Bill Kibbel

Intended to repeal many provisions of the Home Inspection Law of 2001, establish the Pennsylvania Board of Home Inspectors and provide for licensure of home inspectors.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Leg ... 81&pn=0057

This looks like it may be a reintroduction of the PA senate Bill that died in the 2009 session.

How can they avoid the ten-year service life on historic wood sash?

Secondary glazing - exterior side. Regularly accepted by even the strictest HARBs.

I think Bock is probably the best.

I think the best of the inexpensive is Rheem.

I get lots more false positives, but I've had some great false negatives. The best was a cable hanging from the ceiling in a basement. The agent was standing next to me and asked, "Is that live?" I pulled out the voltage sniffer, which remained obstinately unresponsive as I ran it along the length of the cable, and I said, "The volt sniffer says it's dead. . ." Now before I could complete the sentence (which I had intended to say, ". . . but you can never trust these things), she reached out and grabbed the live end of the wire.

I don't use it on cables, only individual wires.

I can't count the number of times that voltage sniffers have lied to me.

I've had many false positives but never, ever a false negative.

Here is everything you need to know about brass pipe:

...if we were selling it! Interesting though.

Thank you, Frank. This topic is now on the front page as "Latest news for Home Inspectors".

Brass is an allow made from copper and zinc. 67% copper is the minimum for piping (yellow brass). The good stuff is 85% copper (red brass).

I'm happy to see an access hatch to the unfinished part. I'd like to be the inspector when he tries to sell it.

There have been a number of completely finished attics that I was still quite sure there were major improper structural alterations - and several other issues. "Why there are no plumbing vents through the roof?"

The radon from granite countertops thing was put to rest. There has never been a link that shows enough radon could be emitted from countertops to cause any elevation in the radon level in a building.

It's kinda silly. $50k+ to clean up a small patch of residential dirt.....

Most I've encountered are closer to $100,000. Some tank leak abatements require monitoring wells.

What authority made the determination? Local, State, EPA?

State's DEPs get involved with occurrences.

The primary issue is not the proximity of the furnace vent termination to the fireplace flue outlet. There are many, many masonry chimneys that have gas or oil equipment flues terminating just a couple inches from fireplace flue openings at the same elevation. There would have to be other issues for this to actually be a problem.

The first issue is the B-vent for the furnace is supposed to terminate at least 12" from the top of the chase.

Both vent pipes are supposed to be properly flashed at the chase cover, including storm collars.

The sheet metal chase cover (if it was even galvanized) is overdue for replacement (with stainless steel and drainage slopes).

I would also advise that someone get inside the chase to find the other likely installation errors.

Sure. What would you like to discuss.

This is not my photo and I didn't look at this one. Mostly wondering about the foil tape and about how much single wall is allowed. I believe single wall is allowed up to a masonry connection like this, but if the chimney is B vent, what is the rule?

The application of foil tape is usually an attempt to resolve a symptom, but doesn't address the actual problem.

Single-wall vent connectors are fine for connecting gas equipment to a masonry chimney or B-Vent, as long as it's not in an unconditioned space.

On unit heaters, mfrs. say ok to use single walled but these vent under positive pressure. Can't use unlisted single walled pipe even if joints gooped. Done. Can't use B-vent under positive vent pressure, even if joints gooped. Done.

He's asking for the source of your "Can't...Done". I'd really like to know as well.

Field Controls also manufactures booster fans.

You're discussing a booster fan that is intended to be installed on a vent connector that vents a Cat 1 appliance to a natural draft chimney or vent.

Booster fan instructions usually state that all joints must be sealed and the fan must be installed as close to the chimney/vertical vent as possible.

Unless there's a major problem with the vertical B-vent (undersized, reduced, too short or blockage), I don't think there would be an issue with the slight positive pressure.

Rather than accepting a booster fan, I try to find the problem that caused the improper venting. It's usually a chimney/vertical vent or the vent connector installation error or inadequate combustion air.

In my area, it employed a lot of Italian Americans, too.

There's lot's of stories about which specific jobs could be held by each nationality at the quarries. The splitters were usually Welshmen. The Welsh were also known for their experience and eye for reading the slate beds. When Italians were brought in, production increased. They had the experience and ability cutting and moving the big blocks and shaping the large slate building materials.

No. I just found him standing beside the road.

...that employed many Welsh Americans for about 140 years.

I don't know of any other gas vent system that would be acceptable for that installation. Maybe there's an insulated vent that's available, but someone (M.E.) would have to approve it.

What's in the pic is a B-vent. In addition to support and possible sizing issues, I would tell them that any more than 5' exposed requires an unvented enclosure or chase that has a minimum of R-8 insulation.

I just clicked on the link. Sure enough: "lethal mold", "harmful fungus", "mold victim", "protect your family" - all on just one page.

We get threads involving mold fairly often here. Your input will likely be much appreciated.

Marc

It would be appreciated only if it were truth about molds from facts.

The signature line in the original post smells like just another "mold is gold" lab trying to sell bullshit qualifications and test kits to home inspectors.

I thought that I should pass this along in case anyone was interested.

This is what my research has shown:

In an existing building, the labeling (therefore triggering a study) must be completed if the equipment is going to be worked on hot.

So if you are in a commercial facility and you pass people working on the hot panels while you are there, and it is not labeled, then you should mention it in the report. This may be true in residential as well - I am not sure.

Will this happen? Probably not, but it is a requirement of NFPA 70E for those circumstances.

Are you inspecting the building or are you the employer or facilities manager?

NFPA 70E is the guidelines for worker safety developed for OSHA - it's not for any building codes. If you are going to report on signs for approach boundaries, you had better have done arc flash and shock hazard analysis to determine where signs are needed. Are you going to report on all of the other OSHA requirements for worker safety too?

It's an OSHA workplace employee/contractor thing. It's the responsibility of the facilities managers to identify arc flash potentials, then establish barriers in the zones, implement safety procedures and protective gear requirements.

When considering repairing an open hearth fireplace, I think there should be a discussion about the difficulty in getting open hearth fireplaces to draft properly without spilling smoke plus they are huge energy hogs sucking about 400-600cfm out the room.

I've had only excellent experiences with having open-hearth fireplace flues lined with the Ahrens system. I even had a fireplace that you could park a mini van work perfectly. I've recommended it to thousands of clients, many friends and historic sites. I've found many draft problems with other types of lining systems. Many have resulted the fireplaces being unusable.

Their day is just about over unless we revert back to the stone age. Actually, the EPA is working on outlawing them and they're making good progress so enjoy them while you can.

Thousands of my clients have purchased 18th century (and some 17th century) homes with open hearth fireplaces as a main feature (myself included). I've worked with living history museums, inns and taverns that feature open hearth cooking. Is the EPA going to run around like law enforcement during prohibition, bricking up fireplaces?

Soft knock on old farmhouse door.

"Hey man, let me in - I gotta roast an ox."

"What's the password bub?"