John Kogel

The brown one's a '28 or'29, the blue one is '30 or '31. Model A Ford. []

I'm not a plumber, but the way I picture it, corrosion due to anode problems would be invisible on the outside, until the walls of the nipple are wafer thin and punctured. The metal is always thinnest at the threaded end, so that is where they will fail first if the rust is internal. But no, I believe rust at the nipple is usually due to a leaking fitting, or sometimes condensation, or some other external source.

OK, so it is only a problem if there is moss and algae on the roof. It is a design flaw for a roof on the wet coast, because the constant supply of water concentrated in that area encourages the growth of moss and algae, along with more than average flushing action. BTW, I posted pics 2 and 3, of a roof with minimal moss growth on it, but lots of wear. Well, it looks like the slime was removed with a pressure washer, doesn't it? [] Click to Enlarge 57.35 KB

Agreed. Click to Enlarge 112.46 KB Click to Enlarge 57.35 KB Click to Enlarge 45.86 KB Click to Enlarge 44.7 KB Click to Enlarge 62.22 KB Click to Enlarge 59.42 KB Want to see worn valleys, I've got those, too.

Or you could drive to Niagara Falls and buy a brand new Canadian Stab-lok breaker.

You are saying you couldn't access the service panel so this is a subpanel, right? That explains why they are keeping the grounds away from the neutrals. In which case, that large bare wire needs to be removed from the neutral bus, I think. Also, there are at least 3 missing knockouts. That is enough trouble to call for an electrician to evaluate the whole installation and repair at least those items. If that is actually the main disconnect, it needs the bonding screw, so it still needs an electrician. Are all the circuits 120 V? I don't see any tiebars or double breakers. BTW, a Canadian would never create a mess like that. []

I use Netfirms. It is as good as Godaddy, maybe better, without the catchy name. []

Is it ok to copy an paste stuff like this here? http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... -hot-water "To the first part of the question--'Does hot water freeze faster than cold water?'--the answer is 'Not usually, but possibly under certain conditions.' It takes 540 calories to vaporize one gram of water, whereas it takes 100 calories to bring one gram of liquid water from 0 degrees Celsius to 100 degrees C. When water is hotter than 80 degrees C, the rate of cooling by rapid vaporization is very high because each evaporating gram draws at least 540 calories from the water left behind. This is a very large amount of heat compared with the one calorie per Celsius degree that is drawn from each gram of water that cools by regular thermal conduction. "It all depends on how fast the cooling occurs, and it turns out that hot water will not freeze before cold water but will freeze before lukewarm water. Water at 100 degrees C, for example, will freeze before water warmer than 60 degrees C but not before water cooler than 60 degrees C. This phenomenon is particularly evident when the surface area that cools by rapid evaporation is large compared with the amount of water involved, such as when you wash a car with hot water on a cold winter day. [For reference, look at Conceptual Physics, by Paul G. Hewitt (HarperCollins, 1993).]

That's a "hip" roof, alright. I wonder if it started life covered with cedar shakes? If it did, there was a long history of leaks, no doubt. Somebody did an impressive job putting that roof on. The one thing I don't see is ventilation for the roof cavities. That design doesn't allow for venting. You'd have to install a vent in every panel.

Thanks for the feedback, Mark. Don't tell us you pee'd on it. That could get the renters in a huff. [] I have used a heat lamp on a similar spot in my place. I got up at 2 AM because wife said no water, the house is going to freeze solid. Shined the 100 watt heat light into the crawlspace vent from the outside and went back to bed. At 2:30 AM, she had to get up to turn the water off in the sink, haha.

My bad..I just read my original post and realized I didn't make that clear. That sounds like a good place for a geo tech, geological engineer. I would be concerned with the chance of a mudslide. My yard is flooded today, and the forecast is for rain. When people spend thousands on waterproofing, it's a good bet it was needed - wet. It does not sound like they dug down on the outside to apply the exterior coat, does it? If they did, then new drainage should have been part of the fix.

That looks like bird poop to me. Starlings will try to build a nest like that. Pigeons maybe. In 200 years, could include everything from squirrels to roof beavers. [] Every time they heard a rat, he would toss up another box of bait. I guess the rats were not impressed. I see a few droppings, no teeth marks in that bait. All that rustling they were hearing was probably the birds, anyway.

That's a good tip. I just tried it on some of the fuses in my panel. On a lot of them, it was difficult to read the number because of all of the black carbon & pitting. One was especially easy to read though. It said, "In God We Trust, Liberty, 1984." Yes, that would be a "Lincoln" fuse. They are rated at the melting point of copper.

Yes, and we only get one side of the tale. Maybe there were genuine repair issues, but the home owner chose to remember her version of the story. Maybe she chose to forget the 2 hours the electrician spent replacing a bad circuit in the crawlspace. Tinned copper is easy to pick out. It is sheathed in woven cloth and rubber insulated. Al wiring is sheathed and insulated in plastic.

Yeah, but not so fast. What if the 1940's house got a wiring upgrade and maybe an addition in 1972? Click to Enlarge 84.5 KB Click to Enlarge 81.1 KB This is it. 1920's built, lots of newer wiring, some cloth wrapped, but at least one Al branch circuits. I called for an electrician to repair the Al ground wire and to check the place over.

30 amp Edison fuses are green.

A Nanaimo, BC home inspector, Rick Neveaux, has suffered a spinal injury after falling 10 feet when his Telesteps Type 1 1600 ladder collapsed. The story is that a pin broke. If you use this type of ladder as many of us do, please be aware of its limitations. This type of sudden collapse could happen to anyone, any time.

Thanks, good point. After the blaze, it could be hard to prove the old wires were not responsible, and easy to claim they were. Hopefully there would be copies of invoices from the upgrades. But around here quite often there will be sections of K&T still in use in the hard to reach areas, in the plaster ceilings between floors, for example.

That would be scary for people who like to sneak a smoke while on the crapper. [] It sounds like you called out a loose toilet and a lack of caulking, but the contractor just caulked it to the floor. If the toilet is tight, do you call for caulking?

Well, after posting regarding my personal experience with why it's helpful to caulk a toilet to the floor, I now see Jim has already posted that same reason here. Yup, little boys can make keeping a busy half bath odor free tough. Right, good point. I had to learn to shoot straight early into this relationship. [] I have limited experience with fixing other people's toilets, lucky that way. I suppose caulking goes for the planks around the toilet, too? Now down in the basement, they didn't have that problem, 2nd pic. Click to Enlarge 35.32 KB Click to Enlarge 35.8 KB Pic 3, is this a leak from the boy's toilet or from boys taking a leak? Click to Enlarge 41.75 KB

A $15 voltage sniffer will tell you if it's live. However, if it is clustered with other live wiring, you can easily get a false live reading. Also remember only half the K&T wiring will be hot, the other half are neutrals. So you want to look for a parallel feeder if you find one wire that appears to be dead. AFAIK, the insurers don't care what you do with the old wiring as long as it is not going to cause trouble for them. Click to Enlarge 52.74Â KB This one was live, in a 5 foot basement.

This is from an adjacent forum. Not meaning to open a Pandora's box here but for educational purposes....should the junction between the toilet bowl and the floor be caulked? Mortared? The search function on the forum archives isn't working for me right now. Marc I'm no plumber, but my vote is for No. If the wax ring is installed correctly and the bolts are tight, nothing leaks out. What other reason is there for caulking?

I think I see rubber insulation with a cloth cover, maybe a bit thicker than usual. We know that the rubber breaks down and becomes brittle. No ground path to any of the receptacles or fixtures. Probably antique switches and outlets. You are right to call for replacement, IMO. That would be best practice for your client. Now an electrician has taken responsibility for the wiring. Hopefully that is in writing, because your clients need to find insurance. At least you are on record saying it is unsafe. Someday, your clients will want to sell. Will the wiring still be OK? At some point, somebody will have to bite the bullet and replace at least the bad sections.

Could there be sump with an ejector pump hidden away down there? They are often not vented properly.

Thanks all. Brandon, the full floor overlay looks like the way to go. I am hoping to hear from a local repair company to see if they offer the same service. In the past, I've just said replace the tub, but it's good to suggest alternatives, too. Yes, and they need to prop the floor up prop-erly.