palmettoinspect

Thank you all for replying. I'll keep you updated on anything I find out.

Came across some weird stains on this house today. I've never seen anything like it. It's just on one side of the home. This side faces south east and doesn't get much sun. Does not appears to be from sun damage. Home is about 4 years old. Anyone seen anything like it? Thanks, Kiel Click to Enlarge 41.96 KB Click to Enlarge 31.1 KB

How exactly do you go about adding the flashing pieces to the but joints? I would imagine you slip it in behind the joints and use a face nail through the siding at the course above to hold it?

Depends if there're signs of issues or not. There're some neighborhoods in the early 2000's around here with cement fiber siding that also used a hardboard/pressboard type trim that are a mess! It's a combination of the lack of a water resistive barrier and the hardboard/pressboard trim mostly though.

You mean the rafter ties don't work as joist hangers? What about steel posts under the deck with a little salt air? The parallel strand lumber beams are pressure treated though! Click to Enlarge 74.78 KB Click to Enlarge 50.46 KB

Thanks you for your comments Kurt and Jim. Here's a few pictures of just how well the joists are supported around this pool. It's a mess. The current owners have the cars in the garage covered with plastic to keep the slat water pool water off them! Click to Enlarge 47.17 KB Click to Enlarge 41.29 KB

Got a real mess here! I just wanted to collect some ideas of what all is wrong and any tips are appreciated. This home has a three car garage underneath. Half of the second garage bay has a fire rated drywall ceiling. The other half and almost all of the third bay are under a wood framed open air screen porch and they do not have any fire rated building material on the ceiling. Also, there's a small pool elevated to the level of the screen porch next to the third garage bay that is inside the screen porch. [:-crazy] Obviously there needs to be a fire separation at the ceilings and walls, but there is also the concern of water from the pool through the open air screen porch into the garage. There has been an attempt to manage the water by installing metal roofing sheets and small site made gutters and drains, but its not working. The metal is rusting out and leaking. The good news is the new owners a planning on installing a new pool and have plans of getting rid of the old one, but I'm not sure of the exact location of the new pool. I don't know anything about pools and safety codes. Any help here is appreciated. Are there any other safety concerns beside the water from the pool into the garage areas and fire separation? Click to Enlarge 56.37 KB Click to Enlarge 52.9 KB Click to Enlarge 33.02 KB Click to Enlarge 37.41 KB

Marc how'd it go with OREP? Thinking about going with them.

I don't make a big stink about Polybutylene with copper fittings. They're in a lot of homes without issues or leaks for 20+ years now. If they're using plastic fittings it's not hard to prove why they got their bad rap and I always recommend replacement. I don't usually make a comment about the other units as it's not something I can confirm. I have polybutylene with copper fittings in my own home and don't loose any sleep over it.

Jim, there're 9 full baths and 3 1/2 baths. It's a vacation home so most bathrooms are mini suites with shower and tub. No jet tubs, but three of the bathrooms even have hydronic towel warmers lol! His master has a really cool wooden tub. It leaks like crazy too!

Thanks for the replies. The owners definitely have a few dollar to blow! This house is 15000 sq feet of living space with another 5000 or so of outdoor living. This is just one set of water heaters. The house has 9 total. Nolen yes, there're requirements for earthquake straps now, but not when these units were installed. Charleston and the surrounding areas lie on a major fault. I was surprised to even see the drain straps around these units honestly. Usually they're just balanced on a piece of plywood in the middle of the attic! This set up seems very wasteful as all three heaters are 119 gallon units. I understand it's outside our scope of work to evaluate adequacy, effectiveness, and efficiency, so I'm fighting with myself as to how to explain this one as something that should be repaired, or just observe and report and let them make up their minds.

I ran across these three tank electric water heaters in what looks to be an attempted parallel install. In this set up the most demand is put on the center water heater with the shortest run as the path of friction is not equal between the three units. I wanted to see if most here would agree that LIFO (reverse return) would be the best option for multiple water heaters, or is there a different set up y'all would prefer. Click to Enlarge 45.9 KB

That's for a speaker system. It's a sound control knob.

Is there ever a set up that allows parallel water heaters to share an electrical circuit? I've never seen this before and came across it the other day. Every parallel or series set up I've seen each water heater has their own circuits. This set up has one circuit/wire jumped to the other water heater? Click to Enlarge 45.37 KB

It looks like the replacement window contractor installed aluminum cladding over the steel lintels. This will trap water against the steel lintels accelerating rust. When steel rust it warps, when it warps it cracks the brick. I see this often. I really have come to dislike 99% of replacement window installs.

Hahahahaha! This needs to go in someone's signature!

You have to have a permit and business license to scrap metal around here.

What Jim said. I've seen them a few times on houses the builders were pushing really hard as "green" houses. There's a read out somewhere for it that monitors the usages. Usually see that tinfoil stuff in the attic along with stuff like this.

There's a lock hasp on the bottom of the cage with the latch imbedded in the concrete between the units and the house. The cages hinge on the other side. Once unlocked, you just flip them out the way.

Jim, They use them around here too! Had to laugh when I saw these. This is a decent area also. New construction so that's probably why it was targeted. Builder told me it wasn't happing again! Kinda makes for a bad look when the realtor is showing the property though. Click to Enlarge 128.1 KB

Never seen the cement fiber panels without the "H" strips or battens. That stuff moves a lot around here depending on its exposure. It's not really uncommon to see cracks at the face nails. Were the nails overdriven, or were the panels installed too tight and now they're popping outward? How straight were the walls? Worst stuff I see is almost always the framers fault! At least they didn't caulk the siding to the flashing!

I've never counted the main either. If I did it would put a lot of panels over the CTL. Any literature on this?

Looks about like these! Click to Enlarge 76.99 KB Click to Enlarge 69.25 KB Click to Enlarge 57.63 KB

The address is just as long as the steps!

If it sits empty, it sounds like the "p" traps are drying out. When the home owners come in and run the water, they get the sewer smell that can last a day or two.