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An average day

I was there for a re-roof final inspection. I have not been on this property before today. The contractor was thoughtful enough to provide a ladder.

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I couldn't get on the roof so I asked the renter to let me inspect the smoke and co alarms. I was informed that there are disabled people living there. It was explained that under the American with Disabilities Act I am bared from entry because that would deny the disabled people their right to privacy.
 
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This is a tank-less water heater. The vent looks oh so suspicious.

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Here it is passing through an attic.

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Continues in the next thread....because I can post only four pictures in a thread:
 
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The label states that this water heater requires a special vent and that information will be found in the installation instructions, which they didn't have. The venting looks like Fred Sanford put it together.

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They also did a PEX re-pipe.

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There's an engineer out there that's thinking, "Gotta love inspectors."

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e hilton said:
Have y'all looked at the tile forum johnbridge.com? They have extensive pictures of bad tile jobs, predominantly showers, that have gone bad. Some are frighttenly stupid, makes you wonder if its their first time.
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We just wait for ICE to post something!
 
A licensed electrical contractor did this. The correction stated, "The roof jack is a mess. Hire a roofer."


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What are the four reddish orange roof tiles on the right in the first photo - previously capped pipes / conduit?
 
This is all new construction. There is a balcony above where I was standing. The dark lines are evidence of water intrusion.

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Long ago I wrote a correction to "Provide an ICC ESR for the balcony walking surface material." The contractor ignored me and finished the work. ......Well he thinks that he is finished.
 
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ICE said:
This is all new construction. There is a balcony above where I was standing. The dark lines are evidence of water intrusion.

Long ago I wrote a correction to "Provide an ICC ESR for the balcony walking surface material." The contractor ignored me and finished the work. ......Well he thinks that he is finished.
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Tiger:

You have stumbled into a real problem, over the years several things have happened, in 1978 the EPA banned lead in solder, the result is few flashing joints are (or remain) waterproof, sealant in flashing seldom lasts more than a few years. In the past the best waterproofing for decks was hot mopped asphalt, the environmental wackos have made hot mopping almost impossible. My old roofer had 15 kettles and a large tanker truck, he ended up scrapping them all, they are still allowed in Texas but it was't worth sending them down there so he sent everything to scrap yards. What they are using now is what they call "liquid applied membranes", in the trade we call them "paint-ons". I met a guy who leased roofs, most large warehouses and buildings now lease their "liquid applied" roofs since maintenance is constant, others are using "torch downs" but insurance is impossible with several buildings burning down by roofers with torches, another is Bituthene, that's what they used in the infamous Berkeley balcony collapse when 5 PEOPLE were killed. It's not illegal but if they fire up a kettle all kinds of eco-freaks will call and complain about the smoke and smell, they used to tow them home at night but now they are inundated with phone calls, after all, asphalt is made from the dreaded "fossil fuels".
 
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It was not "five drunken Irishmen" killed. It was six. They were not all men and there's no indication, other than being from Ireland, that they were drunk. Seven more lived through a five story plummet to the ground. The root cause is a greedy contractor. A sleezy, no good son of a bitch with a license to kill.

Well then Conarb, You had something to say about decks, asphalt and Texas but that went out the window when I read drunken Irishmen. Six kids getting ready to start a fruitful journey. Seven more slammed to the ground in a life altering blow.

It's one thing to not show respect for others. Your need to show disrespect is getting in the way.
 
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ICE said:
This is all new construction. There is a balcony above where I was standing. The dark lines are evidence of water intrusion.
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Does it look like the water is running down the face of the wall, or inside the wall?
 
There was a recent discussion of wrapping wire around a screw. The awful mess roof jack electrician did this.

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ICE said:
It was not "five drunken Irishmen" killed. It was six. They were not all men and there's no indication, other than being from Ireland, that they were drunk. Seven more lived through a five story plummet to the ground. The root cause is a greedy contractor. A sleezy, no good son of a bitch with a license to kill.

Well then Conarb, You had something to say about decks, asphalt and Texas but that went out the window when I read drunken Irishmen. Six were kids getting ready to start a fruitful journey. Seven were slammed to the ground and handed a life altering blow.

It's one thing to not show respect for others. Your need to show disrespect is getting in the way.
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Tiger:

They were drinking, the evidence didn't go into whether they were drunk or not, but they were from Ireland, the expert reports were that the cause was the "greedy" contractor substituting OSB for plywood, OSB is a code compliant material, I'm sure that had the specified plywood been used the balcony wouldn't have failed that night, killing those people, but it would have eventually failed, it failed because of leaks in the flashings and/or Bituthene membrane. My point is that had the metal flashing been soldered with real lead-based solder, and/or the membrane been hot mopped it would not have happened.

I also might say that had the city inspectors inspected the flashing and membrane installation maybe it wouldn't have failed, of course inspectors don't inspect things like that, I have never had an inspector inspect solder joints or felt plies in a membrane.
 
I would have no problem jailing architects, engineers, contractors and inspectors on that job. I could probably lose my temper and burn the roach coach.
 
conarb said:
Tiger:

They were drinking, the evidence didn't go into whether they were drunk or not, but they were from Ireland, the expert reports were that the cause was the "greedy" contractor substituting OSB for plywood, OSB is a code compliant material, I'm sure that had the specified plywood been used the balcony wouldn't have failed that night, killing those people, but it would have eventually failed, it failed because of leaks in the flashings and/or Bituthene membrane. My point is that had the metal flashing been soldered with real lead-based solder, and/or the membrane been hot mopped it would not have happened.

I also might say that had the city inspectors inspected the flashing and membrane installation maybe it wouldn't have failed, of course inspectors don't inspect things like that, I have never had an inspector inspect solder joints or felt plies in a membrane.
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Just because it is code compliant does not mean it can be readily substituted one for another. As I'm sure you know, OSB and plywood have no where near the same performance when it comes to an environment where it will be exposed to moisture. Would plywood have failed eventually? Absolutely. So would everything. Things must be maintained. Material selection drives the maintenance schedule.
 
Msradell said:
Is that a furnace vent or a vent fan for a bathroom? In either case it's a mess but if it's a furnace vent it's a complete disaster and probably very dangerous.
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It is a furnace vent. They reused an existing portion of vent through the roof for a new furnace.
 
I inspected a carnival yesterday.

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This is on the fence for this ride:

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They forgot Astronaut Training.
 
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