Oil Stained Driveway (Question)

Hey Al,

I have a large concrete driveway and three teen-age drivers with older cars. That in it self plays a big roll in supplying my driveway with fresh oil, not to mention my oldest son that works on his leaky car in the driveway.
Is there an easy to remove this fresh oil, and is there anything I can do to remove the old stains?


Thanks

Tony

I will post the answer tomorrow.

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Older House Wiring (Answer)

Hey Norton,


Older Romex was a two-wire system, meaning the Romex consisted of only two wires a hot and a neutral, but not a ground. The term open ground, just means that there is not a ground wire present. A hot and a neutral is all it takes to make the lights and the receptacles work. In the early sixties the electrical industry converted to Romex with a third wire, this wire was not intended to make the lights or receptacles work better, but to increase shock safety, by protecting equipment that is plugged in to the circuit against a ground fault. Electricity tries to find it’s way to ground, when it finds it’s way to the ground, that is called a ground fault, that’s how you get shocked. The electricity is using you to travel to the ground. The ground wire is just making an easer path for stray electricity to find ground instead of using you.
With a two-wire system (open ground system) like yours, replacing old receptacles in the bathrooms, kitchen, exterior, garage, and basement with GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) receptacles will increase safety. GFCI protection is a system that shuts off the power if it senses a ground fault, that means the electricity is passing thought you to the ground. The GFCI’s are not designed to protect equipment, but to protect you against electrocution.
Consult an Electrician about the best way to add the GFCI protection in your specific situation.


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Older House Wiring (Question)

Hey Al,

We recently purchased an older home that was built in the fifties. We had a home inspection on the house prior to the purchase, and the report indicated that the home’s wiring is “Functional but outdated by today’s safety standards”. The report further states that the house wiring is “older ungrounded romex and that a represented number of receptacles were tested and were found to be open ground”.
Can you explain what this means and how can I increase the safety factor?

Thanks,

Norton

I will post the answer tomorrow.

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Gas Water Heater (Answer)

Hey Melisia,

In this case you are going to need to have a professional plumber correct this installation. Gas water heaters are require to have a short piece of metallic pipe or appliance connector at least six inches long, above the flue piping. This transition piece is required to prevent damage to the CPVC from excessive heat build-up in the flue. In some areas CPVC can be installed directly onto electric water heaters with special transition fittings, but gas water heaters always required the metallic connectors. A licensed plumber will consult local code requirements prior to installation, and in most cases a local permit is required.

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Gas Water Heater (Question)

Hey Al,

I live in an older home that thought out the years has had many repairs and updates, not to mention many different people working on it. Recently we had our water heater go out and I think I hired the wrong person to replace it. We have a gas water heater with a metal flue pipe coming out of the top of the water heater then turning and going to the chimney. My concern is when the water heater was replaced, the installer used a plastic pipe called CPVC. This plastic pipe runs with in an inch of the flue pipe, and the flue pipe gets hot. I tried to call the installer, but his phone is disconnected and it appears he has vanished.
Do I need to call some one else, or is this not a problem?

Melisia

I will post the answer tomorrow.

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Cracks in My Ceiling (Answer)

Hey Dawn,

From your description of the problem, what you have is a typical case of Truss Uplift. This is not the first time I have had this question. To explain this, I will have to give you a brief explanation of your roof structure.
To start your roof structure is a truss type. To put this simply, the frame for your roof and the frame for your ceiling are all connected, this makes a truss. These trusses are spaced about sixteen to twenty-four inches apart, to span the length of your house. The top wood of the truss is called the upper cord, to that your roof sheathing and shingles are attached. The wood that runs along the bottom is called the lower cord, to that your ceiling is attached.

Trusses structurally span the entire width of the house, there for they require no load-bearing wall in the center. The center wall that divides your rooms is a non-load bearing wall, the lower cords of the trusses simply pass over the wall.

Now getting back to your problem “truss uplift”. This type of cracking or separation wile being unattractive it does not usually indicate a structural problem.

Since the trusses are all one unit connected together to form the ceiling and the roof structure, as the parts cure and shrink all parts of the truss is affected. The wood starts drying and shrinking the attachments that hold the top cord to the bottom cord, causing the bottom cord to crown or raise up in the middle. This causes the ceiling to raise and lift from the center wall, thus causing the cracks between the wall and the ceiling.

In your case, since the house is three years old, the moisture content of the truss members is at a stable level, and will not get worse.

Cosmetic repair of the cracks should take of this problem. In most cases a paintable calk and some paint is an easy and inexpensive cure.

While major and persistent cracking may indicate structural problems, in your case the cracking is a common and normal occurrence in new houses. With new construction it is likely to have slight settling and shrinkage of building materials, which will cause some slight cracking in the corners of your drywall.


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Cracks in My Ceiling (Question)

Hey Al,

Recently my husband and I purchased a three-year-old ranch house. The house is beautiful and very obviously well maintained. However we have noticed a crack in the ceiling of the living room at the corner of the wall that separates the living room from the family room. On the other side of this wall is the family room, where there is a crack in the ceiling against the same wall. The cracks are not very wide, but they do run almost the entire length of this center wall, on both sides.
Our concern is this wall runs long ways down the center of our house, does this mean that our house is settling? Is our house going to fall down? Is this a major structural problem? What can we do?

See Ya,

Dawn

I will post the answer tomorrow.

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