Jim Katen

How did the drywall affect the downspout?

Would this be considered "Close to Similar"? Three conductors and one significantly smaller than the other two.

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The allowable wires & size information is stamped somewhere on that lug - though someone might have to remove it to actually read the information.

Can someone tell me what it is they are trying to accomplish here? . . .

Perhaps they're trying to burn down the building.

I cannot smile. My daughter would tickle me for the camera sometimes.

I glad you were able to comprehend it. That had me worried most of all.

Marc

No worry there. You're easy to understand. To my Yankee ears, it sounds like you have a southern/French accent, but I understood every word.

I like it.

Only suggestions:

It could be shorter.

You should smile more.

Your speaking voice is great.

. . . He will buff and poly the floor should be smooth.

The water popping creates the rough furry wood letting it accept the stain more evenly. It worked great as for how well the stain took and looks.

I think I understand your concern that maybe the furry feeling be able to be felt through the floor. I'll keep you updated.

I used to use the "water popping" technique (though I never heard that term applied to it) when finishing pieces of furniture, though not to prep for stain. I'd do it to achieve a flawlessly smooth surface. I'd repeatedly raise the "fur" and sand it down again with fresh sharp sandpaper until no more fur would come up. It made for an impeccably smooth surface.

With stain, I'd be concerned that even a light buffing with steel wool or scotch brite would remove some of the stain, leaving light spots. Let us know how it works out.

. . . We applied distilled water very lightly to the floor and after about 2 hours the floor was dry and very gritty and almost furry feeling. The stain took like a champ and produced a great look without blotches and without lines. . . .

So at that point, you had a gritty, furry floor that was well stained. How did you knock down the furry fibers without removing the stain? Or did you apply the first coat of finish and then screen it smooth?

What's the white feathery plastic clinging to the outside of the stem wall in the "foundation" picture? I've never seen forms lined with sheet plastic.

Around here, elevated slabs like that are all post-tensioned nowadays. Is there a reason that the designers chose not to do it on this job, or is that not a common technique in your area?

You might want to remove the 100-amp breaker, move both of the lower 2-pole breakers up there, and move the two single-pole breakers down to the lower section.

The installer failed to adequately screen the floor after the drum sanding. It's just like any other kind of wood finishing. You can't skip steps.

At this point, my guess is that anything short of new drum sanding will just make it look worse.

If we cut a hole in the side of a light tube, which connects a rooftop lens to the ceiling drywall, and run a second tube from that hole thru the ceiling, will we get more light in the room?

No. You'll get less.

. . . especially the gable trusses with all of their vertical studs.

Are they, in fact, trusses?

. . . Besides from the complete stupidity, what else can go wrong?

The classic fear is that a refrigerant leak at the evaporator coil can allow refrigerant to hit a hot heat exhanger and convert to an unpleasant (if not unhealthy) gas.

Also, if the evaporator coil's condensate collection system isn't working properly, the blower can suck up the water and spray it all over the heat exchanger, accelerating corrosion.

It seems I remember a requirement that the coiling coil be located down stream from the furnace but the only bad outcome I can think of is accelerated corrosion.

In the bad old days R-12 impinging on a hot heat exchanger could actually produce phosgene gas. R-22 doesn't produce phosgene, but it still produces some very unpleasant gases when heated. I don't know about 134a.

. . . Besides from the complete stupidity, what else can go wrong?

The classic fear is that a refrigerant leak at the evaporator coil can allow refrigerant to hit a hot heat exhanger and convert to an unpleasant (if not unhealthy) gas.

Also, if the evaporator coil's condensate collection system isn't working properly, the blower can suck up the water and spray it all over the heat exchanger, accelerating corrosion.

Very old club of sorts is all that I can say.

Have you guys seen or heard of an electrical switch of the large type shown?

I've never seen oil filled switches like that or a capacitor bank like that.

The breaker panels and old wiring are pretty run of the mill.

But the rest of that stuff is pretty wild. What kind of facility is this?

So looking now at a house that was built in 1987 and the second floor squeaks really loudly pretty much everywhere, more than most houses this age. It's got carpet. It's on slab and the first floor does not squeak. How serious are squeaky floors from a structural standpoint?

Zero structural importance.

And how hard would it be to fix this on the second floor with carpet in place? I'm not an inspector, just looking at houses for myself and wanted to get your input on this as I'm sure you see it all the time. Thanks!

A single squeaky spot is easy to fix through the carpet with squeak no more screws. A very squeaky 2nd floor can't be fixed without pulling up the carpet first - which is really pretty easy.

Water wheel generator, which I disclaimed.

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I'd have been much more interested in the water wheel than the rest of the house.

My neighbor across the street built himself a water wheel generator. He passed away several years ago and the wheel is now in ruins, but when it was going full blast he could light up a 100w lightbulb with it.

I'd be astonished to see one that could burn up anything in that electrical box.

Does the power company know about it?

Or is this, in fact, powered by a water wheel? (I thought that the title of the thread was facetious.)

That's pretty common. As you guessed, the idea is to allow the pipe to drain so that the poor pump doesn't have to fight the head pressure on start up.

I find it difficult to believe that this is the service panel, even in Eureka.

I used to use something similar, but couldn't find them anymore.

Moved to this several years ago and haven't looked back:

http://www.511tactical.com/511-tactical-vest.html

Where does the screwdriver go?

Marc

Lower left pocket, next to my left hand at rest.

Now I'm tempted to buy one. Can I bill you for it?

Marc

Only if we barter for goods in exchange.

I like beignets and muffulettas.

I used to use something similar, but couldn't find them anymore.

Moved to this several years ago and haven't looked back:

http://www.511tactical.com/511-tactical-vest.html

Where does the screwdriver go?

Marc

Lower left pocket, next to my left hand at rest.

The GFCI's built-in test button and your handheld test button do two different things.

The one that's built into the GFCI passes some power through a resistor to create an imbalance in the circuit. The GFCI sees this imbalance and trips. It'll test the GFCI even if the device itself isn't grounded.

The one on your handheld tester shunts some power to the ground pin to create a ground fault. If that ground pin isn't actually connected to the equipment grounding system, then there'll be no fault, the GFCI won't see an imbalance, and it won't trip.

Perhaps the GFCI you were testing wasn't grounded or was "grounded" with a bootleg ground.

...a class in technical writing might help, but better writing does not clear up murky thought.

I'm not so sure. I think that the two go hand-in-hand. Improving one often improves the other.