Bill Kibbel

That's a form of a drum trap. Drum traps are an excellent design and work very well. If pristine, you can't make 'em siphon. That's why they were preferred by premium plumbers at one time for kitchen sinks (vent stacks for kitchen sinks were rare until the second half of the last century). They're still used for certain commercial and industrial applications. The problem with drum traps is they don't scour well and once there's enough gunk, it performs worse than an unvented s-trap. The other problem is some plumbers installed them with the threaded cap exposed to the "sewer gas" side. Mike, from my experience, I think what you were seeing in Europe is a "bottle trap".

Your advice is spot on. The earth in Philly doesn't move, it only vibrates from traffic. The lime based mortar works well for for that reason and many others. The only mason I recommend is Andy DeGruchy, but he doesn't touch jobs under $8k. He can supply the correct mortar needed for your friends repointing though from DeGruchy Limeworks. It looks like very little work is needed. Repointing is only necessary for any spots that has missing mortar in the joints to a depth greater than 3/8". The joint prep should include raking the missing spots to a depth of 2.5 times the width of the joint and repoint with a natural hydraulic lime mortar. Some folks want to keep raking 'till they hit "solid" mortar. This isn't solid cement mortar. The bedding mortar is supposed to be that way. If the brick foundation is coated with a lime wash and he wants to renew it, thats fine. If it's an elastomeric type "waterproofing" paint on there, let it all flake off, the sooner the better. If this is a friend of the great and powerful Katen, he's welcome to contact me directly for advice (although I'll only go down there for the 5 figure inspection fees now). bill(at)historicbldgs.com 610-346-7880.

Warm water to the toilet so the tank doesn't sweat.

I've seen a handful. They're usually installed to fill a boiler from a cistern. Many buildings had a central heating plant before the town supplied water. Many farms had boilers long before electricity was supplied to the property to run a well pump. In 1940, only about 60% of the farms in my area had electricity, which was better than many other agricultural areas of the state and country.

That's a hot tar roof - usually 2-3 plys of felt topped with a flood coat. They need recoating with hot tar regularly and still barely make it to 15 years. The silver coat just reduces UV. That pic shows deep alligatoring of the flood coat. Nobody's doing hot coatings anymore. I haven't been stuck driving behind a smelly kettle for at least ten years. Your clients aren't likely to find someone to recoat, even if it qualifies for another coating. I usually tell folks it's time for mod bit or rubber.

Minimum required static pressure (at the building entrance) for either public or private is 40 psi. The minimum pressure at the point of discharge depends on the fixture. Maximum permitted static pressure is 80 psi.

It sure does. Did it taste like asbestos? [:-yuck] It's "Aircell" made by Keasbey & Mattison or Ehret Magnesia.

I use mine frequently for checking cut-in/off pressures of well pumps. A majority of the installed ones aren't working when I get there.

I don't know what the stuff is that looks like hair or fur. It looks disgusting considering I just checked in here while taking a break and eating my lunch. The foam is UFFI - urea-formaldehyde foam insulation. Since it hasn't been installed since 1980, it's out-gassed long ago and is no longer a concern.

It's a barometric damper in a bypass on a zoned system. When zone dampers are closed, air pressure builds up in the ducts. A bypass relieves the pressure.

Since were discussing obsolete, old-house parts: Somebody found this in their attic.

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Receptacles used to be "sockets" before bladed plugs were the standard. You could plug in a bulb or appliance anywhere. here it is: www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3544

Are joists spaced really far apart in your area?

Wherever Mike typed "vent" he meant "vent connector". In the current IRC it's G2427.10.2.2

Coveralls: Craftsman. 22 years at HI and I'm only on my second. My first was the herringbone, given to me by my father. He said they "shrunk" in the middle. Knee pads: I used to choose kneepads for comfort and traction. After a 12D entered behind my kneecap, I now have "tactical armor" knee pads. I just recently learned that I need Kevlar gloves too.

Most that I see have the vent terminating over the rim of the sink (including mine). I've read several of the manufacturer's instructions and all state the vent should connect to an existing stack or terminate with an "in-line" vent (AAV). Gray water can get stinky. Those instructions also list the uses of the pump as suitable for utility sinks, laundry sinks, bar sinks, A/C condensate and dehumidifiers. Never saw one that listed showers. How high was the shower above the floor?

It sure looks like an old central vac hose inlet. I've seen a few in residences, but many more in old office and apartment buildings. They called them "stationary vacuum cleaning systems". The earliest was part of the original construction of a 1910 building. I saw one in a home that was a "hydro vacuum". It had a water powered "suction generator" in the basement. When you finished vacuuming, you would flush the waste into the sanitary sewer. It was really cool system.

Zinc oxide.

That's an American Boiler, manufactured in the late 1940s to early 1950s. The circulator was added later.

I've seen black coated short jacks, with the carriage bolts, manufactured by Akron Products. Was I right?

A Town lattice truss is very typical of many local covered bridges. That timber is from the Haupts Mill covered bridge. Next question.

Hey Joe, It's a B&G termite bait station.

Tim, If those are pictures of a garage ceiling, I'm completely shocked. (Wrong ducts too) If the AHJ sez that's fine, I think you need to have a little press party. Invite newspaper and TV reporters to a new house and give 'em a little lesson on how it's supposed to be.

It can be trimmed. I did a nice job on a previous home with a cordless circular saw. I didn't even cut through the step flashings. I then painted the fresh end grain. For additional info, see: https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7131