smarcus

You could put a drainage mat in the spaces between the spacers to shield from UV rays. I think your issues will come from not installing the WRB and flashing perfectly and how it's detailed. Without a redundancy in the layers of siding, you are only relying on the WRB. You should probably be discussing this with a manufacturers rep.

http://www.buildingscience.com/document ... l-climates Building science has another article too that I didn't bother to find but that might be helpful too.

I saw what looked like gold paint on the sheathing and rafter of the attic, it had dripped down on top of the insulation. Roof was only 7 years old and in great condition, so nothing apparently wrong, just weird. Has anyone seen this before? Click to Enlarge 45.23 KB Click to Enlarge 45.59 KB

I think you're looking for mixing valve. If you turn on the mixing valve with the cold supply on, the water can travel back down through the hot supply lines.

Thank you in advance for the great knowledge that this forum brings together. New roof on a single family. The developer said the roof was "rubber," and then insisted it was rubber when i said i thought it looked a lot like a mod bit. Chalk is fine and smooth. The second image is a blow up of the first and you can see some of the roof texture near the seams. There was no crazing, the seams were all holding, and just a little ponding at the valley. My thoughts are that the plastics are hardening from UV rays. I have seen a little powder on mod bit roofs before, but not this heavy, especially because It rained pretty hard here yesterday, so the chalk may have run from the roof and reoccurred. Is this normal aging or is this roof wearing faster than it should be. Click to Enlarge 57.86 KB Click to Enlarge 54.78 KB

Sorry to be redundant to Tom's post. I will sometimes mention to drain the sediment from the tank, I think it depends on the client. With some clients you just know they are going to hurt themselves or damage their property based on what they think you said.

I figured cold joints where they were flush in the crawl and some areas where it looks like they didn't vibrate the concrete, but I didn't see how the form could shift in the manner of the first photo. Jim, the second photo is at the base of the wall under the desk as seen from the establishing shot. The wall is sticking out almost an inch in that location.

Today's basement. It didn't appear to be cracking, but I can't think of a way the form work can deform to create a foundation that looks like this. I think I have seen this on the forum before, but can not remember anything about it. I couldn't see much of the foundation, only parts of two walls adjacent to each other, but not the corner, and a couple of accesses for the gas and water meters. Everywhere I saw similar conditions. The first three pictures are the basement and the next two are the crawl space (converted porch) The only wall that was out of plumb was in the crawl. The home was about 60 years old. Click to Enlarge 25.7 KB Click to Enlarge 34.45 KB Click to Enlarge 33.85 KB Click to Enlarge 50.06 KB Click to Enlarge 40.66 KB

They always do the rear gutter detail wrong, just wrap the last cap sheet down into the gutter and fasten the gutter hangers through the sheet. Its mostly what I see with mod bit roofing. And thanks for the reply Kurt, that would be why I couldn't find any information on fully adhering cap sheets.

I think I've been through most of the posts in this forum and I don't recall anything about modified bitumen sheets and being fully adhered. The seams were all heat welded and mostly sealed well, the exception being the pictured seam. I was pretty surprised when I looked at the seam and pulled up on it a little to see how loose is was when the entire sheet lifted up a little, but stayed together. all the seams and parapets are sealed, the sheets are all loose. I tried in a couple other areas where i could and all the same. There are some wrinkles or blisters. Some of the installation instructions I have seen don't specify that the sheets be fully adhered, just the flashing sheets. I don't believe it to be ok, specifically because the risk of tenting or blow off. Is there a reference for fully adhered cap sheets. Download Attachment: IMG_4921.jpg 886.76 KB Download Attachment: IMG_4922.jpg 570.36 KB Download Attachment: IMG_4923.jpg 636.45 KB Download Attachment: IMG_4924.jpg 708.27 KB Download Attachment: IMG_4925.jpg 641.34 KB

House was in Oak Park, IL. I first saw it I thought grease trap, but the in/out pipes were at the same elevation with no indication of separate chambers, so grease on top would just continue through the pit. At least that's what I thought I observed when watching it. Water in from the right then out through the left.

Water flow was great to the first floor and pretty low to the second. I did conclude while I was there discussing with the client that it did not appear to do anything significant and could be removed. I hadn't considered that it may be lined with lead, but that is a good point with the age of the tank. There was another old boiler expansion tank mounted horizontally between the joists (just out of photo) so I don't believe that it ever functioned as an expansion tank for the boiler. Tempering tank makes sense with its proximity to the boiler. Thanks for all the responses, nothing is worse than looking at a system that looks like it is functioning perfectly well and not knowing what a part of it does.

Thanks, I hadn't considered water heater expansion tank. Good eye, I hadn't yet realized that the vent was horizontal. I did mention that the venting was in need of correcting. There is corrosion below the dielectric union where it appears that some spillage occurs and what you can't see is that the flue empty into the chimney which is unlined for the first three feet and at the base of the chimney at the exterior there are loose mortar joints and efflorescence on a recently repointed building. Thanks for the quick reply.

I am not sure if I am posting to the correct forum or if this belongs in the plumbing forum. I saw this cold water storage tank (precariously balanced) in the basement of a 30s home in Chicago. It is difficult to see from the photo (sorry for the bad picture) but water flows from down into the tank from above, cold water to the boiler doesn't flow through the tank it branches to the right just before the top of the tank. The water to the water heater goes through the tank. I thought that it may have been originally intended for use by the boiler. Being used by the water heater I would think that its current purpose would be to bring water to room temperature before entering the water heater. Can someone explain this? I am sorry if this is obvious, but it is escaping me for now. Click to Enlarge 48.51 KB

Found this pit in a basement in Chicago, the home was from the 30s. Water from the laundry tub flowed into it and I believe it then went to the sewer. There was a lite sewer gas odor throughout the basement that I believe was coming from this pit. I speculated that there was no trap. However, the smell was not stronger in any one location pretty consistent throughout the basement. In the photo directly above the pit water flowed in from a pipe at the right and out through a pipe to the left. I thought it might be a sediment trap when I was watching it, but can't think of a reason for a sediment trap in a home. Can anyone identify this? Click to Enlarge 16.26 KB Click to Enlarge 21.48 KB Click to Enlarge 16.3 KB