David Meiland

I've only looked at a few, but when I have the complaint is high energy consumption and lack of magical free heat, and the problems are difficult to assess. The design and performance of the ground loops has to be right, and it has to be installed right. The amount of pump energy used is often very high. That's probably outside the purview of a home inspection but if I were the buyer I'd want a bill history from the utility company at minimum, and probably a thorough HVAC checkout to determine that the various temps and flow rates were within range.

You stated earlier that the AHJ had said this was a code violation. Why can't they give you a code citation to use?

If you use IR, sometimes you'll see one or more receptacles that are warm with nothing plugged into them, then a load like an electric heater at the end of the run. I'm not sure there have to be high-resistance connections involved.

What code is the AHJ citing? Am I missing something in the IRC? I see it as a common sense issue but doesn't appear to be in the book.

That's a goofy connector he used there, but maybe nothing was required on the plans. I always use a Simpson base of some type to connect a post to a pier, which provides a capillary break, but it may not be required to meet code, depending on how tall the concrete is. http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/icod/ ... par232.htm

I would want to verify the presence of waterproofing on the exterior of the block wall, and a correctly installed drain tile that slopes to daylight. If rain makes the wall and the soil wet, that's not a good sign in my opinion. These problems do not get better over time, they get worse. Yes, the backfill will settle and compact itself slightly over time, but I doubt that moisture you're seeing is just percolating down through the backfill. What is the slope outside the house where that wet spot shows? Where do the utilities enter? I am consulting on a house right now that is down a gentle slope, and is on clay. The builder cut a very long ditch down the hill to the corner of the house, and installed the water and power in it. He effectively created a french drain directly to the foundation. Of course there is now a lot of paving and planting covering the area.

Wow. That exterior is toast.

I posted a version of this question on the LinkedIn RESNET/BPI group, and one or two members have commented that the blower fan would probably reduce the stack temperature slightly. That would be easy to verify with a bit of effort. Another member commented that it's probably a wash if the primary heating system is also gas-fired, and that system is making up the difference. If the primary is electric, you have to take the relative cost of electric into account. At least one HI commented that lack of a blower fan is not an inspection report item.

I'd also like to know--does the addition of a blower increase the efficiency of a gas fireplace? It seems like a blower might increase the airflow around the unit and into the room, perhaps improving air mixing in the room a bit, but like Jim is asking, if there isn't a blower, where does the waste heat go? Is it hotter inside the opening where the fireplace is installed, and more heat is lost through the back wall as a result? If he can show you published specs for that unit that show higher efficiency with a blower running (and that has to include the electricity), then he might have something.

Not sure I agree. As others are pointing out, humid air in the attic is the cause and controlling the source is the solution. It is likely mostly from the interior, and the fix is to "air seal" the attic floor. This would normally be done by an insulation, weatherization, or home performance contractor. If it were me I would remove all the fiberglass so I could see the entire floor, air-seal the whole thing while running a blower door, then replace the insulation with blown-in material. Very easy job for someone who knows the drill. You should also look at the exterior. Is there a window below that stained area?

The problem with pot being illegal is you end up with billions in tax dollars spent chasing it, hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of people caught up in the justice system, and no real improvement in society--it's available everywhere, and people still do drugs of all sorts and lots of other bad stuff. I don't buy the gateway thing, either, in fact we're finding out now that pharmaceuticals are the primary gateway to opiate addiction. The myriad public health issues related to alcohol are off the charts and yet it's freely available everywhere. I don't smoke pot and I take a generally dim view of it when others do, but treating it as a crime is a waste of money and effort.

We solved the pot problem here... made it legal and taxed it.

A certain amount of condensate is expected to drain back out of the flue, and outdoors via a drain connected near the bottom of the furnace. Maybe that rubber coupling just needs to be a little tighter.

What kind of instrument are you getting your readings from? I have seen the cheap hardware store hygrometers off by 10%RH or more. You need to invest in a good instrument, and/or double-check yours against others to know that you are getting accurate numbers. After a shower, all the water on the tile surface has to evaporate, and all the moisture in towels you hang up has to do the same. Water continually evaporates off the surface in the toilet bowl. There are sources of humidity in the bathroom that really aren't anywhere else in the house, so a slightly higher number is unsurprising. In our house, the bath fan runs at least one hour after a shower, more in the wintertime when I am also using it to remove humidity from the house in general. I just had one of these controls installed in a customer's house, because she line-dries laundry in her laundry room. Cost about $30. http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ProductD ... site=10251

Your last 50CFM fan might have been moving 20CFM with a lousy duct run. If you now have a 140 and a decent duct, it should make a huge difference. I don't see an issue with your placement in the ceiling. This guy makes good videos and is entertaining

A guy I know is involved in a lot of EIFS inspection and expert witness work... Mark Parlee, The Building Consultant, Des Moines, Iowa, easy to find website and he would surely be willing to chat with you.

Jim, if you owned those names, you could simply point them at your existing website. If they are generating traffic, it could be a benefit, depending on what you pay for the names. Adding them as "parked domains" on your existing host should cost nothing.

He said electric, and I said add a circuit... which I suppose could be made more clear by inserting the word "new" in there too.

At 9 years, it's probably reasonable to just replace the 30 with a 50. You might also be able to add a circuit and wire it so that both elements fire at once. If you have the installation manual, take a look and see if there's a diagram showing the wiring for that. If it only has one element, forget it.

How old is the 30?

Definitely find and follow the code requirements for drilling and notching framing. You will find that you can run a line of 2-1/2" holes for a 2" pipe through 2x12s without much problem, including the needed slope, as long as you don't need to go too far. You will need to plan carefully, so that any traps below the floor work out and aren't too high or too low. Sometimes you need to cut short pieces and use a bunch of couplings. On a few occasions, I have made access from outside or from the adjacent room so I could slide in a single piece. Depends on what you're doing...

What's above that slab? Is there any reason they would have placed insulation against it? There's always the possibility that some sort of form release agent was sprayed on the forms before the pour, and you're seeing some of it left over. Whatever it is, it was there before the channel was installed.

Simpson has a variety of seismic retrofit stuff. http://www.strongtie.com/products/conne ... JA-FSA.asp http://www.strongtie.com/products/connectors/UFP.asp

Yes indeed. Me kidding.

You could shove that into place, grab a coathanger from upstairs for some wire to hold it there.