Eric B

A few years ago we sold my mother-in-law's home. Buyer's inspector pointed out stuff that I could not find of verify as being present. I had the village of Park Forest send their inspector out to back up my claim. What an eye opener. Village was worried about leaves in gutter, no marked circuits in panel etc. They would not go on the roof (split level) or remove electric panel cover to verify the conditions that I was disputing in the home inspector's report. All the village wanted was for the house to look pretty - nothing more.

I will look for some ID on the lumber for ACQ info, then I check for the "Z" designation on the hangers. From what I understand, you can't make the distinctions without the tags or imprints Image Insert: 94.76 KB

Carl, My money is on the installation being wrong. Too much chance of pulling the corrosive combustion gas back into the furnace and rotting out the heat exchanger. You're absolutely correct to question this. You could write that the pipes are in close proximity to each other and may not meet furnace manufacturer's venting specs while verbally explaining to the client the reason for concern.

David, If you're referring to a change like that here in N. Illinois I can tell you without hesitation it will not work. Heat pumps in our area are not common and must have a secondary system for colder weather. Heat pumps alone simply cannot provide enough heat for our winters - period. Don't let someone snow you into this one. Eric Barker Barrington, IL www.morainewoods.com

John, I look a lot of shake roofs and they can look pretty good from a distance or with a quick glance. It's when you slow down and really take some time to evaluate that you'll get a better idea of what's going on. Either a very good pair of binoculars and/or getting up to the gutters on the ladder at various locations will tell you what you need to know. Moss/algae certainly are bad news for wood not not necessarily a death sentence. Splitting, softness, warpage, poor overlap, decay all are excellent indicators. From your pics I'd agree with you. Don't let the contractor who says its ok deter you from your opinion. My guess is that he doesn't want the job and is blowing off the client by saying roof is ok. It is simply not reasonable to expect someone to buy a home with a roof in that condition and as you probably know, shake roofs cost A LOT ON MONEY. Many people consider a leak as one that's dripping through their ceiling. To me a leak is one thats gotten through the roof covering. If it's getting to the decking it's a leak.

What happened to "Ken"? He posted a question then disappeared. Perhaps he's a phantom poster who generated several attempts to help for nothing.

If the contractor says there's a fire hazard just because of the paper backed insulation you really have no further need to deal with him. The purpose of the backing is to control moisture entry into the attic from the living area below. Controlling moisture in the crawl space makes absolute sense. But doing this yourself may be adequate and save substantial money. Buy 6 mil plastic sheeting, lay out on the crawl space floor, overlapping 2 -4 feet. Even without taping seams you can greatly reduce the amount of humidity. Now if some significant issue is present in the crawl, more extensive measures may be required. Insulation contractors, plumbers, framers, home inspectors - there are good ones and there are morons. How do you decide who's who? Your gut feeling is a good start. If what you are being told sounds like it's off the wall, then it likely is.

Cans can be I.C. rated, non I.C. rated, air tight and non-air tight. For cans that are recessed into the attic floor you should know what is proper and what is not. It's not just a matter of a fixture overheating.

Water heater is not a movable appliance, like a range or dryer - hardwired is what you should be seeing.

Mike, I'm very impressed. What a project! What's sad is how many inspectors do not know the SOP requirements that they're suppose to be operating under. On more than one occasion I have had people tell me (insist) that the ASHI and State of Illinois SOPs are identical - they're not. Now the question becomes, according to your contract, which Standards are you operating under? For me it's Illinois'. If I said ASHI, then I would not be meeting the State's requirements. Bad news if I got invited to court and some smart attorney began to compare Standards and realized that my contract was not compliant with state law.

Questionable installation for sure. Need to consult the manufacturer specifications.

Kevin, Four feet is the number I work with, off hand I could not tell you where I got that number from. Now even if the builder did come up with a code reference I'd still make a notation in the report - it's too close.

"Leakage under the sink is present at the drain line." Passive or wimpy or straight forward - what's to not understand? Does "Leakage....is present" not say anything? I gotta think that most people are going to understand the statement. I would not be offering a refund. Carl you don't mention whether or not you commented on the life expectancy of galvanized pipe and therefore I don't see it as an issue to speculate on here. Facts: you reported a leak, put it in red ink, indicated any red ink issue needs correction. That seems to cover the bases quite nicely.

Chris, A few years ago in a courtroom an attorney was trying to pin me to the wall over step flashing. I reported the condition as unsatisfactory, that details were improper, that they allowed for water entry and that a qualified roofer should evaluate. The attorney was pressing the issue that I didn't say that "repair" was needed. In my tempered response I indicated my belief that he fit the term "moron" quite well. Sometimes no matter what you write someone will find fault with it. I see nothing wrong with your comment.

Randy, Maxtor. Can't say they're better or worst than brands. The oldest one croaked after a few months and Maxtor was very good about getting it repaired and back to me quickly.

As for backing up, I use 2 external hard drives. One is at home, one is in the safe deposit box at the local bank. Once a month I switch them out. If I have a total loss due to fire or storm, or my home is robbed, I still have a backup available and its information is never more than a month old. Before I had the 2nd backup I once had to reformat the computer. When I started I forgot to disconnect the ext. drive and erased everything.

As Brian said, the electric utility is God when it comes to electricity. If anyone wants to question them be my guest - I've been down that path and it wasn't an enjoyable outcome.

I have found it necessary to explain the water stain cause to the client. Too often the HVAC contractor will blame them on a roof leak.

I do agree with Mike's assessment of ASHI's levels of membership. I don't understand the benefit of any middling level. I also do not believe that saying that being around the longest has any meaning - there are some contractors in my area that can honestly make that claim - and I would never recommend them to my clients. And I disagree with ASHI's goal of trying to reach 7,000 members. Trying to go home with the most marbles is wasted effort. I think that any organization should concentrate on being selective in choosing its members and work to maintain its quality service and reputation. Placing the almighty Dollar above all else on the alter usually achieves no meaningful outcome. Now whether one belongs to one H.I. org or another is not as important belong to one of them.

My Tiff has not been relegated to the shelf yet. It's faster than my nose and reaches pipes better. If I have a question about a leak I use Sherlock Leak Detector, same solution our local utility uses. If the leak will not cause bubbles to form the gas company will not take issue with it. Regardless of how much the meter screams.

Kurt: I really believe that there will always be efforts to make our industry "better". In other words, someone will always be looking for a way to make money with little regard for actually making an improvement. I try to ignore such efforts. My number one objective is to be the best inspector that I can be. My number two goal is to make some money while working on my number one goal. I've tried to encourage ASHI's powers that be to think along these lines. Build our own nitch - the most dedicated and educated. So what if the inspection universe passes me by? I firmly believe that if you concentrate on being the best that you can, that you will eventually receive the recognition that's desired. It's a long term plan and long term is not the common approach anymore.

Let me suggest cold air entering the panel through the SEC conduit. The resulting condensation can be significant. I suggest sealing the conduit against the airflow.

Reporting is much like following Rule of the Road. Have you ever gotten a ticket for not making a complete stop at a stop sign and do so on or before the white line on the pavement? Have you gotten a ticket for going 2 mph over the limit? My point is, is the condition that you are looking at reasonably close to what is intended? You'll go nuts looking for perfection. Sometimes I think that you have to step back and ask "is this really worth writing up? Clients understand when you say something's not exactly right but it does the job.

Let an electrician decide the course of action, that's his job. I'm not sure that you want to take responsibility for tell the client how to fix it.

I view my reports as basically recommendations. No one pays attention to me - ok. Seller won't pull out GFCI for the refrig? Ok. Don't loose the house over that. Change it after you close. I avoid citing code when I can. I prefer to refer to Best Practice or as already mentioned, Common Sense. I also agree that citing code can gunk up the process. I've got a situation now - I wrote that cracks were in the furnace and unit is unsatisfactory. Contractor came out, noted the cracks in his receipt and said that the 25 yr old furnace was fine. I get calls from buyer and agent wanting my advice. My advice: same as I wrote in the report - I disagree with the contractor. Told the client that this is were negotiation works its magic. Sometimes buyers dig in too deep on some issues that really aren't worth it. They get hung up on pride and emotion. As inspectors we can be of assistance in helping clients decide what they may want to ask of sellers. I've had clients get real excited about some small gas leak I found but are willing to ignore the brick chimney problem. In my view, hit the seller with the chimney and fix the leak after you move in.