Steven Hockstein

During the 1980's and 1990's I encountered this stuff on many old houses in Urban areas near me. It has mostly been replaced (or covered) with vinyl. Sometimes if I get to see the edges of a hole through the wall of one of these homes I get to see the history of the siding types. There is an original wood siding that was covered by asphalt shingles that was covered by foam boards and then covered with vinyl. It is not uncommon to see the siding sticking out further than the window trim. The windows are wrapped with aluminum and there is a cheesy J channel around the windows.

Thanks Mark, this information is good to know. I don't do much home inspecting in areas that require impact rated glass. Is this something that home inspectors are required to determine? It seems to be a code issue that is beyond our scope of work. As an aside, I visited the Andersen Window factory in Hudson, Wisconsin. They demonstrated the testing of the impact rated windows and it was impressive. They shot a 2 x 4 at the window and then fired a second round. The window is required to take two hits. No wonder they are so much more expensive.

I found this on the left side of a Cape Cod style home. This vertical discoloration is adjacent to a knee wall on the inside. There is no plumbing or mechanical equipment adjacent to the space. There is an eave attic in the lower area and the higher space is conditioned space. The mortar is discolored and weathered. is this some type of vapor drive? Has anybody seen this before? Click to Enlarge 69.16 KB Click to Enlarge 59.42 KB

No code issue as long as the sleeping room has proper egress. I am sometimes hire by clients to correct this condition. Just an awkward and ill-conceived design. Like Jim said, not part of a home inspection. Your client would have to be a total moron if they need you to point out this situation.

Very obvious to me that engineers designed the house. They mention "Architecture" but I don't see any. The house may or may not survive a storm and be energy efficient. The bigger question to me is if anyone would actually want to occupy it. I understand that it is a concept project but better a design would help sell the concept.

Fiberglass roof. The worst thing is if you build a floor over a roof. If there is a leak the floor needs to be removed before you can repair the roof. The ideal condition is to have a roof that is durable enough to be used as a walking surface.

I have a couple of these in my house. They work great. No squished spiders or flies to clean off the walls or ceilings. http://www.harborfreight.com/electronic ... 40122.html

I would be willing to bet that what you see is only part of the story. I would advise my clients that they arrange for a damage assessment (some destructive investigation will be required).

A fire wall is UL tested and is rated on how long it takes for a fire to burn through the wall. The idea is that if your smoke and carbon monoxide alarm system is working you will have time to evacuate the building. The materials are typically not designed to control the spread of moisture or mold. Mold needs moisture to propagate. Fix the leak and you will substantially reduce mold related "Problems."

There are certainly different grades of steel and different reasons why the steel corrodes. Most of us don't have the ability to know why the steel goes bad. We can just make educated guesses. I did not intend to imply that your guess was any worse than mine.

There could be a correlation between corrosion and the chemicals within the mortar and/or bricks. There may even even be some salt in the sand that was used in the mortar mix. Over the years the chemicals washing out can impact the steel.

I thought I had seen almost everything. Something new this week. The added beam appears to be installed to reduce deflection in the floor of the dining room above. I like that the steel post is resting on the workbench. I can only assume that the workbench is included in the deal. Click to Enlarge 58.39 KB

Especially after they saw the episode about a national flooring supply company and their products on 60 minutes.

The salesman at The "Big Box" Store told the roof installer that you need to use flashings when you install a roof. I can only imagine the installer bought 4" x 8" flashing pieces and used them. Never mind that you are supposed to use the right materials and install them in the correct locations. I also just noticed that there are no vents in the soffits.

Assuming that both sides of the wall are interior spaces I can't see a reason why you would need vents. If all enclosed interior walls needed ventilation you could argue that there be vents in every wall. The exception would be if there is a difference in temperature between both sides of the wall there could be some vapor drive through the wall that could result in some condensation.

I agree. from memory... I believe that if it is plugged into an outlet that is GFCI protected it may be OK but hard wired requires a dedicated circuit. Of course you also have to follow the manufacturer's published specs as well.

Dedicated appliance circuits are not typically GFCI protected. Note that there can only be a single receptacle.

FYI- My LED Ultra Stinger still has the switch near the head, not on the tail. I only bought the flashlights because the old chargers are the same. on Amazon: Streamlight 75760 Stinger LED HP Flashlight without Charger, Black

Access into the room does not dictate if it is a legal sleeping room. The current code does not care if you have to go through a bedroom to access another bedroom. It may be poor design and a difficult social situation but the code does not determine that. Aside from the requirements for habitable space, egress is the issue and the ability to get out in the event of a fire (or have a fireman enter into the room for a rescue). The same logic applies to a basement sleeping room (bedroom). You may have to go through the kitchen to get to the basement door, down the basement stairs, and then through the basement recreation room to enter into the sleeping room. As long as the room meets the requirements for a safe and habitable space, and the room has the required egress, it is considered a legal sleeping room.

Can you bypass Harbor Freight and buy it locally? The systems that they sell are inexpensive and have decent reviews.

Look at IRC 2009 (current residential code for our state) Section 303 Habitable Rooms. Section 304 Minimum Room Areas. Section 310 Emergency Escape and Rescue Openings. (last sentence of R310.1 states that the opening from the sleeping room must open directly ....etc...)

Yes but I suspect you have another answer.

[:-thumbu][:-monkeyd

Take the washers, pipes, cartridge and look at they operate without pulsing erratically. Take the faucet off the wall and then reinstall the wall and valves so that the washers, pipes, cartridge and look at the washers, pipes, cartridge and then reinstall the internal parts and valves operate without pulsing erratically.

You obviously did it incorrectly - get a plumber to correct the problem. Agreed Or maybe ask this question directly to the manufacturer. I would venture a guess that most of us have no clue about the specific installation requirements of your faucet.