hausdok

Check with your dept of agriculture and see if they've had any cases of Hanta Virus in your neck of the woods. OT - OF!!! M.

Now we're starting to see a serious and rational discussion of mold! Thanks Dr. Fallah and Caoimhin, for taking the time to discuss this calmly and without the arm waving and caterwauling that we normally see when this topic comes up. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi That's exactly what I'm talking about. Inspectors learn from this kind of stuff and they should be learning it when they go to these courses so that when they're faced with a job they aren't saying it's too dangerous - just 'cuz. One would expect that a well-trained home inspector, roofer, satellite dish installer, chimneysweep, framer, steelworker, etc., knows how to go high and keep himself safe but one wouldn't expect a homeowner, a guy with no work experience other than flipping burgers or shuffling papers in a cubicle to know how to do it and do it properly and safely. That's what being a professional in a given profession is about. Years ago, the only people that came into this gig were builders who were tired of knocking nails; now we've got former Dairy Queen owners and computer techs who've never been on a roof before coming into the gig and trying to re-define the profession to make excuses for their not haven taken the time to learn how to do the business right before they jumped into it. Folks need to understand that to do this gig right one is expected to go high, crawl into tight places and go low into dirty places and if they don't want to do that, they need to go do something else. My opinion; you can spit on it if you want - it won't change my mind. Like I've said many times before - I'm not the King and folks should be really glad I'm not 'cuz there'd definitely be some changes on this rock if I were. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Denver, CO, March 11, 2009 --(PR.com) According to Fannie Mae, an estimated 31 million single women will own homes by 2010, which accounts for about 28 percent of all U.S. households. Judy Browne, founder and lead instructor for Denver’s Workshop for Women, which offers home improvement classes for women, realized in 2008 that many of her students had needed an advocate during the home inspection process. “It’s a perfect complement to my business,â€

Hi, Yeah, after seeing those, I think you're right and that's going to be pretty damp. That's the problem with that stuff. In order for it to drain, you've got to get it above adjacent surfaces and keep it clear and who the hell ever heard of starting a stone wall two inches off the ground when it's supposed to look like it's supporting the wall? Oh well, at least with the weep screeds they're trying. Do you get subs down there? We generally don't see them north of West Seattle and for some reason only see a few outside of west Seattle. I think it's got something to do with not having the right kind of travel documents or something. We see Pacific dampwoods everywhere though. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, So, the house was 10 years old and for a decade the crawl was functioning like a huge humidifier, now things are shrinking as the wood is drying out. It's winter/spring. When the humidity comes back in a couple of months you'll probably see some changes then too as the wood starts to take on moisture. Go to the Advanced Energy site. If anyone can point you to someone in the Southeast to figure that out, they can. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Jim, Except for running the stuff into the dirt, that looks kind of sweet. I suppose if it were cast river rock type stone that's grouted and wiped so that a lot of water can't pass through it you'll not see much water coming out of that screed. However, if it's that flat, ungrouted stuff I should think there'd be a lot of water. Then there's the question of pests. Cover the bottom of that with earth and you've basically installed a little humidifier along the bottom of the wall to send evaporation up behind that poly drainage mat and have to hope that the tyvek will keep it out when it condenses. Seems like it would make more sense to place a moat of stone around the base of the wall that will allow water to drain clear and air to circulate into there and keep things dry. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I dunno, I wasn't commenting one way or the other. If you think so, tell folks why. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I didn't. It was probably one of those pesky programmers. They're like bed bugs I tell ya! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

By Scott Simpson - Vancouver Sun Compact fluorescent lights are a darling of the environmental movement, but they're also likely to cause a net increase in greenhouse-gas emissions, according to a BC Hydro document. Over the past five years, Hydro's promotion of compact fluorescents, or CFLs, has been so effective that British Columbia is now a North American leader in using the energy-saving bulbs. However, in a recent filing to the B.C. Utilities Commission, Hydro states that widespread adoption of CFLs will have unintended consequences for the environment. To read more in the Vancouver Sun, click here.

By Mike O'Handley - Editor, TIJ As a result of a summit meeting in Chicago on February 20th, ASHI and NAHI have released a joint memo announcing their intention for the two associations to work together for the benefit and unification of the profession. A memo released to their respective memberships on March 6th reads: Representatives of the two preeminent professional home inspectors' organizations, ASHI and NAHI, met in Chicago on February 20, 2009. The joint venture task force worked through a deliberate process to discuss missions, stakeholders, similarities and differences, challenges, opportunities and strategic objectives. The joint task force agreed that the two organizations should work together for the benefit and unification of the profession. The task force agreed that having a unified voice of the profession is important. ASHI and NAHI will be looking to their respective memberships for input regarding a joint education conference, collaboration of our chapters, and a possible unification. Some of the benefits would be: · Increased member services · More efficient and effective uses of resources · Greater market presence · Enhanced image and prestige · Stronger chapters No outcomes have been reached and the memberships of both organizations will be surveyed to determine any future steps. Membership input and support will be a critical component of any continued effort. The memorandum goes on to list the twelve task force members involved (six from each association) and states that anyone wishing more information about the task force should contact either Brion Grant at bcg@northlandhome.com or Jim Turner at jim@turnerinspections.com.

Hi, If we aren't, the studs in the house are oriented horizontally. [:-bigeyes ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hey, The Prez Dude? I can dig it. (Truth be told, us fellas that're losing our locks don't ever like to see that much hair on a guy - it ain't natural, I tell you, he's got to be an alien!" ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jerry, please, That Rob B. avatar - yuk; if you keep that up there I'm going to have to change mine to the piercing one. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Robert, the exception is in M16 and says that those that don't require venting per M18 and M24 are exempt. That's what I was referring to. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jodi, I'm going to paste a comment I received via an Active Rain email from a fellow that kind of wore out his welcome here with the moderators a while back. I'm not entirely convinced you'll find it useful, and I don't necessarily agree with what he's saying (which (I think) is that the installation is fine the way it is), but he's allegedly in the HVAC trade, so I'll make the one post but that's going to be it. If you want to contact the guy go track him down over there please. -------------------------------- Message details: From: Energy Star Email: noname@gmail.com Subject: furnace with no return (Sent via Activerain) Mike, That is perfectly fine. *****The HVAC forum has a post about a furnace with no return. **** I would also like to thank you for all the nice remarks you left for me. It would have been nice to still be a member. I could have been a positive contributor on the forum. I wish I had the opportunity to say my last words. But, instead I was cut off. Have a nice night. ps, be sure you share this info with all! I know I'm missed. ha ha , night -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Except that there's an exception for those that don't need to be vented under M1801.1 - this is an electric unit. Jodi, The house is dusty partly because the return air system isn't hooked in. Instead of all that dust in other parts of the house getting sucked into the return air and then filtered out, it's just settling out everywhere. The way this is done, they're going to have pretty unbalanced heating in the home. Someone did a DIY installation here when they replaced a furnace and didn't know how to properly fabricate and connect the return air duct when the inlet location was different from the previous furnace. It's a lazy man's way of doing things; there should have been a proper connector fabricated there so that they'd get properly balanced heating in that house. I'd write that the return air plenum is missing from the left side of the furnace and that one needs to be installed even if that means having it fabricated by an HVAC tech. Man, you sure seem to have more than your fair share of jackleg Daryl, Daryl and Daryl's up there. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

By Mike O'Handley - TIJ Editor On Tuesday, March 10th, at 4:00 pm, State Senator Dale Miller (D) will go before the Ohio Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee to address SB14 - a bill to require licensure of home inspectors and to create the Ohio Home Inspector Board to regulate the licensure and performance of home inspectors. Miller is the bill's sponsor and had intruduced the bill in the Ohio Senate on February 10th, at which time it had been referred to the Insurance, Commerce and Labor committee for consideration. Should this bill become law, it will establish a state home inspectors licensing board consisting of five members - three of whom would be professional home inspectors - and it will make it illegal to perform home inspections in the state of Ohio without a license, without a pre-inspection agreement signed by both parties and without complying to rules established by the board. Interestingly, each of the home inspector board members must be a member of one of the national home inspector associations and not more than three members of the board may be members of the same political party, which begs the question of representation for those who are not affiliated with any national association - usually the largest home inspectors demographic in a state. The bill also requires that the Ohio Superintendent of Real Estate and Professional Licensing must create a brochure to educate consumers about the home inspection process, including but not limited to full home inspections, inspections for pests, radon gas, or both; inspections conducted by a person who is employed by or whose services otherwise are retained by this state or a political subdivision of this state for the purpose of enforcing building codes; and what issues a consumer needs to consider when selecting a home inspector. Under this bill, real estate agents in Ohio will be required to provide each client with a copy of the brocure as soon as the enter into an agreement to represent the client in the real estate transaction. After Miller addresses the bill, the committee may schedule public hearings to take testimony, pro or con, about the bill. For more information about this bill, go to the state website.

By Mike O'Handley Word has come to us that on March 5th U.S. District Judge Leinenweber sentenced Michael Napadow, the perpetrator of the Nations Hazard Insurance scam against home inspectors in the early part of this decade, to a total of five years imprisonment and and three years supervised release. Napadow has also been ordered to make restitution in the amount of $299,747.75. Napadow is currently serving a sentence for a tax scam fraud - stemming from a case in Florida - and his sentence is to run consecutively, which means that his sentence will not begin until he's completed the time on the Florida-related conviction. Those interested in more information should contact: Ted L. Bader, CFE Chief Investigator Legal Affairs Division Office of Insurance Commissioner P.O. Box 40255, Olympia, WA. 98504-0255

Hi, I don't think that there's be an issue, as long as you don't advertise your zoning board status in any of your advertising and as long as nothing in your reports ever mentions zoning, which they shouldn't, since zoning is none of a home inspector's business? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, If it's that drywall with the black paper backing it's most likely fine. There are exterior grade drywall products and I've seen a lot of little post WWII ranch houses here in the Seattle area with that black paper gypsum used at gable end walls where, after half a century, they're doing fine. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, even if the water was on you might not have been able to tell anything from drain flow - sometimes they break and continue to accept waste just fine for a long time, untill one day they don't. It's early and I haven't had my second cuppa yet, but something like: There is a significant depression in the front yard adjacent to the waste line cleanout and the cleanout is askew. I suspect that the depression in the yard and the leaning cleanout might be caused by a break in the waste line below grade. If the waste line is broken below grade it's going to be expensive to repair. I recommend that, to be sure the waste line is intact, you have the waste line inspected now by a pipe inspection service. If the pipe inspection service reports that the pipe is broken, get it repaired immediately. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, you could have found previous posts that said just that right here and some of those would include instructions where to get replacement fiber-cement shingles that don't include asbestos. Use the site searvch feature. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Did you check the manual to see whether it can be installed that way? I've been doing a bunch of BDP units laterly that can be orieinted six different ways. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Don't even get me started on PCB's. In 1988, when I went through the Special Forced Engineer Sergeant's course at Ft. Bragg we were trained to blow up a whole bunch of stuff out on Coleman Demo Range. The demo range is in a draw with a small creek running through the center of it that's full of everything you can imagine that one would want to blow up, tanks, APC's, Concrete, etc., plus, a bunch of power transformers like you see on powere poles that are filled with oil and PCBs. I stood there staring at the oil leaching out of those explosive-damaged transformers running across the ground and disappearing into that creek and couldn't believe it. I mentioned it to a couple of cadre - they didn't want to hear it - if they the'd reported it the range would have been shut down and their schedule would have been thrown off. Sometimes I remember that creek and wonder where that water drained to. Sorry about the drift - like I said, don't get me started. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike