barlyhop

Maybe you missed the " I may be way off base here" portion of my reply. I will be more careful in the future, thanks for your advisement!

I don't see anything related to this particular design, perhaps this site will help somehow. I do not see any evidence of a draft problem from your photo's.http://www.gobrick.com/BIA/technotes/t19b.htm

I requested a quote from OREP in June of 2009. It took 4-5 weeks to get anything from them, they blamed it on relocating there office. There quote came to me 2 weeks after my current policy expired. I now use State Farm Specialty Product E&O insurance, by far cheaper than any other quote that I recieved.

NO, just been my "Handle" since conception of my email account from way back when........ I used to make my brew in a make-shift sump crock, LOL

Ahh, sounds very nice, I concur!

Seems that Geothermal would be more efficient and a lot cheaper there!

Being in the proximity of the Mississippi River, this is some sort of raised floor system due to flood plain location. It seems that after a past flood the homeowner had to rebuild/repair. The city probably required a higher floor level before approving repairs, etc. This system looks very "cheesy". A low cost alternative to raising the whole house as should have been done. After the heavy flooding over the last 2 summers, FEMA made some requirements to building elevations in some flood plain locations. Also, flood insurance is much cheaper if these new floor heights meet certain criteria. I may be off base here, but that seems to be the logical conclusion here. I have never seen this system, A preferred system would have elevated the entire house and not built a system inside the walls to meet these height requirements. Roughly $150,000 repair if done correctly. Some Goverment programs picked up 75% of these repair costs.

I prefer "Pocket Horizon" A PDA is much easier to use in the field, the devices are fairly cheap and I just email my reports out later in the day. I could not imagine lugging a laptop around or making frequent trips to the kitchen for adding details, etc. Thats just me.

The scuttle was in the garage and had two hooks securing it from the inside. I wrote it up as Verify compliance with local municipality and/or fire marshall. This is a small hick town, perhaps the building inspector is good friend of builder, an over sight or possibly a family occupied both units at time of occupancy. Home built in 1995. Regardless, I wrote it up to CYA. Thanks for the insights! Randy

How warm can an attic get in Seattle? I would also doubt the efficiency of solar power in Seattle as well?? Perhaps that is why the system was abandoned?

I'm now convinced that this was a solar hot water set-up at some point in time. Copyright: Solar Developement, Inc. Florida Download Attachment: solar1.pdf 18.08 KB

None of this makes any sense, the suspense is killing me! Always trying to solve a mystery. Hope someone can figure this out.

I do not know if there is access in both units, but you may be on to something there! Good point. I did not observe a scuttle on the other side but I had little reason to inspect that area as it belongs to the other property owner. This is a continuous gable roof across both units. The two units each had a different style ridge vent as well that came together at the centerpoint. After reading the Wisconsin building code, it stated that a fire barrier is required in multi family units, don't know if the absence of a scuttle in the other unit would make a difference per code? Thanks Randy

The corrugated yellow flex piping. Why are these long lengths sold at Home Improvement stores????? Thanks Randy

Sweeeeet!

I see quite a few flexible stainless steel gas lines connecting appliances and water heaters. Is 5 foot the rule of thumb for max length? Are there exceptions to that? I also see them go through the subfloor upstairs to gas fireplaces. Thought that this wasn't allowed either? Any thoughts?

Inspected a basement mounted main service panel today. There was no system ground attached to the bus anywhere. I checked the water meter which had a ground wire attached with jumper as usual. The ground wire followed the copper water pipes back towards the service panel, traveled over the service panel, not touching it whatsoever, then went outside through the band joist. The service drop was underground and the ground wire exited the basement at the point of the meter enclosure. Could there have been a ground attached behind the panel somehow? The panel was mounted on plywood over poured concrete foundation so I don't think that was the case. Sheeesh.

Does anyone know if there is a code regarding firebreak in an attic space for multi family properties? I inspected a 1995 side by side ranch. The attic had no fire seperation at all. The builder had hung some Tyvec around the scuttle area which is near the neighboring intersection of the two units...weird. I have seen open attics like this in 1950's and prior to but never on a newer unit like this. Thanks for your input! Randy

I ran into something new today. The curb stop was situated in a concrete driveway directly in one of the wheel paths. The slab has cracked and settled leaving the cap of the curb stop about 3/8" above the surface. The house was vacant, so I don't really know when the problem occurred. There was no evident damage noted. Coincidentally, the city showed up to turn the water on for the inspection while I was there. I asked them about it and they said it's not a problem for them and stated that damage would not be unlikely as it is "only the cap" I informed the buyer to speak with the city utility about it before closing. Click to Enlarge 61.58 KB Click to Enlarge 34.62 KB What would you think about this?

Thanks Mike, I stand corrected. It's been so long since my training and I always recommend further evaluation by qualified electrician when I find buried K&T. Randy

The above replys would seem to be accurate. The only other scenario that I could fathom would be perhaps the k&t were relocated due to adding insulation at some point as k&t cannot be buried in insulation.

This looks more like delamination of a paper covering of the substrate? Does it look structural in nature? I would focus on attic ventilation and/or vapor barrier if I saw this. Perhaps the "paper" covering just dried out at the surface with no consequence.?

Hmmm, thats interesting, I once inspected an attic where the entire underside resembled thousands of those dangling fly strips in a parchment color. The material was so far gone that there was no evidence of a product name on the sheathing. The ventilation was very poor, explaining the condition but this adds valuable insight if I ever see that again. I presumed it was delaminated plywood at the time but the dimensions of the "Bords" seem to suggest otherwise.

Most of these that I see, and I do take the time to look at them carefully, are mostly rotted. I wish I knew how to flash these areas, lack of a drip edge really is a poor design. Many of these returns are covered in tin which I believe makes adding a drip edge somewhat difficult.

It is referred to as a "Return".