Bain

The photo is from a house I looked at this afternoon. Both topics raised in this thread are visible. Pure junk, but totally permissible. Click to Enlarge 57.02 KB

Let's face it, there are a lot of hacks running around calling themselves inspector dudes, when in fact they're much more suited to being shoe clerks. THOSE are the people who constantly defer to others, and it's because they DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING. I was at a CE seminar recently, and overheard a guy who works in my area say that he loves to find ONE torn shingle so he can recommend a full evaluation of the roof by a professional to deflect liability away from himself. I stood there listening, and wanted to barf. THOSE are the people the realtor in the article is talking about, and he's not completely off base. Of course, nobody knows everything. I call people I trust occasionally if I not sure about something, and they do likewise with me. But that doesn't cost my customer anything, and everybody's better off because of it. I remember our very own Yoda, Jim K., posting a photo once of a radiant-floor thermostat accompanied by, "Here's the control module, but I can't figure out how to turn the damn thing on." But he didn't defer to a specialist. He figured it out.

Like any great work of art, my photo is subject to interpretation.

. . . but when I do, I'm gonna have some REAL fun. Click to Enlarge 46.41 KB

Oh! I don't think so, chief. You changed my life with the video on the honey badger! It could have only been for the better. Steady. Just teasing, Ellie.

Ellie is back . . . ?

Incorrect. The clamp is installed for gas-log sets that MUST be vented. The clamp is intended to protect the occupants when the gas logs are LIGHTED. Ventless gas logs are installed in flueless fireplaces. No clamp can be installed because there IS no damper. The pilots remain lighted all day, every day, during the winter. People do not expire because of this. Ventless logs are also installed in fireplaces that contain flues. Installers NEVER install the clamp on the damper when ventless logs are placed in the firebox.

I don't have anything to cite, but ventless logs are legal in Kentucky, and the pilots are lighted pretty much 24/7. Non-electronic-ignition stoves also have continuously-lighted pilot lights.

There's lots of room to be had. When I talk to attorneys and individual customers about this stuff, they get it immediately. When I talk to HI's about it, it's all resistance and misunderstanding. HI licensing boards are worse than HI's. Now, I document what I do with a broad interpretation of State requirements. My attorney thinks I'm compliant, and so do I. If someone wants to question what I did, I show them pictures. Not surprisingly, every time I've done this, everyone gets it immediately. Of course, HI's, as a group, don't get it. If, one day, the State says I have to textually document each and every thing that I did, I'll design the most minimal checkbox to accommodate their ill and poorly considered ideas about what we should be doing. I'll design it to auto complete, so there won't even be any time input. It will be in tiny print in the extreme rear of the report. Hopefully, I'll be able to retire before folks that have never done my job are able to tell me how to do my job. Until then, I'm going to go with what my attorney advisers and customers say. Someday, I'll put up a report sample, but not until there's open minds to discuss process and results. I think some of you guys get it, but most don't. I'm with you. Try to explain what a running trap is, then show someone a photo of a trap in a crawlspace that's flanked by several feet of PVC on both sides. The person staring at the photo will understand why it's wrong much more quickly than someone reading a lengthy description. Explain what a double-tap is to someone who's never looked inside a panel, then show them the photo of the breaker in question. It's a no-brainer. Customers want to understand what's going on in a house, but they don't want to spend hours trying to REALLY understand it. I began to steal adopt Kurt's approach a few years ago, and it truly makes the job easier.

How do you know that? No one should possess that much information about a door. : )

I don't understand. Isn't it just a basic, hollow-core door?

You know, that wouldn't have occurred to me, but now that you've said it, it makes perfect sense.

I see that configuration in older houses fairly often and it doesn't seem to cause any problems.

I THINK it was a half-bath originally, and there was no other economically feasible way to add the shower. The buyer's wisely ripping it all out and starting over.

The approach (Yes, the stall door opens inward). Click to Enlarge 41.85 KB The right side of the stall. Click to Enlarge 42.13 KB The left side of the stall. Click to Enlarge 51.38 KB Sort of brings multi-tasking to a new level, yes?

The SOPs don't say you have to DESCRIBE all that stuff, only that you have to check it out. No AFCIs? You don't have to look and don't have to say anything about the lack thereof.

Pardon the pendantry, Chris, but to explain further, the NEC doesn't have any powers of implementation or enforcement. When a new version of the code becomes available, states have to decide whether or not they want to "adopt" the code and make it part of their laws. That can take time, unsurprisingly, so the 2011 NEC probably won't become gospel in many states till later this year or next.

The house I grew up in had a brick grill, with a big ass fan above it, just off the kitchen. My parents used it all the time. It was one of those '70s, Brady Bunch things that were all the rage for a while. No one expired but, of course, I DID turn out the way I did. I wonder if low-grade CO exposure is responsible?

I don't think you'd really tell anyone that. I tell people the same thing. Someone can typically buy a two-story house for less than a one-story plus an addition will cost.

I don't understand why the shingles are assymetrical. Were the dormers on the four roof planes NOT centered on the planes?

I think you explained yourself perfectly well, though I prefer, but don't recommend, Gary's much-less-diplomatic approach. My only suggestion would be to offer people an alternative. Maybe you could suggest they hire their own professionals--roofer, plumber, deck dude, etc.--to make certain all repairs were performed up to snuff. Clearly that would cost more than they're gonna want to spend, but then it becomes THEIR choice rather than YOURS that bears upon the situation.

Sadly, my reputation precedes me. It may interest you to know, however, that in my collection, there's a manual vibrator--the wooden handle, when rotated, moves the spindle and chuck vertically AND horizontally, parallel to the axis of the shaft--that dates back to the mid 1800s.

I don't think there are any specific rules that govern this situation, but wouldn't having the heat angled toward the floor be the primary concern, rather than what the heater was mounted on? Clearly the carpet hasn't combusted yet, but I'd hate to receive a phone call and learn that the bloody thing caught fire.

I assume you meant plumbing vent, not B vent. That said, the IRC (2003) doesn't say that the vent must go through the roof, just that it must terminate above the roof. I don't have a newer versions of the IRC, I'm still using the copy Brian Goodman gave me - it just showed up in the mail one day. NY says that it must go through the roof. Enlarge the photo and look closely, that metal vent goes right up the side of the building and through the roof overhang behind that plastic vent stack. The lack of soot and the rust indicate that it's a gas vent. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike I'm sure it will come as no surprise that that flue-pipe configuration is perfectly legal here in back-ass-ward Kentucky.

I assume you meant plumbing vent, not B vent. That said, the IRC (2003) doesn't say that the vent must go through the roof, just that it must terminate above the roof. I don't have a newer versions of the IRC, I'm still using the copy Brian Goodman gave me - it just showed up in the mail one day. NY says that it must go through the roof. I see vents like that when someone--typically--moves a kitchen sink and there's no longer access to the original vent stack. It's legal here. What a pain in the rear, having to rip out drywall or plaster in NY to relocate a vent.