John Kogel

That roof is steeper than 12 in 12. My arms would be too short to grab the ridge. Coming back down is when I want to crap my pants. Your body doesn't operate the same on the descent. "Pebbledash" is the only stucco style I can think of, thanks, Richard M for that one. No, that's not pebbledash, more like boulderdash. []

Elsewhere known as 'quietus'. The final stroke. Marc Must be Cajun spelling. It is spelled 'coitus' up this way. []

I think Bill is right, manmade product.What ever you do keep the powder from fluffing up as dust. You should get a professional team in there to put up plastic curtains and then carefully bag the wetted down vermiculite. It is a Haz Mat job.

We need to analyse the particles. Carpenter ants push frass out of their nest. That would be building material and skeletons. There would be ant skeleton parts in the debris. Look up, waay up, for where the debris is coming from, the floor above? What is grey up there? Vermiculite insulation, maybe. Since you are out on the prairie it could be real sand, blown into the house every time there's a dust storm. But lightweight and grey with gold sounds like vermicky.

Good point Marc. The assumption here is that bonding would have prevented a fire. A good lawyer would require them to prove it.

He posted this on Inspection News I don't see any need to name him or his company. Just bad luck he was caught in the crossfire, IMO. Default "I just got sued: Lightning strike and CSST Just this week I received notice from an insurance company's legal firm that they are seeking a $103,000 reimbursement check from me for fire damage sustained from a lightning strike on a home I inspected 3 years ago. The lightning strike happened a year and half ago. The legal team went after the Ward company claiming defective csst. The Ward legal people pointed the finger at me because I failed to follow TREC sop "The inspector shall report as deficient appliances and metal pipes that are not bonded or grounded.' The one time I failed to mention this deficiency, is the one time lightning strikes that particular house. What are the odds. In the five years that I've been inspecting, only one time did I see the bonding cables on all metal piping and appliances in the attic. My insurance company is handling this. I'll keep you guys posted." Then a bunch of guys get on and nitter natter about what they think. Then the HI returns to declare - his insurance company no longer wants his business.

Thanks. I had no idea they were turning out 4 foot sheets in that era.

Where these the 16" strips? What we call gypsum lath up here? I have only seen that in post-1950 houses.

They don't always get it right. More brackets are better than less, or none. Click to Enlarge 47.86 KB Click to Enlarge 31.26 KB

Up here you buy poly covers that fit over the back of the box with a gasket around the front. But we use the CEC.

A jury trial for HI? Isn't it more likely to be a judge in civil court? But then you are in Maryland, right. []

No my artiste has to sit in the cold dark basement and do it the old way, or I ain't buying it. [] I know they work with photos but why bother with the paint then? Just use software. []

Marc, yours was a dud, for sure. Raymond Wand in Ontario bought the higher end whatever it is and had good success until he clipped an oak tree and crashed it. Here's a fun video he posted. These are a high-powered craft. Although I suspect the beer box may be empty. Note 6 rotors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CBpaDY4yPc

Some people have too much time on their hands. Like sitting in their basements painting still lifes instead of painting the place, selling it and moving to the lake. [] Jim, your monitor is shining light into your pupils. Santa gave my wife a Kobo for Xmas. It hurts her eyes to read it for any length of time. she has to put it down and look away for a while.

There's going to be an appeal, and after that more appeals, and the whole thing will just turn in to a free-for-all for LA lawyers. Paid for by tax payers and the consumers that have to buy paint. []

Locked rotor amps to me means if she freezes up, the motor could draw up to 50 amps, so be sure to include a 20 amp breaker. Just a warning, IOW. That appears to be a hefty pump, as you say, maybe to overcome the sewer pipe pressure. I'm pleased to hear you are going that route, as it will help to dry out your yard and save the fishys too.

Each panel has 120 v circuits, mostly 20 amp circuits. OK then they are both 120 volt subpanels? That might not be a problem if the grounding is correct. It sounds like an electrician should check things over regardless. Antique equipment.

I've used a Window Access database for years but it is not mine to pass on. I use it for accounting, enter revenues and expenditures, it does the math and generates report sheets for year end. A fellow inspector wrote it up in his spare time. But for tracking past inspections, Access is great. Name the street, I can search for that street and find all the inspections I've done there. Name the client, search, and his inspections pop up. Anyone with Access savvy can write a database program for you.

Could you clarify that? You need a load to compare the voltages?

Thanks, Rob. That is a common setup here for newer crawlspaces; Concrete floor, perimeter insulation and a baseboard heater or two, hopefully with a thermostat near the hatch. A lot of home owners have never touched the control since they moved in. Sometimes they are cranked on full, but quite often the seller has left the heat turned off to save money. Anyway, I love these crawls, especially when there is a clean strip of carpet to lay on. Are you saying that subs are attracted to heat? I know ants like a warm nest, didn't know that about termites, but saw the mud tube here from the dirt to the heater, which was on.

With a digital multimeter, measure both legs of your service relative to the neutral. You can do this at the dryer outlet if you have an electric dryer. Or you can measure a variety of 120 volt outlets. Make sure you have an equal voltage on both legs. In any case I would call the power company and tell them you suspect a problem, storm related. It could be the transformer that supplies your house is faulty or there's a bad connection. But it could be a loose connection in your panel around the main breaker. AC at 60 cycles per second has a low hum.

Yes, we probably should be working to eradicate them in the pockets like this one, where they obviously are established. But like true Canadians, we are going to wait and see. Maybe they'll fly away. [:-party] People won't pay for treatments until they've got the termites, I'm afraid. In the last decade, we allowed a mountain pine beetle invasion that has destroyed millions of acres of forest. Nothing was done to stop the spread of the beetles when they first started to spread. We waited for a colder than average winter to finally slow them down.

Nope. Subterranean termite attacks are rare, so there's no real need for treatment as a rule.

Subterraneans are kind of rare on Vancouver Island. We have more of the Dampwood termites that attack wood that is already rotting. So I was a bit surprised to find these mud tubes in the middle a dry 5 year old crawlspace. There is a shrinkage crack between the concrete skim coat and the footing. I wonder if there is an old log or stump under the house. There are no signs of termites around the exterior foundation. Just this one attack. They found a crack between the top plates of the stud wall. Click to Enlarge 43.43 KB Click to Enlarge 45.82 KB Click to Enlarge 46.57 KB

Yeah, Chad. Can't you make your own with epoxy and flour? Add another year or two to the project. [] All the instructions for plaster casting are on this page: http://www.sfvictoriana.com/casting.htm I think you could lay a strip of wood in the mold for a backer?