Inspectorjoe

I got 44 out of 50. After looking at my wrong answers, I figured I could have gotten at least another one or two correct (or would that be "gotten another one or two right"?) if I took a bit more time with it. Still, I guess that wasn't bad for someone with only a hi skool ejukation. [:-graduat I think Jane started running out of questions halfway through, because the questions in the second half were a heck of a lot easier than those in the first half.

Phillip: I don't have a comment about your report (plenty has been said already). A lot of guys would be in a real snit after reading critiques of their work, but not you. You've got real class. For as long as you've been on this board I have never read a post of yours that wasn't upbeat and friendly. I for one, can take a lesson from you. I hope to someday get the chance to meet you.

Ah, I've finally have a curiosity settled. I drive by a thatched roof several times a week. I've always wondered who crafted it. There is an unusual house in Tyringham, Massachusetts that has an asphalt shingle roof that is designed to mimic a thatched roof. It was built by sculptor Sir Henry Hudson Kitson: The most striking feature of Kitson's studio is its 80-ton, asphault shingled roof. Originally, Kitson had envisioned created a rolling, thatched roof similar to the traditional thatched-roofs in his native Britain. He enlisted the help of several local farmers to grow a crop of Rye for the thatching, but the crop went bad, and he turned to asphault shingles to create the effect he desired. Each tile was hand-cut to a wave-like shape, and then was laid in thick layers of different-colored shingles. The whole project took three workers twelve years to complete. I couldn't find any really good pics of it on the net. I have a postcard that shows great detail, but of course, I can't find it. Roof Santarella

Neat book! It's also at Archive.org. There, you have a choice of several ways to download or read the book. On the left side of the page, in the view the book box, click on flip book. How cool is that? They also have one of my all time favorite books, Maxims and instructions for the boiler room. I have a near mint condition copy that I bought when I was 13 or 14 years old. Yeah, I was a strange kid - I had a subscription to Popular Science when I was 11. Archive.org is an amazing treasure trove. I've 'wasted' many hours with the Wayback Machine: "Browse through 85 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago." In addition to books, there are also videos, audio recordings and other stuff. One of my many regrets in life was not going to see the Grateful Dead when they played in my hometown in 1979, when I was 18 years old. I don't remember why I didn't go, but ever since then, I've wondered what the show was like and what I missed. Since I found Archive.org, I no longer need wonder. Grateful Dead at Kirby Field House, May 7, 1979 Isn't the internet incredible?

Were there supply and return lines from the pool? Since you saw no refrigerant lines, pool water wouldn't be going through a condenser, but would be simply going through a coil in the furnace plenum. I can't see how that would work, since pool water often gets pretty warm in the summer. That "thing below" you mentioned looks like a well casing. It seems odd that a well casing and pressure tank would be jammed in right next to the furnace. I'm guessing that that system pumped well water through a coil in the plenum. Was that pressure tank supplying potable water to the house? The most important question: do you have more pictures?

I've seen staggered butts with that texture. Image Insert: 145.14 KB

Little Giant makes a 26 footer, but of course it isn't an extension ladder. It's almost impossible for one person to set up. It also flexes and oscillates a scary amount.

That's a stem wall. I see them all the time, mostly with attached and detached garages. With that large horizontal joint and only minimal vertical cracks, it doesn't quite look like that's a parge coating on it. Stem wall

I think Kyle might have it, or at least is close: a louver or damper actuator. It looks like one that would be part of an HVAC economizer, not that you would find that setup in an old house. It looks like there are mounting holes for another pin on the far side of the arm. As the arm rotated, via rods, one damper would be opened while another closed. Maybe that unit was salvaged from a commercial building and put to a new use. Or maybe not. More than you want to know about economizers

This was in my local paper the other morning. Her age is not a typo. Woman, 83, dies after falling from roof

I guess that someone would be me. Because there aren't any computers, alarm clocks, aquariums etc. in unoccupied houses. This goes in the report on an occupied house: The arc fault devices were not tested due to the risk of power interruption to equipment or electronics. You should test these devices before occupying the building.

Arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCI's) are safety devices designed to help prevent fires caused by electrical arcing and sparking. Since 2002, they have been required to be used in residential bedroom circuits. Older buildings, built before these requirements took effect, may not have this protection. You may want to consider adding AFCI protection if it's not present. Older buildings with ordinary circuit breakers especially may benefit from the added protection against the arcing faults that can occur in aging wiring systems. See Articles 5A.12 and 5C.40 for more information. If an older house doesn't have AFCI's on the bedroom circuits, I don't make a specific recommendation that they be added. If they are present, I note it in the report. I don't test them in occupied houses. In vacant houses and new construction I test them by pushing the test button and checking the receptacles that that should be protected to be sure they are dead.

Uh, Speedy, they're BOTH sub panels with their OWN branch circuit breakers. Did you look at the pictures? Did you look at the installation manual? Here it is again, in case you didn't see it before: Gen-Tran installation manual You certainly can add circuits or change the size of existing circuits. Mine came with four 15 amp and four 20 amp Siemens breakers. I configured it with eight 20 amp breakers, the other four being Square D. Here are the breakers the panel accepts: • Siemens QP, QT, QPH, HQP, QPF, QPHF, QFP, QE, QEH • Westinghouse Series BD, BR, BQ, GFC • Challenger Type A, C, HAGF • Square D Series HOM • GE Series THQL The breakers in the original panel are no longer used, as I mentioned in post #10: "The branch circuit hots are disconnected from the breakers in the main panel and wire nutted to pigtails that connect to the breakers in the generator panel." The breakers in the Gen-Tran panel are the ONLY breakers for those circuits and are used under both line and generator power.

I don't think that's wrong. Although I have a manual transfer switch, it's wired the same way. When first I went to install it, I looked at the wiring diagram, and thought, "no way, this can't be right". I did some research on the net, ruminated on it for a few days, then took the plunge and did it. The generator panel is fed from a two pole breaker in the main panel. The branch circuit hots are disconnected from the breakers in the main panel and wire nutted to pigtails that connect to the breakers in the generator panel. The two panels are bonded. The only neutral in the generator panel is from the generator as it passes through the enclosure and on to the neutral/ground bus bar in the main panel. Outside Inside Installation manual

Wow, what a soft, comfy nest. I wonder what it was lined with. It's amazing that mama let the photographer get so close. My wife keeps a hummingbird feeder, but it's gone mostly unused for the past few years. Last year, we didn't see a single hummer. This year, more of the same. A few weeks ago, we were standing at the rear door of the garage and my wife was lamenting that we'll probably never see another one, ever. I stepped outside and one nearly flew into me as he was headed for the feeder. He veered off and hasn't been seen again. I thought that was pretty ironic. Last year, I had this nest in a Hinoki Cypress, but I don't know what they were. I used my finger for scale. They don't look like hummers because of the beaks, but they're just about as small. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/59/156108490_0dd9c4267f_o.jpg

It's been a very slow week work-wise, but looking out my kitchen window I can see that not everybody's idle. With so many mouths to feed, that's a good thing. The high quality version doesn't seem to be accessible in the embedded player, so I tried to link directly to Youtube, but for some reason, you still get the embedded player.

Kyle: Yes, I know about possible false readings when in close proximity to the main panel, but now that you mention the scenario of a panel on the level below, I have to wonder if there have been any times when that might not have 'registered' with me. As far as not being 100% reliable, I know what you mean. Mine will work fine, but then suddenly go dead. Then, the next time I pull it out, it will work just fine. Maybe that's why I've been mostly leaving it in the bag for a long time now.

This has been a valuable thread. I have to admit to getting really lazy by relying on a three light tester. Yesterday I vowed to ditch the three light tester and use only the suretest, which admittedly hasn't come out of the bag as often as it should have. I hit pay dirt at the very first house. Image Insert: 74.05 KB

Ah, bonnet hip. Thanks, Bill. Now I can write "The bonnet hips are all boogered up". I try to sound smarter than I really am. Pile 'o' Tar Hip. I like that too. Maybe I'll save that for someone I want to have some fun with: "The pileotar hips are all boogered up".

There must be a technical name for this curved section of roof, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Does anybody know? I'd rather not just use "curved hip" in the report if there's an actual name for it. Image Insert: 67.88 KB Image Insert: 131.05 KB

From the size and location, it looks like an abandoned underground drain that a downspout used to discharge into.

I’ve never inspected any of the original executive’s residences on the avenues, but I did do a later one from the 50’s near Saucon Valley Country Club. It was a long time ago, but I remember that it was way overbuilt and it had commercial electrical distribution equipment. I think the Steel site is especially awe-inspiring because it really hasn’t been modernized very much through the 20th century. When it closed, there was 100 year old equipment in use. Shaun O’Boyle’s photos of the gas blowing engines illustrate that. They look like they could have been taken at the turn of the century, but they’re recent photos of equipment that was in use only 13 years ago. Amazing! Gas Blowing Engines Yesterday morning I was working in one the Steel’s old office buildings on Third Street. I got a nice rooftop view of some of the buildings that are being saved. The one in the foreground with the EPDM roof is supposedly going to be the home of the National Museum of Industrial History, which will eventually house the industrial machinery from the Smithsonian Institution's 1876 centennial exhibit. The oldest of the blast furnaces in the background date back to 1903. Rooftop View It’s been nearly a year since I last spent any time at the site. I had the time, so I walked around the site again yesterday. It seems like the demolition is finally complete and the casino construction is in full swing. Worksite I can’t really see how the new buildings are going to be incorporated in with the existing buildings, especially ‘stranded’ ones such as the ‘High House’ in the background next to the bridge. The High House was used to heat treat Battleship guns. High House They saved one of the two ore bridges. The remaining one is forever fixed in place, with its tracks gone. Ore Bridge Ore Bridge Check out these abandoned castings. Look at the size of what I think is a bearing in the background. It’s as big as the rail car. I can’t imagine what that would have been used in. Castings

While doing a phase inspection last week, I sensed that something seemed vaguely familiar about the windows in the family room. It was like I had seen them before. I snapped a picture of them and moved on. Image Insert: 53.97 KB It came to me later, where I had ‘seen’ them. I had snapped a similar picture last year, when I walked around the perimeter of the defunct Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem, PA. Image Insert: 77.91 KB What a sad history that place has. The site had been in continuous use for iron and steelmaking for 140 years when steel was poured for the last time on November 18, 1995. At its peak, some 40,000 people were employed at this plant alone. Now it’s being torn down to make way for a casino. Some of the plant is being saved, including the 1/3 mile long Machine Shop 2, which when it was built in 1888-89 was the largest industrial building in the world. The blast furnaces are being saved too. Here’s a pic I took of them from across the Lehigh River. Image Insert: 66.07 KB I ran across a series of photographs by an amazingly talented young photographer, Shaun O’Boyle. Photographs by Shaun O'Boyle Looking at the photos, it’s hard to believe that it’s only been 13 years since men last worked in those places. I found a YouTube video that shows what a hellish, other-worldly environment those guys were in. [utube] [/utube]

I don't mean to seem obtuse, but I still don't see what understanding the warranty will accomplish. Why should a home inspector care if the company won't warrant the device if it was not "used in accordance with all applicable instructions"? It seems that this note in the installation guide would be a lot more relevant: Note: Installation must be carried out by a qualified electrician only. The main breaker must be turned off during installation and the coupler must be installed in a suitable junction box or equivalent enclosure. Installation must be carried out in accordance with all applicable codes and requirements, including, but not limited to, the National Electrical Code (NEC).

Joe: Of course that device shouldn't be installed in a panelboard enclosure. I'm puzzled as to why you hope home inspectors understand the warranty.