gpdewitt

So, how many of you guys carry a shovel and dig out the crawlspace access? Click to Enlarge 65.09 KB

Thanks, Kurt and Rob. I have electric radiant in my living room to help even out a 2 1/2 story house. Turns out we mostly only use it all winter, and we like it a lot. Cost about 3K to install under hardwood. The floor gets to 78 or 80 in about an hour.

I saw my first boiler (SoCal area) with in-floor PEX under stone, tile and brick. The air temp was already 74 degrees. Set all 6 zone thermostats to 86, computer came to life, boiler fired, stone floors raised 1-2 degrees over a 2 hour period. Is this sufficient differential to call this system operational? As I understand it, high '70s is pretty much all you get from these systems. I'm considering recommending the system be tested again when it gets cold, December or January. Opinions please. Click to Enlarge 397.37 KB

Looks like the owner is trying to electrocute the inspector to avoid a bad report? Too many reportable items to list here, mostly life threatening.

If you want to know if you have dampness moving through masonry, try this: Tape a piece of clear plastic, large plastic bag, etc. to the wall/floor in such a way as to seal the edges fairly well. Come back and look at it in a day or so. If there are water droplets on the inside of the plastic, you have moisture. By the way, wood in direct contact with masonry is a bad idea, the wood will potentially rot from moisture.

Specialty auto body shops have been repairing fiberglass for decades (think Corvette), same thing with fiberglass motor home bodies. Must be possible. Might be a good idea to drill small holes where the smiles are and inject foam, then repair pan with resin and glass.

Pentax W90. Nearly indestructible, and takes great pics too.

Wonderful old bench. Looks like a LOT of stuff was built on it over the years. I especially like the angled legs at the vice end, that bench will never rack or wiggle. Based on the design and lack of metal, I agree, probably more than 140 years old. Is it heavy?

Thanks for your help on the issues I've posted here, and stay in touch!

Had a friend here in SoCal in 1971, built an in-ground "hot tub" for himself out of cinder block. No plumbing. No rebar. Parked an old car nearby on the lawn, used 2" PVC and ferncos to bypass radiator, connected directly to water pump and block. For about $5 in gas, he could heat it up in an hour and keep it hot all night.

Chad, Randy is correct for my area. Only society I know of where people buy expensive cars, then leave them out in the weather (sun here) to degrade while they keep mostly worthless junk filling the garage. MGB, shocking truth, there are 4 square feet of storage (not including that owned by the person storing the stuff) for every man, woman and child in the US. There are many places globally where people would love to have those 4 SF just to have enough room to live in. I believe the source of that stat is Nat Geo TV.

All the masts I've seen in my area, L A County, CA, have an insulator. Exceptions are where masts are too short for one, under 12" or so, and the neutral is tied to the roof near the masts, also with a ceramic insulator. These are houses built in the 50's. Some of these even have 3 insulators attached to the roof, one for each cable, but not usually still in use.

The manufacturers of GFCIs and UL, who do the testing and listing, both accept the test button *on the GFCI* as the valid way to test it. Here's an interesting scenario for you - You use your handy 3 prong circuit tester with GFCI test button to test a receptacle that is *not* a GFCI type. You do this because this particular receptacle is next to the sink in the master bath on the third floor, and you know it's required to be protected. The receptacle responds by going dead. Now what? You spend however long it takes to find the actual GFCI on that circuit and reset it. What if it's behind a permanently installed cabinet? What if it's behind the owner's hutch filled with 400lbs of his families' fine antique china? What if, also, there is a freezer in the garage, buried under much of the owner's belongings and out of sight, that's filled with expensive meat, or a wine cellar that must be kept at a low temperature to protect thousands of dollars worth of fine wine? You're screwed. If I can't find GFCI where there should be one, in spite of having tripped any visible ones and noting any GFCI breakers in the box, I report it as such and suggest an electrician check it out for safety.

Out of about 50 gas waterheaters I've seen so far, only one was noisy when fired up, making a boiling noise and indicating buildup in the bottom of the tank. That went in the report as just what I said above. It was past it's expected life anyway. I've not noticed any difference between tanks that get regularly drained and those that don't as far as longevity, and I live in a very hard water area, Los Angeles.

The answer to your question is covered in the 2009 IRC, R312.1. "Guards shall be located along open sided walking surfaces, ... that are located more than 30 inches measured vertically to the floor or grade below at any point within 36 inches horizontally to the edge of the open side" Those planters do not look 36 inches wide. This also affects decks/patios on a hillside where the grade slopes away. To me, this is a safety hazard and I report it as such, regardless of codes or AHJ approval.