Jim Baird

I see a cheapskate repair job that left a lot of shingles that shouldna' been left.

Time was "brick mold", of over an inch thickness, would bring out the perimeter of the window unit to "kill" against the brick. Around here most "masons" don't even put slope on the rowlock at the sill. We have, I think, seen a general decline in trades abilities/knowledge over a few decades.

Looks like Ailanthus sp. or Pawlonia sp. to me. Lots of weed type trees. Chinaberry (don't have the genus for that one) maybe.

Flat rowlocks can easily make puddles that have to go somewhere.

The water heater noted in my "creative venting post" had obviously leaked some of its hot effluent so that plastic doohickeys were melted, as in Mike O's pics. Reason, tho, I think, is clogged vent due to dryer lint. Click to Enlarge 28.56 KB

Unknown handyman came up with this assembly. Two incoming connectors are from clothes dryers, both joining the vent for a 105 gal. gas water heater whose exhaust terminates inside the chimney flue. Click to Enlarge 47.75 KB Over at the flue's thimble the assembly was shrouded in a big wad of duct tape, which, pulled away, revealed the lint pile. Click to Enlarge 38.66 KB

Some pickpockets are so good you don't know your wallet is missing till you get home.

Thanks for replies. "...From what direction do the prevailing winds and weather affect homes in your area? What side of the house is the chimmey on?..." Column is on north end, and blowing nasty wetness often comes from north and northeast here. If Brick Institute recommends a tie for every 3.25 SF of brick surface and end wall framing is on 24" centers, that means a tie every cpl of feet on every endwall stud. The framing only had "blackboard" gypsum type non structural sheathing that wa barely fastened itself. Would that not stiffen a flimsy end frame? Column is brick with clay flue liner, total of full height basement, with two floors and an attic peak, where daylight can be seen from inside. Leaning out of upper floor windows the fist against the surface makes a resonant sound.

Thanks for the replies. So, if the column bows away in the middle of its height, the indication is of footing movement? I have seen a hundred hundred-yr old chimney columns lean out, but they were all due to foundation, not lateral, support?

1985 house, two stories over basement, brick veneer fro pavement to tip of 6 in 12 gable. Opposite end sports chimney column of even greater height, but chimbley has begun to bulge away from face of tall brick facade, On entry into attic I went to one gable end and then another, and pushed/pulled on endwall framing. Was able to get a pretty good sway going. Suspected from chimney bow a possible lack of brick ties. Swaying end frame seemed to nail it for me. If no ties, how to fix? What about chimbley?

A family member of mine allowed the listing agent to "handle" the inspection. Inspector, according to agent, could not find anything wrong. Nothing wrong = no report issued. No problem, no charge to buyer, who called inspector to ask about some tub caulking or whatever. He told her, Oh! That's the house I found nothing wrong with! No hint of how much grease hit the open palm. I told family member, No inspection report equals no inspection done.

I don't have copies, but I seem to remember they changed the tune during the dance, from calling for a caulked gap at ends to a flashed and gapped but not caulked gap at ends. The worst job I ever saw was one done by a first time installer in '01 who swore the vendor told him the galvanized half-inch-headed roofing nails, applied every stud on the face of the board, were manufacturer spec'd. I took him by the hand and led him to the trash pile where instructions were printed on the box. It said facenail only where needed with galvanized .22" headed siding nails. The painter was there that day pacing back and forth and ranting.

Give him a C for creativity. Looks like a bubba design, tho.

What a hoot. I cite code too, but only by reference. The codes say, "blup". Marc is right in being careful not to couch it as, "I say...". In this case you shouldn't have to cite a code reason other than "altered equipment".

I know a fellow who was raised in WInston, AL. It was one county in that state that refused to go along with secession prior to Civil War. From then on it was known as "the free state of Winston".

Should appliances be part of any SOP? No.

No wonder the financial biz has such a low esteem in the public eye these days.

From the pic it looks like moist effluent from the sad looking vent stack has had a deleterious effect on the window sill above.

I call those sets "patio" sets, with one active and one stationary side.

Yall give Katen a break, will ya? I thought he waxed very eloquent. I've heard the myth of lost paradise (=the myth of lost youth) lurks in every mind. I decided that the world around me had fallen into irredeemable squalor about the time I turned 21.

Wasn't it Tom Sawyer who explained that, in order to make any endeavor as much fun as possible, you have to make it complicated as possible?

I routinely see very much worse in crawls. What indicates decline to me is this kind of mess in view from the public way, and I see it all the time. According to Indian mythology we are in what is called the Kali Yuga. A yuga is a long time, like many thousands of years. During the Kali one, everything pretty much goes kerflooey. So don't worry. In a few thousand years, everyone will live on ambrosia and no one will have to work.

I certainly would point out the alteration of equipment. We don't know what it looks like in that box either.

I have seen HVAC condensate lines dropped like that to traverse crawl and turn up to exit lower in elevation than entry point. I guess they call that the condensate trap.

My inspections are "primarily visual" anyway. Believe it or not, I actually have seen a kind of "cologne" named "Locker Room" that had a powerful BO scent that is rumored to be exciting to some tastes. Maybe the occupant was a local distributor of something like it.