so in PIC #2 remove the 2 X 2 and add a say 6" wide (more ???) piece of drywall, screwed to the rafters as far back as it will go. Thus nothing touches the top ledge of the XPS but rather there is a inch or so gap between the XPS top ledge and drywall. I assume then when I am drywalling or framing in front of the XPS, there will always be a inch gap there. How about the blue DOW stuff. Just shove it in as best I can, caulk the bottom and tyvek tape the sides? Simple enough but the stuff might not end up tight against the concrete...there could be and 1/8" space in some areas since its not very rigid. (again, the 1 X 4 isticks out a little more tan the DOW so the drywall will not froce the dow tightly against the wall.)Is the general feeling though that I need not tapcon the blue pieces in place? That will save a lot of work.

I go to auctions like the guys on Texas hold'em poker play their games......you don't ever want to let on that you think an item is "hot". If it is a desirable property, there will be others there who do this for speculation and know their way around. What you say or do won't influence them as they'll have their 'numbers' already and no emotional attachments. They do it for a living. Sometimes they say or do things to intimidate or psyche out the folks who do it for a 'home'. Don't be influenced by what other buyers say or hint. There may also be others there who think it's going to be like a bargain basement. They're the ones who will sometimes drive up the price past the point you know you should quit, because they get caught up in the moment and may have been scoping the house out like you have. They do react to other people's reactions. I'm assuming, if you haven't planned to pay cash for it, that you've already had the conversation with your banker as to how high they feel comfortable backing you based on your credit and the house's appraisal? That's how I knew how far I could take a bid, should it go past the minimums. You'll probably be required to lay down a percentage then and there and have X number of days to pay the rest. I hope your inspection goes well and wish you the best of luck. Be sure you have talked with knowlegeable people about liens against the house, etc. I had one bank who held the forclosed mortagage goof up and then try to come back to me after a sale and get me to pay for a second mortage they'd issued and missed. LOL. No, they didn't get more money. Their bad. Then again, if you decide to bid, there may be no competition. Who knows? Usually there are the same crowd of 'lookers' who go to every real estate auction listed. They eat their lunch and visit with cronies. LOLOL. I have no idea how your state handles such stuff and my circumstances could differ a lot from yours. I'm no legal whiz and don't claim to be. My advice is worth what you paid for it. ;-) There are a lot of folks on this and the real estate forum who have done this, and I just know how scary buying real estate can be, and this especially so. Just wanted you to know that some of them have happy endings. Some don't. If this one doesn't pan out, there will be more. Plenty more in this economy and the next time you'll be a seasoned veteran.

There are radical differences between the International Residential Code and the Uniform Plumbing Code in regards to both washing machine standpipes and venting. In order to properly answer your question I would need to know which code you are under. If your not sure, let me know what city & state you live in and i can find out for you.

The point I am trying to make is that building inspectors are funny people. The building code may be what they are supposed to use but some won't reference it all while others will not budge from it all. If your used to them never using it and you change locations to a place where they don't vary from it all you need to adjust accordingly. I did not and it made life fun for a while. I don't have a code book and I am not a contractor. Even more annoyingly short of spending a crap load of money the code book isn't available to the general public. I have done plenty of framing for contractors although I don't do roofs so I had conversations with them about the roof. They figured given that it was a garage the inspectors wouldn't have an issue with it. They and myself are used to country inspectors. Inspectors in more populated areas are far stricter then what we are used to. Given that I didn't have a code book and given that contractors confirmed that which I already knew which is that 2 x 4's where structurally sound I went with it. Personally I would have used 2 x 6's but my cousin didn't want to use them and I didn't have reason not to use them so use them we did. The second inspector we had come out, after we complained about the first one, told me that 2 x 8's would have worked so the first inspector was way off in calcs as well. Also load calculation vs building code. Load calculation wins every time as building codes are designed with a large factory of safety built in where as load calculations can get you pin point accuracy. The issue is you need a licensed engineer to confirm those calculations and in this case 150 dollars would have saved me a month of my evenings but again not my garage and not my money so I had to do it the hard way. So the second lessons find a local contractor who knows what the building inspectors like because they all want different things. The third lesson is when your cousins offers you beer to come frame out his 8 ft extensions ask for two or three cases just in case you run into a problem.