Bradd Judd

Wow, talk about going for the Gusto!!!! Bravo[^] I have done a few inspections for some friends prior to The State of Michigan requiring an inspector to be licensed, in the (UP)Upper Peninsula. I have seen those lines in basements and crawl spaces up there and they were for Heating Oil. If you vector a course from that wall straight out, onto the property up to 100ft. away, you will possibly find the irregular landscaping or the tell tale sign of where the tank use to be. If its still out there, you should at least come across the vent and/or fill tube that was capped and stowed. As I look at your picture, I also see a faint outline of whatever that supply line was used for. I have seen a dual oil/wood burning stove in a few of those homes. However, you should have seen some type of hole for a flue or exhaust tube in the flooring. As my colleges mentioned, when in doubt, call it out!!! Beat of Luck to you1!!!

Fritz, Mavis Beacon is the ticket. I did take typing in school which was one of the classes I cut often since it was my last.......... Then years after College I had to re-aquaint myself with those damn desk top computers. Mavis Beacon training (not sure which version it was) re-paved my typing skills. Good Luck!!

Mike, Thought you had Adobe Photo Shop 7.0.1 already. If you did, (or you still do) it's in there with a little digging. Brad

Mike, It's kind of both. It has a extensive narrative database, However it will let me change wording or multiple strands of text. I had to get use to it at first, but after changing the Librarys in the Program itself, I was able to streamline it to the typical houses here as well as the gepgraphical region. The Creator (Lorne) has always been helpful in supporting the product and If I can't get a hold of him right away, he E-mails me back within 24 hours with a solution.....furthermore, Not sure if InspectExpress hosts the reports on a server, but Lorne does for 30 days on an encrypted server, which allows my absent clients, or anyone with the client name and password to view the reports from anywhere on the planet. Big selling point of my services. People love the slogan "Your report will be on-line by nine" I would love to go to your hardware.......Touch Screen Tablet.....talk about the cats Meow.....I'm in denial (I probably need glasses soon) and a larger screen than the Dell Axiom I'm using now would be welcomed. Denial, It's not just for the young anymore....... Brad

Dear Donald, You're going to love this..... As I do share Fritz's comment on the side stepping, I must share with you this story..... My wife,last year decides that we need the top of the line BOSCH Dishwasher. I don't remember the cost, but it was over a thousand dollars. As I am slaving away (installing it)and making the right connections, I read that it needs it's own dedicated circuit of 15 or 20amps. I can't remember which one.... I'm puzzled by this until I get to the part that states it has a water heater of it's own to crank up the temperature to some insane national sanitation foundation scolding/sterilizing, dis-infecting, germ killing temperature. Is this somthing I see elsewhere? Rarely, but it may be worth mentioning in the report to check the appliance manual should I find a shared circuit between the dishwasher and the garbage disposal.....especially if it's one of those Monster 3/4 hp - 1 1/4hp models. P.S. I melt all of my tupperware and similar plastics (to the point that they no longer engage a seal) whenever I run a full cycle.[:-eyebrow

Hey Les, If you supply the EMT, Wire, and Fixtures.....I'll bring my bender, meters and beer!!!!!

Well, I'm using Inspectvue by Portervalley. What makes me cringe every time is when there is an update to the program...... Yes, It's adding features that I may need, but at the same time something goes wrong with other areas of the program. Incidentally, It goes wrong when I'm with the Client and at the Inspection site. I make my best attempt to update it at lulls in business, but If I wait too long, I have to order the disc (free of charge) and re-initiate the program.....not to mention the synchronization for my PDA. Having said that, if you intend to jump into the stiff competition of Inspection Software, you may want to design it for different regions of the country. Inspectvue appears to be geared for California/Western Region and I have had to chage a lot of my narratives to reflect the Chicagoland Burbs. Furthermore, I would suggest your updates to fine tune the program overall, as well as add new features, so that people like myself can stay focused on explaining (to the client) the content of the report as opposed to the missing content of the report. [^] Best of luck!!![:-graduat

Ron, I'm not sure if you are a fellow inspector, but it is your duty and responsibility to rip that roofer a new [:-censore!!!! I'm sorry that's not very productive, but I would be going into full melt down if that was on my roof, and had just paid my hard earned money for it. [:-crazy] On a different approach, I share my colleges ( jim, kurt and bill's)sentiments on what needs to be done. I'm not sure what requirements your roofer has to operate in your state, but many towns, townships and counties require a contractor to be registered in their jurisdictions. I usually have had luck (in the past)with getting a county engineer or a code enforcement officer on my side before threatening any kind of litigation. This may either educate the roofer and allow him to right his wrong, or motivate him to keep out of the local authorities radar by expediting the replacement of your roof and exterior flashing/skylights. Good Luck Ron!!!

I just had to chime in on this one....... I love going to a particular area in The Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, because it's garenteed for me to find mold on the roof sheathing from the bathroom exhaust fans exiting the air directly onto the interior of the roofing structure. The municipality inspector must have thought this was ok (as well in his own mind) as the attic being "outside" since I find it on every single home in the same devlopment by the same builder of only 10-12 year old homes.....Let me see if I have a picture of this.... This is not the best one I had, but it gets the point across.......... [^] Download Attachment: mold.jpg 54.22 KB

Dear Monte, I just had to respond to you post on GFCI's..... How many times have you found one inoperable in the kitchen or Bathroom? If you have more than one "daisy chained" or "downstream" to just that one and it's circuit does not interrupt, what is the percentage of increase that someone will get shocked or electrocuted? With a heavy electrical background in Commercial/Industrial I say the more GFCI's, the better. I do not enjoy being shocked by any voltage at any frequency, not to mention the damn amp's that kill you. Furthermore, If we look in our IRC2003 (International Residential Code) books, we will see on page 472 and page 473 (respectively)Figure E3801.4 Which shows all outlets are GFCI with the exception of the refridgerator and the Island. Under Kitchen Receptacles E 3802.6 it states "all 125 volt, single phase, 15 and 20 ampere receptacles that serve counter top surfaces shall have ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection for personnel". The word "all" to me means all! Not every 3 outlets or 6,10, but all of them that serve a countertop. I don't mind eating dirt either.....Thanks.

Mike, In otherwords, If I wanted to have the inspectors journal website on my links page I would have to ask the administrator (someone like yourself)to give me permission to copy www.inspectorsjournal.com to my links page. Actually, now that I think about it.....I may have already which is infringing on your copyright, registered, or trademark rights. You have the right to ask me to remove it or you may file complaints with several federal agencies as well as sue me. What I'm saying is if everyone concurs with this idea, lets all give permission by submitting our websites addresses on a page here at the inspectors journal . com. Brad

Mike, No. We have to have others (inspection members/companys) permission to have their links on our link pages. If you want to see what the spiders look for........point your mouse to the top left of this page and click on "view" then (on the drop down menu) click on "source". That is this sites and specific page's HTML. As I look on it, I see this site has been built with tabkes as opposed to Casscading Sheet Style. This is what can be built with using microsoft frontpage with a few garden variety plug-ins. The Spiders, (when they look for Alt, Meta, and Header Tags) are searching for key words and phrases such as "Home Inspectors, inspections, inspection,etc., etc. or anything relative to the word or phrase. If we could have 10-100 of our fellow members allow or give permission to copy their websites to our links pages, the spiders will eventually get to our links pages and see how relative our sites actually are. Did that help at all??? Brad

Hey fellow inspectors.....[:-angel] I was just replying to an inspector and realized this may be a good idea for all of us! Maybe you have done this in the past and I missed out and we should link-up again.[^] As most of you know by now, having a website is helpful to our business. It accounts for approximately 25% of my leads. Some of you may or may not know that when we run our submission programs to the top search engines that our HTML is scanned by algorithmic spiders(robots). As these spiders scan our sites, they have certain parameters that are established by the search engines themselves. What makes google one of the best search engines is the engineers who build these spiders and what they believe are relative and pertinent to the searchers key word or phrase. Without going into an absurd amount of boring details, could we ask hausdak if he could build us a page or topic that would allow each of us to give the others permission to link together our sites? The google spiders feel that the more relative links to the key phrase or word the better the placement our sites would have on hopefully the first 3 pages. This will be the coming trend with other search engines including MSN, Yahoo, and AOL. Tell me if this is do-able! [:-graduatid="size6">

It's just a tad heavy on the color. Inspection page is off with missing pic on right side. Try to use more relavent links like ones that apply to our profession, ie radon, mold, remedial work, mechanical engineers, etc., etc. Then I think your phone will ring more. That's the only reason I spent 3 months putting my site together. Don't forget a good submission program or hire an SEO that you feel you can trust. I loath having to be a webmaster of sorts, while we have so mant other facets of our business to deal with, like doing the inspection!!! Best of luck, and If you would like to use my site as a link, feel free.....[:-magnify

As far as making a recommendation..... I'd say it would depend on your electrical background. I have enough fluke and simpson meters laying around from my previous corporate career that the 61-058 was right up my ally for convienance, ease of use and practicallity. If I really have to check for Hertz generation or dirty power I can run back to the truck easy enough or recommend (in the report) a Licenced Electrician for further investigation. [^]

Which roofing products have these warranties? - Jim Katen, Oregon Mr. Katen, I could'nt tell you the manufacturer. The scenario was that the home was built 2 years prior to my inspection. The roof was leaking from skylight penetrations and seeping into other areas of the household. While on the roof, many shingles were found missing, as well as pimary decay of substrate from said shingles. The builder was already out of business and the homeowner was fighting with their insurance company and the manufacturer of the shingles. And along comes the inspector to save the day......... yeah right, althought they were completely satisfied with their inspection of the roof and attic, they were quite unhappy when they called me back to inform me as to the warranty being voided. The Hausdak may think this is an urban myth...... It may be. For all I know the manufacturers rep lied to them. What I do know is being read the riot act and threatened with a law suit for walking on their roof remains vivid in my mind (less than 2 years ago). I'm quite pre-cautionary and somewhat apprehensive when a client in the same scenario(which by the way is usually in the same neighborhood) makes the same call for the same reasons with the same builder and the same manufacturer of said shingles. However, on the positive side whenever I'm in that area for a regular home inspection I can pretty much calculate a guess as to where the problems will be on the roof and attic portions of the inspection.[:-magnify

I have to agree with several aspects here..... I use the Little Giant for compactability and versatalilty. I use it outside for the roof(if it's 6/12 or less but you may need to find your own "comfort zone") as well as inside for the attic scuttles. The advantage on the inside is when the access is in the hall, near the stairs (or near furniture for that matter) the ladder can articulate to fit just about anywhere. The last point I want to make is the safety issue that the previous authors talked about, there's way to many stories about inspectors falling off from roofs and breaking somthing, becoming paralized or death itself. We want you back here adding to the discussion, not another statistic on the chart. Last, but not least some warranties are voided by walking on the roof.....So If your doing an exclusive roof/attic inspection check with the homeowners as to the warranty. God forbid we find discrepancies, Digital photo document them and the homeowner sends the report and photos and forgot to read the fine print of their warranties..........you will get an unhappy phone call.

Dear fellow inspectors, If you needed to replace (or for some of you buy new) your SureTest 61-165 or your SureTest 61-058, Ideal Industries have an excellent promotion for the month of June (It may run through July, I just can't remember) to offer $25-$50 rebate in the form of an American Express Gift Certificate. I received a "niffty" belt clip Holder for the 61-058 and the gift certificate with a signed letter from the vp of the corp. I was very impressed with the letter and the promotion and thought I would share it with all of you!!! The link is: http://www.idealindustries.com/idealpro ... otions.htm All thats needed is a copy of your reciept and the downloadable form (in a PDF Format) and mail it in. It was less than a week for the holder and a few more days for the AMX certficate and letter. I could'nt be more happier to save a few bucks on equipment and get a nice holder....enjoy.[:-graduat

Les, I appreciate your "words of wisdom" and will take heart to what you said. I am invited to several Associations a year, to the point where it's becoming [ok, who wants me to pay today and for what?]absurd. I was not big on the whole associate/full member structure C-1,B-52 thing but I'll look a little closer if I should be asked again. Thanks also to ScottPat for defining database gathering info.

Kevin, Excellent idea,I'm assuming that you have had to become somwhat of an SEO (Search Engine Optimizer for those of you who do not speak web techno bable) in the spider/Robot Algorithim game. I think It might be a great idea if we all got with The Hausdok and shared our websites with each other to satisfy the SE machines to our benefit. I'll pass it by the admin or hausdok...... Thanks for the sites. Please feel free to incorporate mine. Wait I think i HAVE YOURS ALREADY AND HAVE NOT LINKED YOU UP YET!!!! Please forgive me, I'll get it up next week.

I have to concurr with Mr. katen. It is unbelieveable how many phone calls will haved to be entertained/addressed by real estate attorneys, and contractors. By the time It leaves your mouth to their ears and then a 3rd party, it's a completely different area, problem, and somtimes house. It's a good suggestion, but without documentation it's unsubstantiated and unsupported. It will end up costing the inspector more in lost time than in gained revenue. [^]Thanks for your input!

Housdak, I just had to chime in on the whole ASHI fiasco/debacle. I am a member of NACHI and have thought about joining ASHI. However, it seems to be a bit over rated, especially when they send me applications for membership and tell me how they have spent x-amount of millions on how they self proclaim that ASHI is the only inspection association on the planet and all other associations are inferior. What's up with that? I continue to enjoy this site which is almost as good (if not better) than attending a lot of seminars/training sessions. It's almost like going to an inspector meeting on-line. Thanks for everyone's comments and opinions. I continue to look forward to logging on whenever I can.