
tim5055
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Everything posted by tim5055
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going up would work for me, but walking down them after an adult beverage or two may be a challenge. Folks sleeping up there should have up to date life/health insurance policies.
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Mike, Google the address and see if there are any news stories about the house......
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I'm glad I didn't see that photo until I was done in the crawl.....
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Hey, I admitted up front about the spelling...... But, I do like fizzy bubbles, usually in an Appleton Reserve & Coke
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Well, I spent the weekend in the crawl space of our new house installing pipe/wire for a central vacuum system. The old house I could walk around in most of the crawl, this house not so much. Most areas if I'm lucky I can get on hands and knees, the rest it slithering like a snake. I just want to say I have a lot of respect for you who are willing to do this. If it wasn't my house I don't think you could pay me enough to go in those places. As an aside, the inspector who did this house for us pointed out the eforvesecence (I don't think I spelled that right) on the block at the front of the house. I found that the gutter installer just stuck the downspouts in the dirt rather than pipe them somewhere. I fixed that already no even with our heavy rain/snow lately the crawl was nice and dry.
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Well, if there was an "all of the above" check box, I would check it because almost all of you had part of the answer. I had a second guy come out today to look things over and give me his ideas and price. He looked it over and said he could suggest several things: 1. New furnace/coil hooked to the existing compressor for a dual fuel set up. 2. New furnace/coil and new compressor ending up with 95% effeciency on the furnace and a 16 SEER 3. Fix what I have and wait for everything to die - then replace it. After running it for a while he said "I don't think any of your heat strips are working. He grabbed his meter and under the house he went. Marc, you were about spot on - 15 minutes later he said they were all dead. 10 minutes after that he had them working again. He explained that these style heat strips are prone to corrosion where they attach. He unplugged and plugged them in a few times and got them going. He said if I plan to keep what I have, that he should,really come back and pull the heat coil assembly out and clean up all the connections as it is only a matter of time before they stop working again. So, he is going to put together some prices and get back to me. When he left hot air was pouring out of the vents.......
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Who are you using for web site hosting?
tim5055 replied to rwardadams's topic in Marketing Techniques
Subconscious slip of the finger? No, not really - but good catch! I guess this is a good example that one letter can change the meaning..... -
Who are you using for web site hosting?
tim5055 replied to rwardadams's topic in Marketing Techniques
WOW!!! Thanks!! I never knew that. -
Who are you using for web site hosting?
tim5055 replied to rwardadams's topic in Marketing Techniques
I built my own WP site that's hosted on Fatcow but won't be using them much longer. 10 years have taught me that if you're serious about your business website and it's mobility, you need an expert to oversee it. I've yet to find someone I trust. Marc Marc, Fatcow has hosed my personal site for years with little/few problems. -
Not funny if you catch the ring voltage. I did phone work for a while in Florida and on more than one occasion got bit by ring voltage on a hot day with a nice sheen of sweat on my arm.
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Jim GA is a great place. We were in Kenesaw for five years. Lots of nice spirits........
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Electricity cost? BTW, if you're really interested in comfort, have you considered radiant heat? The last two houses we have remodeled the master bath and added radiant heat in the floor. The cats love it. I like the way you think! I would probably replace Appleton Rum for the bourbon, but I get the idea.
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Jim/Marc: You are making my head hurt........ LP is 1.99 a gallon right now. I just want hot air coming out of the registers.....
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I blame crap like this on the GC or whoever is overseeing construction. While I'm sure not as much as you guys, I have been on many new construction sites through the years. One trade does not care about the trades who follow him in installation. They only care about gettin in and getting out. Too many times the last guy has to do something stupid because an earlier trade didn't care or wasn't told what would follow. When thinking about the wood structure of a house I sometimes wonder which is worse, termites, electricians or plumbers.
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they have Natural Gas in "town", but up here it's LP. Right now the only thing on my buried tank is a set of gas logs and the Weber BBQ grill.
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P Well Jim, I think you have hit the target. In my current world, comfort wins. The "old geezer" comment is right on point. I was driving a couple of years ago, listening to NPR (I would prefer Neal Boortz, but he retired) talk radio and thought to myself - I have become my father. I like to be comfortable and I think the heat pump can keep up with reasonable outside temperatures but not when it drops. That is when I want heat, now.
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Thanks Marc! I do think there is a balance problem as there is not even heating throughout the house. Plus, the main return register is in a closet behind a louvered door. I can actually hear the difference when the door is open or closed. According to him this return is being serviced by one 14" flex duct (the entire house is flex) and two other returns share a 12" flex duct line. Him not verifying the heating issue is probably more my fault as I brought him out to specifically quote the gas furnace replacement as that is what I'm used to and really like. So part of me wants to go with the gas, but am I just spending stupid money for what I like/am used to? If I do go gas, 80, 90 or 95% efficiency? Glad I could help,with the other post. I just thought of something else and need to go back and edit it.
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Well, for those of you who have not followed our continuing saga, here is the short version. We are within a couple of years of retirement and have purchased (hopefully) our last home in the mountains of North Carloina. I've been here for two weeks with painters and other assorted folks getting things sorted out. Well, this "artic vortex" as the news likes to call it has me thinking about the furnace. Currently the house has a 4 ton Trane heat pump installed. The compressor is 2002 and the air handler is 2004. Air handler is installed horizontally in the crawl space. Back up heat is supplied by resistance coils. The current temperatures are unusual, but the current configuration just can't keep up. I like gas furnaces and had the Trane dealer come out to give me a price on switching it over. One comment he made was that this furnace should have 4 coil packs providing the back up heat, but by the temperature coming out of the ducts he suspects one or more are not working. Surveying the complete install he also said the amount of return is not sufficient for the 4 ton with the number of registers installed. His recommendation is to change the air handler to a gas furnace with the heat pump/AC coil installed. It will be programmable so that down to "X" ambient outside temperature the heat pump would run, then below that the gas furnace would take over. Or, I could manually go direct to gas. Options would be 80%, 90% or 95% efficiency on the furnace. Hopefully this,will be our last house, so I'd like to get it right. One other thought is that with my 15,000 KW generator I can't run this resistance heat, but could run the gas furnace. (The generator will move with us from the current home in SC) So, thoughts? Fix what we got and stay with resistance back up or switch?
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I'm the "token" homeowner here who likes to read what all these smart folks are talking about. Every once in a while I'm able to add a little something to the discussion. I will probably be reinforcing what other have said in these comments. The wife & I worked for the government and moved every 4 - 6 years, so we have experience with inspectors. The key to us hiring an inspector was a good web site that fully explained the services and a little about you. A single photo with the wife & kids somewhere on the site is fine, but the rest I want to look professional. Photos of you, not stock photos or clip art graphics. Keep it up to date with current phone numbers and email addresses. You can't believe how many disconnected phone numbers I have called trying to find an inspector. Better define your service area. You know the counties you serve, but I'm sitting in a hotel room on day number two of a house hunting trip in a city I have never lived in. Plus, is it only those counties or will you cross the line? I like the way Scott has it on his web site: "Our normal service area is a 100 mile radius of Nashville, TN, but we often accommodate our clients in locations outside of this area as needed" Talking about email, how about an auto responder. When I send you an email automatically reply that you will reply within X hours. Whatever you decide for X, make sure you meet the goal. Website has to be optimized for mobile phones. Many times I'm surfing on the iPhone while the Realtor is driving to the next house. On our last search we looked at 55 houses, the move before that was 70 houses. That's a lot of driving time to fill with research. I'm not sure I like the 200% warranty as I think you will do a lot of free inspections, but in any case call it the same thing everywhere. You link says 200% Guarantee but if I click on the "?" It say 200% Warranty Details. Which is it? Be wary of the Realtors and their recommendations. While I have used a Realtor recommended inspector in the past, I always wonder who the inspector is looking out for. Look around your area for companies/agencies that regularly relocate employees. Not sure how many management transfers the BMW plant has, but look for things like that. Federal agencies (usually law enforcement) move people regularly. They generally use a single relocation company per company/agency to assist employees. You may be able to make inroads with a relo company and get business that way. Look for tie in companies that "assist" homebuyers with locating a Realtor. We use USAA for insurance and they have a preferred Realtor program that rebates part of the commission to the customer. There may be a way to get hooked up,with some of those companies for referrals. I know for our last home USAA sent a person by to verify the featurs in the house to more accurately determine rebuild cost. Something like that may help,fill,time and generate income while you work on the inspection gig to pay the bills. I know you are working out of your house, but don't advertise your home address on your website. There are too many nuts in this world. Get a box at the UPS store. It's $120 a year for insurance to cut down on the nuts a little. OK, that's it for now... Good luck with the new business!
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Interesting - Installation instructions say this: Read it here in the PDF
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Well, while not a true "disaster" I got to test my set up in a real world situation. Power went out yesterday - I waited about 45 minutes because a few minutes out is not totally uncommon. Rolled the generator out of the garage, hooked it up and fired her up (electric start is nice). I had TV, cable and internet the whole time the power was out. But, it showed me I need some sort of way to know when the power comes back on. Best I can tell the power was back on for about 30 minutes before I knew it.
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Perfect timing on this question as I'm about to add a disposal to a house that does not have one. Every house we have owned has NM kind of lying like this BX. I have always gone in and at least attached it to the back wall of the cabinet kind of like the dishwasher drain high loop. As I'm doing it from scratch, what is actually correct? BX? To follow up on Kurt's question, is the switch the disconnect?
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My brother was with the City of Miami FD for 36 years and if I remember correctly for commercial construction they require a fire inspection in addition to any AHJ inspections . I thought these inspections were limited to "Fire" related issues such as sprinklers, and stand pipes. Hazards in a required egress path may be included it their perview.
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Article in the Washington Post regarding this: Fannie Mae's bid to boost appraisals accuracy draws fire
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structural and mechanical
tim5055 replied to John Dirks Jr's topic in Open Discussion Forum (Chit-Chat)
Does Maryland define the scope of an inspection? Can it be negotiated or does the state mandate a minimum inspection from a licensed home inspector?