Tell Me Where It Hurts
Come share a cup of Joe with Joe at Contractor Café Anyone who knows me well, knows that I enjoy a good cup of Joe. I also have a bunch of useful knowledge about all things related to homes and remodeling that I am more than willing to share. To put things together,...
Why Do An Energy Audit?
As a remodeling contractor I am often asked to troubleshoot home comfort related problems. I have used this blog platform, specifically the Understanding Your Home partition, to help others figure out their homes and solve all sorts of issues that we come across....
What is a Water Hammer
"No honey, there are not ghosts in our house rattling the pipes." Much like the "Snow Lion," my friend's son was having trouble seeing in the foot hills. "No son," he said "Snow Line." In our case, the rattling pipes are being caused by a water hammer. A water hammer...
Your Home’s Thermal Envelope
No, it has nothing to do with insulated packaging. It does, however, involve thinking differently about energy efficiency and reducing air infiltration into our living spaces. I recently had an in service at a heating company by a nice young man who really knows his...
Levco Does Moisture Inspections
I was recently asked to investigate a serious situation involving "MOLD," which I like to call "Fungal growth," on the inside of an apartment. When I got there I was initially stunned to see how serious the situation was. I took all sorts of images and readings with...
Frost Proof Faucets
This is the anatomy of a frost-proof spigot. AKA "Sillcock". It works by shutting off the water inside your home and allowing the water to run out of the actual faucet so that there is nothing to freeze. Years ago before these things were invented, we would just shut...
Recent Posts
Air for Your Gas Appliances
There are two forms of air that are needed to make gas appliances work properly. Without them things go haywire and it could kill you and your family. There is makeup air and there is combustion air. Although they both do the same thing they are though of in different...
Glow Igniter Failure
I was called to fix a gas fired forced air furnace the other day. It was one I was familiar with. This one is on its side in the crawl space. Not the ugliest situation, at least it was dry, had light, and was free of major obstacles or creepy crawlers. Upon...
Gas Water Heater Failure
No hot water is the symptom but what could be the cause. I responded to the home of a client that we did a major remodeling project work for in 2012 which 5 years after installation. What could be wrong? Its a gas water heater, for cryin' out loud, such simple...
Sulfur Smell From Hot Water
I recently diagnosed a new electric water heater emitting a nasty sulfur smell from it. The darn smell would not go away so I asked my Father-In-law Bob the retired plumber what he thought. "Anode rod must be bad" he said. Whatever the cause, it was a very nasty smell...
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