Average day 5-15-13

[ICE]

The lady seemed forthright. She told me that a big box store contractor went in the attic to prepare a bid to replace her furnace. He told her that she needed to replace the A/C equipment as well as the furnace. She declined because the A/C has been used only a few times in all the years that she's had it. She wondered if it was ok after hearing his diagnosis so she tried it out. She got a huge water bubble on the ceiling.....but it did blow cold air.

Now another contractor has replaced the furnace and left the condensates cut off. I explained what's up but she is out of money.

 

[ICE]

This job has been abandoned. There is no fence and this open to the street.



[/URL]

This is why I brought it up. The bare wire is energized. Or as TheCommish would say, the bear wire is energized.




I have to wonder if this was done intentionally. The inside of the house is a stick frame. There is romex pulled but not much of it.

 

[ICE]

A code enforcement inspector flagged this house yesterday because there were no permits. The contractor came in today and pulled permits. He asked if I would inspect it today. It rained all day but I went there anyway. They wanted me to use that ladder to access the roof.

They did a rewire and re-pipe. All of the walls are patched and painted. They missed at least 20 receptacles and all of the smoke detectors. They don't know what arc fault protection is. The new Romex was pulled through existing holes. I asked them if they installed nail protection before they patched the walls. They didn't.

The next time I go there, they will cut out a few plumbing fittings to see if they reamed the pipe. What are the odds? They installed gas pipe to a attic platform for a new furnace (not installed yet). They didn't use pipe dope or Teflon tape on any of the fittings.

 

[MASSDRIVER]

The genuisness is awesome-sauce.



Brent.

 

[kyhowey]

That is just absolutely incredible. Anytime you can use a road cone in a manner it wasn't meant to be used, I'm all for it.

 

[ICE]

They were okay with the LBs half in the stucco and half out. That is because they are a solar contractor.

 

[ICE]

Sphincter control.

 

[TheCommish]

good thing he is strapped into the ladder

 

[ICE]

100 amp service upgrade.

The service entrance conductors are too short and beat up.



[/URL]

That's because the old conduit and conductors were reused.




It's a homeowner.

 

[ICE]

A roofing contractor dismantled a PV system in order to replace the roof covering. He planned on putting it back together....without a permit.




He was convinced that there is no danger because everything is shut off.

 

[TheCommish]

have him grab hold of a the bear wire and ten tell you the sun is off

 

[ICE]

Mechanical contractors seldom provide a ladder to inspect furnaces in attics. Many times the owner will say, "wait here, I have a ladder". This one is still wet.

 

[ICE]

This is an addition between a house and garage. There are slab dowels on both sides that are mostly buried. The contractor wasn't there and the owner was. The owner became upset that I was writing a correction and he threatened to complain about me. I made it clear that if it were up to me, I would let him inspect the work.

It is now the next day. The contractor called me this morning to explain that he called the wrong building dept. to request an inspection for today. He fixed the work.

 

[ICE]

This is a service upgrade done by an electrical contractor. He says that he didn't splice the wire. The condition of the wire indicates that he is truthful....and lazy.

 

[ICE]

 

[ICE]

This is an addition to a single story house.



The HD anchor is 7/8. There is a total of 600 sq ft. at three locations with near twenty of these HDs.

 

[ICE]

The roofer called for final inspection....now I have to call Edison.

 

[Msradell]

Looks like he has mastered the art of levitation!!:roll:

 

[ICE]

 

[ICE]

The expansion tank is hanging there.



The lower ball valve won't open because the handle hits the handle of the upper ball valve. The Watts valve on the right is a temperature control.



This is all part of a solar water heater. The solar collector is a tank on the roof. It is about 7'x3' and when full of aqua weighs 650lbs.

Here's an example:



There is a bunch of government money behind these in the form of rebates. So naturally there are a bunch of them going in. The bunch that's doing it in my area don't have a bunch of talent.

What with the tank coming in at 650# in 7' of roof, there is always some engineered retrofit of the rafters. It is usually four twenty foot 2x12 spaning the garage. They like to put them on the garage because the attic isn't an attic. That and they know that they are not much good at construction and they figure that the roofs will leak after they are done. I think that they are right.

Today they installed one over a a big family room. The plan calls for a purlin braced from a bearing wall. It didn't happen because there is no wall.

They install water heaters too.

 

[Wayne]

They certainly can't solder and talk about ten pounds of crap in a five pound sack.

 

[ICE]

They might have overbuilt for the neighborhood.

 

[Msradell]

Glad to see that your back enlightening us with your photos again ICE!

 

[ICE]