A visit from the State Tax Assessor's office

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I am in favor of water sprinklers.

I grew up in an area known for annual brush-fires. My parents had a cabin in the foot hills up at about 4,500ft, in a town that has always had problems with brush-fires [since the redwoods were cut-down leaving only creosote brush growing in it's absence]. I advocated that they put in-ground sprinklers around the perimeter on their cabin and a set of sprinklers on the roof. As it would help to prevent brushfires from threatening their cabin. But as it turned out sprinklers are illegal there.

We have an apartment building that in 1991 failed a fire inspection because the Fire Marshall wanted a fire-rated room built around the furnaces in the basement. This furnace-room had to have sprinklers in it, a special air intake that would automatically close if it got hot, and a powered exhaust fan that would likewise shut-off if the furnace-room got hot. So we had the room built and inspected.

But then in 2007 it failed the fire inspection again; this time I had to rip out the fire-room. The Fire Marshall no longer wants furnaces to be in their own fire-rated room.

There are times when I think that Fire Marshalls do not have a clue of what they are doing. their cluelessness costs property owners lots of money.

Like I said though, I am in favor of sprinkler systems. I suspect that if more properties had sprinklers we would see far less fire damage.

You might be able to save on the wear and tear of firetrucks a bit; and save a lot of buildings if every building had sprinklers. But that would shift some of the responsibility for properties onto the property owners and away from society.

Do you have any idea the cost of retrofitting every building with sprinkler systems, tearing out the walls to install them? And in places without city water, you will need a back up generator with a separate pump and pressure tank out of the house because in most fires we lose electricity right away. Who is going to pay for this? I figure a minimum of 10 grand per house, and hundreds of thousands of dollars for big buildings. Maybe aliens will pay for it.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

Do you have any idea the cost of retrofitting every building with sprinkler systems, tearing out the walls to install them? And in places without city water, you will need a back up generator with a separate pump and pressure tank out of the house because in most fires we lose electricity right away. Who is going to pay for this? I figure a minimum of 10 grand per house, and hundreds of thousands of dollars for big buildings. Maybe aliens will pay for it.

Did I mention that I have had to install a sprinkler system in a building?

At the time that building was over 100 years old.

Perhaps when I had said that I had installed such a system, you assumed that I had not installed a sprinkler system.



Besides as I understand it, this new 'cap and trade' bill, may require it anyway. All structures would be required to be brought up to 'energy star' rating, using all of the new building codes for earthquake soundness, hurricane and fire resistance; and energy use audits done afterwards to prove their rating is in place.

[dmyankee]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Did I mention that I have had to install a sprinkler system in a building?

At the time that building was over 100 years old.

Perhaps when I had said that I had installed such a system, you assumed that I had not installed a sprinkler system.



Besides as I understand it, this new 'cap and trade' bill, may require it anyway. All structures would be required to be brought up to 'energy star' rating, using all of the new building codes for earthquake soundness, hurricane and fire resistance; and energy use audits done afterwards to prove their rating is in place.

We are soooooo doomed!

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Did I mention that I have had to install a sprinkler system in a building?

At the time that building was over 100 years old.

Perhaps when I had said that I had installed such a system, you assumed that I had not installed a sprinkler system.



Besides as I understand it, this new 'cap and trade' bill, may require it anyway. All structures would be required to be brought up to 'energy star' rating, using all of the new building codes for earthquake soundness, hurricane and fire resistance; and energy use audits done afterwards to prove their rating is in place.

The cap and trade bill is dead in congress. And with the mid term elections coming up it will be even more dead. There is no global warming, all the data for that is based on computer models that are not showing so far to be accurate, probably because all the data that the models were based on is wrong and because the authors simply ignored any data that didn't match their hypothesis. All this is documented in the news services.



And how much did it cost you to install the system?? I don't what to know what it cost you if you did it yourself, I want to know what a professional would have charged to to it. I've used up maybe $3000 renovating my house, but if I'd paid somebody to do it, I would be into about $25,000. But to put in a full sprinkler system would entail tearing out things and paying for an external pump connected completely separately to the power lines.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

... And how much did it cost you to install the system?? I don't what to know what it cost you if you did it yourself, I want to know what a professional would have charged to to it. I've used up maybe $3000 renovating my house, but if I'd paid somebody to do it, I would be into about $25,000. But to put in a full sprinkler system would entail tearing out things and paying for an external pump connected completely separately to the power lines.

In Connecticut nobody is allowed to do much of anything themselves.

A licensed plumber did it.

Our furnace room and basement ended up costing us $800 per sprinkler head. It was plumbed into the existing water main coming in from the street.

The real expense in that city is roofing. An EPA statement needs to be done, a bond against polluting must be in place, a licensed hazmat contractor must be contracted with permits to haul all old roofing to N.J. [the Garden state] as the only approved landfill that can take roofing on the East coast. The cheapest bid we could get to re-roof a 2400sq ft building was $20k. Most bids fell between $30k and $40k.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"Apparently his office is on schedule to review every residence in every Unorganized-Township every 10-years."

To visit some properties they must go in by float plane, snowmobile or canoe. Not a bad job.

Some wag in Augusta put in a bill to require all buildings have sprinklers, high insulation ratings and an energy audit before sale. That's new or used. That would include a camp on an island. All means all. The bill was defeated in committee, but not without taking a lot of legislative time.

[retiredtinbender]

I hate to tell ya but cap & trade is NOT dead anywhere. THe new Maine building code goes into effect by December. Have you seen all the crap it covers? The only thing it does not cover from cap & trade is the cap and the trade. Third party inspectors, rqadon, fire suppression, energy standards and more. The state will be eveen deeper in your back pocket. The Fed C&T even covers selling your house at this point. Add more people to your town hall to cover the paperwork and the setting of the bar. In the words of a great American; "Good night and good luck".

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

I hate to tell ya but cap & trade is NOT dead anywhere. THe new Maine building code goes into effect by December. Have you seen all the crap it covers? The only thing it does not cover from cap & trade is the cap and the trade. Third party inspectors, rqadon, fire suppression, energy standards and more. The state will be eveen deeper in your back pocket. The Fed C&T even covers selling your house at this point. Add more people to your town hall to cover the paperwork and the setting of the bar. In the words of a great American; "Good night and good luck".

Fires may be the best way to get rid of a property you no longer want. Up the insurance!