hausdok

Timely discussion, I did a 20-year old home yesterday that's had the inner end a a large deck hung off of a 10-ft. wide two story tall bumpout. Upstairs on the second floor, the floor of the bumpout actually slopes downward to the exterior wall. Below that in the dinette area where the back entrance is I could see where they'd replaced hardwood flooring equivalent to the depth of the overhang. I'd bet it's been shimmed to flatten it out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, So, you've described a main panel configuration without a single main disconnect either at the meter or next to the panel and you want to know what harm it will cause? Maybe none, but how will one shut off power to the panel to work on it without pulling the meter at the socket? If the panel is all 2-pole 240-bolt breakers and shuts off all power to the home with six throws or less, there's nothing wrong with that. If it contains 120-volt lighting and appliance circuits and you can cut off all power to the home with two or less throws you're OK. If it doesn't comply with either of those configurations, it's wrong according to the electrical code and the question of what harm it will cause is irrelevant. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Of course, It's just an air filtration unit; nothing special. All it's going to do is remove sulfur from the air that passes through it - it can't stop the off-gassing, so there will always still be some level of sulfur in the contaminated air that hasn't been scrubbed yet. It's a bandaid on a gaping wound. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I think he's referring to a main panelboard that's directly on the other side of the wall from the meter and doesn't have a single main disconnect next to the meter and no single main breaker in the panelboard. He's probably looking at a pre-1984 split-bus panel and doesn't realize it, which is.....kind of scary. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, A hard-wired smoke alarm is technically connected to a receptacle. Maybe the 6" rule he's referring to has more to do with the closest an electrical box can be to a corner than it does a smoke detector. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

That's a shame. Thanks for the compliment; I've been up there - a client had me go down the street 1/4 mile, climb into a float plane at Kenmore Air and I flew up there for an inspection. I stayed overnight at an old hotel downtown - Friday Harbor Inn or something like that - and came back the next day. It's a nice island. Truth is, I'd love to live in a nice pastoral place like that but I can't convince the Frau, who grew up in a city of 12 million folks, to live in small town America. Even if I could, I don't think we'd be able to survive. According to a realtor I spoke to up there, there're only about enough sales a year to support a couple of part-time inspectors that have other jobs and throwing another inspector into the mix would mean another guy making meager inspection income and working most of the time at something else. Which begs the question, David, have the experienced inspectors up there (Those with more than two years in the business and more than 100 inspections under their belts as of June 12, 2008) begun getting their ducks in a row for licensing? They've only got until September 1st to complete all of their requirements. If they fail to complete the licensing requirements by September 1st, they're going to need to get 120 hours of in-classroom training in a state-approved course, do 40 hours of supervised inspections with an experienced inspector and then take the National Home Inspector Exam and the Washington State Exam from the state's approved vendor, before July 1st 2010, or they'll have to stop inspecting on that date until they've completed all of those requirements. If you know either of those guys, give 'em a friendly call and remind 'em. If they tell you they don't know anything about it, refer them here to TIJ or have them check out the Home Inspectors Licensing site on the DOL website under business licensing. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi David, Everyone has given you good information so far but don't miss the forest for the trees; if there are ants nesting you've got more than just moisture - you've got rot someplace. The wood-destroying species out here are largely carpenter ants and several varieties known as moisture ants and moisture ants are attracted to rotting wood. It's possible that the plumbing isn't leaking and that the insulation did dry out and things in the ceiling are fine but that the ants are there because of something else. It's pretty common to find them in sills and rims under bathrooms when there is loose tile in a tub or shower surround and they'll get into joists below toilets with leaking pedestal seals and leaking dishwashers. I had one house where a fellow had an unsealed pipe passing through the wall of a finished basement behind drywall attached to furring strips. Water from lawn sprinklers found its way in along the unsealed pipe, soaked into the grid of furring strips and caused them to rot. The drywall looked great on the walls of his basement but ants were everywhere. The carpeting tipped me off to the location, I found a damp area with my SM and followed it to the wall and when I scanned the wall and probed it found all that moisture. When we opened it up we found that 3/4 inch gap behind the drywall stuffed full of moisture ant frass - a crumbly brown mess that looks kind of like lava rock. Good luck with the hunt! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Nope, no changes. Maximum exposure on a 4:12 and steeper roof for a standard 24-inch long shake is 10 inches and for an 18-inch shake it's 7-1/2-inches. However, if it's a 3/8-inch by 24-inch hand-split the maximum exposure is 7-1/2-inches. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The only time I've felt the need to check sizing is when an on-demand water heater is present. Then, every time I've checked them, the sizing was wrong -- always too small. - Jim Katen, Oregon Hi, Yes, I agree; but it's not just gas pipe, it's flue size as well. It seems like folks buy these expecting to save a lot of money. Then when they realize that their savings will essentially be nothing, because they'll need a larger flue than the old water heater and will need to do some demo and building to make the new flue work, they blow off the flue size requirement. Someday, an orange apron guy somewhere is going to get a family killed and then maybe folks buying these things will start to pay attention. Sorry about the drift - back to CSST. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Maybe I shoulda made him the Imperial Dinkledorf. Oh well, too late now. OT - OF!!! M.

Jeez, And folks call me anal retentive! If they awarded Oscars for anal retentiveness some of you guys would be getting multiple awards. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

A Missouri technical college is planning to offer a two-year green technology and design program that will emphasize solar and wind technologies and may eventually expand to include energy audits and home inspections. To read more, click here.

Hi Bob, Brandon's got a good suggestion there; hire some high school kid (or two) to help you out. I've sent you via e-mail some articles written by Jeff Tooley, a North Carolina contractor who specializes in sealing crawlspaces and installing vapor barriers. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

By Mike O'Handley, Editor - TIJ Just a reminder to experienced Washington State Home Inspectors; beginning tomorrow, DOL begins issuing licenses to all experienced inspectors - those who had at least two years experience and had completed at least 100 inspections as of June 12th 2008. Inspectors in this category now have only two months left - until close of business at DOL on Monday afternoon, August 31 - to apply to DOL for a license, supply DOL with proof of their experience and take and pass the NHIE, as well as the Washington State test. Don't dawdle or wait until the last minute to do this, lest you find yourself in the embarrassing position of being relegated to the ranks of those who are considered to be lesser experienced inspectors. State law allows DOL to waive the 120 hours training and 40 hour supervised inspection requirement for those who can qualify under the "Experienced Inspector" category only until that deadline. This rule applies to every experienced inspector in the state - even those who serve on the Washington State Home Inspectors' Advisory Licensing Board. Miss that deadline, and, regardless of who you are, and regardless of your experience, you'll have to enroll in and complete a state approved 120 hour Fundamentals of Home Inspection Course, do 40 hours of supervised inspections under another inspector - someone who might be less experienced than you are - and then take and pass the state-mandated tests. Why put yourself through all that? Get your application in with the supporting documentation, get the tests out of the way and drive on with your businesses. While you are at it, call every experienced home inspector you know and make sure that he or she also knows about these rules. Don't wait - DO IT TODAY!!!

Jack Nicholson. OT - OF!!! M.

Here's Rush Limbaugh going on about the Cap and Trade bill that Randy referred to. Careful! Keep the discussion about the science and technical aspects of this stuff and not about politicians and blowhard pundits. OT - OF!!! M.

See the discussion of other weekly winners in this article about the World Series of Poker. Congratulations, Mike! Say, can I interest you in investing in a home inspection college?

Here's another article about the Chinese drywall phenomenon in Florida.

Here's an interesting article about a young couple that bought a new home only to discover something in the well that most home inspectors would never suspect - gasoline! To read more, click here.

Hi, I'm not sure why you'd consider putting down a new vapor barrier "high cost." The barrier material is cheap. If you can stomach crawling around under a house to drag all the crap, including the old barrier, out from under it, and can then spend a few hours scooting around down there with a tub of mastic, a caulking gun and a putty knife, it's well within the capability of most reasonably handy homeowners. You're in luck; Advanced Energy Corporation has done extensive research into what works in crawlspaces in North Carolina, and, when one wants to, how to seal them properly. Go here to find a crawlspace knowledge playground. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Some of those old basements are covered with coal dust and spraying them kind of brightens things up. Any sign of an old coal bin? OT - OF!!! M.

Please, don't get me started. What is it with Seattle's adoration of dead junky musicians - Hendrix, Cobain, Jackson - anyway? OT - OF!!! M.

WASHINGTON, June 29 American home buyers deserve a more equitable solution than the American Clean Energy and Security Act as Congress moves to cut our nation’s energy use, says the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). “The hard truth is that we can’t build our way out of this problem,â€

There's nothing they can do but put him through supplemental training that's been approved by DOL that will make up the difference between the required training and what they provided him initially. They can only do that if he'd completed his training after June 12, 2006. If he'd completed his training before then, the training will not be accepted and he'll have to attend a full 120-hour course. Then he'll still need to do 40 hours of supervised inspections and take and pass the exams; there's no other avenue available......to anyone. Even the board members are subject to being relegated to the lesser experienced category and having to take 120 hours of training, do the 40 hours of supervised inspections and must take and pass the test by July 1, 2010 if we fail to complete the process by September 1st. He needs to get off his duff and take responsibility for himself; his franchiser sure won't do it for him - that I can say with a certain degree of certainty having once been a franchise myself. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, when one looks at the gallery of photos with the article you can see that the ledger split right down the center and the bottom half pulled off the house. You can also see that the ledger was rotten and that there'd been water infiltration going on for quite a while. Line up bolts in a straight line and install a deck without flashing and you're just waiting for the day it collapses. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike