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This guy should really stick to cars!

By
Home Inspector with Charles Buell Inspections Inc.

     Right in the very tire tracks of yesterday’s post about old galvanized drain pipes comes today’s post about inevitable repairs to those pipes.

     I have seen all manner of attempts at extending the life of these pipes, and the picture below eloquently speaks for most of those attempts.

Drain the radiators

     If the water goes down----what can possibly be wrong with it? 

     One of the advantages to making plumbing repairs with radiator hoses is that you can get the drain to go anywhere you want it to go.

     Can you imagine turning the key to open the house door and hearing the engine start up?

Charles Buell

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)sunsmileall pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

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Raven DeCroeDeCroe, is my "etherial" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

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Ian Niquette
Square One Home Inspection - Markesan, WI

Charles, it is unfortunate, but we all see strange and incorrect things like that everyday. Somebody always has to be creative to save a nickel.

Jan 25, 2009 10:37 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Ian, the craziness here is that the correct parts would have been cheaper than all those stainless steel bands and radiator hoses:)

Jan 25, 2009 11:04 AM
Jim Albano
Prudential Damiano Realty - Little Falls, NJ
Team - Jean-Marie Vantuno / Realtors North Jersey Real Estate

Ingenious repair job there. Let me guess...the homeowner is an auto mechanic.

Jan 25, 2009 12:11 PM
Steven L. Smith
King of the House Home Inspection, Inc. - Bellingham, WA
Bellingham WA Home Inspector

Charlie,

The solution is simply two words.....shoe goo.

Jan 25, 2009 12:28 PM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Jim---that would be a safe bet.

Steve---ya thimk?

Jan 25, 2009 12:34 PM
Sheldon Neal
Bergen County, NJ - RE/MAX Real Estate Limited - Maywood, NJ
That British Agent Bergen County NJ

... your posts are so helpful Charles ! ... I always feel like I've learned something with every blog entry of yours that I read !

      ... just wanted to say thanks :o)

Jan 25, 2009 02:15 PM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Sheldon, you are welcome----glad to entertain and be helpful when I can.

Jan 25, 2009 03:58 PM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

Charles - like I said in a previous post, some repairs are genius! 

But, like Einstein said, it's all relative...

Jan 25, 2009 07:00 PM
Carol Culkin
Diamond Partners Inc - Overland Park, KS
Overland Park Residential Real Estate

Charlie - That's a very good example of improvising!  

Jan 26, 2009 12:41 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Jay, does that mean my relatives are geniuses?

Carol, live at the Improv.

Jan 26, 2009 04:25 AM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

Charlie - it's usually relatives who do those kinds of "repairs!"

Jan 26, 2009 04:36 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Jay, this reminds me of a funny story about my brother.  When he was little he couldn't say his "S's" very well so as was customary around the dinner table there were fights to get the potato skins from those that didn't like them (weird I know).  One night my brother says, "Anyone not want their kins?"  My sister pipes up and says, "Kins are 'relatives'---you jerk" (or something to that effect).  My brother says, "Anybody not want their relatives?"

Jan 26, 2009 04:57 AM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

Prescient kid...

Jan 26, 2009 08:19 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Jay, being a diesel engine mechanic he would probably be capable of a repair like this too.

Jan 26, 2009 09:22 AM
Matt Stigliano
Kimberly Howell Properties (210) 646-HOME - San Antonio, TX

Charles - I love when you post these photos.  Although I see the obvious problems with a repair like this, I also love to see human ingenuity at work.  Got a problem?  Let's fix it McGuyver style.  Now hand me that bubble gum.

Jan 27, 2009 01:36 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Matt, necessity is the mother of invention:)

Jan 27, 2009 01:40 AM
Suesan Jenifer Therriault
JTHIS-Professional Home Inspection Team - Blakeslee, PA
"Inspecting every purchase as if it were my own".

Charlie, I have to admit to you, that was exactly how I fixed my first plumbing leak. I was 17 and moved on my own. My landlord never fixed a thing and it seemed like a good idea at the time. My dad corrected it a week later and made the same comment. It would have been cheaper to fix it the right way. Amazing what we find in some houses during the inspection, isn't it?

Jan 27, 2009 02:03 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Suesan, it is all relative isn't it?  Depending on what we know we do the best we can-----sometimes we get to laugh at ourselves later when we have learned better.  I know I have been there more than once:)

Jan 27, 2009 04:25 AM
Suesan Jenifer Therriault
JTHIS-Professional Home Inspection Team - Blakeslee, PA
"Inspecting every purchase as if it were my own".

What can I say. When I was young and foolish I excelled at it.

Jan 27, 2009 05:40 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Suesan----it is the only way to get to be who we are today:)

Jan 27, 2009 06:07 AM