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John Kogel

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Everything posted by John Kogel

  1. John Kogel
    Yeah, but ... That step is too narrow and too slippery. So they could swing the door into the garage but the step needs work too, IMO.
  2. John Kogel
    That little strip of shrubs is supposed to keep people away from that side. Didn't your mom ever tell you to stay outa the flower beds?
  3. John Kogel
    There is a stairway right there, making a landing for the garage door seem impossible, but .... If the landing was extending to the base of the stairs, it could serve both the door and the stairs and become a design feature. Another way is to put the door at the home floor level, maybe bring the doorway into the room three feet but farther from the stairs, then two steps up to the garage. But a big landing would be relatively easy.
  4. John Kogel
    Crappy? That's a little harsh, isn't it? I assume that what Erby is trying to say is that passive voice should be avoided. Ok thanks. The correction is noted (by me). []Just funnin wit y'all.
  5. John Kogel
    I scored a 16.00 for this - "Service and inspection by a qualified heating professional is advised." That's three 3-syllable words and one major punctuation mark. I guess I could dumb that sentence down to -"Get buddy to check the furnace." That scores 2.4. Thanks, Jim. []
  6. John Kogel
    Thanks, Bill and Les. I knew I'd seen similar junk before, but couldn't place them. Yeah, I hacked a few of those apart when I was a stupid kid. Probably am still packing lead, along with the mercury and asbestos from those days.
  7. John Kogel
    I like the floor plans that have closets and pantrys but no bathrooms. You got room for a basin and a pitcher of water. For $5, you draw your own plans for the outhouse. []
  8. John Kogel
    I see two pictures there of tenement buildings with plumbing vents going into the chimneys. Ice boxes had floor drains under them. Jerry, if you scanned these books, could you sell Kindle versions of them? I'm thinking the copyrights may have expired.
  9. John Kogel

    Boots

    John Kogel replied to davidmcg's topic in Open Topics

    That was the day Erby realized that some of the biggest challenges in his life would be dealing with all the bull sh#t. He went shopping for a belt and the biggest screwdriver he could find. [] I wear hard toed boots when I'm doing real work, but for inspections, I just wear leather shoes with a rubber grip sole. Rockports I think they are.
  10. John Kogel
    Look for high ground. If no high ground, tie a boat to the back porch. [] (I don't know. But I would definitely do some research before digging a basement. You need good drainage.)
  11. John Kogel
    That's pretty neat. Somebody put a lot of effort into that roof, and he couldn't use a chalkline, either. One thing I would complain about is leaving the bark on his logs. As you know, that is just an open invitation for boring beetles and ants. The bark holds moisture in, softens up the sapwood and provides shelter for bugs. If you have dampwood termites, they'll go for that too. Even if the bugs don't attack, the rot fungi will. But if that's in a state park somewhere, it's ok. It can be like show and tell, insects at work. []
  12. John Kogel
    You lost your wager. Mr K was clear as a bell. Marc Is a bell clear? Aren't they usually some kind of metal? I don't get it.
  13. John Kogel
    Call a better one? Maybe you'll have better luck if you change your name; it can't be right if it's rong? I think it might be Ron G. Just saying. [:-graduat (I used to work with a guy named Wright. My favourite remark for a while:"How could a guy named Wright be so Wrong?") To the OP: You said it was a 12 volt transformer, but you measure 27 volts? You said you installed it but then an electrician did? There may be a bad connection, but there also may be a mismatch which might burn up your light bulbs. If the transformer steps 120 volts down to 12, hooking 277 volts to the primary would give you 27 volts on the secondary.
  14. John Kogel
    When the shingles are humped up, I slide my screwdriver under there and feel for a popped nail. No nail, then it's one of those other issues.
  15. John Kogel
    They're already happening, including wireless controls that allow programming from a smartphone. Well, that's a useful feature - as long as the controls make sense. If, on the other hand, you have to press the # sign for 3 seconds and then press * twice, then enter the temperature that you want, it would be useless. "I was unable to test the operation of the thermostat because the seller's smartphone was "Unavailable. Please try again later"." []
  16. John Kogel
    "The hearth extension shall be readily distinguishable from the surrounding floor area" Why do you suppose this sentence? That rule is to prevent people from walking right into the fireplace and burning their feet. Because anyone dumb enough to have a vinyl floor up against a wood burning fireplace just might do that. [] What Mike said. If there's a wood subfloor, there needs to be a fireproof layer under the tiles.
  17. John Kogel
    Before Mike said gas, I was thinking electric fireplace. They don't have a bottom door usually, just glass and trim. Remote control. They are the most idiot-proof of all, why I like them. No hearth required. The heat element is near the top.
  18. John Kogel
    I think the 2 blacks and 2 whites in the very bottom of the panel are feeders to the heaters, two heaters on each circuit. Each of those four wires has a red fuse (20 amp?) protecting it. A fuse near the top protects a supply wire to the transformer. Green or White wires go from the transformer down to the thermostats. 2 20 amp circuits plus another 10 for the low power circuit = 50 amps total. You could verify it by pulling a thermostat cover, looking for green wiring. Actually the low V wiring is the small diameter white ones.
  19. John Kogel
    There's a transformer there that may be supplying low voltage power to ?? the thermostats? But 50 amps would be over-built for that. Could it be a generator panel?
  20. John Kogel
    Marc, was this agent double-ending the deal? I hate that. The client pays for the 'confidential' info, and the seller's agent, supposedly working for both parties, gets an earful, even taking notes sometimes. I will ask the clients if they want privacy, but often enough, they don't think it's a big deal if the double-ending agent hangs around. There is talk here about banning this practice, but so far, it is still allowed.
  21. John Kogel
    There's no cheap fix for a bad circuit board, I'm afraid. It might be a loose connection, that's about all you can check for.
  22. John Kogel
    It looks like someone pulled a little gas boiler off the wall and sold it. Now why would somebody do that? [] I would say it looks to have been a closed system. My guess is that the tank heater is for domestic HW, still working? and the pex pipes were a separate system. But there are the copper pipes coming down from the ceiling, so who knows? It can still be a closed system and, what I often see here, anyway, have a line with a check valve and a pressure control off the main supply line. So that could be a makeup water supply line there. And there's that T on the WH, so who knows?
  23. John Kogel
    Don't do it. Methane gas is extremely flammable. []
  24. John Kogel
    If you point a propane torch at the 20# tank, you can get the propane inside vigorous enough to boil quite nicely. Why mess with a wimpy BBQ at 20 below? Doesn't anyone have a recipe for tiger-torch turkey? []
  25. John Kogel
    I was looking at Lowe's last night hoping to find an "extension" to get the line down to the ground to operate the 20lb. tank with no luck but I did fine 100lb. tanks for $129 that I may grab at some point to have as a spare since they are the same height as my 100 gallon tank. 100 Lb is a good size for what you need. But you should know that to transport the full tank, it needs to be strapped upright such as in the back of an open truck. I bought a 60 lb tank for cheap when they appeared at the local box store. But the kid at the propane depot can't fill it. It is not on his weight chart, so he can't fill it by weight.
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