David Meiland

I got a call today from sometime who just closed on a house. Apparently they are now finding enough "moisture" ants to make it look like a sci-fi horror movie. This was a scratchy cell phone conversation, but apparently the HI said he could return with his moisture meter and look for wet areas that might be supporting them. The pest control guy was there and said there were some embedded form boards in one area, but didn't appear to be the spot the ants were in. Since part of the house is SOG, he wondered if there might not be embedded forms under the slab too. He was not able to identify where they were. The caller also seems to believe there was once a roof leak but that it had been fixed. So, if you're looking for an ant infestation of this type, how and where do you look? I am very well acquainted with inspection for water problems, but not familiar with these ants, where they live, and what the signs are.

You can always lurk awhile...

It's never wise to join a new forum and start posting without spending some time reading threads and learning who the members are and what the culture is like. This is a great site with very knowledgeable posters and as far as I'm concerned everyone is very polite. Given that it's a forum for a specific group of professionals, the occasional non-pro question is tolerated well and answered helpfully. That is definitely not true on other similar forums I know of and use.

My guess is that the valve cartridge should be removed and cleaned, or possibly just replaced. It may have deposits that are interfering with the temperature/pressure balancing function working correctly. It's tryin', but it's gunked up.

Check out the Architectural Woodwork Institute standards...

I'm generally building the house or addition, and framing the roof. If it's steep enough for toe boards, we start setting jacks right at the bottom after the first row of sheathing goes on, and the nails go into the rafters or trusses. If I'm setting up on an existing roof, I find the rafters with some scientific tapping of the hammer, and then nail jacks to framing. I'm not a regular roofer by any stretch, just a risk-averse lifetime tradesman who often works at heights. Maybe if I roofed every day I'd get sloppy and just nail jacks to the sheathing.

I have to agree with this. I use roof jacks a lot, and never use roofing nails to set them, I use 16d sinkers. Roofing nails are often 1" or less, they're rarely into the framing at all even if they were long enough, they're often just into 7/16" OSB, they're often not that straight, and once you start backing them out they get even looser.

Can anyone tell me if there was/is a code requirement in any of the various codes to paint ABS, PVC, etc., where it's exposed to sunlight as a vent terminal above the roof?

Not sure about elsewhere, but here in WA you can be called as an expert witness and paid your fee for that, or called as a fact witness and paid whatever the court requires, little or nothing.

There is nothing good about metal ductwork under a slab. It's rusting, leaking, etc., now or later. I don't see it often but when I do I tell the owner that eventually it will become a problem for them.

I couldn't even look at the photo long enough to figure out what that was... before I puked...

Still curious about that tee. Is it somehow functioning as a tempering valve?

Next time... helmet-cam video My roofer never puts his ladder at an eave if the roof is steep, he puts in right at the ridge and climbs over the top of it.

Bill, where'd you get that number from?

Since starting this thread, I've had my replacement unit replaced. The first replacement showed the battery as dead no matter what, so I inquired about that and they said to send it in. The second replacement does the same, and also won't show a scan reading below about 75. I think these are buggy units, and am going to try a Delmhorst next time.

Probably nothing, but when I worked in the Bay Area, the plumbing inspector that often came out wanted 6" brass nipples between galv and copper. I have no idea whether it was based on code, common practice, stuff that dead guys taught him, or what...

First pic looks like a brass nipple between the galv and copper, but I would want it to be 6" long and it's not. Second pic shows copper directly with galv, and the results.

John's climate is fairly warm, even compared to here, so I think the risk is low, but get the wrong occupancy going on and you could have trouble. A friend of mine rented his house to a family with a lot of kids, who never use the bath fans or range hood, have a couple of dogs, and cook a lot. After 20 years of no problems... now he has them.

Of course it depends... but, what is the likelihood of significant structural damage caused by ants? I looked at a summer property for a buyer recently, to price repairs called out by the HI. There is a fair amount of frass in one area. Folks up here seem to call out the exterminator to kill the ants, then forget about it. Do you recommend destructive inspection if you see a large ant infestation?

Looks like there's wrap, but it's been cut away.

Maybe. If the top of the drywall ceiling is damp, you may get a thermal signature looking at the ceiling from below. The moisture evaporating takes heat with it, so the area may show as cool. If the drywall itself is damp, it will change temperature more slowly than dry areas of the same material around it, so may show as warm or cool depending on which way the heat is flowing. You always want a delta T between the two areas (inside vs. attic in this case) in order to inspect with IR. Truth is, you can see stuff on ceilings with IR, but you always reach for your moisture meter to check thermal anomalies. Sounds like you already did some moisture metering and found nothing. With IR you might narrow down the areas to look at so the inspection might go more quickly, but you still need to rely on the meter in most cases. Maybe the other guy is blowing smoke. Did you read the report, or just get third-hand info about what went down?

Get used to it. In construction, contractors are no longer working for free, they are paying to get the job.

Left a couple of messages for this guy once, he never called me back...

You can sometimes figure stuff out in one visit with a thermo-hygrometer like Kurt's (I have one also) and also your various moisture meters. It's also useful to have an IR thermometer so you can easily get surface temperatures as well, looking for places where the dewpoint is close or has been reached. You need to look at the MC of the outside air vs the inside air, possibly also compare to the crawl space or attic or whatever. More often I find it's useful to leave dataloggers at the house. I use these http://www.ueitest.com/products/tempera ... idity/thl2 , they cost about $75 and I have 4 of them. Put one outside, on in the main living space, one in the bathroom, one in the attic... or wherever you want to look for issues. Leave them a week or two or three and then go back and get them, download the data, and see what's going on. If it's condensation you're looking for, we're approaching the time of year when you won't find it, because it's not cold enough anymore. If it's humid inside, they need to ventilate. Running the bath fan on a timer switch is a good start.

Last time I saw that stuff, the guy had been taking it out of the attic in small quantities and selling it to the neighbor ladies for their gardens.