Richard Moore

Some, maybe all, Miele dishwashers have... "A built-in mechanical non-return valve on the discharge side to prevent waste water from flowing back into the dishwasher." Anyone know if any other brands have a built-in check valve?

I believe there is a retaining screw at that bottom breaker on Bob's panel. Download Attachment: retainerscrew.jpg 28.16 KB

Hi Steven, Night and day! Very professional look. The only thing I would suggest is putting your contact phone number on EVERY page. Don't make them go looking for it if they already like what they see. As for Bob...I know I was a bit blunt, but I assume he is going to be relying on his site for at least some of his income. I could have said..."Ooooh, it's just lovely, isn't it?" in a British accent, but that wouldn't really help. I hope he took it as constructive criticism.

Bob...I'm no expert, and some of this may be a bit harsh...but you asked. This is just for the home page. So...almost the first thing you do is tell people to go elsewhere! If you must have those links...put them at the bottom, perhaps with a brief explanation of what they are. I already know what date it is...thankyou! If you want that, stick it in a corner and small. The picture of you on the ladder is cute, and you could use it elsewhere, but a guy with a hard hat hanging onto a ladder doesn't yell at me "This is a trained professional". By all means, use a photo of yourself on the home page but find one that's a bit more "generic" and better quality (higher res). Briefly explain why you are the guy they want on the home page. Most won't get much further than this. Licensed by the state is good and meaningful, but most homeowners don't know a "nachi" from their elbow, and don't care. Move that towards the end. I'd want to know you are going to do a thorough home inspection, period. The rest of the photos and logos on the left side are distracting. So you take credit cards and hawk home warranties...fine, but tone it down a bit. The leaning picture of the condo and the guy cradling a loaf of bread (?) do nothing for me. The "find out why" should take me somewhere. Have someone help with your grammar, sentence structure and punctuation. IE: Elliott home inspection is a rapid response owner operated home and condo inspection company, friendly, courteous and personal service. Should read (at the least)... Elliott home inspection is a rapid response, owner operated, home and condo inspection company, offering friendly, courteous and personal service. Remove links to pages "Under construction". Finally, get rid of the "still ugly" house shape links. Don't shoot the messenger!

Darren, I use a pair of obsolete Microsoft programs. MS Photo Editor for my default viewer, lightening, cropping and resizing. And...MS Image Composer for adding text, circles, etc. I got used to them, and still find them the easiest to use. Photo-editor came with office XP and 2000 but gets removed if you install office 2003. Image Composer is even older and came with FrontPage 97 (I think). When I change or upgrade computers I have to jump through some hoops to get them re-loaded and working. Because of that I wouldn't suggest them for everyone but I'm fairly sure that you can find free downloads of both programs from other sites if you are a diligent Googler.

Yep...see my edit above. The last (0032) photo was in the report. Good eye sir! I somehow managed to add the wording without noticing I had grabbed a bad one. I caught it when I checked the post image (probably at the same time as you). For others...the new condopanel2 photo isn't what Brian was talking about. It was a larger photo of the 0032 panel. Now I've confused everyone! [:-banghea That was a new home. Signed off. No reliable path back to the utility grounded conductor to clear a ground fault. "Do I need an inspection on a new home?" Yes, Ma'am!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's 2000. A very typical and correct townhouse/condo set-up. Download Attachment: condoservice.JPG 93.51 KB Download Attachment: condopanel2.JPG 135.3 KB I don't really care if the NEC uses the term "sub-panel" or not. Electricians do. However, I do think it should be reserved for a panel fed from a breaker other than the service disconnect. My terminology... Service Disconnect: Wherever it is. Service Panel: The distribution panel, only if it contains the service disconnect (my clients don't understand "service equipment"). Distribution Panel, Main Panel or just Panel: The first distribution panel if there's a remote disconnect. May have a "Main" breaker or not. Sub Panel: Subsequent panel fed from a breaker within a distribution or service panel (or anything after that). I try to stick to that. Edited because I grabbed a photo of a screwed up condo panel first. Download Attachment: 0032.JPG 60.07 KB

John, What was the site like? Sounds like the problems you might encounter with insufficiently compacted cut and fill terracing of a sloped lot.

Without disagreeing with anything you posted Mike, what I get from that article is that this guy is a lazy bastard without the personal ethics to do a decent job. I doubt that any affiliation or association would change that. I suspect that after January, he will be a licensed lazy bastard without the personal ethics to do a decent job.

I had a wierd one yesterday. 2003 house, panel signed off in December, 2003. Two circuits labeled as "bedroom plugs". One of these had an AFCI manufactured in March, 2004. No AFCI on the other. I'm guessing that the 2002 codes hadn't been adopted yet. Anyway...first time I've seen an AFCI added without any remodeling. Oh, and of course it's one of the recalled Square-D breakers! Download Attachment: 0084.JPG 59.42 KB

That's more info than I need, not to mention a rather disturbing mental image I would now like to get rid off. [:-blindfo

And so, I tempted fate and, of course, I get my first message today saying I had left power off at the freezer yesterday! It was actually just a "BTW" in a message thanking me for my services, but I feel bad. It was a pre-listing in a partially re-wired 1914 house with an old, small feezer in the basement. I really don't remember tripping anything that I didn't immediately reset but, obviously, I did. Fortunately, real nice clients, who said there was only $40-$50 worth of food in there and they did not ask me to pay for it. So...I think I'll send them a $50 gift certificate to QFC or Safeways. I am definately not going to post that I haven't yet put my foot through a ceiling. Oops!

Yeah, newer homes are normally no problem...as Jim says, pretty much standard locations. 70's and 80's are the ones I sometimes have problems with. I just had a thought... Instead of those little "GFCI Protected" stickers that no one uses, the stickers should be "GFCI Protected from ________". Too late to help us though.

A GFCI breaker shouldn't be hard to find, but I know what you mean about GFCI receptacles. The worst are the exterior outlets on "older" homes. Might be protected from the garage, the bathrooms, the kitchen, another exterior outlet, or just the other side of the wall. My only "trick" is to listen carefully when I test them. You can often hear the click coming from inside the house and tell roughly where it came from. But...there is no magic formula that I know of for finding the tripped GFCI in a cluttered garage. Sometimes, you just have to dig. I've had to move endless boxes, the crap on shelves, sometimes the actual shelves, and full freezers to reset GFCI's. You could try to find the GFCI's before testing any other required location, but that doesn't always work and would be a bigger waste of time if they don't actually exist. Last resort, and I've used it 2 or 3 times, is to leave a note for the seller. Just make sure you aren't "defrosting" a fridge or freezer full of food!

FYI... Here's a couple of pre-tile photos of mine. Download Attachment: beforetile.JPG 80.84 KB Download Attachment: twosensors.JPG 104.86 KB In the first you can see the various leads at the wall box. In the second, the two sensors are to the left. I used a product called SunTouch and read the manual very carefully. It's a "good read" for most installations. Find it here... http://www.warmyourfloor.com/images/InstMat.pdf

Steven, Just to clear things a little. The "floor-stat" is a fairly regular looking wall mounted thermostat but has an input for a lead to the embedded sensor as well as the power leads. I'm not sure how much of the install your electrician is doing but it would be normal to run the 240 (maybe 120) power to a wall box. The actual installer (tile guy, whatever) would then run the wires from the radiant mat and sensor back to the box. One tip. The sensors are cheap and it's a real good idea to embed a second one a short distance from the first, with the wire also to the box. Then, if anything goes wrong with the first sensor you can simply change the leads and don't have to rip up the tile.

Download Attachment: 070423T-044x.JPG 20.94 KB Really nice remodel of a 1901 house today. Probably the cleanest old home I've done. However...one strange thing was one of the bathroom floors. I'm familiar with newer electric, under-tile heating (recently installed a bunch myself) with a temperature sensor embedded in the thin-set and a specially designed "floor-stat". The recommended comfort range for those is 80-85F. This bathroom had a normal "air" thermostat controlling the floor. It would click on and off around 68F (the ambient temperature of the house - bathroom door open), but look at the floor readings. Download Attachment: 070423T-043x.JPG 55.71 KB It was a bit uncomfortable in socks and I can't imaging standing still long enough in bare feet to shave. I told my client that I consider this to be abnormal and in need of modification (read...ripped up and start again). This one is going to be a major bidding war, so it's very likely I won't actually have to write it up. In the meanwhile...comments anyone? Was this ever a normal way to install under-tile heat?

Carl, I use a Suretest, but same thing. I've had them trip with the test button, but then fail with the GFCI tester. I remember one that would take 4½ seconds to trip with the suretest, time after time, but tripped immediately with the test button. Bottom line...If it's grounded, and assuming your tester works normally on other GFCIs, then something is off. For the price of a new GFCI I don't think anyone is going to fault you for saying it needs replacing. Better safe than guessing!

Mousepads are always a nice gift... Download Attachment: mousepadxx.jpg 32.93 KB

As the supposed moderator of this particular forum I would just like to insert a pause and applaud everyone who has posted so far. On any of those "other" sites this would have turned into a very ugly flame and bash fest by now. It is refreshing to see a group of inspectors, even with differing opinions and affiliations, able to discuss this like professionals. Congratulations and thanks, gentlemen! You make my "job" here very easy.

Properly installed armored cable should be no problem. If it's just NM (romex) I'd call it as "subject to damage". Same with kitchen sink disposal wiring.

If it's beyond the capabilities of the least handy person you know, armed with only some spackle and a paintbush or perhaps a hammer and a couple of finish nails I think it's a little more than "cosmetic". Especially kitchen countertops. If the formica is actually broken then there is no repair other than replacement of the whole laminate. Missing or damaged tiles will need to be replaced. Wouldn't you want that repaired if you were buying the home. Write it up as...Repair: The kitchen countertop has "delaminated formica edge, broken formica near corners, missing or damaged tiles on edges etc." or whatever. Job done, and then it's up to the buyer, the seller, agents (everyone but you) to decide if it's going to be done or negotiated.

My feeling exactly. If I have no personal experience of someone's work, how can I recommend them? In my case, as I've always done everything myself until the recent re-model, my list is almost non-existant. I might recommend my general contractor (a neighborhood guy and friend) but even then, some of his sub-contractors wouldn't get the time of day from me. Especially the dry-wallers. They left three receptacles buried, did a mediocre job on the final sanding and left me a with a mess-o-scraping before I could lay my hardwood. No referrals is just "cleaner" for me.

I doubt the door is going to burst into flames but (big but) I sure would want to be on record in case it did! The other issue is that the combustion air is also partially blocked. With an induced draft frunace, again probably not a big deal but it's clearly wrong as clearly spelled out by the manufacturer. My response to the seller's "zoid" would be along the lines of..."I'm reporting this because any competant inspector would, and that includes the guy likely to follow me when my client sells the home down the road." As for how hard to push, simply report it as a safety concern in need of repair. No pushing required.

You also might recommend he do a load calculation for the circuits on the lower busses. It looks awful busy for a 60-amp (?) main breaker feeding the "lighting" section.