Jump to content

Tom Raymond

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,893

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Tom Raymond

  1. Tom Raymond
    Maybe if it was high enough to fall on something other than your toe.
  2. Tom Raymond
    How old is the boiler, and how hard is the water? Twice in the last year I've had the regulators on feed valves stick shut when they were closed to service the boiler. Triple John's estimate.
  3. Tom Raymond
    It's no better in the country. We have stretches of rural road where you can smell the gas leak driving by with the windows closed. The utility says that can't find them.
  4. Tom Raymond
    Funny. My meter, regulator, and vent are in the basement. Very common here.
  5. Tom Raymond
    This is poria (the white stuff). The webs left the wood surface and wove their way into the fiberglass insulation. In some spots there was more fungal fiber than glass. Click to Enlarge 120.47 KB An ice dam leak above, a flashing breach below, and a leaky window install kept it very well hydrated. There was close to 60 square feet of it.
  6. Tom Raymond
    Your client needs a different house.
  7. Tom Raymond
    Wear a GoPro.
  8. Tom Raymond
    I could design and execute a suitable repair for that, but I am not the manufacturer or licensed to practice engineering. The house can be made whole, but not your client. I would start with the maker.
  9. Tom Raymond
    They are stairs. As the slope flattens the rise is shortened and the run lengthened and they become increasingly obnoxious to traverse. Fortunately there is a much safer, more comfortable option just past the overhead doors.
  10. Tom Raymond
    Hydrogen sulfide build up in the water heater?
  11. Tom Raymond
    The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Click to Enlarge 21.75 KB There is no lintel there. That is the soffit, or a piece of wood trim, covered in aluminum coil. A lintel supports masonry over an opening.
  12. Tom Raymond
    Got a shot showing the brickledge the veneer is sitting on?
  13. Tom Raymond
    How long was the wall? Looks like an expansion crack to me.
  14. Tom Raymond
    At 8 years old I was dropped off at a donut shop 20 miles from home, the closest stop for public bus transit. From there I would ride 10 or 12 miles into the big city, Buffalo, where I would have to change busses for the next 6 or 8 mile leg of my trip to school. My mother made the first trip with me so I would know where to go, and so she would know I'd find my way back to the donut shop. My 13 year old gets measured doses of that freedom, and has for the last 3 years now, largely because he has a cell phone and I can check up on him.
  15. Tom Raymond
    There is a fill capacity. If the cover doesn't fit it could be over filled. Every slot is full and there are six tandems. What was the max branch circuit count? The labeling is a fire hazard.
  16. Tom Raymond
    Just last week I found squirrel burrows in cellulose. Nuts? Yup, a shit load of walnuts. Your client needs a new pest guy.
  17. Tom Raymond
    My brother had major ice dam damage at his house. Insulation two floors below the roofline was wet enough for hydronic loops in the wall to freeze and burst between run cycles.
  18. Tom Raymond
    Another update. Just got off the phone with my client. He called the Realtor today to see if he could get in and look for grade stamps on the foundation framing. She told him he can look for whatever he wants during his inspection. She apparently doesn't want to sell it to an educated customer.
  19. Tom Raymond
    I found and read the American Wood Council design manual. It basically confirmed my suspicions/experience. The 6 mil poly waterproofing won't survive the gravel backfill, the caulked plywood seams won't be waterproof for more than a few years, and since I can count the number of PWFs in my area on one hand it is highly unlikely the wood treatment is graded for PWF use. The inspection is on hold for now. The clients went to view it again last night and there was a geyser in the basement. She really loves the above grade portion of the house, He is shopping for a new foundation. If the repairs are less than the concessions so far it will likely still go.
  20. Tom Raymond
    I have an inspection later this week with a wood foundation. My experience with these is limited. The two I have had the pleasure of working on had sloppy detailing and more rot than I expected. I have read the NACHI article, can anyone here recommend some good reading? Thanks.
  21. Tom Raymond
    Deluthe Trading Crack Spackle. Please.
  22. Tom Raymond
    Spiders like the oriface tube on my antique oven burner. I have to clean them out at least once a year. The burner fires but its a sooty smelly affair. It would have to be a pretty big spider to completely block that tube.
  23. Tom Raymond
    If the dishwasher goes unused for an extended period its trap could go dry. It won't smell very good when the door gets opened. A la Katen, unconventional things tend to behave unconventionally.
  24. Tom Raymond
    There are 2 fittings designed to connect the dishwasher drain to the trap, neither of which appear in that get up.
  25. Tom Raymond
    It's got a trap and a high loop. It's wrong but will work just fine. I'd call it out, so the next guy doesn't call me a putz.
×
×
  • Create New...