hausdok

Hi Robert, If I thought based on that serial number that it might be a '76 water heater ,and the house was supposed to be built after that, I'd probably just google the name of the county and the words "tax assessor" and "parcel viewer" and then plug in the address at the county parcel viewer to find out exactly when it was built. They have an expected service life around here of about 10 to 15 years from the date of installation when properly cared for. If there wasn't any doubt in my mind that the thing was older than 15 years (Looking at that photo, there isn't any doubt.), I'd just tell the client that it's gone past the end of its expected service life, there is no way to know when it will fail - it might even fail as I'm backing out of the driveway - and I'd recommend the client be proactive and replace it now versus replacing it when it eventually does fail. When the realtorzoid pipes up and asks why I'd want to replace a perfectly good water heater that's not showing any indications of imminent failure - I'd simply point out to the client that it's easier to get it done now versus waiting for it to fail when he or she isn't home and it ruptures, floods the house, garage or basement and ruins personal property, etc.. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Looks like Google translater garble to me. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez, I'm so friggin' jealous. Try it in the super duper macro mode Robert and tell us what you think. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Very Kewl, Joe. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I tried all day yesterday; but couldn't get any response to this thread to work. It seems I can post really short responses only and that anything longer than about ten or eleven lines will not post. I could post my response in about 10 different segments, but that's just going to make it harder to read. Go to http://www.masonryveneer.org and download or preview online their installation guides. TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Exactly OT -OF!!! M.

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That's easy, It sets of a special alarm and then a gruffalump attacks you, shreds you and leaves you on the ground for the street cleaners to sweep up. What?.......Well, you're the one that asked! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, You actually believed Russell Ray?!!! Saaaaay, I've got the deed to the Golden Gate Bridge right here and I'm kind of tired of owning it. I've decided to sell it at a huge loss. I'd be willing to take, um, let's say, about $50K for it. Wanna buy it? Don't worry, if you haven't got the cash, I'll accept the deed to your house or your inspection vehicle as collateral. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, "He" hasn't a clue what he is talking about. I read some of his reviews. He's called an A.O. Smith Vertex water heater a "tankless" heater. Any person that is supposed to be an expert on water heaters would never call a Vertex a tankless water heater. I think it's some kind of scam site that lures folks in and then he probably has a way to track who they are or to put spyware or malware on their computer. Don't go there. I'm going to fix that link so that it won't work. I don't want anyone taking advice from someone who clearly has no idea what he's talking about. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Hope you wrote up the cast stone as an issue 'cuz it's done all wrong. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Did he happen to tell you how many inspections he does a year? If so, look at what the average inspection costs in your area and then do the math and you'll know whether he was lying or not. Most inspectors that I know who are willing to bandy their income figures around are selling wolf tickets. I remember when I was getting into this business and was being courted by a franchise. Their recruiter pointed out that the average fee at that time was $300 and then used this as an example: 2 inspections a day, 4 days of the week time 50 weeks of the year is 8 a week or 400 inspections a year or $120,000 gross a year minus 50% in taxes and overhead and I'd net $60,000 a year. What a steaming oozing crock. If you do 50 honest inspections your first year you'll be lucky. Hell, in this economy you'll be lucky if you can do 100 honest inspections your second year. Like they said, expect to be living off your savings for months. Don't quit your regular job for that first few years or you'll fold. The statistics told to me by a former trainer for the former largest inspector training shake-n-bake mill in the country told me that their business was built around the idea that they knew that 80% of new inspectors would fail within the first couple of years, therefore they knew that they'll always have new students coming in the door. You don't seem to be willing to accept what folks here are telling you and you keep throwing out bait. It looks like you are trying to get the answers you want versus what these guys have been telling you. I gave you the solution above; pick up the phone and do your due diligence. This is a serious board. The folks who hang out here are the most professional in this business. This is the one board where you'll get straight up in your face truthful answers; if you don't want to hear the truth, go to one of the other boards where you can get someone to blow sunshine up your butt. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

By Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, October 13, 2010 A Chinese drywall manufacturer facing thousands of homeowners' court claims and several other companies have agreed to pay to repair 300 homes in four states in a pilot program, an attorney involved in the deal said Wednesday. Homeowners in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi whose homes had drywall manufactured by Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. will be eligible To read more, click here.

Somewhere there's a roofer walking around with his head tucked firmly up his butt. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I doubt that anyone is going to want to share that information here. Why don't you call around to inspectors in a 20 mile radius of you and find out what each gets for aa basic full home inspection on an 1800 sf home and ask them how many inspections they do a week. Most will tell you that. Do some multiplication and then some averaging and you'll know what they get in your area. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Again, Sorry to keep jamming things up, but I discovered today that the Coleman info is wrong. Johnson-Controls bought York and York bought Coleman in 1996 so one must use the York dating chart for any Coleman unit after '96. I've attached it. Download Attachment: YorkSerialNumberNomenclature.pdf 85.51 KB ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Mind telling me what breed of dog so that I never own one? The little guy in my avatar doesn't shed, no lanolin smell, no dander. Hell, I shed more than he does. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, Well, it's no wonder you've got a sub infestation; you've got a serious poria (brown rot) infestation there. The termites can't eat healthy wood and poria is about as sick as it can get. That girder has to go. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

bicyclist's speed bump. OT - OF!!! M.

Dude! Seriously? That's a main disconnect for a home? What are those, #6 conductors? No way you can supply 200 amps over those cables. Please tell me there's like a 60 amp breaker at the other end of the set feeding the house. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Oh, don't remind me; I had a bad experience with that in 2004. I was driving down to Vegas for the ITA conference when I stopped at a reststop off of the highway near a tribal casino to get gas. I didn't know about the Oregon law and tried to swipe my own card to get gas but it wouldn't take. A kid came out of the booth walked over, asked for my card. I pointed out that I'd already swiped it and that I didn't want to record two sales. He said, no problem, because I didn't know his access code my swipe had never gone in. It sounded reasonable so I handed him my card and he swiped it again. A month later I got a bill for $250 worth of purchases from that rest stop when I'd only spent about $55. I called down there to speak to the manager to make a stink. The manager took down all of my information, assured me that she'd look into it and get back to me. She never did. Next I called the local P.D. to register a theft complaint. They said they didn't have jurisdiction because the station is on tribal land and because it's a disputed credit card charge and not a theft. I pointed out that as an ex-cop I know the difference and that some SOB buying gas and other crap with my credit card is definitely theft. The tweaker on the other end of the line just seemed to get more and more confused. Finally, I called my credit card company and registered a complaint with them. Months went by with no resolution and then one day I got a letter from the credit card company tellling me that they'd investigated the incident and were satisifed that I'd made the entire purchase so I wasn't going to get a credit. I had to contact them again and raise some more hell about it. In the end, I asked them how the hell I was able to purchase more than 14.7 gallons of gas - since part of the purchase was for more than 30 gallons - when my truck only holds 14.7 gallons. The person on the phone audibly said, "D'oh" and they credited my account back with the disputed charges. So, anyone travelling south on the interstate from Washington to California, avoid the tribal casino rest stop, whatever it is - 'cuz they've got some slicky boys working there. Last time I drove through Oregon, I stopped at an ATM, got cash and then stood there and watched him pump the gas and paid cash. I won't be handing my card to any pump jockeys in Oregon again. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yep, single-walled connector into a masonry flue is allowing flue gases to cool too rapidly and the acid is reacting with the zinc in the galvanizing and causing that mess. Maybe replacing that single-walled connector with a double-walled connector will help; but, if they have one of those corrugated flue liners, I doubt it unless they've sealed the opening between the liner and the sides of the stack so cold air can't surround that liner inside the stack. Maybe the liner isn't properly sized. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, If you look anything like your avatar, you should fit right in with Portland's nightlife. [] ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

How does the air know where it's supposed to go? - Jim Katen, Oregon It doesn't. It's just like every other vent scheme out there. The stack might be the only part that could reliably drive a convection current, but I doubt it's big enough. How much of that structure has to come out? If it's far enough apart, say 60-65% of the sheathing removed, it just might make better sense to strip it all and foam it. I have no idea how well it will work in a climate as cold as Kurt's; all I can tell you is that I know it works well here because I've been seeing it for years and I've actually gotten into the roof plane beneath some of these, expected to find the underside of the roof covered with fungi and found that they were clean and dry despite our inaccurately-reputed-to-be-damp ([]) climate. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike P.S. Normal rainfall history for the area for the month of September is less than 2-inches - by September 20th we'd had more than 4 inches this year.

How does the air know where it's supposed to go? - Jim Katen, Oregon You don't know? That's simple; Everyone has a GPS these days. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike