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An average day

Ice, 2 questions;
does the contractor think the forms without ties are not going to blow out?
are the bolts sticking through for a floor ledger?
 
The fire truck was parked in my driveway. Most every driveway had a fire truck. That was last Monday. My neighbors had to evacuate until midday Wednesday. Today is Sunday, six days later, and there are still many fire trucks in the area. At the height of the fire there was 272 engines on the streets. DC10s were bombing the hillsides and dozens of Sikorskys were working day and night.

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The spots are burning embers. It was raining fire. Coyotes were running down the street.

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Ominous looking a few hours before the fire arrived.

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As the fire got close the tankers started to worry me.

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steveray said:
If you cover your house in ivy, will that make it less likely to burn? Maybe that is what they were going for in the "green building" above...
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I think the plant will burn....especially if it dies and dries out. The stucco is ruined and bugs live in it.
 
Pcinspector1 said:
Does the wall perimeter get drain tile and gravel? Will it drain to daylight?
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The job is in another inspector's area so I am not sure what the plan is. That inspector had requested a drainage plan prior to my inspection but they didn't produce one. The person in charge apparently lacks knowledge regarding construction practices and the plans show a flat lot.
 
There's a lot of wood involved with the form-work.

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The plan is to reuse the 2"x in the addition. So they lined the inside of the forms with Visqueen.

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I thought that was a great idea....and would have worked had it been 6mil instead of 2mil. They also missed the second top bar.
 
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The inspection request stated "bathroom remodel". It was the first inspection requested for the project. The only permit is for the bathroom remodel.
I was met by the couple that own the house and two men that said that they represent the bank that is lending the money for the remodel. I was asked repeatedly for my opinion of the quality of the work.

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The kitchen is gone.

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A wall was removed and a beam installed. Then part of the wall was replaced.

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A window has been installed in a bedroom.

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So there is a permit for a bathroom remodel and that's it. The kitchen is gone....bedroom closets have been created....a bearing wall has been removed with a beam installed to replace the wall....much of the exterior cladding has been removed and the entire house has been rewired. All of that and the two guys from the bank are concerned about the quality of the work.

I made it clear to them that quality is not my responsibility and I do not render opinions.
 
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ICE- Is it common out there for contractors to reuse their form boards in the construction? Or to use 2x material as forms in general? I realize you very rarely ever show us any "good" work, but I just can't get around the idea of those forms. 'Round here the locals would get a great big good belly laugh at a guy who tried something like that.

Last time I rented forms I think they were ~$3.00/foot. Maybe your prices out there are a lot higher?
 
JCraver said:
ICE- Is it common out there for contractors to reuse their form boards in the construction? Or to use 2x material as forms in general? I realize you very rarely ever show us any "good" work, but I just can't get around the idea of those forms. 'Round here the locals would get a great big good belly laugh at a guy who tried something like that.

Last time I rented forms I think they were ~$3.00/foot. Maybe your prices out there are a lot higher?
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2"x forms are the norm around here. We don't build basements so Simplex forms aren't used here. Reuse of the forms in the construction does happen. Exposure to the wet concrete isn't a problem and as long as the boards were not coated with diesel, I can't think of a reason to say no. Shirley you folks will correct me if I am missing something.
 
JCraver said:
ICE- Is it common out there for contractors to reuse their form boards in the construction? Or to use 2x material as forms in general? I realize you very rarely ever show us any "good" work, but I just can't get around the idea of those forms. 'Round here the locals would get a great big good belly laugh at a guy who tried something like that.

Last time I rented forms I think they were ~$3.00/foot. Maybe your prices out there are a lot higher?
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It's that way around here, I can't even think of the last time I saw 2x used for forms. Contractors if the rent forms or a few of the larger ones have their own. This applies to both residential work commercial work.
 
The request slip said "foundation inspection". I wrote plumbing corrections and then in passing mentioned the rebar running in two directions. The worker said that it does run in two directions, East and West just like ther plans state.

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There's no arguing with the plans.

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Just in case you were wondering, he thought that E.W. meant East and West. So I showed him with my trusty iPhone that he was off by 35°.
 
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ICE, I'd writ em up , I think he's got them going N to S, the suns on his paints. Can't see any moss to be for sure?
 
ICE said:
The code requires a 2/0 wire bend to have a minimum 4" radius. Too many workers don't know that or they confuse radius with diameter.
This person went both ways.




I met this worker. When I told him what was required he exclaimed that Edison wont allow a big loop that reaches near the bottom. According to him Edison wants the space open in case they decide to feed underground and therefor the existing 2/0 wires would be in the way. No kidding.....that's exactly what he said.



I have been asked why this matters.....many times. I don't have a good answer so I made one up. Here goes: electricity is a phenomenon that takes place on an atomic scale. It is the movement of electrons.

So the electrons are moving along a straight wire, well actually it's the hole where an electron was that's moving along the wire but that's not important here. Now the electrons hit a curve in the road. When the copper conductor is bent too tight, the atoms of copper are compressed together on one side and stretched apart on the other side. The electrons...er holes... have to slow down....but they can't and that generates heat in the wire. Heat causes more turmoil in the atomic world and that causes more resistance.

As always, there are caveats. For example if all of the available free electrons are just one color....blue is a good example. All blue electrons is one way to overcome the compounding heat effect. Blue is not known as a cool color for nothing.
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All doofy needs to do is move the lugs to the top bus bars, as copper is not cheap it would save some money too ,it's one nice feature of a panel suitable for either overhead, or underground feeds.
 
The inspection was for an electrical service upgrade. The panel is in the backyard. The workman asked me if I was okay with loose dogs. I said that depends on the dogs. It was spaniels. Shlt covered spaniels. While I was fending off one, the other pissed on my foot.

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I'm not sure what the white stuff is......could be a special type of mold.
 
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