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In case Bonnie or WJ are looking... You meant to write: Not everyone who sells or facilitates the sale and transfer of real property is a realtor. I have no argument with that, but an inspector's income doesn't depend on a sale.

It wasn't even tough; just true. Our job is to point out facts. A realtor's job is to sell a home. We should neither pamper nor alarm. A salesperson's job often demands both.

David, Don't you also have a bug biz? Are you going to use IR to help spot termite infestations? (For those who wonder - they generate heat.)

I regularly told my clients that the water heater, A/C, and anything mechanical could blow as soon as I get in my car. Like Katen said, it's statistics (i.e., sadistics). So I gave them a link to the pdf HERE

Be nice, John!!! [] Taken out of context. I swear.

That's why you are the wiser one, my friend!

My son, Dr. Tim, is 28. If you have a full head of hair and it ain't grey, you're a punk!

So why do I think you're funnin' me???

I figured you covered that. Seein' as how you are a young'un, and ya seem to fit in well with intelligent people - here's my old-man advice to you. 1. Stay honest. 2. Never stop learning - it's fun! 3. Stay here - TIJ has an incredible membership, even though they haven't ejected me yet. 4. Never drink anyone's Kool-aid. 5. Never become a 4or5-letter zealot of any kind! (TIJ is 3-letters for good reason.) 6. What goes around comes around, so continue showing respect for all. 7. Don't talk about crack pipes or pot laws here - there are cops all over the place. 8. Accept Katenize as a valid verb. 9. Don't be afraid to be wrong - here. 10. Don't be wrong on the job. Question common-sense. It's not always what you think it is.

First wives can be a trip, but they do make you stronger and wiser! Mike and Chad appear to have similar backgrounds gettin' their hands dirty. So Mike, have you dug any basements under existing structures??? Chad has big ones.

Although it is fairly simple to intuitively 'feel' how/why I-joists work, you can take your knowledge a step further (and have some fun) drawing some shear and moment diagrams. You may be surprised to find how simple it really is. For a "show me how" tutorial that you can just watch while clicking 'next', go HERE! The link is a very nice non-calculus introduction to what every building science graduate has done a gazillion times. Enjoy!

Well, ya gotta luv that! As with much of my reading since puberty, I look mostly at the pictures. Missed the whole friggin' "enclosed" part. You did exactly right, John. Zigging was the right move! Is there a means for enough O2 to get into the ENCLOSED space? But I did catch the street name - that would have been embarassing.[:-censore

Fair 'nuf. [:-thumbu]

John, Brian went into more detail than I was willing to go into and I agree with his points (except the obvious one). He also hit on a pet-peave of mine that I have just agreed with the world to disagree with. These are the definitions I live by: Insure - this will pay you something after the fact. Ensure - this is preventative, but won't pay a nickel if something fails. This is the word you should use according to Brian and me. Assure - purely emotional, I assure you! I am glad to see someone else cares about this, Brian. I don't write up the furnace being located under the stairs because I don't have a reputable citation that I can use to support such a statement. There are many horizontally mounted furnaces in Buffalo that are situated directly under the floor joists of bedrooms. They are installed according to mfr recommendations, have no fire-rated material at the joists and they violate no local codes. (Brian, gypsum isn't so much for your client as it is for a courtroom. Don't say drywall in court.) You are doing much better than most beginning HI's, John. Download Attachment: horht.jpg 71.63 KB

I thought you might lend a hand, but then I remembered. [:-party]

Done, but I liked it.

I didn't spend much time on it, but since you want feedback. Page 2: 1. imbedded - embedded is the preferred spelling. 2. This inspection is not intended *TO* scrutinize... 3. "but that I *made* an observation" Should be 'make'in order to maintain tense. 4. "If information on certain items is not listed, that means that it is either not required by S.O.P. or that there were no problems noted regarding such items." If there are no problems, that should be noted on items requiring inspection. Perhaps you mean - or the item is absent.? 5."My goal in this report has been..." replace 'has been' with 'is'. 6."If in this report I have fallen short of being able to do this..." is awkward. Clean it up. Page 4: 1. If the water heater and furnace were installed with correct clearances, I would not call this out. Certainly the gypsum won't hurt anything, but most furnaces I see are near wood. (You left the 't' off of event) Page 5: 1. "The exterior wall covering are aluminum siding." Make that 'is'. Page 6: 1. The description of deck installation problems is wordy. 2. embedded 3. "This will allow them to absorb..." replace with 'This allows..." 4. "The gap can allow insect infiltration." replace with 'The gap allows...' Page 12: 1. "The water heater responded buy coming on to heat water when an appropriate amount was called for." What? 2. "The waste and venting materials are noted to be PVC..." 'are noted to be' should just be 'are' Page 13: 1. You recommend a CO2 detector. You mean CO detector. (It's the lack of that second oxygen that is so critical) Page 14: 1. Get rid of the "looked to be" language. 2. "There is a concern I have with leaves being allowed to pile up around the unit." Sentence is not necessary. Page 16: 1. "The damper and combustion air vent appeared to be functioning normally." Appeared to be?

That was funny. The snorkle is retired???

I figured it was something like that. My habitat buds can feel free of arsenic and just hope the respirators keep the other crap away! You knows your ship![:-thumbu]

Mike, Absolutely true. I just didn't want to muddle the waters with a wallpaper discussion. The "cake" - arsenic and all - dumped straight into the plaster was enough for me to show the whole thing is not a joke. Am I going to worry about it? NFW I agree it's minor - just didn't like the wholesale, "That guy must be a jerk" response. Never do like that. Oh, Monet and Van Gogh's problems were thought to possibly be due to arsenic - I left that out too. But, it's all good. Spring is here! The foot of snow on the ground should be shrinking daily.[:-thumbu]

Or perhaps they got the idea from reading the JLC. From the July 2004 issue (In The News): “The hides were soaked in a slurry of lime and arsenic,â€

I don't know that it's clear yet whether anyone is riled here - you know the "Chad's a pompous ass" is an inside joke. He's one of the best! My interest comes, in part, because the insides of many of the Habitat for Humanity homes are gutted and I'm interested in whether there is any factual information wrt arsenic - something I hitherto never considered. Here to learn...

I can live with that. Gary made me think and then he made me research. I couldn't find any plasterers/pargeters that died from exposure to horse hair. I also couldn't find any evidence that any one has been arsenic poisoned by horsehair while while performing restorations or remodeling. All the world's information isn't on the internet, but a lot of it is. I knew you'd get the WJ reference! (BTW, wrt blueberries - are you worried about a shortage of bees this year???) So far as evidence - you won't find any that supports someone has died of radon in their home either. That's what's so annoying about all this stuff.

You can smoke 4 a day with no ill-effect, you know. EPA says so!

You nailed it, Les.