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Some of those were good suggestions. Here's one you've probably never heard about - check the top and bottom of the doors to see if they were every sealed/painted with the rest of the door. If not, they've probably been absorbing moisture through the unfinished top and bottom for years and expanded after they were installed. A block plane, a few hours work taking the doors off to dress the edges, paint and reinstall them usually cures it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, the smell from turning off the water heater isn't so much from stagnation as it is from the reaction between bacteria and the anode rod in the tank. That creates hydrogen-sulfide gas and does stink to high heaven (rotten eggs) and is highly combustible and actually explosive. I had one in a house a couple of months ago. The home had been vacant for 3 months. I came in from outside to find the client running water in the kitchen and the whole kitchen had filled up with gas. It stunk to high heaven. I got her and her kids out and then opened up all the windows. I'm sure glad she didn't test the gas stove with all of that gas in that kitchen. If she had, it might have resulted in something pretty bad. That said, if it were the water heater, it would show up at every single hot water tap, not just a single sink upstairs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm thinking that there is either no vent or a plugged vent on that drain and maybe an improperly installed trap that is nearly siphoning dry when the water is being run. Run the water, sewer gas comes back through the trap. That's all I've got. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Well, that sounds like it would be closer to a variant of Legionnaire's Disease caused by bacteria that forms in HVAC equipment. I'm no toxicologist though. Jeff May, are you looking in on this thread today? If so, it would be nice to get your input. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, For anyone in Northwest Indiana and the Chicago area, there are a couple of very interesting homes that have just been listed at HistoricProperties.com. The first is a Lustron home[:-magnify within a one hour drive of downtown Chicago in Chesterton, IN for $129,000. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places and comes with covenants. Click here. The second is a 1912 Prairie style brick foursquare in Harvard, Illinois that's being sold for $145,000. This home is in a very much unmolested condition. Even the woodwork was never painted! Any old home lover knows that stripping dozens of layers of paint to expose the original woodwork in these homes is one of the most difficult parts of any historic restoration. The owner bought it with the intent to totally restore it and has accomplished a lot. However, health has become an issue and the owner is retiring and is putting the home on the market at HistoricProperties.com, where there's a chance that a true historic home lover will purchase it, instaed of some new age techie that will gut it and remuddle it into some contemporary piece of crap. You can check it out here. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

HI, If it's on an outer wall of the house and the band joist between floors isn't insulated it'll get pretty cold above that ceiling in your climate. Warm moist air will naturally move toward colder/drier air. That vapor diffusion will take advantage of any tiny gaps at the ceiling plane to migrate toward that band joist. As that warm moist air passes through those tiny openings, if the surface around the opening is cool enough, moisture will begin to accumulate on the tiles and will be absorbed into the media and you'll get high moisture readings. You can get the same type of readings around receptacle boxes on the exterior walls of uninsulated houses, on ceilings where severe ghosting occurs and around window openings with drywall wrapped all the way to the window and then not caulked. It's usually symptomatic of air leaks but in my experience doesn't normally result in anything more than some ghosting and elevated moisture readings. It's more likely to occur when they are relying on a window and not a fan for ventilation. Did the bath have an exhaust fan? That said, no two houses are alike, so you need to be looking carefully at everything going on there and make sure you've eliminated all other possibilities, such as an uninsulated, corrugated fan duct above the ceiling that might be condensing water that is dripping onto the ceiling. Or, if you got the readings when scanning in radio mode, perhaps your meter is just reacting to the metal of the suspended ceiling grid. There are so many possibilities that maybe you don't want to know the answer. Ask yourself what you would have done and how you would have reported this if the ceiling hadn't been a dropped type. You can't get in trouble pointing out water stains on a ceiling, taking readings and then telling the client that you've got high readings and think it warrants further investigation and needs to be corrected as necessary, but you might get in trouble if you start diagnosing things, the client relies on your diagnosis and you're wrong. The standard is exposed to view and apparent at the time and date of the inspection. Hmmm? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I'll talk to the programmer. Half of what you said went right over my head - mostly because if they ever write a book called Computers and Internet For Dummies Who Are So Dumb They Can't Understand A Computers and Internet For Dummies Book - they'll need to use me as the model. Wouldn't it be just as simple to just add a link to your website on TIJ's links page? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, The breaker will work fine. Look at the schematic on the enclosure. There are usually several configurations. This is one of them. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Yeah, I'm seeing it. Also seeing it in air plenums and such, which has me wondering if UV is so deadly to bacteria and can kill it so quickly that it has the ability to kill bacteria as it's whisked through a system at about 600cfm. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Go here: http://www.bia.org Contact their technical assistance folks via the links on their site. If they don't have the info, they should be able to point you to the people who do. It's interesting to note that of all the approved cleaning materials and acids they recommend in their technical notes for masonry that chlorine isn't mentioned anywhere. FYI - I just did a google search for "effects of chlorine gas" and found one mention of the use of special mortars and masonry when used for boilers and the like that are exposed to chlorine gas. I'm sure you can find something out there. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I see a couple like that every few months. They've got heavy steel and cast iron heat exchangers. That itty-bitty gas burner probably can't hurt 'em. Their biggest deficit is the asbestos. Otherwise, they'll keep going until someone gets sick of them and decides to replace them with something more efficient. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, No longer permitted by code after 1984 is my understanding. I see them every day. They're common as blades of grass around here. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

A Rookie's Book Review by Frank Neis I’m new to the home inspection business and am excited about this new career adventure I’m embarking on. When I first began exploring the profession, it was difficult finding good, factual information that is relevant to newcomers. Sure, there were plenty of texts pertaining to how to inspect this or that, and various other technical aspects of the profession, but there was nothing that really laid out everything that a rookie needs to know, if he or she wants to enter this profession with both eyes wide open. When I queried veteran inspectors, many offered helpful suggestions, but many more were either reluctant to share information or told me horror stories about the profession – possibly hoping to scare off future competition. Then, someone suggested I read 21 Things Every Home Inspector Should Know by Frank Cook and Pat Remick and my eyes were finally opened. “21 Thingsâ€

Hi All, I'm writing the report on this one right now. It probably would have made Bill Kibbel go on a killing rampage over crimes against architecture. It's a 1900 foursquare with a sort of Queen Anne turret appended onto the front built on a stone foundation. They took this one down to the studs. The only thing original is the foundation, frame, sheathing and the chimney. Basically, new everything on a 106 year old skeleton. Outwardly, it looks 106 years old. That is, until you get within six feet and notice that the siding is too perfect. The exterior has been completely re-done in HardiPlank and cedar shingles. New front porch and balcony. New, double-hung wood-sash windows. New doors. New asphalt roof over an OSB deck on top of the original skip. Insulation in every wall and in the attic. New forced air gas heating, new copper plumbing from the meter throughout. Completely re-wired - not a shred of the old stuff left. Interior completely drywalled and new hardwood, tile or carpeted floors throughout. The first floor opened up with a contemporary living room/dining room/kitchen feel. The original attic finished to create a 3rd floor office. The basement deepened, slab floor poured, the interior walls parged and drywalled on the cripple walls. Big deck appended onto the back. The quality of work was above average, but I wouldn't put it in the Lexus or Mercedes class - more like a Chevy Caprice. All that work and they didn't bother to fix quake damage to the chimney stack - it's settled and the portion below the eaves is about 3/4 inch east of the portion from the soffit up. It needs extensive tuckpointing and looking up into the throat of the firebox from the hearth there's a 3/4 inch wide separation between the surround and the stack that obviously wasn't there in the original stack. Lots of other little stuff and nothing major until Yung's scans detected high moisture next to a basement window. She pin-tested it and then dragged me down there. The drywall pegged the meter in a small spot about 6 inches in diameter. It's above grade and on the sunny side of the house with no downspouts nearby and it hasn't rained in a couple of weeks at least. There shouldn't have been any moisture there - except they'd installed a new powder room directly above off the foyer and the supply pipe to the toilet makes a turn in that stud bay and goes up to the toilet above. Hmmmm. I didn't get to cut this one open, but once again she'd done me proud. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Was it a one-piece stop and supply tube? Those'll break if you look at them wrong. FWIW, Yung scans the base of every toilet for moisture using the Protimeter, checks for leaks at all of the fittings and then grabs the pedestal and gives it a good shake to see if it's even bolted down. If it's loose, she comes and finds me. I confirm it's loose at the floor, write it up, and include a recommendation that they replace the wax seal immediately, 'cuz I've never seen one that's moved around where the seal hasn't leaked. The next time a homeowner starts that crap, tell 'em it's too bad that you discovered the leak, but point out to them that by definition your job is to find that sort of thing. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Jeff Tooley, a North Carolina contractor who specializes in sealing crawlspaces and turning them into conditioned space has written about three articles for the Journal of Light Construction over the past couple of years. You can probably access at least one of those free at JLCONline at http://www.jlconline.com. Use the search feature and search for the keyword 'crawlspace' and look for articles since 2003 about conditioning crawlspace. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All,

Hi, Dan, you wrote: No smart ass comments from nitwits who think they're God's gift to HI. Would you care to elaborate on what you meant by that? If you're referring to someone on this board, I'll thank you not to characterize others here as 'nitwits'. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I don't know if Kurt goes down that way, but if I were buying in Chicago he's the guy who'd be inspecting my home and I'd pay extra if it was necessary to get him to come outside of his usual haunts. What say Kurt? Do you go down that way? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

August 19, 2005 Today, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), along with Kadant Composites Inc. of Bedford, MA, issued a recall notice (#05-247) for all GeoDeckâ„¢ decking and railing materials manufactured between April 2002 and October 2003. Apparently, the product degrades when exposed to hot temperatures and sunlight and the manufacturer has received about 370 reports of accelerated degradation. The concern is that the deteriorating material could break, causing consumers to fall and be injured. According to the official notice, which can be seen at this link, consumers are advised to check the GeoDeckâ„¢ material for visible cracks on the surface and see if it can be easily scratched with a fingernail or credit card. If so, contact GeoDeckâ„¢ customer service at 1-800-547-1710 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the GeoDeckâ„¢ website at http://www.KadantCompositesRecall.com.

Hi, Around here, most of the oil furnaces have a separate switch to run the fan in hot weather. It's a cheap way to cool a home if you've got a basement and it helps to dehumidify the home. typically, you'll see one switch for winter that allows the burner and the blower to operate as a heating unit and the second switch will only be turned on in the summer when the heating switch is off. Had one the other day though where the blower only operated when both switches were on and the stat was calling for heat. The fan switch would not allow the blower to run separately in summer without the burner. How long has the tank been in the ground? Around here, a tank in the ground 40 years is a leak waiting to happen and I tell 'em to get them replaced or be ready to deal with an eventual remediation. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Terry, Just break up the message you want into the sections you want to quote individually and place the word quote inside of brackets [] before each section and then /quote inside of brackets after each section. Then put your cursor between sections and respond individually to the sections. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sounds like it's out of fuel or there's water in the fuel line. Get some Kolorcut and pick up a cheap tape measure that you're only going to use for fuel tanks. Stick the tank next time using Kolorcut. You'll know whether it's out of fuel and, if not, how much water there is in the tank. More than about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of water in a 275 gallon tank and you could have a hole in the tank that's admitting water. Holes in the tank are bad ju-ju. OT - OF!!! M.

Oy! Three hours away Chad. Are home inspectors that scarce up in them thar hills or are you just so danged good that your already famous across the state? [:-bigeyes ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Jim, I'll post the picture to the front page, but your behind a few other folk's stuff that's been submitted. In the meantime, I thought the rest of the folks would get a kick out of this. So, lemme see. In KY, folks never heard that there may not be any direct connection of a condensate line to a waste or vent pipe (IRC1411.3/UMC310.1)? If I were you, I'd be posting that photo to the local paper with a short consumer protection article entitled something like When Hiring Local Tradesmen, Ensure They're Competent. The idiot will probably swallow half of his seegar when he sees his own crummy work in the paper. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike