hausdok

It's 124 pages long, 1.94Mb in size, and it's good basic training for anyone that wants a solid concrete foundation reference; best of all it's FREE from TIJ's downloads library. Check it out in the new files tab under TIJ's reference library at the menu bar above.

It's in color, it's 20 pages long and it's free on the internet for downloading; it's APA's Build a Better Home roof guide entitled Designing Roofs to Prevent Moisture Infiltration, and it's the perfect tool for a home inspector whose client is faced with stubborn seller, builder or agent who insists that the inspector didn't know what he or she was talking about when criticizing a roof detail. Check it out by clicking here. (You may have to register to do so. If so, don't worry, they don't spam you or release your info to anyone.)

Source: NAHB Nation's Bulding NewsResponding to unsubstantiated news reports raising concerns over radon radiation in granite countertops, the Marble Institute of America reported on Nov. 17 that in the largest scientific study of the product ever it did not find a single stone slab that poses a health risk. “Quantities of radon and radiation emitted by stones included in the analysis all fell well below average background levels commonly found in the United States,â€

Jeez, Bill just pointed you to this graphic showing how they're supposed to be installed. What more could you want? OT - OF!!! M.

72,333? Man, your mouse must be dialed in to a tee; my little wireless mouse has a slight delay that makes it pretty danged difficult to satisfactorily lead those little buggers. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

To open a rift in the space/time continuum of course. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, I'm sure most of you will enjoy this; especially after a drink or two. Click here! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Flux Capacitor [:-dopey] OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, Thought a few of you might get a chuckle out of this: http://www.jlconline.com/public/jlcextr ... artoon.pdf ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I guess I wouldn't rule it out if the type of waste lines used there are often problematic. I suppose that having a pipe scoping guy look at the main waste line first would be prudent. One of the big drainage specialists here has its own scoping equipment. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, it could be but there's no way, within the context of a home inspection, that you can determine that. It's possible that the footing drain is full of fines, isn't taking any water, and is allowing water to accumulate under/around that foundation. A drainage guy needs to try and figure that out. If he determines that it's occluded footing drains, and there's no way to flush them (usually isn't), he has a few choices - dig 'em up outside and replace them, break out the floor inside and install a perimeter drainage system and replace the floor, install a sump pump or a combination of the second and third options. If you can get the owner to agree to it and your client to pay for it, you could roll back the carpet and tape a piece of clear polyethylene about 3ft. square to the slab, wait 24 hours and then come back and check it. If a whole lot of moisture accumulates on the backside of the plastic, you'll know that water is surfacing between the underside of the slab and the vapor barrier beneath the slab and is being carried up through the slab by capillary action. Of course, unless you personally sit there and babysit it for that 24 hours, you'll have no way to know whether the homeowner peeled off the plastic, dried it, and then reinstalled it just before you arrived. If you're convinced that there is an excess moisture issue, punt it to a drainage specialist for diagnosis and correction. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

High Roller? Ka-Ching! OT - OF!!! M.

Jeez Erby, That NAR one is 6-months old - how about something where the ink is still wet. OT - OF!!!

Hi, If you've copyrighted your reports, that's grounds for a lawsuit. Did you know that if you're using Microsoft Word that you can encode your report so that any changes they make from the report that you send them are highlighted? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Jerry, Just resize them to a smaller size so that those on dialup don't have to wait ten minutes for the picture to load. If you've got Windows XP you can get a free downsizer at Powertoys for Windows. If you've got something else, google "free image downsizers" and I'm sure you'll find something that will work. Just make sure that after you save the picture to your computer and click it to resize it, that you change the name on the downsized photo and remove any spaces or parenthesis before you try to post it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I hate those damned things. I had one once where the friggin' nozzles were aimed straight out the door. Wanna quess what happened when I reached in and pulled the wrong lever by mistake? [:-gnasher ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

After more than three years, the judge in the Department of Justice Lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors has issued his final decision. To read the judgment in its entirety, click here.

By Gordon E. Ivory, CFEI, CVFI, CFII, RL Insurance companies, adjusters and other real estate professionals need to be aware of the destruction that rodents can cause. Rodents, such as rats and mice, start fires by chewing on electrical wires that cause millions of dollars of structure damage each year. It has been estimated that rodents cause up to 20 percent of undetermined fires in the United States each year. As a professional fire investigator, I have investigated numerous fires over the years involving rodent infestation in everything from houses to cars to motorcycles and even lawn tractors. Mice and rats chew constantly because their teeth are always growing. They have incisor teeth that butt up against each other. They will chew through soft concrete, aluminum, wallboards, and plastic pipes. Field mice move undercover in the winter months and prefer to live near the warmth of electrical components. Insurance Concerns Most standard homeowner insurance policies contain a number of exclusions, including insect and rodent infestation. Homeowners are expected to take care of their homes, businesses or structures and deal with maintenance issues on their own, at their own expense. However, most insurance companies will cover losses that result from an unexpected loss or hidden damage. This means that if a rat or mouse or other rodent chews into electrical wires which results in a fire, the insured should under most cases be covered providing that the rodent problem was not noticeable. Another concern with rodents chewing though wires is electrocution and if the nest is next to a furnace, it can be ignited by the hot surface. Even after the insured has sustained a fire loss, make sure the structure is correctly boarded up as soon as possible, as this will discourage mice and rats from entering and causing additional damage. These rodents can also transmit diseases to humans such as typhus fever, trichinosis, plague, infectious jaundice, salmonella, bubonic plague and rat-mice dermatitis. Gray Mice Can Jump While doing your structure inspection be aware that field mice and rats, when they move indoors during the winter, can jump a vertical distance of twelve inches from the floor onto an elevated surface. They can jump a height of eight feet down to the floor without injury. They can run horizontally along pipes, wires, and ropes. They are excellent climbers and can run up almost anything without breaking stride, even walls. In a six-month period one pair of mice can eat about four pounds of food and produce some eighteen thousand fecal droppings. Rats can get into the structure through an opening of approximately one-half inch and mice through approximately a one-quarter inch hole. Your assessment of the risk must include the examination of the foundation, soffit and fascia for small holes. When you suspect a nest is present, never put your finger in the nest, use a pointer, rod or other items that enable you to inspect from a safe distance. If ever bitten, all bites must be treated by a doctor. Traps and Bait Most dwellings, even new construction, cannot be totally guaranteed to be rat or mice proof. But various safeguards can be used, which include but are not limited to, rodent insecticides, which predominately poison the rodents and cause death by internal bleeding. However, do not expect rats or mice to go out of their way to feed on bait, even though they do occasionally. Compared to rats, mice forage only a short distance from their nest- usually not more than 10-25 feet. The best idea is to locate the bait where it will be in the rodent’s normal line of travel. Traps are also effective but they do require a lot more skill and labor. Some of these traps include snares, cage traps, and glue boards. When using a baited trap, remember that cheese is not a favorite food of mice or rats. They will eat it but there is a lot of other food that they prefer. Mice prefer cereal, grains, nuts, birdseed, dog food, and other related foods. Peanut butter is great to put on traps. The mice like it and will have trouble stealing it. During your risk assessment look for traps and poisons along with the remains and skeletons of rodents, this could be an indication of past or current infestation problems. It is also important to note that rats and mice do not need a great deal of water since they get it from the food they eat. Carry a small portable black light during the inspection to help assess the extent of mice and rat infestation, their urine will glow fluorescent in color. There are some beneficial aspects of mice and rats since they provide an essential food source for owls, hawks, and other predatory birds and animals. Mice and rats are also consumers of weeds and insects but their diet consists of basically just about anything. ****Gordon E. Ivory Investigator Ivory is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI), Certified Vehicle Fire Investigator (CVFI), Certified Fire Investigator Instructor (CFII), and a Forensic locksmith. He is the owner of GEI Professional Investigations in Cortland, New York and has investigated over 2,800 fires during his career. Reproduced from WorkingRE.com magazine, published by OREP.org, E&O experts for inspectors, appraisers, agents and other real estate professionals.id="maroon">

On October 20th, REHAU announced that it will exit municipal PVC pipe manufacturing and supply in Canada, as well as its business as a PEX plumbing systems supplier in the U.S. and Canada. The company will support PEX plumbing systems orders through March 31, 2009, and will provide full-scale customer assistance to ensure a smooth transition into alternative plumbing systems product lines thereafter. REHAU was the first PVC pipe extruder in North America and introduced cross-linked polyethylene (PEXa) pipe for plumbing applications to the North American market in 1997, capitalizing on more than two decades of previous experience with the product in Europe. “This decision is part of a significant company-wide initiative to hone our construction focus on high-performance polymer systems, which provide quality, energy-efficient solutions,â€

Effective October 31, 2008, IPEX discontinued the production and the sale of WarmRite Floor® pipe, fittings and accessories for the North American hydronic heating market. According to a company press release the WarmRite product line no longer met the business targets that IPEX required and increased competitive pressure and poor market conditions had resulted in the continuing decline of WarmRite sales and profitability. The company has announced that select WarmRite components will remain in their inventory for a period of time in order for customers to complete, maintain and service their heating systems. The current limited warranty will continue to apply to all WarmRite products installed. This is not as a result of any product failure; however, it would probably be prudent for home inspectors that see this product installed in hydronic heating systems to at least inform their clients that the product is no longer availabe in the U.S. and, though they'll be able to get warranty coverage, any expansion of the existing system will have to be constructed using a different product.

Hi, Well, sort of, but it's not a substitute for an actual sweeping. The Chimney Safety Institute has published a couple of papers on the subject. At first blush, they seem to contradict one another but actually they don't; you have to read into it. Go here: http://www.csia.org/PressRoom/ChemicalC ... fault.aspx http://www.csia.org/PressRoom/PressRele ... fault.aspx ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Oh, Thanks, OT - OF!!! M.

By GreenerBuildings Staff - November 19, 2008 A new study from McGraw-Hill Construction says the potential for continued growth in the green building market is huge and projects a possible tripling in the value of eco-friendly construction starts to reach as much as $140 billion. The firm released its 40-page report, "Green Outlook 2009: Trends Driving Change," yesterday on the eve of the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Boston. The seventh annual conference of the U.S Green Building Council officially opens today. To read more at Greener Buildings, click here

Source: The Metal Construction Association (MCA) Metal Roof and Wall Panel Components in Contact with Preservative Treated Lumber - A position paperid="size4"> Copper-containing preservative-treated lumber is corrosive toward certain types of metal roof or wall panels and most of the recommended fasteners. With the exception of copper or copper alloys, where metal roof or wall panels and accessory materials must be installed in contact with copper-containing preservative-treated lumber, To read or download the entire paper, click here.

by By Laura Glass and Mark Ward Sr. Talk to any contractor and you’ll hear the same thing. There’s no guarantee when it comes to lumber. On any given delivery, pieces can be warped or have knots that make them too weak for construction. The unusable wood must be recycled, dumped or resold at a loss. Thus many builders and lumber dealers are taking a look at engineered wood products as a way to contain costs and control overhead. Though engineered wood has been on the market for half a century, technological advances have enabled manufacturers to improve quality, To read more at the online version of Frame Building News, click here.