hausdok

Which is my point, The valves have to be designed or adjusted for the flows that the pipe provides. You can't go from 1/2 or 3/4 inch pipe to a reduced diameter and expect to get the same performance unless you either use a valve designed for those kinds of flow rates or you adjust (if they're adjustble) what's there. It's not like simply walking into the big box store, grabbing any old thing off the shelf and slapping it in; it kind of helps to at least read the instructions or hire someone who knows what they're doing. OT - OF!!! M.

I agree, I never said that just because the houses were plumbed with PEX that they were immune to problems. However, the kinds of things that you've pointed out - showers sensitive to other fixtures running, potential scalding, etc., has nothing to do with the pipe; it's related to the types of mixing valves and how well they're installed and balanced. You can have those same problems in a brand new home that's fully plumbed with copper, PEX has nothing to do with it, other than the fact that whoever plumbed it wasn't paying attention to the way the home was going to be used. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Yeah, I agree with Jim. PEX is darn near the standard in new construction out here now and I don't see many pressure-drop issues with it. OT - OF!!! M.

Never mind, I found the answer on a wholesaler's site. I see that these are good up to 250°F so they can even handle water that's above boiling temperature. I grabbed a sampling of the wholesaler's 1/2-inch fittings prices and have posted them below. So, you ex pipe sweaters should be able to tell us if these prices are out of the ballpark. These are only half inch, the fittings go all the way up to 4" i.d.. The tool costs $1772 and the 1/2", 3/4", and 1" jaws each costs $126 from this supplier. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sweet, Does anyone know what the service life on those O-rings is supposed to be? OT - OF!!! M.

..and can't figure out your assets from your elbow? You can make more money NOW by just getting clean and clear financial reports. Here's how, just attend Ellen Rohr's teleseminar this month. Topic: Learn how to Mind Your Own Business...SMARTER! Ellen's Guest Stars are... Glenn Elliott of MYOB Accounting Software www.myob-us.com Peggi Sturm of Sturm & Associates www.peggisturm.com Have you created a big, Slinky-knot mess of your accounting? Or, have you buried your head in the sand when it comes to the finances...hoping the money will miraculously handle itself? Learn how to Mind Your Own Business...Smarter! Peg and Glenn are MYOB accounting software experts. They have offered to share their tips and tricks for getting the MOST out of your accounting software and your "Bean Team!" The Teleseminar Date is Wednesday, October 17th,at... 1:00 pm Pacific Time 2:00 pm Mountain Time 3:00 pm Central Time 4:00 pm Eastern Time And...some great news. Ellen has made the sign up process for this FREE Teleseminar soooo much easier. Just click here for the sign up form. For more information, email contact@barebonesbiz.com. Ellen RohrBare Bones Biz, Inc. www.barebonesbiz.com 3120 S. Know It All Lane Rogersville, MO 65742 Phone: 417.753.1111 Fax: 417.753.3685

Hi, Yeah, you can paint them. Sand them down and then prime and repaint them with hi-temp engine paint. You can get it in a variety of colors at any auto parts store. It'll usually stay blister free and won't discolor up to about 400° or some number much hotter than your convectors will ever get. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Carl, While I agree in principle with what you've said, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that some municipalities actually address "Grandfathering" in their municipal codes, and they actually use that word - granfathering. They spell out when something will be "grandfathered" and when it will not. This can vary a great deal from town to town. When it comes to codes, there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all, no matter how much we'd like it to be that way. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

You'll love this one. An inspector relocates his company from Texas to Maryland. When he has difficulty making marketing inroads with the local real estate folks, he writes, hat in hand so to speak, to a nationally known real estate pundit to seek advice on how to get agents to refer him to their buyers. There's a feedback icon below the article but it probably doesn't make much sense to provide feedback on it now, since it was originally posted to Realty Times in April of 2006. To read the entire article, click here.

Just this week the sunrise review for proposed H.I. legislation in Washington State was completed and posted to the Washington State website. I've just finished reading it and have posted it to TIJ's library. You can find it here. The board that the Senators who'd sponsored the original bill two years ago had proposed was light on home inspector members and heavy on those from without the profession; they wanted 9 members - 2 inspectors, 4 teachers or administrators from community and technical colleges, 1 appraiser, 2 real estate brokers, and 1 engineer. What cracked me up about that was that they proposed 9 members but the breakdown totals 10. I guess we're in trouble when our state legislators can't add up numbers less than 10. That first bill died. When the same two senators tried again last January, they were proposing an 8-member board made up of 5 inspectors, 1 real estate broker, 1 home inspection trainer (as if someone currently teaching this business really knows more than others in the business), and one member from the general public. Still, that was better - 6 of 8 being inspectors. The sunrise review recommends a 6-member board that consists entirely of those from the profession and makes a point of stressing that there is ample evidence of the potential for collusion between those in real estate and the home inspection business. It's only a recommendation. It may result in something or it might end up in the trash. The author of the report said to me recently in an e-mail, "This is a draft report presently and it will again take on a life of it's own once the legislators get their process involved. So, this is very preliminary and the actual licensure criteria will be crafted as the session moves along, assuming that the committee chairs decide to pursue it." It's a long report (93 pages); and it's longer still if one bothers to also follow the links contained in the report and reads through the complete transcripts of the public hearings that were held in eastern and western Washington State. Though I don't agree with everything in it, I have to say that it's obvious that Bruce Chunn, the guy who was tasked with completing the study and issuing the report, really listened to all sides of the debate and didn't just give home inspectors lip service, as the Senators who'd sponsored the original bill had given the coalition who tried to help them craft meaningful legislation. It's fair and balanced and even Gromicko, who'd been in favor of the second bill these senators had proposed, said that he thought it was a "good report" when it was posted to his firm's website. So, we here in Washington State sit here with bated breath, wondering what's next, while some of us are shaking our heads in disgust at what's happening in North Carolina. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I do feel bad about those folks spending that extra $150,000. The house was listed at $1.2M, so they obviously can probably afford the $150K, but it's only going to be one more blot on our profession when the cat gets out of the bag. Yeah, I do that too and you can learn a lot. One client who is a patent/trademark attorney has clarified a lot of things for me where trademarks are concerned. Plus, it's a wonderful marketing opportunity. I ask virtually every client what they do; plus I also ask the spouse or partner if they're present. When they turn out to be employees of big companies like Microsoft, H-P, Safeco, Boeing, Paccar, etc., at the end of the inspection, I ask them, "Say, If you were happy with the inspection today; and tomorrow you find that you're just as happy with the report, could you do me a favor and post something about your experience on your company's intranet message board? I garner all of my business through word-of-mouth from satisfied past customers. It would sure help me out if you could tell your co-workers about me." Most are happy to do so. Last month I tallied up all of the families with just Chinese surnames, where the work had come off of just one large company's Chinese language message board. Those jobs totaled 23% of the work year-to-date. Not bad for $0 spent on marketing. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, No problem. Sorry if I came off as harsh, but the business is awash in inspectorlore; we've got to speak up quickly and forcefully when such theories are posted on the net, lest they be read and overnight end up getting taught to folks in these home inspection "schools." OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Well, I suppose I should have titled this thread "Rat Crap" or "Lazy Inspectors" because whereas I'm trying to make a point about inspectors who're screwing their clients by being lazy asses, you guys insist on getting wrapped around the axle about the vermiculite, which is important, but was not the point of the post. For the record, I always assume that this stuff, and all of the other stuff besides vermiculite that's supposed to have asbestos that I see and make clients aware, has asbestos and I tell them to assume the same. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop recommending that folks rely on a reputable IAQ lab to do they best they can to verify what the stuff is and help folks deal with it. I'd rather do that than leave them twisting in the wind trying to interpret a whole lot of crap on the internet or the sensationalized stuff that they're reading in the P.I. I don't recommend folks to anyone who solicites my business through emails and who's allied with questionable public relations firms trying to pass themselves off as reputable organizations - I refer them to a pretty reputable lab that's been around about 20 years. Those people working in that lab are a whole lot more familiar than I am with asbestos, lead, and any other environmental mess. I know that they'll take care of them, including advising them that testing is or is not reliable - that's why I send my clients to them. Think I'll change the title of the rant now. How's "Inspectors With Their Heads Up Their Butts" sound? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Nope, You're not. The house was in Blueridge with a pretty good vista of the Sound. Besides, if it had been you, I most certainly would have knocked you upside the head. OT - OF!!! M.

No Richard, Nothings changed, but why would that make any difference as regards disclosure and Mr. Lazy Inspector's conduct. If folks know about that stuff you can bet your bippy they won't offer $150K more for a home than the asking price. Owners are lucky when they can get just the asking price. OT - OF!!! M.

No, That's not what I'm saying at all. The attic is full of vermiculite. Then too, there's a possibility that the walls are too and I made him aware of that fact as well. Every time they go into the attic, replace a ceiling fixture, slam a door, fibers in the attic will end up in the air. I don't care what you do, there's virtually no way to fully encapsulate that stuff. Personally, it wouldn't bother me at all, because I think that the only people that get sick from the stuff are those that are already predisposed to getting sick from it, and I doubt that I am - hell, I haven't ever even had a cold. But that's not what this is about - it's about non-disclosure of known issues. For the past 5-6 years the Seattle P.I. has been on a vendetta against W.R. Grace over Zonolite. The amount of media hype they've thrown at the whole asbestos thing has been huge. When they report about it they make is sound like everyone on Puget Sound is under a death sentence. But that's not the issue; as demonstrated, even an asbestos-smart guy might be willing to purchase a home that's got it, but nobody wants to purchase a home without first knowing it's there. Would you? It wasn't disclosed, remember? Yet, as you'll see below, there's no way they couldn't have known it was there. Imagine, if he didn't know it was there, my client trying to sell that house years from now with an attic full of vermiculite when a conscientious inspector found it. Having a home with that much of a suspected carcinogen in it is like wearing an anchor around your neck. My clients weren't smiling when we got done, but they weren't wigging out either. They knew what they had and they had to go home and think about it before deciding what to do. However, thanks to Mr. Lazy Inspector, his clients were all smiles as they walked away. you can bet that they have no idea what's in that attic and that's why their offer was so amazingly high. What do you suppose they're going to feel like when they realize what they've bought. By the way, this stuff was disturbed. I forgot to mention that some genius had decided that it would be nice to add a skylight. In the process of doing so, they'd shoveled all that insulation out of the way, installed the skylight, built a chase, and then raked all of the insulation back around the chase, stirring up about 20% of what was there in the process. So, that the vermiculite was all interspersed within the insulation from the top two layers. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi all, About 10 days ago I did a pre-offer inspection for a long-time customer - an environmental attorney, no less. The house wasn't too bad. There were the typical things with a 70-year old house and there was a little bit of asbestos sealing tape in the heating registers, but, overall things looked pretty good. Pretty good, that is, until I got into the attic, where I discovered that beneath about 6 inches of blown-in fiberglass over about another 3 inches of Silva-Wool, the joist bays were full to the tops of the ceiling joists with vermiculite. There'd been absolutely nothing said in the disclosure statement about vermiculite. I recommended that he take a sample and get it tested and then, if it turned out to contain asbestos, to really, really, really think very hard about it before he made up his mind about whether or not to profer an offer on the house. Anyway, that's only part of the story; about 3 hours after I started, another inspector showed up and began inspecting. I stayed out of his way and he out of mine. When I came down out of the attic, I offered the use of my ladder so he could take a look. He passed. A little while later, when I crawled out of the crawlspace, I offered to leave it open for him. He walked over, squatted down in front of the opening, shone his light inside, and then said, "Ok, close it up," and walked away. I just scratched my head, smiled at the client, and went about replacing the hatch, wondering how he was going to possibly know that the insulation at the other end of that crawlspace was all knocked down and destroyed by rodents and that I'd just had to crawl through a puddle of rat urine to get out of there. By the time I'd picked up my gear and had walked around to the front of the house, the other inspector was walking away with his check in hand and his clients were getting in their car with a checklist report in-hand. My clients and I spent about 10 more minutes reviewing everything that they'd been shown, and then I collected my check, took my notes home and the following day sent them the full narrative report. A few days later, I got an email from the client thanking me for the detailed inspection and report. He said that after long hard thought about it, he and his wife had decided to go ahead and make an offer on the house, despite the vermiculite, but that they'd been beaten out by the other couples offer, which was $150,000 more than their own!!!!!????? I wrote him back: "Guess the joke is on the folks who won the bidding. Wonder what their reaction is going to be when they discover that there's enough vermiculite in the attic to fill the bed of a dump truck and that there are a bunch of rats using their crawlspace as winter headquarters, not to mention the other 57 items we found." (His report was 23 pages, 17 of which were actual single-spaced narrative.) Part of me wants to go find that other inspector and slap him upside the head, the other part wants me to drive over to that house and warn the buyers about what's in that attic. I won't do either, of course, but it's hard some days. What's ironic is that my client specializes in Zonolite-related lawsuits. It's ironic that he would have even considered buying a house with the stuff in it, and it's even more ironic that when/if the owner of this house discovers that their house is full of an allegedly dangerous substance that she'll probably end up hiring my client to go back after the listing agent, seller, and, of course, the inspector who couldn't be bothered to inspect an attic or crawlspace. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, Broadway Joe or any of those other football heroes would never have gotten their Super Bowl rings without the help of their team mates, right? Well, Lance Armstrong would never have won a single Tour de France without the help of the other bike riders on his squad that let him draft in their slip stream year after year after year, mile, after mile, after mile, and forced the other teams to maintain a blistering pace while he cruised along using far less energy than anyone else in the pelloton. Likewise, Bobby Allison or one of the Andretti's would never have won a single race if not for the speed and dependability of their pit crews. There are all kinds of team sports, not just football, baseball or basketball. But don't let me keep this thread drift going - I was just messing a little bit with Brian, because I know he's a dyed-in-the-wool football maniac. Every year when he starts his prognostications, I start talking about cricket fighting. He probably doesn't understand bike racing much more than I understand football. Do you know, I've never passed a football. I'm not even sure I'd know how. Sorry for the thread drift, Brian, I now return you to your regularly scheduled prognostifyin' ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Chris, Ten years ago, I would have said no. However, sophisticated moisture meters have been around for at least a decade now and their use has, pretty-much, become the standard of care for the business. Despite all of the protestations that home inspections are strictly visual, I think if an inspector is not using a moisture meter today that the inspector is liable to one-day experience the unpleasant reality of someone suing them for negligence. Sure, the person suing might lose, but the inspector will be paying through the nose to prove that liability should not accrue. Why put oneself through that when a decent combination scan and pin moisture meter can be purchased for just a few hundred dollars? Then, If your scans or probes don't find any moisture, you can really show that you did everything that anyone would reasonably have expected you to do in order to detect moisture. On another thread questioning the use of IR you saw my cussing/banghead response. That's because I know that this year, next year, and maybe even the year after that, I'll still be able to get away without purchasing an IR camera. However, as more and more inspectors purchase them and begin using them, their use will gradually become part of the standard of care for the profession. Years from now, if I'm not using one, and am still relying on my moisture meter, which has a scan depth of about an inch-and-a-half, I'm going to be seen as the one behind the times and it might be me facing that unpleasant reality. Times and technology are changing in this business. We have to keep up if we want to keep our companies reputable and solvent. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

OK, I'm sorry, but that's just plain silly and downright wrong. Please don't ever, ever, ever tell a client that - I beg of you - 'cuz any client who's ever taken a physical science class is going to think to themselves, "What the hell is this guy talking about?" You agree that heated air rises, correct? Do you understand why? Think in simple terms of a bubble of air under water. That bubble, being under pressure, is being displaced upward toward the atmosphere where there is less pressure. Pressure moves from higher pressure to lower pressure. Now, cold air is denser than warm air and it falls to the floor. Because it's denser than warmer air, it's like the water surrounding that air bubble and forces the thinner-warmer air upward - remember higher pressure to lower pressure. If you have an uninsulated ceiling, you end up with heat loss through convection as well as conduction into the attic, and the heated interior air cools more rapidly, causing you to spend more money re-heating that interior air. If the ceiling is insulated, so that less heat is given up through conduction and convection into the attic, that convective loop that I described above is slowed down and you spend less on fuel. It has nothing to do with a cold ceiling and a colder ceiling will only accelerate that convective loop and consequently heat loss. Without any soffit or eave vents, the normal convection that a ridge vent will facilitate is greatly hampered; however, it won't be completely eliminated. Remember, he's got gable end vents in addition to the ridge vent. Colder exterior air will still enter the attic, settle to the floor of the attic, be warmed by the heat being given up from the home below, and then rise to the ridge and move out of the vent - the problem is that it might not be enough to keep the underside of the roof dry and it might only occur near the ends of the attic, leaving the air at the center of the attic essentially stalled. Still, back to the original question. I just don't see it backdrafting into the house through the attic. Yeah, the chimney will probably not draw well, but I doubt that there's any soot staining in the attic to show that the chimney's been backdrafting into the attic. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Both Yung and I have often found moisture issues using our Protimeter where there were no visual clues evident. In every instance, I'm fully confident that these were issues that would have been latent at the time of the inspection, but the problem arises when they're discovered later on. One might not always be able to show that it was a latent issue. I've never bothered to track them all, in order to see how many were false alarms caused by an anomaly, but I've never gotten an angry phone call from a client with that, "You told me there'd be moisture there, but there wasn't and I ended up paying for repairs that are your fault!" phone calls. So, I'm guessing that we were right virtually all of the time. Either that, or we're just so darned incredibly likeable that folks couldn't bear to call us up and yell at us for being dummies (not likely). ONE TEAM - 0NE FIGHT!!! Mike

Not me, Others might do it and might have had better luck, but the last time I did that, which was about two months after I first got into the business in 1996, the customer asked me to show him how to test it. Like an idiot, I complied and the thing refused to shut off and continued to piddle, and piddle, and piddle. After the inspection and a trip down to the local Ace Hardware and then a trip back to the house to replace the valve, I decided that I'd let them read their water heater manual instead. Now I tell them to drain the crud out occasionally, change the anode rod, and follow the other instructions contained in the manual for the water heater - which includes the manufacturer's recommendation about testing T & P valves. Yeah, yeah, I suppose I could have used a peckism and declared, "See, it failed under testing," so I wouldn't have had to pay for it, but that really isn't a test anyway, all it proves is that the valve isn't stuck, not that it will open when it's supposed to at 150 lbs of pressure or at 210°F as it's supposed to. You need to eat more, Mark. You're looking a little haggard. OT - OF!!! M.

It's always fun to re-post this every once in a while. Unvented Cylinder Explodes

Not true, bike racing is a team sport. OT - OF!!! M.

Sure, They can backdraft. Read my post again, I said that, "unless the attic ventilation is completely screwed up and simply isn't functioning at all," but that's part of the inspection too. Right? If the attic isn't venting properly, there should be plenty of evidence of that to report. The chimney height requirement concerns ensuring that there is sufficient height so that the chimney will draw properly and that the chimney won't back draft. Air passing over that ridge will tumble. It's well established - pilots have known for decades not to fly too close to the crest of a cliff face and must take precautions when topping the ridge of a mountain because of it. If the stack isn't high enough, that tumbling air will flow down the flue and cause the fireplace to backdraft. Making the proximity of a ridge vent a concern is a bad call and just creates inspectlore. Call it because the stack is too short but don't call it because you're afraid that the ridge vent will decide on its own to defy the laws of physics and turn into a vacuum cleaner somehow magically pulling the smoke into the house through a vent where convection currents are already flowing out of the house. That's all I'm saying. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike