SWagar

I had an electrically activated vent damper installed on a new boiler years a few years back. It failed in about two years. It failed in the closed position, which would not allow the furnace to operate. And just as luck would have it, the vent damper failed on a weekend while I was away. That made for one cold Sunday night of sleeping. The repair was taking the stupid thing out so I didn't have to deal with the next one failing.

I thought what I was seeing in the photo was that the CPVC pipe fed the cold inlet and was Tee'd to the TPR valve. But after closer inspection, the CPVC TPR drain pipe just has the copper pipe from the cold water shut off connected to it. So I'd have to agree it is for thermal expansion. Was there a pressure reducing valve or backflow preventer installed on the water main? Was this house on a well? In general, I thought most thermal expansion is dissipated by the cold water plumbing from the water heater back toward the water supply, unless there is a device preventing water flow back toward the supply.

Not only is that goofy, it is one big accident waiting to happen. I don't know what the pressure/burst rating is for CPVC pipe. If the water heater overpressurized it would more than likely burst the pipe. Something would have to give, the pipe would be the weak point. Then one would have one big mess!

Yep , you 're right about the outlet issue, I mis-interpreted the nomenclature of the code book. An Outlet (per the NEC) is a receptacle, light fixture or smoke alarm. -

The NEC says that branch circuits supplying outlets need to be ACFI protected. It says nothing about AFCI in Lighting circuits. If the Lights are on the same circuit as Outlets then they will be AFCI protected by virtue of being on the same circuit as AFCI protected outlets. Generally in new construction, for me anyway, lights are on separate circuits from outlets. I don't think (in general) that there is any prohibition of putting lights and outlets on the same circuit. I know there are some specific case where they cannot be e.g. kitchen small apliance circuits.

It is an old Jedi mind trick. To figue it out you need to do a little math (yes you should have paid attention in school). The trick is that each set of ten numbers map onto the same number after you take the two digit number subtract the first digit then subtract the second digit. Example: 11 - 1 -1 = 9 13 - 1 -3 = 9 22 - 2 -2 = 18 27 - 2 - 7 = 18 34 -3 -4 = 27 39 - 3 - 9 = 27 ....(and so on) 94 - 4- 9 = 81 99 - 9 -9 = 81 so no matter what 2 digit number you choose it will map onto 9 unique numbers always!! In the re-gift table numbers 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63 ... 81 all have the same gift listed in them. Also each time you enter the gift table the gifts are changed so you get a new answer each time. Hope that splains it...

Jim, Are you talking about the asterisk in table 310.16 (2008 NEC), that points to 240.4 (B)(3)? This seems to allow the next larger breaker size to be used i.e. 25 A upsized to 30 A. Otherwise I can't find it ?!? -Scott

An asterisk, dang not even bold. I'll go look ... I knew there had to be a reason for the 30 Amp breaker we typically see.

In Portland this past summer, I inspected a house built in 1927 that had no ridge board.

I'll take a stab at it... 4500 VA (watts) / 240 volts = 18.75 Amps 18.75 A x 125 % (continuous load factor) = 23.5 Amps 23.5 Amps needs 10 AWG copper minimum. A 25 Amp breaker should suffice. NM wire is satistactory provided the wire is not exposed. MC / Flex metal conduit should used to house any wire that would have been exposed. Or if you feel the need, run the entire circuit in MC /Flex. The only thing I don't like about my answer is that I always see a 30 Amp breaker on a Water Heater circuit. So my guess is that I missed some thing in the code requirements or no one makes a 25 Amp circuit breaker???. That's my story and I'm stickin' with it (unless I'm wrong, then I'll change it).

Brandon, I fully agree with you ...... you can see some of the rot some of the time, you can't see all the rot all the time. A while back I was inspecting a crawl space just a crawlin' along and a stabbin' the Rim Joist when out of the blue my screwdriver went flying through the wood. All of the wood up to that point was fine and this wood did not look any different. But it was toast! I have not done very many inspections when the temperature has been below freezing for a prolonged amount of time (which is a good thing in a way). But it seems to me that the rotted wood would still be softer that the surounding sound wood. Even frozen, it would have no strctural integrity. If you were to pry on it, you should be able to tell it was rotted by the break out pattern. Just a thought.

If you look in the high end cabinet stores, you'll see an attempt to make cabinets look like furniture. Maybe these people were able to see the future and remodeled their kitchen for that high end , contemporary look. Give them some credit. Although, I'd say the cabinet installer needs a little help.

Do you think this crawl space drain will work very well? The picture is hard to get a feel for scale but the distance from the earth to the bottom of the drain is about 2 feet. This was in a newly constructed 1.5 million dollar home. Maybe that's where the swimming pool was gonna' be!

I think those meters can be electronically read from the outside of the building. I had one that looked just like that in my New England home years ago.

I noticed the meters inside this building, was there another meter in the Garage? The solder on the pipes looks to be all about the same vintage. That valve is turned off, any idea where the pipe went?

John, This link will go directly to the Best Practice guide: http://www.culturedstone.com/technical/flashing.asp The page has bubbles with numbers on it, each number is a different situation e.g. 1.13 is vertical wood trim. Just click the number you want to know about and a diagram will appear to show you their Best Practice. Happy reading. From what I can tell there are no direct building codes or even ASTM standards that directly apply to this material. So sometimes it is a bit o a p!$$ing match when it comes to giving code references for mis-installed product. Especially when another brand like Rogue River is used.

I guess I just don't get the point of doing this fuse thing?! The only reason that it makes sense to me, is that they are trying to limit the current to the device to a level less than the over current device's level at the panel. Arbitrary example: the pump is on a 20 amp circuit and they waned a 15 amp fuse to protect the pump. If the fuse at the pump and in the panel were the same, isn't this pointless. Or am I just missing something here?

In my area I see a lot of Owens Corning Cultured Stone. They publish a best practices for flashing guide that can be found at: http://www.culturedstone.com/technical/flashing.asp More often than not these stone products are installed no where close to this guide. One of the major offenders I see is improper flashing where the stone meets vertical and horizontal wood trim at windows and walls. Owens Corning calls out J mold, backer rod and sealant. What I see is mortar, which by the time I see it has cracked and or separated away from the wood trim. This joint is no longer water proof. I refer all of my clients to this web page if they have any doubt about proper instalation. I've been in a couple of heated discussions with builders over this topic. I've had one builder tell me his installers were "trained" and "certified" by Owens Corning and yet they still did not follow the OC best practice guide. I agree with the prediction that these fake stone products will be the next EIFS. At a recent association meeting a building defect lawyer told us that he is already seeing claims against this stuff. Keep your eyes on the prize! Image Insert: 97.3 KB

I don't believe that you would end up with 240 volts on all circuits. The earth ground is in place to provide a return path to the transformer. It would be at a much higher impedance however, you would still have 120 volts. The higher impedance will cause problems with some appliance. The grounded conductor looks to be undersized and poorly connected to the service conductor. Even if there was no earth ground / return path, I'm still not sure you would get all 240 volt circuits. I would think you would have functional 240 volt circuits and non-functional (open) 120 volt circuits.

From your picture the spots appear evenly spaced. Are they? Could the spots be directly under joists, strapping or something in the attic that may cause a cold/hot spot where condensation could occur? Is the house generally clean inside? I have seen instances where cold transmission from rafter contact/ lack of insulation can cause condensation inside. In a bedroom there can be moisture buildup since people spend considerable time there giving off water vapor. House dust can collect on condensation and could look like mold growth.

I haven't gone exploring in my house yet, but I know (in this area) that many turn of the century (early 1900's that is) had siding nailed directly to the studs. No sheathing was installed. These houses breathed very well, that's pretty obvious. We are in a very moist environment. Since these homes breath well, generally we do not see as many mold/condensation issues as in our newer tightly sealed homes. This is in part due to the constant air flow through their stud walls coupled with much larger overhang at the roof line. I think that if I do not have exterior sheathing, blown-in cellulose would not be such a great idea due to the wetting potential. But if I find sheathing I sure would like the extra warmth.

Currently the house is woefully bereft of insulation in the walls and only minor amounts of cellulose in the attic. I will be adding more cellulose to the attic after the remodel is finished. What thoughts do you have about blowing in cellulose insulation into the wall cavities? Is there some sort of vapor retarder that comes in a roll e.g. Tyvek that I could use under the sheetrock on top of the wood boards? I do not want to use plastic as I’ve heard too many bad things about complete vapor barriers in older homes. Should I be concerned about condensation in the wall cavity and in the new insulation with or without a vapor retarder? Would I be better off without wall insulation? My other thought is, if there is no exterior sheathing the insulation may get wet from driving rain, I don't think that could be a good situation. I’d like to hear your comments/suggestions.

The wood boards are not all that pleasant to look at. They are uneven, stained and face nailed. The picture is a bit misleading. So I need to cover them with something, looks like sheetrock and extra mud are the answer.

Jim and Tom The house is located in the Old Town section of Forest Grove, she is not much to look at now. But give us a 4 months or so and she will be back in shape. I'm not sure whether there is any exterior wall sheathing behind the lap siding (I think no). Which by the way is 13/16 - 7/8 CGF Clear Grain Fir, the back is rough sawn, don't see too much of that. So I did not know if the interior wood is structural. My guess was that is was not directly structural but that it adds stiffness to the structure much like the plaster and lath below. I thought about taking off the wood for about 5 seconds and decided no way! There is a lot of wood it looks like two sheds and a dog house. But mainly because I would now have to cut the window and door jams down which is harder for me than firing them out. Also the paneling was nailed to the walls with hundreds and hundreds of little nails. My wife and father-in-law spent countless hours pulling out each and every little nail. I don't have the heart to tell them that all that work was for nothing. I'll chaulk up my extra few hours of trim work to family relations, some types of mental anguish are better than others!

Thanks Jim ! All very good points. Loosing trim depth was one of my concerns, which is why I thought maybe 1/4 inch sheetrock would look OK. But I don't want this house to look like a hack so I'll just bite the bullet and do it right. As far as the wiring goes, suprizingly all of the BX and Knob and Tube has all been replaced with NM along with a new panel and service. I think the ugrade was done 1985 or so. I don't realy like all of the quality of the wiring so I'll be replacing much of if. I'm a little picky about wiring. I will have quite alot to add as well. Sooo... need some practice with your wiring skills???