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Monday Musings: Smoke Detectors, DST, and…

One of the things I miss about Arizona (besides not dealing with snow on Halloween) is no Daylight Savings Time (DST). As it was originally 6 months long, the “change your smoke detector batteries” movement became popular in the late 80’s / early 90’s depending on where you lived. As we “fall back” yesterday and […]

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Filed Under: Fire Safety November 4, 2019 By SLS

Wacky Weds: Worst Flashing Idea Ever?

One of the biggest tenants of building but especially roofing is getting the water away from the structure as soon as possible. So I have to wonder what this person was thinking… An adjuster showed me this flashing detail for a chimney… Not sure why the roofer didn’t install a cricket to shed water away […]

Filed Under: Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: Roofing October 2, 2019 By SLS

Wacky Weds: More outlets please…

You know there really is nothing wrong with these types of outlet adapters – they are UL listed after all… But when you do this, you just might be… Breaking a few codes, voiding the UL listing, looking to start a fire, & the list goes on. With that here is a bonus one for […]

Filed Under: Wordless Wednesday September 18, 2019 By SLS

Wacky Weds: It’s not just plumbers…

I couldn’t help but laugh, good luck blaming that on the plumbers… Ahh you were trained by one who also does drywall – got it. On the energy efficiency front, very cool seeing a California Corner in this 1928 house Yes folks that is the corner of a 2 story house they notched out, but […]

Filed Under: Wordless Wednesday July 17, 2019 By SLS

Tuesday Tip – 2 for Exterior Painting

Ahh summertime – time to knock out those pesky exterior painting projects. In my case, I have three & the trim around the garage door is first on my list. Yep I started scraping & then decided, just to be safe… Yep if’s it’s red it’s lead – drats. Granted it was built a few […]

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks July 16, 2019 By SLS

Wacky Weds: Not a green roof?

I was driving the other day & it seemed like there was a contest on one street for who had the greenest roof… The winner was: We have covered everything from hot roofs to cool roofs and even shown a few pics of true green roofs but sorry folks – that isn’t a green roof. […]

Filed Under: Wordless Wednesday July 3, 2019 By SLS

2018 IECC – Officially Adopted in Illinois

Today Illinois starts it’s new fiscal year ushering in higher gas prices along with a ton of other fees & taxes. Also effective today, all newly permitted building work will have to follow the 2018 IECC as adopted. For those permitted before this date, you still fall under the 2015 version. Below are the final […]

Filed Under: Building Codes July 1, 2019 By SLS

Monday Musings: Electrify This…

#ElectrifyEverything or should I rephrase it as; Gas or Electric is fast becoming the new Paper or Plastic it seems… I couldn’t help but shake my head at the newest headline on one of the forums I frequent “The problem with Gas Stoves” with a single simple minded comment with a link to a piece […]

Filed Under: Myth or Misconception June 17, 2019 By SLS

Wacky Weds: A gutter used inside?

I have heard of people using gutters inside but I sure didn’t expect to see this, especially in a commercial building. Got to say the drain line setup was top notch but the work done on the metal framing… must have been a plumber

Filed Under: Wordless Wednesday May 29, 2019 By SLS

Wacky Weds: Got a shoehorn handy

In auto mechanics many gripe about the engine being built around the part you need to remove… but in a house? Yep the water heater is not only jammed tight against the return duct, but the water meter sticks out in front of it by about an inch. The Gas line doesn’t run straight up […]

Filed Under: Wordless Wednesday May 8, 2019 By SLS

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    In auto mechanics many gripe about the engine being built around the part you need to remove… but in a house? Yep the water heater is not only jammed tight against the return duct, but the water meter sticks out in front of it by about an inch. The Gas line doesn’t run straight up […]

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