David Meiland

So, they're not forming the concrete at all, except where the steps are? Obviously they're going to need to move those pieces of plywood out over the level below, and somehow support them there so they don't blow out. I'd like to see photos if they actually do that.

At least it will be very easy to fix.

Agree with Kurt, I would get a plumber with a sewer cam to inspect the line for problems and find the outfall. If it's in good condition and slopes to daylight, probably OK to use. If not. I might dig right on top of it, remove it, and replace with plastic. Find a high school kid on a Saturday and tell him $1/foot or something like that.

I did a foundation retrofit project several years back on a house built on piers. Most of the crawl space had decent height, and you could duck-walk or crawl, but there was one area that was basically un-excavated and much too tight. You had to belly crawl/slide up onto a hump of soil, pressing yourself against a large duct, then work your way along between joists for several feet, until you were in a slightly more open spot in a corner where moving around and working was possible but still very tight. We had to strip concrete forms in that area for part of a day, and the instinct to panic was surprisingly strong. I knew I could not go in there alone. Two of us went in to do it, and we took turns, one guy going all the way in and working, the other guy staying back for moral support and conversation. Switch every 15 minutes or so. Another guy was outside working and I told him that if necessary he would go into the house and cut out a section of subfloor to get us out. Doubtful that would ever happen but it felt good saying it. I would never do another job like that, but it was 2009 and there was absolutely nothing else to do.

It's easy to imagine the molds getting slightly misaligned during the production process and producing batches that have visible seams. I have seen at least one plumber grind the pipe a bit where his no-hub fitting is going to go, to remove a slight ridge. Cast iron pipe is an out-the-door product--they make it and it gets installed. Cast iron machine parts, at least the better ones, and left sitting around in piles for a while before they start machining them. If you make a tablesaw table out of a green casting, it's likely to warp.

"Defendant affirmatively pleads the equitable defense of unclean hands" Sounds interesting... might have to google that one.

Tom, I think it is. When you're inside a house doing infrared, the panel cover is often room temperature and barely even shows up on your screen. This one was quite warm from the start. Marc and Jim are correctly pointing out that the energy used offsets heating, which in this case is electric wall heaters so it's a 1:1 trade-off during heating season. In an A/C climate you'll be buying cooling to offset this heating. Not a lot of watts, just something I found surprising and interesting.

Ambient air temperature inside was 73, outside was 70. This image was taken after the BD fan had been running a while, and it definitely added a bit of heat to the panel, perhaps counteracted by the cool air being pulled into the panel via the crawl space. Marc's number is interesting to me. If it's 1.3 watts per breaker, and there are ten such breakers in the panel, and there are 19 such cabins in the resort, that's close to 2200 KwH per year that they are spending just to power the breakers themselves, or about $183 in our market. Click to Enlarge 23.93 KB

Inside... Click to Enlarge 17.34 KB

I saw this a couple of days ago while doing an air leakage inspection in a new, small vacation cabin. There are a lot of 15- and 20-amp AFCI/GFCI (or are they combo?) breakers in this panel, and they generate a LOT of heat. There was nothing on in the cabin when I got there, and the only thing I ran is my blower door fan. Not sure how much power this consumes, but I imagine it's fairly significant. Click to Enlarge 30.05 KB

I've repaired lots of situations like that where the floor joists are cantilevered out of the house to become deck joists. There's almost never any flashing over the joists, and when there is, it's a piece of 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" 26-gage angle nailed to the wall above the joists, with one leg sitting on top of them. Woefully inadequate, and in any case, you probably don't even have that. When I've had to build cantilevers like that, I've had a sheet metal shop make individual flashings for each joist, with flanges on the wall and hoods protecting the top and sides of the joist.

Icynene that's thick enough to meet code for a sealed attic is not going to be anywhere near as air-permeable as fluffy insulation. Do you have ductwork or other mechanicals in the attic? What's the reason for the sealed attic? And, there is plenty of gas pipe installed within the envelopes of houses, so I'm not sure it's a concern anyway. Is there a requirement that gas pipe only be installed in ventilated spaces?

The contractor you're talking to is doing what I do. I fix lots of stuff, and if you want me to touch it, we're going all the way. Half-measures just make it likely I'll get called back later, and at that point, I'm in the wringer because I agreed to a half measure. 40 years of no big problems is definitely a good sign. What may happen at some point is that the existing tile will stop working, and you'll start getting water in the basement, of course during the rainy season when it's hard to rectify. There may be some value in re-doing it at full depth now, or before that failure occurs. Of course, it may go another 40 no problem. What you do now has a lot to do with whether you're the peace-of-mind-seeking type of homeowner.

Look at the bulb manufacturer's website and you can generally find a list of dimmers that will work with each bulb.

This stuff is discussed all day long at http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/

Suggested as a possible answer on another forum... could the maximum clothes washer trap height be based on the strong possibility that the installation would also include a sink, and the sink trap could be siphoned if the clothes washer discharge is above it? Stole the attached pic from the web, showing a typical install with a sink. Imagine the laundry trap well above the sink tee... Click to Enlarge 24.74 KB

Dang. I think I would have climbed the inside/underside of the ladder and then gotten on top of it. But that's just me... I'm scared as hell of ladders.

Is that water meter halfway foamed in?

My house is plumbed almost entirely with 1/2" PEX and flow is fine. There is 3/4" from the pressure tank to the water heater, with 1/2" home runs to each fixture from there. There are no fittings anywhere in the 1/2"... it's basically run more like Romex than water pipe. If a guy is going to run it like copper, with a bunch of fittings, it has to be 3/4". Take a look at the I.D. of a fitting and you'll see that it's quite a bit smaller than nominal. Put in enough of those and it really reduces flow. This might not be an issue at a lav faucet, but at the tub and at hose bibbs it will be noticeable.

What's up with the "code words" on that page? Several dozen bird names. Some of the other products have similar, some do not. Maybe linemen are bird enthusiasts? And, why is the conductor in the OP photo only rusting where tied off to the porcelain? Is there something about the AL wrapped around it that inhibits rust?

Since a bunch of contractors can't agree on this, maybe some HIs can. Replacing the two casement windows shown in this pic. Note the stairs descending at left. The outswing door beyond the stairs is a bedroom. The hallway is 43" wide measured drywall to drywall. IRC governs here. Do the new windows need safety glazing? Click to Enlarge 79.01 KB

Around here that vent would have to be piped 3' away from the outlet.

Energy monitors are a great tool for anyone looking to cut their electric usage. Most people don't have any idea what their various loads are, or how their behavior is translating into electric bills. In this region it's common for folks to have electric everything, including heat, and little idea why their bill is high or how to cut it. An energy monitor gives you real-time info on exactly what your load is at any given moment, and if you pay attention to it for a little while, you quickly learn the signature of the various devices in your home. The one Kurt saw probably puts the info on the owner's computer or tablet screen, and you can get models that track multiple circuits and make pie charts. Yes, you can get off your arse and go read the meter, but if it's outside on a pedestal hundreds of feet from your door, and you have to take a stopwatch and a calculator to get a load reading, you're not going to do it. I have a couple of the older TED monitors that cost me about $20 each, and they're very useful.

Photo looking at the popcorn ceiling of a bedroom in a house with cedar-paneled walls, circa 1977. There was one of these in each bedroom, generally in the corner furthest from the door. None in hallways or other rooms. My first thought was 'wireless alarm device' and probably a smoke or CO detector, but the only alarm box installed was original 1977 equipment, the type of thing I would associate with older devices. I couldn't find any other alarm equipment anywhere. I'm sure you guys know what this is. Click to Enlarge 32.85 KB

This is not a situation where traps are dry. It occurs when people are staying there and using all of the fixtures. I'm more inclined to suspect volumes of water down the drain that are either disturbing the sludge layer on the top of the tank, displacing air from the tank and waste lines and causing it to enter the house somehow, etc. Jim, what have you found in your investigations, if not sewer gas?