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An average day

Not only does it look like Hell, it would have been easier to replace the shingles. So what if the color is off a little bit.

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Ice,

Your killing me with these! Hee! Hee! Can't catch my breath and to think we get paid to see these.

Do they happen at night under a full moon?
 
It goes both ways. There are plumbers out there that will not install anything that's not on the original water heater. If there is no T&P drain pipe on the existing W/H, then they leave it off the new one. When I write it up, it becomes an extra. Smitty pans are a favorite because that's a lot of work. Many times I have a H/O that asks me if it was proper for the contractor to charge them to do the corrections. I want to say, "Well somebody has to pay for his education."

Another statement I hear from owners is that the contractor claims that I am asking for things not required by the code so he will not pay for it. That's not true.....Well not often anyway. ;) (That's for you fatboy.)

As usual they don't have "current" copies of the code in their trucks and don't have a continuing ed requirement for their renewals like some of us do.
 
4-6-12

in the jungle. It was 8:02 this Friday when the man called. He wanted the inspector that left a notice on his door the previous day. The notice was regarding an illegal garage conversion and that inspector had this day off. I took down his name, address and phone number and told him that the inspector would call him on Monday.

He didn't like that idea and said that he wanted me to deal with him now, as in right now. I explained that I already had a days worth of work planned and the other inspector does most of the code enforcement work. He shouted, "That's not good enough"......"I called now and I want a resolution now." I told him that I could not drop what I was doing and rush right over just because he wants that. He shouted that I am being sarcastic and as a city employee, I am not allowed to be sarcastic. As the tirade continued, I informed him that I don't work for a city and ended the call.

There he was bellowing the rules of my employment as he, my employer, sees them. What he doesn't know is that my employer knowingly sends a Tiger to herd rabbits.....it's expected that some fur will fly.

The rodent bought the property nine months ago and obviously he isn't a good fit with the neighborhood. It takes a certain level of rancor to spur a neighbor into calling the building dept. and quite often the crux of the matter has nothing to do with a code violation.

When that is the case, I swoop in and the perceived duty is to exact revenge for an unknown, unrelated offense. The complaint may be about a garage conversion and the matter could be anything from a teenage boy leering at a teenage girl to taking up too many parking spaces on the street. Both sides see my involvement for what it is, superior brinkmanship. The unintended consequences can be anything from negligible to catastrophic yet they drop the bomb not knowing if it's a dud or a weapon of mass destruction.

No different then when a group home or Air B N B moves into a neighborhood unannounced (smiling).
 
4-11-12

This is a variation of the "I found it that way" slog through life, mutt work. The job is a furnace replacement.....the A/C coil is existing. The primary and secondary condensate drains are tied together at the unit and there is a sag in the drain pipe. I asked the technician if he noticed the sag and he said that the drain pipe is not part of his scope of work. I revised the scope of work to include the sag in the drain pipe.

Then I gave him a doozy.

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It is no small feat to install a furnace in an attic yet it didn't occur to them to secure the vent.

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Not a California installation?
 
With a roll of paper towels.

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Without the roll of paper towels.

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You don't suppose that he was trying to fool me do you?

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He did this twice on the same building. He was shouting at me as I left the scene of the crime.
 
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Oh such a nice story. At that point, every single inspection for this contractor would be meticulous as hell because the trust level is now in the negative and he will be trying to get even with you. Is that a subfeed? Looking for the bonding screw........don't see one. Why the main disconnect on the panel?
 
This is a development near my home. I went nosing around on Saturday. The subject of the picture is the garage slab.

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There's four three inch pipes sticking out of the floor....for what, I don't know. One might be a cleanout but the other three??

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Really strange and they're located so they would be between 2 vehicles, they look like they are about in the middle of 1 of the 2 bays. It will be interesting to see what they end up being, hope you are putting in keeping us informed.
 
Could the pipes be covering copper lines to trick the copper pirates? Back-flow devises maybe?

Got me scratching!
 
Suspended garage slab with venting for below?

Whats odd is they maybe in the vehicle tracks.
 
My guess is that the grounding electrode conductor (GEC) is under the set screw which should be making contact with the ground rod. The GEC should be on the other side of the clamp and bent over. Reason I think is that the GEC could loosen up the way its done in the photo under the set screw, IMO.
 
Add to what rick said: Every end of the armor that protects the GEG shall be bonded. The wrong clamp has been installed. The armor is too short to reach a proper clamp.
 
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