mthomas1

That may well be it.... surface texture looks identical. Can't find any installation instructions on line, through. Is flashing required at horizontal panel junctions?

North Ave. near Talman

It *looks* like fiber cement, but I had a hard time believing that a FC product could deteriorate as fast as the material in the third picture, even with that Cat IV exhaust directed onto it. But I guess if it was cheap-ass *enough*...

Like most inspectors, when I read one of these articles I find myself asking how many of the significant defects I would've caught (or missed). In this case, most of the really significant defects were not discovered until the drywall was opened, and most of the easily visible defects, if reported pro forma, would not be of much help to a buyer making a purchasing decision. ___________ IMO, the real question at these flippers is how to report what you cannot see, but strongly suspect: that a lot of the *visible* work is substandard and was likely never permitted or inspected, and there may be a lot more of the same which can *not* be discovered during your inspection. And IMO about all you can do is include an explanation of the fact that "when you are buying this property you are 'buying' the responsibility for any existing 'invisible' code violations", and document sufficient number of visible defects to justify expressing a high level of concern that this will prove to be a real problem down the road.

Any idea what this might be? My first though was Staccato, but the building is only five years old... Click to Enlarge 54.55 KB Click to Enlarge 45.67 KB Click to Enlarge 64.73 KB

http://www.nachi.org/homesafe.htm

Thanks again for all your efforts!

Hopefully, at lot of this will soon be moot: http://qz.com/139150/how-congress-is-ai ... nt-trolls/ and, it looks like this is one thing Congress may be able to quit bickering and fast-track http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valle ... s-timeline as it appears that the more abusive sorts of Patent Trolls the only people in the known physical universe who have *no* friends in congress. IMO, it's highly unlikely Homesafe would attempt to sue inspectors for our actual practices under the conditions imposed by this legislation.

"So who's the moron that thought it would be a good idea to send $2.5 billion in hardware to Mars with less memory (4 gig) than most people carry in their cell phones?" Uh... as is happens this really is rocket science, for example the TOTAL bandwidth back to Earth is 250 megabits = 30 megabytes per DAY, and that has to be shared with the data channels and the imaging required to control the rover...

Thanks. There is also this, which I adapted from a scan from the ASMM: Click to Enlarge 44.32?KB However, none of these directly addres tile copings.

Assuming that there is no flashing under the tile to extend up the wall and counter flash, does anyone have a link to an effective flashing design for the junction of parapet wall coping tiles with adjacent vertical masonry such as these two chimneys? - Thanks Click to Enlarge 39.76?KB Click to Enlarge 26.02?KB

IMO, evaluating lightning damage is a pretty risky undertaking for a typical Hl, especially as regards damage to electrical systems and connected equipment, some of which might not be visually detectable. For a few examples of the possible results of a strike, take a look here: Some Enlightening Case Histories on Lightning Damage

Depending on how those are installed, some jurisdictions may require a backflow preventer on the supply ahead of the return side of the loop.

You can also send them here: Kick out flashing FAQ

Yeah, I'm having trouble with my Fenix. To be precise, I dropped it in about 14 inches of blown-in fiberglass insulation somewhere in the 30 feet between the attic access and the far corner of the attic where I had gone truss-hoping to look at a plumbing vent. Didn't even realize it 'till I got back down the ladder, and when I went back up to look... could... not... find... flashlight - it had vanished without a trace. Moral of the story, I guess, is just leave it on the whole time I'm in the attic, even on the medium-low setting (which is where I leave of most the time in attics) I could probably have spotted it once he attic light was off. Gotta' say, though, I loved that light, enough anyway to have ordered another overnight shipping.

Once or twice a year I catches a kitchen or bathroom cabinet they failed to even cut the opening in the toe-kick - shows up nicely on IR.

I'm doing an inspection this afternoon on the recommendation of an agent who has only used me only once before... to inspect a purchase for a family member. I happened be talking to another agent in the same office this morning about a different property, and out of casual curiosity I asked her if she happened to know why I got this inspection. "That's my listing", she said, "and agent "X" recommended you to *her* buyers because I had recommended you to *my* buyers to inspect a few of *her* listings, and it's her way of getting back at me cause you were so tough on her properties!"

Another WOW

For a while there, I was buying bits and pieces at demo sales on the North Shore (scored some nice material, too). A lot of expensive homes... most badly obsolescent. There were one or two housebreakers, though.

The other side of all this is: Working on 1880s houses where you open the walls and half the studs are fished together from various pieces of scrap, the floor joists on the first floor are perpendicular to the second and ALL the load at the center of the house is on that one cracked joist you just found in the basement, etc. .... and realizing that the idiots who screwed it up are long dead and beyond the reach of you wrath, and likely this second laughing at you as they swill warm beer on their lunch-break in the Carpenters' Circle of hell.

Perhaps it's all a round-about way of saying that all houses look better without lipstick?

They have some really nice detailing for stucco diving below grade as well, if you insist on doing so....

Kinda' tough to compete with this offer for a "Free Home Inspection", which turned up rubber-banded to my door knob. I doubt they are offering "Home Inspections"... but they are advertising "Home Inspections"... Click to Enlarge 81.4 KB

I like it.

"I know that my inspection is a little more expensive, and I understand why you are concerned about price, today everybody HAS to be. It's like when my wife was diagnosed with brain cancer, and she wanted to go to the Mayo Clinic. That would have been nice, but with the travel and everything it would have been REALLY expensive, so I asked the guy down at the health food store, who was selling us nutritional supplements to help cure the cancer, and he recommended a doctor who had his own cancer clinic. I talked with the doc, and found out that he was licensed by state like everyone else, and that did almost 300 brain surgeries last year with no complaints, and also worked with the guy at the Health Food Store on the nutritional treatments. Plus, he could do the surgery cheaper than the Mayo Clinic. So we went with him - and I 'gotta say, the money we saved was really a help when he time came to pay for the funeral. So if you decide to go with the less expensive inspector your Agent recommended, I'll understand..."