Tom Raymond

NY is far more rural than most people think. It's fairly common to see an Amish family roll into Walmart here. My town is 50 square miles with a population of 6200, half of those are housed by the State in one of the two prisons in town, and 80% of us are in one of three water districts. The prisons have their own massive water system, and the rest are on private wells. In a 20 mile radius, I'd wager 25% are on wells.

Lightening strikes damage all kinds of systems, not just gas lines. Seems to me that if a structure is at significant risk of being struck it should have a suppression system installed. If lightening posed a statistically significant risk then such suppression would be addressed by the building code. Perhaps they're barking up the wrong tree...but then there's all the money to be made from litigation[:-banghea

$60 each?!! You could have gotten five line voltage halogen remodel cans for that kind of coin, and they would still be working. They're probably less than the parts to fix what you have.

In my neck of woods potable water and heat transfer water must be separated by at least one heat exchanger, and in some instances (particularly solar thermal) more than one heat exchanger. With all the stuff known to the State of California to cause great bodily harm I'm surprised you left coast folks still see open systems like these. You can't get much more reliable than a brazed plate heat exchanger. As a side note, wouldn't a low temp radiant media like pex tubing or cast iron radiators (130 to 150 degrees) be far more efficient than heating water to heat air (180 or so)? At least you wouldn't toss so many BTUs at the tempering valve.

That isn't that hard. Leave the 220 circuit alone (though it couldn't hurt to turn the breaker off) and run a new 15 amp branch circuit, or tap one that's close by since your just running a timer and a lamp. Someone had to run the gas line right? Besides, the missus might want a dual fuel range someday.

I never said they were local. I have family in NC, an aunt and uncle and several cousins in Smithfield, and my step brother and his family at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. I had considered a small propane stove at my place (it would be cheaper and easier than a pellet stove) to offset my high NG bills, but I don't have a good place to put one.

I'm talking retrofits, new construction is even worse!

I know several people who use 100# bottles for their propane supply. They keep a couple on hand and refill as needed. The ultimate in provider shop-o-bility.

Along with all the other mistakes, in order for that panel to be on that low a slope; the entire roof needs to be covered with ice and water shield, and that needs to be covered with rosin paper so that the panels can move as they expand and contract. That kind of stuff happens around here often, once a guy has a pole barn or two under his belt he thinks he can properly install steel on a house. An even more disturbing development, people are siding with steel now too. There are three in town with corrugated on the walls and roof[:-yuck]

Yeah, but food production is even worse. I worked for almost a month in the packaging department at Russer Foods. I wasn't able to eat lunch meat for months after that, more than a year before I could eat anything from Russer.

Jack shaft openers still require at least enough headroom to use a front mounted torsion spring, and that is generally 6". Offsetting the opener is a bad idea on a door with extension springs, with a torsion spring you can place the opener anywhere there is a vertical stile. The only thing I see wrong with this little guy is the power cord. I can imagine all manner of dangerousness happening to it as it swings across the garage.

$4 off per pie is 'basically nothing'? How the hell much margin is there in pizza?

That's a pretty nice crawl, what do they need the robot for?

Happy birthday! Click to Enlarge 87.99 KB Here's a little help with the candles!

A step would be bad, but my keester would appreciate a heated deck[]

My parents house has two wells with jet pumps, the house has the foot valve at about 60' and the barn at closer to 100'. No pressure or volume problems with either well.

No one is considering that this is a 90 year old building that leaks like a sieve. Adding insulation will lower your heating costs. As Dave has mentioned you need to reduce or counter the solar heat gain to lower your cooling costs. That means a radiant barrier or gobs of air flow, and you can't get either without gaining access to the attic space. If it were mine; I'd want to know it was insulated to R-50 or R-60, and then air seal the ceiling plane, then I'd take a flashlight with me every few years when I climb up to paint the gable vent so I could peek in and check on the condition of the roof frame. My guess is that the nearly century old framing will breath well enough on its own to not need any extra vents, it did survive to 90 without them after all.

And my beer. Gotta be a better way.

You did tell your client to expect some very social neighbors didn't you?

Is the economy that bad that there is a black market for used insulation?[:-dev3]

Dammit! Now I gotta go and replace all my CFLs. I thought it's been a bit chilly.

Why? Odds are that lead is a significant component in the PVC.

If I had those parts on hand, but would have to stop working and go chase after a Fernco, the lead would be easier.

To borrow a phrase from Fabry, it's good to hang out in a room full of smart people. It is at once inspiring and sobering.

Or 3 hinge pins[:-monkeyd That's funny, and so very sad too.