Jim Katen

If you have 16 CEUs and 3 are mandatory, you have 13 more than you need. What's the problem? 

If you're working regularly, giving up inspections for a trial would cost you way more than $500. I'd just pay the fine and call it "tuition." 

A giant metal octopus.

Why wouldn't you just use a regular Gorrilla or Little Giant 13-footer? 

What's an "isolation joint?" This term is new to me in relation to stucco. Is it a local term? It sounds like he's talking about an expansion joint, which, of course, would not be used around a window or door. 

If the inspector is talking about the sealant joint that's *required* around windows and doors, then hell yes, they're required. 

Do you have pictures? 

I doubt that it needs repair at all. The plastic is there to reduce the risk of corrosion underground. Above ground the copper is fine without plastic - except that it should be marked yellow every several (5?) feet. If wrapping it in tape makes you feel better, go for it. I suggest using the yellow tape, though. 

Reminds me of when I was a kid. We went to visit my cousins in Pittsburgh and all went out for vanilla ice cream cones. My cousins showed me how if you just hold up your cone in the air for a while without licking it, a grey film formed on the ice cream and dripped down it in streaks - just like the streaks in those pictures. According to them it was coal dust, which was thick in the Pittsburgh air in the '60s. They insisted that it made the ice cream taste better. 

Did this roof taste better? 

Based on the quality of the workmanship, I'd say someone was using the opportunity to practice. 

They don't look unstruck to me. It looks like it was deliberately pointed with a beading tool. 

Is it just a plain electric furnace, or is it part of a heat pump system? 

Seems like an incredibly dumb idea. 

In my area, even a baby earthquake would make a mess of that. 

15 hours ago, Scott M said:

@Jim - Currently, the clothes in my closet don't seem to have an odor, or I'm just used to it and it gets stronger once they've been packed in a suitcase.  The suitcase Does Not have an odor.  I've tried the suitcase in the sun.  I've even washed & drying my clothes before a trip and still a musty smell.  I have a new W/D, I use laundry detergent with no dyes.  I dry my clothes with several fabric sheets.   I clean my machine out once a month with clear vinegar.  You name it, I do it & I've tried it.  I think Marc is right about the lack of ventilation.

Um, it's not the clothes. It's you. You're nose blind while you're in Florida.

By the way, I live in Oregon, and I've had people visit from Denver who told me that all of Oregon smells of mold. I don't smell it because I'm used to it. 

13 hours ago, Scott M said:

@Marc - the humidity in my home runs between 43% - 47%.  Today it's at 45%

@Jim - I've tried putting the suitcase in the sun, does not work for me.  Its already in clothes.

I guess I don't understand the issue.:

• You live in Florida and you don't necessarily smell mold in your house. 
• You get ready to go on a trip, so you pull out your suitcase. Does it smell of mold then? 
• You pack your suitcase. Do the clothes smell like mold then? 
• You arrive at your destination, open your suitcase, and smell mold. Is this right? 

Same here. I just lay my ladder over the rickety one. 

My dad was lucky enough to only break his collarbone when one of those things let go under him when he was 80 years old. 

Good grief! You live in S Florida - Mold is in every lungful of air you breathe. It's on your clothes, on your skin, in your nose, and on your eyeballs. Every day. All the time. Every time I travel to Florida, the moment I get off the plane, I hit a wall of humid, moldy air. It's like walking in warm Jello. 

And you know what? It's ok. Millions of people live with it every day of their lives. We evolved with it. If that little spot of mold is all that you got on your test, you're miles ahead of nearly every other Floridian. 

Before your next trip, open your suitcase, and set it outside in the sun for a few hours. It'll smell better. 

I think it's actually a blend of 4 or 5 different refrigerants, with all different flash points. One of the papers that I read treated this as a selling point, saying that it made the blend up to 25% more efficient. This is why I never trust products where the only available information is PR. 

https://www.bluonenergy.com/residential/

Does anyone here have firsthand experience with this stuff? 

Is it a realistic drop-in replacement for R-22 or just hype? 

Everything that I can find online seems to be PR from the manufacturer. 

I don't know squat about the 203k program, but I dealt with HUD for many, many years in other capacities. One valuable lesson that I learned is that when you can't find an answer in their handbook or other literature, I just make up an answer that makes sense to me and go for it as if it were the holy truth from on high. If HUD doesn't like it, they get back to me and I get the real answer at that time. Much easier than playing the phone game. 

It's a good point. I've seen lots of them here and I can't recall ever seeing one with a pan under the unit. I've never seen one leaking - but that's probably because nearly every one that I see has stopped working.  

Do they not have a water level monitoring device that shuts them down if the drains fail? 

Oy. Now you're dating yourself. 

Oh, heck, this thing wasn't even mentioned in the report. It wasn't even near the house. I was just curious. 

2 hours ago, robbieo said:

TPR drains should extend outside and terminate in a visible location.

According to whom? 

On 6/17/2020 at 9:45 AM, Bill Kibbel said:

It's a hypeathral. Sometimes called temple of the sky.

It's just possible that I've never heard that term before. Thanks. 

On 6/17/2020 at 7:58 AM, Marc said:

What's wrong with gazebo?

I've always understood a gazebo to be a place of shelter (necessitating a roof) where one could "gaze" at the scenery. This provides neither shelter no view and is, in fact, more like something to be gazed upon, which has no other practical use - hence my leaning toward a folly. 

Is there another name for this structure, other than a folly?