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Radon? Wuzzat? [] OT - OF!!! M.

Washington, D.C./March 4, 2008 - Release #08-205 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with LDR Industries Inc., of Chicago, Ill. today announced a voluntary recall of approximately 50,000 LDR 1200 Series Gas Connectors The gas connectros were manufactured by Sai lin Ke, of Beijing, China. No injuries have been reported, but these connectors can leak propane or natural gas, posing a fire and explosion hazard to consumers. The recalled LDR series 1200 gas connectors have 3/8 inch fine thread nuts attached. The connectors are used primarily with gas space heaters. The brass nuts are gold colored while the stainless steel tube is silver colored. The following connectors are included in this recall. The UPC code and "LDR 1200 Series Gas Connector" are printed on the product's packaging. These connectors were manufactured in China and sold through hardware stores in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida from August 2007 through September 2007 for between $7 and $20. Inspectors finding these furnaces should advise homeowners to stop using the appliance with the recalled gas connectors. Only a qualified professional, such as a plumber, heating contractor or gas company technician, should check the connectors and replace them. Contact LDR Industries or the place of purchase for instructions on returning the connectors for a full refund. For more information, contact LDR at (800)545-5230 ext. 2345 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's Web site at www.ldrind.com To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled products, go to: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08205.html The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

Oh, Sorry, I sometimes forget that the entire country isn't using the IRC. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, If you're into serious woodworking or maybe just looking around for a way to throw together some quick shelves with seriously strong joints, you might like to get one of these. I'm adding one to my Christmas List 'cuz I can see where they'd be a lot stronger than bisquit joinery. OT - OF!!! M.

Panel boxes are still allowed in closets.Excuse me? E3305.4 Location of clear spaces. Required working space shall not be designated for storage. Panelboards and overcurrent devices shall not be located in clothes closets or bathrooms. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, it looks like Hypalon or something like that. Not EPDM. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Steve, Next time you need to get word out about NJALPHI meetings, you should post something to the Calendar of Events as well. Announcing your event in here only reaches the forum members. Announcing it in the Calendar of Events ensures that it's distributed to about 20,000 inspectors across the continent when the newsletter goes out. It will also be seen by that segment of folks that comes to TIJ and only reads the stuff on the home page and doesn't visit the forums. Post them early and then come in and post reminders in the same announcement thread as they near. Non-profits associations are allowed to post their events for free. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, I just realized why Ellen has been showing up to talk about software - this thread was mistakenly posted in her forum! I should have moved it to computers and software or something like that long ago. Well, maybe not. After all, how we present our reports on site or off is a form of marketing. Maybe I'll just leave it here. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

OK, Whatever you say. OT - OF!!! M.

And you're not required to determine the exact cause. It's the job of whichever specialist comes out to look things over to determine what's causing it and to repair it. The job is defect recognition. You see wet sheathing and lousy flashings, you can state that you think the leak is coming from the flashings but you might be wrong - especially if you didn't bother to examine the crown as well. You see a crack in the crown, you can state that the water intrusion might be coming from the crown, but, again, you might be wrong, 'cuz it might have come in through the flashings. If you can tell what caused it at a quick glance, fine, otherwise, identify the issue, explain why it's bad for the home, suggest a course of action, and move on; don't hang around trying to be be a house whisperer. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Raymond, Well, the associations are entities unto themselves. As far as I know, there are no rules outside of any organization for the way that they run things internally. Whether they are formed initially by a group with a common interest that sets down rules for membership, establishes bylaws, and voting procedure; or they're simply money making schemes initiated by single individuals that call them "associations," they're essentially private clubs. A few eventually gain such stature that they're recognized as semi-official entities, such as the AMA, ABA, ASHRAE, NAHB, etc., and they pull a lot of weight with pols and the public, but in the end they make their own rules. They can be good associations or bad associations such as The American Red Cross or the Salvation Army; or they can be bad associations such as the National Socialist Party, Klu Klux Klan, or the Branch Davidians, etc. They have a right to make their own rules and the public has a right to join or not join as they see fit. If people in those associations don't like the way they do things, they are free to leave - that's the way it works. I understand; you're upset because the public relations firm you paid to represent you booted you as a client for violating its message board rules when many of its other clients routinely violate those same rules. Because it's not really an association, per se, maybe there are laws in Canada that govern under what conditions a business can severe its business relationship with a client, but where true associations are concerned the membership is pretty much at the mercy of those who make the rules. Sure, it doesn't seem fair, but without hard and fast bylaws and rules that require a vote to take certain actions, associations can pretty much do anything they want. In your case, that firm's proprietor, who sees himself as the imperious leader, apparently ceded that power to a group of his clients. He can do that if he wants to, and he can take that power away just as easily if he gave it. It's his firm, he can run it the way he wants. If you're so upset about it, why don't you talk to a lawyer and see if there isn't some sort of implied contract that's been breached and go after them in civil court for breach of contract. Otherwise, you're out now so put it behind you; it ain't worth losing any sleep over. You need to let it go and stop beating a dead horse. Think about it, you became addicted to the self aggrandizing that goes on over there, and, now that you don't have that daily dose of propaganda and mollycoddling, you're acting like an ex alcoholic who rails against the evils of alcohol but spends all his time hanging out in bars at night. If I were you, I'd force myself to stay off that site and refuse to think about, or even mention those folks, for at least six months. Kick it cold turkey and don't give it another thought. There are other things to do with your life than sit around stewing over a perceived injustice. Get over it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

As you become more experienced, you'll realize that leaking flashings causing water infiltration are less common than cracked/deteriorating stacks that are allowing water in. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Ellen! Welcome back, we haven't seen you here since Truman was president! Well, just a slight exaggeration. I don't want to let Chris' thread go off-track, but if any of you are wondering who Ellen is, then you probably aren't doing enough reading about the other trades associated with homes, such as HVAC and Plumbing, because she's a hero to folks in those businesses. If you're having trouble figuring out where you're money is going and how you're going to focus on making more, and keeping it, she's the one to listen to. There's another forum on this board specifically dedicated to asking her questions about finances and running a business intelligently. Given the current state of the housing crisis and the rate at which many in this business are going bankrupt, now is the time to take advantage of it. I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Nah, It'll get announced to the world in the Seattle PI as a rightous triumph for Spanel and Kohl-Welles and the PI will go out of it's way to make it seem like every practicing home inspector is an evil money-grubbing troll that's stealing everyone's money. All of the other minor papers in the state will then follow suit - that's just the way it is around here. Officially, DOL and/or the board, whomever that turns out to be, will probably send out letters to all of the real estate offices, banks, title companies, etc., as they did with the SPI announcement, in order to tell them that anyone who's operating without a license past such-and-such date is operating illegally. In the end, there will be some that don't comply before the drop dead date and those who do will dime them out, the same way that they dimed each other out over the SPI thing, and then the new board, feeling all ambitious, will probably come down on a few of those folks with both feet, and that will jolt the rest of them into complying. In the end, I doubt that it will eliminate very many practicing inspectors, but it will force every single practicing inspector to at least take a test to prove that he or she is minimally competent. I suppose that one can hope that it should ensure that those getting into the business in the future step back and think carefully about whether they want to spend the time and effort to get that little bit of education, and do the supervised inspection thing, and take the test, before they leap; instead of one day while they're leaning out a window handing someone their Whopper and fries that tomorrow they're going to be a home inspector. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Tsk, His link has been deactivated and his profile locked. It's a shame really, I would have welcomed him as a sponsor, but after blatantly trying to spam my members? Uh, uh. Toodaloo! OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, Well engrossed substitute bill SB 6606 has just been unanimously voted out of committee with some amendments. I've linked the committee's vote here. Fast forward to 14 minutes and 15 seconds into the video to hear discussion about this bill. It should go now to the rules committee, and, since there is an amendment involving fees added by the Department of Licensing, it may go back to the Senate for some more work. If it does, since it's a short legislative session this year, it's going to be touch and go as to whether it will make it back to the house in time to be voted on before the end of session. We'll continue to watch it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I'll make a shameless plug here; check out our sponsor's software - Inspect Express by DevWave. Although it's great to use to build a report back at the office; it's specifically designed to make it easy for an operator to build and print a report on-site using a pen tablet or a palm type computer. You'll have to spend some time customizing the boilerplate to make it your own, but in the end it will produce a very nice on-site report that hands-down beats anything you can produce with InspectIt. How do I know that? Because I bought the InspectIt program and used it for over a year after I quit the franchise outfit I used to be with. It was $800 wasted as far as I'm concerned, because I spent a lot of time that year pulling my hair out. I found Inspect Express the next year and later worked with DevWave to develop a product that kicks InspectIt's butt. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, For years I've heard people talk about how this space in front of the panel is a safety issue and it's meant to provide someone a means of getting away from the panel. I'm starting to think that's just folklore; it seems more likely that electricians stuck that requirement in the code to ensure that someone working on the panel can do so easily. They might claim that it was put in there for safety but I think the bottom line is they don't want to have to be an acrobat to work on a panel, so they write a requirement into the law that mandates a space big enough for a man to stand in in front of the panel. Sure, the stairs is a dumb location, but all this talk about someone being electrocuted and then falling down the stairs and breaking his or her neck? I think some imaginations are running wild with speculation, here. OT - OF!!! M.

Well, Score a big one for the suits. I just got this off the wire. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, So anyway, I'm poking around on the web looking for hi-tech wireless video recording equipment that someone could wear while doing an inspection and I came across this. I figured that Jim Katen, being the ultimate tinkerer, would get a kick out of this. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Uniform Mechanical Code M1411.3 Condensate disposal. Condensate from all cooling coils or evaporators shall be conveyed from the drain pan outlet to an approved place of disposal. Condensate shall not discharge into a street, alley or other areas so as to cause a nuisance. Unform Plumbing Code 9.1.10 Air Conditioning Equipment. Where condensate or other drainage from air conditioning or cooling equipment discharges to a drainage system it shall discharge indirectly to a trapped and vented receptor through an air break or air gap. EXCEPTION: An air break shall not be permitted where the drain connects to a point in the air conditioning equipment that operates at a pressure below atmospheric 9.3 INDIRECT WASTE RECEPTORS 9.3.1. General (snip)Exceptions: (snip)(2) In a dwelling unit, a laundry sink, provided that an air gap is maintained for any potable clear-water waste shall be an acceptable receptor for: a. Air conditioning condensate.(3) A service sink or mop basin shall be an acceptable receptor for air conditioning condensate and any infrequent potable clear-water waste if the required air gap is provided for potable clear-water wastes. 9.3.3 Prohibited Locations Receptors for indirect wastes shall not be located in a toilet room or in any confined, concealed, inaccessible, or unventilated space. EXCEPTION: Air conditioning condensate in dwellings shall be permitted to drain to a tub waste and overflow or lavatory tailpiece in accordance with Section 9.4.3.c.5. 9.43 Air Conditioning Condensate (snip)C. Discharge of air conditioning condensate shall not be permitted to create a nuisance such as by flowing across the ground or paved surfaces. Unless expressly prohibited by the Authority Having Jurisdiction, the point of indirect discharge for air conditioning condensate shall be one of the following: 1. The building sanitary drainage system. 2. The building storm drainage system. 3. A sump pump. 4. A subsurface absorption pit or trench. 5. Within dwellings, a tub waste and overflow or lavatory tailpiece within the same dwelling.

That sure sounds like gender bias to me. He's a public official. Is he going to treat all female contractors and inspectors that way? Time for the Mayor and city hall to come down on him with both feet. Time to attend the next city council meeting. OT - OF!!! M.

Yep, North Carolina. The home inspectors took out a permit to protest, went down to the state capitol and stood on the steps with picket signs and with tape over their mouths. Made the news big time! If I were a Kentucky inspector, I'd be organizating just such a rally. OT - OF!!! M.

You're probably right, Bill, but I had to do my public duty and warn them anyway. OT - OF!!! M.

According to an article and video in Popular Science, Wicked Laser's Torch flashlight puts out an incredible 4100 lumens (The closest anyone else can come is just under 1000) but gets so hot that it can' set fire to paper in seconds and internal components will actually melt down within minutes. It's probably a good idea to avoid this product the next time you are buying home inspector toys. To read the article or see the video click here.