Tom Raymond

Because it's 60 years old. 5 plys of good veneer instead of 3 plys of junk.

Yes. There were thimble like this all over my 1870 house. Most likely coal first. Gas lines were installed long after the house was finished. Boiler and baseboard heat in the 1980s.

The wood member lasted 50 to 60 years. The steel won't last any longer. Replacing it in kind would likely be cheaper.

That's an old thimble. Gas space heater in the bedroom?

That wouldn't have been non-abrasive, now would it. He was misquoting the SOP. He must have said it a hundred times. It was a great class. Red Flags. Heres a red flag, when you steal pictures from another inspection school you should give them credit for the material or crop their copyright out.

I attended 7.5 hours of CEUs yesterday. Unfortunately there were only two valuable bits of information to be gained. First, in NY State 38% of Realtors required to take CEUs don't. And second, home inspections are supposed to be non-intrusive and non-abrasive. So says the inspector mill instructor who has been inspecting fewer years I have. To think we are the only party in the transaction not allowed to do online CEUs.

I would really just like devices that work. In the last year I have had GFCIs that trip once and won't reset, break into pieces when the terminals are torqued to spec, randomly trip for months then suddenly stop, and identical devices side by side where one lights green when it's on and the other when it's tripped. How can we build a better device when we can't produce one year works in the first place?

Skip the proper vents and make your own out of foil faced foam. Tuff R is R10. 3 times the vent space, 30% more R value, a radiant barrier that will be much appreciated when the AC is off for extended periods, and far less wash in the glass.

Why add a fan? I was thinking of turning the delta up the walls to the top of the benches. Air over water, it should drain fine. I can always add a dehumidifier if needed.

I'm done digging. The floor is getting covered in delta and treated plywood this summer.

I'm far enough from the lake that the soil has turned from sand to clay.

Damp? Mine has a sloped floor with a swale cast in it.

1. You fixed the problem. Good. 2. Where any of these musty fabrics in the basement prior to the repairs? Launder or dispose of them. 3. Spore counts and species identification don't generally mean a whole lot. ONE sample, or samples of one location are meaningless. 4. The lab grew mold from the Spore in the sample. Only two species is odd. Elevated as compared to what? There are no established base line data to validate this statement. 5. If the basement is partially finished and that stuff got wet it all needs to go. If the carpet and baseboard are not in the basement, we'll then I can agree with them there is mold on that stuff. There are 60 to 80 million mold spores on every square inch of the planet. Have been for millions of years. Will be for millions more. 6. There is no concensus that there are any mold born illnesses. People with compromised immune systems or specific allergies may be affected by mold. If this is the case you need medical advice. 7. Your furnace is no doubt an effective mold spore delivery system. A HEPA filter will only be effective if your ductwork is sealed, and you change it often. Why would you let a cleaning company modify the thing that is holding up your house? You need a second opinion, and a new clean up company.

I wasn't being inconsiderate. A family of 4 puts 2 gallons of water into the air in an average day, average house under closed conditions. If the young men in this house aren't conditioning the air, they aren't running exhaust fans either. A few more air turns a day will eliminate the conducive conditions. In a house full of boys that requires automatic mechanical ventilation, or a woman.

A house full of young men smells bad? Really? Open a window. Or all of them. Run the bath fan continuously. All of them if there is more than one. Stop cooking ramen. If the heater is gas have it checked to make sure it is vented properly. Run a dehumidifier. An adult will have to check it regularly to empty it, or it will remove water from the air only to dump it on the floor. Pray he moves in with a girl. She will make him clean up.

If you have room to add a 10 you have room to go to an 80. Upsize one tank and sell the old one on craigslist.

Because it's costs money. Tempered glass is cheap for new construction standard sizes built by the thousand. Not so much for custom replacementsoftware built one at a time. If no permits are required, consumers don't know they need it. I always recommended it, but people would rather spend $20 a lite for grids than $100 a sash on safety.

If that's a union job where's the caulk? The union carpenters I know are pretty bad. They hire scabs to picket.

Check for open neutrals. I think John is on the right path with backfeed to ground. When I was a kid we had a high usage condition at my mom's house. After a while we would get zapped on appliances and the kitchen sink would arc when the water was turned on. The neutral on the three wire overhead was contacting a lightning rod. It resolved itself when the arc finally cut through the neutral.

The process of texturing generally involves heat. Most decorative glass is annealed as a result. It's hardened, but not tempered. Most likely not safety glazing. As Jim said, without a bug the only way to tell is to break it.

And that is why prefinished flooring is so popular.

In DIY plugs = receptacles.

Not to throw a wrench into your plans but, I like softer finishes on floors. Antique oil, Danish oil, or similar. Three coats, buff the last ,then apply Johnson'said paste wax. It's like an old fashioned gym floor finish. Indestructible. Scratches buff out with a swiffer.

That is why they are supposed to have a slip coupling. Sparky will likely bill a full days labor for that. It might be 2 hours work, maybe $40 in parts.

That can't possibly be an accurate translation, it actually makes sense.