resqman

IRC says you have to HVAC in every living space. Bathrooms are not considered living space so no code requirement for HVAC in bathrooms.

A few years back there was a paint that claimed to act as a reflective barrier, similar to the way a space blanket it works. Instead of actually providing any insulative features, it reportedly reflected heat. Some of the marketing hype may make it sounds like it is has insulative qualities. Most believe at this point, that after a short while, the reflective qualities dimish due to dust and it becomes ineffective as a reflector. It still performs the job of paint. Insulation works by haveing small pockets of air. Air is considered the best form of insulation. Most insulation is bulky to create lots of air pockets. Paint tends to be very thin with virtually no air space or air pockets. I guess if the additive adds diminsion to the paint in the form of say small beads of styofoam, then it may have an insulative quality.

Well, the local standard is a 2 inch change in elevation between the driveway and the garage slab. This is to keep water out of the garage. The door lands on the lower elevation.

Another Garmin Nuvi owner. Model 680 (out of production) I was not sure if the normal speaker would be loud enough for me so I got a model that can actually play through the car radio. Used that option once. The normal speaker is loud enough for my poor hearing and too loud for the family. I signed up for the update notification. Live in metro area and it seems to be acurate except for my home address? Always thinks my house is two doors down? Otherwise as noted, it is usually right on. Mine has a feature that tells you the accuracy level and it is normally around 11-14 feet. The arrival time feature is a HUGE stress reducer when enroute to the job. Used the detour feature once and it took me some back roads but got me to the job ontime.

Someone installed a door instead of a window. There must be something to keep people from exiting the door and falling. Had the buider installed a fixed window, there would be no need for the railings.

I consistently mistype "plumbing" and leave the b out. Sadly, "pluming" is a word and I let a report go with about 20 references to to pluming. Since then I use spell check and I force myself to read my own documents, just to be sure. Decades ago in a previous life I was a software engineer for a major computer manufacturer. Customer called and wanted to know how to remove a word from the standard dictionary that came with the word processing software. I was curious why anyone would want to remove a word from the dicitionary. There was a correctly spelled word that was very similar but a very different meaning from a word they used all the time. The customer was the Public television station and they kept sending out documents from the Pubic television station.

Do you hold any ICC Certifications?

An inspector buddy tells of the time he was checking upstairs interior doors while the agent and buyer chatted in the kitchen on the first story. He locked the doorknob and closed the door. He went to open the door and found the doorknob had been installed backwards and unlocked from outside the room. He was locked in the bedroom. He thought about it and realized he could use his cell phone to call the agent. Instead he sat down and waited. He figured they would get bored eventually and come find out what he was doing. Sure enough, he heard them climbing the stairs and he called out to them he was in the bedroom. They entered the bedroom unaware they were freeing him. He was bent over checking outlets looking very busy as they entered. They were none the wiser and he got to take a paid break. Always check the orientation of door knobs before you lock and close the door.

About a year ago I decided that reading a map and driving at the same time while hoping that I was going to arrive on time was crazy. Once I enter the address, my GPS indicates the arrival time. Mine announces 1 mile in advance that I am to turn right or left and the road name. No more cutting off other drivers trying to make the turn as I whiz past the poorly marked road. No more driving around looking for roads named X on the right side of the intersection and Y on the opposing side. Before the GPS I would have arrive stressed from the drive. Now I arrive calm and focused about the inspection ahead. Another inspector said he could not justify the expense of a GPS. I can't imagine not having a GPS now.

culturedstone.org Installation videos and instructions. It is becoming very popular around here but noone is leaving the 2 inch gap at the bottom. Lots of front porch slabs poured up against and overtop of the stone.

I understand that in theory competition is supposed to challenge the players to constantly improve to beat out the other team. But even if every state has 2000 inspectors, that is only 100,000 total home inspectors. The real number is probably more like only 1000 or less inspectors per state. The goal of the organizations should be to influence legislation to improve the home inspection industry as a whole. Considering how few canidates there are to draw from, having multiple organizations at odds with each other only divides the money and dilutes the message to the public. If there were to be one and only one organization, then the industry could grow to a profession with nationally recognized standards. A license in one state would be recognized in other states and one could move freely around the country plying our trade. I don't see the need for mulitple little fiefdoms bickering with each other. Merge them all together and purge away all the silliness.

I have give $25 if asked on repeat customers. Had one couple hire me to inspect 3 houses. An investment property, house for mother-in-law and house for themselves. They paid full price for all three inspections and did not request a discount. One customer walked from the first deal. Called about 8 months later for a second inspection. I had raised my prices significantly inbetween. I quoted a reduced price on the second inspection feeling I was giving them a discount. They asked why the price was higher than the first inspection. I explained that I had raised my prices to cover rising business costs but would match my original price.

The NC draft initially was about 120 hrs classroom and 40 hours field. Latest news is has been cut back to about 80 hrs classroom and 40 hrs field. Still in committee so lots of things could change before it becomes law. The person who drafted the basic outline of the NC course is a structural engineer that performs home inspections. As expected, the structural section was robust while other areas were covered in a more limited manner. At least that was the case when I had an opportunity to review the draft plan about a year ago. NC has a state exam that was developed in house. There has been talk of moving to the NHIE as the state exam. While it would reduce ongoing costs to maintain the state test, it would also reduce potential revenue since NHIE would collect the testing fee instead of the state.

Is there any new information available about the proposed training? North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board is moving in this same direction to replace the existing pre licensing requirements. It seems like it would make sense to share information rather than developing the courses twice. Does any one know a specific contact person with the Washington licensing board that the NCHILB could contact to exchange information?

I only test pressure when requested by the client, usually during warranty inspections when they feel there is a problem. So far, the pressure has always been been outside of the 45-65 psi standard.

Required by state licensing board at all waste plumbing penetrations.

Found this one yesterday. Mixed pipe material and an S trap. A 2-fer Click to View 51.46 KB

Following the link, there are two replies, one by the manufacturer and one by a potential user. Powerpoint presentations are as common as flip charts used to be. Everyone has a laptop, all you need is a projector and a screen. If your phone can be the projector, all you need is a wall and you can show your presentation anywhere. The phone is reportedly only $100. That is the same cost or less than many of the other phones available. If you are in sales, then this will be a useful tool. If you never make presentations, then it is a gimmick. I used to provide technical sales presentations as part of a sales team for a Fortune 100 company. This would have been a great asset. Lugging around a projector or arranging for the client to provide a projector was always a nightmare of scheduling and AV problems. This would be useful if you were making presentations to real estate offices. [:-party]

http://www.nashvillescene.com/2007-02-0 ... nal-score/

TPR discharge has to be at least the same size as the cold water inlet.

From the 2008 NEC. - 406.8 Receptacles in Damp or Wet Locations. - - © Bathtub and Shower Space. Receptacles shall not be installed within or directly over a bathtub or shower stall.

The North Carolina Licensing Board was making noises that it may replace its state test with the NHIE test. The idea was it costs too much money to keep the NC test current and valid. The drawback would be the state would loose revenue from testing since it would be done by by a third party. Oddly enough the board reported last month that applications to take the test were down 75% when compared to same period last year. Wonder why less people are lining up to become home inspectors in this ecomony? []

Have the foundation further evaulated by a professional engineer with structral experience to determine extent of damaged and design a repair.

I believe NEC says you can't have appliance cords passing through walls, ceilings and such. Will have to search a bit to find the specific reference. So I believe the correct installation would be to run some conduit from the hidden junction box on the rafter to a new junction box mounted on the suspended ceiling and extend the wiring.

You can always check with your states home inspection licensure board for the specific rules and laws regarding home inspections. At this point, I do not believe any state requires home inspections during the sale of property. Some mortgage companies are requiring them before they will issue a loan and some insurance companies are requiring them before they will insure the property. I seriously doubt any state would require an inspection for rental properties in they are not required for sales. A home inspection of rental property by a renter would provide the renter with much information about the property. I am not sure of the usefulness of that information to the renter. The property owner is usually responsible for maintenance of the property. Typically if a renter determines there is a problem with the property, they contact the rental management company and report the problem. A typical home inspection would determine any safety or habitability issues. If there were too many, as a renter, I would just rent a different property. I can't imagine too many renters willing to pay the fee for an inspection, turn the report over to the property owner, and then demand they be fixed prior to signing a rental agreement. If a renter already has an existing contract and the property owner will not fix obvious and ongoing problems, then an inspection could be used as leverage to document the severity of the problems to encourage the property owner to fix problems. Even then, it seems like the renter would just break the lease and move rather than fight with a property owner who has not fixed obvious and ongoing problems. In North Carolina, only home inspections performed for a real estate transaction are covered by the licensing board. A warranty inspection or maintenance inspection would not fall under their jurisdiction so could be performed to whatever standard the inspector deems necessary. I would expect if a warranty or maintenance inspection went to court, it would probably be held to very similar standards as buyer inspection unless the contract explicitly stated otherwise