John Kogel

Maybe back in the 20's there was an alley back there, wide enough for a horsedrawn wagon?Re: the size, the outer ring also has a hinge, possibly for emptying the bin.

It's not framed right, either, so yes, I would. (I'd want to see a top plate instead of studs notched into a rafter.) Maybe they grew tropical plants for the local garden shop? []

Could they be possibly interlocking blocks, rather than standard CMU's? Some of the seams look different on the lower courses. Maybe it's half interlocks with some standard CMU's for the top courses? Check out this website. http://www.scribd.com/doc/16507899/Mort ... MU-Systems Does Eureka get an occasional earthquake? Re the water stains, I wonder if the old roof leaked for a while. It looks like some recent fixing has been done.

The rule is to prevent backdrafting, but for gas burners and B vent chimneys the rule is a bit different than for wood burning and masonry chimneys, I believe. I don't know, can somebody do the math? Are they adding the 2 feet here? Click to Enlarge 55.34?KB Actually, we don't need math. On a 12/12 pitched roof, the top of a 4 foot vent stack would only be 4 feet away from the roof. For a woodstove, it would need to be a 12 foot stack.

Too much exposure, nailed too high, flat grain and/or those shakes had considerably more sapwood than the other shakes of mostly heartwood. Right. The top quality shake wood is scarce, so they are picking up wood that in the past would have gone for sawn shingle or siding. That is a pretty extreme warp tho. Some of the other curled shakes may have been split from the same block, probably a butt end. Good shake wood comes from old growth cedar. It is a thing of the past now, all gone.

I may be wrong but that picture shows what seems to be step flashing, cut at an angle at the lower edge instead of straight as I usually see. Marc That could be. It's not what I normally see either. And the flashing would have been installed behind the plywood wall sheathing which is also atypical. It is still wrong.

I would search for the installation manual online. Most of them will show a 4" vent pipe installed for combustion air. The closet door should have an airtight seal, but I will suggest drywall the door opening and cut a new door in from the hall if possible.

My truck was in the shop so I used the Outback and my Jaws fully extended the other day. It is welded Al with those locking knuckle joints. Can't be beat. Little Giants feel unsafe in comparison. Click to Enlarge 132.29 KB

Flush toilet, wait 2 minutes, take shower, water is hot. Sounds good to me. [] Most likely it was a mistake and I'll bet there is a reversed hot/cold somewhere in those walls.

There needs to be a proper transfer switch which cuts power from the main service before the generator is switched in. If that switch is installed correctly, then there will be a 4-wire cable joining the two panels. If not, then it is WRONG. []

The closet door was 17 1/2" wide. My Telesteps is 18" wide. I got up there. I'm about 170 lbs with my pockets full of tools. I think the 15' is best all round for size. But I never go over 8 ' on my Telesteps unless it's one of those attic hatches over the basement stairs. Click to Enlarge 20.42?KB The Xtend and Climb is sturdier than the Telesteps. I would not recommend Telesteps. They are built to loose tolerances and you need to be sure to snap each step before climbing. I intend to buy a new one before this one gets worn out. Nice and light and always clean for inside work.

You have 2 hot wires going to each outlet. You've removed the 20 amp jumpers at all the countertop outlets, right? That same 20 amp circuit still goes to the outlets but with no terminations and now supplies power to the dishwasher, disposer and fridge? I would pull all that wiring out and check all connections. It sounds like there is a fault. In my area, kitchen GFCI's are 20 amp. If your wiring is all #12 copper, I don't know why you've installed a 15 amp GFCI. I would invest in a couple of fish tapes and pull some new wire in behind the cabinets. Don't mess with the subpanel neutrals. Get an electrician to check that out, or post some 800 X 600 pixel pics here, and we can help sort it out.

We think you're looking at a low voltage switch system with 120 vac still going to the light fixture. Only the switches would be 12 vdc, and they activate those high voltage relays. There's no need to rip it all out, unless replacement parts get scarce.

I wouldn't want to rely on a tablet that might just go black screen in the middle of a job. Or blue screen or whatever. I know we are heading that way but not for me not yet. I used to use Palm Pilots for forestry and learned to despise them, so I am biased, I guess. A laptop plugged in to a wall outlet, yes, I can work with that. []

How does it work? How does it know the tank is half full, for example?

If they do that, they're trespassing. [] I know what you mean, though. Sometimes I will recommend putting up a trellis or a fence. A row of shrubs, maybe?

After 5 or 6 relooks, I see the gate does swing over the wall. It just looks like it's hitting in pic 2. I'd mention the gate in passing, but would write up the proximity of the house to the wall, as Jim L. brought up. I like a gate on either side of the house.

The distance can be increased if the SEC's are in conduit buried in concrete.

From yesterday's job, tank installed by a plumber. I'd be a fool to call out all the plastic discharge pipes I see, lots of them. Click to Enlarge 20.9 KB Click to Enlarge 29.39 KB 100 degrees C is 212 F.

Or worse, awnings installed as casements. Seems like a creative type I know did just that many years ago. Think they worked OK. For siding this guy bought the ever more popular enameled steel roofing panels and hung them vertically as siding. There's a townhouse complex I know where they used corrugated metal barn roofing for the siding and the roofs. They call it "Tin Town". The window on its side might not leak, but it won't drain either. If the frame has the little drain slots on the outside, it will need new drain holes drilled in what is now the bottom. Been there.

Back in the 70's, they were 'truck houses'. My wife of 33 yrs and I have camped on a variety of properties in a variety of trailers with additions. That is how we saved up for the first property. We'd get a house started and sell the trailer. One trailer I bought had been fixed up for off-road use with a mobile home axle and springs. Bad idea. The springs were so stiff, it jarred the poor little walls loose from the floor. I eventually removed half the leaves and made a utility trailer out of it.

If it's going to be parked in a friend's yard most of the time, go ahead and build a mini-frame house. If it is going for extended road trips, buy a camper trailer or a camper van instead. Housewrap such as Tyvek is expensive and comes only in a big roll. Builder's felt is cheaper and comes in smaller rolls.

Older house, shiplap sheathing, could be concrete dust.

Sorry, Mike. We still just plop the sill on the concrete around here. A strip of building paper maybe, but it isn't required, AFAIK. For siding, it'll be Hardi plank.

I'm going to go with "poor workmanship" for fun. []