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An average day

In order to maintain their license to steal, the utilities are required to give back to the communities that they steal from. That engenders programs that give stuff away. From refrigerators to attic insulation with wall furnaces in there too. Because the stuff is free, not much respect is shown by the recipients or the contractors that spread the largess. More often than not I am stood up for the first inspection. The contractor doesn't care and the occupant may have seen me walking up to the door and then hid in a closet.

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You can't even see the valve to shut off the gas. And look at that ridiculous sediment trap.

This is the hallway wall that backs up to the furnace. Now since there wasn't enough money for two studs, I'm guessing that an access panel is out of the question.

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I do not like the way the gas pipe stops short of coming through the bottom plate.
 
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Are flex GAS lines allowed to connect inside the furnace or does there need to be a solid gas line extension through the side?

Code section?
 
Pcinspector1 said:
Are flex GAS lines allowed to connect inside the furnace or does there need to be a solid gas line extension through the side? Code section?
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Flexible connector is not allowed to pass through the sheet metal wall of a furnace. Hard pipe must be used for that. I don't know the code section.
 
The conduit is quite crooked. I couldn't get far enough away for a good picture.

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I was certain that it is cross threaded and wrote the correction....but looking at this picture, I don't think it is.

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This job is a 500 sqft addition. I wrote 16 corrections. # 17 said that I was stopping and there will be more. Then I went into the bathroom. #18 said, "The shower pan is completely wrong". The contractor was waiting for me at the office this afternoon. He wanted me to be specific about what was wrong with the shower pan. I told him that the big blunder was not hiring somebody to do a hot mop pan. And that was good enough for him.

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He had a structural observation report from the engineer that said the framing is up to snuff. There is a long beam that is carrying a fair amount of load. The plans specify a 7"wide 12" tall PSL. What we got is a 5"x9.5" glulam. There are a dozen more glaring mistakes. Well the engineer didn't disappoint.
 
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I guess its too much to hope there is pan liner hidden behindthe tar paper. Nah, i didnt think so. And if the plans specified a certain size beam, why would you substitute something smaller on a permitted job?
 
\ said:
The plans specify a 7"wide 12" tall PSL. What we got is a 5"x9.5" glulam.
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I'd take the gluelam any day over the PSL, those things deteriorate when exposed to any moisture. Whenever I've had PSLs specified I go to the engineer and have them change them to glulams or steel.
 
2"x8" ceiling joist spanning 16'. There's a pull down stair that gets you to the attic.

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There was a time when the code stated that top plate splices can't be within 4' of each other. I think that has changed. To what I'm not sure but 1" isn't going to work with the top chord of a shear wall. They didn't block the edges of the OSB.

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At least they didn't waste fire caulk on the Romex considering that it has to come out to install the blocking. I asked for 4"x4". I probably aught to ask for A35s too. But hey now, that's engineering and I'm only allowed to inspect.

If someone could tell me what the code is for the plate breaks, I would appreciate that.
 
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The conduit is quite crooked. I couldn't get far enough away for a good picture.


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I was certain that it is cross threaded and wrote the correction....

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I was wrong and it wasn't cross threaded. They straightened it out and installed the correct strap incorrectly.

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ICE,

R602.3.2 Top Plate: End joints of top plates shall be offset at least 24". Joints not required to be over a stud on double top plates.

#2 2x8 @ 16" on-center, (DF-larch), L240 with (20 live and 10 dead) will span 16'6" AWC calc. and 16'3" according to IRC 2012 table R802.4 (2) with limited storage.

Please verify, your results may be different depending on how you roll.

pc1
 
mtlogcabin said:
When it comes to engineered products, smaller does not automatically equate to inadequate.
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Might be correct, but that's what engineers are paid for, the contractor can't make the substitution.
 
e hilton said:
You asked for 4x4 blocking at the osb joints? Why? Do you allow vertical sheathing joints to fall on a single 2x4 stud?
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All shear panel breaks require a minimum of 3x studs and blocking, 3xs are becoming so common that I see truck and trailer loads of nothing but 3x material going down the freeways. This may be only in our seismic zones but it is a good requirement since nailing schedules require 10d common or .148 gun nails. Back before this requirement I was splitting studs and blocking with all the nails, I've had 2" o.c. specified in some nailing schedules, but even at 4" o.c. two of them going into 1-1/2" studs splits the studs.
 
conarb said:
I'd take the gluelam any day over the PSL, those things deteriorate when exposed to any moisture. Whenever I've had PSLs specified I go to the engineer and have them change them to glulams or steel.
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My father runs a farm store and had someone design a front canopy for the store to make it look less industrial. They specified all PSL columns and beams. Now, these were going to be wrapped with aluminum, but otherwise exposed to weather. He asked for my comments on it and I told him his building was going to melt. When I asked why they didn't just use regular dimensional lumber he said the architect said they liked PSL better. the architect was trying to make the store look overly commercial, which is not great for a farm store where your clients usually come in directly from the barn to grab something. He had me re-draw the plans and I tried to make it look more like a barn, exposed roof rafter, exposed beams and columns. Also cut the estimated cost of the project by a third. I still find it surprising when certain products get specified by a "professional" where they really shouldn't be.
 
GCtony said:
Well son of a gun! What the heck is it doing in the accessability chapter? I guess Chaper 8, finishes would make too much sense. You know how many restrooms I've built that don't meet 1210? Learn something new every day. Thanks!
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Chapter 12 of the IBC is Interior Environment. Chapter 11 is Accessibility
 
GCtony said:
I guess Chaper 8, finishes would make too much sense.
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Chapter 9 of the IBC is Interior Finishes, specifically, the material of those finishes. See Section 801.1. If a plastic cove base is being installed (which I suspect that this thread's originator is talking about), you would need to look in this Chapter for compliance of that material to the code.
 
conarb said:
All shear panel breaks require a minimum of 3x studs and blocking, 3xs are becoming so common that I see truck and trailer loads of nothing but 3x material going down the freeways. This may be only in our seismic zones but it is a good requirement since nailing schedules require 10d common or .148 gun nails. Back before this requirement I was splitting studs and blocking with all the nails, I've had 2" o.c. specified in some nailing schedules, but even at 4" o.c. two of them going into 1-1/2" studs splits the studs.
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Must be a CA thing left over from the UBC days

IRC requires

R602.10.10 Panel joints.

All vertical joints of panel sheathing shall occur over, and be fastened to, common studs. Horizontal joints in braced wall panels shall occur over, and be fastened to, common blocking of a minimum 11/2 inch (38 mm) thickness.
 
MASSDRIVER said:
Depends on the wall. Some no, some yes. Brent.
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If it's a shear wall it doesn't, if it's not a shear wall it doesn't. In our seismic zone the prescriptive code is out, everything requires engineering. They all use the irregular shape requirement to require engineering since the 1998 UBC, examples 1) I tried to permit a simple dormer on the roof, CBO says get an engineer loads may not go all the way straight into the ground, he was correct, when the engineer crawled under the house there was a 3" offset under the first floor. Example 2) On a home I built 30 years earlier the owner asked me to remodel the kitchen, I tried to get by without engineering by just changing cabinets, during the work the wife asked me to raise a doorway from 6'8" to 8', bearing in mind what the CBO had told me I tried to disguise what I was doing, used same header, old studs cut for new cripples, straightened and used old nails. etc. When I called for an inspection on electrical and plumbing the field inspector came into the house looking for anything structural, he saw the header change and shut me down, I told him I was going in to argue it with the CBO, he said get an engineer, $700 and three weeks later I brought the engineering in, he didn't even look at it, just shoved it into the file and said: "Now aren't you happy? We now have engineering to protect both of us in case anything ever happens." It's liability thing, AHJs want everything engineered so there is no way they can be liable.
 
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