rlskfoster

Did a house built in 1973 today and all was going well until I poked my head in the attic. I saw the sprayed on type insulation. Now I've seen this alot in new construction in the walls but this is my first time to see it int he attic. I was wondering if it was Icynene. Anybody got any problems with the application of this stuff. I explained that I had not seen it used as insulation for the attic and told my clients I would do some research. Buster Download Attachment: Sanchez 036.jpg 84.2 KB

WOW!!! That was awesome! I think I had a siezure and wet my pants during the middle of it so I better not run it again. WOW!!! Buster

One of my firefighters is an appraiser and we have had this discussion. When I start up about people (selling realtor and seller) complaining about me writing things up, that is viewed as "picky". I feel they don't understand what I do and that my interest is only in making sure my client knows all there is to know about the house. My Firefighter will always start telling me about the pressure he is under from all sides of the deal, when all he is doing is reporting what the data tells him. I think that you could plug the word inspector in place of appraiser and that is probably how other people talk about our profession. I'm not defending the appraisers, but, I definately see how we are misunderstood so I'm sure there is some misunderstanding about what an appraiser does. I do realize that if our client wants he can still buy a house that we find all kinds of problems with and the appraisel can actually prevent a sell. Buster

As a Fire Fighter, it's people doing questionable things like this that keeps us in business. Always the most memorable calls start out as someone doing something really, really dumb. Mike, they use nitrogen in the phone lines and every now and then someone dumbass steals one of the tanks. We get called out for an unkown hazard and find one of the tanks lying on the side of a road. I should write a book on all the things I've seen that have made me think, "What the heck?" And you know it carries over into HI because almost everday I say," What the Heck?" LOL! Buster

Back in the day when I was wiring houses we always had a rule of thumb that allowed 8 general lighting circuit openings on a 15 amp(14 guage wire) circuit and 10 openings on a 20 amp( 12 guage wire) general lighting circuit. Kitchen circuits were limited to 4 openings on the 20 amps circuits. I don't remember the reasoning but it was the accepted practice. This included laying out the GFCI circuits. Buster

Virtually every roof I look at down here has it. When I saw it missing today my first thought was I can't believe they left it off. The more i thought about it I thought I remembered reading it was not an absolute. Thanks for the info. Buster

Did a house today that did not have the drip edge flashing. I found in a Burgess where it says that the drip edge flashing is not required on all roofs. I think it should be there but now I've confused myself. Any old roofers out there know for sure. We really don't have a large freeze problem in this area. Shingles had a good 3/4 to 1 inch overhang. In the picture you can see the vinyl siding. I think the siding guys pulled the drip edge off to make their installation easier, smoother, etc. Thought? Buster Download Attachment: Edmunds 028.jpg 87.45 KB

You can't have more panel than service. Electrical is figured on potential, meaning, you have the potential for 100 amps going through a 60 amp service causing overheating which can lead to all kinda things happening. None of which are good. I see this alot in older homes that have gas appliances and heat. As time goes by people add a dishwasher or disposal, other things get added and before you know it the panel is full. So instead of doing a service change and upgrading to 125 or 150 amps someone takes the old panel out and puts in a panel with more capacity but leaves the old 60 amp meter and service wire. Usually because if they don't change the outside sevice they don't have to get a city inspection. It needs to be upgrade and thats what I tell my clients when I find this situation. Buster

Yes it is a shed roof. I wanted to be able to back up my report of improper installation with more than "that ain't right"[:-thumbd]. I will go to JLC and research. Thanks Chad, Buster

It looks like they just attached the main support with the nails used to hang the rafters. What is the correct method. Lag bolts? I wondered how far apart would be adequate. Thanks, Buster Download Attachment: Smith5 018.jpg 72.55 KB

I went out and re-read the walls of the house and I got 1.3 and 1.2 on the Delmhorst sheetrock setting. naturally delmhorst is closed today so I can't get a definite answer on what % moisture content 1.2 and 1.3 correspond to. If I test the wall with the meter set for wood it sets the alarm off. The wood meter is supposed to alarm at 15 %. This read about 16 %. Would a termite infestation or even a fire ant colony in the wall cause wet readings. This house has been treated twice for termites in the past. I did not see any active signs of termites. I'm just trying to figure out if I'm reading this meter right. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Buster

I read the instructions over and over. The way I understand their instructions is that anything over 1% on the sheetrock setting is too wet for paper or paint. I think I'll call Delmhorst and get it straight from them. Thanks for the responses. Buster

Thanks Mike. I just did one of those assume things. I assumed if the red light came on and the alarm beeped it must be wet. Now I am the a_ _. After I re-read the walls tomorrow I will have to call my client, he is an investor out of California, and tell him I was wrong about wet walls, but, trust me on all the other stuff I wrote up. Credibility could be damaged. Dang it! This is the kinda stuff I don't like about inspecting. Oh well, I guess I better buck up. Buster

Uh oh! Looks it could be time for a crow sandwich. If 6 to 10 percent in drywall on main floors is okay at what point does it become reportable as wet. What percents are considered wet readings on concrete or tile floors and wood. I have been using the default readings as wet for about eighteen months. I am afraid to go back and see what kinda problems I may have caused. This is gonna leave a mark! Buster[:-banghea

I recently inspected a home and found wet readings, with my Delmhorst BD 2100,on the wall beside the tub and in the closet wall behind the tub. This was all in the wall with the plumbing. To be honest when I took the readings the redlight came on and the alarm sounded and I did not record the percentage. I had it set on # 3 for sheetrock. I reported the wet readings. The homeowner is stating no one has lived in the home for over a year and he was curious about my readings. I had checked during the inspection and the water meter showed no movement on the leak minder. What percentage is considered "wet". I had assumed if my meter alarmed it was too wet. My meter reads from .2 % to 50% on sheetrock but when I've played with it on walls I know are wet the highest I've read are about 18%. My set point value for the sheetrock setting is 1%. Should it be higher? I am going to meet him out there tomorrow and get the actual percentages the meter is reading. He seems to think anything under 15% is okay for sheetrock. I don't think so what do you guys think. Thanks Buster

I hadn't heard that before. They have always been stacked together in the houses I've seen. I try to run my hand down the breakers to feel any heat but to be honest I bet I don't do it on the newer stuff. I guess i should. Have you seen any differences with a laser thermometer. Buster

From what I've seen down here the PEX is installed under the slab just like the soft copper. I am assuming this was PEX. It is a red and blue plastic plumbing. But I agree that it would probably not be infiltrating the system. Buster

Now thats what I call crystal clear. Thanks guys! Buster

I can confuse the heck out of myself so Here is my questions- Sub-panel in a detached garage has a 8-2 with ground as its supply. It is wired as 240 volt So does it need 1) A ground rod driven 2) Seperated grounds and neutrals 3) A covered neutral 4) should an 8-3 with ground have been ran The garage does have a sidewalk connected to the house. It does have GFCI protected outlets. Man I have read Article 250 till I"m blue in the face. I think it needs a grounding conductor to a ground rod. I think the grounds and neutrals can be together in this instance. Am I wrong. Help me Obi-Wan. I know this is probably supposed to be easy but I just don't see it enough to be comfortable. Buster PS Hansons book is in the mail. Download Attachment: Yanowski 013.jpg 85.32 KB

Hey that is my neck of the woods. I have not been to the winery but I have heard it was neat. I Live in Burleson which is on the south side of Fort Worth and Confederate parkway is on the Northwest side of Fort worth. One word of advice. 199 ,the Jacksboro HWY, from Loop 820 until you get over the Lake Worth bridge has major road construction and it is a pain in the butt. Plan some extra time, 15 minutes maybe. I do some interim inspections for a large bank out off of Confederate parkway and I quit going that way completely. I take Silver creek from Loop 820 and it runs into Confederate pkwy in about the 6500-6600 block. The downside is that silver creek is an old winding country road and I emphasize winding. Pretty country though. Hope every thing goes well for you. If you have any questions about Fort Worth I might can help I've been a Fort Worth firefighter for 17 years and lived in Burleson for 46 years(born in Fort Worth and moved to Burleson 2 months later). Buster I just realized you said your wife is from Fort Worth so you will probably not need any help finding anything. How did she end up in Canada?

Thanks for the info. The Heatilator website states the refractory panels are mainly aesthetic. The fireboxes are tested and UIL approved with no panels. They also state that they only recommend replacement if the panel has a crack you can fit a quarter in or if the panels are crumbling. I did not know this. I had been taught to always call out cracks in the panels. I guess I should just point out there condition from now on. Buster

I inspected a house yesterday that had a heatalator brand insert fireplace. There was a ceramic panel on the back wall but nothing but metal side walls. It really did not look like there was any way to attach a ceramic panel unless the hangars were on the panels themselves. I have seen a lot of fireplaces but not this brand so I was wondering if it should have the panels or if it was designed without them. I tried searching the internet but I could not find anything helpful. Does anyone know if the heatalator is built without the ceramic inserts. I wrote it up as being in need of these panels. Thanks, Buster

I recently inspected a home with a jacuzzi bath. This jacuzzi was on the same circuit as the bathroom plugs. The circuit ran to a plug in an upstairs bath(one duplex receptacle) where a GFCI plug was located. The circuit continued to a plug in the Master Bath(one duplex receptacle)that was also protected by a GFCI plug. The jacuzzi motor is also protected by a GFCI plug. They just all happen to be on the same circuit. I wrote that the jacuzzi should be on a seperate circuit with the GFCI protection. Truthfully I wrote it up because I would have wired it seperatly. I can't find where it should be seperate. I just got off the phone with the electrician who originally wired the house and his position is that articles 210.23 A(2) allows the jacuzzi to be on this circuit if it doesn't take more than 50% capacity. Article 680.70 just says it must be GFCI protected. I could have sworn there was cause for it to be a seperate circuit. Is it in 430? or am I just wrong. The electrician I talked to said that he would prefer a seperate circuit but he was not going to add one three years later. He was very nice and stated that if I found out different he would rectify the situation and run a seperate circuit. Anybody know about this? Jim? By the way this is the same house I questioned the size of the service. It had a 200 amp service and a local contractor did a load calculation and came up with 195. I was wrong. Oh well, I hope I'm not wrong twice on the same house. If I am though I chalk it up to learn something new every day. Thanks, Buster

No problem on the drift cause it is all tied into what we are doing. Where I feel my problems lie in reguards to prices is that in my little neck of the woods most of the house I inspect are in the 70 to 90 thousand range. 1100 to 1600 foot starter homes. So the percentage of inspection price versus house value is quite a bit different. I charged 390 for the 3300 square foot house and had about 6 hours in it. Sell price on tis house was 235000. I just don't think it can be a cut and dried raise your prices issue. I've been on the other side of the fence and I remember gulping at 175 I was quoted. We were close on our finances and we ended up not getting an inspection. (10 years ago). I see now what a chance we took but at the time it was strictly how much was it going to cost. I am new at this (two years in june) so I am problaly lower than some more established inspectors. Like I said earlier we are serious about raising prices but haven't figured how much or when to do it. Buster

I just spoke to my client from yesterday and he said that he was getting a local Electrical contractor to come by tomorrow and estimate the service load for him. He said that if it was under 200 he was probably still going to increase service capacity because they plan on adding a pool and some other things. The difference was if the service was undersized he was going to negotiate with the seller for some help on the cost because then it is a safety issue. Mike, I can't speak for others but in my area a 200 minumum for up to 2000 square feet(including garage) is pretty normal. I have been charging 200 as a minumum and after 2000 square feet it's 10 cents per foot. I charge an extra 50 bucks for pier and beam, 25 for over 30 years old, 25 for sprinkler, etc and so on. I said I "have" been because about a week ago I paid the 50 dollars to run that cost of business spread sheet someone posted here. It is truly an eye opener. It is just really scary to be relatively busy right now, raise my prices and then hope I make up for less work with higher pay. I truly believe I deserve it more than some guys I know, that are more of a drive by inspector, I just need to get my check book and my anxiety to a happy median. Gut check time. Truthfully this price issue has been a serious topic of discussion between me and my wife. We agree on raising prices but how much and when we do it is still in committee. Buster I hope I delivered all that in an non-alarming manner, even though I don't have 15 inch biceps.