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Hi Jim, Thanks a lot. I've added it to the downloads library. While I'm on that subject - if any of you have docs that you think will be useful to your fellow inspectors and you want to share 'em, shoot them to me by email and I'll load them up into the Resources-Dowload section above. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Brian, That's really weird because it takes me directly to the news station story. Don't sweat it though. It's a very short story anyway and doesn't provide any information you can't find in any one of dozens of articles found by doing a google search for "deck collapse". OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Here in Washington State builders generally have a 1 year general warranty on their homes. However, they're also locked into a 6-year habitability warranty by state law. So, a piece of trim that dries and splits, drywall cracks unrelated to settling or seismic activity or a clapboard that cups at 18 months aren't covered but anything that would potentially make the home unlivable is. Anyway, her purpose in having me come by was primarily to be her advocate. I'm sure that somewhere in the back of her mind she was asking herself, "I wonder if Mike screwed up," but I doubt that she was hoping that was the case. She's really a very nice lady. So nice, in fact, that the Korean Konnection likes her, which is pretty unusual, because I've always found that women tend to have that feline stand-offish thing going for them while men are kind of like canines and pretty much willing to shake anyone's hand and trust anyone until they get bit. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, or the 2-1/4 inch 16 ga brad shot through drywall that penetrates the PEX expansion loop in a wall and only leaks when the hot water comes on and softens the material enough to allow pressure to push water past the nail and then re-seals itself when the water is turned off and the pipe cools. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi All, I thought I'd tell you all about something that occurred yesterday and see if anyone has a theory as to how it could have occurred. About 1:00 PM yesterday I got a call from a former client that there was water pouring through the ceiling of her garage in a new home that she moved into in June. Naturally, she was 'concerned'. It'd been raining a lot all morning and for the past couple of days, so she naturally thought it was the roof of the garage and she reminded me about a misplaced furnace exhaust vent on the roof that I'd found during the inspection and how the builder had moved it. She suspected that the builder's people had done a lousy job patching the hole left over from the misplaced vent. She said she'd notified the builder and that their service personnel were on the way, but, because she works for them (she's a real estate agent), she wanted to make darned sure they knew not to try to put anything over on her, so she asked me to come by while they were there. She lives about 5 miles away from my home, so I saved the file I was working on and went over there. When I got there, the builder's rep was already there and had turned off the water. She and he were standing in the garage staring up at a large hole in the drywalled ceiling. There was drywall and water all over the floor and as I walked into the garage I noticed that they were looking at a pair of water supply pipes and elbows coming through the floor of the master bath above. The spot was about 15 to 20 ft. from where the misplaced vent had been. It became immediately apparent this was a supply line leak, so I asked her if I could go in and look at the master bathroom above. She said fine and I went inside to check out the master bath. Dry as a bone. I put my ear to the soaking tub and I could hear them talking in the garage below. I walked back down, pointed out that I believed the leak was coming from at least one of the supply pipes to the master bathtub and that the plumber (who'd been called and was on the way) wasn't going to be able to see anything until he cut through that floor sheathing to expose those pipe and the actual leak. We chatted for a few minutes, which seemed to make the builder's rep extremely nervous and then I took my leave, very happy that it hadn't been something I'd missed. This morning she called to tell me that the plumber had discovered that the hot and cold pipes for the master tub had never been glued at the fittings under the tub and one of them had finally leaked. She said he was there long enough to cut an access hole, discover the cause of the leak and then glued the two pipes and left after about half an hour. Now it seems the builder will repair everything and then go after the plumber to recoup costs. I thought that was pretty weird, since it means that some unglued CPVC pipe had been in place without leaking for a total of 14 months (It had been a model home for 8 months before she purchased it.). Has anyone ever heard of something like that happening? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Is it the room where adults sleep? Adults pump a lot of moisture into the air at night. If the rooms of that wall are poorly insulated, you'd be getting condensation on them wherever nailheads cool the surface or there are air leaks. That condensation will feed the mildew. Get that attic vented to the exterior, get a good ground cover on the soil beneath the home if there is a crawlspace and ventilate the home better. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Terry, Unless I'd seen surface bloom with mold colony spread patterns, I don't think I would have called it mold at all and would have simply termed it mildew or fungal growth. Mildew and mold are both a type of fungi, not good for the roofing and, as you know, caused by excess moisture in the attic, but I think calling sheething mildew "mold" only contributes to this bizarre mold paranoia that we're seeing. Don't get me wrong, I do see attic mold occasionally. I saw some over the weekend. It covered about 85% of the underside of a roof and looked like that attic was competing with an adolescent boy to see which could develop better peach fuzz. I just think we in this profession need to exhibit more restraint in how we describe this stuff, lest we bolster the "mold is gold" folks' credibility with the public. Your question went to the paint. It looks like it could be pigmented shallac (B.I.N.) or Kilz, a pigmented shellac substitute, but it might be something like Zinsser's Shield® which is a special primer used to seal mildew prior to painting with special mildew resistant paint. Then again, it might be ordinary white primer. There's this belief out there that pigmented shellac somehow stops mold and mildew when all it does is perform a stain-blocking mission. Whoever did this probably thought they were stopping the spread of that organism. It won't work. They need to kill it. For that, borates, specifically BoraCare®, are ideally suited. Of course, now that someone has applied a surface sealant to that sheathing and framing, I'm not even certain that BoraCare will be able to reach the wood, diffuse into it and do its thing. Sorry if I sounded preachy about the discoloration, I'm just fed up with everyone running around screaming mold at the slightest discoloration seen anymore. I was in the orange box the other day and I heard a fellow chastising one of the HD guys for selling toxic mold-infested lumber to customers. I walked over to see what he was talking about. He was pointing to a piece of lumber that had one spot of pocket rot and a few streaks of wood blight discoloration in the grain of the wood. It is perfectly harmless and before the media began screaming "toxic mold" everywhere nobody would have given it a second thought. I had to force myself not to say something that probably would have gotten me thrown out of the store, or, worse yet, from slapping the guy for being stupid in public. Bah, friggin media reporters and their "toxic" mold hype. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I don't see an issue with it if you use the same type of material. Plywood over plywood will have the same perm as a single sheet and as long as the attic has proper ventilation it shouldn't be a problem. Just don't try mixing and matching different decking materials. If you're really nervous about it, run 1/4 inch thick strapping on top of the old decking directly over the rafters leaving room for air to flow between the two layers, install ribbed ridge vents and ensure you stand the drip off far enough at the eaves to allow air to flow up under the top layer to the ridge. Another alternative might be to use vented nailbase insulation over the old deck. If you'd like to read a lot of discussions on this exact topic, go to my Building Science Forum at JLC Online (http://www.JLConline.com) and search that forum for anything related to 'roof ventilation,' 'vented nailbase,' or 'roof decking' and I bet you'll find at least two dozen threads over there that will discuss these and other options. Michael, are you a home inspector? If so, how badly was your business impacted and how many other home inspectors that you know were also impacted by those storms and what's their present state of affairs? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, It's impossible to make blanket recommendations when it comes to recommended R-values needed. You have to look at the climate, the type of construction and the materials used and a host of other factors such as the percentage of glass in the exterior walls, skylights etc.. Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Building Envelope Program has published an information sheet that will help you understand all of this and directs you to where you can find an interactive Zip code calculator that will help you determine what's appropriate for your area. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, I took a lead inspectors class with a local guy who had one. His company was a franchise and was called American Lead Consultants or something like that. Kurt, you would have like that. I passed the state test and got qualified to do lead inspections in, of all places,...Illinois! I never did get into that and bother to follow up by getting the Illinois license (What would have been the point?) and the guy with the XRF70? He's been lost to obscurity. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yep, That's the way I read it. However, the way it reads, it looks like they're also piggybacking an HI licensing law on top of the mold law. OT - OF!!! M.

Yep, It used to be pretty tight. I'd exhale, pull under as far as I could and then push like hell with my feet. Every once in a while my danged belt would hang up and give me a hard time. It wasn't too bad if I was squeezing through on my back, but it was a royal pain when going under on my stomach. Got stuck once - took me about 20 - 25 minutes to wriggle loose. Anyway, those were the good old days. I dropped a whole lot of that weight a while back. Now it's a whole lot easier. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Well it isn't your problem, unless you somehow feel that you caused the issue. You've found an issue and reported it. That's all you're required to do. You aren't obligated to spend time trying to diagnose the problem for the client. That's what electricians are for. If you're curious about the root cause, ask the client to call you and let you know what the issue was, once the electrician has checked things out, discovered what the issue is and has corrected it. About the crawlspace. You said it is tight in there and that some areas are under 18 inches. That could be true, but unless clearance under the beams is less than 12 inches it should be fully accessible. I've been as heavy as 262 and have still been able to get all the way through 18 inch deep crawls and under beams 12 inches off the surface. It ain't easy. In fact, it's a royal pain in the butt and is physically very tough and dirty work, but it's the job. Keep in mind that chances are that crawl is where the electrician will find the open J-box under the joists with the wires from the conduit feeding those exterior outlets disconnected. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I've used the SureTest consistently for more than 5 years and wouldn't be without it. My first began smoking one afternoon six months into usage. I stopped using it and allowed it to cool down and it worked fine after that. Still, just to be safe, I contacted the manufacturer and they shipped me another overnight. The second hasn't had any problems except that the cord is finally starting to weaken at the cable to plug connection. We've found false grounds in about 10 houses that weren't caused by proximity to the panel and were actually bootleg grounds in older houses done by owners. We routinely find open grounds in new construction that a 3-light doesn't seem to pick up for some reason, reversed polarity, open neutral or hot/grounds reversed, too high or too low voltage, and circuits with 4 or 5 times the amount of normally accepted voltage drop. One house where several receptacles indicated hot/ground reversed took an electrician about 4 hours to figure out. Turns out the doorbell transformer had apparently been miswired and somehow had screwed things up. Not being an electrician, I don't really understand a whole lot about what the problem was, only that the SureTest identified it and I never got called on it or ended up paying for that electrician's time. 99.9% of the time the SureTest functions as an expensive 3-light tester. However, when it does spot stuff, it's usually the stuff that the cheap 3-light in my bag didn't pick up. So far, no electrician has ever challenged me on findings picked up by the ST. In one house that I did for an electrician client, the ST indicated open grounds in about half the receptacled in an 11-year old home. The electrician thought the ST was wrong and asked me if I had a "real" outlet tester because he didn't believe the ST and wanted to check them himself. I handed him the cheap 3-light and told him to knock himself out. He checked those outlets and the 3-light indicated that every one of them was grounded. "See, I knew that thing couldn't be right with that many outlets ungrounded," he declared. I reached into my bag pulled out a screwdriver, handed it to him and said, "Your the electrician, let's confirm your findings," whereupon he removed a receptacle cover and found..........a clipped equipment grounding conductor. One after another he checked several more and found all of the EGC's clipped off (Who knows why?). After the 3rd or 4th receptacle he stopped and said, "Damn, I got to get me one of those," indicating the ST. I held up the ST and the 3-light tester and said, "This one (indicating the ST) costs about $400, this one (indicating the 3-light) about $6. Which one would you believe?" Nope, I use it religiously. I know that most of the time it will find stuff that a 3-light should find, so maybe it is an expensive tool for the task, but I don't have any unreasonable expectations that it can perform miracles and I know that in all likelihood it won't miss the stuff that a 3-light will. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Trailblazer, That's all well and good but we don't torque anything to do what we do, so I'm not sure I understand what your point is. How does knowing this help an inspector? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I shot Norm an Email asking him to come on and respond. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Louisville Ladder Inc., of Louisville, KY announced a voluntary recall (#06-038) of approximately 3,000 multi-purpose, step-to-straight, combination, manhole and extension trestle ladders made by Louisville Ladder that were sold at industrial supply stores and home centers between November 2004 and June 2005 for between $75 and $235. According to Louisville Ladder, there is the possibility that the rungs on the ladders could break near the side rail, causing users to fall. So far, the company has received two reports of rung failure but nobody has been injured. The ladders are type 1A industrial ladders with fiberglass rails and round aluminum rungs and the recall effects 14 different ladder models, a chart of which can be seen on the CPSC site. All model number and manufacturing dates are located inthe model number/notice label on the side rails of the ladders, except for models FA1012 and FA1016 which have the date code on the metal wraparound adjacent to the hinges. Louisville Ladder says that consumers should stop using these ladders immediately and immediately call Louisville Ladder for an inspection and replacement of the ladder if necessary. For additional information, contact Louisville Ladder at (800) 660-4356 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm's Web site at www.louisvilleladder.com.

Your both right,....sort of From the Certainteed Single Applicators Manual: ROOF-OVER INSTALLATIONS MAY BE CONSIDERED WHEN: No more than one layer of shingles (not including a layer of sawn square butt wood shingles if local codes approve this as a substitute roof deck? are in place on the existing roof After careful inspection, the roof deck is found to be strong and to provide a good nailing base. The combined weight of the first and second layers of shingles will not exceed the rated carrying capacity of the deck. The contractor is certain all roof system components, especially flashing and valleys, can be properly repaired or adapted to the roof-over installation. Manufacturer's instructions do not prohibit roof-over installations. The cost to dispose of old roofing materials would be prohibitive.NOTE: Concern is growing regarding the disposal of old shingle and roofing materials in landfills. Some landfills prohibit or restrict such disposal. Others charge a premium. Research has been underway for some time to develop recycling methods. Some progress has been made in the process of turning roof waste into a component for road construction. However the profitability of recycling is yet to be proven. Some believe that roof-over is a desirable approach with the hope that one day an economically viable recycling method will be found that solves the problem. In the meantime, they believe old roofing is best stored on the roof. Another argument in favor of roof-over is based on the belief that the first layer is additional insurance against leaks. The homeowner enjoys a clear price advantage by avoiding the added cost of tearing off. INTEGRITY ROOF SYSTEM REQUIRES TEAR-OFF ShingleMaster or SELECT Roofer companies choosing to install a Certainteed Integrity Roof System are aware that one of the system's requirements is that, whiteout exception, underlayment and shingles must be installed over a clean roof deck. The two primary reasons for not allowing a "roof-over" are that they: Are more prone to workmanship errors. Are more likely to hide decking defects. (By tearing off the original layer, a more thorough inspection of the roof deck condition is possible.) When Roofing Over Existing Shingles... If old roofing will not be torn off, check local building codes for the maximum number or roofing layers allowed (usually two, sometimes three) and maximum weight per unit area. Check the underlying deck to be sure it is sound and will provide good anchorage for nails. Here are the requirements for specific types of shingles: Shingles weighing more than 350 lb/square (such as super-heavyweight Grand Manor Shangle and Carriage House Shangle): If the old roof consists of two or more layers of standard-weight shingles or one layer of heavyweight shingles, it is required to tear off existing roofing, repair decking and/or install new decking. Other asphalt roofing shingles (except lock-type or dutch lap): Make the old roofing surface as smooth as possible by replacing missing shingles, and splitting, nailing flat and securing all buckles, raised tabs, and curled shingles. It is recommended to cut old shingles back flush to the rakes and eaves. Another recommendation is to apply corrosion-resistant drip edge along the rakes and eaves to cover the edges of the old shingles. Use no underlayment over the old roof, and apply roofing in accordance with product application instructions. Square-butt, sawn-wood shingles: Apply beveled wood strips to all courses to obtain an even base. Lock-type, dutch lap or wood shingles (other than sawn square-butt style): Remove the existing roofing, and follow tear-off instructions. I think saying that "Most shingle manufacturers will void any warranty if their product is installed on a preexisting shingle layer," is too strong. Some do but I think most don't. How do you know when you look at a shingle that's 10 years old and installed on a roof-over what the manufacturer's specs are? Answer - you can't know unless you're willing to do a whole lot of stuff that inspectors don't do to find the answer. I'm not willing to do that and I bet neither one of you are either. I think it's fair to warn the client that some manufacturers don't warranty their product on a roof-over, as long as you understand that the some is in the minority and most will honor the warranty as long as the rules outlined above - and any manufacturer-specific rules - have been followed. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Jack, Well, it's used in new construction so the home has to be equipped with adequate ventilation according to local codes. The 501 is open-celled and mimics Icynene. The 2000 is closed-cell and mimics half a dozen closed-cell foam products. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, A few of the regulars on my B.S. (That's Building Science not Bulls*** - although they do tend to throw the bull around) forum on JLC Online have used the stuff. If you go over there and do a search on that forum for soy I'm sure you'll pull one or two posts up. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Okay, Now this doesn't do the pucker factor any good. I was tipped off to it by Mike Holt's newsletter this morning. I can think of a few things I'd like to do if they let me spend 5 minutes uninterrupted with one of these "executives". Hint: I'd carry only a large pair of vise grips into the room with me. ONE TEAM - ONE BITE!!! Mike

Um, Automatic cool cleaner/sanitizer? [:-clown] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, If the underside of the roof was just discolored dark gray to black, doesn't have any fuzzy stuff growing on it and no delamination you can treat it with BoraCare and it will be alright. Just google it and then look for a local distributor. It's about $100 a gallon and can be cut 1/1 with water and applied as a fine mist to the underside of the roof with a 2-1/2 gallon pump sprayer. It's toxic to fungi, not toxic to humans and doesn't leave any residual odor. It's a pain in the a** to to mix and agitate (gotta keep it in constant motion), but it'll basically kill all that black stuff and make everything it's applied to immune to future infestation and bugs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Stuccoman, Since you are so passionate about exposing poor stucco work, you might enjoy visiting this thread on the Building Science Forum that I moderate over at the Journal of Light Construction Online. It's been one of the most contentious and actively discussed topics in months. While I'm on the topic, if you guys aren't visiting JLC's forums on a regular basis you are missing out on a TON of really good information. If you don't have a JLCOnline membership you're missing out on even more. With a JLCOnline membership, you get unlimited access/usage of their databank of past issues and articles going back nearly 20 years. On top of that, they send you that database on a searchable CD so you can download it to a laptop and have it with you onsite. It's an incredible resource and there's nothing like being able to refute the realtor trying to minimize what you've found by doing a word search on the item and then immediately being able to pull up dozens of articles to support your position. It deflates 'em like a pin to a balloon. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Need to garner continuing education credits but you're sick and tired of the same tired subjects you've seen at the last 5 home inspection conventions you've attended? If so, why not switch it up this year and try something different? Deck Expo 2006, jointly sponsored by Professional Deck Builder Magazine and the North American Deck and Railing Association (NADRA), will be held in Memphis February 16 - 18, 2006. This is the deck, dock and railing industry's 4th trade show since their formation about 4 years ago and it promises this year to be bigger and better than ever. Of special interest to home inspectors will be a special pre-conference success seminar entitled Design of Code Conforming Decks & Inspection of Existing Decks presented by Dr. Frank Woeste, P.E., Professor Emeritus & Dr. Joe Loferski, Professor of Wood Science & Forest Products, Virginia Tech. This special two-day seminar will be held Wednesday, February 15, 9am to 5pm and Thursday, February 16, 8am-4pm, and is meant for designers, contractors, suppliers and inspectors. It focuses on structural and safety issues and does not include the architectural design of decks. Participants will receive a detailed notebook of course material. The course objectives are: Review requirements for designing and constructing a code conforming deck per the International Residential Code (2000 and 2003) Review elements and procedures for inspecting an existing deck or balcony based on current building codes and engineering standards. Investigate factors that determine the strength of connections (nail, bolt, lag screw), and the strength of lumber and posts used in deck construction. Give procedures for selecting structural elements (joists, beams, posts) based on published design data, Present load test data on four ledger-band connection details using bolts and lag screws and on several rail post to deck connection details, Discuss product selection and performance issues related to transition from CCA to new treated lumber products, and Learn to select code conformation wood plastic composite decking and railing systems. One might rightly ask why spend the money on this seminar versus the typical home inspection fare? Simple, people are dying and being maimed because inspectors everywhere are missing critical details on decks. Details which, if called out, could have prevented tragedies. In the past two months alone, there have been deck collapses in Ohio and Virginia and Delaware that might have been prevented. Any inspector taking this course is positioned to become 'the' subject matter expert on deck issues in his or her area. Inspectors will not have to register for the DeckExpo in order to attend this seminar. Cost of the seminar is $495 if paid before December 15th, $505 if paid before January 31st and $545 at the door. Space is limited, so attendees need to make their reservations as early as possible and check with their professional organization to determine how many continuing education credits the course will be worth. For more information about this seminar, the expo and hotel accommodations click here. COMPLIMENTARY SUBSCRIPTION !!! Professional Deck Builder Magazine is a national trade magazine serving the deck, dock, and railing industry. Complimentary subscriptions are available to the trade, code officials, building inspectors, and other interested professionals. To subscribe to Professional Deck Builder Magazine, visit www.DeckMagazine.com or call 678.344.6283.