Tom Raymond

I always kinda just wanted a big red rubber stamp that said "Clusterf***", to stamp on the title page of the report. My wife has a stamp that reads "important shit". I think I may have a use for it in this line line of work. Tom

You need to get a good look at ALL the ventilation systems in that house. Make sure that the kitchen and bath exhausts are functioning (and being used), check the funace and water heater flues for leaks and or back drafts, and make sure that the roof vents are set up properly. If there is a crawl space it will also need proper ventilation or be conditioned space. I had a wacky moisture issue in my home last winter that drove me crazy until I figured it out. All the window sash on the north side of the house had mold growing on the along the bottom rails. Turned out it was a loose flue on the water heater dumping moisture into the house. It was fortunate that a little condensation and mold were the only problems this caused. Tom

Randy, That sash should have weeps on the bottom of it, they are plugged or missing and either rain water or condensate is collecting in the sash rail and leaking out through the glazing bead. The internal weeps under the IG unit may also be covered by the setting blocks or missing altogether. This will be much harder to fix or diagnose if you are not familiar with reglazing vinyl windows. The stuff on the bottom frame component I think is also coming from the weep issue at the sash. Also, most weeps holes are slotted rather than round to prevent surface tension from stopping them up. Elongate the holes if they are round and less than 3/8" in diameter. Tom

I will definately be adding one of these flashlights to my tool bag. My step brother was home for the holidays from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and had one in his tool kit. He claims the base will be replacing these with a multi bulb version and that all the old ones will be destroyed, if he can get his hands on another one, it will find a final resting place in my tool bag. Nicest light I have ever had my hands on. http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp ... ir=catalog Tom

Jodi, This is ice dam central, here in western NY. The ice melt stockings work very well, but you will need to be vigilant and keep replacing them or the ice will return. If you get a significant melt and can put heat tape on the roof and in the gutter and downspout you should remain ice free until spring when you can make proper repairs. Tom

...which one would you buy? Who has the best training? What other equipment would you suggest to purchase with it? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Tom

Did TLC shoot an episode of "Flip" there or what? Tom

That is precisely why I have a boiler. There are no drafts with radiant heat. Tom

Two words; click here. Uhh Mike, That's three words[:-graduat Tom

I can't decide which is worse, that people live like that or that someone actually wants to buy it! Tom

Chris, Tyvek (the regular kind) covered with felt is the method used by the better builders I know, but I see a lot of jobs with two layers of tyvek. There is a new condo project not far from here that is about 80% Crown Hill Stone, and it is being installed over two layers of a house wrap that looks like a cross between lumber covers and landscape fabric, think Typar, but so thin that you can see the OSB through both layers from the street. Some people never learn. Tom Tom

I think Joe photochopped that picture! I have never seen a stair well like that with a guard rail, let alone two hand rails, a drain, and an illuminated exit! [] Tom

Thanks Charlie. For some reason I kept thinking that the roller frame was cut off after the bend, but that would loose all its leverage at full extension and snag stuff on the back side of joists that you may not want to snag. I guess I was over thinking it. Tom

Richard improved on my design. He added Epoxy. Must have cut off a cheap roller frame. I used a Wooster. It's got a thicker rod, don't ya know. Would you custom tool builders care to share pictures of your creations? Tom

Scott, If you really want to be "lazy"... just paint it. It will look like the backdrops in a Pottery Barn catalog and retain some original charm. If you want to hang GWB, I'd think about stripping out all the wood. Much easier to fix the wiring and insulation on a bare wall, and you'll have enough wood to build a really nice shed when you're done. Tom

Chris, You found the Flir manual helpful? Which one? The print version that came with my b40 is useless, it shows (in 18 different languages) where all the buttons are on the camera. The PDF version was so poorly translated into english that the format runs you around in circles. The best way I found to use the manual was to sit in front of my laptop with the PDF open while I fiddled with the camera, if I needed a definition of a specific function I could look it up while I watched it play out on the camera. Without the camera in my hand, I might as well have been reading it in Danish. I don't think that I will be attending any of Flir's training unless my employer picks up the tab, courses start around $1800. There are some free seminars on their website I may use if I really get stuck. Tom

Is that NM coming through the cornice under the box?! I usually see a set up like that run along the ground or under the stair nosing. It must have taken Joe Homeowner all weekend to do that, bet he's real proud of himself. Tom

So that's what happened to that place. The wife and I were in bemus not long after that, we could smell the char for blocks. Tom

Not everyone likes to take their work home with them[] Very cool house! Steve, when are you giving tours? Tom

You should have asked the agent to stand there while you finished your inspection. Spending the rest of the day with the faint reminder of that smell on her clothes would permanently change her position on open sewer pipes. Tom

I can't even begin to guess when the last assessment was here. I've been in the house ten years, and only went through review after the first full tax cycle to remove the previous owners exemptions. I'll be in for it when they finally do reassess, Zillow has my house valued at over 3x the current assessment. They'll probably want to change the 75% equalization too. Tom

Thanks Brandon, I just email that to Santa. Tom

Here are a couple of images from the b40: 24 F outside, 68 F inside. Anybody got a guess why the foundation is so warm? Image Insert: 42.03 KB This is the south elevation of my house. The bright red at the bottom is the stone foundation, approx. 12" thick. Image Insert: 42.91 KB This is the north elevation, the bright red in this case is 8" CMU. And just for fun: Image Insert: 40.28 KB Think this double wall leaks a bit at the joints? Tom

That is a wall clock receptacle. Rotate it 90 deg. clockwise, the hook is to hang the clock. It should be grounded. Tom

John, I've been playing with the Flir b40 that we just purchased at my day job. The bundled software is very limited with respect to how well you can report your findings. Specifically, you can only enter comments in the description tab, and edit comments in comments tab. The comment function is not supported by the b40, so I can't edit what ain't there. There are several tools in the bundled QuickReport software that are very handy, but they must be used within the software. You can export modified images to Word or cut and paste the images text info, but not both. So reporting in Word requires the purchase of a report module to interface the two. The report generator spits out images that are essentially the same size as the camera screen, so any highlighted areas are very difficult to read when printed to paper, but, it requires the report to be saved as a PDF so the image is easier to see in the reader. PIP is recorded on seperate CCDs and the images do not align, rather the IR image is resized and overlayed on top of the digital image. The parameters for this operation are fixed and not supported by the software, there is no user editable content inside. It isn't horrible, but nowhere near as cool as fusion. As for the camera, be careful what model you choose, not all of the published functions are supported on all models or even all cameras of a given model. The b40 for instance has a laser pointer function. My particular b40 has a button to turn the laser on and off, menu functions for the laser, warning labels all over it about the laser, and no laser was installed. Pushing any of the laser buttons generates an error window that says "function not supported by all cameras". Cosidering this and the unsupported comments tab, I'm sure I will find other functions not supported on this camera. It's a cool tool to have in your arsenal, but I can say with certainty that I would be very disappointed it if it was my $5k spent. For that kind of outlay there is no excuse for unsupported functions, or half assed software with expensive add-ons to make it functional. Hope that was helpful, Tom I have a PDF report that I did on my own house. I could email it to you if you are interested.