Jerry Simon

Clothes washer.

Got ya on this one. Gut-rehab in Chicago...furnace was inside the hall closet...facing the side wall. About two inches between the front furnace cover and the wall. Unit already had its certificate of occupancy fron the city.

Hey, we need to have lunch sometime, I was down in the City 5 times last week!!!![:-glasses Better bring a wad. Kurt don't buy.

Do ya think the rep might not want to loose business from the roofing contractor or the builder? I know that's a stretch...

Shining your flashlight across a pane of glass, beam parallel to the pane, will also sometimes show the fog for certain when you're not quite sure the fog is really there. Works very well on sliding door panes.

We're kinda at the tail end of tornado alley, and we get our share each year. One of my Clients was a meteoroligist (a real one, not a TV line-reading one). She told me 90-some-percent of tornados are F1's ane F2's. Knowing quite a bit about tornado damage, she indicated the sill bolts do a fine job of holding down a house during F1's or F1's. I use this info when the RealtorZoid says the house has been fine without them for X number of years. I would love to see stats on a neighborhood that was hit by an F1 or a F2...which houses had sill bolts, which didn't, and which ones stayed put. Sill bolts just ain't for seismic reasons. 'Course, my Client did indicate that F3's or bigger..."Run".

If the neutral fuse blows, the circuit is still "hot" up to the device which is supposedly "off". No pics, sorry.

"There was also substantial rot (3ft width) in two of the corners in the crawl space, rim joists, plates etc. It was completely dry though." That sounds like door or window leakage from above. Or, the soil is too high in those areas, the soil perhaps being above the exterior wall cladding. Sincerely, Jerome, Rookie Inspector

"Insist that clients & realtors DO NOT say "Be careful" when climbing on the ladder; it's very bad juju for folks to be saying stuff like that when you are about to move close to the precipice." The ONLY time I ever stepped through a ceiling is when the Seller said "Now don't step through the ceiling".

It's the "box" that contains the main municipal shut-off valve, usually out by the street (for when you no pay your water bill).

"I'm beginning to think that I'm pretty much permanently stuck in Grasshopper status. This job makes me feel stupid every day." Kurt, you old pro, I believe you somehow inadvertenly jumped to the fourth and final level of competence..."unconscious competence". Take a step backward and return to the third level, "conscious competence". Thus, you will continue to learn and never again feel stupid. You only feel/felt stupid because, for just a bit o' time, you quit learning. You're way too smart a guy to quit learning.

I met with Iceman yesterday, and he will end up having to take all the brick off the home. Some of the areas where the water shows up indicate the wall cavity is full of mortar droppings, and aside from all the other weep and flashing problems, the water can't even get down to the weeps. A thermal imaging, right after a rainfall or a soaking-down with a hose, will show where the water gets in (multilple areas), where it travels, and where it ends up. I imagine it will show water ponding atop the mortar-filled wall cavities. Short of tearing off a lot of brick, this should be definitive proof of the problem, and all the ammo he'll need to start from scratch. Too bad...nice folk live there.

Pipes banging is known as a water hammer. Pipes are loose inside the wall. You can be careful and turn off the faucets gently, and they won't bang, or you can open the wall up and tighten the pipes. It's also possible the air chambers for the faucet's supply lines have filled with water. No air cushion will help promote the banging. Bleeding-down the entire water supply in the home, with the water main shut-off, then re-filling the system with the main back on, usually gets air back into the chambers. This bleeding-down may not work depending on home your home is plumbed, though. Stinky water at just one faucet? Don't know. New faucet time?

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the nitwits. I didn't bother to respond to his vulgar email, though.

Ron (er, I mean iceman), I tried to call you at the # you left a few times, but all I get is a fast-busy. Musta wrote down the wrong number...call me back a leave the # again...I get down New Lennox way about once a week, and would be happy to stop by and take a look-see. I'll call you and let you know when I get a job that way. Jerry IL BLDG INSP 847-705-6800

Do you mean leaking out of the angle-stop valve? The ballcock is in the tank, and should not cause the leakage you describe. The owner is technically correct. No leak 'till you got there. After you've done a LOT of inspections, this will never happen to you again. Meanwhile, you're gonna pay for your learning experience. I say pay her. I paid 'bout a couple dozen of those before I "learned". Just an aside....watch out for those lightweight overhead garage doors...hold 'em or check 'em wrong when testing the safety reverse, & they'll crinkle-up like and accordian. I paid for one (two?)....never again.

That a Gallagher & Henry home?

Now Chad, Dan's already done "a lot" of plumbing work, remember?...no need for that. Besides, you wouldn't want to get a vulgar, degrading private email from Dan for such a response, would you?

"I'm doing three to five jobs a day" Boy oh boy, I sure have a long way to go to get that good. Two a day max for me, & I've been practicing for over 12 years now. Sure gives me something to strive for. Golly...five a day...just think. That's really great. Hope someday I can do so well.

Brian, where you're at, I doubt if you're worried about heavy snow & ice breaking the excessivley-overhanging shingles...we do up here, though.

Matt... If they're "coming out" with algae-resistant products, how do you know they're useless (regardless of the warranty, which doesn't time- test anything)?

A copper stripping along the ridge works just as well. The ions, the ions...

The Masonry Institute says ivy will decrease the uselful life of masonry by 10%. Therefore, those ivy-clad buildings in England from the 11th century have how much more life?