Jim Katen

Wesco has been out of business for decades. The elements are generally easy to replace. All this is discussed earlier in this thread - did you read it?

A few thoughts: It doesn't matter if it's a buyer's agent or a seller's agent. They both get paid only when the deal closes. No closing, no money to the agent. That said, there are plenty of agents out there who are genuinely looking out for the best interest of their clients. If these agents are smart, they quickly learn the red flags that might indicate serious problems with the house and steer the clients to houses that have fewer red flags. I regularly work with such agents; they can spot serious defects just about as fast as I can. The trick to working with agents is to understand that you're only going to get along with a few, and it'll all depend on how well your personalities mesh. Don't try to be everything to everyone. Just be your own unvarnished self, develop your own style, and let the agents who appreciate that come to you. Most of them won't, and that's fine. Most people fail in this business within 2 years. (By "most people" I mean about 16 out of 17, according to my research.) And most of the ones who fail do so because they don't have a clue about how to run a business and they're under capitalized. They often come from the trades and they tend to equate the inspection fee with their salary. Doing so is a huge mistake - especially when you're starting out. Your "salary" will probably end up being 40-50% of the fee that you collect - maybe less if you're only working part time. Success in this business is about confidence. That won't happen unless you're confident in yourself. (Don't mistake confidence with arrogance.) Everyone that you interact with has to be confident in you as well. You build confidence by striving to be right every time. Everyone makes mistakes, but you should do everything in your power to avoid them because they erode people's confidence in you. Everything is either black or white. When something is black, say it's black. When something is white, say it's white. When something is gray, tell them to get someone to determine whether it's black or white. Alternatively, break down the gray thing into black parts and white parts so that the customer understands what he or she is getting into. Gray things never stay gray for long so you need to get out in front of them.

The thing in the photo looks like brick veneer. Do you have other photos?

Thanks. I'll be interested to see how it goes.

It might have been the latch that allowed him to escape I mean, leave, the plant.

Who was it on this forum that posted a picture of his mother, as a toddler, sitting on a 2nd floor windowsill with her feet dangling from the sill?

It's cool looking, but what's the point? A properly balanced sash should stay wherever you put it anyway. As far as security goes, once you lift up the sash more than an inch or so, anyone can just stick a finger in there and unlatch it.

Total mess.

Then you need to give us actual information. A few close-ups of white blobs on the wall doesn't tell us anything. How about some pictures from farther away? Where on the wall is it happening? Is this an exterior wall? What's the weather like over there? When did it show up? What happens if you just clean it up with regular household detergent and a sponge? Does it come back? Have you ever seen it when it's actually wet and dripping? Is it powdery, sticky, hard, smelly, or what?

Sagen sie ihrem jugendlichen Sohn, er soll aufhören, an der Wand zu masturbieren.

Geben sie einen kontext an. War das an einer wand? An einem fenster?

Depends on the nature of the failure. If a compressor were to fail, I'd replace the whole shebang. Otherwise, I'd tend to make piecemeal repairs.

The more I see old stucco installations in our area, the less I like them. There's a reason why we developed rules for things like casing beads, weep screeds, and proper sealant joints - because the venerable old ways rarely worked well. When we come across a 100 year old house with its original hardcoat stucco intact (which is rare, by the way, most of them have been extensively repaired), we're looking at an exercise in survivor bias - the rare exceptions. What we should be doing is cataloging the 100-year old houses where the stucco has been replaced or extensively repaired, and we should be looking at why that happened. Doing so gives you a leg up on inspecting the seemingly unscathed ones. That said, I inspect them as I would anything else: applying my knowledge as far as it will go and refer to someone else to go farther when I think it's necessary.

I'd say it's fine.

Call Columbia Fuels at 877 500-HEAT and get a tech out there to fix the problem, install a new nozzle, and adjust the burner while he's there.

Any heating contractor can fix you up with a filter housing. I'd recommend a 20x20x4 box filter for the added area and lower static pressure. If you get into the habit of eating Kimchee every day, it'll help with your allergies and it might even help you to outlast the Airco.

Stop splashing in the shower.

The Inselbrick is going to do as much for your house's R-value as a cotton tank top in January. But there's no reason why you can't install vinyl over it. (Just fix any rot first.) If you're concerned with energy efficiency, talk with an insulation contractor about blowing cellulose into your walls before you install the vinyl.

If your system is compatible, it's possible to update a Windows 7 machine to Windows 10, but it's not free: https://www.buymicrosoftwindows.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw0On8BRAgEiwAincsHPIBIq2rUbDcjKndvptbCJ_hYkHuBlgaJwJIfHrPcPZdCFXQF73nLRoCZsoQAvD_BwE

Even given Georgia's plumbing code, it looks like the original plumber went to a lot of trouble to get this wrong. For a short time in the '90s (I think it was one code cycle) Oregon used to allow something similar. You could run the discharge line uphill if you drilled a 3/32" hole in the lowest point of the "trap." This was one of those rules that stuck in peoples minds, like GFCIs within 6' of a sink, for decades after the rule was gone. It seems like everyone still thinks that this is allowed. I just tell people to run the discharge straight down into a pan. If they're worried about flooding a basement, install a floodstop kit.

What's this object?

You don't have 24 filaments. That's a 20 kw furnace. It has 4 filaments in two sections. The section that you're holding in your hand in the picture is a 10 kw module with two 5kw filaments. I think that I can see a break in the upper filament. What about this Goodman/Amana module: https://controlscentral.com/tabid/63/ProductID/682253/goodman-amana-parts-bt1420034-10kw-heat-element-kit.aspx?gclid=Cj0KCQjw28T8BRDbARIsAEOMBcyrvft4o9OmPGYv7_54WN4vZL0_zAcSLWwXD2xOYq00DV8MSeOunR4aAvaUEALw_wcB It looks very similar, just check with the seller to be sure that the dimensions will be the same as your Wesco.

What's the part number? Kw rating? Physical size? You might give Vinje a call: http://www.doityourselfheating.net/

His IP address indicates Las Vegas. . .

There's no need for anyone here to apologize to me. I welcome all feedback, especially when I slip over onto the assaholic side of my personality. So thanks for the reminder. I'll try to behave. ArVandelay24, if you haven't left in disgust, please accept my apology for the sarcastic and unhelpful comments. Perhaps it would help if you were to not think of mold as a problem. Instead, think of it as a symptom. Mold in a house is *always* and without exception, a symptom of a water problem. If your house was thoroughly clean before you left on vacation, then this mold is also a symptom of a dirt infiltration problem. That is, air pressure (including but not limited to wind) might be driving dirt into your house through the window weather seals and depositing a fine film of dirt on the surfaces. This would be simple to test. Thoroughly clean the ceramic tiles next to the window in your first picture and wait to see whether or not dirt accumulates over time. Once dirt accumulates, John Kogel's response, early in this thread, pretty much nailed what's going on. Keeping the house cool lowers the dew point of the air and makes condensation much more likely. Once condensation becomes chronic, everything stays damp and the mold grows. If you keep the place clean, warm, and dry, mold won't grow.