hausdok

Isn't it obvious? It's a portal to hell. You're lucky something didn't reach up out of there, grab you and drag you into that hole leaving only your camera there as mute testimony to what had happened. Were you wearing some kind of icon? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike [:-dopey]

I think it will attack the organisms that are most vulnerable to it first. It might be some kind of wood rot fungi that the species of wood that those surface flitches of those particular pieces of plywood are most vulnerable to. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Looks like some kind of fungi. OT - OF!!! M.

Yesterday's inspection, Click to Enlarge 66.08 KB One year old. Not a single weep anywhere. A head flashing above the trim at that huge window wall but nothing above the steel ledger that's holding up that veneer above the window. No metal or vinyl through-wall flashings; heavy black felt - probably 90 minute - hanging out of the joint between the veneer and the foundation wall. About the only saving grace - it's on the east side of the house. About half the houses on this street have some degree of veneer and all of them look the same. I wonder if there's a way to get rich making book on how many years it takes something like this to become an issue? Wanna start a pool? I'll be dealer and hold the money. Bwahahahahaha! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Uh, A woodstove insert that scavenges room air for combustion is essentially just that - a fireplace. I'd treat it exactly the same. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

D'oh, Just looked at the initial post again. I'd missed the "underground" when I'd responded. I don't think I've ever seen them use 2/0 copper underground in conduit here, it's usually 4/0 aluminum - which is what they told you they're going to use. OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, I know; but wearing gloves has always bothered me somehow. Even in the military when I was forced by regs to wear them it used to drive me nuts. Something about the constraining sensation of having my hands covered and losing that tactile sensation. So, today my palms feel like they're sun burned; which I suppose they are...sort of. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, We've had folks report about that before. Seems to me that one of the folks had tried everything to get rid of the smell but nothing worked until they'd used bleach in the drains and the sink overflow. Any of the brethren remember that? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I wish I'd had a set today. Three levels of a 10:12 slope all on the same axis on a house built into a hillside; no valleys, no dormers. Front was too high by a story and a half to reach the crest. Only way up was with the 21footer Gorilla ladder to the crest of the garage (it made it with 3 inches to spare), pull that heavy 21footer up fully extended while straddling the ridge of the garage (what a friggin bitch that was), and stand it on the lower roof to reach the crest of the second level (again, it made it with only inches to spare), climb up and then straddle that damned ridge, climb up without a ladder to the next level and keep going. To top it off, the damned roof was jet black and had been absorbing sunlight for about 6 hours before I'd arrived. It was too hot to put my palms on for more than a few seconds at a time. My ankles were killing me from maintaining a grip at that angle. By the time I'd done everything in reverse order and had gotten down I was wrung out. Normally, my Rockports grip pretty tenaciously but today they were struggling to maintain a grip. Maybe it's time to spring for a pair of those Cougar Paws. By the time I was done with that animal I had to go sit down and rest for about 30 minutes before I could continue the inspection. I really need to hire a younger, spryer fellow to do those damned things. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI) has announced its support of the Alberta government's consumer research effort that's currently determining public attitudes toward home inspectors in Alberta. To read more, click here.

Yeah, That seems to be what I always run into here. It always seems to turn into a time-gobbling mess when I try and get into those things. It sems like most of the guys that put those things in here don't realize that someone is going to need to periodically open them up and look inside. Then there are the ones that I open up that have notations on the service records showing that an HVAC tech had just "serviced" them and the coil looks like a science experiment is growing on it. I don't understand why manufacturers can't make these things with a hinged door that's placed where it won't be blocked by the plumbing and the exhaust vent, etc. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Keep in mind that this is in Texas where a brain dead jury awarded Ms. Ballard more than $30M as a result of the lawsuit that started the mold-is-gold rush. Even though in the end about 80% of that award was tossed on appeal, I bet some Texas lawyers still want to hit the trifecta with mold lawsuits and aren't going to stop trying. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Following the lead of British Columbia, the Alberta provincial government is currently polling the public to determine whether Alberta should be the second province in Canada to regulate home inspectors. To read more, click here.

A Texas home inspector is being sued by a couple that allege he failed to discover mold and water marks inside a homes HVAC system. To read more, click here.

For anyone looking for a decent laptop deal, CompUsa's online store is having a 48hr. sale on an Acer notebook. The price is about $339. This is not a netbook. It has a netbook price but it's got a 14-inch display and 2GB or DDR memory. Not a bad deal for the money. If you're interested, click here.

Del Webb, a division of Pulte Homes is alleging in its response to a class action lawsuit by homeowners that private home inspectors, who'd falsely claimed to be associated with Del Webb and don't hold state-mandated licenses, had targeted elderly homeowners and used high-pressure tactics to get homeowners to sign onto defect lawsuits. To read more, click here.

A California homeowner whose home was foreclosed on is apparently not too accepting of the process. He was arrested after a home inspector checking out a house for the bank found the house hooked up to what looked like pipe bombs. To read more, click here.

Hi Ezra, Long time no hear! How's the treatise going? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I pretty much stayed out of this one to this point because my other northwest brethren have already commented appropriately. However, I need to point out that a solid deck under a shake roof is perfectly appropriate, and may even be preferred over skip, in areas where you'll see wind-driven snow; it's just necessary to ensure that the roof deck is properly ventilated and eave protection needs to be used at least 36-inches from the eaves and 24-inches from sidewalls. Skip, cedar breather or a latticework of battens is preferred in areas of high humidity where the roof can't dry out between wetting. Here in the Seattle region and in the deep south and southern easter seaboard, where there is a lot of humidity, are areas where skip is much better than a solid deck. My experience in New Jersey, where I have relatives, is that though it gets humid in the summertime the air there is pretty dry in the winter and springtime and I don't know that a solid deck would be detrimental to a properly installed shake roof. If you'd like to learn more about application techniques for shake and shingle roofs, visit the Cedar Bureau's website and download a copy of their Installation and Maintenance Manual. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike P.S. Tain't no way in hell that cover is going to last another 20 years. The laciness and ruined felts that Jim notes was probably caused by indiscriminate pressure washing, which essentially means that there are plenty of holed shakes up there and some that are paper thin at the butts. Unless they've got a really good shake maintenance company that knows how to properly do annual cleaning and shake maintenance/spot replacement, expect it to leak like a sieve before too much longer and require replacement within the next 5-6 years.

This past weekend, at what should have been joyous events - college graduation parties - two separate instances of decks collapsing have left many students injured. Fortunately, though there were serious injuries and some broken bones, and some people are still in hospital, nobody was killed. To read the rest of these stories click here and here.

The story has been told exactly the way that the inspector related it. I wrote it, sent it to him for review and then he made some minor corrections to it to correct some mistakes I'd made. I believe the man and don't believe that he would intentionally lie to me. That's all that matters here as far as I'm concerned. Whether any of you choose to believe it is your concern and no amount of ballyhooing by this guy is going to change that fact. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Comment withdrawn. I've decided that it's not fair to match wits, debate moral character or try to discuss anything intelligently with a completely unarmed oaf. I'll let Mr. Fairy bask in his self-adoration now. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Paul, I can only remember one discussion about Pyrite in the last seven years on this board and here it is. I think it's probably related to specific geological conditions the way Bentonite is very common in Colorado but not seen as much elsewhere. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I'll venture a guess that at least 90% of the new homes built around here over the past couple of decades have exactly that configuration and don't have any problems. The location of returns and the method of return isn't something we decide or design - it's something decided by the guy that installs the system. I think that it would be fair for a home inspector to call out a return intake located too close to a furnace or undersized intake openings at the walls; but I think it's notour call to decide how high that gap under the door must be - that's pretty much decided by the designer and the code guys. I don't understand why so many folks want to play at engineer. The job is about observation and reporting; not in-depth technical analysis. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Let's not forget the PEX and the plastic. Click to Enlarge Thanks to Charlie Sessums Alpha Inspection Jackson, MS