Tom Raymond

Nope. It was ShingleVent II, with external deflectors, internal inverted J water diverters and a woven baffle. The fix was to close the roof deck opening on the downwind slope and replace the vent with a MidAmerica ridge vent that has slightly more agressive internal diverters. There's still snow in the attic, but it measures in inches rather than feet. If it were mine I'd have closed the ridge vent entirely and put in gable vents, none would face to weather. Short of that a snow fence on the windward slope is the only way to keep the snow out of this place. The town has 3 enormous snow blowers to keep a 3/4 mile stretch of road clear, the snow banks in front of this place reach 12 to 15' high at the curb. It's a combination of elevation, poor siting, and a downslope wind off of lake Erie. Tom

The temps are that high because that space is far too big for a conventional vent scheme to work, even without that stupid fake gable there to goof up the vent placement. Soffit/ridge vent formulas are far from adequate, and the air flow far too chaotic to function properly on anything but the smallest and simplest of roof shapes. The whole scheme is a 30 year old bandaid for bad building practice. There is a house very similar to the one you pictured near me, where the ridge vent runs perpendicular to the prevailing wind. In the winter the downspope side of the ridgevent is under such high pressure from the wind passing over it that it sucks feet of snow into the attic. Pretty impressive intake rate for an exhaust vent. Tom

I think Mike was wondering about the butt ugly expansion joint.

Most of the transite I see is fit so snug that it doesn't require any additional support. Tom

Grant, I remove the access covers and bypass the safety switch so I can observe the burner in action (gas or propane). By the time I get this far I've seen enough wrong to warrant a service call. Really, every one. No need to go any further. If I ever run into a decent furnace I'm pretty sure I'll be speachless.

It was very recent, and it might have been John, but I was thinking (almost certain really) it was Mike O when I was reading his post. Search what exactly, furnace dupas?[:-dev3]

Uhm, I think he means cobbler, as in 'the cobbler's kids have no shoes' Tom

There won't be a really strong demand for them until they become mandatory. When the Feds launch HomeStar to replace the current stimulus program it will require an independant auditor to test proposed improvements in and out to verify that minimum energy conservation levels are met. Right now the language is specifically "only BPI Certified Building Analysts and Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) raters will be permitted to conduct the required test-in/test-out energy audits." This reminds me, what ever happened to the mandatory audits in Ontario? Maybe one of the brethren form the Great White North could chime in how that has affected demand and profitability. Tom

That's because 100+ years ago no one would think of skimping on any of the details of a roof with that kind of longevity. Today it would be normal to skimp on all of the details that end up concealed.

Works fine for me. That is a nice document, but I question the source. Is IKO regarded any better on the commercial side than they are on residential? Their residential roofing products are junk. Tom

Could be worse, it could be a gas appliance running on propane. The flame looks like straight acetylene and creates about as much soot.

Ramon has got it. The alloy has impurities in it that cannot tolerate the corrosive coastal environment. It would be interesting to see that entire length with the jacket removed to see just how many blemishes there are. As good as he is, I wouldn't think that Jim found the only one. That's scary. Tom

The instant hot water system I use is even simpler than that, my wife gets up and uses the bathroom first []

Go to vinylsiding.org and read everthing there. Then read the installation manual at certainteed.com. Then take Scott's advice and hire a siding contractor to remove and redo all of the siding and correct the flashing mistakes. You've done a good job figuring out what's wrong, these sites will help you understand what has to be done and arm you with enough information to hire the right contractor to fix it. Tom

That is going to be a regional thing, and likely different for residential and commercial buildings. In my area on a residential building the SEC is only allowed to run 6' on the interior but it often runs halfway around the house outside. Two hours north of me they keep the exterior runs short and allow the cable to run all over the interior before the disconnect. After 15 years in this trade you should have an incling what the basic requirements are in your area, talk to your local AHJ. Tom

That's what happens when the original wall cover gets sided over on a house of that vintage. It seems like a good plan until they get to the rake boards and have to punt. I've seen where the shinglemold has been removed and the siding just tucked under the metal rake edge, that looks even worse. I'm guessing it's a Cape, and there would have been maybe 12 square of masonite over gypsum or homasote sheething if it were in my neck o' the woods. That stuff practically falls off the wall once you get it started, two or three guys could have had the place stripped bare in less than 2 hours. There's nothing saved by going over it. Tom

Well, if he wants to have hot water today he could call a plumber. If he doesn't mind waiting until he trouble shoots it with vague advice from strangers on the internet and is reasonably confident he won't electrocute himself or blow up his house (because we don't know his fuel source) then I say what the hell, I'm game. It's likely as simple as a thermocouple (gas or propane) or an element (electric). You should be able to find either one at your local hardware or big box mart. If you are not comfortable taking the old ones out to take with you to match up parts then Marc is right, call a plumber. Tom

It's amazing how timely some of these topics are. I just looked at a house Thursday with three varieties of plywood siding and each of them had been holed like in the OP. I had assumed carpenter bees, now I know better. On the topic of wood peckers, my parents have had one for the past several years that seems to like the meter base. Several times a week in the summer months he bangs on that metal enclosure in ten to fifteen minute sessions. Persistant little bugger. Tom

That's funny, but I'm not sure I'd have put in writing. That stuff looks really clean, are you sure it's ten years old? I have no idea what it is, never seen anything like it. Tom

It's a matter of confidence and self-esteem? Clearly, you're not confident in that reply[:-graduat Tom Damned punctuation.

Marc, I'm all for creative reuse of off cuts and such, and on occasion I'll cut shims and wedges from scrap, but I generally purchase manufactured shims in pallet quantities (remember I'm a window and door guy when I'm not in my HI costume). This 'contractor' botched the piers and then bludgeoned a bunch of detritus into place to fix it. Steel shims and grout are the correct repair, and nicely fitted wood blocking would surely be more than adequate, but you aren't actually condoning what this block head did, are you? No offense, but your HUD code post implied that you are. Tom

A large rock was my first thought too, but when I googled 'rock formations in Evanston' I got a bunch of hits for a recording studio. Rock Formation is great name for a record label. Tom

That's just dandy, but totally irrelevant. This is a wood beam supporting a wood framed addition. If that mess of scrap wood was supporting a HUD code home it wouldn't be any more acceptable. It's just shoddy work. If it were mine; I'd cut nice straight grained blocking from treated wood, install them close to the edges of the piers very much like the first pic, and pack grout under the beam between the blocking. Steel would be better, but for the large gaps a single well fit wood block will be more stable and easier to handle than a pile of shims. Once the grout has set the shims are superfluous. It might be wrong, but a hell of a lot less so than what is there. Tom

I googled it, this was hit #3: http://www.boschhotwater.com/BoschHotWa ... fault.aspx That's a pretty small unit, how big was the house? 4.5 GPM won't keep up with a shower, the washing machine, and someone doing dishes. Each will be luke warm. Since there is no storage, tankless units are all about output. Very few people get that they need to size them for the highest anticipated demand. I wouldn't put a 4.5 GPM unit in anything bigger than a 1 bedroom apartment, unless it was dedicated for a specific point of use. EDIT: I just took another look at the flow rates, it's only over 4 gpm at a measly 45 degree rise. To get to 120 from my muni supply is over a 70 degree rise, and that would yield just over 2 GPM. It's a toy. Tom

Maybe he's just too busy to reply, he is tricky Nick's lawyer after all[:-dev3] Tom