jon_ran

I would write up the fact that the gap under the railing is greater than 4" and recommend modifications to CMA.

The best method for attic ventilation is a continuous ridge vent in combination with continuous soffit vents. Gable vents, while they do provide some air flow through the attic (depending on wind direction) do not provide the required turbulance to exchange the air within the rafter cavities. Passive ventilation is based on the effect of thermal siphoning. Anything hot will rise when in it's own element. Hot air in the rafter cavity will rise and be trapped within the rafter cavity. A slight breeze through gable vents may cause the air to flow through the attic, but it will not disturb the air in the rafter cavity. If a gable vent is used in combination with a ridge vent, the 5-8 feet on the end will be ventilated, but that is about it. The air will enter the end and go right out the ridge. Roof vents do nothing more than vent that one rafter cavity. We have all seen the pristeen cavity with a roof vent next to darkened cavities on either side. Continuous soffit and ridge vents will allow the thermosiphon effect to work and carry the hot humid air out of the rafter cavity through the ridge while pulling cooler air in through the soffits. If you want to get picky, very few homes are properly ventilated. Even with a continuous vinyl soffit vents, the actual open vent area is minimal. If there are no issues related to moisture, I would leave it alone but recommend additional ventilation be added in the future when re-roofing.

I always use it to check K&T as well as loose wires. One thing to remember is that it will only light up if the power is on. It's a good idea to leave all switches turned on as you check out the home and do the basement/crawl and attic last. You may find K&T or loose wires, but unless the switch is on you won't know if it is live.

Radio transmitter for a water meter installed inside the home. Where was the water meter located?

Air source heat pumps are only good to around 35 degrees, then another heat source is needed. What I usually see is an electric (sometimes gas) forced air furnace. They do work and are usually more efficient than other systems, but the farther north you go (such as in northern Illinois) the less days you will have available for them to work due to the colder temps. I am in central Indiana and there are some here but they are not real common. The farther south you go the more common they are. Water source or geo thermal heat pumps are a different story. Because they do not get their heat from the air, they can be used at much lower temperatures. I'm not a HVAC tech, but here is my $.02.... As far as duct sizing, the ducts are sized differently for an air conditioning system than they are for a heating system. Colder air is more dense and therefore needs larger ducts for the airflow demands. Usually a furnace has a multiple speed blower motor. In the summer the blower will be on high to help with the air flow and the blower is on medium in the winter. Some say that it is because the home will feel drafty if the blower is on high in the winter, but it is more of an efficiency issue. Too much air across the heat exchanger and the limit switch will shut the blower off until it heats back up then it will quickly cool offf again. Kind of the same as short cycling an oversized a/c condensing unit. You shouldn't have an issue in newer homes because they are usually designed for a/c. Older homes become an issue because they did not have a/c available and were ducted with the smallest needed because they were more economical. Long story short, I think that the larger ducts would be needed for the heat pump during the cooling cycle (no different than central air) and should be sized accordingly. Duct sizing is beyond our scope and you should refer to a HVAC tech if you think that they are undersized.

I have seen many that have a label on the top. If you can find them through the insulation the label will state. Usually the ones that atre allowd for direct contact have the large, bulky cans (but not every large bulky can is approved). As was stated earlier, some are allowed by the use of certain trim kits but there is usually a bulb size requirement. I have seen some fixtures that are rated for up to 150W, but can only be installed in contact with insulation with 75W or smaller.

My vote would be to have the water lines insulated and close the vents in late fall/early winter when the daytime highs are averaging in the upper 30s to low 40s. There will be enough radiant heat fro the home to prevent freezing, especially with insulated water lines. Unless of course the crawl has huge air leaks or vents.

He said that this is the supply to the heat pump (not the main). Those are not the main breakers, they are the disconnects for the equipment, it just happens that there are 3 breakers in the pic instead of 2. While this may be 3 phase, there is not enough info in the post to determine that.

My guess is ghosting. Cooler air from the A/C combined with higher humidity in the home and you get condensation . The heavier areas may be where the grill leaks more at the edges and blows the cold air across the surface of the drywall. A/C shuts down and moisture condenses on the cooler areas of the drywall which in turn makes a nice area for dust, candle soot, etc. to stick to. Notice that the track above the grill also has stains and there are new ceiling tiles. This would be the same circumstances that allows you to see every ceiling joist on a cathedral ceiling with no thermal break.

Actually there is food in most registers for mold growth. Yes, mold requires organics for food and where would it get it? Has anyone heard that you should replace your matress at least every 10 years and then it will weigh ~ twice what it did when it was new. What could make a matress heavier????? Skin cells, dander, etc. Why should you only lose skin cells when in bed? They are sloughed off continually, 24hrs/day, 7 days a week. Surely you don't think that that fiberglass spun filter will filter out the cells. They will settle out wherever they can, including inthe ducts, fan case, plenum, etc.

Keep in mind that the main cable from the supply to the meter and the meter iself should be capable of carrying the current capacity of the panels. If both panel;s are rated at 200 amps with a 200 amp feed you could be looking for trouble. BTW, Some of the new meters do have lugs to allow 2 sets of cables to go to 2 separate panels.

There is a high probability that there will be some asbestos insulation on the unit. Keep that in mind when servicing, etc.

It is for LOTO (lock out tag out). The purpose for that is to lock out that ciruit to prevent it from being activated while the circuit/component attached to it is being serviced. With the breaker off it will rest inside of the square device and a lock is attached to the hole provided. Yes it can still be manipulated to allow the breaker to be turned on, but not without an intentional effort to bypass the safety device.

You could have saved some of the original siding from 10 years ago so that you know that you had an exact match and would still have the same issue. I didn't read the entire article that Mike suggested because it requires a subscription to their web site but I don't know of anything that will bring back the shiny surface. In the past I have removed the siding from one entire side and replaced it with new siding then used the good pieces to do the repairs elswehere as needed. There will most likely still be a difference in the appearance due to different degrees of sunlight, weather, etc. but it is usually less noticable.

You have to remember that a gas vent is NOT a chimney.

There could be several things that contribute to the different readings. If the first was a home kit and the second professional, that says a lot. The first could have been in the main floor and the 2nd in the basement, whole house fan with no make up ventillation will allow for a negative pressure inside the home and higher readings. Testing next to the sump pit or in a draft will give higher readings. Between 4 and 10 calls for a retest, then to fix the home if they are consistent. While 6 is above the action limit, I have seen in the 30's and heard of homes in the 70's. Mitigation systems around here cost $750-$1000 so it is usually not a deal breaker.

In regards to the battery, there is an insulator between the plates. But remember that just about everything conducts electricity, just at different rates. Metal is highly conductive and rubber is barely conductive. Leave the battery in the drawer long enough and it will be dead when you need it. Now don't go and start pulling you ohm meters out to dispute this because they won't read anything. They are not accurate enough to read the current draw through rubber.

I don't know what it is but there is something that will block a magnet. I had a hard drive die several years ago and being the inquisitive feller that I am I wanted to see how it worked. I was surprised to see not one but two magnets (remember that magnets near hard drives, cassettes, tapes, etc. is not a good thing). These magnets had about the same surface area as a nickle about 1/16" thick and were mounted on swing arms. The swing arms were made of metal and there was no magnetism transferred to the back side of these arms. The magnets were so strog that when they were put together, you had to either slide or pry them apart, you could not pull them apart but you couldn't even pick up grinder flakes with the back side of the swing arms.

Hey Mark, how's business. I'm sure that you won't remember me but you rode along with my AHIT class in Jan. '06. It looks to me like that is inside an unconditioned attic area and that the insulation was installed on the bottom of the rafters. If this is the case, insulation is not needed. There should be channel vents between the insulation and the roof decking to provide for ventilation of the underside of the roof decking. This should extend from below the bottom edge of the insulation to the ridge between every rafter/truss. Built up heat will greatly reduce roof life. Vapor barrier (and insulation for that matter) is not needed if the installation is in an unconditioned area. Also, keep in mind that the vapor barrier is a fire hazard and it should state on the craft face that it should NOT be left exposed.

How many inspectors actually check the amperage draw of a circuit. I only look at the wire size to determine rating and compare to disconnect size. Seems to me that this is going way above and beyond (which I am all for when it makes sense) because the new owner will use the home in a different manner than the current owner. This may become a future liability issue. A circuit that is currently only drawing 2.6 amps because the only current load is an alarm clock will change drastically when the computer, monitor, printer, big screen tv with satellite receiver, dvd player and surround sound is added. If the circuit is drawing more than the wores are capable of, it will be evident without testing the current load.

I know that this is an old post, but next time remind him/her that aluminum wiring was once used, as was federal pacific panels, standard glass in shower/sliding/storm doors, asbestos, lead based paint, untreated sill plates, ungrounded outlets by the kitchen sink, etc., etc., etc.

Bobby, It appears that you went through AHIT for your training, as did I. I know that they push the on-site report delivery, but I want to caution you against that. I do print out a preliminary report (I use ReportPlus on a lap top) at the time of the inspection, but the front page of the report bears the following: "This is a preliminary report. The final report will have digital pictures inserted where appropriate and be posted to our website (www.irsindy.com) within 24 hours of the completion of your inspection. Please read over the entire final report prior to finalizing any legal agreement regarding your real estate transaction. You will receive a printed and bound copy of the final report through the postal mail at the address that was provided. Please ensure that the address that we have on file (Client Address, Client City, Client State, Client zip) is correct and notify us of any discrepancies."id="blue"> This gives me time to read over the report again and make sure that everything is stated as intended. I also usually remember something that may not have made it into the report and jot that down on a piece of paper while I'm driving to make sure that I had put it into the report. When I insert the photos, I cover the text on the front page with an exterior shot of the home so that it is hidden behind the photo. This will give them something to leave the inspection with, but still allows you to make changes without having to call/meet them with a report addendum and have them wonder why you didn't include it originally. My pre-inspection agreement also states that the final report will not be given out at the time of the inspection. As far as the time on-site, I have been doing this for about 1-1/2 years. Starting out I was about 3-1/2 to 4 hours per inspection. Now with more experience, I am more thorough and spend 4-5 hours plus time at home going over the report and inserting photos. I know that AHIT (as well as some seasoned inspectors) says that 2-3 inspections per day is the norm, but I can't see me consistently doing that without being as thorough in my inspecting and documentation. It takes me 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours on-site to do a house with a crawl if I find no problems. I schedule the inspection for 5 hours and show up about 2 hours prior to the client then go over my findings when I am done. Realtors don't usually like the thoroughness of my inspections, but the clients are always happy and that is what matters.

Without actually being there and seeing it, it is hard to say. Even if I were there, it doesn't sound like I could see much. If you go back, you might take a couple packs of paper matches (or 4th of July smoke bombs), light them all inside of the fireplace then go into the attic and sniff for sulfur. You may not be able to smell anything as there may be enough of a draft to pull it all out of the chimney, but it will be one more step towards making your client happy. If you do smell the sulfur in the attic, then you know that there ids definately a problem. I would not do anything as drastic as light newspaper or such in case the flue is separated or has a hole. You don't want to burn the house down. Were you able to look down the flue from the roof? What did it look like?

It is odd that the soot is only between those 2 trusses, which is not even directly above the vent while the decking above the vent looks clean. Are you sure that it is soot and not mold? Is there a bath exhaust at the soffit end of that truss section that does not vent outside? If it is soot - Does the home have an oil furnace? If not, I'm sure it did in the past. Does the flue/vent pipe travel up a chase from the level below that terminates at the attic line? My guess is that the pipe had leaked in the past and been replaced. The pipe in place now does not look too old or sooty on the exterior. Looks like dust on top of the pipe may be hiding some soot, but hard to tell. Is there any slope to that pipe? It looks fairly level. Also, looks like the vent pipe is almost touching the truss webbing, there should be at least 1" clearance with type B vents. Did you see an oil tank anywhere? I always warn about potential underground leaks and how I am not performing soil testing, tank integrity testing, etc. when I know that anoil appliance had been in the home.

Don't forget - The ground and neutral must also be isolated in the auxillary (sub) panels. If the neutral bus bar is connected directly to the box with no insulator isolating it from the grounded box, they are separared only by means of connecting them to a separate bar, but are still bonded togehter through the conductive frame of the box.