hausdok

Hi All, Well, after five years of very severe abuse; a lot of crawlspaces, being crushed in my breast pocket as I squeezed under ducts and pipes, being sat on in my back pocket a few thousand times, after being dropped dozens of times - once off a roof into a muddy backfill trench, after being covered with mud and slime, after being rinsed under an outside sillcock a few hundred times, after having it's battery door torn off and it's rubber bumper stripped off, after sustaining a dent that I was convinced must have broken something inside, after it's image screen became so scratched up that it's hard to view through, my Pentax W90 finally declared that it had had enough and tried to escape my abuse by ejecting it's shutter button places unknown. Not to be deterred, I broke off a sliver of wood, jammed it in the recess where the shutter button had been and continued snapping pics until I'd completed yesterday's inspection. It might have been my imagination, but I could have sworn I heard that camera scream in pain in a tiny little electronic voice every time I shoved that piece of wood down it's recess to force it to focus and snap pictures. He was a valiant fellow and he fought the good fight but I guess it's time to put him out to pasture with the lady cameras for the rest of his days. Just went onto Amazon to order his replacement - a WG-30W - also in flame orange. Inexplicably, once I went to the checkout button the image began trembling. I suspect the camera I just ordered had heard from the 'verse what's in store for it and it was shaking with fear. Should have it Tuesday.

May 11. 2015 - Kenmore, WA We see it time and again. Roofer stacking piles of asphalt shingles at the ridge and then leaving them overnight - sometimes with disastrous results. I've taken the opportunity more than once while inspecting homes in new developments to stop and talk to a roofer when I've seen the roofer stockpiling bundles of asphalt shingles on ridges. A few times the roofer was receptive and thanked me for the information; but most of the time my meant-to-be-helpful comments are either rebuffed by a roofer who tells me he's been roofing for X-number of years and has never had a problem, or I'm met with blank stares and someone on the crew will say something like, "No English. Boss no here." The federal government instituted laws governing how overhead doors openers were to be installed, and required additional safeguards, after only a few dozen children were killed or injured over a space of a decade. Maybe what is needed now is some kind of legislation that makes it illegal to stack shingles on a roof ridge. The law would then enable the authorities to prosecute a builder for unlawful damage to private property caused through negligence when the property owner's structure is damaged; and to charge roofing company owner's for gross indifference and negligence resulting in serious injury or for manslaughter when a roofing company employees are injured or killed. To read more and see pictures, Click Here

By Isaac Peck, Associate Editor Working RE Magazine One of the largest, nationwide providers of professional liability (E&O) insurance for home inspectors announces the addition of new, important environmental and other coverages to its flagship home inspector's E&O program. Many of the new coverages are included in the base policy with no additional premium. The "A" Rated, Admitted carrier/program is available in most states. The addition of these new coverages to the OREP E&O home inspector's program makes it easy and affordable for most inspectors to be protected with comprehensive coverage, according to David Brauner, Senior Broker for E&O insurance provider OREP.org. Brauner says the OREP package includes comprehensive E&O, full general liability, pest/WDO, lead paint, pool & spa, mold, EIFS/Stucco, septic/water testing, commercial, indoor air quality testing, green building inspections, infrared thermography, rodent inspections and more. Most of the coverages are included in the base premium, which can be found at OREP.org; mold and septic inspection coverage can be added for a small additional cost. (At the time of publication in early May, coverage varies in AR, CO, FL, HI, LA, IL, MA, NH, NY, OH, OK, TX, VT. Mold and other new coverages will be added to these states soon. Please call OREP for updated details - 888-347-5273 - or visit OREP.org for a current list of states.) Brauner, who has helped inspectors place insurance coverage for over 20 years said, "OREP was exhibiting at a conference last year when several inspectors visiting our booth told us that they love the program but that it was missing two coverages they needed: mold and EFIS/Stucco. It took a year but these two coverages and many others have been added, making it one of the broadest packages of coverage available for home inspectors. And most coverages are included in the base policy at the already competitive minimum premium. This is why cost should no longer be a factor that keeps any inspector from enjoying complete coverage." More Coverage, More Income Having broad coverage at a competitive premium also makes it cost effective and safer for inspectors to offer additional income-producing services, Brauner said. "If you decide to give yourself a raise by offering more services, broad coverage provides the peace of mind that we buy insurance for in the first place. And it is especially nice when you don't have to pick and choose among essential coverages because of the expense. Now you can afford it all." OREP's program includes the usual coverages for prior acts, referring parties, employees and contractors of the company, commercial and industrial inspections, construction draw and new construction inspections. But according to Brauner, a closer look also shows why the program is among the most comprehensive available. "The program is full of attractive little details that separate it from the pack. For instance, there is technology coverage built in and a 50 percent deductible reduction if a claim is resolved by mediation. There is a daily expense stipend for the inspector if they must attend trials or hearings as a result of a claim- $250 per day, up to $5,000. There is built in punitive damages coverage and much more," Brauner said. "It's Cadillac coverage," he said. No Time Wasted on Quoting OREP also is the only program that allows most inspectors to get back to work fast with no quoting required. Most inspectors can secure coverage without having to waste time on the back and forth that is typically involved with quoting, Brauner said. "The self-rating application, that is unique to OREP.org, works for most inspectors and companies. It gets inspectors back to work fast. And next year most policies will renew automatically at the same premium with no application needed at all," Brauner said. "If inspectors take as much care examining their E&O insurance coverage once a year, as they do on every inspection, every day of the year, the advantages of OREP's program will be obvious," Brauner said. "Give us a call or visit OREP.org to get the details. We answer the phone!"

The folks at BoraCare have developed a whole arsenal of stuff to fight wood rot, insects and mold. Check 'em out! http://nisuscorp.com/builders/products/BORA-CARE

Contact Prof. Jeff Morrell at Oregon State University - he's the "Rot Doc." Send him some photos, take a small sample, stick it in a baggie and express mail it to him and he'll probably be able to tell you exactly what it is. This guy is one of the foremost authorities on wood rot on the planet. Google him. http://renewablematerials.oregonstate.edu/jeff-morrell ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, You have it correct, Chad. I usually I find them with the cutting instruction tags still attached. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Kurt, Reach out to J. D. Grewell. He's got a lot of experience with messes like that. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hmm, I dunno, When the slump came I was working and those who built their businesses by feeding at the realtor trough were going down the tubes left and right as the ranks their real estate handlers - and the referrals - dried up. One inspector I know had to sell an investment property just to pay his bills and he barely got what he'd paid for it a decade before. My business, built around clients and not realtor referrals, kept going strong and had the toadies asking me what the hell I was doing that they weren't. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Mama Mia! Dat's a bigga meata balla!!! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Bacteria/Fungi buildup in the sink overflow sluices. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi All, Well, after nearly fifteen years of not checking them out, I decided to re-visit the BoraCare site and found some stuff there that will be useful to the OP. Number 1 - Apparently the makers of BoraCare had so much success with BoraCare that they decided to come up with an additional products designed specifically to work in concert with BoraCare and they provide a 25 year warranty on homes pre-treated with these products. MoldClean - Removes stains and prepares the wood for BoraCare and MoldCare BoraCare - Treats wood to prevent insect infestations MoldCare - Used with BoraCare to ensure no surface mold develops on the wood. Bac-A-Zap - Eliminates musty odors and odors from rodent urine NiBan - Used before putting down a barrier, apply NiBan for long-term protection against ants, cockroaches, crickets, silverfish, slugs and snails. Humidifiers to keep the place dry BoraFoam - Termite-resistant foam board insulation applied to the block walls to prevent condensation. Looks like these guys have really done their homework. They are located in Tennessee, by the way. They have a nice little booklet that the OP might find interesting that shows how to go about sealing and treating that crawlspace to keep it dry and free of fungi and musty odors. Click Here !!! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Did a house the other day that's completely wrapped in EIFS. The house was built in 1996 - right on the border of idiotic EIFS installations and somewhat more sensible EIFS installations. Uses details from both eras. Was interested to find the eifs lamina torn and cracks and shadowing in the EIFS that match the CMU used in the stack. The fiberglass in the cracks looks like it was stretched and torn. I'm thinking quake movement and that's what I said in the report. Beautiful masonry fireplace and pristine flue with no signs of cracks from the inside but there is no question that with this kind of tearing of the EIFS that there was some kind of movement in the block of that stack. With it clad in EIFS the stack is kind of a dice roller. It might be a simple fix that costs a couple of grand to fix or it might require major surgery - really no way to know without stripping that stuff off to see what's underneath. Never a dull moment in this gig. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Les, According to a wood rot specialist I know, BoraCare is nothing but borate and glycerin. It's no more toxic to a human than table salt. The glycerin allegedly helps the borate diffuse into the wood up to 1-1/2 inches deep so that if you hit both sides of a nominal two-by it should reach the center and eliminate hard-to-get critters like anobiidae and lictids. Once treated, the wood is basically Chernobyl for fungi and insects. Hardest part about using it is keeping it in suspension in the water. It likes to settle out into a hard-to-stir muck on the bottom of the container. Has anyone looked into dry ice blasting? That stuff is kewl! The beads literally explode when they hit a surface and turn to carbon dioxide vapor. Definitely needs to be used in a well-ventilated area or you end up with no air around you, but it really does a nice job of cleaning. Know how when you try and clean up an old car using solvents and brushes and end up leaving surface film and scratches? Do it with dry ice blasting and there is no filmy residue left on the surface, paint isn't destroyed and you don't end up with scratches. Use it for restoring the interior of a 55 year old car that's been sitting in a shed for 30 years and the interior comes out looking like an ultra clean survivor. Amazing technology. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I agree 100% that the excess moisture is the issue and that if it's eliminated the mold will die. He said that his crawlspace vents had been sealed up for years. That explains it - he's living over a petri dish. The issue though is this whole "Toxic" whack a mole mania out there where numbnuts inspectors keep pushing the idea to people that there is actually such a thing as "Toxic Mold" and everybody is walking on eggshells around that crap. He can buy the home, live there twenty years and if it's been nuked with BoraCare and he keeps the crawl clean and ventilated properly none of that crap will spread. However, when he goes to sell, if some whack-a-mold nutjob of a poorly informed inspector waddles out of the crawl and declares the place is infested with "toxic mold" or "organic growth" there's a chance he could lose the deal. Better to clean it all up, nuke it now to turn that area into Chernobyl for Fungi and keep it clean and dry and go on with his life as planned. OT - OF!!! M.

Heck, I wish crawlspaces looked like that around here. For millennia people cleaned up mold when they found it and we still managed to populate the planet. Now we're paying folks to do it for thousands of dollars? Why don't you just have them kick some cash back to you at closing to deal with the mold issue and then go and buy some BoraCare and a pump sprayer, go under there and one-by-one pull down those batts, spray the entire joist bay and joists and put the batts back up one bay at a time. Heck, in a nice crawlspace like that it probably won't take more than a few hours to do the whole thing. The fungi will most probably just be on that part of the joists that's below the insulation. If you want to clean it up, get a whitewall brush, mix up a bucket of water with some spic-n-span with a little bleach and scrub that stuff off, let everything dry and then come back in a few days with some BoraCare and saturate the crap out of it.

Steve, It arrived in my in-box. I'm just passing it on for folks to use it as they see fit. Me, I can't add a column of six single-digit numbers together five times in a row and get the right answer - I'm not kidding when I say I can't do second grade math - there's no way I'd attempt to do that calculating. I'd rather have my fingernails pulled out one by one verrrry slowwwwly.

This arrived in my in-box the same day that this thread started. I bookmarked it and meant to post it here but forgot all about it till now. It might help - might not. http://www.mikeholt.com/newsletters.php ... terID=1522

This arrived in my in-box the same day that this thread started. I bookmarked it and meant to post it here but forgot all about it till now. It might help - might not. http://www.mikeholt.com/newsletters.php ... terID=1522

I probably shouldn't tell you all this, but I still remember our first phone number. I was taught the number just before they taught me how to walk the 3/4 mile from our house up through town, over the crosswalk at the light and down to the school to kindergarten. I started school just after my fifth birthday. I bet I wasn't 3ft. tall at the time. The number was 393 - three-nine-three. There was no dial on the phone. One picked up the phone and waited for the operator to come on and say, "Number please," in her high nasal voice and then you spoke the number into the phone and she would say, "Just a moment," and then she'd say, "Your number is connected, go ahead please," and we would say Hello into the receiver and wait for the other person to respond. They also taught me how to use a phone booth. My mother put a nickel into my pants pocket every morning so that if I had an emergency somewhere between the house and the school I could go into the drugstore on the corner and call home. Can you imagine a family today teaching a five year old how to walk through town, use street lights and walk all the way to school on his own? The parents would probably be cited for child endangerment, the kid would be taken away and put in foster care and it would be all over the news as a scandal. Back then it was routine. Along the way I used to run into several other kids my age or close to my age and some older bullies. I used to take the nickel and put it in my shoe so they wouldn't find it when they frisked me. On Fridays I was allowed to take my five nickels (I'd save them all week in my desk at school) and take my $.25 cents into the five and dime across from the drugstore and buy myself a treat. I loved that place. Trays of stuff all over with tons of stuff that a five-year-old would want. I usually didn't get much beyond the counter though - the candy behind the counter and the egg cremes sold at the soda fountain usually diverted me first. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Could have found a Word-based program already done with drop-downs and all of that here: http://www.inspectexpress.com/

Deleted by admin: It was so wrong it couldn't be fixed. It explains on the very first link: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356

Hmm, Let me see if I can figure out why a pest guy would say those aren't rodent burrows. Perhaps the pest guy got paid to eliminate the rodents and now he's not willing to admit that he might not have done such a hot job?

Looks like it was compacted and then re-lofted. Is the disagreement over whether he actually blew in new insulation or not? Whoops, I'd only looked at the first photo when I responded with the line above. After seeing the second picture with what looks like a finger-sized hole in the insulation I'd have to say mice. Bigger holes with lot of crap - rats - but that's not what I'm seeing there. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Tom, You can download a free Permanent Wood Foundation Design and Construction guide from the Southern Pine Association's website. Click the hot link. It will take you to the Southern Pine Publications Page. Scroll down to the bottom of the right column of pubs where find the link for the guide. Click the link and a box will pop up asking for a user name and password. Click the 'create an account' button and then sign up to access their pubs. When you finish filling out the form and click proceed it will download that document straight to your downloads cache. I downloaded my first copy of that document over a decade ago and just updated to the new copy. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jim said "aside from rust and lack of fasteners." He's saying that if it gets properly secured there's nothing wrong with it. Maybe you just missed it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike