mgbinspect

I've heard good things about it. I use SugarSync, which is equally amazing. It syncs and uploads in a split second, any change I make to a file - comparing the files and saving the most recent version. I never have to worry about an old file. You tell it what to back up. Anything REALLY important you put into the magic briefcase, and it's kept current and available on every PC you own at the same time. The best software and online service I've ever purchased.

Agreed - another great free security program.

FWIW, I've abandoned all commercial versions of Ant-virus software and bought on to Microsoft Security Essential, which seems to work just fine - updating daily and enjoying pretty good reviews. My thinking is that it's designed to work with their OS in a resource friendly manner, which appears to be true. Since I made that switch, my PCs seem to behave a bit better when opening files or browsers. Also, CCleaner seems to be the best basic cleanup software (free), recommended by BB Geeks as trustworthy regarding registry deletions. Spybot Search and Destroy and SpywareBlaster, are also great free security programs. Thankfully, there's a LOT of great free programs out there these days. I've moved in the direction of the time tested free stuff in this area, not for the sake of expense, but because I've found the commercial versions of such software to be big programs that tie up a lot of resources, slowing down my PCs.

Just food for thought: You don't have to be a member of a national home inspection association to simply state, "this inspection was performed in complete compliance with the Standards of Practice of the prominent national home inspection associations. Your statement seems fine. Regarding "including" - especially when mentioning locations of defects or deficiencies, I tend to state: "including, but not limited to". Take care not to be the last word on the location or extent of defects or deficiencies, because you become the owner of anything not listed.

[:-hspin]

I avoid stating specifically what I "did" inspect, which can invite argument regarding what I "didn't" inspect, relative to the SOPs. Instead, I have parsed the ASHI SOPs and use the individual sections as introductions to the sections of my report. The implication is that: unless otherwise reported, everything was inspected according to the SOPs. Since I'm inspecting a lot of foreclosures now, I have added to my report the option to state that a certain item was tested and did function as intended, if I feel the client may wonder because the utilities had been off for a period of time.

Wythe, is a masonry term for layers of masonry such as brick over block would be two wythes. "Ladur" I have no clue, but suspect it may be a trademark deal, just like "Dur-O-wall". The two types of reinforcement are a diagonal bridging or this style, which is called "ladder" - Hence "Ladur" (that's my guess anyway.

Nice! That's what I used to do - start with the basic Guardian and modify to what folks needed in the field. Unfortunately, some folks would simply work with me long enough to get what they wanted and then walk with what they could reproduce themselves. [:-banghea I cut my teeth on the HomePro HomeBook for about four years, and then, when I want out on my own, the BAR for about eight years. Best of luck with the BAR, Duane.

Good call Darren. It does appear to be Dur-O-Wal Single Wythe Ladur. This style was not intended for brick veneer later. It appears that the masons didn't have any more eight inch reinforcement on the job so they threw in twelve inch product. Of course, it won't offer much lateral strength used like this, and if struck will merely act more like a wire reinforced pane of glass - easily pushed in, but difficult to actually push through.

Heck, I've got at least one box (maybe more) of 3-part NCRs left over from the Guardian, that I have nothing to do with. So, if you pay for shipping, you can have them. They're taking up space. In fact, I've also got an OKI color laser printer and a HP B & W laser printer, both of which are fast as the dickens. The B & W prints double-sided. You can produce your own forms for life!

Actually, I own it (P90X), but really feel it prudent to work up to it, at age 57 (58 in five days). I've been known to jump into something too hard and really pay for it (injury). But, P90X is on the agenda. I've always been active. I was a competitive swimmer in the AAU (now USAA) for eight years (individual medley). Ten of us swam the first 100 mile marathon over a Thanksgiving Holiday in the mid sixties. The Baltimore Sun and Washington Post and Star followed us. While I wasn't even close to our fastest swimmer on the team, I turned in the fastest mile (21 minutes) by swimming backstroke down and freestyle back (protagonist and antagonist muscles. It kept me from cramping and gave a lot of my body a rest on alternative laps - 62 total). After that, a lot of teams tried to beat our record. Then, I played "A League" county basketball for several years. We came in second to a team that Fred Hetzel (of LA Lakers fame) played on. In 2007 I got into wildlife photography and ended up hiking 108 miles and mountain biking 700 miles solo into wilderness areas after the critters. My son had been bugging me to learn to snowboard for years. Finally, worked up the courage to give it a whirl. I'd always been worried about injuring myself and being out of work for months, which did happen when I was playing basketball. I had never done any snow sports prior. The first year I was hooked, hitting the slopes twenty-five times in one season. I went from pretty bad to pretty good. The next year I went about fifteen times and paid for a couple of tweaking lessons. The instructor asked me if I would consider instructing, but the pay is lousy and it's too far to drive. Last season, I hit the slopes like a pro. I bet I fell maybe six or seven times all season. But, all three past years, I was much heavier than I like to be. This year, I'm committed to hitting the slopes in excellent shape and trying to kick it up a notch as far as slope difficulty. This is the first Summer that I didn't really do anything strenuous, I've been letting that knee heal, which it has marvelously. I'm a full 100% and ready for action.

I'm committed to at least considering a heat pump water heater when mine gives up the ghost. Virginia is a perfect climate for them. If you don't plan to live there long, it's probably not worth it, but if you're there for the long haul, they can reduce the cost of heating water with electricity by up to 62%. That's not bad. And, they're the water heater on the market today that earns an Energy Star Certification, which allows you to offset the cost to install it by up to 30% - another plus. http://www.consumersearch.com/water-heaters/review Here's GE's model and what Consumer Reports had to say about it. And, here's how it works. Of course, I'm not in a hurry, so I'll be watching this form of water heating pretty closely. Hope this helps. Mike

That's a "cut and paste" right out of the lyrics for Alice's Restaurant. I questioned the spelling myself, but decided to leave it as it was. "Aide" - well, that's another story. It's scary how diligent one must be about, not only spelling, but word usage (meaning). A spell checker will definitely betray us in that area. I'm constantly getting schooled, and happy to receive the admonishments.

A teacher's aide gives aid to the student. Unless the pencil had a helper. Bless you, oh kind and gracious teacher...

All very true. The first thing I had to do with my software was purge it of a lot of unusable boilerplate and passive voice meandering language screaming for the aid of an English teacher's red pencil. My main complaint with the BAR was that it was SO minimal, that I found myself hand writing the same phrases day after day, which actually had me in a wrist brace - no kidding! I finally abandoned the paper form in January of this year - not long ago. Recently, I've had several agents who, through a client's request, worked with me for the first time in years, indicate that they were willing to refer me "now that I'm using software". Unfortunately, the world is addicted to, and pretty much expects, the whole Officer Obie deal from Arlo Guthrie's Alices Restaurant: "the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one"

Yes, that very reporting system was what moved me to develop, over the course of two years, my own reporting system - The Guardian Building Inspection System, which was how became a vendor for a few years. My promise with the Guardian back then was "If it's a condition that an inspector would find on a weekly basis, it's already in print in a concise statement ready to be checked." And, that was true. No one ever complained about the Guardian, in that respect. It took two years and about 2500 inspections to get it there. But the paper form is ancient history now - I'm a HomeGauge guy using a template that mirrors the Guardian. If you're still using a paper form, you have no idea how much potential business is not available to you. Not to mention, the cost of a paper form. Even though I was at a point where I was both publishing and binding the form I used, there was still a hard cost per inspection that never went away. Software brings all of the elements of reporting and presentation into a neat economical package.

Goal: 185 lbs Start: September 10, 2010 - 209 lb Update: September 22, 2010 - 198 lb Method: Adkins Diet (done it before. works for me. I must be very carbohydrate sensitive. carbs = lbs on me) Exercise: None yet other than inspecting, (A brisk two mile a day walk is on the agenda (lost 29 lbs that way in nine months a couple of years ago.) Incentive: A lean and mean Snowboarding

I am a member of a great little networking group, and have received business from them. It's not BNI - no fee and no pressure to attend a certain number of meetings. The group has really more been about brainstorming our way through this new econmomy and market, which has been helpful both from the standpoint of support and insights - thinking outside the box. I've attended a ton of BNI groups and don't care for the concept.

Yes, thanks a lot Mike.

Idiot proof is an overstatement, for sure. I'm being repetitive in saying this: I suppose the thing I like the most about it is that you can assemble as many feet of it as you wish, and if careful, there will be literally no variation in the insulation thickness or the seal for the entire length of the ductwork. To me, that's worth getting excited about. I have no problem with metal ductwork at all. It's the insulation systems put around them that I find very inconsistent. I suppose we're splitting hairs here. If they could come up with a system of metal and insulation that could be, with care, near perfect as ductboard, I'd be thrilled. That's all.

I agree, and am a fan of conditioned crawls, for that very reason, along with the reduced potential for fungal growth.

Condensing unit was already replaced four years ago, my brother. I'm not sure how that's going to play out.[:-sonar] The 13 SEER requirement went into effect January, 2006. The evaporator coil should have been replaced along with the condenser. If the stuff is mismatched, the system's an even bigger cluster than we previously thought. Just re-checked the report. Both units 1989. I was thinking of a different property. So all's well on that front anyway.

It sure would be helpful if someone could simply report, with authority, "Yes, I've seen WICKED mold on the inside surfaces of duct board." Massive. But only near the air handler where moisture from the evaporator coil kept it constantly wet. Nothing wrong with ductboard in commercial work where it will happily sit above a drop ceiling undisturbed for decades. Big problem with ductboard in someone's attic where people will be crawling over it & storing boxes on it. Commercial & single family buildings are completely unrelated species. Nothing wrong with ductboard, but putting it in a house is a dumb choice. - Jim Katen, Oregon Your post makes me pine for a residential duct system that, at least when newly installed, was so tight and darn near perfectly insulated. [:-weepn] I just can't run across a duct system that really thrills me. Every other system has a lot of obvious problems regarding both sealing and very inconsistent insulation. They're all just too Dependant upon an installer that cares. (ductboard assembly appears almost idiot-proof. [:-wiltel])

Ahem, ahem, cough, cough, cough, cough. Did Regan not like the way that Mr. Gorbachev planned to distribute his belongings after his death? - Jim Katen, Oregon OK, that had me laughing for a moment, because I'm feeling pretty ignorant. I made the original post innocent of any political innuendos and I, honestly, don't know what you're talking about or where your going. But, I'm interested in hearing the apparent "rest of the story". Maybe to avoid a major violation of the forum rules, you should PM me. And, I promise I'll be all ears. I'm basically like the Hacowe Indians of "F Troop" - a lover, not a fighter. (Eh, not that I can't fight Lord, knows I did my share of it in the schools on the outskirts of Washington, DC), I just decided to retire early from stress and drama. [:-tophat] Ah, finally... Ya had me going there... a misspelling. Got it! Whew! I thought you were getting political on me, but then, I KNEW that couldn't be possible for undisclosed reasons. [:-hspin] I'll fix it now. Hey, somebody's got to keep you and Chad on your toes. I'm happy to oblige...

It sure would be helpful if someone could simply report, with authority, "Yes, I've seen WICKED mold on the inside surfaces of duct board."