John Kogel

Ok. thanks. If I don't see anything alarming in there I'll just describe what it is and let the client decide if it suits the purpose. A while back I found this really pristine Pushmatic panel in the basement of a 1960's house. It has the bulldog cover over the main breaker and was installed with obvious loving care. Click to Enlarge 21.34 KB Click to Enlarge 59.58 KB

The guideline I use is that the trap arm going from the trap to the drain, needs to allow air back to the trap. If not, air will be sucked down the sink drain, wrong. A nearly horizontal trap arm lets air flow back. The arm enters the wall where it hits a Tee with air coming down from above to displace the waste flowing down. That's the basic setup. It sounds like the plumber is trying to get the correct configuration under the sink. So you probably have a good P-trap there. If there is an elbow pointing down on the end of the trap arm where it enters the wall, there will not be good venting. It should be a Tee, with a pipe going up (a vent) as well as a drain going down. Make sure air can freely come down from the vent through the roof to your sink without going through another trap or restriction in the wall.

Or 3 hinge pins[:-monkeyd That's funny, and so very sad too. I found the missing plumbing stack on a 3 year old home once. It was a steep roof on a steep slope, and I almost passed on climbing up to the ridge to take a peak at the far side of the roof. Finding that made my day. No evidence of damage to the ceiling, maybe evaporation was taking care of it. There was no plumbing anywhere near were the roofers had put the jack, so a change of floor plans, most likely.

I've got an inspection to do in a 50 year old condo building. I expect to see an antique Pushmatic subpanel in there. Copper branch conductors with conduit providing the grounding. No evidence of any problems, just old. Should I automatically call for replacement of any breaker panel this old? Or testing of the breakers by an electrician? There are about 40 units in the building. Would it be stepping out of line to recommend that strata council have all the breaker panels in the building tested? Click to Enlarge 20.84 KB Download Attachment: Bulldog2.jpg 51.66 KB

Can't say I've used "annulus" in a sentence lately, but a good one to keep in mind. []

Holy Crap! Useful language? Those are some of the most piss-poor examples of report writing language we've ever seen on this site. Ditto. And what about the jackass who uses the drycleaning as tarps? Can you imagine Susie Homeowner walking into the room and busting someone screwing around with her clothes? Funny. The dry cleaner bags are the very stuff you don't touch. Fingerprints and DNA. [] An old sheet goes over the top shelf and hangs out over the clothes. Queen size. A big garbage bag spreads out like a tarp on the floor below the edge of the sheet to catch the fluffys. Ladder. Takes a whole minute to set up. When done, I roll that all up and shove it under the carrying strap of the ladder. It's all there for next time, sometimes fluffys and all. [] I never skip the attic. I will sometimes neglect to put all the crap back on the shelves, though. []

IKO and possibly others also made a lousy T-lok shingle which have mostly been torn off by now. They were a thinner grade asphalt shingle. I think we stopped seeing them in stores here in about 1999 or so. The shingles in this pic are 12 years old. First they lose granules, especially on the hotter side of the roof. Then the exposed tar paper will shrink, pulling the tabs up. Then the wind rips the shingle off. Click to Enlarge 65.8 KB This website is better now, but loading pics is still hit or miss. I got only one chance this time. @#$% [] Download Attachment: 4roofs.jpg 83.95 KB

I would avoid blowing insulation in as that will create clouds of dust. Better to carefully lay fiberglass batts over all the exposed Vermiculite. Asbestos particles are extremely light and can remain airborne for hours. The key is to avoid stirring it up. The airborne particles are like microscopic needles that can become embedded in the lungs. I'm no expert, but from what I've heard and read, the concentration of asbestos in vermiculite insulation can vary widely from bag to bag, depending on which areas of the mine it came from. Also, they say that the asbestos will migrate down through the vermiculite so it will be in higher concentration in the lower layers. Vermiculite is fireproof and a good insulator. I have seen attics that have been scorched by fire but the fire stopped at the vermiculite layer. That vapor barrier isn't really completely sealed anywhere so is not likely to cause a problem. You could cut slices in it if there's any sign of moisture being trapped there. Not likely. Paint your walls and ceilings with good quality paint to block moisture at the inside surface. Hope that helps a bit.

Tear off a small corner, look for glass fibers. The reinforced ones are twice as good as the old asphalt T-locks.

Weather his speling is baad won't mattor to a lot of peeple. [] [:-dunce] Thanks, Bill. Your rite, his spelling is good. Watts this about a homo gnome?

Russel Ray in San Diego makes bags of $$$, drives a Mustang to the jobsite. Maybe he will take you under his wing.

It's the rustic look. Comes with a waterfall. []

I see the U-Haul trailer is in the driveway. "We're outta here!" [] Almost as bad as the guys that did the work are the guys that let that continue for 15 years.

I had to get some old OSB off the roof of my shed. Nailed on with coated ring nails. You can't pry that stuff, it just crumbles into tiny chunks. [:-yuck] I used my angle grinder with a thin cutting wheel, zipped all the heads off the nails. You'd have to bore in to the joist a bit to hit the screw, but the high speed wheel on an angle grinder makes a quick cut. Maybe try to lower the deck in one piece or in sections like Marc suggested.

I agree it's wicked cool, but if you took it home with you, what would you do with it? Tell the grandkids it's a one-eyed cast iron robot. I see an eye and a nose at the top of the pic.

Signs are needed for the toilets "Do not flush during the rinse cycle". []

The architect doesn't get out much. Never tried to walk a dog on a leash, or push a baby buggy or ride a trike down a sidewalk. Or tried to stagger home in the wee hours of the AM. Hope somebody's handing out helmets. []

It doesn't look like the place has seen a trained electrician either.The lack of a cable clamp at the very least makes that a serious hazard, IMO. Also, when I see that much insulation left on the cable inside the panel, it says "amateur". Like you say, somebody has added a feeder for some other use. Even if there were no fried wires, you are right to call for a qualified electrician to make repairs. The trouble with burying the cables like that, the kids can't use them for ziplines, and that's no fun. []

It's poo with a visible aura. Some folks poo-poo reincarnation, while it's happening right under their feet. []

Thanks Scott. I understood they are generally solitary, but they are rare here. Tennessee must be the place for bees to bee. Would painting the wood help discourage them?

This place I'm in now had a downdraft propane furnace in it. (It's gone now, I got $150 for it).There were no return air ducts, just heating ducts in the crawlspace. It was open to the hallway and just pulled return air from the surrounding area and blew down thru the heat exchanger into the ductwork below. I've seen similar setups, where a large grill is installed in the wall of the furnace room to provide return air from the living space. It is simple, but the furnace needs to be near the center of the house. The return air will always be relatively warm and dry, so maybe the heat exchanger lasts longer?

Everybody's got to bee somewhere. []That is too many bees in one plank, though, and they don't normally bore along the surface like that, do they? I agree, the planks could be sawn from insect-damaged logs. I would suggest they have a talk with the builder.

Don't kid yourself. Americans love Australians and love your country even though we haven't been there. Yeah, tell your clients to crack a couple of beers and throw a few more shrimps on the barbie. If these last few years are any indication, it ain't gonna rain anytime soon. [] []

Not necessarily true, is it? I've seen cases where contractors come in to upgrade an old 60 Amp service and the only thing they did was install a 200 Amp panel. The original SEC and meter base were still there along with the original power coming wiring to the meter base. - Erby and John, I think you know this is a bad thing, but your sarcasm could be misinterpreted here. Marc is correct. A 200 amp breaker will allow for a load up to 200 amps before power is disconnected by the breaker. If the service conductors are undersized, such as what you'all Kentuckians are describing, they will simply overheat as the loads increase. Bad. Someone correct me if this is wrong. Two 200 amp panels may be supplied by a meter rated only for 320 amps. because there is an 80% rule. I think the idea is that the continuous load will never exceed a total of 320 amps, although there is a capacity for 400 amps. or something like that. In my country, we do not have a 6 breaker rule. We will always see a main breaker, so that part of inspecting is made easy. If I see a service panel, not a subpanel, with no main breaker, it is from the 50's and needs to be replaced.

Re: the deck. I typically see plywood used to attach the stringers to the deck. Exterior grade plywood is very strong, does not split or warp, and allows the fasteners to penetrate deeper into the end grain of the stringers. As a few have said, it should be cheap to fix, and those stairs look to be fine otherwise.