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Hi Tom, Well, what you don't know is that by the year 2025 there will be do-it-yourself cloning kits sold at convenience stores and the Walter J. in that story will be Walter J. CCXL. [] Thanks for pointing that out, I guess I had Zager & Evans on my mind. Edit to title made. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

San Diego (PRWEB) April 21, 2009 - Press Release HouseMaster®, one of the largest home inspection franchisors in North America, has partnered with Closing.com, the most comprehensive source for real estate services on the Web, to connect directly with consumers online. All of HouseMaster's more than 325 U.S. franchises will have a premium listing on the site during an initial 12-month term. Housemaster franchisees will post comprehensive information about their credentials, features, services and prices. Closing.com is a new Web site that makes it easy for visitors to search for real estate closing services in their area. It enables users to compare features and services, learn more about each company, make inquiries, and download brochures and coupons all on one easy-to-use Web site. "We are pleased to welcome HouseMaster in this valued new partnership," said Closing.com CEO, Tony Farwell, "As the industry shifts to meet the needs of Web-savvy consumers and real estate professionals, our goal is to provide a one-stop shop that helps real estate closing service providers promote their services, upload their rates and generate more business." Closing.com provides more than 150,000 real estate service listings across the nation reaching every major metropolitan area. Proprietary rate engines make it possible to display real estate home inspection rates instantly. "We believe that Closing.com is the perfect venue for HouseMaster customers whom we encourage to make informed decisions when selecting their service providers," said Kathleen Kuhn, HouseMaster President. We are pleased to welcome HouseMaster in this valued new partnership As the industry shifts to meet the needs of Web-savvy consumers and real estate professionals, our goal is to provide a one-stop shop that helps real estate closing service providers promote their services, upload their rates and generate more business. We believe that Closing.com is the perfect venue for HouseMaster customers whom we encourage to make informed decisions when selecting their service providers The Web site can be accessed at www.closing.com. To verify their free business listing, HouseMaster franchisees can call 1-866-CLOSING (256-7464). Professional home inspectors can add a link to their Web site, descriptions of their services, brochures, coupons and promotional messages, track new leads and use simple tools to upload their rates and fee disclaimers. About HouseMaster Headquartered in Bound Brook, N.J., HouseMaster is the oldest and one of the largest home inspection franchisors in North America. Each HouseMaster franchise is an independently-owned and operated Business. HouseMaster® is a registered trademark of DBR Franchising, LLC. About Closing.com Closing.com empowers consumers and real estate professionals to shop, compare and evaluate real estate services in their geographic area and save money on closing costs. Visitors to the site can estimate their closing costs, learn more about a real estate provider's products, services and rates, and make inquiries to providers directly online. The site is owned and operated by ClosingCorp (www.closingcorp.com), an independent real estate information services company based in La Jolla, CA. ####

When you placed the plastic "over" the chimney, did you cover the crown or was that left exposed to the weather. If you didn't cover the crown, check it for cracks; cracked crowns are frequently the source of water infiltration through chimneystacks. OT - OF!!! M.

I've seen those many times in older homes. It's my understanding they are fire alarms. You wind them up and then they somehow sense the heat from a fire and wake everyone up. Old tech; I love it. OT - OF!!! M.

By Cherie Winner (Courtesy of Washington State Magazine) Check out the building at Washington State University’s Extension campus in Puyallup. The foundation is cracked. The front stoop tilts toward the house. Window flashing was installed wrong or not at all, the attic insulation runs right up against ventilation holes, and there’s a persistent leak around the toilet. Contrary to what you might think, the designers and builders of the 1,152-square-foot house made it that way on purpose. “We were told that we were good at doing things wrong,â€

Nah, No time on my hands; I just cut and pasted this in here from somewhere else. I wrote it a few months ago. Way back when I first got into investigations in the Army my boss told me that I should write for a living. I told him he must have been doin' happy smoke. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, we've got one of those guys living under the Aurora bridge here in Seattle (Sorry for the drift, John). I see those shingles on higher end homes a lot. Click to Enlarge 15.14 KB ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The other day I had a couple following me around and the husband was snapping pictures with his digital camera like a cub reporter at his first accident site. After he didn't seem to understand something very well and asked me to re-explain it to him several times, I realized that his digital camera, which looked like any garden variety camera - more like a rangefinder 35mm camera than a video camera - was a video camera and that he was asking me to re-explain stuff so that he could get it on his memory card. I told him, "Hey, this is a home inspection, not a movie; I'll explain it to you once and put it in the written report but we aren't going to be doing second or third takes here." He got the message; sort of......than after a while he slipped and asked me to re-explain something again and got my Sergeant's stare in return. One of my customers was telling me a couple of weeks ago that the only thing negative about my inspections said on one of the big intra-company message boards was the fact that I don't do photos. I responded that I have enough trouble cutting and pasting photos into a report, let alone be constantly snapping pictures and, because I already do what is probably the longest inspecton in these parts, I didn't want to do anything that was going to increase my time onsite. That day or the next, I got an email from him wherein he told me that Costco is selling some kind of video setup that has a headset camera. He thought that it would be a big plus for my service if I were to incorporate that into the process; so that, at the end of the process, I could hand the client a disc that would show what I'd been looking at along with my running narrative. I'm still not real comfortable with the idea for just the same reasons that Walt and a few others have expressed here. Still, it would be nice to someday get this profession to the point where we very experienced inspectors could still contribute without going out into the field. Kind of like, . ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

By Mike O'Handley, TIJ Editor It's a very large dark circular room with huge video screens mounted high in a circle around a central pit. In the pit, operators seated in front of keyboards are staring at monitors and are chattering into headsets. At times the chatter gets pretty loud and every once in a while the image on one of the huge wall monitors changes while one of the operators directs his attention to it. At first glance, one could easily mistake this room for NASA's mission control central in Houston, instead of what it really is, the operations center for Walter J's home inspection report writing and delivery business. Walter J. is standing in the center of the pit wearing a headset and looking like the captain of a starship. Back in the 1990's and early part of the century, he'd made a name for himself as a home inspector and expert witness and had written a popular humor column for a local weekly. Now he helps home inspectors all over North America quickly turn out the best written and most defensible narrative home inspection reports on the planet. Walter J's operators are running a variety of different home inspection software programs as they watch live video feeds and commentary that's being transmitted to them via satellite from audio/video transmitter headsets worn by home inspectors at inspection sites all over North America. Far away, as Jim K., an Oregon inspector, describes an issue to his client, the operator that is monitoring the inspector's presentation quickly modifies one of the inspector's boilerplated narratives, so that it applies more closely to the house currently being inspected, and adds it to the report that's compiling on the operator's second monitor. Walter J., seeing the inspector's name displayed on the status board above the operator's console, walks over and looks at what the operator has typed into the report narrative. He knows Jim K. and how particular Jim is about his reports. He nods approvingly; no passive voice there, it's written in plain language, makes sense and is defensible in court - no need to interject anything into one of Jim's reports. Suddenly, a red light begins to blink on monitor #12; it's a relatively new inspector from Maryland who's hit the assist button on his headset. Walter J. dials his headset control to channel #12, turns up the volume and directs the operator handling that report to project the feed onto a wall monitor so he won't have so squint at the screen over the operator's shoulder. In Maryland, the inspector is trying to make a couple of bewildered looking buyers understand the significance of an unflashed deck ledger. The reason the inspector hit the assist button is that his client's spouse is demanding to know why the ledger needs to be flashed when there isn't any flashing on the deck the client had built himself at home. Even though the Maryland inspector is trying to help his client, the client seems to be taking offense; possibly due to the way his spouse is looking at him with one of those, "What the hell did you do?" glances. Walter J. presses the talk button and chimes in, "Steady boy, there's nothing to be nervous about. Just tell 'em that without flashing the area behind that ledger can rot and that, if it does, it's going to be expensive to fix. Just reiterate that they need to get a good deck builder out there to fix it now. As far as that guy's deck goes, ask him whether he has X-ray vision and how he knows for certain that his unflashed deck ledger hasn't been a problem." The couple is oblivious to the fact that their inspector had just been assisted from 1500 miles away by one of the best inspectors in the business. As the inspector repeats that explanation and advice to his clients, Walter J. sees an immediate change in the husband's demeanor; he's trying to think of a clever retort but is at a loss for words. The guy's wife on the other hand gives her husband a look that says, "Shut up and listen, Smart-Ass." Walter J. turns to operator #12 and says, "Make sure you include all of that in the report but leave out anything related to the husband's jackleg-built deck." The operator nods and slams away at his keyboard for a few seconds. Walter J. briefly scans the result, gives the operator a thumbs up and the image of the Maryland rookie disappears from the overhead monitor. As the operator hits the enter key, 1500 miles away the rookie hears a tone in his headset that tells him the issue and his explanation have been clearly documented in the report. The rookie lets out a sigh of relief and continues with his inspection; Uncle Walter has saved his bacon again and now he knows how to handle this issue the next time. Another alert signal appears on screen #6 on the other side of the room. Walter J. turns his control to channel #6 and motions for operator #6 to display the image on the overhead; way up in Vermont, an inspector is trying to make a stubborn real estate lady with really big hair understand why an issue needs to be fixed by a professional and not by her cousin, the neighborhood handyman. Walter J. can see by her demeanor that she's one of that small segment of manipulative agents that thinks home inspectors live and breath just to facilitate her deals. As he listens in, it's clear to Walter J. that she's being a royal pain in the ass; she's co-opted the inspector's client and is now chattering away about how she knows just the guy who can fix the issue in ten seconds for less than $50 bucks. Try as he might, the inspector can't seem get a word in edgewise. This is causing the inspector to lose rhythm and is going to bog him down and make him late for this next appointment. Walter J. can see on the monitor that the inspector's client looks pretty distressed and intimidated. Walter J. doesn't know if it's the tone in the agent's voice, or the agent's Marge Simpson hairdo, that's got the customer stressed, but it's obvious that something has to be done quickly. Walter J. feels his adrenaline go up; he's going to enjoy this - there's nothing he likes more than to skewer some wise-ass Lexus-driving realtorzoid who thinks that belittling home inspectors is sport. He keys his microphone, talks softly for a few moments and then watches as the inspector parrots his words. After a moment, the lady with the really big hair turns first beet red; then she goes white as a sheet and is reduced to a stammer. Deflated and obviously defeated, she turns and walks away - even her hairdo looks like it's lost some of its volume. On the overhead monitor, Walter J. can see that the inspector's client looks very relieved and is now listening attentively to what the inspectors is saying. Jowers chuckles and says into his microphone, "Bet she'll never belittle another inspector again, Charlie." And so it goes - all day long. As each inspection is completed, the operators send them via email directly to the clients' email addresses and the report writing/processing fee is added to the inspector's monthly bill. One by one, operators key in the next inspector that's standing by in queue to start an inspection at a prearranged time slot. Walter J, ever the maestro, keeps things moving like a well-oiled clock. At the end of the day, Walter J. feels pretty pleased with himself; he's prevented at least 30 inspectors from making huge costly mistakes, dealt with at least a half dozen know-it-all 'zoids, processed several hundred inspections, and made more in a single day than he used to make in a week as an inspector and home inspection pundit. Now it's time to park on the porch, watch his great grandchildren play some softball in the back yard and enjoy some libation. Life's good. ####

Typist? Dang, I'm sooo jealous. OT - OF!!! M.

I thought that only C3PO understood what that little guy says. [] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hmmm, "Recently completed?" You didn't happen to notice if they used any Chinese drywall did you? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Nolan, You might have a long wait, ES's profile was locked months ago. He does monitor the forum though; so he'll probably visit your website and reply to you through your contact page. OT - OF!!! Mike

Yep, Shingles. If they were shakes there'd be felt interlaced between courses. Way back when that first layer of comp was added, the roofer screwed up. He was supposed to cut away a narrow band at the perimeter of the roof and and nail a 1 by 8 around the rim so that there'd be a nice flat edge. OT - OF!!! M.

Correction, Don't you mean a layer of rift-cut cedar shingles? I doubt that even with that many layers that you could get a shake roof as smooth as that shown in the background. However, 50 to 60 years ago it was common to butt up over a cedar shingle roof and run asphalt. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, energy auditors are a different subject altogether and there are no laws regulating energy auditors. However, if one is a home inspector and adding energy audits as an additional service over an above what's required by the SOP on a home inspection, one must still have a home inspectors license. Check out the state website for what you'll be required to inspect and what you'll be required to report if you'll be doing home inspections. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

David, The law deals with those folks who are hired to do a home inspection; it does not cover contractors who are hired to look at specific components of the home and give the owner an opinion and estimates. If it did, every contractor in the state would need to get a home inspector's license. The law regulates those folks whose primary business is doing pre-purchase home inspections or pre-sale inspections, or other inspections that a professional home inspector would do. The law specifically prohibits a professional home inspector from doing any contracting work on a home which he or she has inspected for at least a year after the inspection. If you're specifically marketing your services as both a contractor and a professional home inspector, and you can't show that you'd done 100 complete home inspections and been in that business for at least two years as of June 12, 2008 (They will not accept background in construction as home inspection experience - they are similar but also widely different), you'll have to get the education and meet the rest of the requirements for a home inspector. Either that or stop inspecting homes altogether if you don't want to run afoul of the law. I understand the difficulties when living up at Friday Harbor. I've driven up there to do inspections and I've had customers fly my up there to do inspections (I live less than a mile from Kenmore Air so getting there isn't a big hassle). The local realtors I met while up there said that there was one home inspector up there who had a virtual monopoly. Was that you? If you're interested in getting into home inspection full-time, you might look at what kind of education is available in BC for inspectors, determine whether it would be easier to get to that training than to go to Bellingham Tech, which I think has the only approved curriculum so far, and then ask that BC school to apply to DOL for course approval. They can find the curriculum requirements on the DOL website. Make sure they understand that the required 120-hour Fundamentals of Home Inspection course is a seat-in-a-chair course and can't be done virtually or by correspondence; only CE can be done by those means. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I think I'd be concerned with that fact that by putting that plastic vent up through the center of the B-vent vent they've just reduced the cross-section of the B-vent by the cross section of the plastic vent. Now you have to calculate whether what's left meets the flue size rule of equal to the largest connector plus 50% of all others for those original two appliances. Bet it doesn't. The high efficiency furnace extracts most of the heat from the flame and discharges air that's basically just a little warmer than we are. You want the exhaust gases from those two gravity devices to be as warm as possible as they rise up the vent so that they'll maintain their buoyancy and won't condense inside the B-vent and damage the vent or furnace. By running that plastic up through the middle of the B-vent and then running colder exhaust from the 90+ through it, you are cooling the exhaust gases that leave those gravity appliances as they surround that cooler pipe. Cool them too much and they won't draft properly. That means you're facing damage to the appliances from condensation and those gravity appliances will be prone to backdrafting, which raises the question of CO poisoning. Then there's the unanswered question of what the long-term affects of hot acidic exhaust gases surrounding PVC are going to be. Will it eventually break down the PVC and allow that forced vent to push the exhaust from the gravity appliances back down the flue and out? The person that did this didn't have a clue so I'd suspect it was a homeowner. If it was an HVAC "tech," the owner of the HVAC company needs to be notified that there's a dullard that has to go to the proctologist to get a tooth cleaning working for the company . ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, we folks with those fancy devices don't need to be told that; it's clearly explained to us in the users manuals and when we encounter that we use alternate methods to confirm the reading. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I recall Rhonda Myers saying that they'd begun receiving applications from some training vendors but, to tell you the truth, I didn't bother to ask who they were. The best thing to do is give Rhonda a call or email your questions to DOL. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

John, Have you got a shot of that roof from eye level? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Those look like a new kind of plastic pipe hanger that I've been seeing that's supposed to be adequate for pex, CPVC, PB or any other type of plastic pipe. Look at the photograph in Darren's post above. They are basically a plastic strap with a slit in one end. you loop the hanger under the pipe, insert the long end in the slit, cinch the hanger up tight and then nail the free end to the joist above. I agree with Brad; that's a sloppy, jackleg looking mess that should have been disassembled and then reassembled properly up on the framing where it belongs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I had it happen once. I swore lightning struck right next to me......... Uh huh, Really, really loud pop and a flash, right? Loud enough to bring the neighbors running over 'cuz they thought someone had discharged a pistol, right? Ear-ringing loud, right? Yep, been there, done that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I looked at a new all-fiberglass accessible shower installed in a 57 year old home today. They'd filled the void under the pan with expandable foam from a can and then cut through all of the foam to expose the hole in the pan so they could connect the plumbing from the basement below. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Open the case, unscrew the board, gently turn it over, take the little plastic cover off the transformer and look at it under a magnifying glass. Mine worked screwy for months and then wouldn't work. I called Protimeter and they told me it was probably the transformer, send it back and it would cost $125. I figured that, if they already knew about it, the repair couldn't be that difficult so I opened her up to get a look at the transformer - that's when I found the break in the wire. Tip it one way and the ends would barely touch and it would work; tip it the other and they'd separate. It was too fine for me to solder with my ham-fisted soldering skills so I went down to the local radio/TV guy and he fixed it in five minutes. I'm missing one case screw I dropped somewhere and couldn't find and there's a crack in the case where I dropped her from the top of a stepladder. About two years ago - it might have been when I dropped her - the circuit board separated a little bit from one of the painted-on circuits and she wouldn't work. It seemed obvious that there was no way to fix the board, so I took a wad of toilet tissue, wadded it up and squeezed it onto the top of the damaged section of board to hold the "circuit" in place. She's worked like a charm every since. She'll be 10 years old in October and she's still going strong. Found some serious moisture issues at two homes in the past week with her. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike