretty snug. Here are some pix of what Jim is talking about. Image Insert: 441.68 KB Image Insert: 171.46 KB Image Insert: 180.61 KB

After following this thread, I've decided that I'll continue to probe suspect areas, as long as it's not conspicuous, but not include any photos of a probe inserted into rotten wood in the report. Instead, I'll explain the method used. I may still take photos of a probe stuck in the wood as a reminder to myself, but they won't go in the report.

Jim, how many romex cables are allowed in one loom clamp like the ones at the top of the panel? And Jodi, nice closeups!

I'm with Richard, we put in a Fisher & Paykel a few years ago, the drawer arrangement is so much better than the conventional setup, really easy to load and empty, plus easy to clean. Having two independent dishwashers is a great convenience, too. And it's pretty quiet.

Thanks for the booklet, Darren. All of the defects you mentioned were in my report, except for the posts not being anchored to the footings; they were, but the bottom of the posts are below grade due to buildup of soil and accumulated organic debris from the trees.

If you search the forums, there was a thread on this subject back in July.

Be careful when you write this kind of thing up that you're writing about actual "damage," and not just some longitudinal checking caused by shrinkage of the wood. Ever looked at a traditional Japanese post and beam structure and wondered about how all of those wood beams used for the roof and rafters don't split? Traditional Japanese carpenters cut kerfs into the long axis of beams and timbers in their buildings, so that when shrinkage occurred the crack simply widened and the wood wouldn't split randomly. Essentially, many of those timbers used in those buildings are intentionally "cracked." The post is in compression. Longitudinal checking with only the load of a deck on it isn't really an issue. OT - OF!!! M. True, but I don't have your level of experience, so I use these things as learning opportunities. About the post with the vertical crack, I was wondering if there is a lateral force on it since the next post over is doing nothing to support the deck beam, and the whole thing is on a downward slope. I agree the whole thing is a mess and needs to be completely rebuilt.

Just wanted to share some photos from yesterday's inspection. Split level attached deck, the top level is second story, the back of the house faces a creek, which is where the deck is headed if it's not fixed. The footing for the 6x6 post that is second from the outside corner has settled or slumped, and the post is separated from the beam by at least an inch. The corner post has a long vertical crack, I'm guessing from the added strain. Two of the beams have extensive rot, one has a hole clear through. English ivy covers the bottom of almost all of the posts, and soil has been allowed to cover the bottom of every post. There are lots of evergreen trees, cedars and firs, dropping wet material constantly. The platform under the hot tub at the lower level has mats of wet, gloppy rotting plant material on it. It looks like a section was added to the left side of the deck in order to add stairs from the side yard, it's separating from the main deck (4th photo), the arrow points to the beam that has the screwdriver stuck in it in the previous shot. The railing posts are beveled on top with the exposed end grain allowing water in, one of them had mushrooms growing out of the side. Lastly, the ledger was of course, nailed, not bolted. I spent an hour on the deck alone, some of it fighting with and cursing the ivy that wanted my ladder. Image Insert: 189.31 KB Image Insert: 207.51 KB Image Insert: 180.71 KB Image Insert: 215.99 KB

Thanks, Mark. I added the file to my library.

They probably are the wires for the button. The antenna wire hangs down. I advised the buyer to upgrade the openers or at a minimum, get optical sensors installed. Thanks for your quick reply.

When did optical sensors become required for garage doors? The house I inspected today had this mystery wiring, and there were no optical sensors at the doors. Couldn't find them in the attic space above, it was well insulated. They may be inside the ceiling. I've seen photos on other posts that show the sensors installed in the ceiling above. I think that's what's happening here, but can't verify it. The house was built in 1989. Image Insert: 157.31 KB

You might try Open Office, it is a suite of office programs with all the features of MS Office, but it's open source, and free (donations are accepted). It uses unique file formats, but also works seamlessly with MS Office documents, you can save in formats compatible with MS Office. I'm not sure if it's compatible with the 2007 version yet. I've been using it for a couple of years, and could not be happier. Just Google OpenOffice.org

Football forearm/elbow pads work for me. Just the right amount of padding, and they don't cost much.

I like it! We got a light dusting on Christmas day, and the weather service promised us "up to 7 inches" a couple of days later, but all we got was plain old cold rain, the usual.

I suppose if the roof is a low pitch or was flat, you could drag everything up there and run it down through the main vent stack. [:-idea]

What is the minimum height of a service panel? Surely this can't be right, it looks like it's on the floor.

You could put this link into your report and advise your client to check model & serial numbers and find out for themselves. You will have done your part, and they can choose to follow up on your advice. http://www.recalls.gov/

A few months ago, I attended a seminar and won a non contact voltage tester as a door prize. I put it in my tool bag, but haven't had much use for it until today when I used it to check out a suspicious looking lump about 7' up on a kitchen wall. Yikes![:-bigeyes It mighta usedta be for a clock. Image Insert: 294.57 KB

Two rows? I don't understand the question. I think it's a typo, Jim. He probably meant to type "two throws"

I see where the confusion is coming from. I thought my photo showed it clearly, but maybe I should have explained it better. The insulation is currently installed between the floor joists, not below them, so if it was reversed, it would fill the joist bays and the barrier would be right up against the subfloor. They would have to support it with lath or something like that to keep it in place.

Mike, sorry if I seem dense, but I don't quite understand the second paragraph. Do you mean that reversing the existing batts and getting 75% of the surface of the insulation snug against the floor would be 75% effective? I'm having a hard time making that idea mesh with what you said in the first paragraph about when you said it does absolutely no good to install insulation under the floor unless it can be sealed 100%. What is the right way to do it if starting over from scratch? There is no vapor barrier on the ground under the crawl, I already told the homeowner he should clean out the crawl and install a vapor barrier on the ground.

Thanks, it makes sense that since the fiberglass is not flammable, it might be okay, but I wanted opinions from seasoned inspectors. I discovered this situation during a WDO only inspection, but it needed to be commented on. The homeowner had done the insulation himself years ago. I'll give him the news.

This is in a crawl space. My question is: if the insulation batts were to be turned around so that the vapor barrier faces up toward the heated space as it should, would the K&T wiring have the free air space it needs to dissipate heat? The condition is unsafe as it is now, but can it be remedied by simply reversing the insulation? Image Insert: 209.38 KB

Why not just cut out and toss the whole mess from point where it enters the attic? Transition to ABS & be done with it. - Jim Katen, Oregon That is the simplest and most sound approach, I should have thought of it.