hausdok

He doesn't hang out on TIJ and chew the fat much, because Mr. Electric (Master Electrician Jim Simmons) is on a never-ending quest for the truth in all things. The quest is arduous; so he emails me with contributions for the edification of the brethren. Today's contribution shows that he's nearing the end of his quest. In fact, some men might say he's nearing perfection. To learn more, click here. WIN A CUSTOM CHOPPER!!!Buy a ticket for yourself or a friend! Only $25. See the Mr. Electric Custom Chopper and enter at this link. All proceeds go to Ronald McDonald House Charities.

According to Barry Stone, barring prohibitive conditions, "A home inspector who fails to walk on a roof is professionally negligent and arguably incompetent." Is Barry on solid ground or perched on a slippery slope? What say you? To read the entire article, click here.

Uh huh, well, some might take that response as a snide comment from someone that is envious of roof walkers. [}] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If you're an inspector in Austin, TX and you haven't taken your Energy Audit training yet and gotten your IR camera you might be missing the gravy train. June 1st is the first day that sellers of homes more than 10 years old in Austin are required by city law to get an energy audit done when they put the home on the market. Inspectors, take advantage of this new niche market. To read more, click here.

Yeah, Those are like the Big Foot footings I used for the piers under a deck I built for a fellow about 8 years ago. Worked great!!! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I've had occasion to see moronic siders installing this stuff in the pouring down rain with pieces lying in the water on the ground as soggy as old shredded wheat. In a perfect world, when properly blind-nailed with the right amount of reveal and a proper starter strip, those two corners would never need to be tacked down but we all know that framing is rarely, if ever, perfectly flat and aligned and getting this stuff to lie flat can be a pain. I've got this theory that, if one blind-nails this stuff when it's wet, and then tacks down the corners at the butts, when the concrete dries it's going to shrink; and, when those claps start straining upward at the corners, the corners break off. I'd kind of like to be able to do an experiment on something to prove it. Anyone have a house and some nice new Hardiplank you're willing to trash and not hold me accountable? Sorry, I don't have a shed like Jim does. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

That'd be a dead short and would trip the breaker. OT - OF!!! M.

I've always wondered, Does Stone actually still inspect or is he now just a pontificator? Maybe only his hairdresser knows for sure. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The new licensing law in BC is only a few months old but already one of the three approved entities that one must be affiliated with in order to get a license is bragging figuratively, "Mine is bigger than yours." To read more, click here.

Barry Stone has parlayed his "Ask the Inspector" Q & A column into syndication. Sometimes his advice is relatively sound; sometimes it's completely off-the-wall and one hair's breadth above idiotic. Here's another sample. Where do you think it lies on the inspector sense scale? Click Here!.

Hi, How about: 2003 IRC G2427.10.7 (503.10.7) Joints. Joints between sections of connector piping and connections to flue collars and hood outlets shall be fastened by one of the following methods: 1. Sheet metal screws. 2. Vent connectors of listed vent material assembled and connected to flue collars or draft hood outlets in accordance with the manufacturers' instructions. 3. Other approved means. My old CodeCheck West that was based on the 2000 IRC has. Sheet-metal screws at connection to vent (IRC 2426.10.7/UMC 815.1.9((3))). ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Don't bother, Figure out who the biggest employer is in your area and find a way to get word to their employees, via their internal intranet message boards like this one, that you'll do inspections for them at a discount. It doesn't have to be much - $25 will get them interested enough to talk to you. Once you get one to hire you, do a great job and ask him/her to tell the other employees on that message board about the great inspection they got by working with your little company. Once they start talking about you and you start picking up those jobs, always ask them to tell their fellow employees about their experience with your company. If you do a good job and they feel their money was well spent, your business with them will spread like mold in a gymnasium shower. As you go along, you'll meet their realtors. Those who like the job that you do, will refer you to future clients that aren't employees of that company; those who don't like you because you don't suck up or allow yourself to be manipulated into minimizing stuff for the sake of the sale, will not refer you and you'll be better off for it. Don't screw up. All it will take is one negative review to seriously hurt your standing with that pool of employees. The others will defend you for honest mistakes, and if the complainer clearly has unrealistic expectations, but if your screwup is due to laziness, incompetence or just outright negligence, you'll be toast. Do not put all of your eggs in the same basket; who's the next biggest employer around, and the next, and the....? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, Thinking about finally making the jump to an IR; mostly because I'd like a non-invasive way to immediately back up our findings when we have damp walls and such and I'm thinking about expanding into energy audits. I'm Looking at the FLIR BCam SD because it's on sale right now for 34% off. If this turns out to be a huge mistake, I don't want to own the most expensive gizmo there is and then be trying to get rid of it later. If it can do what a home inspector needs to do and what an energy auditor needs to do, without breaking my little gizmo-challenged brain, I'll be happy. Anyone have one? Anyone have experience using one versus using another brand? Anyone know if the 7 hours of battery life is hype or anywhere near true? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, Helmut is a name. I think you mean helmet. OT - OF!!! M.

And? Crimping and soldering is a pretty common way to quickly close off a section when a pipe is re-routed or eliminated and no caps are available. Is it pretty? No. Is it a huge screwup or unprofessional? Not necessarily. How will that negatively affect the plumbing performance? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Release # 09-222 On May 15th, CPSC and Fluke Corporation of Everett, WA recalled about 52,000 digital clamp meters for a shock hazard. According to CPSC, the meters can fail to give appropriate voltage readins and cause an operator to falsely believe that power is off when it's still on; posting a shock, electrocution or thermal burn hazard. Fluke has received three reports of clamp meters displaying an incorrect voltae reading but so far no injuries have been reported. The recall involves Fluke digital clamp meters model 333, serial numbers 97010000 to 98880240; model 334, serial numbers 97010000 to 98870101; model 335, serial numbrs 97010000 to 98860104; model 336, serial numbers 96220000 to 98900400, and model 337, serial numbers 96070000 to 98890607. Serial numbers that begin with an "S" or are followed by "R" are not included int his recall. "Fluke" and the model number are printed on the front of the unit and the serial numbers is on the back. The instrument body is yellow, read and black. These meters measure 0 to 600 volts alternating current (VAC), 0 to 6000 volts direct current (VDC) and 0 to 400, 600 or 1000 amps alternating current. The meters were manufactured in China and were sold at industrial distributors, electrical wholesalers and some hardware stores nationwide from January 2008 through February 2009 for between $150 and $375. Fluke says that consumers should stop using these meters immediately and contact Fluke for a free replacement clamp meter at (888) 983-5853 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. PT Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.fluke.com/33Xrecall. To see the full CPSC recall, including pictures, click here. CPSC is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. To report an incident, click here.

This real estate agent list what she says are the 10 things that a home seller can do to ensure that the home doesn't "fail" an inspection. To read more and/or respond to her column from a home inspector's perspective, click here.

How about glans roof? OT - OF!!! M.

I'd call it a roof leak waiting to happen. Bet the guys at the metal roofing alliance would love to be able to use that as an example of how not to do a metal roof. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, My apologies; I need to retract my statement. I remembered reading an article done by the Florida Solar Research Center years ago that had essentially said that paint with these ceramic beads does retard heat flow. I've just researched that site and found a Q & A that says that they don't work any better than regular paints so I must have remembered it wrong. Sorry. OT - OF!!! Mike

Hi, I arrive in clean shoes and then switch to outside/roof/crawlspace shoes for outdoors. I kick 'em off when I come inside and walk in my socks. We also have slippers in the car that are only for indoors. Yung arrives, removes her shoes and dons her clean slippers. I've only had pushback once from an Indian couple when she wore her slippers. I pointed out to them that, being a half-Asian household, we don't wear shoes in our house at home and that those slippers are specifically for walking around in clean homes. They backed off. I hate those stupid surgical booties. They're never big enough to get on over my shoes without a battle and then I have to take them on and off whenever I come in and go out? Nope, kick 'em off and walk around in socks. I've got a pair of big wooly socks to wear over my regular socks if the place is just plain gross. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, No, it's not a scam; what he's thinking of is the paint with the microscopic ceramic beads mixed into the formulation. The ceramic tends to slow conductivity of heat to cold. The idea was that if you painted the underside of a roof with the stuff that it would slow solar gain during the day and slow heatloss back through the roof plane during the night. That's all it does; it doesn't "insulate" anything, it just makes it easier for the existing insulation in a house to do its job. There are a number of metal roofing companies that began using it on the roofing panels that they produce and it basically does what folks say it will do. However, again, it doesn't "insulate" and anyone selling it that claims that it does is just stealing your money. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I agree with Scott; I got one of those 2-cell LED Maglites last week too and they are indeed pretty darned bright. I was in Chicago last week and Kurt let me see that new light of his. Holy Moly! The amount of light that it reflected off the carpet in that dark car was probably brighter than my regular 2-cell flashlight; never mind how well it lights stuff up far away. Amazing for something so tiny. I've got a few of those auto parts counter $5 LED's. They provide quite a bit of light but can't compare to that 2-cell LED Maglite or to that cornea burner that Kurt has. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sorry, It's bad enough that I have to crawl through all manner of filth from ratshit to bear shit in crawls around here; ain't no way I'm going to start intentionally tasting the stuff. The bulb'll have to do or it stays untested. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If anyone is interested, Lowe's is having a sale on Werner ladders this week and the 22ft. Werner-brand 300lb-capacity Little Giant knockoff is selling for $149 (Regular price is $209.). If interested, click here.