John Kogel

Believe it or not, the BC building Code requires the bath fan to run continuously in new construction. I think it has to do with off-gassing. Houses are built tight and locked up all the time. It is pretty standard practice to bypass the fan switch until after the code inspector has done his final inspection. 🤓 Sometimes the electrician or builder doesn't get back to installing the switch and the fan is found to be going strong a year or two later.

Right, the roofer should be stepping up to fix it. Every rafter cavity must have a vent, and that vent must keep water out. If the lower roof edges already have gutters, then gutters with downspouts on the upper roof sections are one good way to prevent splashing.

Here before mid-60's, it was common to add just one clay liner at the top for looks. In an older house, if you don't shine a light in there or take a pic with a flash, there is no guarantee of a lined chimney. I will call out any unlined chimney for repair. New rules demand full scaffolding and fall protection for a mason before he can even repoint the outside. Old chimneys are a liability because there is no cheap fix and fire insurance keeps going up. Cheapest and best is a conversion to NG with a metal liner.

Right, you pretty well need a laptop for report writing and picture display and they come preloaded with Win10.

See if you can find a Jaws ladder. I think Werner ladders use the Jaws ststem of tapered joints with locknuts. They are lighter and have stronger knuckle joints than the LG's, so the ladder is stiff when set up. I like removing the upper end of my 24 footer, slides off, so that it has 3 six foot sections and that removes 1/4 of the weight.

A typical TPRV drain here is the white plastic type, plain old PVC. On a tank heater, the drain squirts into a pan under the tank. Then the pan should have a drain pipe to the exterior or to a perimeter drain. 3/4" PEX would be undersized in comparison to the ready-made thin-wall PVC, I think. Y'all know this but when lurkers come here to learn, they learn good.😄

Even so, "I like yer hypeathral" could get you a slap in the face. Be careful with this new knowledge. 😄 (I was too yellow to be seen near the movie theaters, and doubt if it even came here. 😆)

"Garden structure" would work for me. 😄 I think I learned this here, keep it down to a Grade 6 level so nobody gets confused.

It may have been accepted at the time, but is a funky mess by the standards of today. Best to recommend a new breaker panel, and an electrician might want to install a new meter housing. Then the power company may want the weather heads upgraded to a single mast, and in the case of two owners, this could escalate into a big headache for a new home buyer. So don't go too easy on something like this, which was just barely adequate to start with.

Right, if a professional electrician installed them, you could look like a gringo calling them out and cause unnecessary delays for a home buyer.. Ask local electricians if they use those subs. Just a thought.

The most quiet exhaust fan is one that in inline with just the intake vent in the room. A really noisy fan won't get used at all. Don't try to mount a ceiling fan on its side in a wall. The fan bearings need to be designed for a sideways mount. The actual position of the fan in the ceiling is not that critical. It should change all the air in the room in a reasonable length of time. I'd put the fan away from the door, where the makeup air comes in. I wouldn't mount it inside the shower enclosure, not necessary, increases possibility of a shock hazard, like after a tenant breaks or loses the vent cover. I like the timer switch with the choice of 5 time periods. In a basement suite, typical low ceiling, Mr. Handy had fixed the noisy bath fan that always came on with the light. He installed a metal-handled toggle switch right on the cover, inside the shower enclosure, yikes.

Right, the next thing to do would be to search for the filler cap. Even if the filler cap is gone, good chance the tank is still there, otherwise that vent wouldn't be left behind. Sometimes the tank has been filled with sand and left in place, but not likely in this case, or you would have it in writing, and they'd get rid of the vent in most cases. PITA for mowing for 62 years now.

Right, if you have ever seen a standard-sized washer empty into a laundry sink, you know how fast the washer pump will fill that sink to within a few inches of the top. The little sink drain can't catch up, so yes, it needs to be a big reservoir. Basement laundry drains are fun. I remember one where the washer hose was extended straight up to a very short standpipe/elbow and a drain pipe suspended from the ceiling joists. The sewer drain was in the basement wall several feet above the floor, and the bottom landing for the stairs was there, so up and over was really the only option. I looked up the specs for the washer pump and it was rated for a max lift of 8 feet, acceptable IMO, but the short standpipe was wrong.

Thanks, Jim. I'm in full agreement, and who can argue with the math? Machines are in separate units with a common laundry room wall, and both draining in unison would be a disaster. A parallel drain pipe is a bit of work but eliminates the Russian roulette aspect. This made me think of the old Power Miser relay that we used to see here on electric dryer circuits. When one appliance is running, another appliance on that circuit has power cut off.

Adjoining laundry rooms share the same 2" ABS plastic drain pipe. The pipe connects to a vent stack and a 4" drain. Is it acceptable for the two washers to share one trap through a Y or T above the trap? That is, can they share the stand pipe?

It stops water streaming down the valley from running along the top of a shingle strip. Good luck with that. If I was closer I'd stop by to lend a hand.😷

Thanks, Jim. A brand I'm familiar with is JB Woody. Two jars of putty, mix equal parts together. It sets up hard enough to sand in a few hours, but won't take a stain, has to be painted.

In some climates you'll see mold spores everywhere you go. You haven't given us a general location. If you can visualize a swamp in the spot where the house is now, it could be a problem. There should be good drainage around the basement foundation and some where for rain water to go. Those are basic things to check if you're in a place where it rains.

Right, Marc knows mold, living in swamp country all his life . 😎 Mold doesn't grow on metal, it grows on the dirt on the metal. There has to be some dust or dirt for it to eat. Metal window frames collect dust and moisture, and then a bit of mold will grow on that. Some algae don't need much food, that's the green slime you see on a car that never gets washed. When it dies, it turns black. That black stain is harmless. There is a black mold that releases spores that can be an irritant to some people, and it is often seen when drywall is allowed to get wet. That mold grows on the paper coating of drywall.

Cut her some slack, she's cute and her new house is the same age as me.😎 I too have stood well for so long.

In the early years, it was caulk only, After a while, ☹️ flashing each joint became the standard for obvious reasons. With the flashing there, the caulk is not needed, but caulk and paint might be done to hide gaps.

Nope, also a pine 2x4 or whatever dimension installed flat does not make an adequate support beam, either. The rotten joist will continue to rot, should have been removed, probably. Are we supposed to believe the termites have moved out? What about the moisture that lead to that mess? Was that issue solved?

Right, I skipped over that part about the snow load in your first post. A mansard (barn) roof design might suit your plan better. A properly built dormer has short rafters from double headers up to the ridge to oppose the rafters on the back side. As far as the height restriction goes, there is always a way. You just haven't found it yet. I have seen several times where what looks like a ridge turns out to be a flat strip with a torched on membrane, a gable roof with the top cut off. You need the help of a professional, IMO. It's too big of a project for screwups.

Right, somebody somewhere has designed the best layout. Also it varies with the expected max snow load, better to go up to the next higher level. I took my first plan to the local municipal inspector. He shot it down, told me why, approved it after the changes. Get off on the right foot with that guy, and get advice from an engineer if possible. Usually you use floor joists to tie the long walls to the center beam. Running them parallel, you loose that rigidity where the rafters push out on the walls. I'll have to read the long text again later.

Right, we don't get the frost so much as moisture and white or greenish mold growing on the wood. In worse cases, fungus attacks the wood. Once there, it destroys the wood. It comes from excess moisture in the crawlspace. I normally would recommend ventilation and improvements to drainage. A crawlspace I remember had been remediated with the sealed liner, sump pumps and dehumidifier. $25G spent but it was all too late. The subfloor was rotten all around the outer walls. The remediation was a ripoff. My clients walked. I have also seen those OSB I-beam joists they use now with wood-destroying fungi in them. Too late by then to save the joist. Something to watch for. Your pic shows moisture unable to escape, condensing on the cold surface. One thing we do here is install an electric baseboard heater in the crawlspace with a thermostat to keep the space warm enough to evaporate the moisture. Yes, it costs money to keep rot out of that OSB.