hspinnler

Most decks with beams not bearing directly over support don't even get this cleat treatment. Screws or not, how severely overloaded would this deck have to be before it failed? Have you ever seen carriage or through-bolts fail where beams are clamped to the sides of posts? Me either. Sure it's wrong and I would write it up in accordance with the deck guide. However, if you screw enough "Deck Mate" screws for the cleats on either side of those posts, is anyone going to fret during their next BBQ event?

I think this is a "BFD" and I think it is a step in the right direction. "In a news release, Brownback said he found little evidence of unscrupulous home inspectors to warrant government involvement and fees on private industry. He said the state attorney general's office is better equipped than the board for investigations and assistance." Too bad, so sad for Realtor Association and inspection schools.

LOL. Reminds me of the Pace Picante salsa commercials where they declare another character's sauce is made in New York City:

Texas Pete Hot Sauce? They sprayed that metal duct to the left but not the mastic to the duct on the right.

I have a used Home Inspection Exam Prep paperback edition. Helped me pass the NHIE. It's selling for approximately $250 on-line. There is normal wear on the cover, but spine intact and no markings or tears on pages. I will sell it for $100.00 including shipping in U.S. Click to Enlarge 42.34 KB

I will critique the background a little. My curiosity centers around the classic? car that your text box is blocking. The color of the house is a bit unusual for my neck of the woods and the day looks blah. I would want a better example taken on a sunny blue sky day. Consider a link to a sample report.

Hi Erby, I found in a 2006 IRC 1803.3. "Connectors shall be as short and straight as possible..." Other than the required minimum 1/4" slope per foot and the requirement of offsets for inlets for multiple appliances, I did not find anything.

Hi Scott, I've had one for not quite a year. I have worn out the SD card slot so I have to put a sliver of Post-it note inside to "shim" it. LOL Like Kurt, I get some blurry pics but have no problem like I did with the retractable lenses freezing up due to grit, etc. It's nice and slim but not too ergonomic when one-handing it and trying to zoom in and out. Macro feature is a nuisance focusing and I can get closer to the nameplate, and a better shot, in standard shooting mode. None of these Nikon cameras I've owned focus or meter too well when shooting wood in an attic or crawlspace. Video feature is great. Wearing the white off the buttons. I beat the $hit out of cameras.

Hi Egbert, Combination push button and wall outlets. Where the outlets switched? Here, they usually are in residential construction where the grounding plug faces up.

Homeowner reported he did it the day before the inspection. This is more commonly done around vent boot registers in attic ceilings.

Photo depicts silver paint over "Great Stuff" expandable foam. Says on the safety sheet not to use around heaters or furnaces where foam may come into contact with heat-conductive surfaces. This foam was applied around air ducts and boxes adjacent to an electric heat pump. Any issues I may not be aware of? Click to Enlarge 57.17 KB

Yes, it could have been dumped there right before the mice dumped some turds.

What have I got here? From a distance, looks kind of like blown cellulose. Up close, those small flex are not newspaper. One fleck has a screen-like pattern on it. 1951 home. Click to Enlarge 56 KB[/size=l

Owens Corning provided me with a letter so I would have a backup: Download Attachment: .pdf"] DRIPEDGE_OVERHANG2[1].pdf 46.74 KB

Hi there newbie. I did not see anything on that particular meter being intended for use on concrete. The closest use I saw was for brick & plaster. I would focus more on the visible signs of moisture intrusion and use your senses to detect potential mold, musty areas and moisture stains prior to using a meter on other materials. Dehumidifiers, Damp-rid and (or) plug-in air fresheners placed in an area are red flags for me. You can measure the RH in the areas you suspect have a problem. On your last sentence, don't bet on that. Again, just report on what you can see.

This guy has one of the best explanations of kickout flashing: http://www.kickout.info/irc.html Where the arrow is located in the first picture, I would refer to that flashed location as "diverter" flashing. Further down where the gutter is located, I refer to that location as an area where "kickout" flashing is needed.

Bill, you are the type of inspector I aspire to be one day. Imagine, being booked 3 weeks out and receiving frequent calls from prospective clients who are willing to pay a premium for your services.

Out of courtesy and respect for the gentleman who once offered this quip, I Googled Norm Sage and found some articles including the date of his passing and an article where he was quoted: http://www.ashireporter.org/articles/ar ... spx?id=927 http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-rebinsp ... 4797.story

Not sure who should be credited for this paraphrased version of a quote: "I didn't kill the deal, the house committed suicide," but I've always liked it. I e-mailed him directly to share my thoughts about the title of his column.

Check out the links and videos on this site: http://www.icynene.com/residential I have limited experience in seeing this stuff in attics and walls, however, an easy way to identify closed cell vs. open cell is that open sell is soft and flexible while the closed cell is rigid.

Good article. I read Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers" and remembered his theory that it takes 10,000 hours of practicing a particular task to become an expert. One variable is that within every home, lies multiple defects. In addition, there is always something that could be improved. Sometimes you have to linger longer in a place despite the distractions or the desire to wrap it up. I strive to remain open to finding something that I initially missed until the final pass through an area. Maybe because the initial angle of the light coming through the windows did not illuminate that stain. About 2 months ago, I found a defect after the seller of a short-sale arrived home. We were closing in on the fourth hour of the inspection but he was there so I asked him about the ceiling stain below the upstairs level. He said something like, "Yeah, the grandkids overflowed the bathtub upstairs... They did the same thing on this floor too." Earlier, I had noted that there was no flow coming from the floor vent in this particular bathroom. This prompted me to take my client back to the basement to gingerly poke at a well-rounded flex duct below the floor vent. Turns out the duct remained full of water from the prior incident. What's cool was that my client was a CSI and she appreciated my investigative prowess.

Hi Mike. I don't see a problem with it as long as you have 1/2" drywall behind it. If the wood panelling was the only separation, I would write it up. Reference 2006 IRC 309.2

I also use mine more than occasionally. A must-have in the crawlspace and attic.

It's manufactured by Bradford White and you will find the date and year in the first two letters of the S/N: February 2002. See the following link: http://www.bradfordwhite.com/findaserial.asp

Realtor's Spin: Your very own concealed water balloon filling station.