hausdok

Click To EnlargeOh! It's a beam?.....Oops. Contributed by Donald Lawson V.I.P. Home Inspections Houston, TX

Okay, Now I'm tracking. 3rd party service that you pay for. They provide you with a reporting system and a website to load them onto, right? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Try here: http://www.concretenetwork.com OT - OF!!! M.

Winsor, So, keeping this thread on-topic, you gather your data on-site using a palm type computer and then complete your report back at the office and post it to a website for retrieval by the client? OT - OF!!! M.

Thanks to Chad and Monte for reminding me about the balance test. When Monte mentioned it in a post above, I'd thought to myself, "Gosh Monte, read a little slower next time - you missed that part," but I'd never gone back to re-read what I'd written. When Chad mentioned it too, I went back to re-read the article and that's when I realized that I'd left that part out. I've edited the original post to correct the omission. The article is actually a refinement of the one that I'd written years ago on the ASHI forum that Terry McCann mentioned. That article comprised the bulk of my notes and I actually had included mention of the balance test there. So, thanks to my proof readers - you guys - and the miracle of computers it was easy to correct. Chad, you mentioned the height of the emergency release handle and wondered whether it is included in code anywhere. Well, 16CFR1211.13 mandates that an installation manual state that "if possible" the operator be mounted at least 7ft. above the floor of the garage and that the emergency release handle be adjustable to a height of at least 6ft. 16CFR1211.9 mandates an emergency release device and says that the handle must be adjustable to a height of at least 6ft, when the operator is installed in accordance with the installation instructions set forth in 16CFR1211.13, so, since the manual must include a statement that the handle be adjusted to a height of not less than 6ft, this would fall under the 'installed in accordance with the manufacturer's listing and labeling' concept' and the answer is "yes." There's another interesting requirement involving the emergency release handle and that's the requirement for the handle to disengage with less than 50lbs of force when the door is obstructed. This is one criteria where I guess we're going to have to place our faith in the engineers that designed these devices, because I can't see any practical way for a home inspector to test this without getting into trouble. To do so, one would need to defeat the reversal feature, trap an object under the door at various heights and then test the force needed to disengage the handle. Uh, uh, not me. I'm not touching any force adjustment screw. The last time I did that was in 1998 and it cost me. The door was set just slightly too light and would reopen itself about 50% of the time. I tweaked it a little and checked it. It worked and everyone was happy. Well, we were all walking back into the house from the garage when we heard a hissing sound, turned around and saw smoke coming from the operator. Wanna guess who paid to have that one repaired? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, When I was an investigator with the Military Police, the standard army policy was that anyting above 125 deg. F. was too hot. The army medical folks told us that a child whose feet were set down in a bathtub with the water at 130 deg. F. would suffer 3rd degree burns within 3 seconds. It was Army policy that residents of government quarters were not to turn their water heaters up over 125 degrees and the sponsor - the soldier who signed for those quarters was held accountable for it - at least officially. As a Juvenile Investigator in Norddeutschland I investigated four cases over a period of 3 years wherein toddlers were seriously burned by bathtub water. In every case, I ended up apprehending the sponsor, all senior NCO's, and citing them with Disobeying a Lawful Order (Art. 92) for violating that directive and cranking the water heater in their quarters up to above 130 degrees. If you've ever seen a small child seriously burned by a parent's negligence, you'll understand why it used to frustrate me to no end when soldiers allowed this to happen and then their commanders acted like I was the bad guy for apprehending the parent whose negligence had caused those injuries. Every one of them got off with a letter of reprimand and those kids will live their lives with those scars. Here's a document on the Rheem site that uses those exact temperatures, so I guess the Army medical folks were on the money. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If you live in the mid-west or east and you really appreciate and love to inspect historic homes, instead of flying to Florida this month or next month to sit through the same old home inspector fare to garner your CEU's, you might consider driving to one of the historic building events taking place in the east and mid-west this winter and early spring. First up is the Old House Expo 2006 being held in Kalamazoo, Mich January 20th thru 21st. This conference will be full of free workshops and seminars with Hands-on demonstrations in bricklaying for the novice and paint striping along with presentations on a wide variety of topics including painting your old house, getting the right homeowners insurance, planning a project and the perennial favorite Рwindow rehabilitation and weatherization.For more information, visit The Old House Network or call 269-349-2022. Next up is the Greater Philadelphia Historic Home Show, which is being held January 27th thru 29th at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA. More than 70 exhibits will touch on everything an old house needs for restoration and d̩cor, indoors and outdoors. Also included are educational workshops, lectures, and seminars. Admission: $35 Friday evening; $12 Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit the home show website or call 717-796-2380. Last is The Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference (formerly known as the Restoration & Renovation Show) which will be held April 5th thru April 8th in Chicago, IL. This is the only national trade show and conference for old house owners, architects, contractors, developers, building owners and craftsmen who work in historic restoration, renovation, and traditionally-inspired new design and construction. For more information, visit the conference website. Inspectors who would like to attend these shows to garner CEU's should first contact their professional association to ensure that their time at any of these conferences will be credited toward their annual requirements.

Hi All, For anyone living in the Philly area, here's a steel (Lustron competitor?), post WWII concept home that is one of only two that were built with the intent to begin marketing the concept of steel homes. Don't know if the designer's plans ever went anywhere. It looks pretty ratty in the photos - as if there were a bunch of ill-conceived additions made to it, but their plan was to dismantle it and put it in storage near Philadelphia, which is probably where it is by now. It will be free to whomever wants to claim it and promises to restore it. Any erector set addicts out there? http://www.historicproperties.com/detai ... y=mapac001 ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well Al, that's just it. The folks being quoted in the article are R.I.C.S. guys. To be an inspector there, one will have to either already be a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and then attend special abreviated training directed at what's to be inspected, standard of practice, report programs, etc., in order to ensure consistency in reporting, or, if one is a greenhorn, who's not a R.I.C.S. member and has no experience, one must attend and pay for nearly 3 years of schooling on home inspection topics and then sit for an exam, to receive the national diploma, before being able to practice in the profession. The RICS guys are the one's making the stink mostly. They don't want to have to go through the training and sit an exam because they think they should be above all of that. So, really, they're just doing what people do - stewing about anything that they don't want to do. Saw an article by a R.I.C.S. guy once. He'd been hired to evaluate a home and his article was all about the "noxious" vegetation that had been growing on the customer's property and how it was so invasive that it would kill everything else in the garden. Hmmm. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hmmm, Good information Jim. It doesn't indicate that on this manufacturer's link though. They do indicate where they only work on 95+ doors though. I suppose the garage door guys will know better. OT - OF!!! M.

Or, you could just report that pre-93 openers lack photo-sensors, making them inherently unsafe, and recommend having the opener upgraded with a retrofit kit. Many of the pre-1993 doors can be fitted with a kit but of course some can't, which ultimately means a new opener. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Brian, As it turns out, this was not the start of something but just another episode in something that's been going on for a long, long time. I did a web search on christmas lighting and you'd be amazed at the volume of stuff out there on the topic. A couple of examples are this site, which basically is a display light critic's site and then there's this one which has photos of lots and lots of homes - all trying to outdo the other. Jeesh! Well, guess everyone has to have a hobby. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I've done it both ways but find that to do an on-site report I really need to be working with another computer-competent inspector with good typing skills so that we don't get behind. Yung works with me now, but because she doesn't use a computer I gather info on-site and then prepare back home. Now, I do occasionally do on-site reports by special request, but only as a last resort. Most of my on-site deliveries were done when I was working with another computer-competent inspector. We both wore FM intercoms with voice-activated headsets, so that while one of us was inspecting the other was busy slamming away at the computer. It was pretty slick because I'd mentored the guy. Every once in a while, when he was presenting I'd be sitting in the kitchen working at the computer and I'd hear him miss something or stumble a little bit while he was explaining an issue and I was able to ask him questions about various things. He wouldn't answer directly, instead he'd go about explaining to the client exactly what he was looking at, thus providing me a mental picture of things and I could say something like, "If it looks like XXXX it's wrong and they need to know XXXXX, whereupon he'd present the issue that way or I'd literally dictate the explanation in order to keep him flowing. The clients didn't hear my dictation and it kept him from embarrassing himself. Sometimes, I'd here him remark about something, and, knowing his knowledge about that subject was pretty limited, I'd get up and walk over to where he was, look the issue over and provide my two cents. While it lasted, we were like a well-oiled machine. It reminded me of an attending physician listening to an intern present symptoms and then making corrections or adding to the diagnosis if necessary. When we OJT a new MP in the army we do something similar but without the FM intercoms and right there in front of folks. When I was a slicksleeve it used to make me uncomfortable and I'd stumble on stuff that I knew really, really well, so I liked this method. It kept this guy from being embarrassed and still provided the clients a very good inspection. Walt Jowers of Nashville does something similar with his inspecting partner Rick. I remember reading his comments about his process many times on the ASHI forum. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

You know, I had planned to use the caption, "Gee Honey, I'm really sorry, but I have no idea why that door keeps killing the cats," but I thought better of it. You never know when some non-inspector - who just loves felines - might stumble onto that home page. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Terry, I actually interviewed several folks about this issue years ago when doing research for the article. I cited one of them in the article. Just for everyone's information, yesterday I called DASMA to ask why their maintenance instructions conflict with 16CFR1211 and spoke with their technical guy, Joe Hetzel. He didn't seem to realize there was a conflict with the law in the instructions when I described it to him, but after he read it himself he agreed that it is confusing and saw how it could be misleading to home inspectors. He agreed that the only legally valid test is the 2 by 4 method and promised to present this issue to DASMA's information committee to see what the consensus was - whether it should be left the way it is or that 'force test' should be deleted. He then came over here and signed up as a member, so I'm hopeful that, once he's done so, he'll come onto TIJ and provide us with an update from his organization. This is a good debate - one that I expected when I wrote the article. That is, after all, why TIJ is here - to get inspectors talking to each other and sharing information and opinions so that, ultimately, we all get better at what we do, little by little by little. By the way, the next issue of TIJUpdate will feature mostly articles and information about plumbing issues. If any of you have expertise in something related to that and would like write an article that can be featured in the next update, shoot me an e-mail at hausdok@msn.com so we can talk about it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I agree with both of you. One of the biggest mistakes I see elderly folks do here in winter is close off one or two unused rooms of their house and close off the heat to that area. They think that they're saving money by not heating those areas but what they are doing is creating an environment that is ripe for mold growth. That many folks living in such a tiny house, turning off the heat, in Connecticutt, in the dead of winter is simply asking for it. Hell, I used to live alone (Well, except for Jan & Mary) in a little uninsulated shingled cottage in Washington, CT back in '73. I had an unheated bathroom and single-pane double-hung windows all around. It got so danged cold in the winter that if I didn't leave the door of the bath open at night and then went in there in the morning to relieve myself, the walls and mirrow would be dripping wet with condensation within seconds after all that moist air from the interior of the house rushed in there. Also, the windows and the window sills were always wet in the winter. Another thing that I'm sure contributed to it was the dug-out root cellar with the bare earthen floor beneath it. They estimate for every 1,000 square feet of uncovered soil under a home about 11 gallons of water evaporates into the air every 24 hours. That has to go somewhere and in old houses it usually rises up through the structure. Did this one have a crawlspace or a basement? Betcha there isn't any insulation in those walls. 10 occupants, each dumping several pints of water into the air every night just by breathing, steam radiators venting, cooking, bathing, etc. Yep, the poor house is sweating. Bet if you could open up the walls you'd find ice built up on the inside of the sheething. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

There are lots of options for delivering reports to the client. What method do you use?

Hi, I think Mr. Mullen's point is valid. After all, for decades there were more inspectors in the U.S. than there were in ASHI, yet the perception was that if you were an ASHI member (ASHI's member designation and not candidate) you were at the top of your game. Then came the NHIE. Now, that and the NAHI CRI exams are probably the highest bar in the profession, so when folks have those behind them they are perceived by the consumer to be more qualified. Those are open to folks who aren't members of either organization and they do enhance an inspector's credibility with consumers. With a certification process that includes a tough test on a par with the NHIE or the NAHI CRI exam, along with peer review, the bar is set even higher. At the end of the day, if a consumer is comparing qualifications and sees that a person is certified by a national association to have attained certain minimum education standards, been tested, and undergone a peer review, that person will probably be perceived by a consumer to be more competent than someone who's only passed a written test and never actually been evaluated while doing the job. To me, the program makes sense. In other words, to use an analogy, if I were choosing an architect and I had a choice between a guy who tells me he got his license by reading a book and passing a test versus a guy who graduated from a school, served an apprenticeship, passed a stiff test and then received a peer evaluation, I'd be hiring the second guy. If CAHPI doesn't require anyone to join their organization to be certified, and it's open to everyone, regardless of professional affiliation, I can't see how it would hurt anyone. I should think it would enhance them professionally and score them higher with consumers. Is there something I'm missing here? If this program can be accomplished, how is it going to hurt anyone's business who becomes certified? Seems like it would only hurt those who're asked the question by the customer, "Are you certified?" and they are unable to truthfully answer "Yes." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Okay, Well, it's not my intent to stay here and slug it out with you. It's was my intention to post an article that was based on defensible facts, not supposition or inspector folklore based on a subjective unproven opinion. I'm afraid, your demonstration, until proven, is just that, and constitutes the kind of folklore that gets folks in trouble. However, that's just my opinion and you are welcome to your's. Just as it's obvious I won't convince you, you aren't liable to convince me. I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree on this one and hope that neither one of us ever has to be challenged in court. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

New or long-established, that's all most of us want for this profession. It's just the folks who claim to be competent and ethical, but aren't, who've earned our profession such a checkered reputation. However, that's a discussion for another day and another thread. Keep up the good work. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Mitchell, Sure, that'll work, but is the resistance that you've tested done with a 2 by 4 or with your hand? If by hand and not with a 2 by 4, what happens when the fellow from the garage door company arrives, asks the homeowner what the problem is, is told it's that the door didn't reverse, tests it with a 2 by 4 - which is the standard set down in law - and the door reverses as it should? Here's what happens: You end up with the phone call that 1. wastes your time arguing with someone 2. may damage your credibility with your client and the garage door companies in your area. I've never gotten one of those phone calls and I've had doors damaged using the 2 by 4 test and was never asked to pay for them. I make it a point to ensure that the client as well as the client's realtor watch me test the door. I have a copy of the DASMA instructions in a notebook in my truck. If the door is damaged, I pull it out and show it to them, to show that I did the test exactly as prescribed. Then I leave an extra copy with them. If there were a specific down-force set in law - say the 15lbs used for the full-edge sensor, for instance, but for a door without the full-edge sensor - and a mechanical means to test that reliably, I would agree 100% with using such a mechanical device to test the door's down-force and then stating something like: "The garage door did not stop or reverse at less than XXlbs pressure as required by law. The opener should be repaired or replaced. Recommend having item(s) corrected by a competent professional licensed garage door technician. Cost Estimate: $75 - $350" However, since we don't actually have that in law it isn't a defensible argument. So, the door reverses when you feel that the down-force is excessive. What if the door is tested by someone who is stronger or weaker than you are? Might they not have a different interpretation of what constitutes excessive force? I was a cop for more than 20 years - nearly 10 of that as an investigator. I'm acutely aware of how stepping outside the technicalities set down in law, no matter how little, can really hurt your credibility. Defense lawyers make it their mission in life to try and tear apart a cop's credibility by picking at every little nuance of procedures set forth in the law in the hope of getting a cop to admit that he/she has stepped out-of-bounds. I've testified hundreds of times in criminal cases and have had to endure more hours of cross examination than I want to contemplate. I've never had to go to court in nearly 10 years in this business, but I'm pretty certain that if/when I do that the side opposing my testimony will attempt the same tactic. I can assure you that if it is ever about a garage door that they'll never be able to say that I was at fault because I used a test method not prescribed by law. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Mitchell, As the article states, there is no actual established force by which the door must reverse, but that is not the reversal test. The reversal test requires the 2 by 4. Read the paragraph above that: A home inspector might criticize the door and state that in his/her opinion the force is excessive, but that's a subjective opinion only without the weight of law behind it. Without an established down-force parameter it does not constitute a defect. The force test and reversal test are two different things and the force test musn't be substituted for the reversal test. The 2 by 4 test is still the only test that can't be misinterpreted. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I'm not sure how much of it will apply, because this guy writes primarily about cottage water and septic systems for backwoods shelters, but this is directly from Cottage Water Systems by Max Burns and the Chapter entitled What's In Your Water and the section on Chemical Compounds and the Nutrients paragraph. Hope some of this helps. It sounds to me like the blue could be algae and/or phosphorus and he clearly states that phosphorus isn't good for pipes. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

This is a 75 page report which is essentially a guide to anyone wishing to understand the dynamics of how crawlspace ventilation works and some of the best practices used to close crawl spaces in the Southeaster United States. While this study was specifically designed for a North Carolina audience, the building science presented in the text applies regardless of locale and can help home inspectors anywhere recognize whether a closed crawlspace has been configured correctly and is appropriately detailed. To obtain this report click here. Other helpful information pertaining to closed crawlspaces, go to the Advanced Energy site. Find other free downloads here.

Concrete and Clay Roof Tile Installation Manual For Moderate Climate Regions This pdf file is published by the Roof Tile Institute and can be downloaded free from the internet. It is a detailed 77 page manual that includes virtually every type of concrete or clay roof detail that inspectors in the western and southwestern US are liable to see. To download your copy, go to the Monier Roofing Tile site. Find other free downloads here.