John Kogel

I made a correction to my post above. I found a Watts TPRV that spent 9 years in service before the tank sprang a leak. The TPRV is now scrap, especially now that I mickeyed around with it. They cost about $12 and should be replaced every 10 years or so, but nobody does that. When I clamp the handle shut in the vise, I cannot pry the valve open. Free up the handle and shaft, and the valve can easily be opened with a screwdriver. So for this TPRV, and therefore all of them, blocking the handle would be dangerous and inexcusable. Which was my philosophy all along, but is finally verified. I see people cut holes in drywall, but why not just drain the tank and shove it over 2"? There's usually some flex in the supply pipes to do that.

Thanks for the correction. I'd be a lousy gun inspector. But you'd stay alive. [:-magnify Kurt, you nailed it, careless gun owner won't notice squat. I see shotguns, but the tech term up here would be 'long guns' which covers the whole range of hunting rifles and shotguns. I think. Now what about the top-heavy client? []

In some districts of the Golden State (Hi Denny), if houses are built to the minimum dist from the sideline, the only lower venting allowed is up on the deck like that. Those vents helps stop fires from jumping from house to house.

Kinda like a float house at low tide, eh? I couldn't live with that. Besides falling over trying to walk down the hall, I'd be re-hanging pictures and hearing how I hung them crooked all over the place, no thanks. []

I thought so. Useless as tits on a boar. Pardon the farmer slang. []

I'd call that a nipple. Sorry if that's offensive to some. [] The old guy was a farmer so he had grease nipples installed on everything he owned. []

Here's a just few examples:Clearance above driveways is greater in Canada. More snow pack, maybe. Service drop over the roof is verboten, except at the eaves. Grounding conductor #6 stranded copper, no Al. 15 amp wall outlets, no more than 12 outlets or fixtures per circuit. Bathroom light switch no closer than 3 feet (1 meter) from the inner edge of the tub. AFCIs on bedroom outlets only. Split duplex 15 amp outlets for the kitchen counter. The new rules allow 20 amp, so we can have GFCI outlets. Only needed around the sink. No ban on Stab-Lok breakers. There are plenty more.

What do you base this on? Your opinion? It is perfectly code legal, not the best way to install one, but 100% code legal. The one stipulation is that pretty much every bath fan I have ever seen has, according to the instruction, been required to be GFI protected if installed over a tub or shower. The problem with your "Yep, call it a fault." is that lay folks will take it as fact, when it is really just an opinion. Then we trade folks get looked at funny when we state the actual facts. Well I am in Canada where it is not permitted so that does affect my opinion.If it was perfectly safe I don't see any reason it would not be permitted here. If the client wants to rely on a GFI to protect his family from death, then that is up to him and his electrician, I suppose. The combination fixtures I am familiar with are not rated for mounting over the tub, but that is based on what I've seen here, not what is sold to renovators in Texas, so yes, opinion again. You are right and thanks for the code info.

Could have been a trellis for roses or grapes that was built against the siding.

I tested an outdoor outlet one time and the GFCI tripped somewhere in the house. Two outdoor outlets and a water feature were dead. I eventually found the tripped GFCI outlet in the master bedroom behind a bedside cabinet. [:-magnify One of the dead outdoor outlets was directly outside that bedroom wall. A buddy gave me his old power washer, bought a bigger one he said. I took it up on the balcony and it blew the breaker. That circuit also happened to power my desktop PC which was on at the time. After that little incident, PC would not reboot, junk, and the pressure washer went to the dump, more junk. That was the only time a circuit breaker ever tripped in that house.

It is closer to the panel than any of the other 5 dead outlets. Weird wiring is usually the result of the sparky choosing the shortest route to the outlet, but sometimes it is the route with the fewest holes to drill.

Marc, check the poster's profile - an insurance specialist. Spam? Probably, bogus story about an infiltrating water mystery. []

Yep, call it a fault. The clients will take it from there, but it is wrong and there are plenty of reasons why, shock hazard included.

You could have included that that was a Cedar shingle roof that you tore off. The shingles allow air to escape, and the roofing paper was or should have been the perforated type that lets at least some air pass thru. Too bad they waited about 5 years too long to tear that mess off.. I'm pretty sure Cedar roofing now has to be treated with fire retardant down your way, but maybe that's farther south?

I agree from the first pics it looks like water has flowed under there, but all seems to be dry now. Also on the positive side, the house has stood firm for 60+ years, and the perimeter walls appear to be plumb and stable. Even so, there could be a seasonal spring that fills those holes every winter. The last hole in your first set of pics looks like it is hand dug, square sides. And there is no water in the bottom of it. Might be an old sump pit or somebody's planned sump pit. I see a lot of your pics show typical stuff for a 1950's crawl. If the wood is all sound, you can focus on that little creek bed. Good luck.

I'll bet that 'cap' is a screen on the exhaust, but that's my guess from 4000 miles away. Make yourself a pole camera. Mine is a paint pole, paint roller handle, mini camera tripod, all done up professionally with black tape. []

Hey, if he doesn't cut the big limb in that last pic he will have more than just some stains to worry about. []

Thanks, Ross, for the pics. I think maybe you should edit your last post and delete that link for personal privacy, but for the time being, it is great. I think that is stone veneer over a wood frame, but I can stand to be corrected. There are a couple of concerns I would have. The kitchen has been reno'ed so check to see if that nice range hood might just be stuck up into the attic. Check the roof above the kitchen for a vent. A hose running up to a vent near the ridge is not correct, but better than nothing. White vinyl hose is unacceptable. You should have a metal vent pipe up there with its own vent. This might prevent a future grease fire. You were describing your crawlspace as being a bit damp. If you need a new vapor barrier, $50 for the poly, plus an afternoon spreading it out. The rest is fluff. A couple of rolls of red construction tape to seal seams. The moisture in the crawlspace rises as you warm the house, and ends up in the attic. So check your roof sheathing for mold. There should be at least 3 or 4 roof vents near the ridge. Check if air can get in at the soffits. Also that roof design has no overhang at the gables. Check for moisture or rot along the ends of the building. No need to dig, I am talking about the wood above ground. Check the concrete block walls for cracks or moisture stains. Use a new LED light. For water supply pipes you want copper pipes, or new PEX, and check for galvanized iron, which will be at the end of its service life. The iron pipes usually start leaking at the threaded ends, but they can rot out from the inside as well. What about the Electrical panel? Is it a newer breaker panel? Your lot has some good slope to it. If water actually accumulates in pools under the house, you need drain pipe all around, the back and side especially, and because of your slope, that pipe can drain to daylight at the base of your lot. No need for a sump pit. One more thing, I see a downspout in the backyard draining to a stone patio area. That should have a solid buried pipe to carry roof runoff away from the house. Maybe the most common source of crawlspace moisture is water from the roof. Old houses had the downspouts connected to the perimeter drains. We don't do that here anymore, downspouts drain to a solid not perforated 3 or 4" PVC pipe that takes all that rainwater away.

Last 2 sentences should be 1, separated by a comma. After the word "Lodging" use a : or -, not a comma. maybe "Lodging is available at ...." The white background color is not very attractive. As mentioned, text needs to be separated from the pic. If that proves difficult, try a border down the side of the pic.

Before sealing or insulating anything, check all around especially the exterior walls for rot, mold or termite tubes. Use a narrow slot-type screwdriver to find soft spots. Go all the way into the back corners where nobody has been for years. It will be an adventure, but then you will know what you've got. I say this because some crawlspace repair people will spray foam insulation right over rotten wood. What year was the house built and could you describe the structure a bit, concrete, walls, siding?

If he had a blower fan in the basement and ductwork drawing air from the upper level down into the basement, the basement would be pressurized and the cold air would be forced up the stairwell, probably. Not any easy thing to experiment with tho. His design is flawed as far as efficiency is concerned. How about going to mini-splits, running independently?

Yes, the rot usually occurs first, then ants find it and make tunnels in the soft spots. If the colony gets real big, they start carving the sound wood around the nest, but often choosing the easy paths, like gaps between planks. If you find a nest, close it back up and let the exterminator carry on from there. Ants will move their nest if they think you are on to them. Termites are a whole other scenario, but you wouldn't see very much evidence on the surface like that. They carve and eat wood, so there is much more hidden damage. When they start to see light thru the wood fibers, they stop, so there will be a thin layer of wood at the surface with tunnels behind.

That much ash tells me it is an old boiler that has maybe not given much trouble but might be near the end of its life.

Would you say you see Fewer boilers all the time, then? [] I think besides Spellcheck, a computer program someday could reject any sentence that doesn't make any sense. "The words you have chosen have been used in that context 0 times in the last 65 years Try that again, or this program will shut down and your worthless data will be lost" []

It is odd that the chimney split on all sides. If it is shrinkage, fresh concrete bricks maybe, then I think you are correct, something prevented the chimney from downsizing itself.