hausdok

This is why I've always leased and never bought. Once they get miled up, scratched, dented, and start making noise, You can turn them in for a new one and not take the hit for depreciation Dented? You talking about a car or wives? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

No, it's not bad advice. You don't live in earthquake country, we do. Which makes more sense in a quake, to waste time running around looking for a wrench to shut off the gas or have one hanging next to the meter where you know exactly where to find it? Hanging a wrench next to the meter here is not commonly done; but most folks here know that in a quake they should shut off the gas immediately. Some prepare for it by putting a wrench at the meter and other folks have special valves installed on their houses that will automatically do it for them so they won't have to. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

It's Japanese inspired. According to Japanese Homes and their Surroundings by Morse, many old traditional style homes in Kabutoyama in Mushashi have that detail. It's kind of distinct for that region. According to Morse, it was widely copied in Southeast Asia and in Pacific Islands. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Waddaya gettin' married for? Why don't you just find a woman you hate and buy her a ring and a house? (forgot where I heard it)

Yeah, There are about half a dozen various screws designed and rated for ledger to house attachment now. Most of them are self-drilling types and I guess it's up to the screw manufacturer whether or not they're supposed to have washers. Absent instructions from the screw manufacturer, you're kind of screwed. I'd probably recommend the buyer find out who built the deck, then contact the contractor to find out who made the screws and then use that information to determine if they'd been installed in accordance with the manufacturer's specs. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez, that's awful. Did you have renter's insurance? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

ACD 14 is discontinued! Manufacturers recall! http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/ampro ... acd-14.htm Yeah, but the replacement is a free ACD 14 Plus or a free ACD 14 TRMS Plus. http://www.amprobe.com/Amprobe/usen/Ser ... Recall.htm

Kurt, Amprobe has a whole buffet of clamp meters - some of them are clamp/multimeters with dual displays, etc. You can check them out here: http://www.amprobe.com/Amprobe/usen/Pro ... Meters.htm We really should try and work out some kind of a deal with Amprobe and their owner, Fluke, 'cuz they're right here in our own back yard only twenty minutes away. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Guys, I don't think this person is registered as a member. She sent this directly to TIJ's email.

Hi All, Occasionally people write to TIJ directly asking for assistance with home inspection issues. This is an inquiry we'd received from an Oregon lady. Perhaps one of you Oregon-based inspectors would care to contact her via email and help her out. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike From: suzgourd@yahoo.com Hello - We live on the central Oregon coast and purchased a Heat n Glow Tiarra II about six years ago. The air intake pipe has a terminator on it, which has started to rust. The inside of the stove has also rusted, causing cracks in the burner and split/broken logs. In addition, the ignition no longer works. A service technician (who works for the business that sold us the unit) told us the unit looks much older than it is. We learned today from the business that they can find all of the necessary parts to repair the unit, except for the logs. We were told we could continue to use the broken logs and the only problem would be soot build-up. The estimated cost for the repairs is over $1,000. This does not make sense to us. Is there an inspector we could have look at the gas stove who is not partial? Any help or guidance you can provide will be truly appreciated. Thank you. Suzan Sachdeva

If you need me to send 'em just shoot me your snail mail address via email. OT - OF!!! M.

Pictures and manuals is easy. When I was back in the army I'd subscribed to a bunch of book-of-the-month type deals from The Handyman Club of America, Time Life Home Improvement Library, Time Life Fix-it-Yourself Library, Fine Homebuilding and similar. That's where I learned to do that kind of stuff. When I was getting ready to retire from the Army and knew I was getting into this gig, but before I knew what the job actually entailed, I'd studied all of those and then went around my place in Colorado Springs and around the Provost Marshal's Office on Ft. Carson and began practicing how to test that stuff. Go to the Library and borrow the T-L F-i-Y books on Lighting and Electricity, Home Heating and Cooling, Kitchen and Bathroom Plumbing, Household Electric Wiring by Kittle and Home Heating and Air Conditiong Systems by Kittle. Alternatively, I can send 'em to you in one of those "If it fits, it ships" boxes. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Back around 1997 while I was still a rookie and doing lots of extra things that most experienced inspectors wouldn't have dreamed of doing, I lost my wiggy someplace and for a short time used a really cheap multi-meter to verify power was on to stuff that wouldn't function for one reason or another, to test thermocouples, to test limit controls on furnaces, to identify faulty heating elements in electric furnaces, to test limit controls and thermostats on baseboard heaters, confirm bonding between hot and cold pipes when I couldn't see a bond, check voltage at disconnect switches, confirm breaker boxes weren't hot before I touched them and to test high limit cutoffs and thermostats at electric water heaters. I'd use the MM along with 100ft. extension cord to verify voltage delivered to receptacles and to check for proper polarity and grounding. Then one day I set the switch in the wrong position and fried it when I'd checked a 240volt dryer receptacle. I got in my truck, went down to the nearest big orange box, bought a wiggy and then went back to the job and back to the basics. I purchased my first SureTest in 1999 while in Vegas at an ITA conference. While there, I talked to lots of folks about what they were doing and weren't doing and after that never saw the need to return to using a MM. Don't get me wrong; they are a great tool, and very useful, for diagnostics. I just don't think our mandate is diagnostics beyond what we can do with a SureTest or something similar or a wiggy. I'm not even really certain that we need to be using clamp-on meters. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Kenmore, WA/Feb 1, 2012 by Mike O'Handley Mike Holmes has added yet another twist to his vision of what a model home inspection firm should look like; he's now offering air miles to reward new home inspection clients for hiring his firm, Mike Holmes Inspections, and he's also rewarding clients with additional miles for each successful customer referral. One wouldn't expect that with all of Holmes' star power that the inspectors performing inspections under the umbrella of Mike Holmes Inspections would need to resort to marketing gimmicks in order to lure in new business; but, according to a press release today from CNW (Canada Newswire) that is apparently exactly what's happening. The CNW press release contains a quote from Holmes: "Mike Holmes Inspections is a premium service. Clients who book an inspection with us are homeowners who are willing to invest in the value of their home. It just made sense to increase that value by giving them a first-class bonus for the trust they have in our service." It's kind of ironic that Holmes, whose trashing of the home inspection profession was legendary among home inspectors, even before he opened his own home inspection firm several years ago, would resort to marketing gimmicks - the profession has wrestled for years to clean up an image tarnished by dozens of such schemes often used by less-than-competent inspectors to lure in new business. One would expect that God's gift to the home inspection profession wouldn't need to resort to such methods and would give them a wide berth. Let's see if it plays out any differently than the hundreds of other situations where inspectors used gimmickry instead of their skills to lure in new business. ****

We made it real simple here: WAC 308-408C-130(2)(e) Air conditioning systems The inspector is not required to operate cooling system components if the exterior temperature is below sixty degrees Fahrenheit or when other circumstances are not conducive to safe operation or when doing so might damage the equipment. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Oh fer cryin' out loud, Don't you get it. You've been exposed to asbestos in the air every day you've walked on the planet. That's why there isn't a huge uproar over exposure to it. Even if twenty or thirty years from now you come down with mesotelioma or asbestosis there will be absolutely no way you'll know whether it was because you were in the same room as a hair dryer, were in a house with friable asbestos tape sealing the inside of the forced air ducts, were exposed to asbestos dust in an auto shop while you waited to pick up your car, breathed it in while driving through a dust cloud along the interstate, got it while scraping that ceiling or from dozens of other possible ways you could have ingested or inhaled it. You can't do anything about it, so why don't you stop fretting about it?

Hi, Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out. I can't afford to keep my brain in the other office; there aren't enough brain cells there already. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yep, Only thing I hate more than getting sprayed with wet doo-doo and piss is rats. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'm glad you told them no. I won't test AC systems under 60?F and when temps are that low I exclude any AC system in writing in the report. Why would I then want to somehow enmesh myself in the negotiating end of the transaction by putting something in my report that says they should put money in escrow when I don't give a rat's ass who pays for what when once I've completed my inspection? It seems that real estate professionals, banks, insurance companies and attorneys are constantly trying to define our responsibilities for us and are abdicating their own. If they want you to do the attorney's job, tell 'em that you'll have to use the attorney's billing scheme and make sure you charge them for that phone call. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I'd refuse to do it. If you go out there, run the system and it breaks down immediately or even later on they'll blame you and say you should have known better. Have the client insist that the seller call an HVAC tech to see if an HVAC tech is willing to do it. If an HVAC tech is willing to do it and screws it up he'll be the one holding the bag, not you. There isn't enough margin in this business to risk wiping out all of the profit from an inspection by doing something foolhardy just to be the nice guy. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Kurt, If my scanner would talk to my new computer, I'd scan some stuff for you that shows you how to use one for this gig. Alas, my computer refuses to communicate with my perfectly good 12 year old scanner that's only made about 50 scans total and I can't find a driver for the damned thing. I've been planning to go see what those things cost these days so I might have something for you in a day or so. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Maybe, but the cleanout cap was sitting on the vapor barrier nearby. Perhaps it hasn't caused an issue because nobody is living in the house yet. I'd have just unscrewed it for a looksee inside. . . Nope, Wasn't gonna do that. I'd imagined myself loosening that cap and then it started spraying gunk out in all directions even before I'd gotten the cap off. That mind's eye picture was all I needed to discourage me from doing that - especially in a bank-owned house where the water hadn't been turned on. There's no telling what would be in that pipe and how foul it was. No thankye matey! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Maybe, but the cleanout cap was sitting on the vapor barrier nearby. Perhaps it hasn't caused an issue because nobody is living in the house yet. Thanks. OT - OF!!! M.

New house. Built in 2008 but never sold. Originally over $4M now listed for $1.8M. Found this in the main soil pipe. I've never seen one but I suspect it's used by plumbers to pressure-test systems for leaks. Don't know if it's inflated or not. Don't think it is. If it were, I should think at least one of the toilets would have backed up by now. My guess is that there is a plumber somewhere who went to his truck one day and went, "Oh sh*t, where the hell is the...." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hee, hee, Marc, if you knew the guy, you'd know better than to say that. You've never had to drive 30 miles home in the same car with the guy after a board meeting where the majority of the board took a mamby-pamby stance on some issue. I have and It ain't pretty. Of the rest of the board, he's the only non-TIJ-regular that I refer folks to when I can't accommodate their inspection needs due to my schedule. I think it would be fair to say that Mack and I are the ones who are at odds with the majority of the board the majority of the time. As chairman, he only gets to vote when a tie breaker is needed and with this board that's not often. I think it's fair to say that he's a charter member of the non-suckups in this business around here. I think it's a reality that a big chunk of the real estate folks think of home inspectors as deal killers and Mack is one of those guys who couldn't care less what you call him 'cuz it won't change his mind. I think that's what he's telling them. Erby, I think that's Mack's way of outing some of the suckups and zoids in the real estate folks' own publication. You'd sure as hell never hear one of them admit openly to the fact that sort of thing happens. Mack kind of pulled their shorts down. I bet a whole bunch of the non-zoids will take offense to it and respond in kind. What better way to get them to talk openly about some of the B.S. that 'zoids regularly come up with? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike