Tom Raymond

There's 'stuff' on the wires above and below it, and on the top side of the tandem. Some contaminant hit the double pole breaker and splashed onto the surrounding areas?

The original finish on the kitchen walls in my house was painted canvas from the top of the 4' wainscot to the 9' ceiling. I found bits of it, and the bedmold that hid the tacks at the top, under the lath and plaster. There were three horizontal planks under the canvas 30" wide, cut in a single pass on a circular blade.

Not with closed cell foam.You could re-frame the space to accommodate a vent scheme and get the R-value with a cheaper insulation, but you'll loose space and probably spend more.

If your plan is to finish that space then you need to insulate the roof and gable ends, not the floor. I would spray foam the roof deck. 5-6" of closed cell foam will get you into the R-35 to R-42 range and fit within the existing rafters. If the gables are framed with 2x4s fill them up too, for R-28. You could save a few bucks switching to open cell for the walls and not notice too much performance drag at R-15, but cellulose will cost even less for the same performance. The windows will provide all the ventilation you will need until you replace them with efficient units. If your new HVAC scheme wasn't designed to handle the extra thousand or so square feet you just added, you can address air exchange when you design the HVAC fix. If all you want is storage, Dave's plan is brilliant. You won't get a better bang for your buck.

Looking at that middle picture, there's plenty enough paint on the contact areas to cause trouble. All you need is a little resistance to start generating heat then the process begins with everything eventually goes south, ending up in your lap. Marc It's broken and should be fixed. If I was buying the house I'd expect someone else to be picking up the tab for it. As an inspector I'd call it out with half that paint on it. If no one decided to follow my advice for this particular panel, I don't think I'd loose any sleep over it.

From a practical standpoint the contacts were cleaned when the breakers where installed, that's really not enough paint to impede an electrical connection at that tight fitting contact. From a home inspection perspective the panel has been contaminated and needs to be replaced. You have plenty to stand on for the call.

Given what I can see in the pics, cellulose is the way to go. Fiberglass is a cocktail of chemicals; colorants, adhesives, formaldehyde, etc. Cellulose is recycled newsprint spritzed with boric acid (the same stuff eye wash solution is made of) to make it flame resistant and undesirable to insects. The depth required to reach the recommended thermal barrier in Florida will completely cover the stained (and almost certainly re-used) framing materials, and prevent you from using it as storage. Dry it out, evict the rodents, insulate it, and stay out of it.

What Lamb said. Then after you know it's dry, address the ventilation issues and put 10 - 15 inches of cellulose up there. If the spore is dry it can't grow, and once it's covered...out of sight, out of mind. The only upside to removing it is for the guy getting paid to do it.

They get slathered in caulk because that 'gasket' is typically only available as part of a reglazing kit that would also include the IG unit. If you expect to see OEM parts then specify reglazing. If the skylight is more than 10 years old, that kit might not be available. It would be simpler to just call for replacement.

More modern. The door and glass were chevron shaped, with rounded corners and more chrome that wrapped up and over the front edge of the top. That's a great looking machine though.

I believe he means drip caps.

Precisely. I ran across a 1950's washing machine a month ago that I really wanted to play with. The semi-front load door arrangement resembled the grille on Mr. O's Packard. Fortunately my policy kept me on track, although I wish I had taken a pic.

Take a good look at that vent on the left and you will see vapor coming out of it. Birds won't go there, although they might if that appliance is shut off for long periods of time. I was being facetious. Does this mean I have to revert to using smileys?

Jim, Your boy can't possibly test with a marble, he's clearly lost his.

What's staining the cedar under the left vent, condensate or bird shit? If it's the latter you need a screen.

Yup, we should be inspecting appliances alright.

When asked if I inspect appliances I say, "you're spending a couple hundred thousand on a house, are you really worried about a couple hundred bucks worth of used appliances?" The answer is always, "I never thought of like that." One can actually see the lights come on.

Thanks David. I'm going to press for cells. I think it will be the best bang for the buck on this project. R for R, cellulose is between 1/3 (blown) and 1/2 (dense pack) the cost of ocSPF, which is half the cost of ccSPF. That leaves lots of room for plywood in the budget.

I like that. An assembly that's open enough and robust enough to handle a little moisture load, and tough enough to stay where we put it. What did you end up with for hole spacing?

There is a permit in the window, but it's out in the sticks. It's the kind of place where a picture of your tape measure in the hole counts as a foundation inspection.

2" of polyiso would give him R-20 and leave more than 5" of joist exposed. Is that enough to avoid vapor drive rot issues? So I need a guy cutting 4' strips on a table saw and a guy, maybe two, under the house with a can of one part foam for gaps and a mallet for tight pieces. Sounds like a blast. It does, and it's not just trying to move. There is a gun and hose to manipulate, plus supplied air, and a hose tender to keep the applicator from hogtying himself. And the heat. We're using 'room temperature' foam, but the stuff kicks at over 200 degrees. From the pics I've seen the place is only dried in, and it's little, maybe 20 x 30. If there aren't too many partitions up my crew could blanket the floor in rigid foam and plywood, and raise the two entry doors faster than we could set up and tear down the foam rig.

That's the way doublewides are done but the access sucks, ranging from 11" to not quite 24". I would think for future serviceability the poor bastard going under this place would appreciate the extra 7 1/4 inches open joists would afford. If that ends up as our recommendation it won't be fiberglass though, we sell Roxul. Rat proof flashing? Are Canadian rats as amicable as Canadians? American rats are as gluttonous as Americans, flashing won't keep them out. I keep baits outside my place right near the tunnel they dug under the crawl space stem wall. I still think treating this exercise in poor planning like a cold slab and insulating it from above would be the cheapest solution. The labor savings are going to be substantial.

I have a colleague who is trying to determine the best way to insulate a floor platform on a new building (think hunting cabin), 2x8 floor joists with OSB subfloor. There are 3 beams that consist of 2 treated 2x10s bolted to either side of 6x6 treated posts. The whole affair is approximately 24" above bare earth, and will likely be skirted like a double wide in a park. The owner would like to spray foam it from underneath. I think this is a bad plan because we would either have to encapsulate the joists and leave the foam exposed (edit: this would be approx. 2" ccSPF), or fill the voids (edit: approx. 6" ocSPF) and try to deal with vapor diffusion rotting the spruce joists from the middle out. Plus, I don't think my applicator will fit under the building with his PPE, let alone have room to wield the gun. I am thinking he needs to insulate it like a doublewide with a mat under the joists, or with rigid foam from above. Any other ideas?

The only way water comes through a closed valve is if the packing is toast (it's a new valve so the cartridge is bad, can't put em in backwards). If it holds water at static pressure but leaks when another tap is opened then there is a faulty mixing valve backfeeding the distribution piping. The mixing valve could be at the leaky fixture, but I bet not. You're right though, a good plumber would have figured that out and fixed it.

I got it to open with IE but there was a flashing banner telling me to get a modern browser. The profs have a sense of humor.