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  1. jim baird

    Old barn for occasional events.

    In our state, if it is 50 yrs or more of age, it can be designated historic. Once that is attained, all that has to be shown is impracticality or inconvenience for waiver of all kinds of codes.
  2. jim baird

    Intermediate Landing Ceiling Height

    Headroom is not same as ceiling height. I would call the landing part of the stairway and not as a room with a ceiling.
  3. jim baird

    Vietnam War Memorial

    I think the Wall in DC is very much comprehensive as an expression of that whole regrettable period of time and action. Been there, done that.
  4. jim baird

    bollard

    Agree it is overkill, but the installer likely figures it in whenever he does it for a garage. Those anchors don't look very convincing. Should be cored into slab to be a real bollard, no?
  5. jim baird

    Meetup Pictures of Members

    Taken on a day when it was not muggy enough for the hiar to be stuck down by perspiration.
  6. jim baird

    The day I made the front page

    Chalk it up to the current "anti-gubmint" sentiment among neo-conservatives who beat the drums of fear regarding any and all regulation of bidnis activity. It happened in GA as well when the faux-boom went bust, in a number of localities. My experience in GA has been that among officialdom...
  7. jim baird

    4,000 Postings

    I have learned a lot over the years from CDA.
  8. jim baird

    BO in small town?

    I was signed on as a vendor of services to do building inspection, then harried to take on zoning, then two yrs later, summarily dumped as town council decided to opt for "head in the sand" approach to both zoning and building. Kind of like taking two steps in reverse, they were quite...
  9. jim baird

    New to this Circus!

    Remember, no such thing as stupid questions. Ask whatever you have to here. Most answers are positive and uplifting, even helpful. A great resource.
  10. jim baird

    Landing at stairs

    If the bottom "landing" is occupied by a door it ain't no landing at all, not to mention the headroom problem. I have seen this a lot, mostly in "bonus rooms" where a staircase is shoehorned into the building to access a partial floor over a garage. I have had the issue with "big-time"...
  11. jim baird

    Deck stair stringers

    They also make a short fat-shanked nail for hangers that does not penetrate thru other side of 2-inch nominal. What I see most often from amateurs is the first tread dropped one riser and bearing only an inch or so against the deck band. They try to save on length of stringers that way.
  12. jim baird

    SciFy and fantasy novels

    OK, slumbering brethren. If you don't subscribe to the New Yorker, buy the summer reading issue off the stand...it is all sci-fi.
  13. jim baird

    SciFy and fantasy novels

    Of course Vonnegut's best is Slaughterhouse Five, about a hero who becomes "unstuck in time".
  14. jim baird

    SciFy and fantasy novels

    Venus on the Halfshell, by Kilgore Trout, Kurt Vonnegut's nom de plume. A space wanderer named Simon Wagstaff pilots a Chinese spacecraft named the Hwang Ho that has an egregiously phallic appearance.
  15. jim baird

    Carpenter and Inspector of the Day, May 15, 2012

    At least he got the graspable handrail. BTW, any lighting nearby for this flight?
  16. jim baird

    Special Amusement Building

    We had a similar building where the occupant put big inflatable installations for kids parties. Long as he kept his exit paths and distances we just called it "A".
  17. jim baird

    Chicken Man vs. chicken lawyer

    The lawyer is testing the waters to see what the "market" will bear. Were he the CEO of a publicly traded corporation he would be self-righteous in his justification on behalf of his shareholders.
  18. jim baird

    Breaker panel in coat closet

    PC, I can't imagine a licensed DP issuing plans for such arrangement. I actually saw one of these in a new SFD a cpl of years ago. Sparky flipped the panel in the wall and it worked out fine. It was supposedly one of those "customer wanted it this way" settings. I have run into the customer...
  19. jim baird

    Final inspection without power

    Here we have a special site visit when sparky says he is ready, so that utility will come plug in the meter. Also in GA now on new residential there has to be a duct and envelope tightness test and a blower door test by a third party. That would not be possible with no power.
  20. jim baird

    Final inspection without power

    Only for a doghouse.
  21. jim baird

    Richmond. Maine voters reject building code

    Our state legislature adopts an amended "basic eight" ICC codes along with NFPA 101. The codes' effect is statwide. Each locality gets to decide whether or not to actively enforce, and must adopt admin procedures, as the state deletes chapter one, admin. This approach gives localities the...
  22. jim baird

    ICC opinion on spiral stair

    ...so anything that claims to be, or is represented as a duck must look, waddle, and quack to make muster. Recently the local AHJ had the lawyer draft a "nuisance" ordinance so they could go after some abandoned properties in a very direct way...the lawyer left the question of what penalties or...
  23. jim baird

    NFPA 101 just what is it?

    A mute duck looks like a duck and waddles. Without a quack is it still one?
  24. jim baird

    basement with one exit

    If those records are something like propety deeds etc that hardworking lawyer in a wheelchair may come visit and lay waste.
  25. jim baird

    NFPA 101 just what is it?

    There has been discussion here aplenty over whether exit components, when not required, have to meet specs. I agree w/brudgers that spiral not being exit means is less culpable as a violation. I have done delicious battle with what I regard as "slumlords", but sometimes you have to carefully...
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