gtblum

Every time I look at this, I think about what this must look like during the winter. Ice and water from the upper roof,(hip?)to the lower, with a gutter to help back it up into a huge ice sculpture. I mean no harm to the new guy, but, c'mon. Take a look at what's there and consider a few things before tossing some lame ass, perfect world advice that's useless to this condition. Both of those places are still standing after 100 years + of Lake Michigan winters. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Sounds pretty simple to me. Why didn't we think of that? Cheap, too. The gutters are already there, and landscaping that foot and a half wide alley, couldn't possibly cost that much.

They must have asked the neighbor for permission to fasten the gutter from their window. [] This kind of goofy stuff isn't exclusive to Chicago. There's plenty of the same type around here. Why bother killing yourself trying dream up something to correct it now? The houses must be close to 100 years old, right? The buyer must have seen it before they made an offer, right? It is what it is.

How did you arrive at that conclusion, Peety? You're forgetting, somewhere in the area of 80% of the inspections hired, are by way of a realtor referral. You don't think for a minute, those agents are looking for a way to cut into their own commission checks, do you? Trust me, Peety. I'd love for what you believe to be the case. That would mean the clients were educated in the ways of how the system works, they'd seek their own inspector rather than end up with a hand picked good old boy, and you might not see as much of the incompetence you seem to run into. Peety, it's never going to be about the quality of the inspector, until the quality inspectors are being hired. That ain't happening until the current referral system is challenged and eliminated by everyone.

How well do they know the neighbors? I'm thinking a dormer with a door would work. Imagine the snow drift that must pile up there!

Companies like Reading, Unicell, your local, including conversion vans and hearses, draw from what they call a bailment pool of chassis. They usually don't, (or at least back in my time) build for the dealers without a specific order. Too risky to possibly pay a ton of interest to the factory for a vehicle growing a long white beard while waiting for the right guy to buy it.

Or, if you're looking for something that does all of that for you, and keeps the learning curve pretty short, you can download a free trial of Home Gauge, and play with it. A number of us here use it.

Sorry Douglas, I was only using those to direct your eye toward the scorched area. The "Is that why?" refers to what can happen with two wires under the same screw.

Funny! That was the homeowner's kid's doll. They let me use it after I measured the head and asked them. The buyer staged it for the picture. Everyone stood there roaring at it. The only thing missing was some idiot agent having a heart attack! Bad news was, they wouldn't sell me the doll.

Do you understand now, stupid? Click to Enlarge 48.81 KB

Look between the wires of the two double tapped breakers. Click to Enlarge 61.67 KB

Thanks Jim, I'll pass that on.

Type M copper lines to the laundry area, in a 13 year old, dry basement. Is this about to become a sprinkler system? Click to Enlarge 59.22 KB Click to Enlarge 74.32 KB Click to Enlarge 26.19 KB

Any chance there was a heater in the bath fan?

I'll come clean with this. "Clean" Get it? This was intentionally done as a joke by a friends brother. It's a dummy outlet. Oh! yeah! He just happens to work at NASA. Anybody still wondering why we haven't made it to Mars yet?

Click to Enlarge 41.22 KB

Sure it could. You could probably get that approved by a sanitation engineer, the guy who drew the cartoons for the Tacoma narrows bridge, and maybe even the engineer in charge of Thomas the train.

It needs some mahogany! Click to Enlarge 47.52 KB

Wow! Flowers, already? Mine still looks like a bundle of sticks. No summer for us!

I like Simmons optics. Whatever you choose, spend the $. You do get what you pay for. A few bucks can make a huge difference.

Aren't we all? You understand my point. If you're going to spend most of your life worrying about what might be the next thing that could kill you, you won't have time to spend much of your life, living.

Yup, but I'm certainly not fool enough to dismiss the fact it's done harm to me. I've also been exposed to concrete dust, asbestos, lead paint, lead fumes, numerous nuke plant drywell dives that resulted in exposures of over 300 mr per session, microwaves, ate cupcakes in school, played cops and robbers with fake guns, love bacon, eggs, and fried hamburgers. Let's see if they can pinpoint which one gets me. I will admit, I've cut way down on the running with scissors thing.

I think this keeps close enough to the subject, and why folks believe what they do. Go directly to 16:18. Watch this and tell me it doesn't scare the hell out of you. We live in a world of idiots and followers. Nuff said. Study on! [utube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPtHqqg_Ddc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344">

You might want to look that one up again, although it also cuts across perfect political lines. Forbes, CNN, Fox, Cato....they all cite studies with no clear link, then segue into how it's a coverup for another Obama secret agenda to fund overseas abortions. American Cancer Society, Cardio-Pulmonary Medical professionals, EPA, WHO, CDC all cite second hand smoke as a clear and proven hazard, with a few proclamations of "indisputable fact". Who are you going to believe? When science goes political, it's over. Ha! I've never looked any of it up. I'm waiting for them to name the first person they can prove it caused harm to. Too many other contributing factors over the course of a life time. That's my own opinion. I don't put much faith in the media or the opinions of political club members. Recent studies have shown the results of studies generally fall in favor of the beliefs of those who sponsored the studies. []

Thanks, What I mean is, isn't the breakdown affected by variables?