John Kogel

Those little cab-over trucks have become fairly common here in the last 10 years. They are imports from Japan and Hong Kong, so they are predominantly right-hand drive. You get a cheap second hand city truck and have to learn to drive it. [] We used to have a law prohibitting right hand drive, but not so now. http://www.autorec.co.jp/japanese-used-trucks.php

Could it be coming from the water heater drain pan? That is my first guess. I see them like that fairly often with 1 1/2 pipe. Maybe it's an extension. The tank may be leaking, regardless of the faucets.

Yeah what a goof. If he put 50 clamps tight together, he could stop all the leaks before they start. []

The way I understand it is that the receptacles downstream from the GFCI have some protection for faults between neutral and hot. But they still have no ground, so the remote tester won't trip the breaker in the GFCI. The remote tester shorts hot to the ground pin through a resistor.

There are alternatives to the old wax ring, and especially if you have to double them up. There's an all rubber seal and one that has wax around the top with a rubber funnel.

Good pic, but did you measure that kid's head with the proper calipers? [] Good way to keep the kids in line, like cows in their stalls. []

Thanks, Chad. Pre-cast concrete explains it all, including the mismatch of the mortar lines. That thing won't come down without a fight, tho. []

Built in Eureka in the 70's by an aging Beatnik surfer dude? I have seen a few 2x4 floors but that guy was extreme. I wouldn't let anyone I know buy that for the fulll premium cost of a standard frame house. It is substandard construction and I'm afraid I would report it thus. [] The burning question is why didn't he build a geodesic dome with all those offcuts? More nails than know-how, I guess. []

Snow piles up around the posts and helps to keep everything straight. [] I think the builder knew what he was doing 40 years ago, but good call on your part. I couldn't resist posting pics of the largest wood structure in the Northern Hemisphere, the Kinsol Trestle over the Koksilah River, South Vancouver Island. All repaired now with a plank deck and metal guard rails and thousands of lag bolts. The old railway bed is now a cycling trail. It was built to haul mostly logs by rail but was named after the King Solomon Silver Mine, which is nearby. We used to walk the tracks, no guard rails, and crawl around in the old mine with matches for light, dumb kids. Anyway, the resemblance is there, plenty of diagonal braces. Click to Enlarge 102.35 KB Click to Enlarge 85.9 KB

He does make a good point, that when a ceiling was removed, the asbestos levels in the air went way up. Obviously, the vermiculite should be removed professionaly before the ceiling is torn down, regardless of the test results. We agree that the tests are inconclusive anyway. Even after removal of the insulation, there will be dust between the planks and the lath. Also there will be asbestos in the plaster dust, even if there was no vermiculite insulation in the attic.

Window AC unit? Hot air rises so it is not likely the smell is coming down from above unless a power vent is pulling air down from the roof.

The regulator gives off little puffs of propane from time to time. So it may have accumulated there in the inspection pit. We don't bury them here, so I don't know much about that.

It is a stucco wall and the algae is the dark stains on the stucco. Click to Enlarge 23.12 KB

Commercial building, must be uninsulated. The green slime algae never misses an optimum grow site. Click to Enlarge 46.41 KB

Who works on water heaters anyway? It is less money and a better fix to replace the tank.

PEX is the standard here and has been since PolyB got blackballed. There is no good reason not to install PEX and it is very user-friendly. A total moron can screw up the connections, but people with average intelligence have no problem.

He must have a long copper discharge tube there with elbows and angles, just in case a bit of water ever came out of the valve. [] That fitting would be a non-issue for me, but if there are more than 3 elbows, those would be restrictions.

That's what he said, "strange one (1)". Maybe the fine spray vaporized the odorous gas better than the flushing toilet. I have a valid excuse for bad smells - allergies, constant sneezing, can't smell nuthin. []

They're probably not strong enough to lift you yet. [] Air Crane. Google it. The thought of pulling a telescoping ladder up from the ground scares me a bit. If it collapses on you up there, you will get no help until the firemen arrive. I will use the folding ladder for the first floor and pack the Tele under my arm. I had a funny response to the Alzheimers question, but I forget what it was. []

Your job keeps you fit, but it is hard on the knees and feet, I'd imagine. I am still a Telesteps user indoors because I was lucky and got a good one. The X&C is heavy to carry and slow to setup and fold in comparison. Why I like the Tele is this - I set it against the wall with 8 or 9 rungs extended, climb up two rungs, set the hatch aside, push out from the wall with one hand, pull two more rungs out up into the attic hatch, climb in. Coming down, push out, collapse two rungs, close the hatch, climb down. To fold it release the two bottom catches and the ladder folds up. Fast and light.

I suggest the chewed spot could be filled with epoxy filler and painted. Just make sure the guy you hire has insurance, in case he falls off the roof and breaks something. [] When I was a kid, I read about Davy Crockett shooting squirrels, but I couldn't picture it. Our native squirrels are only a couple of inches long, like a chipmunk. There wouldn't much left after the musket ball takes him out. Now thanks to globalization, we've got your big grey squirrels. I can easily picture shooting them rascals. []

Cellulose is good stuff to have in your attic. It forms a solid blanket that blocks air movement, so is better than fiberglass, in that respect. Is you attic hatch cover insulated? That is something many people neglect.

Must be a young guy. [] We used to turn our antenna every time somebody changed the channel, because we got signals from three cities, Vancouver, Bellingham and Seattle. Hard to do that in an attic. We had a pipe attached to the front porch. The signal was ultra-high frequency so it would travel through the roof no problem. But height was important for long distance reception because of the curvature of the earth. The best part of all that was that it was absolutely free. Mark, I mentioned an antenna in an attic a couple of months ago, I don't know why. The client sent me an email afterwards, asking how much would it cost to remove it. Sigh. []

Henry Ford Sr was partially to blame for the lack of Robertson head screws in the US. When Mr Robertson refused to give up his patent, Ford refused to use Robertson's screws and put a curse on him to boot. They say Mr Robertson died peniless, but the curse has affected all ye who have struggled with Phillips all these years (and now Torx, yuk). The Robertson screwdriver is tapered so it jams in the screw head. I carry one bit that fits all the Robertson screws I normally encounter, and the one smaller size for removing receptacles. Those heads are a size smaller. The Phillips screwdriver is there in the bag for the odd time someone subs a screw from the junk drawer. Jefferson Electric applied for a patent of the renewable fuse design in 1927, so that dates those fuses as later additions to the house, interesting. I guess the electrician was referring to that feature and I wasn't getting it, thus there was confusion on my part. []

Thanks, y'all. "Renewable" makes sense. Those older Jefferson fuses have screws securing the caps, so they can be refurbished with a new link. They are Canadian fuses, so they got to use Robertson head screws. [] The "Renewable" lettering is too dusty to come out clear in my pics. Jefferson Electric also made toy train transformers. I had a 'Little Jeff' transformer in my junk box for a few years, sold it at a radio swap meet.