mgbinspect

A few years back, I inspected a home with a roof that was installed with the cutout for a ridge vebt, but the roofer never installed the vent. You could not even tell from the ground, because the ridge cap shingles looked complete from below. For ten years there had been a hole in the roofing about three to four inches wide that ran the length of the ridge, and yet the only consequence was a slightly gray stripe of fiberglass batt insulation below the opening. Of course, being at the ridge, only rain drops that fell directly through the gap entered the attic - no runoff water. If I hadn't seen it, I would have expected much worse consequences. It was surprising that no one had ever questioned the attic being open to daylight at the peak.

I've been running Microsoft'sw own free anti-virus (Microsoft Internet Essentials) for about two years now. I checked out several reviews on it, and the ratings were pretty encouraging. It's been great!

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Nice looking work! When I first arrived in Richmond, there used to be a lot of lovely copper work here, but it seems no one can afford to replace ir renovate it. I see less of it as time goes on. I suppose, as soft as copper is, it's fairly easy, with the right tools, to press it against forms into just about any shape. I remember, when I was a kid, you could get sheet copper and a mould to form your own little copper relief, which you then stained an d wiped down to give it all depth. They were pretty popular in hobby shops back then. [:-propell

It's funny. In a crawlspace, they always freeze. I guess they're hoping that I don't see them. So, I go my way and let them be. We have an understanding: stay where you are, and live... So far, they have and they did.

I bet the whole affair yanks right out if needed. Does it Bain? (just lift the far end and rotate it out from under the counter flashing.) No clue, Mike, but probably. When I removed the lid and eased through the hatch to subject myself to rat shit, spider webs and other funk, my interest in the pretty copper box waned dramatically. : ) I bet! Last week I broke a couple of crawlspace records: In my whole 19 year career, I've only seen two snakes in a crawlspace - tons of skins, but only those two snakes. And, of course, I've seen my share of black widows. But on a vacant property I ran across two widows inside the house (first number one), and a average sized black snake in the crawlspace. (not a first, but the widows and the snake all in one property was.) Yet, I think I'd take that combo over a rat or cat droppings loaded crawlspace. A crawlspace that has become a cat box is the worst, I think - pretty damn disgusting.

There are more attorneys per capita in America than any other country - one for every 265 Americans. We swim in shark infested waters...

I bet the whole affair yanks right out if needed. Does it Bain? (just lift the far end and rotate it out from under the counter flashing.)

I love (and stole) Jim K's comment regarding appliances and equipment: "Functioned today." I love it... Lol... thanks Jim!

Then, there's always the American way: get a storage facility and pay enough in a year to replace everything in the storage facility on an annual basis - the most costly possessions on the planet...

I too have allergies. I used to be allergic to cats, but grew out of that one. I still remain allergic to down, which was accidentally confirmed by successive visits to my daughter's homes. They both had down pillows on their guest beds and both times by about 2:30 am I was pretty stopped up. As soon as I pitched the pillows I began to clean up. Mowing the lawn tears me up - nose running, itchy eyes and congestion. Trailer life is about to eliminate that allergy, and I won't miss it. Similarly, whenever I am lazy and don't dawn my respirator to go into a crawlspace, which is too often, I'll find myself experiencing a little reaction by about 3:00 am, like right now So, obviously, I am allergic to some forms of mold too. I just get tired of the hype, and how easily folks can be led astray. I do need to become more religious about wearing my respirator, or won't make it to 120.

I assume Mike B is not me. Far be it from me to suggest that you change that marvelous avatar. You know me and old cars. Keep that rare beauty. Does she have any muscle? I know the Hawk we rode in came stock with a supercharger, or at least that was the story. It definitely had one, but I wouldn't know if it came stock that way. He also had an Avante, which was a real gem.

The fellow across the street from me with the twin Packards had beastly looking sedans - apartment green. Both were within a year of each other and were most likely 1952 vintage. This is the body style and grille, for sure: Click to Enlarge 36.95 KB Les, now that I look at a Hawk, I don't know why I thought Mike's car was one - no real resemblance at all. Oh, well. Mike's Packard kinda looks like a catfish - very hydro, I mean aerodynamic. I'm just playin' Mike. It's a cool car. I've never even seen one. Hm.. I'm beginning to suffer from remorse for torpedoing Chad's thread. A gauntlet might be in order...

Oh, wow! The man across the street from me, as I was growing up, had two Packards - identical and about the color of the online button for our site. He kept them both humming like sewing machines. Of course you know that the WWII PT boats were powered by twin Packard engines! Yep, My father lied about his age in order to get into the Canadian navy in order to get into the fight. They found out he was too young and kicked him out; so he left Cape Breton, went to Massachusetts and spent the war building PT boats in Ipswitch, Massachusetts. That's what got him interested in construction. After the war and until he died he'd always wanted to find one of those boats and restore it, or build himself a full-sized replica, but he never did. That would have been friggin' awesome! Enough! Like Les said, don't get me started! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike My Pop fibbed about his age, as well - backing it up with a letter from his mom, so he could get into Navy flight school. The war ended before he graduated, but fibbing to get in was a very popular thing to do. They really were the Greatest Generation, in my book. It must have been all that untreated mold back then...

What if such foolishness is a brain disorder caused by mold? Think about it. . . I clearly already have it...

[quote name="hausdok Grrr' date=' Stop calling my Packard a Studebaker! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike"]Oh, wow! The man across the street from me, as I was growing up, had two Packards - identical and about the color of the online button for our site. He kept them both humming like sewing machines. Of course you know that the WWII PT boats were powered by twin Packard engines! "This above all: to thine own self be true." - William Shakespeare

A grille only a mother could love...

Ah... Well, it can be an expensive hobby. I once fully restored a Ford Ranger, to the tune of $14,000, when a new one could be had for $11,000. [:-graduat

Oh, re he he eally?... [:-hspin] I'll refrain from further Studi chat. Sorry for the thread drift, but I simply couldn't help myself.

Off the subject: Is that a Studabaker Hawk, or a mini European look-alike? It's hard to tell, because the photo's a bit scrunched. The day the Washington beltway opened up, a schoolmate took a bunch of us for a ride around the entire beltway in his pop's Hawk, at speeds so high that we finally blew out the cloth headliner, which popped down on us, like an air-bag. It scared the crap out of us, and how we stayed on the road is a story for the guardian angels that must have been aboard...

With a little more length, it was destined to demonstrate stacked bond as well. [:-propell

FTR, I have vehemently dislike everything about the mold chase, since it first arrived on the home inspection scene. (Not much has changed since Leviticus.) That being said, I am certified to do the testing. I finally broke down and got certified simply because there were times I was asked to test, by relocation companies, and not being certified was causing the entire inspection to go elsewhere. When they ask me to swab or tape, which thankfully is rare, I do so. I have never offered mold testing to my own clients, and with rare exception, have always felt pretty bad for what has happened to almost every poor sap that gets their crawlspace tested for mold. It seems to me that most of them end up spending about two to five times the money they should, to satisfy the powers that be (usually corporate machines). In retrospect, I can't think of one time in my career that I ever ran across that nightmare mold infested home - complete with the poor brain crippled family members, portrayed in one of the big news magazine style TV shows, so many years ago. We've been living with the stuff (mold) since the beginning of creation, and if it were all that dangerous there'd probably be a huge health insurance penalty for being a home inspector along with personal injury attorneys going after Home Inspection Schools and large home inspection outfits on behalf of all the poor home inspectors across the nation that were crippled by the stuff. Not a fan of mold, unless it's at the dinner table: Pass the Roquefort please... PS: I actually didn't mind the certification course. It was rather informative, and didn't promote the ambulance chasing side of the tribe.

I don't either - not even the main shutoff. In the plumbing section of my report, I explain why I don't, and state that there were no leaks at any shutoffs. If one is leaking when they move in, someone tested or disturbed that shutoff valve after I inspected the property.

Tom C and Jim K have nailed this one down pretty well. I always poured a spread footing, for add-on chimneys, that was much bigger than required to markedly reduce the possibility of settlement like this.

IMHO, the chimney fire hasn't happened. If it had, the flue would no longer look like this. Having had a chimney fire before, I can assure you that the flames and embers soaring out of the chimney will obliterate stuff like what we're seeing in these photos. Just my opinion, but I've seen a ton of flues that looked like this that were in desperate need of cleaning before the imminent chimney fire occurred. When I responded to chimney fires, as a disaster restoration contractor, they never looked like this after the fire. The flues was typically blown wide open by the force of the blast furnace like burn. As I stated earlier, the demand for oxygen from a flue that is completely involved in a flue fire is so strong that it will begin to pulsate as it tries to pull in oxygen from any available source. It will scare the pants off of ya - a great big Roman candle. The stains on the chimney are not the result of a chimney fire, but rather long term smoke meandering out of the flue when the stove is shut down and smoldering.