hausdok

Hi, Go here. It's infinitely customizable and it's easy to customize. I personally don't like the look of most of the samples there, but that's the beauty of this program - you can completely change the look of it in a couple of minutes without breaking a sweat. If you have a good understanding of MS word, it's a snap. It's also dirt easy to upload a photo, or a long string of photos, into a report. Download the trial and play around with it for a few days. See how easy it is to change the format; add, change, or eliminate conventions; re-title the boilerplate and re-write or customize the boilerplate to suit your own style. I used a franchise's custom software for almost 5 years, then I used InspectIt for a year and spent that year pulling my hair out (what little there is of it), then I found the folks at Devwave and I've used that program since - just over 6 years now - and you won't see me changing, or even playing around with anything else, anytime soon. Now, in case you haven't noticed, these folks are my primary sponsor. However, their sponsorship isn't contingent upon my giving their software a good report - if it were, I'd never talk about it. Besides, nobody has given them more of a hard time than I have when it came to demanding they add upgrades and improvements to the program and they've always come through with flying colors. If you could see a 2001 version of the program and compare it to today's version, you'd understand just how responsive and willing to adapt to the profession that they've been. Nuff said. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike P.S. Come to think of it, I've got a 2001 trial version of that software on one of the old hard drives I saved when I scrapped an old computer. Push come to shove, I might be able to figure a way to send it to you to compare with today's version, in order for you to see the degree of evolution involved. Er, you probably don't want to see one my sample reports - not unless you are capable of drinking an entire pot of coffee at one sitting in order to make it through the read.

Then I'd say that the state of the roofing industry is in pretty sorry shape in your area because I've never seen properly installed step flashings leak in the 56 years I've been on this rock. Where did you ever get the idea that there's a "splice" every 6 inches? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, A few years ago, I took a cheap pipe snake and attached a 4 inch bench grinder brush to the end and used it to clean a vent by pushing the snake through the vent first and then pulling the brush through the vent. It was a snug fit and it practically polished the sides of that vent. The trick was getting the snake through the duct in order to get ahold of it. Getting around the corners required some twisting and jiggling back and forth. I see dryer vents straight up through attics around here a lot. they seem to work just fine when the installers are clear headed enough to use smooth-walled ducting and don't install an outlet with screen over it. However, there seem to be a fair number of installers out there who don't realize that installing an outlet with a screen on it isn't very smart and I often find those clogged solid at the terminus. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Minh, I don't know of any roofers in the Dallas area. I suggest checking with the National Roofing Contractor's Association (NRCA) at http://www.nrca.net; they have a membership directory on their site. While you are there, check out their consumer page and you'll find some good information there. Have you done the roof yet? Unless you are experienced at roofing, trying to install a new roof yourself may end up being a disaster; it's not as easy as it looks and there are a lot of details that, if you don't get them exactly right, will allow that roof to leak and will end doing damage to your home - damage that, in the end, might cost you more than what you've saved by doing the roof yourself. Good luck, and keep in mind that, if you do the roof yourself, that you need to get it right because someday when you go to sell some home inspector is going to take a very critical look at that roof and won't have anything good to day abouit work that doesn't look like it was done by a professional. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It's explained in the FAQ under the home tab above. Basically, you put the proper tags in front of and behind the link, write the title of the link, such as Click Here, and then you put the tag that indicates the end of the URL after that. Here's an example using apostrophes instead of the brackets which are supposed to be used. (url="https://www.inspectorsjournal.com")Click Here!(/url) The 'tool' comment is interesting. When I talked to the Fluke guy, he said that they've designed their instrument to be a tool that will get used and he called the ones that most of the other manufacturers produce "scientific instruments." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

At this point, it's just an idea. I don't see why someone couldn't do the level 1 thing and not purchase a camera. However, I think if you're trying to put on a program like this, with the intent of reducing prices by keeping it as a one-stop-shopping deal, that there would be a an additional cost associated for not purchasing. After all, you can get the training anywhere - so why would a manufacturer even bother to work with anyone to try and develop such a program otherwise? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It's spalling. You can see the pattern on the bricks - they're absorbing moisture. The chips are where the moisture froze and expanded and popped the edges off the bricks. Acid wash and then seal with a clear but breathable brick sealant. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Really? That hasn't been my experience. OT - OF!!! M.

Washington, D.C./February 21, 2008 - Release #08-199 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Rinnai America Corp., of Peachtree City, Ga. , today announced a voluntary recall of approximately 52,000 Rinnai direct-vent wall furnaces, Models RHFE 431 and RHFE 556 that are either natural gas or LP gas (propane) fueled. A gasket in the unit can fail, posing a risk of poisonous carbon monoxide gas leaking into the home. Rinnai has received 11 reports of carbon monoxide leaking from these furnace. However, so far, no injuries have been reported. The following model numbers are included in therecall: Model RHFE-431: FAIII-N, FAIII-P, WTA-N, WTA-P, WTA-72B-N, WTA-76B-N Model RHFE-556: FAIII-N, FAIII-P, WTA-N, WTA-P The model number is printed on the top of the rating plate located on the right side of the unit. The recall includes only those units manufactured from February 2000 through December 2007. The manufacturing date code is the first four digits of the serial number, written as YYMM, and is located at the bottom of the rating plate. The recall includes model numbers S56A30A54 and S56A30A97, and service date codes 032076M - 334076M, 03207JY - 33407JY, and YB07 - YL07. Units that have a sticker indicating that the unit has been rewired are not subject to this recall. These furnaces were manufactured in Japan and sold through wholesale distributors nationwide to contractors and dealers from February 2000 through December 2007 for between $1,600 and $1,900. Inspectors finding these furnaces should advise the homeowners to stop using the furnace immediately and contact the firm at the contact number below to arrange for the installation of a free repair kit. For more information, contact Rinnai toll-free at (866) 746-8344 anytime, or visit the firm's Web site at www.wallfurnacerecall.com To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled products, go to: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08199.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.

Kewl Mark! I'll shoot Ron Miller an email so that we can get started. OT - OF!!! M.

Yes, Watts wants to do it again and they want to do it better this time. We've got to get off our duff and begin planning that sucker. OT - OF!!! M.

What this thread is demonstrating is that there isn't a single consistent approach to how this issue is dealt with. That's the way it is with a lot of the things we do and it's what gets us, as a profession, in trouble and erodes our credibility. I agree with Paul, but ASHI's SOP only applies to ASHI members unless it's written into a state's licensing law; it's the same with the NAHI, A.I.I, CRIEA, CAHPI, and interNACHI SOP's - what about the other 60 to 70% of the profession? If these so-called "professional" associations really wanted to do something good for the profession and for their members, they'd sit down to a summit and hammer out a single consistent standard of practice. If they did that, I'm certain that most independents would get on board with it immediately. Then it's just a matter of a short period during which everyone works to reeducate the banks, reel-tours, and others involved in the selling of homes that there are certain preparations that must be made prior to an inspector setting foot on the property and there are certain minimum and maximum limits to the job. Once that kind of consistency is there, we've wrested control of this thing we do out of the hands of the reel-tours. Now, about that 1,000 acre villa on the Mediterranean that I've also been dreaming about..... ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Steve, Hang in there. Since they are only 25 minutes away, I put in a call to the folks at Fluke the other day and approached them with the idea of developing a training/purchase package tailored specifically for home inspectors. The guy said he'd talk to the department involved with that and get back to me. I think the way to do it is to have an introductory training course to familiarize folks with the technology and it's capabilities and let them play with the stuff first hand, before deciding to make the leap. That could be a one day course that would transition directly into a Level 1 course. Students who decide to purchase during the introductory course would get their own machine and then hang around for the level 1 course while the others would go home a lot smarter about the product and better able to decide whether it'll be right for the future of their companies. It would be pretty cool if it could be a whole package, flight, hotel, meals, IR device, and training rolled into one ball of wax for a decent price, such as the way the Watts guys did their IR course for inspectors last September. The guy at Fluke told me that they sub-contract their training out to a professional skills training provider and that the provider has the capability of setting up the training anywhere in the country. So, if they'd be willing to get involved, maybe there's a way to put the idea on the road so that inspectors can commute to the training. These are just ideas - heck I don't even know if they'll be willing to get involved - but give me some time to see what, if anything, I can come up with. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, Today's job was a B***h! Had to strip off the windbreaker and go down to the short-sleeved polo shirt and jeans. I was still sweating by the time I got done with the attic and crawl. OT - OF!!! M. [}]

Hi, Doesn't Apple's system run MS word? If so, will programs designed to run in Word work on an Apple? OT - OF!!! M.

Eric's picture looks kind of like the house I did where the client called me up all pissed off 'cuz a roofer hired by his agent had gone out to look at a roof after I'd reported a hole gnawed through it by a racoon and the roofer had said that the roof was fine. I met them back at the house and had the client, agent, and roofer follow me up onto the roof where I showed them the hole. I was kind of brusk with them, demanded payment for my wasted time, didn't even say thanks when they forked it over, got in my truck and left them all standing there red-faced. Never heard from any of them again. Oh well. OT - OF!!! Mike

Hi All, Not to beat this dead horse again, but Jerry Llewellyn, my old Platoon Sergeant from my first permanent station, just emailed me the following tidbit. I don't know where he got it but he always seems to find the oddest stuff. Walter is always telling us that home inspectors need to have a 6th grade education. They say that today's students are more educated than years gone by, however, if the info below is any example, it looks like a 6th grade education these days wouldn't have even scratched the surface of what a 6th grader needed to know over a hundred years ago. I gotta go lie down - I'm feeling pretty dumb right now. Enjoy OT - OF!!! M. ----------------------------------- What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895... Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895? This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal. 8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895 Grammar (Time, one hour) 1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters. 2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications. 3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph 4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and 'run.' 5. Define case; illustrate each case. 6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation. 7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes) 1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. 2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For tare? 4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton. 6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. Long at $20 per metre? 8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods? 10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes) 1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided 2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus 3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. 4. Show the territorial growth of the United States 5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas . 6. Describe three of the most prominent b attles of the Rebellion. 7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe? 8. Name event s connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865. Orthography (Time, one hour) [Do we even know what this is??] 1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication 2. What are elementary sounds? How classified? 3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals 4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?) 5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule. 6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each. 7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup. 8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last. 9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays. 10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication. Geography (Time, one hour) 1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? 2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ? 3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean? 4. Describe the mountains of North America 5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco . 6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. 7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each. 8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude? 9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers. 10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth. Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying 'He only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?! Also shows you how poor our education system has become! and, NO! I don't have the answers.

WASHINGTON - Feb. 20 Total housing starts remained virtually unchanged in January although single-family builders continued to pull in the reins on new-home production, according to newly released data from the U.S. Commerce Department. Starts rose by 0.8 percent for the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.01 million units, with single-family production down 5.2 percent to a rate of 743,000 units and multifamily production - which tends to display significant month-to-month volatility - up 22.3 percent to a 269,000-unit rate that was still well below the previous quarterly average. "Builders continue to do what they need to do to reduce the inventory of units on the market, both by limiting new production and pulling fewer permits for new homes," said Sandy Dunn, a home builder from Point Pleasant, W. Va., and newly elected president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). "We're doing our part; Congress needs to do its part as well so that housing can once again be a major engine of economic growth." "Single-family builders in our latest surveys have indicated that improving affordability factors and the large selection of homes on the market are helping draw more potential buyers to model homes in recent weeks," said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. "However, until that increased traffic of prospective buyers translates to higher home sales and significantly lower inventories, builders are doing the responsible thing to bring supply and demand back into alignment by keeping the brakes on new construction." Single-family housing starts, at 743,000 units, declined for a tenth consecutive month to their lowest rate since January of 1991. Single-family permit issuance was also at its lowest since January of 1991, at 673,000 units. Overall permit issuance, which can be an indicator of future building activity, declined 3 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.05 million units. This was the lowest overall permit issuance since November of 1991. Single-family permits were down 4.1 percent, while multifamily permits were virtually unchanged for the month at 375,000 units. Regionally, overall housing starts were mixed in January, with the two largest housing markets - the South and West - posting declines of 2.9 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, and the two others - the Northeast and Midwest - each partially offsetting previous big declines in their territories with gains of 18.9 percent and 12 percent, respectively. #### Source NAHB

Kewl! Good timing. Frank Woeste just sent me an article that deals with tiled floors over wood framing. As soon as I figure out how to get it all posted to TIJ so the charts and stuff will display properly, I'll get it up. OT - OF!!! M.

Whew! Pretty scary avatar, Jeff. OT - OF!!! M.

So, what are you thinking; jury-rigged vibration damper? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Joe, Got my 80 winks, now I'm up again. There are a lot of dishwasher recalls but over the past 4 years only GE, Whirlpool, and Hotpoint have issued any. The Whirlpool ones were sold under the Whirlpool and Kenmore names; the GE ones under the GE Profile, GE Monogram, Hotpoint, Sears-Kenmore names; and the Maytags under the Maytag and Jenn-Air names. The Whirlpool recall involved a defect that can allow the motor to catch fire; the GE and Maytag recalls involved leaky rinse aid dispensers that cause a short and a fire in the wiring. Go to http://www.recalls.gov for particulars. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Joe, Which brand and model of dishwasher? Was this one of those that's been recalled for defects that are fire hazards? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jack, I broke up your post into paragraphs so it would be easier to read. It sounds to me like you and your fellow Colorado inspectors need to get together and decide, together, that you will no longer be treated like doormats. Then you - all of you - need to send a letter signed by all of you to every real estate office in the greater Colorado vicinity and tell brokers that it is not a function of home inspectors to turn on utilities, water, light pilots, etc., and if they don't want to face a general unannounced boycott of inspectors, they need to instruct their agents to get their act together and do what they get paid to do - get the home prepared properly for the inspection. Get all of the local ASHI, NAHI, AII, and interNACHI chapters to send letters of endorsement of that policy and advise brokers that they will advise their membership to join in an unannounced boycott that will jam up sales if they don't start acting like agents. Then, once those letters have gone out, send copies to a local muckraking reporter so that it makes the evening news. Get someone who will look and sound good on TV to be the spokesperson for the inspectors and get them interviewed for the news piece so that their comments make the agents look like a bunch of lazy slobs. Betcha that'll get their attention. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, Got this email today. After looking at this, I don't think many of you are going to want to say, "Oh well, I don't see anything to be concerned with here," when you run into a Zinsco panel in the future. Enjoy OT - OF!!! M. ---------------------------------- Mike, I just got these pictures of a badly damaged Zinsco main that failed. In this case the failure damaged the main wire to a mobile home also (you can see the melted wire to the left of the main). This is a good example of why I do not like to see anyone remove these breakers. You can not tell how bad they are damaged by looking at them. Please feel free to post them or use them on web sites - Thanks for getting the word out. Jim P. Simmons - Mr. Electric