Rocon

Kurt is right you could not be drawing return air from another unit. The mechanical system would be unballanced. A 42 story building in Los Angeles that has the problem of smokers in one unit and someone with allergies in an adjacent unit. I am sure you can see the problem. I assume the building is Type 1 construction? To get water that high in a building you need booster pumps, which eans a mechanical plant. Most buildings that size have the mechanical plant in an adjacent structure, one of my projects in Reno (a 12 story) have a mechanical room on one of the lower floors (3-5). You will usually be able to see the ventilation louvers on the side of the facade. At any rate you most likely have hot and chilled water circulating through the building. The water is used to cool or heat through a VAV box which is very similar to a hydronic heating system.

What kind of brew? LOL

Has anyone calculated the $ amount that people get for stripping the copper out of a house like this?

No it is not good. The dry stack venier actually introduces more water to the substrate than say a river rock style with grouted joints. http://www.culturedstone.com/literature ... ctions.pdf

I think you answered that with this sentence: "The invalid statement was on behalf of the Plaintiff expert holding a 1973 building to current code." Ramon, please correct me if I am wrong. I would not think of correcting you Brandon. But the plaintiff expert... Oh Ya.

Actually if you read the code citation from 1971 the exception for weatherproof panel is there, and even though at the time WRB may not have been a "commonly accepted term" I was discussing in the present tense with current day industry professionals, about a current case that was being held to current day standards. I do not believe anyone did not understand what the meaning was when I use the phrase WRB, so how could it be an invalid question. The invalid statement was on behalf of the Plaintiff expert holding a 1973 building to current code. IMHO It would seem to me that the valid question after a year and a half would be; How did the case turn out?

It appears to be a recirculation pump.

This is too minor (5") to be a FEMA or jurisdictional usually FEMA in any of the AO flood zones requires 2 feet above the 100 year flood, and jurisdictions usually require one foot freeboard above the FEMA requirement. Zone B requires minimum 1 foot from FEMA and 1 foot freeboard, or floodproof the structure, I have had to deal with FEMA on these issues before and they are not forgiving. I will include some pictures of a flood proofed building I did that complies with FEMA 488 Appendix D. The slab had to be thickened and reinforced to control the buildings bouancy. Click to Enlarge 51.26 KB Click to Enlarge 48.92 KB Click to Enlarge 44.24 KB Click to Enlarge 44.64 KB

I have never seen this system before however In the mid 90’s there were several attempts in residential construction to insulate and isolate the basement floors (almost like a rain screen wall) the interstitial space is a drainage area. You could use a system like this in homes where they would expect possible high water table and light flooding of the slab. The slabs would have localized depressions and drains located throughout the basement allowing incidental moisture to drain. One system I saw in Fine Homebuilding magazine had layers of XPS foam laid on the slab for insulation. The OSB was then fastened through the foam to the slab. You could supposedly even lay hardwood flooring over the OSB successfully. There are several products still on the market one with the textured plastic material you would find on Miradrain instead of having the geo fabric they would laminate it to 2’ by 2’ tongue and groove OSB of all things. They have obvious problems with getting too much water into the system and trapping water between the OSB and the plastic liner. All of these systems have the basic flaw of dealing with symptoms instead of preventing the water in the first place. This one also has a rat problem.

I have not reviewed the document from the Cal Architects board in full however it seems to put an emphasis on properly installed lag bolts (I would assume for pull out resistance). In the photo of the condition from Robert, I cannot see how the cleats are attached. If the rope has slack and the cleats are not adequately anchored does this make it a problem? If it were me reporting on the condition I would state that it is outside of my ability to evaluate the structural integrity of the installation (or something to that effect), and recommend that either a strapping kit be installed per manufacturers recommendations, or the installation be assessed by a structural engineer. I think we all know that no one will pay for an engineer to do an evaluation, and if an engineer looked at it he would not be able to calculate the moment force applied to the upper rope because of the slack. With that being said do I think it is probably adequate? Yes I do. Would I have it in my own house? No. The strapping kit would be a nice peace of mind insurance policy for me. I would definitely call this in a report as part of my due diligence.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike The document from California Office of the State Architect is attached. Download Attachment: .pdf"] waterheaterbracing_11_30_05[1].pdf 415.32 KB

Recent information. http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20 ... l&tc=pgall

The controls were probably 20K installed (the electronic controler was over 4K), not including the fans and plenums throught the PT structural deck along with the sound isolation venting through the roof on one of the buildings built over the parking structure. The parking structure has 320 parking stalls on one floor below grade into the water table.

The below grade parking structures that I have put in all required Carbon Monoxide detectors that would start the fans and cycle them until the CO dropped to safe levels. I am only familliar with several sensors for the last 10 years or so, and this is not like the ones I have seen. Also the systems we use have an electronic control unit that ten or twenty sensors tie into, several of the structures are also zone controlled. Did the fans cycle while you were there? You could test it (after yo verify what it is) by parking a running car next to the sensor for a while. The system I have usualy react withing 1 minute.

Questions: How close to the ridge was the turtle vent? Were the eves or dormers vented? Why is there different insulation on the two sides of the attic? Last month I was at the Las Vegas airport and got into a discussion with a ridge vent roofing materials rep about wind scour of insulation as well as snow drifting at ridges. (Do I know how to have a good time in Vegas or what?)

Above.

?? OK

So.......Where is the fear you now refer to? Forgive my plain words but I follow the KISS philosophy. The fear I mentioned (that does not need to be discussed) is the Inspector that "educates" his client to a level of fear or concern that it breaks deals. Other threads have discussed this completely, and we have drifted away from the original question.

In response to both of your posts, I agree to educate the client is good but the balance is not to cause fear in them (I am sure I do not have to pontificate on that). Recomended maintenance or upgrades are a good thing. Some of my favorite homes to be in are older homes that have been remodeled and updated to current technology.

As a follow up to the question about where this requirement originaly came from. We there is no specific answer I have found however the general consensus is that it originates in the HUD Minimum Property Standards and the corresponding Manual of Acceptable Practices dating from the 1950s. As for applying current code to an older building, I have dealt with this many times over the last several years. It has always resulted in the person making the asserion being wrong. Since it does not hold water. As an example any assertion to be logical can be extrapolated to the extreme and still be accurate. My question to you is should the pyramids be torn down since they do not meet standards of current code?

1. From the photo I cannot see any perforations. I can see no color change from adjacent lumber which would be very odd for PT from this time frame. 2. I was not there and I cannot extrapolate a moisture intrusion problem from a small piece of sheet metal barely visible in a perspective photo. It would only be a guess on my part. 3. The staining only proves why PT lumber is used at sills. If there was only one sill plate it would have received all of the water and the resultant condition might or might not be different.

CABO 1986: Section R-308 – Protection Against Decay and Termites. Page 22 R-308_Location Required…The following locations shall require the use of an approved species and grade of lumber, pressure preservatively treated in accordance with the standards in section 26.308, or decay- resistant heartwood of redwood, bald cypress, black walnut, black locust, or cedars…. 3. Sills and sleepers on a concrete or masonry slab which is in contact with the ground. There are no exceptions for floors or walls only roofs with a imperviose moisture barrier.

Rob the original question you asked has been somewhat overlooked. As far as Seismic restraint my SE that I had look at it says that it should be fine assuming that the plates are adequately nailed together and there is positive attachment from the sill plate to the wall. The only issue might be if the wall above is a sheer wall. P.S. see the 1970 UBC section 2517 note 3 (1988 UBC reads the same Click to Enlarge 42.25 KB)about sills in direct contact with concrete. "shall be pressure treated wood" This excerpt did not change through 1988 when the home was built. with 18 years of track record I doubt anyone could deny the applicability of this code not even a local building department.

Mike, Sorry I have not been able to respond quicker, I have been in 6 cities in the last 12 days. The lumber is in surprisingly good condition with the exception of several stains from apparent water intrusion, I would also be concerned with the staining of the fiberglass batt insulation. It would indicate that there is a bit of air infiltration. As a matter of fact I do have historic UBC codes with me in digital format back to 1962. The hard copies are in my library at the office. The local jurisdiction code adoptions are a little obscure for me to have since I only carry 500 GB of codes (PDF) and product information on my portable drive. If you would like tomorrow I can send an email to my 6 librarians since I am sure that in one of our seven offices we do have a copy of the codes you mention. (This is the benefit of working for a firm that has 420 Engineers and Architects.) I try to be free with sharing my knowledge to those who ask so if you do need the resources just ask. As many people have stated this forum helps them learn a lot. My comment about the pressure treated lumber was intended to stir some discussion. Indeed you are a good moderator and I do not doubt your skills or capabilities but until you allow others with an opinion and possibly some insight that might vary from your own to share with those people possibly you should change your signature line to: ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Download Attachment: Codes.pdf 397.2 KB

For the siding to hardscape, properly flashed this type of joint does not frighten me. If it is properly flashed sealant does frighten me. Do you have any indication that water is getting in and doing damage? Does the siding need clearance? I am not familiar with vinyl siding requirements. As far as the threshold goes seal it up. Even if it has a pan flashing keep the water out.