ejager

The old stove/oven on top of the heap was a nice touch.

Only a couple of screws to take the handle and escutcheon off. Any luck with a moisture meter?

Is that thing plugged into its self? Look like it is a 'fancy' extension cord with a receptacle for an end, supported off the floor on a stand.

One of the many benefits of participating here. A big 'Thanks' to ya!

No electrical meter, no permits for house construction...at all! "I was naive," said Margaux, an insurance agent who also holds a real estate license. "I got burned on the deal." To read more, click here.

I personally would like to have seen the double pole GFI's used. Rather than limiting the kitchen to 2 15 Amp counter circuits, from 4. I know they are pricey but its certainly the more elegant solution.

Good day to you all, Just inspected a home where in the course of replacing all the cupboards and counters int he kitchen, someone installed GFCI receptables where split receptacles once were. No other changes to the elctrical system were noted. The original 14/3 wire is still installed, but the red wires were simply marretted and left in the box. Breakers are original and still tied together in the panel. So now we have half as many circuits supplying the kitchen, and although they are GFCI protected, they are only 15 amps. How do you write this up? What is your biggest concern? If it had been your kitchen, what would you have done?

What were they thinking? Nails through tar paper are expected to hold the shingles in place?

Sorry if I confused the issue Rocon. The fuzz occurs only on the bare copper wires, but it was so thick that I thought I might be looking at nylon covered wires. On the exposed end of the neutral wires in the previoiusly posted photo one, we can see the black corrosion. In the second photo, as you pointed out there is some very bright copper. This is the ground wire and where the outher sheating for the cable protected it, it was unaffected. In the last photo there is some regular green oxidation of screws in the grounding bar, as well as black oxidation of the ground wire. You are right that there didn't appear to be any effect on the aluminum SEC. Here is a whole panel pic... Click to Enlarge 89.95 KB My clients are not interested in pursuing the why's of how this came to be, there were enough other things off-putting about the unit and building to make them search elsewhere. I on the other hand, want to rip apart the wall, to find the brand/manufacturerer of the wire as you suggest. I want to knock on the neighbour's door and ask if I can remove the cover from their panels, and remove some switch plates in the front lobby. Oh, and thanks to all for all the help, insight and discussion! This board is fantastic!

The 'black wire' in the third picture was the uninsulated black ground wire, they back-stabbed the hot and neutral wires. this receptacle was 15 ft from the hall closet. The receptacle in the kitchen across the condo showed similar copper corrosion. So the US Consumer Protection remediation guidance for homes with problem drywall calls for the replacement of all: problem drywall; fire safety alarm devices, including smoke and carbon monoxide alarms; electrical distribution components, including receptacles, switches and circuit breakers; and gas service piping and fire suppression sprinkler systems . http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11176.html Assuming this is not drywall for the time being, would these guidelines still be the recommended course of action for electrical repairs? And why would steel gas piping and steel fire supression sprinklers systems need repalcing? - Overly cautious?

Good morning Brain trust! I did an inspection of a 2001 condo with blackened copper wires. This was in Calgary so "high-sulpher" drywall is not really suspected, though it is not ruled out. The wires are almost 'fuzzy black' not just a simple black/grey corrosion. First noticed it in the panel, which was in a dry storage closet. In the tightest corners of the panel, the ground wires still have patches of copper. I went looking at wall outlets and saw the same problem. Water pipe is all PEX so it was no indicator. No pool, no signs of high humidity.... any other ideas what might be a cause? Click to Enlarge 31.43 KB Click to Enlarge 30.4 KB Click to Enlarge 49.51 KB Click to Enlarge 32.21 KB

At least one Canuck on the map now. Very cool. Thanks! *edited because apparently I can't type...

Was it a load bearing wall? On a project I worked on, the interior basement wall was built on a footing long before the basement floor was poured. We formed and poured a curb at the same time as the footing, so the bottom plate would have appeared to be 'regular framing'. But I can imagine someone not going through that process, or given the project, the finished elevation for the slab was changed and so the bottom plate got buried.

Hausdok: the one man googling machine!

Marc, Did you ever figure out what it was/is?

Just got my first payment by email this weekend. http://www.interac.ca/consumers/product ... ansfer.php

I am hoping that the 1995 date code on the hose, and the lack of the words Heatway and/or ENTRAN II means it isn't. Everything I have read says they quit making it in 1994.

Came across my first rubber hosing radiant heat system and wondered if anyone else could help identify it. No markings on it other than "See BOCA Evaluation Services Inc. Research Report 90-61". No problems noted at the four sets of manifolds, two for heat tubing stapled under the plywood main floor, two for tubing in the basement concrete. System was installed in 1996/7. I had no luck with Google and BOCA 90-61. Found a few other BOCA reports but not this one. Anyone have any links or references for BOCA ES documents? Click to Enlarge 46.21 KB

- You seemed so certain with your answer I thought you had an unrefutable explanation for the same thoughts I had but could not prove or explain through (in)experience.[:-slaphap

At least one manufacturer allows intake and exhaust at different locations. From page 28 of Viessman - Vitodens_100 Boiler The exhaust vent and combustion air intake system and terminations may be installed in one of the following type terminations (2-pipe system): 1. Horizontal air intake and exhaust vent pipes 2. Vertical air intake and exhaust vent pipes 3. Horizontal air intake pipe and vertical exhaust vent pipe

Window frames, about 8" from overhanging eaves Click to Enlarge 38.66 KB Click to Enlarge 44.7 KB Click to Enlarge 39.96 KB What is the technical explanation for how the nail heads effect this type of discolouration?

Good Sunday morning to you all! I was asked to take a look at a new house, owner occupied for just over a year, where there was significant water and frost forming in closet, along a wall above the joist space that contains the fresh air intake for the HVAC, and in an outisde corner. The relative humidity in Alberta at this time of year is rarely much above 60%, but since the air temperature is below freezing, the humidity levels inside homes where the exhauset fans are used regularly, is quite low.Its customary to talk about using a humidifier in the winter for heating efficiencies. In this 2000 ft sq. home (plus developed basement), with only an older couple living in it, the dehumidifier is drawing out at least 1.5 gallons per day. Using my moisture meter, I detected a few square feet of the oak flooring in each of the three locations was 4-5% higher than the baseline of 15% tested in the center of the rooms, and in the hallways. The walls were drywall and exhibited no moisture higher than 12" above the floor or more than two feet from the locations the home said had frost. On the day I came the temperature outside was a few degrees above freezing, not like the continued 20-25 degrees C below zero we had been experiencing for the last few weeks. One location was 12" past the vertical edge of the a window, but there was no further interior evidence of leaking. The attic was quite dry. Though the combustion air intake for the furnace was iced up beneath the cellulose insulation (which was damp and obviously indicative of a problem that needs to be remedied before nearby trusses suffer from prolonged moisture exposure). No overt signs of leaking, no ice dams, vented soffit with cardboard ballfles, no roof top vents to allow snow in, though the gable ends do have vented soffits. There is fiberglass batting between top of gable wall and bottom of roof deck at the bottom 4-6 feet of slope of the gable walls presumably to stop/inhibit the short-circuiting of ventilation. Outside was more interesting. Click to Enlarge 35.43 KB Click to Enlarge 42.16 KB Click to Enlarge 40.95 KB Click to Enlarge 37.19 KB These pics are from the north side of the house, though there were a few similar spots on the south side, adjacent to the front door where attached garage joined the house, protected by a 6' overhang (front porch) Any guesses what the stucco spotting is from?

I just looked at a Vitodens 100W boiler system (by Viessmann). The manual detailed this as part of the venting requirements: A vent must NOT terminate... 8 ....underneath a veranda, porch or deck, unless * the veranda, porch, or deck is fully open on a minimum of two sides beneath the floor, * and the distance between the top of the vent termination and the underside of the veranda, porch, or deck is greater than 1 ft. / 0.3 m. 12 ....so that the flue gases are directed toward brickwork, siding, or other construction, in such a manner that may cause damage from heat or condensate from the flue gases. (pg 45 of http://www.viessmann.ca/etc/medialib/in ... ing_ii.pdf)

Just google "online document signing". There are lots of different services that provide this service.

Might there have been a previoius resident in the home who needed a bath lift chair?