hausdok

Yeah, You're right. I didn't post this to say it didn't have a ground. I posted it to show an example of why a ground was needed. Without the ground it could have been worse. Guess I should have elaborated with some context but folks here get tired of my context so I didn't bother. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

No, He doesn't have to be. If he can read the code he can see that it says foreign contaminants aren't allowed in the panel. He can cite that and recommend replacement by an electrician. If the seller balks and wants to get it cleaned, it's up to the customer whether or not to accept that. As I said above, cost to clean it will probably be more than replacing it with a new one and the cleaned panel probably wouldn't be as good as a new one once someone spent hours with an abrasive pad trying to clean it. If the inspector calls for replacement, the inspector will have done his job as best he can. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi MIke, The right call for you - the one that keeps you out of hot water and is absolutely correct - is to call for replacement. The code talks abouit "foreign contaminants" or something like that not being allowed in the panel. Look at it from a practical standpoint - even if he could to it without damaging components in the panel, how many hours is it going to take an electrician to disassemble all of that, clean it and put it back together? By the time an electrician does all of that, his fee exceeds what it would cost to install a new panel. That one isn't bad. I've seen 'em so bad that I couldn't tell what color any of the wiring was. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jim, I'd agree except for the fact he says that it didn't start until he'd boxed in the soffits. The stuff that looks like an old form board could be what the tilex did to the wood. Acid and wood don't like each other much. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, You've got a self-inflicted wound there. Without air, moisture from the home just condensed on the underside of the roof and allowed fungi spore that was already there, and had always been there, to grow out of control. Google "Principles of Attic Ventilation - Air Vent Inc." and download a copy of that booklet. Read it. Then read it again. Then make sure you're attic ventilation is properly configured. Tilex is phospheric acid. It might kill the spore but it's probably going to break down cell structure. Stop using it. Concrobium will kill the spore buit that's it. It doesn't remove it. If you want to clean that mess up, you're going to need to get up in there with some soap and water and some scrub brushes. Alternatively, you can have the underside of the roof, the rafters, collar ties and joists soda blasted or dry ice blasted. Once the wood's been cleaned, saturate it with BoraCare or Concrobium. Whatever you do, by the time you're done, the insulation will be soaked and tamped down to the point of being useless; and, if you want to preserve heat in the home, you're going to end up pulling out all of that ruined insulation and reinsulating. Sorry to be so blunt but there's no easy way to administer thE kind of medicine that attic needs now. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, that's right to a point; but saying they need to be replaced? He's pushing the credibility envelope there. Someday he's going to get called out by a builder, end up in court and then a siding manufacturer's tech rep is going to be called in by the other side as a witness and the tech rep will say something like, "Yeah, we liked those pics so we borrowed them from so-and-so. Sure, sloped flashings work better, but the truth is we don' t have any data anywhere to prove that flat flashings aren't working. We'll still honor the warranty on that product." Then he'll walk out with so much egg on his face he'll looks like a Denver Omellete with it's head stuck up it's ass. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The floor covering is just nearing puberty. OT - OF!!! M.

He also mentioned band trim flashings. It's really common around here for builders to install 2 by 10 bandboards around the base of the wall and over the rim between floors and install Z-flashings over the top of the bandboards before applying the cladding. The first illustration below is taken from the Hardiplank instructions. It depicts how they want flashings installed above horizontal trim or above doors or windows. Click to Enlarge 18.7?KB The second illustration is from Build a Better House - a series of handouts provided for free on the Engineered Wood Association's website. Click to Enlarge 31.14 KB The third shows a head flashing installation taken from the James Hardie Best Practices - Installation manual. This is not actually a J.H. illustration. These were illustrations they borrowed with permission from the Journal of Light Construction. Click to Enlarge 25.42 KB ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, Best practices manuals always say to slope the flashings, blah, blah, blah; but if you look at the code it doesn't specifically say the flashing must be sloped - only that there need to be flashings. Now, go to the manufacturer's installation instructions for Hardi-Plank for instance and they use those drawings that JLC created in one of their best siding practices articles and they parrot JLC's article. Then there is the MVMA best practices manual that says something similar. That's all fine and great in theory but almost nobody actually slopes them or installs them with the siding the proper distance above the flashings. We have to be realistic; we aren't going to see "perfect" - we're going to see f****d up and we're going to see varying degrees of correctness. Personally, I'm just happy when I find the flashings and it looks like the guy doing the work actually did his homework and was trying to emulate best practices. I don't call flat flashings; hell, in nearly 17 years at this gig I've never found anything damaged 'cuz the flashings weren't sloped away. I have found stuff damaged because some horse's ass with teeth has caulked flashings to the bottom edge of siding but not for flat flashings. I think he's being anal retentive and his inexperience is showing. Baby steps - first we get them to realize that there need to be flashings there and why, so they get in the habit of installing them, and then we gradually get them to modify what's there to reach the ideal. Pissing everyone off by making them redo the work, and costing builders a whole chunk of change plus the good will with their customers is going to backfire eventually. Before you know it, some Magilla pol is going to introduce legislature that says home inspectors can't do this or can't say that. When that happens, you can thank the guy with the stick up his ass for bringing that down upon the profession. Oh, you probably won't be able to do that anyway 'cuz by then he'll probably end up putting himself out of business by having to pay lawyers to defend himself against lawsuits when builders finally get fed up with him playing unofficial code official who doesn't know that his calls aren't backed up by the code. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I don't think they should be required in the SOP; but at the same time I think we should still look at them but we should set the client's expectations. Before I begin an inspection I explain to the client that when I'm looking at appliances I'm primarily concerned with ensuring they are wired and plumbed correctly, that they don't leak, that they drain properly when they are supposed go drain and that they come on and go off but I don't check the quality or efficiency of the operation of the appliance. For example: I explain that I don't have any food to put down a disposal; I'm only concerned with whether it is installed correctly, wired correctly and plumbed correctly and whether it will spin when I hit the switch. I tell 'em I don't have any food to put down it so I won't even know if it isn't capable of chewing up a half cup of half-melted Jello. I explain that I'm only checking the stove/oven for proper installation - wiring and presence of an anti-tip bracket and whether the burners light or get hot - but that I won't be putting a cake in the oven to see if can hold 350? for an hour. The same for other appliances. Just make them aware of the limitations up front so that they don't end up with unrealistic expectations of what you'll do with the appliances. Today's inspection was on a 1969 condo that had a dishwasher that looked like it was installed in the 80's. I took one look at it and said, "I'll test it but if it doesn't leak I'll be very surprised. Even if it doesn't leak, if it fails when I'm backing my truck out of the driveway I won't be surprised - those things are designed to last about 10 to 15 years, not to be older than you are and continue to run." Big suprise, it leaked all over the floor. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

David, Did you paint that when you got done? OT - OF!!! M.

I still see it all the time. Building Supply stores won't stock stuff that won't sell. Perhaps builders in your region snubbed the stuff so your supplier stopped stocking it. I wouldn't worry about inhaling fiberglass. ASHRAE conducted an extensive study years ago and couldn't find any evidence directly connecting fiberglass to illnesses in people. The only place in the country fiberglass will give you cancer is in California - at least that's what the labels on the stuff say. Leave it to folks down in la-la land to come up with yet another whacko idea. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus and everyone in California is from Uranus. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

24-inches is plenty of room to work. I'd just stuff the joist bays with unfaced fiberglass and then secure 1/4-inch galvanized mesh to the underside of the floor platform. That will keep out rodents and allow unimpeded vapor diffusion. It will be plenty warm enough for a hunting cabin with a skirt around it. Just make sure he installs a tight vapor barrier over the earth, wraps his pipes with foam insulation and installs some crawlspace vents. If he's hung up on saving heat, install some foam against the underside of the floor as Kurt has suggested, seal the edges with exanding foam, then install your unfaced fiberglass and mesh. Be sure to frame out removable access openings with furring attached to the mesh under toilets and other components you'll need access to and where the mesh is cut for a pipe to pass through you sandwich the mesh between a couple of metal collars with galvanized screws. It will keep the cabin warm. The insulation will be protected so critters can't pull it down onto the floor and can't nest above it. Do it right and it will look artful - yeah, you're right, it's a friggin' hunting cabin, Mike, nobody cares. By the way, is there a code guy sneeking around? 'Cuz i'm pretty sure that method - securing beams to both sides of a post for support under the floor platform using bolts is now out-of-favor and disallowed by the codes. Could be wrong though - often am. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It is FUBAR. If the gas valve fails he has to leave the room to turn off the gas? If there's no code against it one can at least say that it fails the common sense test. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Wow, This might be a record or the most unique cooincidence ever on TIJ; a 6-year-old thread revived 6-years to the day after the last time anyone posted in it. Kit, can you post a digital photograph of the chimneystack and the section you are referring to? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yesterday's inspection. Click to Enlarge 33.64?KB Click to Enlarge 39.56?KB Click to Enlarge 32.59?KB Click to Enlarge 34.68?KB Click to Enlarge 34.93?KB Click to Enlarge 42.22?KB It's kind of a good thing this was fiber-cement siding versus wood siding or there might have been more than a little scorching on the clapboards. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, Power into the main is 4 conductor and leaving is three. Since the main house has more than one branch circuit that buildling must have it's own service grounding conductor and service grounding electrode system but it can only be fed by a 3-wire if there are no other conductive paths between the two structures - no metal fence, no water piping, no concrete sidewalk, no telephone or cable lines. If I got that right, if there is a conductive path between the house and the garage the cable feeding the house from the main disconnect should be a 4-wire. Hunkering down now and preparing to get slammed by Jim K. or Douglas 'cuz I know I've probably got some aspect of this wrong again. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It sounds very similar to the way we're structured out here; which is why I don't understand the whole point of the bill. If the program is revenue neutral eliminating it is an exercise in futility. That's why I think the inspectors there are missing the boat by not diving on this. On the other hand, maybe it is easy to understand if the majority of inspectors there are cow-towing to the real estate community and don't like the rules placed on them by a home inspection law. I know there was a huge block of folks here who fought implementation of our law tooth and claw, and some of them even got a senator to put in a bill to try and overturn key aspects of our law. If they'd gotten their way, the law would have been gutted. That's why inspectors who really care need to be vigilant and they need to constantly work at improving their contacts with those in their legislatures. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, The first time I went to that link, it took a looooooong time for me to load with IE. I almost quit because I thought the link was dead but after an eternity there it was. Now that my computer has cached it, it opens quicker than I can blink. This harkens back to the MIT Open Courseware that we posted about in the Free Downloads and Online Training Resources Forum back in 2007. It looks like that whole concept of top universities providing free education has expanded by leaps and bounds since then. I've moved the thread to that forum. I wonder if anyone actually visits this forum area or if they get sidetracked by the technical discussions and never find it and aren't taking advantage of these free sources? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

What funds the license program in Missippi? Here we've had an advisory board established under the Department of Licensing from the get go. The program has been designed to be revenue neutral from its inception. In other words what is brought in by license revenue pays for the time that those designated to oversee the program put into it. If revenu from licenses is down, the put less time into overseeing the program, if it's more they can spend more time working with the board. There are no additional funds other than the initial seed money the state provided to get the program started and that was paid back with the revenue earned during the first couple of years when the license fee was double what it is now. Our board has been threatened with shut down a half dozen times. We just kept on talking to anyone that would listen in order to make them understand that the board was revenue neutral and shutting it down would hurt consumers. So far, it's worked and though hundreds of other programs have been shut down to save revenue our board has continued on because of the revenue-neutral aspect to it. When it comes to who is going to be running their profession, inspectors really need to understand that it truly needs to be..... ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

According to an article in The Republic Online, on February 17th the Mississippi senate unanimously passed a bill to abolish the state home inspectors board established in 2001 and place home inspectors under the oversight of the state's real estate commission. To read more click here.

Dean Counce of Spring Hill, Florida had a pretty sweet deal going. His company - American Mortgage Field Services - was being paid by lenders to regularly inspect and report on the condition of foreclosed properties in the state of Florida. According to an article in the Tampa Bay Times Online, by 2009 Counce was sending as many as 100,000 inspection reports a month to Bank of America and was being paid about $6.50 for each. According to Bank of America, they paid Counce's company $23.5 million over five years. The problem - about 60% of those reports were fabricated. Counce was sentenced on February 20th to 97 months in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $12.8 million in restitution. To read more, click here.

I started to read it and then stopped and tuned out when I read: The inspector shall not: E. traverse attic load?]bearing components that are concealed by insulation or by other materials. That's the biggest load of crap I've every seen. Water it down even more. Make it even easier for an inspector to avoid doing a thorough job. This is a head nod to the guy that climbs up on the top of a ladder and sticks his head in an attic that's like 2200 square feet, looks around and is able to see about 400 sf and says, "Yep, everything looks good to me." It's almost as bad as the guy who says he won't inspect an attic because he's afraid he'll damage the truss by walking on it. The same folks never explain how it is that the electricians, plumbers, HVAC guys, cable TV guys, insulation guys and sound system guys are able to climb through an attic without damaging a truss and an inspector, who is supposed to be a so-called expert at houses can't seem to do it. Losing more and more respect for that club. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I put in the link. He'd forgotten to include the link when he cut and pasted his input solicitation from the ASHI site. Gee, hope ASHI doesn't come after us now for cutting and pasting content from their site to TIJ. A while back they wanted $1 per report produced to allow an inspection program company to include a feature in their software program where an inspector who is an ASHI member can click a button to add his association's SOP to his reports. [V] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Again, It depends on the manufacturer whether talons are required or not. I first saw PEX in 1996 after first getting into this business. Back then, I saw PEX on about 10% of new homes that I'd inspected. Today, I see it on about 90% of new homes - even high end homes. Some plumbers use talons, some even use covers - most don't. Most simply cut the pipe and install an elbow secured to a stud behind the drywall and let that last six inches of pipe jutt straight out through the drywall. Very few do it as sloppily as seen in Marc's photos but as far as I can tell there is no mandate to have talons or to configure those so they stick out of the wall pretty like unless the manufacturer says so. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike