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Well, it's kind of a far-out-there thought, but what if they stripped off the original wood shingles and then worked their way from the top down, nailing the shingles directly to the rafters without any skip or decking? Or, maybe the original cedar shingle deck is still there and is in pretty bad shape. It looks like it had rotted from the eaves inward, necessitating repairs. If the cedar was rotten enough and old enough it might be sagging under the weight of the comp cover. OT - OF!!! M.

ATLANTA Under a new agreement, ASHRAE and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will work to increase building energy efficiency standards for the year 2010 by 30 percent over 2004 standards. A new memorandum of understanding commits ASHRAE and DOE to improving the efficient use of energy and the viable and widespread use of renewable energy sources and to minimizing the impact of energy use on the environment. “DOE and ASHRAE have been working together in advancing energy conservation technology since the initial energy crisis of the 1970s,â€

That's where you intentionally and figuratively jack-slap the HVAC installer and builder by writing something in your report like, "Have a competent HVAC technician - not the hack who installed this system - clean this mess up." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

You've got one too many breakers there Randy and you need to make sure that both panels downstream - the manufactured home and the detached structure - are configured as sub-panels. It looks like a Sylvania-Zinsco main panel; I'd recommend replacement on that basis alone. OT - OF!!! M.

Certainteed corporation has recently added two new free online courses to its ample selection of free courses for inspectors; "Procedures for Successful Built-Up Asphalt Roofing and Repairs" and "Procedures for Modified Asphalt Roofing and Repairs". In these courses inspectors will learn best practices for the application of asphalt in built-up roofing (BUR) plus repair procedures to fix ten key problems. Each course qualifies for 1.5LU AIA/CES (HSW) credit and inspectors can complete the course as time permits. Even if an inspector must take a break, the system automatically bookmarks his or her place so the inspector can resume from the same point. Credit is automatically reported to the AIA upon completion of the course and inspectors are able to print a Certificate of Completion for their records. The system also maintains a secure record of all of each inspector's completed course work. Click here to sign up for these and other free online courses from Certainteed.

This article from Radiant & Hydronics E-news explains how Canada's Institute for Research in Construction uses robots to determine which system - radiant or forced-hot-air - is more effective at making occupants more comfortable. Apparently, for our neighbors to the north, humans just can't be relied on for an objective judgment of "comfort". To read more click here.

More and more homeowners are today commonly using the internet to publicly denounce and embarrass the builders who built their homes, as this article in Builder Online demonstrates. Obviously the internet is a wondrous thing, but when wielded by some hands it can do a lot of damage to one's reputation.

Most of us probably don't realize how much the health of the U.S. economy, and the world's, depends on the health of the home buying and mortgage market here in the U.S. This article in Builder Online will put it in perspective for you.

There was a time when the term "post frame construction" conjured up the image of an agricultural pole barn. That's no longer true. With the higher initial cost of new homes, post frame builders have recently moved into the residential construction arena - particularly in rural areas. Maybe it's time for home inspectors to start getting smart about this type of construction. To read more, click here.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) hopes to have a nationwide energy standard for green buildings by the end of the year. Inspectors may soon find it necessary to become schooled in green building concepts as consumers seeking homes built to "green" standards begin seeking inspectors who are trained to address these technologies. To read more, click here.

Here's an interesting article at HGTVPro.com about reusing household greywater and the systems that enable one to do that. Given the push toward recycling and green technology, inspectors should expect to encounter these systems in the not-too-far-distant future. To read more, click here.

Hi, Why tell 'em to evaluate it? Tell them to replace it. An electrician might find that it's perfectly fine. That's not going to help them if it cooks later on, and it certainly won't help them years down the road when they go to sell and someone like you are I tells a buyer, "Uh, oh, this is a Zinsco panel. It's bad news. You shoud get rid of it." They're known to be a safety issue now. In my estimation, recommending that clients get rid of them now is the only smart thing to do, because there's no way a buyer is going to give you something indemnifying you from liability for it. My opinion; your mileage may vary. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Washington - Aug. 24 Sales of new single-family homes were up 2.8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 870,000 units as new-home sales rebounded from weak sales figures in June, the U.S. Commerce Department reported today. The July sales pace was 10.2 percent below a year earlier. "Despite their normal volatility, these numbers are promising," said Brian Catalde, president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from El Segundo, Calif. "Today's headlines would make you think that no one is buying, or can buy, new homes. That is far from the case. Financing is still available, builders are offering plenty of choices in a variety of price ranges and people are still buying the homes of their dreams." "Home builders have been trimming prices and offering non-price sales incentives to bring reluctant home buyers back into the market, and their efforts have brought results, at least for the short term," said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. "However, the tightening of lending standards and problems in the financial sector, which deepened this month, will delay housing's recovery at least until mid-to-late-2008." The inventory of new homes for sale edged down slightly to 533,000 in July and the equivalent months' supply at the July sales pace was 7.5 months, down from 7.7 months in June. Completed homes for sale were 33 percent of the inventory, while units still under construction represented 51 percent of the inventory and units for-sale that were permitted but not yet started represented 16 percent of the inventory level -- essentially no change from the previous two months. The median length of time that completed homes were on the market was 6.1 months in July, up from 5.9 months in May. Regionally, new-home sales in July were up by 22.4 percent in the West and 0.6 percent in the South. Sales were down by 24.3 percent in the Northeast and 0.9 percent in the Midwest. ##### ABOUT NAHB: The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington-based trade association representing more than 235,000 members involved in residential building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. Known as "the voice of the housing industry," NAHB is affiliated with more than 800 state and local home builders associations around the country. NAHB's builder members will construct 80 percent of the more than 1.45 million new housing units projected for 2007.

In this article from the Buffalo News, a City of Buffalo building inspector is warned by the municipality that performing private home inspections is considered a conflict of interest. To read the entire article, click here.

When the bathroom sinks are those cheap stamped steel enamal-coated sinks, I fill them up to where water runs into the overflow sluice and then I release the plunger. About 50% of the time, the welds that hold the sluice to the underside of the basin have rusted through and they leak like a sieve. OT - OF!!! M.

The garage will be a little warmer in winter and a little cooler in the summer. If he ever decides to heat it or cool it or to turn it into a shop or living space the walls and ceiling will already be insulated. OT - OF!!! M.

Ah, fer cryin' out..... Wait'll I see you in Springfield, Fabry. We gonna throw down! OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Ed, You're right, TIJ is here for all inspectors - experienced as well as inexperienced. Just so you know - Rich is actually not the old sourpuss that his posts sometimes make him out to be. Compared to my manners - his are the epitome of propriety and graciousness. I'd been reading his stuff for years on TIJ. When I finally met the guy, I was surprised at how congenial he is. I don't want to imply that the guy is a teddy bear, but if he and I were in a good cop bad copy scenario I'd definitely be the bad cop. Rich is just concerned for your benefit and the welfare of those folks that you are doing work for. Your question and subsequent responses did demonstrate a marked weakness in your understanding of electrical systems; an area that you really don't want to, and mustn't, screw up, if you want to be in business five years from now with all of your assets and your reputation intact. You should also start hanging out over on Mike Holt's forum and start going through the stuff he's got archived over there. Hell, if I had every day free for a year to just hover on that site and read up on electricity, I don't think I could get through it all. Also, keep your ear to the ground for fall training seminars being put on by any of the "professional" associations in your area - especially for any electrical classes being taught by Douglas Hansen - and make sure you pick up a copy of Douglas' book, Electrical Inspection of Existing Dwellings - Second Edition. Lastly, devout 30 minutes a day to perusing the archives of the electrical forum here on TIJ and go to the library area here on TIJ and download the Army electrical manuals I have posted there. I promise you, those manuals will make everything very clear to you. I believe I've even got an Army electrical systems correspondence course archived there which you can use to test your knowledge. Just keep asking your questions here and we'll continue to try and help as best we can. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Oh, do you mean like this? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Is shoddy home construction exacerbating the housing crisis? That's the question posed by this article in today's MSNBC News. What do you think? What can we home inspectors do to make things better? To read more, click here

Texas has its own certification and licensing program for lead inspectors. You can find out more about the program and clearance sampling at the last two links below. Also, you can learn everything else you want to know about lead at the first 4 links. http://www.hud.gov/offices/lead/index.cfm http://www.epa.gov/lead/ http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/traincert.htm http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/elp/default.shtm http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/elp/pdf/HUD ... ojects.pdf

Look, The first thing you need to come to terms with is that you cannot find all rot. It's impossible. There are three stages of rot; incipient, intermediate, and advanced. When you find soft wood, you're finding either intermediate or advanced rot. For every little bit of that you find, there's going to be even more incipient rot and the only way that you can detect that without bore holes and extensive scientific analysis is with a pick test. Search the site for 'rot' and 'woeste' together and you'll pull up Prof. Woeste's article about detecting rot with a pick. All we can do in this business is point people to the intermediate or advanced rot and make them wise to the fact that what they're seeing is not the early stages, that there's more where that came from, and tell them to deal with it. OT - OF!!! M.

Define alarmist, please.

No, That's 100 amps on each leg of a 240 volt circuit. It's one throw and it's 100 amps. Period. OT - OF!!! M.

Well, I've had a bad back since a car accident when I was 19 and an Army career and weight gain doesn't help matters, so I pack everything I need in my Veto Pro-Pac and then I carry it with me. I'll set it down when I enter a room, check things out and then unzip it and get what I need when I need it, without the stupid pockets chafing at my sides or the suspenders making my shoulders tired. Yeah, it's about 20 lbs fully loaded but I'm not constantly running back and forth to get crap. Works for me. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike