Steven Hockstein

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.

How about this one I saw last week. Click to Enlarge 68.9 KB

The best approach is to make an opening in a closet ceiling somewhere to see the framing. Add a removable cover. Access is a good thing (and required by code). It makes it a lot easier if you ever have a problem and need to get into the space.

I do the same. Email confirmation that they have received the agreement and signed agreement at the inspection NJ Regulations require that they client receives the agreement more than 24 hours before the inspection or within a day of booking the appointment (whatever is longer). This allows them time to read the agreement and they cannot claim that it was signed under duress.

Around here the majority of experienced real estate professionals are aware of the issues with some of the old electrical panels. Many realtors even advise their clients to upgrade the panel prior to listing the house for sale (of course it makes the deal go smoother and raises their commission).

I graduated architecture school 25 years ago! Maybe he has changed his opinion. In my experience I see a lot more problems with flat and low sloped roofs than with steeper pitched roofs. The detailing of flashings and roof maintenance requirements are important and often done poorly.

No I don't know where they buy the materials. Maybe you can check with a local boatyard to see where they buy their fiberglass supplies.

If you are going to use it as a walking/deck surface I recommend fiberglass. We use it on houses and it performs well. The hardest part is finding someone that knows how to work with it and install it. I clearly remember one of my professors in architecture school telling me that there is only one place that flat roofs don't leak and that is where it does not rain.

Points well taken. Sometimes the aesthetic result trumps the realty of the construction that it is trying to emulate. The reason that the stone "Foundation" water table extends higher than the actual foundation is for totally aesthetic reasons. We originally considered keeping it low that but the house is so tall and narrow that we had to add the horizontal element at a higher place because we thought it looked better. It helps break down the scale of the height. If you get really technical, the tops of the chimneys are wrong too. At least the builder did not put asphalt roofing on the transition between the wide and narrow parts of the chimney (like the attached photo). The reason the stone does not extend along the sides is because the house is cantilevered on both sides to allow for a wider house. There were zoning reasons that the foundation footprint was limited so we added square footage with the cantilevers along the sides. The stone is hiding two foot cantilevers on both sides of the house (if you look carefully at the photos you can see that there is no foundation visible along the sides). Keep in mind that this is an investment property and we were working with the owner to maximize investment return, By the way, both sides of the house were rented on the first day of when it became available. Click to Enlarge 69.95 KB

Come-on over. I will buy a few bottles.

Maybe a beer tap and sound system integrated into my tool bag?

Thanks. The framed glass shower enclosures were a financial decision. This is a rental property and the frameless shower enclosures are much more expensive. Since this is a two-family all of the selections are double the price.

I was wondering if it is appropriate for me to post photos or webpage links to some of our designs on this forum. Please let me know if anyone objects and I will stop. This is a link to photos of a new two-family house that we designed for a client. It is unique because due to the narrow lot we had to split the house from front to back instead of side to side. Each half will rent for over $4,000 per month! https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipM ... Y2aFY4NE1B

They are some type of rigid panels. There is a finished ceiling installed under them. Access to the attic has been blocked and there is only a small opening that I could barely fit my head through to see. I took a few photos and this material is over all visible flat areas. I am also concerned that there may be asbestos fibers in the material.

OK, I am glad it is not just me. This one has me stumped. The material is installed throughout the attic and directly above the flat ceilings. It does not feel like a foam product. It is what I would imagine what an OSB structural panel would feel like before it was compressed. I also don't know if it contains asbestos since it was installed over 60 years ago.

Fibers seem too large to be Homasote.

It looks like the form board material but it is white. The boards seem to be part of the original construction. Was this product in use in 1950?

This is the first time I have ever seen this material. It is about four inches thick and solid (almost feels like a lightweight slab). The photo was taken at the entry hatch to the attic. The house was built in 1950. It is a slab on grade ranch house. I told my client that I have not seen it before and I will try to do some research. Now I am asking my home inspector think tank. Opinions? Click to Enlarge 58.66 KB

Like Kurt said. Unless the manufacturer's published specifications allow for the material to be buried into the masonry (unlikely), it is wrong. There should have been a barrier installed between the materials.