Bill Kibbel

In my NJ experience, no code official has ever required that for an air conditioning condenser. Regarding M1308.3, outdoor "mechanical systems" has always referred to package units. For NJ, read Chapter 14, Heating and Cooling Equipment. M1401.4 Exterior installations makes no mention of the 3" above the ground. M1403.2, under Heat Pump Equipment, states "the outdoor unit of a heat pump shall be raised at least 3" above the ground to permit free drainage of defrost water".

That's for drainage during the defrost cycle.

I occasionally drive by a home that has at least 6 different colors of shingles on the roof. I'm guessing it's a frugal contractor that saves the leftovers for his own home. I think this was built from the same leftover method: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldhouseweb/3454755310/

If I saw that, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from putting "holy freakin' crap" in the report.

Can you guess what company John is a salesman for? Here's the subtle clue: "Golden Rule Fasteners has expanded their product line with the addition of a newly developed patent pending split flashing for retrofit applications".

Looking for something else, I came across this in A Treatise On Architecture And Building Construction. It's an 1899 description of main traps. http://chestofbooks.com/architecture/Bu ... Traps.html

- Wrong type and wattage listed by the manufacturer. - Excess line voltage - common in certain areas here. - Dollar store or off-brand bulk bulbs.

The only successful asbestos litigation (that I know of) against a mineral wool manufacturer (the one you cited) was for a later product the company produced - asbestos cement products.

The first excerpt describes a material that combines rock wool fibers, clay and asbestos fibers. It is not the mineral wool insulation that was commercially available for building insulation. The second refers specificaly to man-made mineral fibers. There is no indication of asbestos fibers being introduced to mineral wool insulation. Mined asbestos has never been reported to have been used to create the fibers of mineral wool. The third, again is a theory for the possible use of waste asbestos. It is not a description of anything that ever occurred that made it available. It was only a "preliminary market study". The fourth describes a cement mix that contains rock wool and possibly, asbestos fibers. This is not a thermal insulation product. No one said that. Rock wool is not a byproduct of iron refining.

What is pictured in the original post is HDPE. Cresline manufactures PVC, CPVC, ABS, MDPE and HDPE.

Anytime I end up at Youtube, I spend hours just watching Frank Zappa playing guitar solos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAmcmdKj ... re=related

Dr. Maines, I can't find it now, but I'm quite sure I've read at least one or more of the sources you've listed. I have extensively researched what building products might contain asbestos, including mineral wool. What I've found were only very old theories suggesting waste from asbestos processing could possibly be used to manufacture mineral wool. It would involve first melting the asbestos with carbon in an extremely high temperature furnace. I have never found anything that suggests it was ever attempted, much less made commercially available for the building industry. Making mineral wool from basalt, diabase and slag is significantly less costly than making it from asbestos. If you have any documentation indicating mineral wool used in any buildings ever contained asbestos, we would really appreciate you providing some excerpts from those documents. Ps. I'd be very interested in your research project History of building and fire safety codes in industrial democracies. Please let us know when it becomes published.

You participated in a recent discussion about how they shouldn't be double tapped to the main lugs. https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... IC_ID=9317 About 1 out of every 20-25 for me.

Not all steam boilers will have a pressuretrols. Some have vaporstats instead. Steam boilers have either a float-type or a probe-type low water cutoff. Mechanical cut-offs will have a blow-down valve for maintenance. Next question: How do you identify a "vapor-vacuum" system?

Only the SD8x1.25 is prohibited for use with any connectors. "The Simpson Strong-Drive® screw (SDS) is a 1/4" diameter structural wood screw ideal for various connector installations as well as wood-to-wood applications". Several hangers are packaged with SDS Screws.

In 2007 Simpson introduced the SDS Screw with Double-Coat Barrier. It's approved for use with many of their connectors. They're quite easy to identify:

That isn't the service equipment, right?

Very common. Some spots in the country still require them. Some were required only for one-story buildings. Sometimes they're outside, directly below the yard vent. A main trap needs to have a fresh air inlet - on the house side of the trap.

Typical American attempt at a modern European design trend. http://www.euroflues.com/categories/fir ... uspended/1

John, A "fan-assisted combustion system" in a cat I or II furnace pulls combustion byproducts through the heat exchanger. It is not a forced-draft system that creates positive pressure in the flue connector or vent. Sharing a vent with a natural draft water heater is typically permitted, but it can change the equation for the vent and water heater flue connector sizing.

I can't see it, but I'm guessing your "forced draft furnace" is actually a category I appliance with a fan-assisted combustion system. If not, then the joints on the flue connector should have been sealed too.

They're here, but rare. Twelve years of inspecting 'till I saw the first one. Now it's one maybe every 4 years.

Never heard "dolly axle" 'till now. Dey bee called door rollers: When they wear out and fail:

Sir Richard, I don't think there's a requirement for a heat source in every room. That being said, any "habitable" room must be able to maintain a minimum temperature of 68° F at 3' above the floor and 2' from any exterior walls. If an unheated bathroom is on any exterior wall, I usually make a big stink about not having a heat source. No one has ever called me on it. The wives will not tolerate a cold bathroom.

I don't know of a name of the style other than what I've read in advertisements guides from the first quarter of the last century - "false thatch". The shingles were steam bent to curl over the gable ends and butts cut at angles to create undulating course lines with very little exposure. Cotswold Cottage is a style of American home that was built during the first quarter of the last century. I think many seem to be an insult to the actual period homes throughout the Cotswolds in central England.