Bill Kibbel

NM cable is permitted in NYC for residential buildings less than 3 levels above grade.

I posted the above without reading all the replies. It looks like I just called Kurt a cheap-ass DIYer.

It's not fiberglass, but bitumen saturated paper pulp. The same material and process as Orangeburg pipe. I have seen enough issues with it to be quite comfortable telling folks it's a below agricultural-building grade roof covering. I don't know of any quality building supply yards that will stock it. It's in the home centers though, for cheap-ass DIYers.

This will be more common now that wet sprinkler systems are going into single-family homes.

The standard for a Phase I ESA is ASTM E1527-05. The "site visit" is the easiest and quickest part of assessment. There's no sampling or testing involved with a Phase I ESA. The required interviews and document research is overwhelming, unless you have a "department" in your firm that does nothing else. You should also have a staff or have consultants including a professional engineer, geologist, environmental scientist and folks with experience and education in chemistry, microbiology and atmospheric physics. You'll also need someone who has training and experience needed to recognize threatened/endangered species of plants and animals. We do the most commercial/light industrial building inspections in our region. We refer 2 environmental firms for ESAs. These firms also refer their clients to us for the building inspections. One firm occasionally subcontracts us to do building inspections and assist their site assessment team.

The conclusion of the study is very clear - they found that there needs to be additional studies conducted. They also imply that those future studies may not have any accurate conclusion.

Marc, I believe the DEP investigated this contractor due to complaints reported from past customers. I believe at least one of the customer complaints was instigated by a home inspector. When performing a reinspection of repairs, he commented on a newly installed system not in compliance with radon mitigation standards. The seller, who paid for the system, was urged to contact the DEP. The inspector was familiar with the work of Environmental Concepts Technology.

July 27, 2011 Norristown, Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ordered Christopher Ford, owner of Environmental Concepts Technology, Montgomery County, to surrender his state radon testing certification and pay $58,875 in civil penalties for numerous violations of the Radon Certification Act and Radiation Protection Act. For more details, read the PA-DEP press release at: Dept. of Environmental Protection - Commonwealth News Bureau

Sure. When the new roof went on, it should have been installed to meet the current requirements and/or the shingle manufacturer's instructions. Ventilation is required for enclosed rafter spaces. I like the bedroom EER&O window.

Yes, pyrolyzed creosote from a chimney fire "puffs up". The photo in the original post still looks pretty black. It might be the lighting or reflection, but I've always seen it with more of an ash grey appearance. So you don't have to find out how much damage there is to the terra cotta flue tiles.

Wow. They really chose the wrong path.

I stopped reading it when I got to the first, but long overdue period.

I was in a damp crawlspace and "discovered" the foil vapor barrier stapled up under the joists was energized. Woke my ass up.

Statistics show it doesn't get below freezing too often in Brandon, MS. We get down into single digits every year. Any low spots in pipes or tubing not 3" in the ground won't make it till spring. The statistics also show that Charles is the 6th of the "most common first names in Brandon, MS among deceased individuals".

A discerning buyer will never know. They will not read a single word on a page that's nothing but blocks of text. Your index page needs bullet points, some important keywords distributed throughout and images that grab their interest. You can't exude a professional, well established firm by using a web site created with free fill-in-the-blank templates.

Sure. I tell 'em to have a long established irrigation company winterize it every fall with the blow out method.

Bill, What are some of the other issues? At just above 20°, the paraffin in #2 fuel oil "congeals" causing an inefficient, unreliable burn. Aeration of the fuel is another problem. You're not supposed to have a bottom feed valve on any exterior tank, however when almost all heating equip. is in the basement around here, that's where it is on most tanks. I've also been told that tanks in unconditioned spaces are more likely to have water accumulate in the bottom of the tank.

That's correct. A large majority of above ground, outdoor tanks installed were not manufactured or listed for outdoor use. Corrosion is pretty far down the list of problems with fuel oil tanks located outdoors.

The other posts pretty much covered it. I find those enclosures, turning radiators into convectors, are most often used with outdoor air sources. They're usually supplying heated, fresh air to large rooms that were used for entertaining. Rich people liked to have big parties with big rooms full of folks dancing (when tobacco products were most popular too). I've inspected several large homes with ballrooms and one with very large concert hall that had those site-built convectors too. A couple times, I found them supplying very large, elaborate entrance foyers.

I thought that a slip joint for ground movement is something different than an expansion fitting.

It's a flange-mount fitting. The exposed threads on the fitting can screw into the female threads of a flange. What appliance is connected to the flex connector?

Not that I have ever seen.

"...materials that are likely to become energized..." Likely = having a high probability. A few steel beams in a wood frame structure, not also used for securing any electrical components, do not have a high probability of being energized.

Manufacturers of interlocking tiles have accessories to detail transitions and terminations. There would have been a hip cap tile available. On that particular roof, it would likely have been a hip roll tile to match the ridge roll. Like the ridge, the hips aren't subject to collected water running down the field of the roof. A majority of hipped slate roofs don't have hip caps. The rest have sheet metal caps.

Here's Mortenson Roofing's tile supply web site: http://www.tileroofs.com/