Chris Bernhardt

Yeah, its not no record a macro from keyboard type thing. You actually have to open the visual basic editor and start programing. I have a big 4" thick reference book for programing in words visual basic. Without I couldn't have got anywhere. Chris, Oregon

The following snippets form the basis of a macro I wrote to load formatted pics (automatically sized and positioned) on a page in Word. This snippet will load the photos in “FileArray()â€

Yeah, well I said I was embarrassed to admit it. I hope to get it down to something reasonable again. Thats what you get for working outside of any association for so long. I have had to reconsider a lot of things and make a lot of changes I wouldn't have had to probably if I had joined TIJ or even ASHI sooner and got myself involved. You guys are the blame. I thought I was pretty happy in my gobbledygook world of inspecting. Now I'm going thru an arduous repentance. Chris, Oregon

Randy, I think I am doing exactly what you want to already in my reports. I use word and I wrote a macro to go grab the photos out of a particular directory, resize them and lay them out on the page. I usually put 8 pics a page but can put anywhere from 2 to 8 pics. Then I have another page that I have all the captions preformatted and I just copy and paste on to the pics. It takes only a few seconds. Most of the time is spent writing the captions and putting in arrows and the such. I also shrink the fotos down using Jpegsizer before I do all that otherwise its way to unweildly for adobe acrobat to convert. If your interested I can post or send you the macro. When I get some time some day I want to spiff up the macro to do it all in one shot. I also wrote a macro that will cross index the photos from a picture page into the findings section of the report. For example on the findings page at the end of the monograph it will say something like "See photos 3,4 & 5 on page 7" and on the page 7, those photos will show "item 5" referring to the findings page. Chris, Oregon

D.P your time is not off. I know there's guys out there who can do the whole inspection and report on site in 2 hours. I don't actually know any of them. Well maybe theyr'e a myth. My onsite times after 8 years are 2 - 3 hours with the same back at the office to write the report. In fact I will step up and embarras myself and tell you I have spent many times taking 6 - 8 hours to write a report messin around researching stuff. Don't do the report on site. Spend all your availible time inspecting and collecting info. I take a gadzillion pics. Its all bullshit about part time work with a full time income. Chris, Oregon

How about a high intensity laser. That ought to work from a distance! Chris, Oregon

This is my FPE broilerplate. I believe most of the time the agents and clients don't take it serious and just ignore it. I say that because I haven't had any agents complain that I killed thier deal because I recommended replacement. Who knows maybe they are replacing it. Chris, Oregon

My reports are on a constant diet. The more I learn from the brotheren the more concise they get but what I have noticed is that some clients who have gotten those big 3 ring binder type reports then think my report is too light and maybe even lacking. I really believe I have been passed over on occasion when people have been shopping based on the thickness of the report thinking that indicates the inspector is more thorough. Chris, Oregon

Ok, so I guess the answer to that is yes. If item is not readily accessible then better warn them there could be problems and they better have it inspected. I had a claim a few years ago with a flooded crawlspace. The client did not follow my advice to get it drained and inspected and then after he moved in and was having some problems went into the crawlspace and found a bunch of common stuff. After I pointed out to him that the inspection report stated that he should have had the crawlspace made accessible and then have it inspected, he went away. Chris, Oregon

Do you think that it really makes any difference to expound further for each item of inspection in a report all the things that you can't determine by a visual inspection? I mean shouldn't it be enough that you clearly state in your contracts and in your report that the inspection was performed according to this or that SOP and make sure they got a copy? As long as your adhering to your SOP why keep duplicating gist of the inspection that its a visual non-invasive inspection yada yada yada and do a version of that for each section of the report? I don't see how the client is really benefiting from all the extra words. My experience with legal claims is that the lawyers will go by the SOP and whether or not you they think you followed it. Putting in all those extra words trying to explain the limitations of the inspection seems pointless. Every inspection report I see has a bunch of bloiler plate going over the limitations of the foundation inspection and the plumbing inspection and the electrical portion etc. I wonder if Walter J. or Jim K. has all that disclaiming language in their reports? Just curious. Chris, Oregon

If an item of inspection was not readily accessible, beyond noting that in the report, is there a duty to recommend that access be provided and the item checked? If no, then does anyone consider making that recommendation to CYA? Chris, Oregon

Beyond a visual inspection and spinning the fan blades to see if they are jammed or not what else do you do? Should one be making the effort to try and turn them on by adjusting down the thermostat? If they are not in operation at the time of inspection do you report that and would you recommend that they be evaluated further to determine that they working safely? These darn things make me nervous if I can't see that they work. I had a case where I had inspected in the winter but when warm weather returned the dam thing jammed up and started smoking and scared the client. Luckliy he was a knowledgeable client and there was a kill switch wired in. He complained and I bought him a new fan to make him happy. Chris, Oregon

I think you should have both and the protimeter is great tool. I use a Tramex moisture encounter plus (pinless) 95% of the time. I have a delmhorst pin type which I end up using alot in attics when I have a question. The pinless types will almost always peg on roof decking. I also use the pin type to backup pinless readings that are suspicous. Chris, Oregon

If sink overflows are not required are bathtub overflows not required also? Does anyone check overflows if they are there? Most I see can't keep up with faucets anyway even at a moderate flow. When I use to manage apartments I had a case where a lower unit was getting a lot water from the unit above in the bathroom. Seemed it had been going on for a couple of hours. Finally considering it an emergency as the tenants above did not appear to be home to anyones knowledge I pounded on the door of the appartment several times for a minute, got out the pass key and cracked the door open and yelled "Maintenance!", stuck my head in and yelled "maintenance!", then stepped inside and yelled "maintenance!", then seeing that no body was responding I started heading for the master bedroom bathroom which is where the source of the leaking was occuring all the while yelling "maintenance!". Master bedroom door is closed... so I knock on it, wait, crack it and seeing nobody there so I go in. Master bedroom bathroom door is closed. So at that point I decided that nobody was home and proceeded to burst in to the master bedroom bathroom where lo n behold the tenant and his wife are in the tub. [:-bigeyes Luckily the shower curtain was closed so I couldn't see anything. The husbands says "Excuse me!" The polite way of saying "What the F blah blah blah". I was stunned. I must looked like a deer in the head lights after all that yelling and pounding trying to make my presence known to avoid exactly this kind of situation. I explained to him quickly that the water from his tub was somehow making its way down to the unit below and got the hell out of there. Later we found that it was due to a faulty tub overflow. The wife kept refilling the tub when the water got cold. Chris, Oregon

Oh come on, that stuff only happens out on the east coast - Not here![] Oh wait a second, where's that article that I got about all those portland muni's getting caught a while back. I know its around here someplace... Chris, Oregon

Can an ASHI Associate advertise the fact that they are an ASHI Associate? And if asked, is an ASHI associate a member of ASHI or are certified members really the only ones considered members? I am so confused! I know that I can't display the ASHI logo. Haven't recieved an membership packet yet but my name is already up on their website. Chris, Oregon

Well then are all locks accessories? Exterior door locks and window latches? Some of those front door locksets are spendy. Why would the front door lock be any different then the bathroom lock? The old ASHI training manual said that the locks, if they had them and were readily checkable, be checked. Of course thats different from reporting on their existence or not. The Dearborn Engineering reference that I have doesn't appear to address locks at all. So would you agree if a lock is there and you can check it that it should be checked? If the lock is not there it doesn't require reporting because its an accessory. I think the texas SOP specifically mentions something about locksets being outside the scope of the inspection. can any Texas brotheren confirm that? Interesting. That makes sense to me that there are many things in the house that could easily be checked out by the buyer and whose implications are self evident and don't need any explaining by me however buyers assume that you are checking that stuff. If you give an SOP to a buyer they won't read it but lets say they did where does it clearly explain that accessories to the function of the items of inspection are not covered and particularly locks? It seems to me that you would have to make that clear in your contract. Chris, Oregon

Are bathroom door locks a requirement anywhere or are they an accessory? I think that they are required by some state agencys where foster care is involved. Chris, Oregon

Is there a regulation covering the height of the service area in front of a furnace in an attic? I know that 30" in front of anything that you need access to for servicing is needed but saw a furnace installation that while it had the 30" in front of the furnace there was not much more then 30" of height in front of it which would make servicing difficult. Chris, Oregon

Is there a regulation that covers which way a garage passage way door, one between the house and the garage, should open? I normally see them opening into the house but found one opening to the garage. I also have a similar question with respect to sliding glass doors. Most of the time the slider is to the interior but sometimes its to the exterior. Any regulations? Pros & cons? Chris, Oregon

What is the best practice method to level out the sill plate on a settled foundation system in excess of 1/2". For example or the order of 1" to 2". It can't be to shim it with dispersed wood shims. The space between the sill and the top of the foundation wall wood have to be continuously shimmed or filled with something. Right? Chris, Oregon

What about the top of the foundation? Now that sections of the cracked foundation have settled unevenly how do they get the sill plate level and anchored if one wanted to level the floors and get rid of the bouncyness? Level the sills then pack the gap with cement? Replace sills with sill beams? Also concerning the epoxy I thought that was for sealing rather then structual restoration. Are there epoxies out there that can essentially glue the sections back together back into one cohesive unit? Chris, Oregon

Inspected a 1950s 2 story house on a more or less level site. Crawlspace construction with a poured perimeter concrete foundation wall. From the interior inspection it was obvious that some settlement had occurred with the back half of the house. From the exterior I found a pretty large 1/2" crack midwall on the south side of the building but from the crawlspace the foundation was actually cracked pretty much at every discontinuity ( crawlspace access, foundation vents, girder pockets etc.) The form of the cracking indicated settlement vrs shrinkage or thermal cracking. I have seen this situation more than once. I can see recommending further evaluation by a geotech when there are obvious problems with the ground like subsidence and fissues etc. but this looks like to me to just be an improperly prepared site. If the clients asks "Is it going to settle more or is it done?" How would you answer that? They tried to level the floors by shimming the sill plates and even individual joist ends. Note no anchorage is present. Floors are bouncy as hell. Are we looking at needing a new foundation? Chris, Oregon

A bought a copy of the "Handbook of Technical Writing" eighth addition by authors Gerald J. Alfred, Charles T. Brusaw and Walter E. Oliu published by St Martin's press. I really like its style and the way it's laid out for referencing. Its one of those books for me anyways that no matter what page I randomly flip to there is something interesting. The Alan Carson article was interesting and I have read it several times. When Jim Morrision said to only provide useful information at first that seemed like well duh but I didn't understand what that meant at the time. Another interesting thing that this book goes into is oral presentations something that I have not really put attention to. I know I have a lot to improve on in that area and it occured to be that the oral presentation could become a good way to differentiate and market yourself as much as the inspection report. The Carson article touched on it. Chris, Oregon

I ran into a 70's ranch where they had resided it using a WRB and put new windows and doors in and thus tightened up the exterior envelope. The result I believe was the wet insulation I was now looking at in the attic. I don't know yet how to address such problems. It seems to me that an empirical approach is needed perhaps using les's fog machine to come up with something that works. I like the idea of the fantech on a 24 hour timer in parallel with a humidistat and a 20,30,60 short timer in the bathrooms. But what I am worried about is depressurizing the home and sucking in rank crawlspace air or garage odors. Chris, Oregon