SonOfSwamp

"They were hung in the center of the basement from the main girder. They were hung half way between the ceiling and floor and they were about two feet apart from each other. The deployment duration was 48 hours." Don't go by me; my co-inspector always did the radon tests. But I think the above describes a test that's nowhere near the EPA protocols. Is the basement habitable? Were the cans set the right distance from the floor? Also, last time I checked, a high reading with cans was the trigger for a follow-up test. WJid="blue">

Some time back, I'm sure I saw photos of such roofs covered with shingles, which were steamed and bent to fit the contours of the roof. Was that a bad practice, or has that practice ended? I'm just curious... And wouldn't the owners have to get a real enough English thatcher to thatch that roof? No thatch in Nashville, WJid="blue">

Pardon my joining in, but best I know, it works like this: You (the generic "you") can run a sole proprietorship, an S Corp., an LLC or anything else. But you can still get sued right down to your toothbrush. The closest thing you'll ever have to a magic talisman is your own efforts at attending to details, doing things right, keeping excellent records and generating what Charlie Wood used to call the "I Love Charlie Factor." Put very simply, you've just got to not screw anything up. WJ

I'm semi-reluctant to bring it up, but the article rings bells for me. I spent about 20 years following behind not just knucklehead home inspectors, but also knucklehead builders, pea-brained muni codes guys, errant tradesfolk and not-quite-legit RE agents. I had plenty of people asking for advice, and I had little to tell them, other than, "you've been hosed." I went on local radio and TV, and all I could say was, "these people have been hosed." I even made up a joke name for errant HIs and builders: HoseMasters. The day that I figured out that I could pay my bills without doing HI work every day, I quit inspecting houses for sale. These days, most of my "housey" work comes from hosed homeowners looking to recover money from the HoseMasters. I can see why Holmes is fed up. Lately, when would-be customers call asking if I'll do one-off inspections on foundations, walls, roofs, etc., I refer them first to a structural engineer (for the foundation) and a roof consultant. If a would-be customer has a known defect in his house, I refer him to a building-defects lawyer. I come in later, around investigation-and-deposition time. I don't know about anybody else, but I found that even working with an excellent partner wasn't enough to keep the work interesting or enjoyable. It's like when we were doing EIFS inspections -- we knew that every inspection would turn into endless arguments with vendors who weren't fit to do their jobs. Every day was Groundhog Day. All my way of saying: it's devilishly hard for a person who takes pride in his work to roll out of bed every morning knowing that he'll spend every day looking at halfass work and listening to halfass excuses. It's enough to turn a man into a card-carrying member of The Media. WJ

FWIW, I use Norton 360. On three computers. Flawless, so far. WJ

That's the white crud that appears at B-vent joints when water condenses in the flue. It's an indication of bad venting. It's a job for an HVAC tech. WJ

Oh, I don't doubt that somebody taught it. HI conferences, along with HI schools and HI books are where HI folklore takes root. I'm guessing -- just guessing -- that the person who offered that opinion cited no case law, and quoted no reputable sources. In short, the info is likely to have been made up -- not by you, but by somebody else who caught a news flash through his tinfoil helmet. I'd love to know where the case law is; and, I'd love to know the source of that opinion. WJid="blue">

I have heard that it is a not a good idea to write this way if you are incorporated... you might want the company sued instead of you personally. Of course it won't matter if your not incorporated or don't have a LLC anyway. I was explained that We or It was better than I from that perspective. A question for the E&O experts? Michael Brown DevWave Software Inc. I'm no E&O expert, and I'm no lawyer, although I work with lawyers regularly. I just can't imagine a situation in which one loses his "corporate veil" because he wrote something like, "I saw a puddy tat," rather than, "a puddy tat was observed." In my experience, when an HI gets sued -- whether he's running a sole proprietorship, a corp or an LLC -- it's not because he chose to write in active voice. It's because he screwed up the job so egregiously that it's worth the plaintiff's time and money -- usually tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars -- to haul him into court. The notion that an HI should write in passive voice to protect his corporate/LLC status sounds like silly HI folklore to me. Not to be harsh, but it's that kind of screwy thinking that starts an HI down the big-mistake road in the first place. Imagine some poor lug standing over his checklist thinking, "Will I lose my business if I write in active voice?" Once somebody starts thinking that way, he might as well start looking for a different job. But if anybody really wants to know the legal details on this matter, he should contact a lawyer who understands the HI biz. WJid="blue">

Why do you feel it is important to write in the first person? I hear this from different people from time to time and not sure why it is so important. I'm not Scott, but I say write in first person because it's good natural conversational English, and because writing in third person would be downright silly. No reason to write in second person unless you're addressing the reader.id="blue"> I would think all the parties involve would also understand the statement if written like this. Flames shot out of the front of the furnace when turned on which is not considered normal operation. A qualified HVAC technician is needed to repair or replace as needed before further operation of the furnace. I disagree. I think Scott was using the absurd to prove the usefulness of good writing. In your statement, the syntax is nonsensical. Taken literally, your first statement means that a furnace being "turned on" is not normal operation. Your second statement is written in passive voice, which is the language of politicians, bureaucrats, and others who are trying to hide their meaning. Google "syntax" and "grammar." I've always held that a professional person must write at least at the sixth-grade level. Just as carpenters have to put the nails in the right places, writers have to put the words in the right places, or they'll create the impression that they really aren't sure how to do the job.id="blue"> I'll leave the second option alone.[] Just curious. When it comes to what everyone has written so far regarding the original post, I agree. A suggestion: Be aware that an HI's written communication is not meant for the HI who wrote it, nor is it meant for other HIs who are, uh, communication-challenged. It's meant for the reader, who usually is a naive homeowner. If bad spelling, grammar and syntax were good things, the New York Times would use bad spelling, grammar and syntax. WJid="blue">

Y'know, if you just want to get to the recommendation, train your software to spit out the word, "Recommendation:" with the colon after it. It's way better than the usual HI nonsense, such as, "Recommend licensed hairdresser." Or worse yet, something like: "Recommend hairdresser evaluate furnace in laundry room with rotten potatoes in the bin by the side door to the garage." Home inspectors, taken as a breed, are godawful at syntax. (I know, I know. Home inspectors, taken as a breed, don't know what syntax is.) Just go with something like: "Recommendation: Replace the furnace." I also toyed with -- but never implemented -- this abbreviated reporting method: Observation: The attic folding stair is broken. Problem: If a person gets on the stair, the stair could break. Recommendation: Hire a carpenter -- one who can cut and measure -- to replace the stair. WJid="blue">

A couple times, I've been close enough to a lightning strike to hear the pre-bang sizzle, smell the ozone and feel the concussion. But no burn marks. WJ

A little Googling of "extension cord safety" spit out this: http://ulstandardsinfonet.ul.com/stp/ad ... %80%A6.pdf WJ

Oops. Somebody missed Logic 101. Modifying one manufacturer's system won't cause another manufacturer to void its warranty. I say just fix whatever needs fixing, and disregard the other party's Magical Thinking. WJid="blue">

For what it's worth, there's nothing wrong with just saying or writing something like, "I've never seen one of these. I don't know anything about it." I've done it hundreds of times. Never got any pushback. WJ PS: I don't know what that thing is or how it works. If I wanted to know, I'd call the manufacturer, or start Googling.

OK, first thing y'all do is take one of the Ps out of Appollo. It's Apollo. Second, not to be a smartass, but in my longish HI career, if I couldn't discern the age of a water heater, I just wrote that into the report, usually with a comment something like: "It'll let you know when it dies." Water heater age is not mission-critical info. Owner of a working 23-year-old Carrier A/C unit that should've been dead 10 years ago, WJ

Find a company that builds/services professional recording studios. WJ

As the resident groundling with a 20-year no-roof-walking policy, I'll go ahead and say that the front of that roof is a great example of many, many roofs that I inspected from the ground, with a good set of binoculars. I'm sure I missed some problems. But I never got a complaint. WJ

Power vent is a money/energy loser. Costs more to run it than it's meant to save. It's like trying to get energy from a water wheel by (electrically) pumping water to the wheel. WJ

I never asked anybody to provide a reference. Probably fewer than 10 people ever asked for one. When that happened, I said something like, "The work I do is simple, but it's confidential. I'm not comfortable calling a past customer and asking him to do me a favor." WJ

Well, who knows what the truth is regarding this pundit's opinions? How many complaints did he actually read? How many did he verify? Of the complaining clients, how many have the knowledge to differentiate between a good inspection and a bad one? How many know the difference between a corbel and a gerbil? It's pretty sloppy journalism. That said, I think he's mostly right. HIs, taken as a breed, don't have the skillset needed to do the job right. There are now 760 licensed HIs in TN. That's way too many. I'd guess that fewer than 76 of them -- maybe as few as 6 or 7 -- know what they need to know, are prepared to learn what they need to learn, and can communicate clearly with customers. I have no data to back up that opinion. I have only about 20 years' worth of experience reading HI reports, correcting HI boilerplate and giving my opinion as to the skill/ethics/capabilities of the HIs who get in trouble... Nothing will improve until the HI tests get a lot harder. A nine-fingered three-eyed chimp could pass any HI test. (Hyperbole.) WJ

Well, heck, let me tell this story one more time: When I was just getting started in the business, I made 4-page newsletters, jam-packed with info that would be useful to RE agents and homeowners. I'd pretty well mastered desktop publishing, and I write OK (worked for shelter magazines for a few years). I figured I could make pretty, funny, useful newsletters. I had about 1,000 printed, and I paid a courier less than $100 to distribute them to dozens of high-end RE offices. The phone went nuts. Business tripled that year, and I never spent another nickel on advertising. Bottom line: Keep your money in your pocket. Don't even bother making brochures. Make good biz cards instead. Learn how to do desktop publishing. Learn how to write in an interesting, publishable way (think Family Handyman). Take a community-college English course if you have to. Then find a high-quality proofreader. Distribute your newsletter. Do everything right, and you'll be famous. WJ

Text needs a rewrite. Grammar/syntax errors. Educated customers will notice. Good middle-school or high-school English teachers can fix this sort of thing. WJ

Yes. It's kinda like "Deal or No Deal." I figure I'd be a damnfool if I sold my intact skeleton -- which I'm still using -- for $500.00. If somebody wants me to look at a roof from above, well, that person's going to have to rent a bucket truck and a skilled operator. Want me in an attic? Fine with me. Build a permanent stair. I'll go. WJid="blue">

No thanks. Couple years back, I put away ladders like I put away my 1970s motorcycle. That is, I looked down, realized how busted up I'd be if I fell, and got rid of the worrisome thing. And, I'm just not a climber. Twenty years of HI work, and I can remember mounting only one pitched roof. Around here, roofs are either easily visible from the ground (50s-60s ranchers) or so high and steep (McMansions) that only crazy people get on them. An inspecting unit can get a view of McMansion roofs via upstairs windows, though. Not risking the skeleton for a lousy $500 - $600, WJid="blue">

They want you to pay them to teach them stuff? Why shouldn't you get paid? For $1K, you could create and distribute newsletters, or get your truck detailed five times. Speaking just for myself, if I'm going to work, I'm going to get paid. WJid="blue">