Steve Knight

It's hard to tell from one picture, but based on the size and location of the pipe and the age of the home, it might be an old sandpoint well casing. I do alot of rural inspections and see these all the time. If you can get the cap off and see how deep the pipe extends down you will generally know. If it's more than 10' deep it's generally a sandpoint.

Kurt, Some of the builders in my area are using this product for the vapor retarder in finished basements. The product is suppose to provide a vapor barrier with a vapor permeance of 1 perm or less during winter, but allow below grade block or concrete wall to dry to the inside during summer months and prevent moisture buildup inside a fiberglass energy wall. I believe the University of Minnesota did some tests on this product, but I have not seen the results.

I suggest you hire a Forensic Engineer. They specialize in providing scientific information on the cause and affects of accidients. If you are dealing with the RR or their attorneies you will need good documentation and scientific evidence. Your insurance company may be able to help you contact a good Forensic Engineer. You might want to file a claim with them, as they should help you settle a claim with an outside party that causes damage to your home. Good Luck.

If there is a large amount of air leakage from conditioned space in the home into the attic adding additional ventilation will not help. Two places I frequently find large bypasses at are around chimneys and in soffits. When I see signs of condensation at the eaves it is frequently from a soffit that was framed prior to drywalling and contains a large bypass.

I agree, inadequate return air flow is most likely the problem. Sometimes I see this when the filter is clogged. I can't see how more refrigerant would help.

I ran across this web page called the history of industry brands a year or more ago. I book marked and have referred to it several times. The few items I have double checked have all been correct. http://www.johnmills.net/work/history.html

Kondrad, Black 2" plastic water line is probably HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). The line from the well to the pressure tank is normally connected with a clamp to a special female fitting that is pushed into the pipe prior to fastening the clamp. Most of the water lines from well I see come in under the footing through a 4" sleeve. Typically the sleeve terminates in the basement floor and extends out 5' from the outside wall of the house.

I saw this flue on an older GSW power vent water heater today. While the water heater has a power vent, it still has a draft hood. When I got inside and started up my Monoxor II it read 5ppm. I took it outside to check calibration and it went back down to 0. Back in up to 5. Whole house was at 5ppm. There was a significant back draft occuring at water heater flue. There was virtually no wind, but outside temp was 20 degrees below indoor temp. Back drafting was causing CO from pilot light to flow back into house. A return air duct was located just outside mechanical room and seemed to be spreading CO throughout the whole house. Download Attachment: water heater flue.JPG 102.91 KB

I just inspected a Heat-N-Glo gas fire place and found their product installation manuals on the web at http://www.heatnglo.com/products/fireplaces/index.asp. The model I inspected was SL-550TRS-D. There was a table in the installation manual showning minimum height from roof to lowest discharge opening (bottom of termination cap). The required height above the roof depends on roof pitch. The roof I inspected was 6/12 and required height above roof was a minimum of 12". The termination cap is also suppose to be 2' minimum from a vertical wall or horizontal overhang.

There has to be some means of drying the crawl space. As Mike noted, this can be done by making the crawl space part of the conditioned space or by venting. The link Mike provided to the Building Science Corp web page is a great source of information. The builders guide for various climates you can find on this link are well worth the investment. Only 5-10% of the homes I inspect (in Minnesota) have crawl spaces. However, I have seen a ton of problems in poorly vented or improperly sealed crawl spaces.

Donald, According to the CPSC fact sheet on CO - CO alarms should be installed according to the manufacturer's instructions. CPSC recommends that one CO alarm be installed in the hallway outside the bedrooms in each separate sleeping area of the home. CO alarms may be installed into a plug-in receptacle or high on the wall because CO from any source will be well-mixed with the air in the house. Make sure furniture or draperies cannot cover up the alarm. You can see the Fact Sheet at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/466.html

Donald, I agree with Richard. New construction requires a 4 wire/4 prong dryer connection. If buyer has been using dryer at a previous house it may have the wrong pigtail and the pigtail might need to be changed for use in a new home.

Thanks everyone. As a general rule I don't disagree with licensed electricians. But in this instance I think it is important to point out to my client that the electrician did not address a major concern with FPE panels. I had never heard someone claim there is a difference between full and half size breakers and wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something.

I inspected a Town House a back in July with an FPE panel. The panel contained FPE - F type breakers. I included my standard language about FPE panels and attached a fact sheet to my report which provides additional details concerning the panels. The seller had an electrician inspect the panel. The electrician's report state: "Found FPE panel had full size breakers in good condition, connections to buss in panel good conection, wire connection to breaker is good. I have seen problems with FPE breakers that have loose connections to buss in panel, but that problem is with 1/2 size breakers and this panel has full size breakers. This panel is OK" Buyer asked me to review electrician's report. Assuming the electrician pulled the breakers, his findings concerning the connections are appropriate. However, I question his statement regarding "full size breakers". To my knowledge, the problem with 2-pole Type F breakers is the same as Double E type breaker. I was just wondering how Forum members view the electricians statements.

I would guess the compressor is set up to maintain air pressure in the pressure tank. Its a conventional tank and there is no separation between water and air so they need additional air from time to time. If the pressure tank leaks air it may need regular re-charging. I have seen compressors setting next to the pressure tank so its easy for the owner to add air each day.

I use pocket 3D. All inspection notes are entered in an IPAQ 1945 at the inspection. I download to my PC and edit report including digital pictures and send out the report by email. I like having an opportunity to edit the repor and my clients like the quality of the report and the pictures.

I used to own a home built in 1890. Exterior walls were backplastered. Walls were uninsulated when I bought the home. I blew cellulose into wall cavities. The only concern I had was trapping moisture in wall cavities. However, plaster will dry to outside, so I decided the insulation would not hurt. It sure helped my heating bills. The builder of the home must have been very concerned about fires. Exterior walls were from inside out were 2x4 with ship lap sheathing. Building paper was installed over the sheathing and 1x2 were installed over building paper, then ship lap sheathing then asbesots paper and finally cedar clapboard. The insulator I hired almost went nuts trying to drill into wall cavities. To make matters worse, the house was ballon framed and had fire blocking installed every four feet in every stud cavity.

Jim, My understanding is the same as yours, backplastering was done to prevent air infiltration. Typically it was done on high end homes. The Center for Integrated Housing at Virgina Tech has published a timeline for housing in the United States. Based on their timeline, the practice of backplastering was common until after WWII. You can find the timeline at http://www.cish.vt.edu/img/timeline.pdf

The IRC and the IMC require sediment traps. §RG2418.4 (§FG408.4) Sediment trap. Where a sediment trap is not incorporated as a part of the gas utilization equipment, a sediment trap shall be installed as close to the inlet of the equipment as practical. The sediment trap shall be either a tee fitting with a capped nipple in the bottom opening of the run of the tee or other device approved as an effective sediment trap. Illuminating appliances, ranges, clothes dryers, and outdoor grills need not be so equipped.

My standard language fire damage is to recommend the buyer find out if a permit was issued to repair the damage and the repair work was inspected by the AHJ. Typically, if a permit has been issued, there is a structural engineer's report in the file. If no permit was issued I typically recommend inspection by a structural engineer. In most cases the homes I've seen with fire damage are not currently owned by the person who owned the house at the time of the fire. In one case the current owner was unaware there had ever been a fire. If you want to check on a permit, you can generally do it by making a telephone call to the AHJ.

I inspected an attic last year where the homeowner had painted the underside of attic and roof framing with a radiant barrier paint. He purchased the product on line and gave me the link. The paint he used is described at http://www.hytechsales.com/prod85.html. From the limited research I've done, most of the information on radiant barriers is all hyp provided by radiant barrier sales people. If the attic was not properly ventilated prior to re-roofing it is likely the paint does cover mildew and stains.

I inform the homeowner of any item which could be a safety risk to the homeowner. I tell the buyer I will be informing the homeowner of the item even though my report is a confidential document prepared for the buyer. I explain my concern about the safety of the occupant. I leave a letter at each home I inspect which describes the inspection process and tells sellers I cannot discuss the contents of my report unless authorized by the client. I note on this letter any thing I find that could be a safety concern to homeowner. If I found the cracked heat exchanger in July, I would not inform seller. If it was during normal heating season, I would inform seller at time of inspection.

I believe this is a condensing dyer. The moisture is removed by condensing the water vapor and pumping the condensate into a drain line. Bosch has installation and operation manuals available for download on their web page http://www.boschappliances.com

The manufactured home construction and safety standard requires water heaters in MH's to be "installed to provide for the complete separation of the combustion system from the interior atmosphere of the manufactured home." Most of the water heaters I see in MH's are in closets and utilize a specially designed water heater without a draft hood. When a standard water heater with atmospheric draft hood is installed I generally write it up. The MH I inspected today was on a large lake lot and had been added on to several times. From the outside it was hard to tell it was originally an MH. From the crawl space it was easy to see the steel frame. The mechanical systems are located in the original MH. However, this part of structure has been remodeled and what was once the kitchen is now a large laundry room with new water heater and forced air furnace. A standard water heater with atmospheric draft hood is installed. As I view it, the structure has been modified to the point where the Manufactured Housing Standards no longer apply. For this reason, I am not inclined to write up the water heater. Just wondering how others would handle this issue. The home is located in a rural part of Minnesota where the County has not adopted the State Bldg Code, so the modifications to the structure have not been permitted.

I was under the impression that an end joint in the top plate needed to be under a stud. However, when I looked through the IRC I could not find a specific requirement for a stud under a end joint in a stud wall. The specific requirements for a top plate on a stud wall in the 2000 IRC are: §RR602.3.2 Top plate. Wood stud walls shall be capped with a double top plate installed to provide overlapping at corners and intersections with bearing partitions. End joints in top plates shall be offset at least 24 inches (610 mm). EXCEPTION: A single top plate may be installed in stud walls, provided the plate is adequately tied at joints,corners and intersecting walls by a minimum 3-inch-by-6-inch by a 0.036-inch-thick (76 mm by 152 mm by 0.914 mm) galvanized steel plate that is nailed to each wall or segment of wall by six 8d nails on each side,provided the rafters or joists are centered over the studs with a tolerance of no more than 1 inch (25.4 mm). The top plate may be omitted over lintels that are adequately tied to adjacent wall sections with steel plates or equivalent as previously described. I believe the situation you have described would be addressed in IRC Section 602.9 - §RR602.9 Cripple walls. Foundation cripple walls shall be framed of studs not less in size than the studding above. When exceeding 4 feet (1219 mm) in height, such walls shall be framed of studs having the size required for an additional story. Cripple walls with a stud height less than 14 inches (356 mm) shall be sheathed on at least one side with a wood structural panel that is fastened to both the top and bottom plates in accordance with Table RR602.3(1), or the cripple walls shall be constructed of solid blocking. Cripple walls shall be supported on continuous foundations.