All Forum Posts by: Daniel Cullen

Does the building have 4 electric meters? If not, you may be on the hook for upgrading/installing service so that there is a meter for each unit and one for the commons. Zoning might be an uphill battle with all the alderdunces looking over their shoulders now. 

John Warren you are incorrect.  This is a life safety issue and accurate information is critical. 

For some reason Conrad I am unable to view the photo. Can you email it to inspector dan at gee mail? 

They can be located in a closet Johann as long as the closet is provided with sealed/weatherstripped doors and the combustion/dilution air for the gas-fired water heaters is ducted into that closet directly from outside. Otherwise, the installation is non-compliant. I run into this same question all the time, "if it's wrong then why didn't the AHJ call it out?" Since I'm from Chicago the answer is easy, 'was it the 19 year old building inspector who was the nephew of the union boss?" 'was it the inspector who got caught taking a $500 bribe to look the other way?" .....there's no accounting for why a code official would fail to flag such an installation but the wording is very clear in the Mechanical Code. It's been this way for the 20+ years that I've been inspecting homes. 

Please don't give people bum advice. Stick to your area of expertise. 

Section 304.5 of the Uniform Mechanical Code states, “Fuel-burning equipment shall not be installed in a closet, bathroom, or a room readily usable as a bedroom, or in a room, compartment or alcove opening directly into any of these.” This prohibition was apparently overlooked by the home inspector when you bought your home and by the people who have been servicing the system ever since.

It is illegal to have a gas-fired, natural draft furnace in a bedroom or a bedroom closet.  Absolutely,  unequivocally illegal. I've swapped out 3 such furnaces and replaced them with sealed combustion furnaces. It's been the case for decades.

coupla thoughts....$3k is a bridge too far and provides inadequate roi but, if you want the crown molding and it makes you feel better about the project then why not have your carpenter put together a simplified 3 member crown from stock trim? if you only install it where it has the most impact i.e. the living room and master bdrm and if he uses 2 pieces of colonial base with inside corner trim in between it should be well under half that cost. A variation on the cove molding in the accompanying image might work well for you. 

Attic living spaces can be deadly fire traps: https://wgntv.com/2019/01/30/2-people-killed-in-so...

Aside from zoning please make sure that the smoke and CO detectors are interconnected with those in the spaces below and that there is an alternate way out of the space in the event of a fire. 

This platform is supposed to help with getting the information you're looking for: https://lofty.ai/

I signed up for a demo but haven't yet taken the test drive. 

Sometimes the areas with less than stellar schools can be a comparative bargain. Not all working class parents are helicoptering their kids and demanding 5 star schools. There are some pretty decent deals in the North Riverside, Berwyn, Lyons area for SFR's.