John Kogel

K&T was used into the 50's in my area. Old timers had garages full of old stuff and were slow to change their ways, maybe? Also, as you know, the actual date of construction can be off sometimes by a decade or so, especially if the paperwork was lost. Yes, I would be recommending rewiring all the K&T circuits, because of deteriorating rubber insulation on the wire. They don't have to cut out the old wire, just pull in new cable and install new boxes.

Agreed. I would have an electrician verify that it is kosher, because I believe it would not be allowed here, Canada.The wire gauge needs to be rated for the breaker feeding it, 400 Amps.

Moderators, should we delete this s$*t now before someone gets hurt? [?][?]

The gnomes did it. I knew they couldn't be trusted. Here's one not mentioned yet. Drano in a coke bottle, add a strip of Al foil, you got H gas. Trap that with a metal funnel and a big balloon, (very hot bottle!) add a TP wick, you got a floating fireball! [:0]

They did not use the black glue, so that is a good thing. Anytime you see black glue, it will be saturated with abestos. I recognize that pattern as typical 70's ugly. []

What Jim said, but have the electrician check the GFCI too. It should have a grounding jumper to the metal box if it doesn't connect to ground thru the mounting bracket.

Just tell them there is no displacement, just a 'surface' crack. Or tell them it is fixed now, tube of concrete caulk.

Your house has a few flaws. If they want it, they will buy it. You can refuse any unreasonable demands. You are not obliged to repair anything for them. For example, the grounding conductor is installed in a way that doesn't meet today's safety standards. If this is a concern, then they can try to negotiate a lower price or to have you repair the flaw. You say "no, I will sell the home to another buyer."

Thanks, that was entertaining. Makes me want to wire that up for fun before the sparky comes over to hook up my new service. []

Depending on whether the inspector from town is super anal or super reasonable, a whole bunch of scenarios are possible. Ask him if he has a recommendation for your furnace room. If your woodstove installation is compliant with the regulations, I would leave everything the way it is for now. Talk to the inspector about it, and get it right with him. Then you are in the clear with your insurance people as well, everything is approved. What about just putting up some louvered dividers to separate the furnace from the hall?

The support for HI Pro is superior to any others, IMO. I bought the basic software on sale 10 years ago and have not had to shell out a dime since. That program produces the PDF right on my laptop, no logging in to a cloud or whatever. The new versions have cloud and all the new bells and whistles for tablets and such. I had to use Palm-Tech when I contracted some work from another outfit. Support was terrible, some dingbat would answer the phone but there was never a problem at their end, always my fault their mandatory upgrades would crash my laptop. The only time I had a problem with Vista was when they introduced their new version and my PC locked up. Had to borrow another laptop, then restart Windows by going back to an earler date, pre PalmTech. Great way to spend a few hours. After that, every time they upgraded or whatever it was, I would lose half a day's work. You are safe if you do a fresh log in on the day they make changes, but there is never a warning. Then when the crash occurs, which is when you go to produce the finished report, you are not able to log in normally. You have to do a fresh log in, but your work is not saved. Rework the whole deal, drag and drop the pictures, pretty fast, takes about an hour. This happened 3 times to me and multiples goofups to the other guys and then we thankfully went elsewhere. End of rant. []

Too general for such a major issue. If that was in my report, I would question where you got the x-ray vision to see a missing footer. We think the basement drain system you say was installed must be interior and visible, but you do not say so. It may sometimes cause a problem? I need to know if it IS a problem. " A perimeter drain system has been installed in the basement. From the location of the drainage ditch adjacent to the basement wall, I suspect there might not be a footer under the foundation wall." Could the drains be laid on top of the footers? No sign of uneven settlement? Not a problem after all? I'd be choked if you were wrong about that.

Goodness me. Is there possibly another fuse or breaker box, such as for AC? In any case, the whole works needs an upgrade for safety and insurance reasons.

Thanks. I am prepared to dig up the 3" lower section and replace it if it comes to that, but got the green light for now, which means I can move forward. Got the roof to put on and siding to paint before October. I have a cleanout where the main pipe comes out from under the slab of the new addition, and two cleanouts on 2" drain lines inside. Compared to some of the septic systems I have lived with, this connection to city sewer turns out to be pretty simple.

Here, it would be beveled siding, or dropped or channel siding if it is milled with a groove. Wood was still used up to the mid 1990's, now all vinyl or Hardie or vinyl sides with a Hardie front face. With some faux stone accents. []

Offer something your competitors do not have - IR scan of the house, takes 10 mins to do a quick sweep, but dwell on the typical trouble areas. 2 or 3 IR pics go in the report. Just a suggestion. Clients get their contacts from their trusty realtor, so make friends in the realtor circles and show them you know your stuff. These old farts here don't need to do this but a new guy does. Always answer a question with a positive answer, something that can be done about it. The floor is rotten, but the floor can be cut away and a new floor can be laid in there. Have answers ready and do research. Call when you have a better answer. Become the go-to guy. It is all about personal contact, not flyers or other anonymous communications. Get the realtor's contact info and get your number into their phone. You don't call them to solicit jobs, but they can call you for a clarification. Usually that is to put a dollar figure on the damage you find. You tell them what is involved to fix it, but no specific price of course. There is no conflict of interest if all your work is top notch and you catch legitimate concerns every time. You will lose favor with a few realty contacts but the really productive ones sell several houses a month and expect a few to fall thru because of hidden defects. That is your job, to find them and report them as items needing repair. JMO. Always on time and 100% alert, time efficient and accurate. [:-magnify

Thanks to y'all, I went ahead and reduced the pipe size, but included a cleanout.My buddy the muni inspector says, "good, you can fill it all back in. It was good that you put in that cleanout." The black pipe turns out to be a kind of flexible poly, like black poly water pipe, not brittle like PVC. I used the PVC primer and glue on it, and it is water tight. Anyway, I am firing guns in the air in unbridled celebration. Thanks agin. [:-party] Click to Enlarge 98.87 KB Click to Enlarge 114.41 KB Click to Enlarge 133.5 KB

When I had my oyster ranch, I bought a second hand 22 ft dory boat. It was glued plywood on a wood frame. Painted plywood, no glass, just good marine glue. It never leaked a drop, and I used it to haul coffee sacks full of oysters for about 5 years. After which I sold it, sans the 50 hp Merc, to a guy that used it to sleep in sometimes when he left the pub late. Which may have been fairly often. One night he drifted away in the fog and it took him the best part of a week to get back. He had a little 6 hp with bad ignition. Good boat, tho. [] I recently glued a wood transition strip to vinyl glued on concrete. No nails or screws needed. I used two long bent strips of door casing to put pressure on the wood for 24 hrs. Construction glue.

Maybe a soil sample would be a good way to eliminate one question. Roll damp soil into a worm. Clay soil will keep the shape you form it into. Then that could be expansive soil humping the middle. Sandy soil will fall apart in your hand - the perimeter has sunk, maybe helped along by tremors. When I have seen cracking like that here, the general consensus is usually poorly compacted fill before the garage was built. But the slanted posts seem to indicate some sideways movement.

That's good work, Marc. But how do you teach it to make service calls? [] I think fasteners on an angle are strong, but could pull thru due to the angle of the head, just as an angled roofing nail will tear the shingle. The head of a carriage bolt won't sit flush if the hole is on an angle.

I recall a joist I sistered for an inspection client, shh, don't tell anybody.[:-magnify For good luck, we put one on each side, a 2X10 sandwich. The joist was not rotten. It was a Douglas fir 2X10 that was crowned correctly but humped up so bad it created a high seam in the plywood under the carpet. My client had been upset for about 6 months, and to end the irritation, I got a helper and we did surgery on the hump, pulled it down and double sistered it. For leverage, we attached a 2X4 prybar to the humped joist with a long joist hanger for a strap. Then I held that down and buddy applied glue and drove in some screws. I jumped up and down on that floor after that and could not shake a model sailboat on a sidetable 6 feet away. []

Thanks but I won't do that, as I have brought the pipe around from the back of the house already, 70 feet of 4" already laid. Is Broughten a word? Why, well there was this giant tomato plant that had to be given a home right over my pipeline. [] The town info says I've got a 4" hookup, so I made an ass-umption. It will be a cleanout with the reducer below that. That way the 4" pipe will fire the stools down into the 3" bottleneck. Brilliant!

"bi-det[bid-ay] NOUN a low oval basin used for washing one's genital and anal area." 2 syllables, that's OK, I guess Do y'all call it a bid-ay or a bidett? "Proclivity", now that's too many syllables and connotations for this forum. [:-magnify

I am doing my rough plumbing for an addition to my bungalow. The new pipe from the suite, Kitchen and bathroom with a tub, is a 4" PVC pipe. I located the main pipe from my 1983 house today and was a bit surprised to see a 3" black pipe. It looks like PVC and is thin like PVC, but I will know for sure when I cut it. So to connect to the 3" pipe, what fittings are best? Choice #1 Reduce the 4" PVC to 3" ABS, with a 3" 45 degree facing down, short stub to street elbow into a 3" Wye. #2 From the 45 facing down, a short stub into a 45 and a sanitary Tee. #3 Stay with 4" PVC past the first 45, then reduce going into the 3" pipe. I'll use a Fernco connector to put the new fitting into the old pipe. Which way is bettter? #4 I know the best choice would be dig out the 3" and go 4" to the main sewer line. But I hope to avoid that digging and landscaping. Click to Enlarge 96.68 KB Click to Enlarge 92.2 KB

A urinal in the upstairs closet? [:-magnify