hausdok

Hi, Yes, they're very effective. I've seen them more than once with a nice fat abomination dead as a doornail stuck on them so I think they're the greatest thing going. Personally, I hope the nasty buggers chew all of their nasty legs off as well as their privates; I couldn't care less if we made them extinct. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

With properly installed cedar shingles, the only exposed joint is the joint between corner, window, and door trim and the shingles. If those areas are properly splined (flashed) caulking them isn't really necessary; however, it won't hurt but only at those locations and nowhere else. There isn't, or shouldn't be, any exposed underlayment of sheathing at the keyways between adjacent shingles, so caulking them would be pointless and might only cause water that's supposed to be able to drain to the exterior from draining out of the wall. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I gotta admit that was the wackiest thing I've seen in a while. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, It's got nothing to do with home inspection, but I thought some of you might enjoy seeing a masterful bit of radio controlled model airplane flying. It's too bad the real B29's couldn't maneuver all day like this without coming apart. Enjoy! http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos. ... =army-a.nl ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sigh, guess I'm not communicating very well, 'cuz that's what I was trying to get across when I described how InspectExpress was developed. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Implausible - I've never seen it. If any condensation is going to occur in a chase, it's going to occur inside and you'll never know about it until the frame is rotting and crawling with bugs or the top of the zero-clearance fireplace rusts through. It's not going to show up on the outside like that. That's dirt or rust that's either bypassed the end of that gutter or has overflowed onto the siding. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Me. OT - OF!!! M.

There probably aren't any kickouts at the sides of that chimney chase and runoff is shooting off the roof, misses the ends of the gutter, and runs down the side of the chase. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Here's an article where Buckley explains what makes a Rumford such an efficient fireplace and explains how to build one. http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jlconl ... w/9403revi If you are not a JLCOnline.com member you might not be able to download the article without paying for it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yes, check out DevWave's software. It's designed to be used either on-site with a touch-screen tablet computer or a palm device or off-site back at the office compiling results from hand-written notes. It's dirt simple to use and the most glitch-free thing that I've worked with in more than 12 years; and I've tried them all. Keep in mind that I'm a little prejudiced in favor of this product, 'cuz I helped the sponsors develop it. However, I'm a compumoron; and, from day one of our working together on this thing, it was always the goal to produce something that, right out of the box could be used by someone who doesn't know much about computers. It's specifically designed to help someone who's got limited writing and typing skills to be able to at least produce something that doesn't say to the client, "Hey, look at me, I've been out of school so long I've forgotten how to spell, punctuate, and conjugate a verb and it's almost impossible for me to intelligently put my thoughts into words on paper." Yes, just like Walter says, the boilerplated comments need a lot of work; however, the software will lead him through a thorough inspection and will produce a final full-narrative product that, despite the amount of inspectorspeak in it, is better than about 95% of the other software programs out there. One of these days, we'll get around to completely rewriting the rewrite of the boilerplate and will get rid of as much of the inspectorspeak as possible. It won't be perfect, but it will be closer than most. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Ahem I've got the patent on that. The problem is; I can't patent Jowers. Go here to post #21. https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... RUM_ID=125 It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. Right now, we have troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan that are wearing portable computers with helmet cams and heads-up displays that transmit everything they are doing and seeing to their squad leader onsite and to higher headquarters and their squad leaders and higher, being able to see the entire battle unfolding from their vantage point, are able to direct them. Military apps don't take long transitioning to civilian apps. It shouldn't be too much longer before this can be done. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It looks almost like there are shingle slots aimed toward the center from the upper right, lower left, and lower right, as if it's where peaked roofs meet the slope of a third with a dead-ended valley in the center. Is it? If so, which way does that valley drain - to the upper left of the picture or lower right? OT - OF!!! M.

Go here: http://www.rumford.com/mfg.html The proprietor, Jim Buckley, went into the business of Rumfordizing conventional fireplaces way back in 1982 and over the past 26 years has probably learned more about these babies than anyone else in the country. He can probably tell you what's what without even lifting a gray matter pinkie. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Chad, I've never seen it either. Around here, they mostly just pull out the oil burner and hang a Mighty Mite gas burner on the furnace. The guy said that because gas burning furnace burn at such low temps compared to oil burning furnaces they need to do a better job of distributing the air and most of the old oil systems, with their huge ducts, don't do that very well; ie, one central return versus two or more for a newer gas system, etc. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, so? Are telling us or asking us? It's hard to respond when we don't know what you were thinking when you posted the photo. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Unless you tear out all of the ducting and replace it with smaller stuff, converting an oil system to a gas system isn't going to save anything on fuel and the additional cost of all of that sheetmetal work when you do convert will more than offset your fuel savings for a lot of years. At least that's what one HVAC guy here told me. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I think that with either house this might be a situation where there'd been roof cresting and it's been removed. I've seen plenty of old photos of early 20th century houses and bungalows in the Seattle vicinity and more than a few of them featured cresting - especially on hip roofs. How old was that house, Philip? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike P.S. Whoops, I went back to read the thread and now see that it was built in 1950. Not sure if there would have ever been cresting used on a roof around that time where you are, Philip, but we wouldn't have seen it here.

Hi, Like Kurt, I tell them to do a little bit of due diligence and study the minutes from as many of the HOA meetings as they can. I don't worry about the reserve fund though; frankly, I'm too much of an idiot when it comes to finances and stuff like that - I'd be a lousy person to ask about a reserve fund issue. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Check out our sponsors, DevWave. As far as I know, inspectors who had them build sites for them are happy. OT - OF!!! M.

Not anymore. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Kurt, Here, I copied the code. Just place the very last g behind the last tag in it. http://www.jewelryexpert.com/catalog/graphics/policy.gif[/im] OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I think that a uniform surface for the granite to rest on would be advisable; only because when the carcasses of those cabinets shrink they won't shrink evenly and the slab could end up cantilevered on a sharp edge and might crack. Last year, while I was talking to a client in the kitchen of a flip, his buddy who'd accompanied him decided to sit on the kitchen countertop. He reached back, lifted himself up onto that granite countertop and then plunked his butt down on the counter, at which point we all heard a very audible popping sound. I said, "What the hell was that?" and the buddy slid off of the kitchen counter. There in the granite was a perfectly straight crack that followed the edge of one of the cabinets beneath the counter. The cabinet next to it had obviously been delivered as the same size, but the wood carcass had shrunk and there was about a 1/8" inch height difference. It was enough; when buddy plunked his fat butt on that countertop, it cracked the countertop. The client bought the house (he would have bought it anyway) and sucked up the cracked countertop. I told him that, when he repaired the counter it would probably be a good idea to remove the counter and put a uniform surface on top of those carcasses in order to support it and make sure it didn't crack again. I don't know how he dealt with his buddy but he looked pretty pissed about it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I don't really bother to try and explain an AFCI in the report. I'll report their presence and what circuits they're on but that's about it. However, I do my inspections with the buyer in tow, so it takes me about 30 seconds to explain to the client what those odd looking breakers are for, show how to reset it, and to advise him or her that if one is found tripped to go back and investigate conditions in the bedroom to see what's caused it to trip, and, if they can't figure it out, to call an electrician right away. That 30 seconds on-site saves me dinking around for half an hour trying to figure out how to best explain it in writing. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Jim is right, this isn't something that someone who isn't literally an expert with ladders and roofs should ever attempt. I'm guessing that you're a homeowner, in which case I don't think you should try this. You can probably hire a local handyman to do this for very little - far less than an extended stay in the hospital, or months out of work with a broken limb, or even death, will cost you. Before you hire Billy Bob though, make sure he's got his own insurance policy, or, if he is injured or killed, it will be you that gets sued. The piece of "trim" that you describes sounds like the edge support used as a drip edge under the shingles at the perimeter of roofs. It enables the roofer to extend the shingles a little bit beyond the actual frame of the structure, thus making it less likely that rain clinging to the underside of the edge of the roof can reach the roof deck and framing. The fact that the trim is rotting, tells you that it's doing its job; the only problem is that whoever installed it probably didn't prime and paint it on all sides and edges before installing it and water absorbed into the unprotected back surface has caused it to rot away. Nailing a cleat to the roof to brace the base of the ladder will only leave a few holes. These can easily be repaired with a putty knife, some roofing mastic, and a few pieces of pre-painted metal flashings. Once you've pried the cleat off the surface, use the putty knife to gently separate the top layer of shingles from those below; daub some mastic onto the holes in the underlying shingles, center a piece of flashing over the mastic while slipping it up under the overlapping shingle, apply a quarter-sized dollop of mastic to the hole on the underside of the overlapping shingle and within an inch of each corner of the overlapping shingle tab and then press the overlapping shingle tab into the mastic. Once the mastic cures, it'll be fine. Now, a little discussion about this ladder on roof thing. The following is not meant for those inspector's whose knees shake when you climb a six foot stepladder or climb up onto a table. In fact, if you aren't almost as comfortable working on roofs and ladders as you are on the ground, stop reading right now and never under any circumstance try to inspect a roof from anywhere but the ground with binoculars because you shouldn't even be on a ladder. The answer as to whether one can place a ladder on a lower roof to get to a higher roof, without nailing a board to the roof to prevent the ladder from slipping, really depends on the pitch of the roof, the type of gripping surface on the ladder, and the material the roof cover is made from. With the right type of ladder, it's possible, up to a certain pitch, to place a ladder on a lower comp roof or wood shingle or shake roof but I'd never try it with a metal roof, stone or tile roof. I use a little giant type compacting ladder. It's got splayed legs which give it good lateral stability and the grippers on the ends of that ladder are angled in such a way that it will grip a lower roof with up to about a 2:12 pitch very strongly without the need for a cleat, as long as you are using the ladder at it's maximum steepest angle. That means there's no room for error; you've got to go straight up the ladder without leaning backward and must keep your weight centered straight down into the roof. You also can't lean on any portion of the ladder that extends beyond the gutter as you're getting on or off the ladder or you'll kick the base of the ladder out. Place the base of the ladder too far from the wall of the house, and those grippers are no longer directing weight straight down into the roof surface, but away from the house, and the bottom of the ladder is liable to kick out. If you don't know how to comfortably get on and off the top of a ladder without clinging to the top of that ladder and leaning on it, don't even attempt it - you're out of your depth. Extension ladders tend to be very long and narrow with poor lateral stability and how well the grippers on the ends of an extension ladder can grip a lower roof depends on how they're hinged and secured to the end of the ladder. Personally, I wouldn't try it without nailing a cleat to the roof below to brace the bottom of the ladder. Like I said, one has to be an expert at scaling roofs and using a ladder to do this. Obviously, if you aren't, you shouldn't even try it. Now, FirstyLast, if you try this and are injured, after being warned by us that it's not something that an amateur should attempt, remember that we advised you against attempting it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, it's the initial poster that's claiming that the staining is being caused by vapor coming out of the crawlspace and, frankly, I think he's wrong. I don't know what's causing it, but I don't believe it's caused by crawlspace vapor. He says it's stucco-clad. I can't recall ever seeing dark stains above crawlspace vents here and, here in the northwest, we've probably got the dampest crawlspaces around. I certainly would have written up any moisture issues in the crawlspace for correction but I doubt it would have changed the way the cladding is becoming stained. Looking at it from the standpoint of the cladding that was used, I suppose it's possible that, if the vents pass through the stucco cladding, that the stucco guy didn't install weep screeds above the vents and used ordinary metal termination beads above the vents that don't weep. If that's the case, stucco is porous and will absorb a certain amount of moisture; that moisture then needs to drain to the base of the wall and escape. As that moisture moves downward and encounters the vent terminations it's forced to either side of the vents, causing more moisture to be present in the stucco immediately above the vents. Dust blowing around outside might be clinging to the damper stucco. That's a possible theory, but without seeing the house and being able to examine the stucco I don't think it's a theory that one should voice to the customer. Frankly, if I'd seen it I'm not even sure I would have bothered to comment about it unless I saw it as the basis for some other issue. The weather does come from the southwest here on the left coast, so I suppose that, if there aren't proper weep screeds I'd have a basis for a theory; however, I'd hold that theory in check until I could talk to some stucco guys - the Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau (www.NWCB.org) for instance, and confirm the theory before I offered it. If, there aren't weep screeds over the vents and, based on talking to NWCB and others, I thought I'd figured it out, I probably would have only written up the lack of weep screeds as an issue and would not have bothered to go into the darkened stucco or any of the other theory because it would only confuse the issue. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike