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That's right. If the S.E.C. is rated for 100 amps and the main disconnect is 100 amps and the panel is rated for 100 amps, you've got a 100 amp service. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I very gently probe siding with the tip of a screwdriver. When I find a soft spot, I use my fingers to probe further. About two weeks ago, I walked out onto a deck, pointed to a spot on the surface that probably would have looked fine to most folks and then pushed my finger right through it up to the second knuckle. The client's eye's went wide and the agent stepped back inside off the deck. Here's the bottom line; what homeowner can rightly argue that a hole put through a wood component with one's fingertip is the result of an inspector's negligence and not a result of the homeowner's negligence? I assure you; Bruce Lee I'm not. I don't have fists of fury or fingers of steel. If I can shove one of my arthritis-ridden fingers through it, it's rotten,...period. We're required to probe here and I'm not shy about aggressively probing anything that's in the second stage of rot or better. If it's to that point, it should have been repaired long ago. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Dang, why didn't I say that? Oh yeah, I did! OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Well, in my area I don't think that anyone does radon testing unless they're scamming folks. I hear that there are dangerous concentrations in other parts of the state but out here in the western corridor it's a non-issue. CO Monitoring - Just how the heck is someone supposed to do that in the course of a home transaction? What's the point? I once had a furnace with a hole the size of a 50 cent piece in the back of the heat exchanger right where it could be clearly seen with a flashlight. I checked the exhaust with my Monoxir and it read something like 45 PPM in the stack and 0 PPM at any of the registers or around that unit. Obviously the A/F ratio of thta furnace was pretty well fine-tuned. What good would CO monitoring have done me in that circumstance. I used that Monoxir every day for the first 2 or 3 years and finally put it away. I've found more CO hazards in the 8 years since, using just my training, eyes, and common sense than I'd ever found with the Monoxir. I guess I don't understand the question. Is this "Co Monitoring" some kind of new deal that someone has come up with or is it just one more way to suck money out of a customer's pocket doing something that the customer could do themselves, such as installing a quality CO detector. Come-on ejumakate me - I'm willin to hear what it is. Jus don know wedder I'm gonna get into it or knot. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Ed, Why is it a 200 amp service? Is there a 200 amp main disconnect in that 100-amp panel with 4/0 aluminum or 2/0 copper cables feeding that panel? Don't make the mistake of calling it a 200 amp service if you're judging it based on the size of the service drop. Those are usually rated for at least 200 amps. It's what's feeding the panel from the meter, the size of the main disconnect, and the load on the panel that's going to decide whether the load exceeds its 100-amp rating. Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I'd be concerned about the fact that he's using too short an overlap. I don't think drywall screws are appropriate for the reasons stated. Other than that, if the stucco was weathertight before, this really shouldn't allow any water in.Still, I think it would have been wiser to apply it as a rainscreen over the stucco by first applying pressure-treated battens. That way, you could nail it directly to the battens using nails and the back of that siding can dry out. Don't forget, when Hardiplank is installed over most other sheathing and underlayment systems it is able to dry to the interior through diffusion like wood does. If you've got a layer of painted stucco in front of it, you've essentially placed an impermeable barrier there. I think it's going to have a harder time drying out after hard rains. What's he planning to do at the base of the wall? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Go to the menu bar above, pass your cursor over "library" and then click on "file downloads" and then scroll down. OT - OF!!! M.

I wouldn't. I'd tell them that if they're concerned about those things they should have the home tested by a professional lab, not a home inspector. If they bellyached about cost, I'd tell them where they could find the test stuff at the big box and tell them that they're welcome to do it themselves, but I'm not going to do it for them and shoulder that additional liability. About as far as I've ever gone with any environmental testing is to drop off samples at a lab for a customer, put in the order in the customer's name and tell the customer where he or she can pick up and pay for the results. I say do one thing and do it well. Let other folks whose fields actually have something to do with that kind of thing do all that other crap. Home inspectors have enough things to do and worry about without trying to become the local Quicky Mart selling everything under the sun. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Randy, Click the reply to topic button instead of using the quick reply and you'll see a new YouTube icon above the composition box. Get the URL from YouTube, click that box and then upload it. Mike Brown worked on the thing for damned near a day to get it to run on TIJ. Please guys, there's a lot of stuff on YouTube which is home inspection, business, construction related, etc.. Let's try and keep those on the topic when we bring them over here. Okay? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Jim, It might be, but they're practically indistinguishable from one another. I can't tell one way or the other from the photo. If Don says it's aluminum, I'm inclined to believe him. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It goes dormant and lies there waiting to get wet again. You're in North Carolina where you can practically wring the humidity out of your shirt some days. So, you dry out the crawlspace and think it's dead. Then you leave the crawlspace vents open and that humid air migrates into the crawl and condenses all over the underside of the house in that cool crawl. It wets the dormant fungi and it becomes active and starts to grow and spread some more until the moisture level drops again. The cycle will continue to repeat itself until the stuff is killed and the area can't be reinfested. Pull down the insulation, dry out the crawl really well, treat the underside of the home with BoraCare, and then reinstall the insulation. Now the underside of the house is toxic to all fungi in perpetuity. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, I see that Mitchell is really enjoying himself with the new feature. OT - OF!!! M.

Okay, now we're talking something totally different than I was imagining. How old was the house? Did you check to see if the balances were installed, and, if they were, whether they are broken or not. I find the springs broken all the time and then the balance twine just gets all wrapped around those little pulleys and causes the balances to bind them. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Randy, It's possible that the rough openings were too small and that they're binding due to pressure. Vinyl expands at twice the rate of aluminum, wood, or fiberglass, so it's necessary to allow more room for expansion in the rough opening during construction. Sometimes, it's that stainless steel bar and insert in the window tray that's causing the problem. They builder gets sawdust and other crud in the tray, snaps in the insert and the window, and calls it a day. Later on, rain gets into the bottom of the tray causes the crud to swell and causes the window to bind. Sometimes it's just that the rollers on the bottom of the door aren't carrying the door and the door itself is rubbing on the tray liner. A simple turn of a phillips in the hole at either end of the door at the bottom, the dolly lifts the door and it rolls better. Lots of possible causes. If you can't spot an immediate cause and effect, it's best to refer it off to a window/door installer for investigation and correction. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Randy, I think that if it's holding up and not tripping at 40 amps that it's just fine. It probably won't trip at all when the system is working fine, but it might begin tripping as the unit gets older and more worn and draws current above 40 but still less than 50 amps upon startup. If the feeder is only rated for 40 amps that could be a problem, when/if that occurs. Now, try and remember that, like you, air conditioners are, for me, like little green men. Expect Jim or someone from an area where they are common to come on here and straighten me out most rikki tick. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!! Mike

Hi, You needn't have put yourself through that. There's nothing wrong with stating your opinion plainly. You aren't disparaging anyone and, unless you work for them, there's no prohibition against recommending a company's product when you feel it is better than another company's product. OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, I just tried it. It works fine. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, That's referred to as a flexible connector and it cannot be any longer than 3ft.; except in the case of a clothes dryer or a range, in which case it may be longer than 6ft. (IRC 2421.1.2/UPC 1212.OX1) That hard pipe line should stop no farther than 3ft. from the water heater so that a connector less than 3ft. long can be used. There's just so much wrong with this installation. It's pretty obvious that a professional didn't install it. Hope you told the client that and made sure the client understood how dangerous these can be when they're improperly installed. OT - OF!!! M.

I don't disagree with you there, but I think it's just as easy to shoot it to anyone who is interested in seeing it as an attachment to a private email. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I think your electrical engineer needs to go back to engineering school. There isn't any current carried on the equipment grounding conductors or the equipment grounding electrode unless there's something wrong with the grounded (neutral) conductor's path back to earth, so why would the ground rod make any difference? I think Scott's cause is plausible. OT - OF!!! M.

John, I've removed the document from your post. It's a copyrighted work product and you left the inspector's information unredacted. If you're going to post something like that, you need to have the author's permission, lest you place TIJ in some smartypants lawyers' cross hairs. OT - OF!!! M.

That's kind of ironic, It was an appraiser out here in Washington State that won a judgment last year against some folks who shared his copyrighted appriasal with someone without his permission. His case will be the entire basis for my own suit against anyone who does that with one of my reports. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

You know, Guys, If you can't participate, you don't have to wait for one of Ellen's teleconferences to ask her questions. She subscribes to this thread. If you have questions about finances, marketing, taxes, etc., post them here and she'll answer them for you. That's why she's got this column here. Also, she's a business coach. If your company is in trouble financially, she can work one-on-one with you to help you straighten out your finances and get on the right financial course again. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, If any of you can find time for this, you should check it out. Ellen has been working with plumbers and HVAC types for years and many of them swear by her methods. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

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