hausdok

OK, Les, I'm putting my foot down; we discuss home inspection issues here, there will not be any discussion of ancient Asian sex techniques on this forum. [:-censore ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

"Housey" things. I like it. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Well, that depends on whether it's L-P siding or Innerseal. If it's Innerseal, which was the subject of a class action lawsuit and is readily identifiable, I report it as Innerseal. If it's just L-P OSB clapboard or panel siding that's what I say - Oriented Strand Board (OSB) Clapboard Siding or Oriented Strand Board (OSB) Panel Siding. Name any brand of Asbestos siding that's been involved in a class-action lawsuit. Once I know about it, and someone provides me a way to readily and positively identify it, I'll write it as that. I've said it here dozens of times; I think this whole asbestos thing is more overblown than the mold is gold thing. Every single time you drive through a dry cloud of dust driving down any street anywhere on this planet you'll be exposed to friable asbestos; the fibers are ubiquitous in the air around us. If asbestos is such a killer, how come kids in their mid-twenties, who've been exposed to the stuff their entire lives, don't come down with mesothelioma or asbestosis? I think the odds of you getting cancer from radon or secondhand smoke are probably better than getting it from asbestos - and then there's the fiber-cement siding. The fibers are literally bound to the cement and silica sand in the shingles; how could they possibly harm you? I'd be more worried about the stuff sloughing off the insulation wafers in my wife's blow dryer than I would from this siding. There's a whole section of the town of Everett that's contaminated with asbestos and nobody is allowed to build there. Yet, you don't hear about lifelong residents of the neighborhoods that border that area dropping like flies after living there 25 to 30 years; why the hell is that? My father recently died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 81. He spent nearly 60 years building homes and in the early part of his building career he was routinely exposed to friable asbestos in hundreds of forms - and he unknowingly exposed all of us kids to it by having us work for him. He also used to smoke 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day. When he got sick they scanned him every way possible and found that his lungs were very very clear. I'm not saying asbestos can't make folks sick; I'm saying that it doesn't make everyone who's exposed to it sick, any more than peanuts kill everyone that eats them or bees kill everyone they sting. Let me suggest that there is no such thing as the bogeyman. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I think any good contractor can figure out what to do with that without getting an engineer involved. By the look of it, I think the spalling has run its course. If if I ran into that I'd just chip away the worst of it, paint it with binder, wrap a form around it that provide an addition 6 inches on all sides, lay in some rebar, and place a 5,000 psi collar around the whole shebang. Then I'd figure out what to do about the water and do it. It'd be good for another 100 years. OT - OF!!! M.

Jim, What do you do? Do you make mention of this in the report? What risk does an HI have for not mentioning that a client may not be able to now or in the future obtain insurance coverage or that said coverage cost could skyrocket? Chris, Oregon Just tell the truth; it's fiber-cement siding. That's an absolutely true statement and more accurate than calling it asbestos-cement siding if you don't actually know for a fact that it is. GAF makes a whole menu of siding products that are identical to the asbestos fiber shingles; put the two side-by-side and you can't tell the difference (Unless you grind it up, snort it, and wait 25 years to see if it will matasticize - nyuk, nyuk.) OT - OF!!! M.

Les VanAlstine - the Rhinestone Cowboy of home inspectors. OT - OF!!! M.

I call it a tub surround. OT - OF!!! M.

I smell someone looking for an excuse to demand a refund or initiate a lawsuit. OT - OF!!! M.

Geez Scott, Must we always go there? Energy audits are going to be part of this new "green" thing and another way that home inspectors can make some additional revenue. I don't know anything about the training over there; if it's sh*t, then the folks getting trained will do sh*t work and eventually find themselves weeded out of the market, if it's good training, they'll obviously have a leg up over the guy who goes out and blows a wad to get trained on energy audits. His training is all put together by unpaid volunteers, no? Well, every one of the associations has the ability to emulate that for their own members using their own volunteers. If they're not doing that, shame on them. It seems to me that, instead of constantly carping about what he's doling out over there on the soap opera, if the associations really want to counteract what he's doing over there they need to get off their duffs and start emulating what he does - only do it better and for less; otherwise, stop complaining. Or, I suppose folks can continue to stand around telling themselves that they are superior and that the soap opera doesn't matter while continuing to watch their memberships dwindle. If you want to compete in a free market economy you have to actually compete - carping isn't competing. Why is it that folks just don't seem to get that? This is one of the reasons why I'm no longer a member of any association. I really got tired of the constant irrelevant drama. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Just realized that there're two different threads going on this same subject. Hi, Just got off the phone with Freddy from JH Tech Services. He said that, despite what the installation sheet says, they wouldn't void the warranty for nailed butt joints in conjunction with face nailing because the product can be face nailed. I asked him if he was aware of any negative consequences that might acrue as a result of doing that and he said he didn't know but forwarded me to their engineering department for the answer. Got their voice mail again and am standing by. Before Freddy transferred me, I asked him about the flashings and the caulking; he said that basically any approved flashing, even felt, will do but if aluminum is used it must be painted so that it can't come into contact with the concrete siding. He said that siders can still use caulk if they want to but they don't recommend it, because their experience in the field has shown that it's not necessary as long as the joints are flashed and the siding looks better without it. Given the lack of knowledge that most siding installation crews have today about such things as corrosion due to aluminum/concrete contact, I think an installer would be just plain foolish to use aluminum flashings when there are so many other options that won't cause any issues. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Just got off the phone with Freddy from JH Tech Services. He said that, despite what the installation sheet says, they wouldn't void the warranty for nailed butt joints in conjunction with face nailing because the product can be face nailed. I asked him if he was aware of any negative consequences that might acrue as a result of doing that and he said he didn't know but forwarded me to their engineering department for the answer. Got their voice mail again and am standing by. Before Freddy transferred me, I asked him about the flashings and the caulking; he said that basically any approved flashing, even felt, will do but if aluminum is used it must be painted so that it can't come into contact with the concrete siding. He said that siders can still use caulk if they want to but they don't recommend it, because their experience in the field has shown that it's not necessary as long as the joints are flashed and the siding looks better without it. Given the lack of knowledge that most siding installation crews have today about such things as corrosion due to aluminum/concrete contact, I think an installer would be just plain foolish to use aluminum flashings when there are so many other options that won't cause any issues. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Kurt, Yeah, it does have to be aerosol'd (is that a Kurt word - kurd). However, let's say that the igniter doesn't work and a bunch of kerosene gets sprayed into the chamber and everything is saturated. Now you've got fumes wafting around and kerosene fumes are more volatile than fuel oil fumes - way more. All it takes is a spark and she go BOOM! I remember a funny story a few years ago where some fella decided to get some grease stains out of his pants with kerosene. He rubbed it into his pants and then popped them in the washing machine and hit the switch. A minute or so later when one of the little switching gizmos in the top of the washing machine kicked in the washing machine blew all to hell. You could never do that with fuel oil, it'd just lie there, look up at you and snicker and say, "No way, sucka!"* ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike * Speaking figuratively, Walter, don't blow a cork.

Hi, Yeah, that's what's got me concerned. From JH's instructions (underlining is mine): IMPORTANT: FAILURE TO INSTALL AND FINISH THIS PRODUCT IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE BUILDING CODES AND JAMES HARDIE WRITTEN APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS MAY LEAD TO PERSONAL INJURY, AFFECT SYSTEM PERFORMANCE, VIOLATE LOCAL BUILDING CODES, AND VOID THE PRODUCT ONLY WARRANTY. I've put in a call to their technical department but got the voice mail. I'm waiting for a call back from the mountain. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, he can use it if he doesn't blow himself sky high. He'll need to add it at the tank where he'll be well clear of the unit, 'cuz the fumes are highly flammable. Kerosene that's refined for use in oil burners is typically dyed red so that it's easily distinguishable. As long as the burners are firing ok it'll be fine. However, if the thing doesn't fire and douses the combustion chamber with wet fuel, and then he tries to burn it off by doing something like toss a match in there, it could get dicey. Do you know what brand combo it is? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Fuel costs more these days; consequently, more and more consumers are looking for ways to save on fuel costs. That's why energy auditors are seeing an uptick in business. The new cheaper infrared cameras that are priced around $3000 are making it easier for home inspectors to add energy audits as an additional revenue stream. To learn more click here.

As winter approaches and the price of fuel oil stays high, inspectors in Canada and the northern states, and even some other areas, are going to see more and more wood-burning stoves this year as sellers install them and highlight them as a desirable feature of the home. Pellet stoves in particular are seeing a strong comeback. This article illustrates the renewed popularity of wood stoves. Do you know everything that you need to know about how they should be installed and how to inspect them? Do you know how to tell when a stove is EPA certified? Other articles: Pellet Stove Buying Guide Best Practices for Wood-Burning Fireplace Installation Consumer Reports Buyer's Guide To Wood-Burning Stoves

Or 18-1/2 minutes of Nixon's voice . . . - Jim Katen, Oregon Now that'd be worth something. OT - OF!!! M.

Other than the manufacturer says not to do it? No. I plan to call JH in the morning and ask them what the consequences of this are. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Well, on todays brand new home that's sided with Hardiplank, the siding is blind nailed and just about every butt joint was double face nailed. Really big builder - this'll go over like a screen door on a submarine. OT - OF!!! M.

When all of the windows and doors are closed an entry door will function like a bellows, pushing air into and out of wall cavities and the cold air that gets in around receptacles does cause ghosting. They make a foam gasket to fit behind receptacle coverplates that will prevent the dust from being sucked out of the wall every time the door is opened/closed and will can help to reduce ghosting. OT - OF!!! M.

Dunno, They're all over in storage; I never bothered to play them. Hmm, maybe I've got some dirt on someone there. Maybe the sound of the Mayor doing a deal to purchase a kewpie doll or sumpin. I should go check 'em out. OT - OF!!! M.

Arcing/loose service neutral at the meter array? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Actually, they say, "Face nailing should only be used where required and should not be used in conjuction with blind nailing." I think the reason they don't want folks face naililng along with blind nailing is that once the weather/temperature changes those tacked butts will stick out like sore thumbs. If the whole thing is face nailed then you don't see big differences from one area to another in how claps react to those changes. That's my theory and I'm stickin' to it until someone proves I've got my head tucked up my butt (Well, I do anyway, but that's beside the point). ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I don't know much about pools either; there's a huge one about 20 miles long and two miles wide about a quarter mile from my door. If I need to go swimming, I drive over there. That said, aren't some pools equipped with an auto-fill device that's supposed to replace water lost due to evaporation or a small leak? If so, bet that's the water. Here's my theory. Something broke below ground and water perked up to the surface until the ground beneath the leak became fully saturated and began to accept water more readily. At that point, the surface water drained into the ground and now the broken line is saturating the soil. Tell her to go outside, turn off the meter, and call a plumber and request he get over there stat. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Gary, You know, if you turn that camera 90° and take one step backward you'll be able to get a picture of the entire panel from that angle. OT - OF!!! M.