Chris Bernhardt

Man, you guys back east get all the cool stuff. Chris, Oregon

Does anyone push annual inspections besides the first year warranty inspection on new construction? If so do you perform a normal FHI or some reduced version? I can't imagine this being a cost affective business model. Chris, Oregon

I recently picked up a neato cheap 65 foot sewer cam setup in a nice case for $500 distributed by Harbor Freight around these parts and made under the Chicago electric brand. I even hear it was on sale once for around $300 a while back but I missed out on that. Its cheapo but I got the extended warranty on it. I am not going to make it a practice to look down sewers etc. Theres been a couple of occasions where for curiosities sake I have wanted to look in suspicous dryer vent ducts and the like and once I had a client request to check the internals of the HVAC distribution system for water and debris. Chris, Oregon

I have run into this several times, a plumbing vent terminating under an eave. But there doesn't appear to be any requirement that the vent terminate line of sight to daylight. Download Attachment: jse_IMG_3524.jpg 51.08 KB In this particular case the house did not even have any eave venting. I can't see how this issue with a P vent terminating under an eave would be considered a defect or deficiency. Comment? Chris, Oregon

Oregon SOP Part 2: General Requirements and Limitations 812-008-0202 Purpose and Scope. (2)(D) State the inspector's recommendation to monitor, evaluate, repair, replace or other appropriate action short of providing construction consulting services. Words in bold added by me. Maybe if our SOP was worded this way I would have figured it out a lot sooner. Chris, Oregon

But what does as necessary or as needed mean? As the inspector deems? what about the seller or his agent? I have run in to trouble when I say "as necessary" and leave it at that. What has happend more then once is that on reinspect the contractor says that he did what the seller told him to do and thats why he didn't do it properly. When I point out its a bull shit repair the seller says well you didn't specify anything. What I say now is "have the roofer properly repair the roof". I don't know maybe its just a false sense of security but it makes me feel better as if I can come back and chide those responsible for the bullshit repair. And I am getting a lot of milage these days on the word "proper" I agree. A cert means that something is wrong and some fool has stood up to underwrite the fact that its wrong. Hausdok, do you really mean that the inspectors should eliminate any kind of cert espousement? What do you say to that client who calls you up to tell you that the seller got a cert for 2 - 5 years and he or she is asking you "What do you think?" I like how you worded it however the reason I tend to give third order explanations is that if I just give a 2nd order one like “the fasteners are installed incorrectlyâ€

I keep going back and forth on this. Everytime I watch one of those infomercials on the web demonstating the use of IR I start drooling at the mouth like pavlovs dog. But then I stop and think well wait a second what does that thing really do that I can't already discern with the equipment I have now mostly the nogin. My fear is getting clients to start calling asking if I have IR cause their last inspector had it and it was really cool. Chris, Oregon

Hmm, I guess the model I have been using up to this point was to list the issues in the narrative and then back it up with some pics. It would be a lot easier for me given the number of pictures I take to say that the roof was installed wrong and then say see pics. What gets disputed often is whether or not the roof needs replacement now right this minute or is certifiable long enough to get lended on. The selling side will almost always use the excuse "well, did you see it leaking?" No? "then it doesn't need to be replaced" Only leaking roofs need to be replaced. All of the language at the end of my monograph with certfication was trying to deal with that. Around here they could careless what the inspector said and will rush out to get bobs roofing to come over and certify the roof for an eternity with absolutely no warranty of water tightness. How they get away with that I don't know. We even have inspectors running around certifing roofs. Anything that I have ever seen that needed to certified had a bunch of things wrong with it. Chris, Oregon

Help! I wasn't happy about how I wrote this up and I know its messed up but would like to see some Katenized versions so I can learn from them. Got any suggestions? Hey Les notice the absence of "we" language. At least maybe I got that right. Chris, Oregon

What I do is take up close photos usually in macro mode and then back out and take a broader view of the scene. The close ups help a lot for further review and consideration but I might only put one in the report along with the pic showing a broader view and draw an arrow from one pic to another. The dilema is if you take a close up then they may not know where its at and if you take it back far enough to see where its at in relation to everything else then you can't adequately image the problem. Knowing this I will take at least 2 pictures so I can show them where it is and what it is. As far as getting confused I have some other tricks. For example I cross my fingers in the picture for a reversed wired outlet or make the sign of an O if open ground. To deliniate rot damage I take pictures where the defect fills the view in the camera and take pictures from farther back. Its the farther back pictures that make it into the report and I just review the close ups to establish extent. Things like that. I do. Sometimes I will make a picture page with just the labels maked up "This the model# of the furnace" etc. I have one agent who asks me to include pictures showing the diferent views of the home on the exterior. She says the clients think its cool. The truth is I do take some notes mostly things like how many roof layers, was there drip edge or rake flashings, the different types of siding present, size and type of framing etc for the required descriptions in the SOP. But I have a form for this and can speedly jot that stuff down at the end of the inspection. There is absolutely no time savings using a PDA to do this in my opinion. I can enter data on the paper faster then you can manipulate the PDA and as far as downloading it later its not practicle since I almost always edit something anyway. Chris, Oregon

Well there is a trade off. There is added time sifting thru the pictures reviewing them and selecting the ones I want in the report. Also these days I put a lot more pictures in the report compared to a few years ago. I would say that on average its more or less equal in time in that the time I might save on site is put back into the inspection at the picture review and editing process however the quality of the report is much improved since I can consider the condition with the pressure off and do any further reseaching if needed. It has taken so much stress off of the on site investigation and permits me to investigate things more carefully without getting concerned about the client, seller or zoid chomppin at the bit and tapping their toe being concerned about making it to their next appointment. I feel that I am collecting a lot more information about the house this way. And can also pull stuff up for further review should the client call with a question or a dispute arise. I believe it has shortened inspection on site times and report writing times on POS houses substantially Chris, Oregon

I feel embarrassed. I want to believe that good inspectors have a good understanding of what they are looking at most of the time. However when you start visiting some of these forums you start to realize that all of the books and training that you have had so far should not be assumed to be sufficient to count that you know enough. I earnestly strive to be a better inspector everyday. Your allegation is that I and maybe other inspectors use this forum and others as their sole support and that these guys are not going out and getting the real training that they should be seeking not “hanging out in a forumâ€

Thanks, Mike I'll have you know I spent years perfecting my inspectorspeak and now you have dashed it against the rocks again.[:-weepn] Your points are well taken. Chris, Oregon

Brandon Just take a lot of pictures particularly of anything that doesn't look right and then post the picture and any question you might have. Are you sure its brick or is it red block. Lots of red block up there. Chris, Oregon

This is one of the problems that frustrates me in this business. Many things take time to develope and can be easily caught during a normal home inspection but somethings particularly electrical can fail for reasons not even proximate at the time of the inspection. When they do fail it can be castastrophic and serious damage or injury can occur or even death. Something as simple as an attachment strap could be all that stands in the way of some unfortunate event. What I stuggle to find is appropriate language to educate the client without scarying the holy be geebuz out of them. I wrote it up like this What do you think? too soft? Chris, Oregon Download Attachment: jse_IMG_3095.jpg 49.77 KB

Well I guess I have another question. If the mast has been without proper attachment for 30 years and weathered wind storms and earthquakes and has otherwise stood the test of time, any course of action after educating the client that attachment is recommended under the electrical code should be looked on as an improvement not a safety hazard, right? Is it in need of immediate attention so to speak or can it just be suggested to improve it as part of planned maintenance and upgrading so to speak? Chris, Oregon

Thanks! Thats what was messing me up. I kept scrutinizing article 230 trying to find the answer. Chris, Oregon

What are the required attachment intervals for a service conduit between the weather head a meter base. For cable not in a service conduit its 30" intervals and 12" from the weather head but what is it for the service conduit? Chris, Oregon

Did it fall when she touched it or does she say she just happened to be standing nearly under it when by magic it fell? Did your buyer not continue with the purchase? How does she know that someone else didn't poke their head up there durring a showing? You know what lady I put it back carefully but noted that if not carefully installed it might fall so its more likely someone else touched it. Thread drift I once poked my head into a tub shower behind a shower curtain for some reason didn't see anything and ran the shower. Later got a call from the agent that I had soaked a brand new package of toilet paper. - inspector blindness I guess. Chris, Oregon

With the brick siding and the columns you wouldn't think they were ever planning on a wood deck. So your saying this is an untreated cripple wall below grade? Is this the only area below grade or is much of the front have a cripple wall below grade? Chris, Oregon

thread drifting Speaking of hell houses, right after I posted that my next inspection was a hell house. 3 hispanic familys living in a 1500sf ranch. Babies and mold everywhere, raining in the attic or was that the sauna? severely moisture damaged floors, tiles falling out to the shower walls, clothes dryer vent venting into the crawlspace or was that the second sauna etc. And if that wasn't enough, moms got all the burners boiling beans, vegies, rice. And the insane thing was that one of guys had a hummer parked in the driveway! Sometimes I, I, I just want to slap those guys silly. I can't believe people would subject their babies to such an unhealthy enviroment. Oh, did I forget to mention about 50 bags of garbage in the back yard and a garbage can full of poopy diapers. Yuck! Lets see you document that on your PDA with out falling ill![:-bigeyes I wound up the camera and let it fly, click, click, click and got out as fast as I could. Chris, Oregon

Found a panel coated with texture. What do you recommend advising the client to do? Replace it? punt to an electrician to make the call? I don't really see this to be a problem as long as the busses weren't exposed or texture shot on to a bunch of open terminals. I know its not right but is this really as much of a threat as say having an FPE panel? I can advise the client on the risks of poor contact if the texture happened to make it between a contact. He might then ask how can it be proved that there is no such contamination? I of course couldn't answer that with out pulling breakers etc. and performing a visual which is illegal for me to do. I guess rationalizing it maybe the best thing is to punt. What do you think? Chris, Oregon

Ditto Camera. I use to hate pulling up to those hell houses that I use to have nightmares about in my early years trying to figure them out and how to document them. I got rid of the bad dreams by developing my camera use. I feel more like a film director these days. It just depends on how complicated the house is. Most of the time its all camera but if its too complicated then I have to make notes too. I just can't see how using a PDA or even a tablet will make if better or faster. I have tried to manage the computer on site and its just to distracting for me. with a fast camera with video/audio and lots of memory I can zing along and stop and put needed attention to wierd stuff with out feeling like I am taking too long. Chris, Oregon

I read a research paper out of Finland yesterday which was concerned with whether hidden moisture damage could be inferred from air quality testing. The answer appeared to be yes but the judgement needed to perform the testing and analyze the results, "wow!". And we think a bunch of inspectors running around with thermal cameras is going to cause trouble. As an engineer I did lab tests of sort often and again often I had to defend my results when some other engineer repeated the testing and got a different result. Its all about how you do the test. You better be able to explain what you did different and get the same results over and over again or you will be in deep doo doo. Chris, Oregon

Yep, what Kurt said. But I get real nervous when the agents know better and push the 3rd party client to rely on mine or any on elses report usually because certain conditions have already been negotiated with the seller as a result. It saves them a lot of trouble as the next inspector might spin things a little different and scare the client. I can imagine two different inspection reports both done by competent inspectors both with reasonable opinions that differ significantly. Chris, Oregon