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Hi, The NAHB Residential Construction Performance Guidelines for new construction state: 4.2 Observation: The wall is bowed. Performance Guideline: All interior and exterior walls have slight variances in their finished surface. Walls shall not bow more than 1/2 inch out of line within any 32 inch horizontal measurement, or 1/2 inch within any 8 foot vertical measurement. Corrective Measure: The contractor will repair to meet the performance guideline. With standards like that you're probably lucky that the walls are as straight as they are. Sheesh! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It looks like acid damage, Wonder if some sparky with his head tucked up his butt thought that soldering flux would make a satisfactory substitute for anti-oxidation paste when he ran out. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Good answers all, but I can't get on board with those who say that all basements leak. And if 95% of basements have sumps in them in Terry's neck of the woods I'd say that either they have an extremely high water table or they have an issue with builder education and quality control. They don't build on slabs where I grew up in New York. My old man put in hundreds of foundations and I don't recall a single customer that ever complained about water infiltration back there. I do think a lot of it has to do with where one lives and the local building customs though. Some places build foundations almost exclusively with CMU's and in my mind those have to be more prone to problems than a full-cast. Out here in Seattle, it's pretty rare that I find an absolutely dry basement. They don't seem to "get" basements here so much. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Can you imagine if you had to inspect homes on Guam? 13,000 brown tree snakes per square kilometer! That's my kind of place - bet there isn't a single f####ng rat left on that rock. I'll take a snake over a rat anytime. Still? 13,000 psk. Whew! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I confess that I don't know much about it, which probably seems weird to most of you since Seattle is supposed to be one of the most wired cities in the country. I routinely see real estate agents sit down while I'm doing an inspection, open up their computers all over the city and they are instantly online. It's had me wondering how I could use it to my own advantage. I seem to recall an article in the Seattle paper some months back that called that "piggybacking" or something like that and said that it was illegal and that it's a prosecutable offense. If you search the Seattle P-I web page you might be able to find it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, He's the same realtor and he knows that it's the same report - even with the critical information blacked out. If anything ever goes wrong with that house and they start screaming, he's going to be complainant's witness #1 when they sue you in court. Besides, why would you want to give your work away for free? Because it's a client of the same realtor on the same house? Did the realtor suggest that? Phooey! I would have asked the realtor if he would waive his commission if a different customer bought that same house and used him as the selling agent. Don't be a sucker. You're in business to feed your family and you can't do that by giving your work product away. I never get requests like that because I work my way through the pre-inspection agreement with the client before every inspection and make absolutely certain that the realtor is listening too and that they (the customer) understand everything in it before I begin. When it comes to the 3rd party liability clause, here's what I tell them (paraphrased): "This is the 3rd partly liability section. Make sure you read it very carefully. Basically, it says that this report is done for you and is to be used for your transaction only. The fee you pay me compensates me for the time it takes me to inspect this home and prepare the report, it does not entitle you to distribute the report freely to third parties because it is my copyrighted work product. You can share the report with your realtor and, if necessary, share portions of the report with the seller, but what you can't do is give/trade/barter or otherwise distribute it to anyone that will rely on it to purchase this home. When you sign this agreement this section says that you are agreeing to control distribution of this document. If you walk and another buyer wants to purchase this home and wants my report, he/she can hire me and then stand here and listen to this briefing and read, agree to, and then sign his/her own copy of this agreement, after which I'll do another complete inspection for them and produce a completely new report for them. Otherwise, they have no right to my work." Sometimes briefing them about the PIA takes a lot of extra time, but so far in 10 years I've never been sued or have even had to sit down to an arbitration table, so I plan to keep on doing it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

You can find various examples of PIA's on the web. Go grab a few, take them to an attorney and ask the attorney to craft you one that will work for your in your state. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I agree. Sure, 3-layers is stupid, but I see it a lot on older homes. They throw a new cover on in the hopes that it will help the house sell faster. When an inspector calls it, the seller sticks to his/her guns and the buyer either accepts it, knowing that they'll end up spending an additional $1500 to $2000 for tear-off, dumpster and tipping costs when they eventually renew it, or they walk away. You accepted it and bought it fully informed. It's been performing for you. He can do the same or find another house and he knows it. If he didn't want it pretty badly, he wouldn't have been back 3 times already. He's just busting your chops and hoping you'll cave in. You came down $5,000 already. If he was in the construction business, he can probably put a new cover on for a third of what it will cost the average non-professional. You are now actively engaged in a game of chicken. He's hoping that you'll swerve first. Will you? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Guys, I think your all getting side-tracked. The premise of the show is that these folks hook up with an inspector, go through the house and then, using the list of stuff identified by the inspector - and I assume his swagged cost figures - determine what the house should cost. People watching this are liable to get the idea that we can, or should, help them determine what the fair selling price of a house is. Although we all know they all do it, it's long been a tenet of this business that our mission is to identify deficiencies - not help buyers figure out what they should be offering for a house. Maybe I just have a skewed impression - especially since I've not seen the program yet - but I think the whole concept is ultra-whacked. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, You should dump the notion that using hot water heaters to heat a house is a 'cheapy' system. It's done all the time around here and some of these systems cost more than a conventional forced hot air system to install. The only thing cheap about them is the savings on heating cost. If the system was specifically designed to do double-duty by someone who knew what he/she was doing, it's probably fine. You do have to learn the differences between good installs and bad though. Look in the Free-Downloads forum. I just added a couple of links to training programs where you can learn the difference between good systems and bad. In the meantime, click the link below for a .pdf article from JLC about using hot water heaters for domestic heat. Ya gotta keep an open mind in this business. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Download Attachment: HotWaterHeatersForHeat.pdf 367.52 KB

Hi Rich, If you peel back that lath and plaster, you'll find a little shelf with two diagonal braces secured to a couple of studs and it's holding the whole stack. I've seen a couple without the surroundings. OT - OF!!! M.

Nope, Now, about that electric head scratcher. Was it a portable model or a fixed model. I like the fixed models with the deep rub cycle. OT - OF!!! [] M.

Hi, You never mentioned whether it was a gas water heater or an electric water heater. Here's a scary electric water heater scenario for you: 1. Owner drains most of the water out of a water heater when closing the cabin down in the fall for the winter. 2. During the late fall, winter and summer months, bacteria in the water react with the anode to create Hydrogen Sulfide gas that fills the space above the lowered water level. 3. In the spring, the owner returns, turns on the water to fill the tank and as the water fills the tank it compresses the hydrogen sulfide gas above the water. 4. He turns on power to the water heater without purging the tank of the gas. 5. As the tank is heating up, he turns on the hot water and lowers the water level inside the tank far enough to expose the heating element to the partially-compressed hydrogen-sulfide gas. The gas, having been compressed, can ignite at a lower flash point and ignites. 6. Cottage go BOOM !!! id="size6"> It's called a BLEVE - Bi-Level Explosive Event, I believe, and it happens a few times a year around the country. So, which is it? OT - OF!!! M.

Yes, Thanks to J.D. and ASHI for sharing. Mike

Hi, Well, if you know your way around a wrench, it shouldn't be too hard to correct that. If not, it would be prudent to simply bite the bullet and call a plumber. It's bacteria in the water reacting with the anode rod that's created the hydrogen-sulfide that you're smelling. You might be able to get rid of it by simply running the water, but the quickest way will be to completely drain and flush the water heater. Turn off the gas or power and then shut off the water to the water heater, flip up the lever on the temperature and pressure relief valve and then open the sillcock at the bottom and drain it. Once it's drained, open the supply side and let some more water run through it (a few gallons)to flush out the rest of the sediment on the bottom of the tank. Turn off the water and allow it to drain, close the sillcock and release the T & P lever and then turn the water to the unit back on. Once the tank has filled, NOT before, light your pilot or turn on the power and then wait an hour or two for the water to heat up and then try it. If the odor is still there, you may need to replace the anode rod. They're available at hardware stores and home improvement centers. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

By JD Grewell This tale brings to mind the old saw: ‘for want of the nail, a shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; for want of the horse, the rider was lost; for want of the rider, the battle was lost; for want of the battle the kingdom was lost, and all for the want of a nail.’ As a contracted Dispute Settler for the Montgomery County (Maryland) New Homes Warranty Program, I was assigned to investigate complaints on a large, expensive new home. The complaint list included squeaky subflooring in the master bedroom suite, a stiff door off the suite, a leak above the sunroom, and hairline cracks to a pass-through and in 14" x 14" ceramic floor tiles in the kitchen and sunroom. The builder claimed the house was built per the plans, with only the substitution of TJI wood I-joists for Georgia Pacific’s joists, with the 2" x 14" joists set on the 19.2- inch-centers. He said the squeaking subfloor was normal, and silicone caulking was the answer to the ceiling leak. The hairline cracks in the tile had to be the manufacturer’s fault because it was installed with Durock underlayment on approved OSB subflooring. Because I could see a steel girder without squash blocks or blocking panels below a loaded wall, I asked a Consumer Affairs official at the site to have the local TJI structural engineer do the following: confirm squash blocks were needed; check the floor loads; and to determine appropriate stiffness required for ceramic flooring. The engineer reported that blocking panels or squash blocks were needed and that the floor stiffness was appropriate for ceramic tiles. After reviewing the plans, he echoed my concerns about the lack of access to a second steel girder below the kitchen and sunroom that was closed in as part of the finished basement. Even though the builder claimed he had installed squash blocks with this girder, the owner agreed to open the basement ceiling at random points, as well as remove the ceramic tiles and underlayment on the floor above to expose the subflooring. Once the critical areas were exposed, the builder’s foreman, the homeowner and I took a look, first at the tile floor. The Durock had been laid parallel to the subfloor – counter to what is required. The ceramic tile fractures were centered along the subfloor joints. Seemed like a closed case until I noticed that the subfloor sloped. On the same wall as the passageway between the sunroom and the kitchen, there was a pass-through above the kitchen sink and countertop opening into the sunroom. Encased 4" x 4" posts supported the headers above these wall openings. The posts at the doorway were sinking into the subfloor showing compression. By using a spirit level I could see the floor had dropped 1.5". Then I saw one-inch diameter holes drilled through the subfloor in the kitchen around this doorway. Why the holes? The owner said they had been drilled when he expressed concern about damage to the OSB from the rainwater that pooled in this area during construction. The holes let the water drain harmlessly to the basement. Good enough, but why the compression and now sloping floor? We traipsed to the basement. With the ceiling open, we could see there were no squash blocks between the wood I-joists, and we could see the outline of the doorposts. The posts were installed atop the bays of the joists without blocking to transfer the floor and wall (point) loads down to the girder, hence the compression and sinking of the subfloor. The foreman claimed the house was built to the plans, therefore this was the fault of the architect hired by the owner. We reviewed the owner’s copy of the plans. The foreman pointed out where the posts where shown landing between the joists and without blocking. I turned to the detail page and showed him a specific detail marked as “typicalâ€

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Heat & Glo, of Lakeville, Minn., is voluntarily recalling about 1,550 Heat & Glo Gas Fireplaces. The recall involves the Heat & Glo Twilight II and IIB indoor/outdoor see-through gas fireplaces. The model name, Twilight II or IIB, can be found by looking at the bottom right side of the inside of the control compartment of the inside portion of the fireplace. Temperatures in the framing header area above these fireplaces can get too high, posing a fire hazard. Read more...

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Hewlett-Packard Company, of Palo Alto, Calif., is voluntarily recalling about 224,000 (about 679,000 worldwide) HP Photosmart R707 Digital Cameras. The digital camera can cause certain non-rechargeable batteries, such as the Duracell CP-1, to overheat when the camera is connected to an AC adapter or docking station, posing a fire hazard. Read more...

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Petters Consumer Brands, LLC, of Minnetonka, Minn., is voluntarily recalling about 3,600 Sunbeam Gas Ranges. These ranges lack an adequate heat shield, and can cause scorching of certain flooring materials directly under the appliance.Read More...

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), CFM Corp. of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is voluntarily recalling about 1,300 Sequoia Wood Burning Fireplaces. Due to insufficient insulation or a missing weld, some of these fireplaces could pose a fire hazard. Read more...

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Tyco Fire & Security, of Boca Raton, Fla. is voluntarily recalling about 128,000 smoke detectors. The smoke detectors could experience reduced sensitivity to smoke in conditions of high humidity and high temperature. If this occurs, these detectors could delay detecting the presence of smoke in the event of a fire. Read more...

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Tyco Fire & Security, of Boca Raton, Fla. is voluntarily recalling about 21,000 Fire Detection Systems. Sensors in these fire detection systems could experience reduced sensitivity to smoke in conditions of high humidity and high temperature. If this occurs, these sensors could delay detecting the presence of smoke in the event of a fire. Read more...

Lithonia Lighting, a division of Acuity Lighting Group Inc. of Conyers, GA and the CPSC recalled approximately 1100 low-level lighting units after a number fell apart. Read more...

By Daryl Oie In this day and age, the need to effectively manage your business and your time is imperative. With so many other things on your mind marketing, customer service, report writing, accounting, computer systems, etc can overload you. However, without any appraisals or inspections scheduled, there would be no business. Appointment scheduling is one aspect of the industry that is most often overlooked. Like many inspectors and appraisers, you probably haven’t given much thought to the way you schedule your appointments. Maybe you have an office staff that answers the phone and schedules your appointments. Perhaps you do like I did and direct all your calls to your cell phone, which you answer continuously throughout the day. Or, maybe you have clients leave messages on a voice mail or send you a fax or an e-mail, which you reply to when you are finished with your on-site workday. All these methods may work for you, but is it the most efficient way? Missed Calls Equal Missed Business We all know how important it is to answer the phone in order to get business. You may be on the job site and not wish to be interrupted, be talking with clients, on the telephone, golfing, fishing, or just doing something where you are unable, or do not want, to answer your phone. The potential client leaves you a message and then calls the next person on the list and leaves a message, or, worse yet, they go online and book with someone else’s online scheduler. With the downturn in the current real estate market can you really afford to lose that prospective business? Time is of the essence and you don’t want to miss out on potential business because your client could not reach you to book an appointment. An online scheduler fills those gaps, by allowing your clients to schedule appointments when you are not available. Missed calls can now be turned into scheduled appointments and scheduled appointments mean more profits. With the downturn in the current real estate market can you really afford to lose that prospective business? Do you know how much business you are losing? The Juggling Act Scheduling can be somewhat of a juggling act, and keeping track of appointments, vacations, doctor appointments, etc. can be complicated. With multiple inspectors or appraisers, scheduling gets even more complicated. If you are one of those people who answer the phone and schedules appointments throughout the day, even during an appraisal or inspection, it’s imperative that you write the information down accurately and save it in a safe place. How does it look to the client if you are scheduling other appointments while on the client's time? If you don’t have your appointment book or calendar with you, how do you know you aren’t double booking yourself? Not to mention, how does it look to the client if you are scheduling other appointments while on the client's time? It’s a Matter of Choice Online scheduling systems offer your clients an alternative way of booking your appointments. Why is this necessary? My cell phone works just fine. I have to sell my self to the client so I must talk with them. These are the typical responses we get from some home Inspectors and appraisers. The majority of your business is repeat business coming from referrals by past clients realtors, or mortgage brokers who know you and trust your work. So most of your clients have already been sold on you and your services, they don’t need to talk with you. There are times when the client wants to talk with you about your services and they can still call you on your cell or office telephone. But the majority of clients just want to book their appointment. We all know that the faster and easier it is for the client to book their appointment the more likely they are to use your services and that is the key to success for online scheduling systems. It doesn’t matter if you currently schedule appointments by telephone, call center, fax, or e-mail, you will be enhancing that system and your office efficiency by adding an online scheduler system. Lets face some facts; You can only work so many hours in a day (12 -16 seems right), if you have a secretary they probably works 8 -10 hours a day, and call centers are usually open 16 hours a day. Online Schedulers work 24 hours a day 7 days a week and they do so much more than just schedule appointments. Is the Online Scheduler a standalone answer to your scheduling problems? Some users think so and will only book inspections through their online scheduler. Others use it to schedule appointments when they cannot get to the phone or when the office is closed. Either way it is a great addition to the way you are currently scheduling and keeping track of appointments. It doesn’t matter if you currently schedule appointments by telephone, call center, fax, or e-mail, you will be enhancing that system and your office efficiency by adding an online scheduler system. Online schedulers offer a convenient easy to use alternative to your clients for scheduling appointments. They also offer you and/or your staff a better way to track appointments, send confirmations, and create a user database. Online Scheduling Systems With the popularity of the Internet and advances in technology, you are now able to take control of your appointments with online scheduling systems and other online tools. These days we do everything online – send reports, pay bills, book travel, research information, keep in touch with friends and family, etc. The internet has become a main outlet of communication, so why not schedule appointments the same way? Online scheduling systems are a way to give you and your staff back some of that valuable time spent setting up and juggling appointments. They get you off the telephone so that you can concentrate on the job at hand. With Online scheduling systems you input the days and hours that you want to work, allowing you to schedule your days off weeks, months, or even years in advance. Then you direct your clients to your website so they can schedule the appointment themselves. They input all the necessary information (property type, address, square footage, etc.), and then choose any open appointment time they prefer. The Client instantly receives your pricing, your contract, and an email confirming the appointment. They don’t have to go anywhere else and they don’t have to play phone tag in order to get the appointment scheduled. Scheduling with online systems prevents overbooking, late booking, and double booking. Most scheduling systems are fully customizable and easy to use. You can login into the system from any computer, and most schedulers offer unlimited tech support. Scheduling with online systems prevents overbooking, late booking, and double booking. They can be set up to put your contract in front of the client before the inspection or appraisal, send email confirmations when the appointment is scheduled, send email reminders before the appointment and send a customized thank you note after the appointment. This saves you and/or your staff time and allows them to complete other important tasks. Online schedulers do this and more for about the price of one appraisal or inspection every few months. Convenience as a Marketing Tool Having the convenience of an online scheduler can be a valuable marketing tool. Your clients can book appointments online in real time 24 hours a day 7 days a week. For those clients who prefer to talk to a real person, you're still able to schedule appointments the old fashioned way. Your scheduler works even when you don't by setting up appointments on weeknights, weekends and holidays when the office is closed. For those clients who prefer to talk to a real person, you're still able to schedule appointments the old fashioned way and then enter the information into the online scheduler yourself. One of the best features of online schedulers is that all the information entered into the scheduler is collected in a database that can be used for future marketing and promotions. You’ll have a database of all your clients and you can effectively track where your referrals are coming from. Saves Money Too The average time it takes to schedule an appointment by phone is about 8 minutes. If you make $100.00 dollars per hour in your business that is $1.66 dollars per min. or $13.33 dollars per appointment scheduled. If you’re scheduling a couple appointments a day you are wasting almost $30 per day. Most online schedulers can be used for less than the cost of your morning Starbucks coffee. The savings is even greater when you consider the amount of time you save by not being interrupted on the job site and giving your clients the convenience of booking appointments with you when your office is closed. Trying to duplicate these scheduling systems yourself would cost thousands of dollars and many months of testing. Most online schedulers can be used for less than the cost of your morning Starbucks coffee. Gone are the days of the paper and pencil. With online scheduling systems you can effectively control your own schedule and provide better service to your clients. It puts you ahead of the competition by offering more convenience and saves you money too. Don’t lose any more business to unanswered phone calls or waste any more time and money scheduling appointments the old fashioned way. Appointment scheduling is evolving. First there was the telephone, then the answering machine, fax, pager, cell phone, and then e-mail scheduling. Online scheduling is the latest phase in that evolution. It's what your company needs - a fast, convenient, inexpensive, and easy way to schedule appointments, send appointment confirmations, send your contracts, and build a database. DJ Piercy and Daryl Oie are owners of the 24-7scheduler , an online real time computer based scheduling management tool for multi-user, multi-office or one man operations.

Hi Chris, Now that Bill's photo has given me a chance to see the way the thing works, I'd say no. And I wouldn't call it as an IRC violation because in the second picture it is clearly labeled for NM. Like Chad, I never would have known it though, until I'd seen that photo or made a visit to the Electrical contractor's shop about 50 meters from where I'm sitting. That screw is drawing the flat side into the other side and the NM will be gripped by those nubs on the plate. I'm presuming there is another group of nubs on the inside of the curved wall of that thing that are also designed to grip the NM from the other side and can't be seen. Looks like it will work for BX, MC and NM, just as it was labeled, so it's not a violation of anything really - just one of those weird things not many of us has ever seen. One thing about this profession that's pretty common - we do tend to report stuff as being wrong, or proffer an opinion that our gut is telling us that it's not exactly kosher - when we aren't familiar with stuff and are covering our tushes. There's probably nobody in the profession who isn't guilty of having done so at least once. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike