Tom Raymond

That's a Pella. The sash is rotten. You can see it is no longer square and drags on the bottom. Given the crappy caulk job on the interior I bet it's been that way for a while. The good news is that because it's an operating window you can replace the sash. The bad news is that you have single pane glass with an interior storm panel in NY. That inefficient assembly will have copious amounts of condensation between the panes of glass and the replacement will rot out too. Expect to spend around $300 for a new sash, and another couple hundred for the paint and plaster. I wouldn't open anything up unless other windows exhibit similar damage-that would indicate jacked up flashing details. Be warned that siding cannot be removed mid-wall without damage and must be removed from the top down then reinstalled. That's a lot of siding to take down for flashing repairs (read as 'this is going to be expensive'). Marc, Vinyl siding is a rain screen. Up to 20% of the water that hits it will end up behind it. None of the vinyl accessories in those pics is supposed to function as flashing. The silicone caulk schmutz isn't helping anything either.

Last Friday I had a 3' x 4' mechanical room containing the boiler, DWH, service equipment, water meter and a really heavy wood shelf (I did the math and covered the lack of combustion air). The water meter and the shelf created a micro climate that yielded a 3' square slimy black growth on the wall. It didn't make it into my report. My client didn't care. When I explained it to him he said his girl friend is a clean freak and will likely ask him to remove the boiler so she can clean under it. He has far bigger fish to fry.

An eternity in line at the Antiques Road Show is a level of hell I didn't realize existed until now.

It's too short, and too close to the window.

I tell em, but honestly it's the rise under 6 3/4" that's gonna trip me up. I hate short rise stairs.

Car pics?! He said Camry, not Camaro.

I Googled them. The coloring is a little off, but seems to be pretty variable. The thorax is shaped differently too, longer and more elliptical, but this seems pretty variable as well. Must be several varieties. Just squashed another one. I can't wait to mow over one of their burrows.

...fire! Click to Enlarge 82.65 KB Click to Enlarge 67.24 KB

I just walked into my house and was buzzed by what seemed to be a humming bird. When she finally landed I got this shot. Click to Enlarge 87.52 KB Her wings were an inch long, and she was at least 1 3/4" from snout to stinger. Very aggressive. Her bad attitude got her squished instead of guided out the door.

Where are these companies? What do they pay? And, are they hiring?

I found a mouse nest in a panel. I went to get a pail so I could remove it and returned to find the home owner vacuuming it.

I did that riding the chair lift while skiing with my boy and declared it a seat warmer. It's amazing, but he still rides with me.

I can't read French and the English site is under construction, but that looks like what I was talking about. You may find it cheaper to buy something similar here though rather than deal with customs and duty. Don't insulate the whole thing in rigid foam. It is far too labor intensive. You need one layer of foam to build R-value in as little space as possible, then fill the rest with batts. Cheap and easy. And it works.

I missed the million gallon number. Nobody misplaces a million gallons of water, except for the Town of Collins Water Dept. Until recently, the tower in my district was manually clocked daily. No one was smart enough to leave a cushion, so the tank overflowed regularly. The consensus is that we overran about a million gallons a month for nearly a year. The tower has automated shutoffs now.

The leaky toilet line is the default response for excess water usage. My guess is that the union on your side of the meter was leaking, and the Water Dept. doesn't want you to know they fixed it when they were in the man hole.

My street is North Division. There is no South Division, and it doesn't really divide anything. It was once called North School Street but the school closed in the 50's. Before that is was Slaughterhouse Road. Imagine the poor child walking down the new School Street toward the old Slaughterhouse...

Two cretins and a 30 pack. They're probably wall panels too.

Yet he knew enough to ground the cans........

I am starting my addition Friday; we had to delay because of high winds, rain and snow. Prior to issuing my permit the AHJ called me to ask where the foundation drawings were for a second floor addition. After explaining I was building up rather than out, he then mailed me a permit with someone else's name on it. The only requirement is that I have substantially started within 1 year of the issue date or I will have to re-apply. No inspections, no CO, nada. This is the first permit on this property in 143 years. I'm sorry I broke the streak. It won't happen again.

That looks like a really bad install of Decra. It looks too wide to be continuous sheets and I don't see any fasteners. But it is cute, cute, cute. Bleck.

Definitely. That $800 price tag was all about proximity. Drive out to evaluate it, prepare an estimate, assemble the necessary materials and fit the job into an already busy schedule and it could (and should) cost 50% more. If you're unsure of going rates, pad it a little further. Based on what I see in the pics it could be as little as a grand, but I would tell my client $2-3000 to prepare them to shun the local yocal who'll fix it for beer money.

That looks like cheap common lumber to me. Knots and pitch pockets in white pine will bleed for decades.

Did you pull any siding? In my area in 97 the siding would have been installed directly over the OSB. Stephen, Google ghosting.

The good news is that the fix is cheap. A foot of cellulose will triple the R-value, affect enough air sealing to prevent any further condensation and staining, and present an adequate phisical barrier to keep all but the nosiest homeowners out of the attic. The vast majority of our cells jobs are under $2K.

Scott, no fair doing his homework for him.