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I needed that awesome comment. Where are you taking the class? The only good one I know of is at the Jewish center near UTC – which is hard to get into.

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[quote=Balboa]
For the low hanging fruit — There are no visible cracks anywhere on the property; there are no gutters at all; there are no large green anythings on the property; the *entire* place is hardscaped with the exception of a couple of planter strips and an 8×10 grass patch at one corner of the lot. The grass patch is surrounded by concrete and does not touch the house. The concrete is all in good shape.[/quote]
Hardscape actually worries me. Is is concrete to the side of the house? Is it to the side or to the foundation (do you know how to tell). Is the sill covered by concrete? Which way does the concrete slope (use spirit level – should read a tilt away from house).

[quote=Balboa]
We’ll have to ask about the pressure regulator. The plumbing was upgraded to ABS, but somewhat half-assed. That said, the guy we had out yesterday said none if it is actually leaking right now. Just poor quality work that wouldn’t pass inspection.
[/quote]

That it won’t pass inspection worries me. The ‘inspection’ is not a beauty contest. It involves specs including how the lines slope (run vs drop for sewage). Type of materials for potable water. etc.

Inspector list from Daly City (no every city decides to put this online).
http://www.dalycity.org/Assets/Departments/Economic+and+Community+Development/building/forms/DC+Code+Requirements+Plan+Notes.pdf

There are actually more involved specs – but you have to pay for the full building codes ‘book’ for the area.[/quote]

If curious why all ‘spec’y here – built 4 houses, 2 with crawl space, 2 slab only. Mod 5th house that is old tech crawl space – added more rooms almost doubling sq footage.

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[quote=Balboa]
For the low hanging fruit — There are no visible cracks anywhere on the property; there are no gutters at all; there are no large green anythings on the property; the *entire* place is hardscaped with the exception of a couple of planter strips and an 8×10 grass patch at one corner of the lot. The grass patch is surrounded by concrete and does not touch the house. The concrete is all in good shape.[/quote]
Hardscape actually worries me. Is is concrete to the side of the house? Is it to the side or to the foundation (do you know how to tell). Is the sill covered by concrete? Which way does the concrete slope (use spirit level – should read a tilt away from house).

[quote=Balboa]We’ll have to ask about the pressure regulator. The plumbing was upgraded to ABS, but somewhat half-assed. That said, the guy we had out yesterday said none if it is actually leaking right now. Just poor quality work that wouldn’t pass inspection.[/quote]

That it won’t pass inspection worries me. The ‘inspection’ is not a beauty contest. It involves specs including how the lines slope (run vs drop for sewage). Type of materials for potable water. etc.[quote]

Inspector list from Daly City (no every city decides to put this online).
http://www.dalycity.org/Assets/Departments/Economic+and+Community+Development/building/forms/DC+Code+Requirements+Plan+Notes.pdf

There are actually more involved specs – but you have to pay for the full building codes ‘book’ for the area.

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[quote=exsdgal]
Without knowing if the standing water under the house is a big pool or just small puddle(s) it is difficult to state the severity of the problem. Here are some general thoughts about the crawl space. Most crawl spaces have high humidity, generally from the lack of air circulation/ventilation[/quote]
There is a building code requirement for crawl-space vents to prevent humidity buildup. There should not be any standing water, which would cause black mold on the flooring joists.

I am seeing the approx amount is one 4×14 vent every 8 to 10 feet of crawlspace wall.

It is actually based upon area; approx 1 square foot ventilation per 150 square feet of crawl space.

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[quote=exsdgal]Couple of suggestions come to mind, 1) to check if there is any active plumbing leak in the house, close all water outlets and see if the water main meter needle spins. If the needle spins, there is some water leak that needs further investigation[/quote]Only works if the water is moving fairly quickly. Meters are designed to measure HCF (Hundreds of cubic feet). Small but dangerous leaks don’t always move the meter very quickly.

1) Use the ‘close off all valves etc’ step, then use a large screwdriver and press tip to the metal near the meter and handle against your ear. If there is hissing, or water sounds, could be a leak. You can work up the line by pressing the tip of the screwdriver against valves and metal water pipes etc. It may not id the valve, but louder tends to be closer.

2) Another tech is to shut all valves if you are going away for the day, photo the meter and then photo it when you get back. This way you’ll detect any needle movement.

3) Finally, you can turn off water, drain water out by opening a high and low valve (highest in the house and lowest, probably valve outside). After all water runs out, make sure all valves are closed. Select a valve that you can screw a pressure meter into and do so (turning that valve and that valve only on) SLOWLY turn the water back on – stop turning the main valve when you hear hissing. Wait for the hissing to stop (don’t want to cause water hammer). Turn all the way on and make a note of the pressure (photo?). Close main, wait for several hours and then read pressure again (photo/compare).

NOTE: Method #3 is very similar to the ‘leak-down’ test used when getting plumbing work signed off by the city (particularly with a new house). They often use just air only and use a compressor to bring the house pressure up (I think it is about 50 psi, 15 min, air only – but not on plastic water lines.).

NOTE: If you have an icemaker, it would be a good idea to turn it off. Make sure none of your toilets and faucets have the drip leak – it will be picked up on the readings.

NOTE: Not all meters are HCF only. Some of them actually measure down to 1/10 Cubic Foot (which is about a quart and a half).

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Sorry, I’ve been meaning to reply with info but many things came up. Heat cycling does work. My usual tech for removing stubborn bolts in order is;
1) Soak lead in threads (or in your case if you can get to the back – tail threads – drip it down the back of the pulley into the thread holes) in liquid wrench. Overnight.
2) For broken-stripped head bolts: ‘Mount’ the broken bolt remover – I use one that you drive on and it cuts a spline(Lisle) as you drive it on. I’ve seen the Sears removers and was interested, but didn’t like the fact that you could not work the bolt back and forth to help loosen it.
3) Heat up the pulley to ‘toasty’ warm.
4) Hit the back of the bolt ONLY with chip cooler (you are trying to shrink the bolt while having the heat expand the hole it is in). I don’t use Propane(it’s weak), use MAPP gas. Watch the amount of heat though. MAPP gas stands for “methylacetylene-propadiene propane” – note the Acetylene in the name. It is in yellow tanks. Just read that they discontinued production in 2008 8-( They now use LNG with high levels of propylene.
5) Apply torque (not with impact wrench – need smooth torque, not brute force) to loosen. You may need to work it back and forth, including after it breaks loose. May need to rinse-repeat, going back to #1 and repeating. Patience.

In your case, you might want to chase the threads with a tap after you remove the bolts. Remaining threadlock can cause problems because it may start rebonding when the engine gets hot. Watch out for ‘chips’ or debris. Best done with pulley off the vehicle.

If that is threadlock, it looks like the ‘blue’ one, which is not the highest strength (red), but it does look like it was literally soaked in it… unless that is caused by corrosion not threadlock – would need a real high res pic to know. Most threadlock softens with heat.

NOTE: Are the replacement bolts a min of grade 3? or are they HD non-grade bolts. Need min grade 3 there.
PLUG: If you need weird high torque bolts, ABABA QA in El Cahon is a good supply. There used to be a nice place in National city for odd bolts – I think it was called Frank’s Truck supply – Walk in the door and an inventory of 6-71(s) greets you. I don’t see it any more.

Image of Lisle broken/stripped bolt removers:

[img_assist|nid=20403|title=Lisle bolt removers #1|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=75]
[img_assist|nid=20404|title=Lisle bolt removers, closeup|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=75]

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[quote flu]Oh… And I did manage to strip/flatten the bolt-outs slightly too.. So they go back to Sears, along with the impact wrench, that didn’t do jack to remove the crank nut too.[/quote]
I have had good luck with the “Husky” high torque 1/2 inch drive impact wrench (Home Depot), model H4480. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-1-2-in-800-ft-lbs-Impact-Wrench-H4480/203458750
It is supposedly rated at 800 ft/lbs or so. It does take the wheel bolts off my 1 ton pickup fairly quickly (torqued to 145). I do like that you can actually limit the amount of torque applied in removing bolts (even though documentation says it doesn’t – you can actually hear, feel, see the diff in the settings when removing). I also like the obviousness of the switch for forward or reverse. The position of the switch matches the direction(in – tighten / back or out is loosen). The impact wrench is also equipped with a muffler. One important thing for impact wrenches is the supply of air and the response of the pressure regulator(pressure drop against airflow). Impact wrenches do drink from the compressor. I run mine off a 29gal Harbor Freight compressor – they actually have a good one – tank may be made in China but the compressor head seems to be Italian, motor is US on mine. http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/air-compressors/29-gal-2-hp-150-psi-cast-iron-vertical-air-compressor-61489.html
I checked the quality of the compressor head vs Sears, Lowes(Kobalt), HomeDepot(Husky).. etc. and preferred its design. I re-adjusted the peak pressure down a bit to reduce motor thrashing – single stage compressors start to ‘thrash’ near 140psi due to dead space in the compressor head (gap between top of piston and bottom of reed valves). Two stage compressors work better in the higher pressure ranges. NOTE: I don’t like oil-less compressors. They are noisy and beat themselves to death in a fairly short amount of time.

With air impact wrenches and air ratchets etc, don’t forget to lube them particularly when breaking them in. I start with about 2 drops of oil in the intake air port at the start of when I am using it for the day. After a while you can drop it to about one drop. I don’t use typical air-tool-oil (ie: http://www.homedepot.com/s/air%2520tool%2520oil?NCNI-5 ). I use “Triflow”, which is a light lube containing suspended Teflon.

NOTE: When using impact wrenches, make sure you are using extensions etc for impact wrenches. Don’t use the standard ratchet tools there. Impact sockets, extensions are made out of a different steel for a reason (not just heavier/thicker).

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[quote=spdrun]

Also, unrelated, I had a nice long discussion with my insurance agent about posting social media web review sites and the potential of it exposing oneself to personal liability claims from the business owner when the reviews accuse the business of something shady without proof to back up that claim.

If you’re worried, use a public WiFi or unlocked access point to post the review using a burner Gmail addy. Good luck to them proving who posted it, but it will still affect their rating score.

And you can’t be sued for reporting them to the B.A.R. (assuming you make a true report in a timely manner).[/quote]
Look up SLAPP legislation per state. It depends.
https://www.google.com/search?q=SLAPP+legislation&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/responding-strategic-lawsuits-against-public-participation-slapps

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[quote=CA renter][quote=FlyerInHi]Are the people who planned for peak oil bankrupt yet?[/quote]

(Not so) funny story…I knew a person who was a long-time commodities trader on Wall Street. He was convinced that Peak Oil was here, and he had spent a few years buying futures and rolling them forward from month to month, losing lots of money almost every single month. Highly leveraged, large positions, too. He was buying *hard* at the post-crisis top. Yes, he’s flat broke today. Pretty sad, actually.[/quote]
I wonder how many other investment experts acted similarly. The futures coming due in excess to the actual demand for oil will depress the price of oil.

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flu;

Keep in mind that Russia has defaulted on their debt when it benefits them (or parts of debt, debt restructuring).

Years: 1839, 1885, 1918, 1947, 1957, 1991, 1998

Wiki on the 1998: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Russian_financial_crisis

Also watch out for exchange rate going the opposite direction. Best thing to do is be patient.

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[quote=FlyerInHi]I have lots of whites. The hot whitest white cycle gets the job done.

In my vacation rentals, the towels are all white. Women use the towels to wipe off their makeup! The “whitest white” cycle with some bleach and some oxyclean does the job and makes the towels smell like hotel towels. 2-hour cycle in a whirlpool washer. I learned that from my cleaning lady.

I’ve seen appliances in Europe have only 1 water inlet. They have internal heating elements.[/quote]You generally don’t want to mix Oxiclean with Bleach. It reduces the effectiveness of both. Oxiclean is hydrogen-peroxide based, and reacts with sodium hypochlorite, which is in standard chlorine bleach – effectively nullifying both.

I alternate when doing my whites (between chlorine and peroxide based bleaches).. and force a long 1 hour soak cycle, followed by restarting the first cycle while still full w/ soapy water. The soak cycle is hard to do with some front loaders, but easy with a top loader (just leave the lid open, then turning the dial around back to the start point and closing the lid).

NOTE: Peroxide based bleaches are better at breaking down mildew and fungus spores and smells than chlorine. Peroxide is also slightly better at killing off bacteria. On the other hand, Peroxide is not as persistent in the water as chlorine and does not ‘whiten’ as well at low concentrations.

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[quote=kev374]Actually she is the one who unfriended me because she does not want to read my posts and see how much fun I am having (her exact words).

Now, the more interesting concern is if I should unfriend my long time friends (close friends I have known for over a decade) because they continue to choose to maintain a close friendship with her despite knowing what I am going through.

They also leaked all my private info to her and I am unsure if they will do that again in the future. In addition in FB if they comment on my post I believe it would be visible to my ex as well even if me and ex are not friends.[/quote]
The fact that your long time friends are keeping a close friendship shouldn’t shouldn’t matter to whether you continue your friendship with them. I would be bothered by them ‘leaking’ private info. You may want to discuss that with them and that it bothers you and risks the friendship. Remind them that you and the ex are over/the past. The ‘leaking’ is interesting because it may have been through questioning/prompting of your ex. (Disconnects to look like she is moving on, but probing your shared friends to find out the info she would have found out on social media.)

One thing to remember is that the best revenge is a life lived well (while the ex wallows in anger, self pity, etc). That she knows you have moved on and are living well may be part of that revenge..

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So are you going to explore the back-roads of Waco,TX?

Anyway, I noticed where your old house was.. interesting history near there. “Castaic Lake”, “Lake Piru”, “Pyramid Lake” and “Quail Lake” are all part of the aqueduct bringing water down from Mono Lake. The aqueduct disappears underground shortly after Quail Lake and basically reappears as “Castaic Lake”. The system is designed to use the energy of the water going downhill to power the system pumping the water uphill. The tunnel through the mountains is not flat.

I tend to like to explore old roads, aqueducts(With SoCalal being largely arid, they are very important to the development that occurred in SoCal)

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[quote=FlyerInHi]I knew someone would bring historical data which I was too lazy to look up…. Feel free to talk the old time San Diegans.

Maybe, in the past, people’s tolerances for having no AC was higher because they didn’t expect all the modernities we expect today.[/quote]Umm… basically you wanted to slide an opinion by as fact, hoping that no-one would catch you and someone caught you with the real facts. Try Google. It really is not that hard to use.

https://www.google.com/search?q=San+Diego+annual+mean+temperatures&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb
Take a look at the images shown by Google… one of them should look familiar. Click that link, go down about 5 links to “SAN DIEGO ANNUAL MEAN TEMPERATURE HISTORY (1875-2013)” and select…

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[quote=FlyerInHi]I don’t know…. people have told me that back in the 1970s and 1980s there was no need for AC in San Diego. Even upscale houses in La Jolla didn’t have AC.[/quote]I was in San Diego when I was about 13 years old. My parents had an RV back then (bus type). It was during Thanksgiving, we were parked overnight in the Mission Bay parking area (overnight parking was legal then). I remember it because it was very hot and humid at night. Very uncomfortable. It was in the early-mid 1970s. I started attending UCSD 1979/1980. The dorms @ Revelle were very warm in September (warm and humid).

In general, there is no AC needed for Coastal San Diego. The only exception is a period of about 3 months. It has been that way for a long time, and is still that way along the Coast.

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