John Kogel

My folding ladder is a "Jaws". I highly recommend you seek them out. They are stronger and lighter than the LG's of similar size. I leave the top extension off, so it is even lighter. I could have packed it up to the second floor balcony today, 2 storey TH, but I prefer to just go up from the ground with my 28'. It is quick and secure, in my mind. I have scared myself a few times with the short ladder on the porch roof or the slippery deck. To each his own, and be careful up there. Click to Enlarge 68.39 KB

Just a thought here. I sometimes see, as way to conserve wire, a subpanel installed in another location. You would supply this subpanel with a correctly sized feeder and a large amperage 240 volt breaker in your main service panel. This gives you plenty of room for full size breakers in both panels, and reduces the number of runs from the service panel, so saves money there. Depending on the type of upgrade you are taking on here, you may not be required to change all your circuits to the new code requirements. This is info you can obtain from your local authority when you take out the permit, which you definitely need for this type of work. Again, this info can save you headaches and money.

I can see pros and cons for OSB. We are seeing it more and more because good quality plywood is getting harder to produce. In recent years, the filler plys have been made from inferior grades of wood, Hemlock and maybe even cottonwood, and the outer sheets are sapwood with a lot of patches where the knots were trimmed out. Good quality plywood was produced back in the day, from old growth Douglas Fir. When logs are scaled, the highest grade peelers are the butt logs from old growth DF with no pitch pockets or rot and no offset to the heart. Now we have to use a smaller second growth log, which will have a lot of knots in it and a wider grain. The con with OSB isn't so much the strength factor. It is the fact that it absorbs water thru all those short fibers, unless it is sealed with a coating of some kind. The correct OSB for exterior use will have the edges painted according to the grade and the stamp will be turned to face inwards.

Mine's better. It's adjustable. [] Click to Enlarge 63.86 KB

The float level looks like it could easily be raised a bit. Check it out here: http://www.orenco.com/doclib/documents/ABR-STP-1.pdf The alarm goes off in the house, you say. If your 'movements' are being monitored by Big Brother, [] why is nobody coming around to check the system? [:-magnify Maybe they are watching the outflow for the subdivision, but not the individual tanks?

Funny.Yeah, why not just upload a stool counter and keep that info to yourself? []

Any time I see concrete stairs here, the forms are pulled out and the space under the stairs is used for cool storage. Kind of a mini bomb shelter/ wine cellar under there. Sometimes they will sink on one side or tip out away from the house, but they generally stay in one piece. I can't say for sure about that mess you've got there, though. If the concrete on the landing is just a skim coat, it will crack when the wood starts to rot.

Exactly - if he didn't pay then there is no warranty. You're not going to stiff me twice. Here's my attorney's number, he wants to know how you intend to pay for the original job. It's not just about the money, it's about finding out how badly screwed he is and laughing about it here, right, Eric? []

What Jim said. Here's a couple of pics. The Cutler Hammer bus bar shown here allows the grounding wires to be spread out, two to a hole, but I see older Square D's that tell the sparky to twist them together and jam them into a big lug. That was then, this is now. I suppose it depends on the panel brand and the vintage, but the best fix of course is the long bus bar with plenty of connectors. Click to Enlarge 52.81 KB Click to Enlarge 40.59 KB BTW, those feeders from the main panel are kinked, so I would have the electrician check them too. There's a max bending radius for those conductors.

Thanks, Robert.The one house has a usable fireplace in the living room. There's no predicting how much use it will get from the new owners. The older place has a coal burning fireplace insert that I said was no longer functional, missing parts, but again there's no predicting what people will do. Even if the chimney is never used, should the chase be closed off to the attic? It is not really a fire hazard, maybe an unsafe condition?

I see this from time to time in the older houses - a huge chimney chase with an old brick chimney, wide open to the attic. If you see this in an attic, do you call for firestopping or fireblocking to be added? Just a verbal suggestion or strong language in the written report? Click to Enlarge 58.52 KB Click to Enlarge 53.04 KB This house with a wood lath chimney chase was home to the local fire chief for a few years, back in the 1930's. Click to Enlarge 62.81 KB

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/s ... _category1 http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/20/th ... oons-found They'll be easy to identify without the eye masks. []

This door from Wednesday will only open if you push in at the top with one hand while lifting with the other. Click to Enlarge 41.56 KB

Foreclosure - possibly an illegal tap on the neighbor's service, then he put both of his bus bars on the one feeder. ??

I think I've seen similar doorknobs made from glass or possibly a Bakelite-type material. Early 20th C. Also the doorlatches in some pic, the square type that screws to the side of the plank door, were common here in the 1920's-30's. I can picture American bricks going back to England. That would be when the tall ships would need something for ballast, besides gold bars. []

That's 120 years older than any building in my territory. What is the foundation like? Stone and mortar? I guess you could still call that an English garden in 1764. The Boston Tea Party was in 1773. []

Thanks Scott. I was thinking that it would be easy enough to claim 10000 jobs well done. I got bigger fish to fry, as they say. We just got Licensing here in BC 2 years ago and the govt agency in charge is just now establishing some protocols. Luckily, they have been communicating with the HI associations, CAHPI(BC) being the largest. Funny thing, in BC, they are not acknowledging iNACHI, but are accepting the new upstarts, CANACHI, on the assurance that the HI's are all edjamcated good enuff. Alberta joke, blue jeans and a denim jacket? That's the Canadian tuxedo. But that was back when oil was only $30/barrel. Edmonton nowadays is more like Dallas-of-the-North.[]

Here's some more info. Naturally, the journalists are struggling with their own interpretations of what the rules will be. Hopefully, intelligent forces will prevail, and they will get it right by 2013. May 12, 2011 Alberta Government establishes standards for home inspectors As of September 1, 2011, home inspection businesses and individual home inspectors must obtain a licence from the provincial government. Qualifications for a home inspector licence * Inspectors must have a degree, diploma or certificate in home inspection from an approved educational institution and successfully complete a test inspection. The government currently recognizes the Carson Dunlop & Associates curriculum offered by SAIT and will evaluate other courses that become available in Alberta. * Inspectors are automatically qualified for a licence if they hold a Registered Home Inspector designation from the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors; or a Certified Master Inspector designation from the Master Inspector Certification Board, Inc., affiliated with the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. * Inspectors who do not meet these requirements may apply for a conditional licence valid until March 31, 2013 to give them time to acquire the necessary qualifications. Standards for home inspections The Home Inspection Business Regulation establishes basic requirements that home inspections must include, unless the consumer specifically agrees otherwise. Inspections must address the condition of a home’s: * Roofing, flashings or chimney; * Exterior, including lot gradings, walkways, driveways, retaining walls, patios and decks; * Structure; * Electrical; * Heating, heat pumps and cooling; * Insulation; * Plumbing; and * Interior. Inspectors can make recommendations on any deficiencies they identify, such as suggesting the consumer obtain an expert opinion, but are prohibited from estimating the cost of any repairs or improvements.

Alberta HI's have until September to speak up. CMI's are NACHI inspectors with 1000 jobs under their belt. The word is there are 15 of them in Alta. There may be many more as the months progress. Like Kurt said, there are stumblebums in charge. Stubblejumpers in suits. []

Jim can't answer that because he is in transit at the moment. He should be knocking on your door any minute now. Not. []A structural engineer can evaluate the cracking and give you an answer in writing, which you can keep for future reference and when you sell the place. There are ways to reinforce the wall with steel from the inside. but you may not need to go to that extreme. That I-beam needs to have a stable support under it. A post there and a diagonal brace up to the beam would make me feel better, but that is just my opinion from 4000 miles away.

I can accept a ladder with high handles, because you descend facing in the way you went up. No way I can accept that ridiculous staircase. Even hanging onto the handrail, facing out, you can spin around and loose it. It should be replaced with a ladder, IMO. Ask any Swede. The sauna is a little hut in the back yard, not in the house and certainly not up there. Maybe it's a copout, Mike, and this has been discussed before, but I will not crawl a 12 in 12 pitch roof. What did you see up there?

You're probably correct. I've heard that species mentioned often. The older woods must indeed be rot resistant, because the deterioration is typically so isolated that the joist appears notched. Only the crush of the remaining wood, evidenced in the grain of the wood, and the appearance of the other unaffected joists tip you off that it's deterioration. It could be Douglas Fir, from the appearance of those joists. Or Pine, certainly a softwood, of which Fir is best.

Thanks for the pic, Bill. We called that thing in the stove a "water jacket". The tall shape made for better separation of the hot from the cold. Steve, that one is being held up by the plumbing. You are right it is a tempering tank and should be strapped to the wall. I don't know about the lead. They could do a water test. They are usually just a nice copper tank, I think? They could run that WH gas vent in a nearly straight line from the tank to the chimney, maybe with a slight curve around the front of the plumbing pipes.

My brother-in-law lived in a 5th wheel trailer for years. He's an iron worker and was always on the move. My wife and I and our oldest lived in a trailer on a friend's property in 1981. We had cash to buy property in '82. I also have the Carson-Dunlop library, with all the CD's. It is a good starter kit, and it will sell on Ebay.

That was then, this is now. I don't think that kind of thing is permitted nowadays, although I can't be sure what they would do with that in Chicago. I would recommend a drain company check the drainage and replace that pit with a continuous pipe. I'll bet some of that drain pipe is shot, so the little pit could escalate into a major PITA.