hausdok

I hope that's a good thing and not a criticism. If not, I hear there's a lot of money to be made by posting smutty pictures of naked gals and guys on the net. Hmmm, on second thought, are any of you studs interested in posing in a thong or less? Joe? [:-bigeyes OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Phil, You don't get it. That baby is configured for speed! [:-hspin]

Hi Jim, I'm not sure who Lonnie Anderson is, but did you look at this article from the archives? It has some pretty good references accompanying it. The formatting isn't the best in the world, I was still having a hard time figuring out how to do it at the time and the photos are grainy black and white types. https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... IC_ID=2101 OT - OF!!! Mike

By the way, Kurt, how high do they go with brick in Chi-Town? I guess I'd never really thought about it, but for some reason I had it in my mind that they don't go more than 5 - 6 floors with brick. That's clearly higher. Those freakin buildings must be an bitch to tuckpoint. OT - OF!!! M.

Yeah, along the ridge, and then straight down from the ridge to the side of the chimney at the north end of the house and then straight back up to the ridge again (That's the workout). You can't see that chimney in the picture. It's on the right end of the house in that picture, obscured by vegetation. This one was so steep that, except for going down to the chimney and back up again, one doesn't want to try and stay on the slope for more than 10 or 15 seconds, because holding your weight on your palms at that pitch feels like it will literally tear one's palms away. The roof is pitched equally as steep along the north south ridge, but only for half it's span. On that axis, about halfway from the ridge to the eaves it changes from that steep pitch to about a 4:12 pitch. I was able to walk most of the north south axis on both sides standing up on the lower-pitched half. From the angle break up, the steep upper portion is only about 8-1/2 ft. high and is like looking at a wall. A little bunny hop from the lower pitched area to the side of the tall roof on the right side in the picture and it's an easy rebound to the ridge. The second chimney is at the end of that ridge on the north-south axis and that dark green tree in the foreground blocks it from view. One goes along a ridge like this like playing leapfrog with a foot on either side, using the arms as legs and the legs only as braces. Straddling that ridge with a foot on either side, I could look right down into the chimney. Hardest roof I ever had was a mansard roof covered with red comp. It was a summer day but not overwhelmingly hot. The only way to the top was up a valley at an inner corner from the eaves. I got off that ladder, started rock walling up that valley and then paused momentarily partway up, when I realized that my palms were burning up. I wanted to stop and go back to the ladder, but it was farther to the ladder than to the ridge. If I went up, I'd still have to come down again, but at least I'd get a few minutes to let my palms cool off. However, if I tried to go back, by the time I got to the ladder, the time in contact with the cover would increase the pain and make me lose my grip. So, I went up. I finished inspecting the roof. Took a few minutes to fan my palms and prepare for it mentally and then went back down that valley as quickly as I could, giving both palms a nice 3rd degree burn in the process. I never go on red roofs now on a sunny day. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Today's. Pre-Offer inspection. $1.4M Another inspector on-site climbed up to a flat room over a 3-season porch at the far left end of the picture but went no further. I did all of it. It gave me a pretty good workout but it wasn't difficult. Here's what I found up there: Counter flashings missing on the uphill side of one chimneystack Uphill counterflashing installed wrong at the other stack with a huge hole through the side of the stack where the old flashings had been eroded completely away. Crown on one stack was cracked and the crack extended 5 ft. down through the stack and one flue wall. The flue tile in the furnace flue was completely eaten way by acid for the last 4ft. from the crown and had sloughed off into the stack. Wooden gutter along one side of the upper roof is shot and leaking into the soffit. The cracked stack looks great from the ground because it's coated with a layer of parging. Sounded the parging. It's barely holding on and is sloughing off. Behind, the mortared joints are toast due to water trapped behind that parging for decades. Flat roof has a high parapet with a urethane surface and little tiny 2" drain and no overflow scuppers. The only issue out of all thest that was evident from the ground with binos, or could be seen from a ladder was the, leaking worn-out wood gutter. There's nothing really hard or scary about it - it's just technique. When I'm on the roof I don't pay attention to anything beyond the gutter. If it's 10 - 15 ft. from the eaves to the ridge, I just think of the roof as sitting on a flat parking lot with the ridge just above me a little bit. When I do that, my nerves are fine and it's like I'm not 25ft. in the air but maybe 10 - 15ft. in the air. Gotta tell ya, though, these old guys give one a pretty good workout compared to the little one-story bungalows with the 4:12 roofs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

You go up the valley, Randy. Straddle it like you're climbing up the chute of a rock face. Palms and soles flat on the roof to get maximum traction. To come down to the sides of the dormer from the ridge, you back down from the ridge with your fingers pointed toward the gutters and your arms turned to brace you. to come back down the valley, do the same thing or walk down it frontways standing erect and then turn at the bottom to get on the ladder. OT - OF!!! M.

Well yeah, If I used a 32' ladder it would have been perfect. I make do with what I've got and the tradeoff is an acceptable alternative to not being able to get into parking garages and needing to park blocks away in order to do inspections. OT - OF!!! M.

In a follow-up to another article about proposed H.I. legislation looming on the horizon in Michigan, the President of the Michigan Association of Home Inspectors is supporting the bill because it seeks to somewhat emulate the Massachusetts home inspection law by preventing real estate agents from recommending home inspectors to their clients. To read more click here.

This article in this months issue of JLC Update, the Journal of Light Construction's online newsletter, is about how Miami-based Lennar Corporation plans to install photovoltaic panels on 1,900 new homes near Sacramento, Calif and expects homeowners to save up to 60% on their energy bills. To read more, click here.

This article in Metal Roofing Online explores the future marriage of metal roofing with solar energy products - something that the metal roofing industry is convinced will occur. To learn more, click here.

In this latest of a series of news releases aimed at educating the public, the California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA) reminds homebuyers and sellers, as well as all individuals involved in real estate transactions, that the services of a qualified and professional home inspector are unique in some very important respects. To read more click here.

This article from the Times Herald, Port Huron, MI, details a state representative's determination to get some kind of home inspection legislation on the books, despite two failed previous efforts, and why he feels it's so important. To read more, click here.

Went around and tossed them onto crime scenes in order to mess with the CSI types. OT - OF!!! M.

I agree with Bill, I had two separate pin-type meters before I bought my Surveymaster. Neither one of them could spot moisture in places that the Surveymaster has. That thing has saved my butt by spotting moisture in places that I had no visual clues and wouldn't have even probed more times then I want to count and Yung has gotten so proficient with it that it's scary. Yeah, it costs more, but it pays for itself in the very first job where it finds moisture that you would have otherwise missed and could have been liable for with a pin meter. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. OT - OF!!! M.

Need your anti-freeze topped up too? Many thanks to Rick Sovastion (User Name: zeb) Advanced Home Inspections Morgantown, WV

ATLANTA - May 4, 2007 To reduce the building design industry’s impact on the environment, key leaders in that sector are collaborating to establish carbon-neutral buildings by the year 2030. The American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Society of Heating,Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Architecture 2030, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and the U.S. Green Building Council, supported by representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy,finalized an agreement of understanding this week, establishing a common starting point and a goal of net zero energy buildings. “This agreement allows the building design sector to move forward with designing buildings that use substantially less energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create spaces that are healthy and comfortable,â€

Well, not as high as Kurt's but this one was a dickens to get to the ridge on and to stay on when checking that dormer and chimney. Just about wore out the calluses on my hands. Not a whole lot of purchase and had been heated by the sun all day. Found missing flashings on the dormer that couldn't see from the ground and they'd used glass mat gooped with a little mastic as flashings around the base of that conical roof. The cover is probably less than 6 years old, but the mastic had worn away and the glass fiber was showing through at the base of the cone. It gave me a pretty good workout for such a small roof. OT - OF!!! M.

Whew! That's downright scary. It must have been Ronald's kids that built that one. OT - OF!!! M.

My moisture detector is about 5"2" tall and is self-propelled. While I'm doing the exterior, electro-mechanicals and roof and foundation, the base of every wall, the walls around windows and doors, the ceilings, the floors around tubs and toilets, the tub and shower surrounds and every surface in the house is being checked. Usually, after about an hour into the inspection, it informs me that all surfaces have been checked and directs me to every suspect area in the house so that I can re-check suspect areas with my protimeter in radio and pin mode. It's detected many thousands of dollars worth of stuff that I might have missed otherwise, because I was trying to move as quickly as possible or was being otherwise distracted by the client. A Picture of the moisture detector is below. Download Attachment: MoistureDetectorHardAtWork.JPG 31.06 KB OT - OF!!! [] Mike

Darn! You got us all worked up over nothing? You're a mean, mean home inspector. I see a reducer there. Are you sure? OT - OF!!! M.

Washington, D.C./May 3rd - Release #07-177 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Acer America Corporation, today announced a voluntary program for the replacement of certain notebook computer lithium-ion batteries containing Sony-made cells. Consumers should only use the notebook computer using AC power until a replacement battery pack is received. Name of product: Coast Spas with Franklin Electric Motors . Units: 8,000 Manufacturer: Coast Spas Manufacturing Inc., of Langley, British Columbia, Canada Motor manufacturer: The Engineered Motor Products Division of Franklin Electric Company Inc., of Bluffton, Ind. Hazard: The recalled spas have a circulating pump and motor assembly, which can overheat and pose a fire hazard. Incidents/Injuries: Coast Spas has received 30 reports of spa fires. No injuries have been reported. Description: The recalled spas were manufactured from January 2002 through October 2004. Only spas manufactured during this time frame with either red or yellow pump and motor assemblies are included in this recall. The spa manufacturer's name and date code and the pump and motor assembly can be located in the spa compartment as shown below. Consumers can access this compartment by lifting out the compartment door and setting it aside. Sold at: Spa dealers nationwide from January 2002 through October 2004 for between $7,000 and $15,000. Manufactured in: The spas were manufactured in Canada, and the motors and pump assemblies were manufactured in the U.S. Remedy: Consumers should contact Coast Spas immediately to arrange for the installation of a free retrofit by a service technician. Consumer Contact: For more information, consumers should check the firm's Web site at www.spamotorretrofit.com, or call Coast Spas toll-free at (877) 534-5255 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. PT Monday through Friday. To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled product, please go to: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07177.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.

Taste, of course! [] OT - OF!!! M.

You've just uncovered a conspiracy by the Plunger Manufacturers of America (PMA). They have a secret corps of plumbing instructors that are teaching their students to add a second trap to a toilet in the hopes of doubling their business (pun intended). Spread the word about this poop plot before we're all ankle deep in excrement. OT - OF!!! M.

Exactly. Like I said, it ambushes you. OT - OF!!! M.