Jim Baird
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Everything posted by Jim Baird
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I've been called off like a dog off a scent by buyers, agreeing to give them a letter and charge by the hour. I also have told them they should call me off but told to proceed, and once I arrived at a site and called the buyer to tell him I quit, no charge.
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A family member bought a very old house that stood next to an ancient wool mill in western VA. The mill was said to be a major supplier to Confederate uniform makers. When renovation opened up those walls they were found stuffed with wool.
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"...the city, who sent out a 3rd party code inspector to the site...." more signs of the gradual creep into public services by private sector. I have been there and done that, BTW, but I think it is funny for that 3rd party to call for plans review, after what is there in concrete terms is so apparent.
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"... The wall with the passageway does not rise much above the door header but is intentionally left open for ventilation. ..." So possums and raccoons can just move right in.
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Why is there no ceiling? I don't see the brick wall working in a structural way at all. The room looks self supported. In terms of sf costing, this is a mighty small space containing what is usually the most expensive space in a house with all the fixture and labor costs of their installation.
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Since we don't appear to have a structural form I'll put this picture of stair framing to basement here. A classic tail of a shortage of run, this framer still did not get his headroom where the flight passes under the floor frame. These stringers hang by nailed on scabs.
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Compliments on the skybot pics. I would never attempt to scale such a roof. I've gone to neighborhoods in VA where wood roofs were an HOA minimum, and don't know if they allowed those mutt and jeff rear vs front hybrids. This is such a great example of looks trumping practicality in the name of what realtors would call "value" or what homeowners would define as status.
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...this tablet points to the old one too, it appears. Tells me what I seek is no longer there. Except this little home button gets me there.
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...tells me site cannot be located. After more tries my account is locked.
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I can log in with Android tablet but not with Windows laptop.
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Photos would be a big help.
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Extra slack is great, but that looks like enough extra rope to have a hanging.
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...I think it is just a show of robotic skills improvement. A brick laying John Henry would leave this machine far behind, just like in Johnny Cash's rendition of the song.
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I split firewood by hand that I cut from my woodlot. My favorite landscaping tool is a square point shovel. I hand-dig my vegetable plots with a 12 inch straight spade. I think about John Henry a lot. BTW he did beat that steam drill in the contest.
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I am told my father and his father designed one in the 1940's and submitted it for patent, but I never saw the drawings. John Henry, they say, left his hammer by the side of the road.
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Have never seen vinyl without one. Have seen many hardi sided ones without.
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Any separation wall or venting issues here?
Jim Baird replied to Brandon Whitmore's topic in HVAC Forum
That fireplace flue connector looks pretty scary to me. -
I was once certified as a lead inspector/risk assessor (2001) when I did HUD funded inspections. The "training", not paid for by me, was an insult to an average intelligence. An attendee told me then that the xrf cost 15K. I doubt that demand has driven down the price since then. BTW the one knowledge nugget the training yielded was that the best action anyone anywhere anytime can take to avoid lead poisoning is to wash hands. ...unless you live in Flint.
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Love it but remember that rafter endgrain ain't the best fastener field by far. Likely the rationale behind the two fastener rule.
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Same house had a finished attic level served by a split system whose fan/coil unit was completely walled off, no service access.
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This house was built 1950. Outside is a small UST, making me think the air distribution system once served an oil furnace.
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Wow. I thought those were called thin pavers. BTW I inspected a 1940's house made of CMU stacked dry right up to the gable ends, stuccoed outside, plastered in.
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...thanks, Bill. As a cat person, not a dog one, I did not know.
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...on a brick window sill, having gone through some weather effects, looks to have a valve of some kind on its end. Click to Enlarge 60.45 KB
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Looks like a knife commercial to me. What brand of knife is it? I see window and door frame rot all the time. It results from a great many causes. Mostly weather effect.
