Rob Amaral

I see furnace-cement like that often at the boiler 'flue' clean-out cover areas often Mike... the application where cast-iron sections meet may indicate a past problem (MAY, may not). Guys tend to 'goop the crap' out of intersections of materials as both a good measure and CYA or just out of plain ignorance... no way to tell (unless you saw SOOT marks near related)... With a lot of these things, the phrase "we cannot predict performance moving forward' is going to include ......

We had (1953) the ol' Western Electric 'dial' phone MO-8-_____. No area code... it was a party line... often you'd pick it up and there would be two parties in conversation.... The 'phone company' was for quite a while there, a major 'good' thing until it got 'busted up'... An old timer in the phone company here in Boston was worried that the 'break up' (of Ma Bell) would lead to massive 'service' issues during storms, etc. It turned-out alright actually.... Those are great biz cards... probably saw-sharpening-guys I'd imagine..

Cola-colored stains on 'some type of stucco-like exterior finish' (Usually leads to a 'not good' thing). Hopefully this is NOT EIFs. See all the above....

One of the old-school good-eggs in the Boston errea... Kind guy with a good sense of humor and humility . Honorable life.

Has the 'essence of Howard, Fine and Howard" fine cabinetmakers...

Great stuff....

What country was it made in ?

ZOTZ DOTZ ! Good One... I too seem to have the same Karma goin on....I don't have a picture but a few weeks back, I found a bootleg bathroom ON THE ROOF of a flat-roof three decker in South Boston (no ceiling, no heat) and the water supply pipes were routed up an in-use brick chimney from 1900 (no liner)... Oy.. The drains were mickey-moused into the apt below....

Great !

That's an amazing 'catch' of the greatest-generation 'gettin it done'.. !

Best wishes on the change! Amen on the USPS... 'good move'

Thanks for posting....

Dried sap

Jim's right... Chicken-wire reinforcement... often we'll see the date of the manufacture on them... we see them every week around here.. We also see the precursor----stone sinks, same size/shape, etc.. (usually with cracks)... but the reinforced-concrete beast is more common.. I even had one here in my 1961 ranch that I had to tear-apart ... pain in the gluteus maximus

Ditto all above... but let it slide...I'd be more concerned about conditions conducive to termites at the entire system under there..... you may want to pro-actively do something about that and let this slide.....

Silly product... never seen it around BOS (yet)... we have plenty of the 'real stuff'..

Hm..

Did a 2017-era inspection with an Eaton/Cutler-Hammer load-center this week (Apr 2022). Test-tripped the AFCIs and one 'sort of blew up' (arced, material spat out somewhat, etc). - I did not turn it back on, posted a note, made all the proper recommendations etc, but I'm not aware of this happening with any brand of breaker.... Thoughts?? I'm gonna go snooping-around the web for more info..

Ditto to BK (as usual)..

Very cool... a 'thermobaric bomb' comes to mind..

I've seen 'gravity' (no circulator) water-systems from 1920 around Boston for sure...

Were there remnants of 'fresh-air intake ducts' at the perimeter basement level? We do have some trillionaire-1890's houses around Boston that have remnants of 1st floor level 'fresh-air intake vents' (louvered/screened) at the exterior that bring in fresh air that wafts in over steam radiators placed in 'boxes' just under the first floor.... they were really into 'fresh air' this, 'fresh-air that' back then... I've never seen (yet) what you describe for hydronic.. (Was the system a former 'gravity' circulating water-system?)

I've been using this tiny drone for many (not all) roof inspections... it's excellent. Only recommended for an inspector how knows what to look for and what they are looking at. Even used it on 'low' roofs with success ... Tough little bird....

I still have yet to best my own '14 Boa Constrictors in Terrariums in a crowded 1950's basement ranch'... I rang the door (Relo inspection), guy says ,. 'Do snakes bother you' ? (Guy was out of a 1961 episode of Twilight Zone of course.. not shaven, etc).. I said no.. why? "I have a few snakes properly caged down in the basement' He had a 'few' (14) Boas in huge long terrariums... with tiny narrrow paths between each unit that I had to of course maneuever thru. The ENtire basement (walls/ceilings) were clad with a mylar foil... thermostat for the forced air furnace (and the entire house) was 'in the basement' and was jacked to 90... ground was covered with about 2 feet of snow... no snow on roof... massive ice-dams occurring and ice-dam leaks and his entire roof structure system (planks/rafters) was soaking wet... While walking in the back yard I found a rabbit hutch complex (food source) and I ended up walking onto (in deep snow) the 'rabbit remains depository' ... One of the creepiest inspections every... led to all sorts of recommendations including 'total removal of the entire roof structure system/roofing' etc etc..

"George Barris/Home Inspector" So.Cal USA