Richard Moore

I'm sure you don't mean that literally, but you might want to shoot for a slightly lower number. The day you are 100% comfortable with everything is probably the same day you start missing stuff. It's that little, nagging bit of doubt that keeps you on your toes and makes you check twice.

Yeah, I saw that too. I actually got half way through registering as a non-member in order to point out how ass-backwards he had his info. I stopped short when I realized I just didn't want to become a part of that zoo. Sorry (not really!).

That would be better...assuming we can get the monkeys to drop the amendment. The dumb thing is that we DO already look for visible mold, as an indicator of moisture problems. But being held responsible for all mold, mold that might not be visible or discoverable until months after the inspection, is scary.

Maybe something like this will keep everyone happy... The inspector shall inspect for any readily visible mold-like substance, in readily accessible areas, during the course of a home inspection. The inspector is not required to determine if any substance discovered is actually mold, the type of mold, or the toxicity, if any, of such substance. The inspector is not required to conduct any invasive or destructive procedures to discover mold-like substances, nor is he required to take samples or conduct air-sampling for mold spores. The inspector is only required to report the presence and location of any mold-like substance discovered. The report may contain recommendations for remedies, treatment, or further evaluation, but this is not required.

Is this still available anywhere? I was going to recommend it to someone who asked a very basic question over at Hannigan's place, but thought I'd check online first. Amazon has one used and "dog-eared" and the ITA site is now something completely different. This thread was at the top of the Google list.

Mike O, Something you may want to add to the furnace decoder doc: I had a Magic Chef (yep, "Chef" not "Chief") oil fired furnace a couple of days ago. After much googling I was able to find the following... Magic Chef serial numbers have one letter, five numbers, three letters. The last three letters are the date key: First is month, middle is year and last is place of manufacture. On the year letters, they start at 1980... A=1980, B=1981, C=1982 etc, etc. Example: #A 12345ECB would be May, 1982 (made at factory "B").

Excellent question! I know that a GFCI receptacle does open hot and neutral but had no idea on an AFCI breaker, and I can't find the answer online. This isn't THE definitive answer, but I just ran a test on the only AFCI circuit I have in my own house (new bedroom, new circuit). I tested the continuity between the neutral and ground at a receptacle, then tripped the breaker and retested. I still had full continuity. So it appears that only the hot is disconnected. It's a brand new, dedicated circuit, so there shouldn't be any cross connections, but the ultimate test would be to check the breaker at the panel (or a spare breaker). Sorry, I don't feel like tearing the cover off at the moment. Maybe later. You shouldn't have any deliberately shared neutrals on the AFCI circuits in a new home. Last time I checked, they don't make 2-pole AFCI breakers to handle that yet. But, yes, I can see a cross connection or accidentally shared neutral causing the problem. One problem that evidently seems to crop up occasionally is with three way switches when they grab the neutral from the wrong circuit at one of them. Another common problem is ground to neutral faults at receptacles (bare ground in contact with the neutral terminal, etc). See the following... http://www.workingelectrician.org/resou ... +trips.pdf One way I can think of to check in your situation would be disconnecting the neutral wire at one of the AFCIs (turning the breaker off first of course) and seeing if there is still continuity between neutral and ground at the outlets that AFCI serves. There shouldn't be. That seems like a simple enough test to determine if there is a cross connection, but could still be a bear to find if there is one.

Nice use of duct tape! Jim, what's with the PVC piping around the top of the furnace? Is that a condensate line or a self-melting fire-supression system in case things get really hot?

Me neither. I "suspect" it when I see it. That probably goes for 99% of our HIs. The stupid bit is that we are about to become licensed as supposedly competent HIs. Now, with the "looking for mold" bit, the public would have every right to believe we are also licensed, trained mold inspectors and able to do a thorough mold and air-quality inspection during our regular work. I don't think my insurance company is going to like that "expectation". Thanks for pointing this out Randy. Who, in particular, do you think it would be most effective to bitch write to?

How about suggesting it gets changed to "looking for readily visible high-moisture conditions that may be conducive to mold growth"? Then we can get back to checking for and reporting on the moisture issues that we already do. "Looking for mold" indeed! [:-bigeyes Hell, a lawyer could read that as meaning we are supposed to bring air-samplers, swabs and microscopes to the inspection and identify each and every spore. Ain't it nice to know that our legislators will leap onto whatever hot-topic band-wagon that rolls by. "To hell with the public good, it looks good on my public record!"

Yep, me too, and I don't want to be responsible for someone's head cold a year down the road. So, will the board be able to do anything to get rid of this nonsense? It does say "as defined by the board".

Great read Mike! Dumb...and even dumber the way it is written. It has us inspecting and reporting on the systems and components but just looking for mold. How do I get certified as a Mold Looker?

Tom, if you have a clear ANSI date of 1978 on the furnace, then it probably would have been manufactured within 3 or 4 years after, but definitely not before. I'd go with something along the lines of..."The exact age of the furnace is unknown, but a date on the label indicates it was manufactured 25 to 30 years ago...etc" I'm with Mike on the water heater...1973. I'm surprised it's still holding water.

BTW...with 3/4" lines all the way from the basement, I'm guessing it takes a long time to get hot water?

Hmmm...I guess the first thing I would do is to remove the filter/aerators from the sink faucets (clean them if needed) and run a whole bunch of water (hot and cold).

Do you get the smell with your head in the same position but without running any water? Without brushing your teeth? If you have a water line that never got flushed, it's possible that you still have flux/solder/crap sediment in that line. Doesn't seem too likely, but I guess you could be getting some mixing from that. Dunno about it smelling like "dirt" though. The pedestal sinks don't require special p-traps, but they do need proper p-traps. Got photos? You ran vent lines, right? Did you run a drain for the original appliance location? If so...is that properly capped? Did you trap the shower drain properly?

Just in case your calendar doesn’t come pre-printed with this, I’d like to remind everyone that tomorrow, Monday, January 26th, is Chad Fabry day. Like me, I suspect all of you take a few moments to celebrate this auspicious, yet unofficial, holiday by quietly contemplating homemade boilers, old tractors and pitiful facial hair. Happy birthday Chad!

Here...I've turned the lights on. Click to View 50.96 KB I see dust reflected by the flash...but mold?

I think it's a safe bet that Mike is aware of that. Townhouses are a fairly recent phenomenon around here. I can’t think of any area of the city that has the row-houses you might find back east or the stately townhouses (townhomes?) of Washington, DC. I think it’s safe to say that every townhouse I’ve ever inspected has essentially been a condominium with many common areas. I have never seen a new roof over a single unit or fresh paint on less than a block at a time. John’s description of “staggeredâ€

John, are we talking about someone adding a single deck to an existing row of townhouses, or is this a "newer" condo-type construction and all the units came with similar decks? If the latter, and they were installed properly (flashing, etc), I don't see any particular issues. It depends on how the HOA has it set up, but the exteriors are often common areas. Did this person have a particular concern?

I did a bit of googling myself as I'm also not familiar with the stuff. As far as health goes, at worst it seems to be an irritant. See... http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0491.html http://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/chemical/25051#section2 http://www.schundler.com/perlitehealth.htm The last seems to come from the perlite industry, but there's nothing in it that appears to be contradicted by the others. In short...it isn't another "asbestos" but it would still be wise to wear a dust mask in the attic.

Live and learn! I see pest guy and attic and I automatically think rats or mice and poison. I guess I can count myself lucky to have zero experience of cockroach infestation.

It's hard to believe a pest control contractor would spread poison around like that in an area that might be accessed by humans, but who knows? I would report it as an unknown subtance and suggest the client have the home owner provide some rock-solid documentation from the pest guy on what he put up there. If that's not forthcoming, and you are not 100% certain it is just talc...well...I'm not sure I see any safe choice other than testing.

We have a famous old restaurant here called Canlis. It might be a good name for this new place. Or…The Headless Chef, WC-in-Fields, PaPa-No-Johns, Sansaloo, etc.

I very, very much doubt there is any code requiring them. It's not like you would normally be going into the garage from the house, turning on the light and then leaving permanently by the side door and most people don't enter their house at night via the garage side door. The more likely scenario is you would come back into the garage and turn off the light as you go back into the house. I could see it being convenient, and an improvement, but not "code". Unless, as Jeff points out, there are stairs (not just a step). But then, would the 3-way switch need to be at the man door or the bottom of the stairs? I think code would call for the latter.