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Jim Baird

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Everything posted by Jim Baird

  1. Jim Baird
    Some don't care how much it costs, just as long as they know it's the "best". Like the guy in this county who built an 8,000 SF garage with a ceiling fan whose blades were 22' long.
  2. Jim Baird
    Funny, down here in the piney woods the TPR is usually pre-installed on the WH unit, with only the discharge installed by the "installer".
  3. Jim Baird
    There was a story years ago about a Mies Van der Roh (sp?) house in Mississippi that still looked great but was sinking. They jacked it up somehow with a mud/concrete mix pumped underneath.
  4. Jim Baird
    To quote Bob Dylan, "Call me any name you want, I'll never deny it." But, Erby, just how many keyed sash locks have you seen?
  5. Jim Baird
    Unvented gas space heaters can put a lot of water in the air. So can kerosene heaters.
  6. Jim Baird
    I still can't understand how such a product would ever have sold. Intruder from outside would be no better deterred from getting in if he needed a key to turn the latch. It could be useful, I guess, to keep your teenager from sneaking out in the middle of the night. My brother actually made a rope out of sheets to sneak out his second floor window, after which he would roll the car away before starting it. The other brother helped a girlfriend sneak out and steal her dad's car, which they promptly took out and drove through a concrete block wall. Despite the odds, both brothers are still living.
  7. Jim Baird
    OK. Call me rookie with 13 + yrs in the field. I seen somethin' I never seen. Dbl hung sash with keyed locks on the sash! Also, contract specified that window hardware did not transfer with sale! Forget the midnite pajama escape route. There were also storms in place!
  8. Jim Baird
    My grandma's "Franklin" was a little wood fired cookstove with two lift-off "eyes" on top. The wood she fed it with was short and small. Whole unit way smaller than the old stove pic posted. Coal was common fuel around here in the Piedmont too. One local company that was here for many many years was called "Crawford Coal and Matress", which specialized in canvas awning manufacture and installation as well. As late as 1980 they brought me coal to burn in an old upright coal heater I used when I lived in a "dumpette" during my days as a "struggling youth".
  9. Jim Baird
    I've seen more than one partial chimney column concealed above a ceiling and continuing thru the roof plane. They loom above, sometimes bulging the ceiling. My grandmother had a little Franklin stove in her kitchen with a little flue pipe. Even though she cooked with gas the Franklin was kept lit for heat and for cheer.
  10. Jim Baird
    oh.
  11. Jim Baird

    WHY?

    Jim Baird replied to Phillip's topic in Electrical Forum

    They were using pieces of wire not long enough, so they spliced them in tose boxes.
  12. Jim Baird
    BTW I hope that thing has some rebar or something to stiffen it. The right puff of wind might make it a headache hazard.
  13. Jim Baird
    Kibbel is the closest here. I think the pointy part is nada more than part of the parapet, maybe call it a pointy-pet?
  14. Jim Baird
    In a hotel in Milan, Italy the john in the bath was built up on a box that had a wire feeding a motorized "vegamatic" that activated by the flush handle and Roncoed the flushed product on the way to the vertical stack that must have lurked in the wall. Never seen nuthin like b4 or since. BTW, it leaked and reeked, but since we were in there at dark and outa there by sunrise it was too much trouble to complain and move, besides I got the feeling every room had 'em.
  15. Jim Baird
    Hey Neal, At least they plumb cut those ends! Mike O, what you got against turnips anyway?
  16. Jim Baird
    I met a guy living in an old wood lap siding house of 2K SF or so. Said one of these vinyl siding guys gave him an estimate for siding and cornice at approx $100,000! And contractor would finance!
  17. Jim Baird
    I appreciate the elevation of this discussion from the folklore level where I dragged it to the borderline nerdly. So the one house I saw with condensate on every single duct in the crawl space that was so voluminous that the foiled wrap literally dripped and sagged from the weight of its water was mostly due to way too much ambient moisture, as I suspected and as I helped explain when I found the condensate drain from the crawl/located fan/coil buried just outside the foundation wall? Marc, please help me grasp the idea that there could be convective action inside those little bubble wrap cells.
  18. Jim Baird
    I can't back it up with references, but I did read somewhere that piling more wrapping around any duct increases its heat loss by increasing its surface of circumference. So that it is sort of like (to quote either Guy Clarke or Jerry Jeff) it is like peeing in the wind, or bettin' on a losin' friend.
  19. Jim Baird
    Actually, as seen in the next pic, there is likely some concrete under the brick curtain. The puddled appearance of the spot footings and the puddles near the brick make me think the spots were scooped out and then the concrete sort of slopped along between. (My probes were not very informative, and I don't carry a shovel). A little settlement cracking on one end after almost 40 yrs. See the sheet metal? It's what they called a termite shield. Just above the termite shield the mason actually left some weeps in the form of end gaps. Click to Enlarge 47.04 KB Click to Enlarge 84.62 KB
  20. Jim Baird
    Thanks, Jim K for your reply. I have seen many, but none like this. I am OK with your description, and I found, honestly, no probs with this panel. Question: Is it fair for me to describe this panel as antiquated but not unsafe? (This is an inherited property with non-resident ownership and non-resident buyer, can't really understand motivation of buyer... BTW, I have used your home-made pocket checklist design on several jobs, but do not have any improvements to offer, beyond my personal preference.
  21. Jim Baird
    This ITE brand panelbox has a 60 amp breaker labeled Main. It is dbl pole, each with a #6 copper wire connected to these little lugs at top between the two big SE conductor terminals. It works...little schematic on paper in back says to put main here, midway down left side, 70 amps max. Have not seen this before. Comments? Click to Enlarge 83.46 KB
  22. Jim Baird
    Click to Enlarge 44.47 KB
  23. Jim Baird
    "...I called the local building inspector on this, but I have not heard back from him yet...." And you won't ever. Once that CO is issued they won't come within ten miles of it. I inspected a "new" house whose garage ceiling fell down on the owner's two vehicles. Local inspectors didn't know or say nuthin'.
  24. Jim Baird
    I am the AHJ. I told the electrician that all I see now is a piece of altered equipment. I advised him to get utility to help him convince me it is OK now. He just called and said they told him it would be three days before an engineer could get to him (really?). He has installed another box.
  25. Jim Baird
    Sometimes you can read terminal details on a sticker in the panel enclosure or door. Usually you can gang up to two of the same size. Yes I have seen grounds ganged into little bundles and always call it out.
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