hausdok

That's what virus software is for. If someone sends me a doc that's infected, it snatches it and then cleans it and then when I open it I don't have to worry about it. I think I've had one computer virus that got past my software in 10 years and then only because I did something dumb like turn the thing off and forgot to turn it back on. OT - OF!!! M.

Now that's different. OT - OF!!! M.

Well, it's a good thing you've got that weather-toughened skin 'cuz home inspectors tend to correct each others' grammatical and spelling faux pas in the interest of helping one another become better writers. That is, essentially what we are - technical writers - and it helps to have someone available here to correct those little niggling things that might make your work look/read less professional. Most folks here understand and appreciate it, but every once in a while there's someone who gets highly offended and thinks that, instead of receiving constructive criticism, they're being dissed and they stomp off the board. Kurt, I dunno. I've looked at photos from both and I really don't see that much difference. Do we really need to have the absolute best resolution when we're just showing them the differences in heat signatures emanating from an object or wall/ceiling cavity? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sniff [:-paperba OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Brandon, I think that's a good analysis. Notwithstanding what I said above, if I knew there had been issues but could not visually verify that they'd been corrected, I'd probably do exactly the same as you and say something in the report to the effect of: "You should be aware that I inspected this home for the seller when he bought the house a little more than a year ago. At that time, there was a large horizontal foundation crack in the back wall of the foundation and it was bowing inward. I'd recommended then that a licensed engineer, in concert with a competent foundation contractor, design and supervise a fix to that wall. During today's inspection, I could not verify whether that work has been done and there's no way to know, without physically cutting through the wall to examine the foundation behind. Ask the homeowner whether he ever made those repairs. If he says that he has, ask to see the repair documentation, obtain the name of the contractor and the engineer, and then call to verify the work was done. If you can't confirm that the work was actually done, or that the repairs were done under the supervision of an engineer, it's my opinion that you should insist that the homeowner have the wall opened up, so that you can have it examined by an engineer and competent contractor, with an aim toward determining what it will take in terms of work and cost to effectively repair it." It'd probably piss off the former client but I think at heart he would have known the second I walked into the home what to expect from me. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I've tried. We all know that it's hopeless. [] However, re. James' post, more paragraphs would be nice. Ya know what? Roadguy sounds like a reasonably bright fellow. Guess he must have kept his helmet on and the sun off his head all of those years. Pretty good for a first post James. Welcome to the TIJ family. OT - OF!!! M.

Here, This might be easier to use. I scanned the thing. Save it and then blow it up and print it out on cardstock. I don't remember where I got it but I can tell you that it's at least 9 years old and shows it after bouncing around in my clipboard for that long. OT - OF!!! M. Download Attachment: CableSizes.jpg 27.34 KB

Huh, Les is trippin' again. Bet he never knew that all that weed he smoked in the 60's would come back and bite him. OT - OF!!! M.

Yes, However, when I occasionally convert my word files to pdf I've had some pdf converters change my fonts or the layout of the text a little bit and that just bugs the hell out of me. You can send your word files password protected as a read-only document. In word, click "tools" and then "options." This will drop a work folder. Choose the "save" tab and then you can protect the document by creating a password to open it, a password to modify it or both. Since with most home inspection reports you aren't going to want anyone to monkey around with it, you'd create a password to modify it that only you would know and if you were concerned that someone other than your client might have access to the client's e-mail and would be nosing around in the report, you could password protect it so that only your client would know how to open it. It works, believe me. Just don't be dumb like me and not have a system in place when you do assign passwords. I was dumb enough to password protect a document once without recording its password, using a password that I'd easily and automatically remember or with a system that would key my memory and prevent me forgetting it. I went back to it a couple of weeks later to work on it and couldn't get into it to save my a**. Tried for hours and hours and absolutely nothing worked. All that work down the drain! I finally had to cave in and re-write the whole document from scratch and it took forever.[:-banghea[:-gnasher[:-headach[:-weepn][:-banghea[:-gnasher[:-headach[:-weepn][:-banghea[:-gnasher[:-headach[:-weepn][:-banghea[:-gnasher[:-headach[:-weepn] Now I've got a foolproof system to create them and remember them. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I think if one intends to actively market to the real estate folks, it's got to be done in a way that will keep your name and phone number constantly in front of their faces. Les's yo-yo is one way, coffee cups or mouse pads with the name of your company and, most importantly, your phone number would be another. It's something that they won't toss and your number will always be there. The public - I think having some decent artwork on your vehicle to attract a little attention works well. People will see your vehicle again and again and the name of your company will eventually stick in their mind. There's one electrical outfit around here that has their trucks attractively and tastefully 'branded.' When someone asks me if I know of any electrical contractors I immediately think of that company before I think about the one that's only about 50 yards from where I'm sitting and whose trucks I see constantly. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Randy, Shoot me your fax number and I'll shoot you a beat up old cheater chart I have. OT - OF!!! M.

Sounds like they might have fixed them. Did it look like they did? If so, all I'd say is that I'd previously inspected it and that X out of X number of issues seen then have been corrected and I'd explain what had not. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Save it as a file and then, instead of clicking send to receipient as an email, click send as an attachment and your formatting will not change at all. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, The franchise outfit that I used to be with had a trick to keeping the brochures out of the back room. Instead of the broker, you go to the office manager/clerk/girl friday at the front desk, hand her a little 4 ounce box of chocolates and then ask nicely to be able to put your brochure stand right there on the counter over her desk. If she turnes you down, smile nice, leave and then next time you stop off there do the same thing again, and again, each time looking a little injured, until she caves. Then don't forget to keep her stoked after that. You never have to say a word to an actual realtor, and those brochures stay there out front where anyone stopping into the office sees your's but doesn't see the ones in the back. It worked - at least for the 9 months that I was craven enough to do that, then I quit going in there altogether. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Thanks, it's probably a mite "wordy" but that's just me. It's a great engine and you can always easily modify any of the boilerplate with a couple simple clicks. There are examples of both partial-narrative and narrative format reports at the Inspect Express site. Just go to http://www.inspectexpress.com. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Have you looked at MS Office? I've got a 6-year old issue of MS Office Premium. I've never bothered to really look at it until you posted this question and I just went to my programs, clicked "New Office Document" and clicked "Brochure" and it opened right up to a 3-fold brochure template, complete with graphics, which I can do whatever I want with. As far as I can tell, it works exactly like any word processor program and I have the ability to import graphics and photos into it and use a variety of other formatting options. If you want your brochure to be JPEG, couldn't you create it in this program and then scan it and save it as a JPEG file or what about using a pdf converter program and converting the finished product? I'm not very computer literate, but I bet I could produce a pretty nice brochure in about half an hour with that program and would be able to use whatever graphics I wanted to. Only problem is - I can't imagine that anything I would write would appeal to very many people from an advertising standpoint. Just my two cents from a computer ignoramus, so if it doesn't provide an answer that's satisfactory, don't get too frustrated with my sticking my nose in where I'm not qualified to comment. OT - OF!!! M.

I definitely agree with that. In a perfect world you could call it 'Crimes Against Architecture" and start putting away the idiots who remuddle grand old homes into sheetmetal-sided tuna cans and builders and designers who create over-priced monstrosities that will only last a quarter of a century before someone finally needs to bulldoze them. Not sure our opinion is going to account for much as regards this brick though. Have you tried to find a bricklayers' forum where you could ask the same question? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, How deep are they? As I've stated above, a 10 by 10 area would only add another 5.2lbs per square foot and most roofs are designed for a dead load of 10 plus 20, so the weight would not be an issue with a pond 10 by 10 by 1" - at least that's my understanding of it. Of course, remember that I'm a math idjit, so I could have this all upside down and backwards. I posed the question hoping to get the smarter guys to come on here and examine it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, There's an article in this month's Journal of Light Construction about spray-foam re-roofing. I don't think water remaining on an EPDM roof for 4 days will do it a lot of harm. It is, after all, solid rubber. I'd be more concerned with what all that water might be doing to the structure. You never did answer Jim Katen's question about how much water is remaining on the roof. According to a nifty chart I have here, a gallon of water contains 231 cubic inches and weighs 8.33 lbs. A 10' by 10' by 1" deep pond that varies in depth from zero to 1" deep in the center contains 62.34 gallons and weighs .26 of a ton at 520lbs or about 5.2lbs per square foot. A 20' by 20' by 1" deep pond will weigh 1.04 tons (2080) lbs. but the weight per square foot will be the same. Isn't most roof framing designed for a 10 psf dead load plus a 20 psf live load? If so, the weight of a little bit of water ponding on it isn't going to be the issue unless the water can degrade the cover. With a modbit or a built-up it would be a bad thing, but would it really hurt an EPDM or a PVC roof? OT - OF!!! M. P.S. Sorry, can't post the chart. It's all faded and worn and it was a poor copy of a copy in the first place.

I dunno, I've walked down the side of a building, found them spitting and tested the temperature with my fingertip. By the time it's to the end of the pipe, it's usually luke warm. I think to pose a danger and to do all of the "splash back" that's always described as the T & P bogeyman, it would literally need to be pouring water out of that pipe at a rate equivalent to the water that's filling it. Since the valve is designed to shut off as soon as the pressure drops below 150 and/or the temp is below 210°F, anything coming out at that volume should either be expanding to steam and sending that thing through the roof or it would reduce pressure within one or two seconds and temperature in about 10 seconds. To get hit by the thing, you'd practically have to be standing there waiting for it. Tell 'em to nip a little off the end of the pipe and don't lose any more sleep over it. Besides, the subject will come up again in two or three weeks and we'll be right back here again chasing the T & P bogeyman. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I wonder if the mason used brick ties every few bricks as he laid those up and therefore didn't feel that a lintel was necessary. X-Ray vision would be such a nice accessory if one could purchase it. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Scott, if he/she were my client and I were using the IRC as my reference, I'd just say that the pipe needs to be trimmed back about an inch and point out that it will take someone about 1 - 2 minutes to do with a hacksaw, so it's not the end of the world. Mitchell/Rich, you've gotta remember that some places are still not using the IRC and are using the UPC. Then there are places that have made up their own rules. Personally, I think it's impossible to memorize what every jurisdiction is using, because whenever there is a code upgrade they are liable to change things up. The best thing to do is to just pick one model code that you intend to personally use as a reference and then cite that, while at the same time making sure that the client understands that it's a model code only and might not be what the locals have used. Then, if it's a safey issue like this, make sure that the client understands what the danger is and impress upon the client the importance of getting it corrected, even if the seller refuses to do so and the client has to pay for it. OT - OF!!! M.

Yep, That wood parquet doesn't like moisture. One Saturday morning in 1985 I awoke to a large crashing sound in my government quarters at Ft. McClellan. Ran out into the living room to find that the stand beneath my wife's 20 gallon aquarium had collapsed and the water was everywhere and covering the wood parquet flooring. Within minutes, as we're trying to mop up that water, the floor started swelling and looked like a skateboard course. I ran out into the storage shed, dug out a long-unused snow shovel and started peeling them off the floor as fast as I could until I got ahead of the water - roughly 60% of that room. As I got em up, my son carried them out in the summer sun and laid them down on the asphalt driveway to dry and I cranked the heat up as far as it would go and cracked the windows only a little bit. Went down to the local Lowe's picked up some flooring mastic and a toothed trowel and then returned to wait for the drying to be completed. All this time the wife was cussing me out pretty good for not having reinforced that stand like she wanted and because the house was so danged hot. A couple of hours later, my son and I set to work re-laying those tiles and finished by early afternoon. The floor looked good, but I sweated the turn-over inspection when I cleared that post. I was sure that once everything was out of the house there'd be some tell-tale sign. Nope, looked like new and we got away scott free. Whew! I don't want to think what the Army would have charged me to come in and redo those floors, because they won't just do a section, they'll do the entire quarters and then stick the troop with the bill. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Craig I've checked my email several times today. Are you sure you sent it to the right email address? Use the private message feature above, it's less prone to glitches of the net. OT - OF!!! M.

Boston MA - October 16 Flir Systems, Inc., the global leader in infrared cameras, has announced a purchase incentive program for its popular BCAM® thermal imager. Under the terms of FLIR’s offer, customers will receive a cash savings when they order a BCAM by December 15, 2006. Customers can take advantage of this offer online. FLIR’s BCAM infrared camera offers a non-invasive means of monitoring and diagnosing building conditions. With its immediate high-resolution thermal imaging, the BCAM can find potential structural issues, moisture, energy efficiency concerns, pests, rodents, and more. The BCAM is lightweight, rugged, and ergonomic. The BCAM delivers fully radiometric jpeg image storage, which is ideal for any application. This functionality enables users to make any temperature measurement of any pixel after the image has been saved. New Quickview 2.0 thermal imager software also allows users to select different color palette, level and span, or even a moving spot locator to zoom in on intended target areas. An MPEG 4 live video feature enables users to display real-time images through their PCs. Detailed information about the BCAM is available on FLIR’s Web site. FLIR’s purchase incentive for the BCAM will run until December 15, 2006. #### To display a larger version of the image above, click here: BCAMBigger.jpg About FLIR Systems: FLIR Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets thermal imagers and infrared camera systems worldwide for a variety of applications. FLIR's thermal imagers are used in such diverse applications as public safety, defense, navigation, electronic news gathering and search and rescue, as well as for electrical inspection, commercial and residential building inspection, indoor air quality and home energy monitoring applications, non-destructive testing, medical science, research and development, and manufacturing process control. For more information on all types of thermal imagers, please call +1-800-464-6372 or visit FLIR's site. Editor's Note: To read other TIJ readers' comments about IR thermography and take part in that discussion click here.