Jerry Simon

They flicker when dimmed? Wrong type dimmer?

Me, too. Did buy the M22, but 950 lumens too much, too short a battery. Just upgraded the other day to the M21. 750 lumens versus 550 for the M20. A hopefully good 'tweener. (FYI: M21 is being discontinued; I found two on-line for $82.00 total including shipping; Andrew & Amanda.) Anybody wanna buy two Olight M22's? One never used, one used for a day.

It ain't, but that's a great guess.

It's spelled stupid, not stoopid. Ideat . . .

At the right side of this meterbox, right above the broken ground wire, a white plastic tube exits the side of the meterbox. Anybody know why? Click to Enlarge 66.87 KB

I think the arrows are strange. Plugs to cover holes when wall insulation was added would be my guess.

I have 15 Tyvek coveralls, with hoods and foot-covers. (MPE Protective Apparel) They are *Large* size. I'm 5.9" and about 190, and they're tight. I want to sell them. Fifty buck buys garments & shipping (that's less than half-price if you shop web + shipping). Lemme know if interested: jerry@illinoisbuildinginspection.com Thanks!

Circa 1900 condo building. Bathtub with a well area by drain? Any thoughts? (Client said it was *Japanese*.) Click to Enlarge 25.58 KB

Any signs of corroding & expanding foundation re-bar?

Even my Irish heritage would have found that offensive. Heck, I hear even Cajuns feel that's out of form in certain circumstances. . .

Under plumbing. . . Nature called, big-time. As I walked out of the bath, came face-to-face with my client. I did mention a bit before about a brief break I had to take, but the break wasn't gentle; marked my territory quite well so to speak. My client more than noticed. Client was personable and truly nice up until that point. Ever since, cold as a statue. While this was certainly offensive, however by no means avoidable (a quite sudden urgency we've all had), is the fact that my client was/is Chinese a factor? Or, would anyone have been taken back as much by this unfortunate event? Guest bath, by the by; did not christen his master bath. . .

These tools will serve a newbie quite well, and IMHO, they're truly essential for learning our craft (learning that, with perhaps one or two exceptions, you don't need most of them).

https://www.alarmgrid.com/products/honeywell-5809

Toast, IMHO; lookie that cable insulation. . .

Thank you for your helpful response, at least I asked and realized an issue and did not just ignore or tell the client to just throw some caulk or mortar in there, but I guess with your credentials , arrogance is expected and allowed. Arrogance? You don't know Bill K. He's got one of the most desirable combinations of knowledge and humility that I've ever seen. Marc I think he is just making a point about using the correct spelling for the steel supporting brick at openings as opposed to the similar sounding bean. Tends to make it more memorable... but I still get them confused.[:-dunce] Sure looks like a soffit and a freeze board to me. Yeah, kinda like spelling frieze board "freeze board".

That void has widened/moved after it was (at least once) patched; pretty obvious from the picture. I would tell a client that if the wall continued to move - and only time will tell if it will - costs to stabilize the wall & perhaps the (moving?) foundation wall below could be significant. Or, like Tom said, could just be an on-going expansion crack.

No kidding; IMHO, our reality is weird enough to discount other types of realities.

Nail head/nail pop. I remember one very similar; took my third rooftop look-see to find the sucker.

Kill Bill. . .

If Hearthman's barb "As for what I'm proposing I thought I typed in English" is okay, why ain't the others? I thought what he proposed was idiotic, and way over-the-top - and didn't say so until he took a stab at Kurt. I can't say that here? Heck, is this turning into an ASHI forum? Yes, Erby, I have made idiotic comments before on this and other forums. I will go to confession and do my penance; cross my fingers and hope to die. I will also accept and learn, and have accepted and learned from, any/all criticisms here.

Where's the cut out showing the ash dump flapper? The cut out in the middle doesn't look like that; it looks like a piece of scrap that was used for the form. To me it looks exactly like that (right size, right location); it is a flapper-thingy cut-out IMHO, but I think it was covered-over with firebrick. Odd. . . Inasmuch as every house has this same condition, I was just wondering how dangerous it really is. Not every house; I see about a 50-50 mix, though your mileage can vary. Dangerous enough, though, to include in my reports. . .

In Mikes picture, you can see the cut-out for the ash-dump flapper assembly that's put in the bottom of the hearth. Over time, the wood dries-out from the fires, and the wood undergoes pyrolysis, and the wood's kindling temp lowers. A spark or an ember falling down the chute could touch the edge of that cut-out area and readily ignite that wood. And, since that same wood form typically runs/extends into the basement or crawl area, under the hearth extension, the entire house can burn down. I've seen it. Guy teaching a *fire* class in St. Louis about 15 years ago took a group of us to a nearby house to see the remains, and explained how they knew the wood form was the culprit. I also saw scorching like Mike mentioned, but much more wide-spread and definitely heat/fire related scorching; scorching had extended to the wood under the hearth extension. Wasn't caused by the ash-dump chute location, though; the concrete hearth had cracked (like most all concrete cracks), and an ember had fallen though crack and atop wood form. After looking at this for a while, it was obvious how the wood got scorched. I always call it out, and I use NFPA 211, Section 8-3.1 as my code reference. Same reads: "Masonry fireplaces shall have hearth extensions of brick, concrete, stone, tile, or other approved noncombustible material properly supported and with no combustible material against the underside thereof. Wooden forms used during the construction of hearth and hearth extension shall be removed when the construction is completed."

We've had both a dog and a cat that would hesitate, for about 20 seconds, at any floor-covering transition. For some reason, they didn't want to step onto a different floor covering. They would both gently probe/paw the new covering before assuring themselves it way okay to make the next step.

What about a full-glass shower door that bangs-into a toilet or a towel bar when opened? Anyone ever mention such?

And if the shower wasn't bad enough, this house had stairs. STAIRS I TELL YOU! Who the hell would build such a house? Truly a fall waiting to happen. . .