hausdok

Improperly adjusted mixing valve at the shower. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It's not and yep. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, First, you need to describe it so that we can understand what you're asking. You say there is a 125-amp "service panel" on the exterior and a "distribution panel" at the garage interior; don't you mean that there is a 125 amp "main disconnect" at the exterior of the garage and that there is a "sub-panel" inside the garage? When you say there are 4 wires coming into the "service panel" from the meter are you referring to the "main disconnect"? It sounds like it; it also sounds like the driven service grounding electrode that the service grounding conductor is connected to is below the main disconnect; is that right? If so, that is correct. When you talk about being stumped that the ground and neutral (grounded) bars in the "service panel" are not bonded together, is the panel you are referring to the main disconnect on the outside of the garage or the sub-panel inside the garage. If you're referring to the sub-panel, the ground bars and grounded bars are not supposed to be bonded in a sub-panel because the grounded conductors may not be bonded past the main disconnect. Which is the panel that you are calling the "main service panel" in your last question? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yep, Maybe we don't get a whole lot of traffic, because we don't allow all of the silly soap opera crap, dissing, and name calling that goes on on the other so-called "professional" boards, but I think we've got some of the sharpest folks in the business hanging out here. It's workin' so I don't plan to try and fix it anytime soon. You guys will never know how much I truly appreciate the way you go out of your way to cooperate with each other here and to help anyone who comes here with honest questions regardless of experience. It's truly amazing when you think about how difficult it seems for home inspectors to get along. Thanks so much! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! P.S. Jim, your a friggin' national treasure. You need to open up a 'real' training course.

Hi, Yeah, there was a big battle between Edison and someone else over which system to use - AC or DC. I don't recall all of the circumstances that I read about, but I think it was Edison who advocated the DC system and someone else the AC and Edison pretty much bankrupted himself trying to make DC the accepted standard. I'm sure I've screwed up the details but I'm confident that Jim or someone else with better retention than I have will come on here and set me straight. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It's just my opinion, but I heartily disagree with both of those statements. A report is written just as much for your benefit - maybe even moreso - than it is for the client. Your report is a written record of what you did and discovered - not just a list of defects for the client. If you end up in court 3 years after the fact, because an electrician somewhere says that you missed something and your previous client is suing you, it's going to be the completeness of your report that helps you accurately recount what you did, said, and recorded and it will help to show a judge, or anyone else reading it, that specific items that you were supposed to inspect were in fact inspected, otherwise you wouldn't be able to clearly describe those components. I was a criminal investigator for a lot of years; like me, anyone that has spent a lot of time on witness stands defending his or her investigation of something, clearly understands the importance of a thorough investigation and keeping complete records. Now, unlike criminal investigations, we aren't required to take detailed pictures of, and measure, and triangulate every object on a crime scene before we pick it up and report it, but we should still be held to a certain standard of care that requires us to keep complete records. Inspectors that pooh pooh the need to carefully document their findings are, in my opinion, mostly the ones who end up in court defending themselves for issues that could have been completely avoided if they'd only kept better records. 12 years, 3 months, 21 days and counting; No lawsuits, no arbitrations - past, present, or pending - and zero time wasted arguing about the meaning of any of my reports. This is supposed to be a profession with exacting standards of performance and reporting - not an afternoon outing where you stroll around, look at a few things, jot a couple of things down and hand it to the client, collect a check and walk away whistling. When are people going to realize that and stop trying to cut corners everywhere? People pay a lot of money for these inspections; they deserve to get what they paid for. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I see gas lines bonded all the time. I can't imagine a competent electrician wiring a house and not bonding them. Perhaps they've been bonded but you just didn't see the connections. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Yeah, my first guess would have been hydrogen sulfide too. However, laundry rooms have stuff like bleach in them and corrosive chemicals in laundry detergent. Mix them into the hot water of a washing machine and small amounts of those chemicals waft into the air and might react with those cold equipment grounding conductors. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Gee Erby, That's a helluva bloom and the water droplets hanging from the insulation sheath kind of tell the tale. I hope you impressed on the client just how serious a mess that is. Was there a vapor barrier covering that floor? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Dunno about you, but I'm busier now than I've been at any time over the past 5 years. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Huh, Lot you know; who ever heard of a spirit using a doorway? OT - OF!!! M.

When the owner moved out, they used the coins as a means to contain the spirit that they're fleeing so they won't be haunted in the future. Remove one of those coins and you'll be responsible for that spirit leaving that house and wandering the earth aimlessly trying to find and re-haunt those folks because, unfortunately, spirits don't have an address forwarding service. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Personally, I wouldn't be concerned with temps at the roof with that flashing. That stuff is rated for over 250°F and I don't think I've ever had a B vent anywhere near that hot at a roofline. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Go here and look at item #2 http://www.plumbingsupply.com/roofflashings.html I didn't know the answer - I found this in 20 seconds by googling "plumbing flashings". ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

In my area they certainly are since they are customer owned and supplied.I agree; not necessarily because they are supplied or owned by a customer, but because if the cables between the meter and utility pole are improperly sized for the distance from the transformer and the load they'll carry you can end up with less available voltage than you require. If you design a system that's supposed to be able to draw a 200 amp load and the drop can't handle a 200 amp load - say in 95°F summer heat - wouldn't the system fry the drop? I know it's pretty unlikely, because I've heard that the drop can typically handle twice the rated load of a house's system, and I know that we usually don't consider it, but I should think it has to be a consideration when an electrician is trying to figure out what he's working with. I dunno; maybe I should quit while I'm ahead, I know just about enough about electricity to get myself in trouble. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Cary, When you've got a split-bus panel the electrician installing it is supposed to have calculated the maximum potential load, given the number of branch circuits, permanent appliances, etc. in the home, and ensured that the service entrance cables are large enough to safely carry that load without overheating and melting down. If the panel is rated for 110 amps and there is a water heater, stove-oven, and clothes dryer that pull a combined load of 60 amps the breaker for the sub-main should be 50 amps. That ensures that all of those breakers combined are throttling the load imposed on that #3 cable. When single main disconnects became the norm, the idea was that the main disconnect should be matched to the service entrance cables to protect them from being overloaded and should not be rated higher than the SEC's. In Mark's example, someone could load the home up with enough circuits and devices that it will pull a sustained load of up to 200 amps before that main breaker will trip. Since those #3 cables are only rated for 110 amps, they'll probably overheat and the insulation on them will melt and burn up and the panel will short out long before that breaker even comes close to tripping. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hah, I know exactly what that's like. I spent a year at the Presidio of Monterey jamming German into my head and now I'm trying to learn Irish Gaelic. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

There's more on this topic here. OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, That's what I was thinking when he made the intial post but I couldn't understand what / how they were coming to the conclusion that pulling power through #3 cables through a 200 amp breaker wasn't over-fusing the #3 cables. That's why I asked if Mark could sketch it out for me; sometimes it doesn't make any sense to me until I have something to actually look at. There's no doubt about it now; my brain is definitely turning to oatmeal. I should probably buy a railroad car full of Depends now; given inflation, it will probably save me $50k over what I'll have to spend between the time I totally turn into a blithering idiot and I check out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Geez Louise! I've read that all 4 times and I'm still confused as to what you're saying Mark. Can you sketch that out for me so I can see if I can understand it? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Rich, I agree with these sentiments exactly but I don't have an answer either. Massachusetts has a law that sort of prevents agents from referring inspectors but I think it's got a huge loophole in it and, as you said, it just makes it harder for those who's intent is only to do the right thing. I don't see the model changing much until the majority of the public has learned not to rely so greatly on agents and has learned to do more of its own due diligence. The current market situation might speed up that transition. Last year and the years before I saw a lot of agents figuratively spoon feeding exotic mortgage deals to buyers who clearly couldn't afford to be buying a home. I can imagine that with the current mess some of those folks might have lost their home or are in dire straits right now. They're going to be casting around for someone to blame for their circumstances and I'll bet more than a few will rue the day they allowed an agent to convince them that they could afford a home under one of those fancy loan programs when they had misgivings. I've seen a surge of clients over the past year from Zillow, RedFin, and some other non-typical real estate sites and it looks like more and more folks are doing their own homework. The number of real estate agents leaving the real estate sector might be some kind of substantiation of that belief. I believe that when people do right by their customers that it comes back to them. Thus, I believe that the slick willys of the real estate world are probably the ones that are leaving right now and it's going to mostly the others who will remain. If we as a profession can continue to try and reeducate those within our profession, and win more folks over to non-suckup side, I think we might just be able to finally get some momentum. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well sure, they are in the business of selling, after all. You can't blame them for using every honest advantage they can lay their hands on. Still true, but the internet has made it better and the reliance on the real estate folks for recommendations seems to be diminishing somewhat. I can remember when I got into this business 12 years ago that every newspaper article about home inspections, which were pretty few and far between back then, usually included a quote from some member of the BOD of ASHI or NAHI advising folks not to rely on their real estate professional for recommendations for inspectors. People are slow to change. You're way too late to prevent that from happening. When I got into this business in 1996 I was shown a video tape of a group of state legislators literally grilling the crap out of a panel of home inspectors and one of the legislators looked like he was going to blow a gasket; seems it had happened to him or one of his peeps. Don't mention it; there are a few gazillion words of my own floating out there on the net from my own vents on this very topic. It's what the site is here for. No politics, no religion, hopefully as little organizational chest pounding as possible, and honest inspectors giving honest answers to honest questions and not giving quarter to anyone that continues to perpetuate the warped model that is our profession. That's why it's...... ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Huh? You've got me; I'd never heard the term Dutch basement before so I goggled it. I'm still not sure what you mean. A lot of these old houses began post on pier and later on some owners filled in between posts with concrete and left the posts in place. However, most of them replaced the posts on piers with short concrete stemwalls to form crawlspaces and then still later someone decided that the space under the house was being wasted so they went underneath and dug out as much as they thought they could without undermining the footings. Those are sometimes easy to spot when they've been done wrong because they've got crowned floors, big 8 by 8 mud sills on top of the concrete stemwall, a rough surface along the base of the upper wall where the ears of the foundation have been broken off, and a sloping cracked rat wall between the inner retaining wall and the base of the outer wall. While googling, I found a fascinating set of powerpoint slides which I'm sure were part of someone's lecture and now I wish I could have the opportunity to hear the guy speak. http://www.efficiencyvermont.com/pages/ ... ations.pdf ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Depends on who you play nice for, There are about 3-4 dozen real estate professionals that repeatedly refer their clients to me but I get most of my work from my former clients. There are literally thousands of agents that know who I am and wouldn't piss on me if I were on fire to put the fire out. Just do the job right. Do it like you'd do it if you were inspecting the home for your own mother and let the chips fall where they may. You'll find some real estate professionals that will appreciate it and will continually refer you to their clients and, yes, they will begin telling folks that you are their inspector and how they use you all the time. So what; there's no harm in it if they aren't expecting you to change the way you inspect. Let them think whatever they like. Just don't ever compromise your inspection for one of them, no matter how bad you feel about them losing their deal or you'll just get marked as one of the bottom feeders. You'll encounter a lot more 'zoids than you will real estate professionals and if you do the job right they will not refer anyone to you again but will call you whenever they are buying a home for themselves, or are helping a close friend, relative, attorney, or celebrity get a home, 'cuz they don't want to screw those deals up. When a 'zoid does encounter you on an inspection where they hadn't referred you to the client, they'll complain to you about how their regular inspector never inspects the things you do or how their inspector doesn't call the things that you call and they'll try to put words in your mouth and get you to backtrack on what you've just explained to the client. When that happens, ignore them and just do the job right. And that's the rub; if you do the job right when you're new you risk a whole lot of very hungry downtime between referrals from the real estate folks because you're growing your business by not worrying about whether the deal goes through our not. In order to make up for that lack of referrals, you need to find ways of getting folks who you've done inspections for to tell absolutely everyone they can about you, again and again and again. Of course, you can also go the other route and turn all that around and become very very busy easily. All you have to do is inspect like you're a nearsighted idiot, gush about how great the house is, talk about how great the new granite counters are or what a great view there is, etc. and talk the house up, all the while helping to reinforce the selling points while minimizing the issues in the mind of the buyer. Do that and the 'zoids will flock to you like gulls to chum, which, at that point you'll be. ONE TEAM -ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I see that sometimes around here. I also see a lot of old bungalows where they did that to create basements. Those typically have a block or placed concrete retaining wall inboard of the footing a couple of feet and then they backfill them with soil and pour a "rat wall" layer of concrete on top to create a nice wide storage shelf around the basement. They work but they also leak if the owners didn't think to install drainage beneath/behind them to pick up the water that passes by the original footing drains and continues into the "basement." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike