Jim Baird

...do you keep them wound up?

...never.

Sorry there is no picture, but I found a mechanical fire alarm on a kitchen ceiling I have never seen the likes of. When I pushed what looked like a test button the "button" fell off and a loud alarm bell sounded. The buyer, the realtor and I assumed it was hardwired, but throwing even the main breaker would not make it shut up. After wrestling it from its mount on the ceiling we discovered that it was not battery powered but was a wind-up machine that only got quiet when the wound device ran down. I did not have the tiny hex key it took for winding. Our study of the labeling found it only responded to heat and was not a smoky at all. Anyone here encountered these? It was round, about ten inches in diameter, and loud as hell.

...ask Ray Magliozzi, the surviving CarTalk bro. On NPR.

No height prob by far here, but hearth was sealed off on inspection day...thinking of a sweep maybe wanting to lean a ladder there to look. I didn't.

You should ask Werner Herzog if he would like to bring over a film crew.

Wonder why anybody would stack a flue liner like this on top of the one lining the brick column. There was no code need for height here. There appeared to be some mortar but I would not lean a ladder against this thing.

Do you think we are being visited by replicants, Marc? As a Philip K Dick fan, I would not be surprised if we start seeing inspectorbots.

I have been called off a number of times, once when I discovered violations of disclosure where seller tried to hide things. Once I arrived at a job, called the client and told him I would not even start the job, and did not charge him at all.

I always offer the option to call me off, and let me bill by the hour. I don't push it but I do offer it. I too like to finish a job.

Surface equipment, if listed, is fine. Maybe you are thinking of the fact that Romex is not listed except by exception by local AHJ, for commercial use. In my day as an AHJ banks (of which an awful lot were built around here during those crazy Y2K days), always wanted to put on a real homey feel in their design, (maybe instead of the cold steel industrial hidden face of their operation). They used wood frame walls and cushy comfortable conference rooms and offices, with judges' paneling and tray ceilings, and they always wanted a break from commercial wiring conduit rules. The other thing they always wanted a break from was the code requirement for a drinking fountain outside of the required restrooms. They always said they would provide contracted drinking water stations, which they usually did.

During the remodel the headwall stayed the same but the drain got relocated probably due to structural issues from a long time leak etc. The guy doing the job was not going to be living with it.

I see a greasy TV in the future.

Thanks Erby. Have not done any math but I think they could have built a 1 in 16 ramp with that much material.

...far as I know the occupants were able bodied non-elderly. I think there was a lot of 2x6 lumber left over from the 16x35 foot deck, and the carpenter directed to use it up. These steps are 8' wide.