An average day

[e hilton]

8-6-14Do you see a fatal flaw?

Does this help you?

No elevated post base on the slab? Not fatal.

6x6 post notched to 4x4 just below the beam?

Goofy splice plate in the beam?

King post not aligned over the 6x6? But I think it's close enough for load transfer.

Ridge beam twisted from vertical?

Top of windows not aligned with top of door.

The section of solid wall on the far right of the porch ... is that part of the seismic requirtement?

 

[e hilton]

I wrote a correction to install crickets. Look at the garage in the background.

Looking at the garage in the background, it looks like there is a flat section in the valley from end to end. Is that what you are calling a cricket? If so that must be a regional thing, on the right coast a cricket is a diverter on the high side of a chimney to help guide the water around the chimney.

Can you explain the 1/4" per foot comment.

 

[ICE]

Ridge beam twisted from vertical?

There ya go. The twist will continue with nothing to restrain it. It's a fatal design flaw.

 

[ICE]

Looking at the garage in the background, it looks like there is a flat section in the valley from end to end. Is that what you are calling a cricket? If so that must be a regional thing, on the right coast a cricket is a diverter on the high side of a chimney to help guide the water around the chimney.Can you explain the 1/4" per foot comment.

Around here, a cricket is what keeps me awake at night....or is it a frog? It can be hard to tell them apart.

 

[Phil]

There ya go. The twist will continue with nothing to restrain it. It's a fatal design flaw.

Do the rafters have a birdsmouth at the top so they sit flat (or have a couple inches of bearing) on the ridge beam?

 

[pyrguy]

Rafers should have a plumb cut so the end fully bears against the ridge

 

[ICE]

The valleys were created by an addition done long ago. I wrote a correction to install crickets. Within an hour I received a call from the office because the roofer wanted me back there to inspect the crickets that he says are now installed. When I declined, he asked if I would accept pictures and let him finish roofing.Look at the garage in the background.



If he knew the code, he could potentially whip me on this one.

There are enough oddities about the addition to the house and garage that I do believe that they are bootleg.

It's the next day. This is what the picture would have looked like had I said yes.

 

[ICE]

Do the rafters have a birdsmouth at the top so they sit flat (or have a couple inches of bearing) on the ridge beam?

Phil,

Click on the picture and it takes you to Flickr. Then right click on the picture. Now there is a window that lets you pick the size of the picture, click on original. You then have a picture that won't fit the screen because it is too large. But you can scroll to the beam and see a birds-mouth. It is small but there. I had to do all of that to answer your question because I didn't pay attention to that while I was there. I was filling in for another inspector and only looking at the lath.

 

[ICE]

8-8-14

Day three. There are crickets. Little things that fit right in with the jungle.

 

[Paul Sweet]

The mini-cricket might work for southern California rains and lack of snow if they install a strip of peel & stick. I wouldn't trust it for Virginia rains and snow.

On the 8-6-14 photo is there a strap behind the beam between the lower & upper posts for uplift?

 

[ICE]

The mini-cricket might work for southern California rains and lack of snow if they install a strip of peel & stick. I wouldn't trust it for Virginia rains and snow.On the 8-6-14 photo is there a strap behind the beam between the lower & upper posts for uplift?

You have a good eye Paul. No, there isn't a strap.

The bottom of the 6x post isn't attached at all. I asked about that and was told that a steel post is on order. Since the framing and roughs were approved I didn't have a reason to go there. I did ask them to install a receptacle for the patio area.

 

[ICE]

I hear about inspectors that never go on a roof. I know inspectors that never go on a roof. I like to get on the roof.

https://flic.kr/p/oBPefd

I've even heard of inspectors that don't go in attics....I know a few of them too.



This was done by a contractor that never called for an inspection. I expired the permit and left a notice on the front door. The owner acquired a new permit and called for inspection. So then a year after the fact, a contractor gets corrections...14 of them.

 

[ICE]

What do you say to crap work like this? They must have used a Swingline 747.



I wasn't the inspector for the raised floor framing. When I inspected the roughs, I told them to cut out underfloor vent holes. Sometime after that I told them to clear the insulation from the vent holes. The piece worker said "I know that and you aren't here for that". At the final inspection, I will tell him again because, well then of course, I will be there for that.

They left a broken screen because they just don't care.

 

[Paul Sweet]

Going back a couple pages: "How can you blame the grunts in the field? The plan view shows an 18x18x 12" thk footing, but the detail shows the footing min 26" thick. Archy screwed up."

IRC requires foundations to be at least 12" below undisturbed ground, and untreated wood posts to be at least 8" above grade.

Most sets of drawings and/or specs. have notes saying that larger scale details take precedence over smaller scale plans or details, and to contact the architect if a conflict is discovered. When I was in private practice I always asked contractors to let me know when they found a conflict or mistake on drawings I had done, so I would know better in the future, and not make the same mistake again. Unfortunately, I went on to make new mistakes more often than not.

 

[MASSDRIVER]

Unfortunately, I went on to make new mistakes more often than not.

We are members of a very large, non-exclusive club.

Brent

 

[conarb]

Tiger:

The biggest problem is that that vent isn't flashed at all, those cuts in the corner of the lath paper are going to leak and rot out the joists.

 

[ICE]

Tiger:The biggest problem is that that vent isn't flashed at all, those cuts in the corner of the lath paper are going to leak and rot out the joists.

It will look better when they get done caulking the the paper to the penetrations. That's what the correction always says, "Caulk the paper to the penetrations". The result can be a whole nother problem.

Years ago the HR dept. (it was a big company) came to me and complained that there are no women working in the construction dept. Well women never applied. The HR dept hired a woman and told me to put her to work. I gave her a caulking gun. Her job was to caulk between the lap siding and the trim. There's not many jobs that a woman can do on a construction site. At the end of the first day she was covered in caulk. It was everywhere. She needed scissors to get it out of her hair. She hung with it for a week before quiting. By then, she was kinda hard to look at.

 

[ICE]

The job is solar on a roof. The lug was installed wrong so they had to remove the wire and do it over. To further complicate the issue is the bend in the wire. 90º bends are to be avoided. That's true with all wire but more-so with grounding.

The reason is that as the hole that was occupied by an electron makes it's way around the circuit, a frenzy of electron activity can develop if the the voltage is high. For example, a 12,000 line falls on a 240 volt line..... it's your turn to get hit by lightning. When those frenzied electrons hit the corners, they act like teenage girls on the 405 and pile up in a wreck.

The solar contractors have enough of a bad time with me. To start writing that correction would push them over the top.

 

[ICE]

A wall furnace was replaced with a furnace in the attic. Final inspection was requested. The abandoned vent has been left in place so that bugs have a way out. The vent isn't that old because the wall furnace wasn't old. It must have been a bootleg.



The wall furnace was replaced because there is a concern that it might be

.

The return air grill is directly above, in a hallway that leads to two bedrooms and the bathroom. The hallway has a door that blocks it off from the rest of the house. There is 30 sq.ft of floor space. I wrote a correction that told them to provide return air from a space => 25% of the conditioned floor space.

That was #4 of four corrections. Another inspection was requested and nothing was done about #4. The lady HO told me that they didn't understand #4. So I gave them options to work with.

1. Remove the door and case out the opening.

2. Install a transfer duct from another room to the hallway.

3. Undercut the three doors 2".

4. #4 was suggested by the owner. Place a transfer grill above each door.

The contractor called my office manager asking why I am requiring a return air grill in every room. This contractor isn't a newcomer to the business. The guy that called my office must be. At least I hope that's true....this company installs better than 100 furnaces per month.

I write the insufficient return air correction at least twice a month and I inspect around 20.

It has been my experience that you are more likely have a better outcome with a small shop than you will with the big splashy ad contractor.

 

[ICE]

Now that's some screwed form work.


I wondered why that is wet...then I spotted the dog Shirley, that's the answer.

 

[ICE]

A flipper bought this house and stopped work two years ago. The drought has helped preserve the property from overgrowth and decay.



The neighborhood deserves better.



Go Green and plant drought resistant foliage.

 

[ICE]

The contractor has a B license {general building contractor} There are two permits. One is for an electrical service upgrade and the other is for a hose bibb.

This junction box is where the previous service enclosure was located.



I asked the contractor's employee to ruin a keyhole saw in a failed attempt to remove the cover of the type 1 j-box. As luck would have it, he had one.



You may be wondering why there is a plumbing permit to install a hose bibb. Well that's because California contractors law won't allow a B license to obtain a single permit for a specialty trade. The law will allow a B license to obtain two permits for two specialty trades as long as they are not related to the same scope of work.

For example, a B license could not obtain just a mechanical permit for a furnace and a plumbing permit for a gas pipe that supplies that furnace. Clearly a service panel and a hose bibb are not related to each other in any sense of the word. So it is legal for a B license to obtain an electrical permit for a service upgrade and a plumbing permit for a hose bibb.

This is a common practice to circumvent the law. The contractor will replace a 30 year old hose bibb with a one year old hose bibb and everybody is satisfied......did I say everybody......that should read almost everybody.

Here's the thing that trips them up when I am the inspector. Replacing a hose bibb does not require a permit. If I am presented with a plumbing permit for a hose bibb, I understand that to mean that a hose bibb will be installed, at a location of the owners choosing, where none existed previously.

In this particular case, the lady was pleased to find out that she would be getting a new hose bibb. I opined that the detached garage would be a handy place to have one. Then somehow the conversation drifted to Workmans Comp Insurance and how this contractor has none.

Now some of you would say that I am being mean to a hard working, self employed person that's doing their best to earn a living. Like I said, this is a common practice that works everywhere except under my nose. My answer is, "Let them take their keyhole saws and work in your jurisdiction"

 

[chris kennedy]

Pics of inside your NEMA 1 outdoor box?

 

[ICE]

There is a building permit to legalize a bathroom that was created where there had been a closet.



Right away, this one seemed odd. The former closet was in the living room next to the front door and large in comparison to the rest of the house.



Stepping outside I could see where there was a large window in that former closet.



Then I saw this conduit.




We get a lot of after the fact permits. The illegal construction is usually well seasoned. There is always an implied hope that we will be able to approve the work with the least amount of destruction possible. There's going to be dashed dreams aplenty.