SonOfSwamp

I think I'd tell the interested parties to find a CSIA-certified chimney sweep and turn him loose on the thing. Get a level II, maybe a level III inspection, followed by repairs as needed. We need not fret over the details. We need only point our customers to the fix-it man. WJ

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Just to keep things tidy and sensible: Dialectic. 1. of, pertaining to, or of the nature of logical argumentation. Dielectric. 1. a nonconducting substance; insulator. Because discriminating customers expect us to know the difference between logic and insulation, WJ

Tell the interested parties to hire a guy who has experience with propane/hydronic heat, and ask him what to do. If you're curious about the 3K gallons of gone propane, call a propane supplier and ask if that's a high number for this house. If you're down on the farm, and you want to stay warm: Propane... WJ

Some years back, some of the neighbor ladies talked me into persuading some guys from the power company to come and measure the EMF fields under some neighborhood power lines. Unverified results went something like this: The power lines in question were very high off the ground and produced no meaningful EMFs at ground level. Just for fun, the two power-company guys asked if they could come into my house and show me a few things. I agreed. What I learned was that if anything's gonna getcha with EMFs, it's gonna be your microwave, your blender and your electric shaver. Essentially, anything with a motor in it. I would not start checking for EMFs on an HI job. The hand-wringers will be reaching for the Xanax, and calling you on the phone non-stop. If the hand-wringers bug you to the verge of craziness, tell them to call the power company. Let the utility guys catch all the aggravation. WJ

I've seen a fair bit of it. It used to run from residential downspouts to the sewer system back in the day. (City put an end to that.) I worked a lot in ca. 1900-1930 "streetcar suburbs." As a general rule, the Orangeburg pipe had fallen apart, and was dumping water through the old limestone foundations we have around here. WJ

Count me among them. Looky here: http://www.raymondloewy.com/ WJ

The script was written by a semi-literate moron. Many errors. Just take my word for it. WJ

I don't trust Carson Dunlop's info on such, as they are sometimes purveyors of HI folklore. I say that furnace is no newer than mid-late 50s. To mt, the industrial design doesn't look at all like 1967. WJ

The brochure looks very sixties to me. The industrial design on the furnace looks like 50s to me. In any case, that furnace is almost surely obsolete, and a serious gas hog. Time for a new one, I'd say. RE an old-furnace contest: In old neighborhoods, one might find "octopus" furnaces -- like the one that blew up the hotel in "The Shining" -- made in the 10s or 20s. WJ

Just guessing, but it's plausible that the two inspecting guys aren't doing what their state calls home inspections. Here in assbackwards Nashville, some ultra-hungry HIs are selling what most HIs would call pre-listing inspections. But they're calling the jobs "assessments" or some such, they're skirting the state definition(s) of "home inspection," and they're charging about a buck and half to do the jobs. Best I know, there's nothing wrong with doing a "walk-and-talk" or such like for the purpose of alerting would-be buyers to defects. Simply put, if these guys can actually find and prove defects without breaking the state law, they're doing their customers a pretty good service. And, better yet (IMHO), they're regaining their freedom from the bureaucrats, lobbyists, and meddlesome gov't types in general. WJ

I didn't have time to read it, but there ought to be some low-hanging fruit here: http://usasearch.gov/search?v%3aproject ... tion=list& WJ

Thanks for the info. I've picked up a vibe that things are a little, uh, different in your neck of the woods. There is a common thread with HIs in my neck of the woods: for the most part, the HIs just can't write --or say -- anything that makes sense. It's possible to find knowledgeable HVAC guys here, but it's not easy... This profession would improve tomorrow if we could get the states to license only HIs who have a fresh GED, not a 30- 40-year-old HS diploma. WJ

Not just that, but Ms. Jodi asked for "yalls" input. The correct spelling would be "y'all's." Or, this would be simpler: "All y'all please chime in on..." WJ

Pardon my saying so, but it's not the HI's job, nor is it in the HI's or customer's best interest to suggest a "make-do" job. That's all risk and no reward. Not to go all legalistic, but stairs are at or near the top of any savvy HI's "things I might get sued over" list. You're not helping these buyers if you put them in half-ass mode. Just tell them to get the stairs fixed. If you can have some "alone time" with the stairs, you might want to measure rise and run and see if they comply with building codes. If they don't comply, that's another big reason not to look for a band-aid fix. It's a simple observe-and-report job. The stairs are flimsy. Flimsy or otherwise deficient stairs hurt people. Tell the customers to get the stairs fixed before they move in. From your description, I'd say this one's gonna require a do-over. Finally this: I recommend that you not recommend handyman solutions. We're observers/reporters, not handyfolk. WJ

Norton 360 does a dandy job of backup, as well as virus detection, general computer housekeeping, etc. It's a Symantec product. That said, I think I'm about to sign up with Carbonite and/or Mozy. WJ

You mean the proud-to-be-NY-licensed low-functioning home inspector who contributed this? "May time we are referred to as the deal breaker because the house will speak for itself and even after closing we can still be sued for things we missed." More proof that there's little or no quality control in the HI biz... Where do we get such men, WJ

Lawsuits are expensive and time-consuming. It's almost always cheaper to fix problems out of one's own pocket than to hire counsel and go to court. Just my humble observation, but neither customers nor RE agents nor builders know if the HI missed something. Also, in my humble experience, most HIs I've run across don't know they missed anything, either. They just fill in the blanks on a checklist or punch up nonsensical boilerplate that came with the inspecting software. It's an education issue. Judging from the standard-of-care cases I've been involved in, the errant HI has the intellectual firepower of a low-functioning middle-schooler. A while back, during one of my cases, the HI/defendant was brought into the courtroom in chains, straight from the drunk tank. I am not making this up... Most of these guys would be lucky to get jobs as menial laborers. They benefit from what they don't understand... WJ

Here's a tidbit from Stone's answer (my bold): "When home inspectors fail to report defects, the problem is usually professional incompetence, not willful collusion with sellers or agents." Sounds like opinion stated as fact, which is a form of incompetence. How would Barry Stone know that HI incompetence is more common that HI dishonesty? Wonder if he ever read the court report on Herner vs. HouseMaster... WJ

Well, thanks back atcha. I don't aggravate all that easily. I'm just one of those old-school guys who thinks that human caring and vigilance are superior to farming out the child care to vendors. I guess I've been "poisoned" by mold hustlers, and other such snake-oil salesfolk. Having published a goodly number of housey articles -- some meant to be humorous and some meant to be sufficiently annoying as to induce action -- I've run up against my share of folks who think I need to Get Right With Radon, Fight the Fungi, Warn the World about Asbestos, and Lead the Charge Against Lead. When one writes for publication, one finds that everybody wants to get into the act. I once had a guy call me and scream at me because of my stance on waterproofing decks. Y'see, I said it was unnecessary and he was in the deck-waterproofing business. Just so you'll know, I've alerted more than a few inattentive parents to threats including but not limited to: *A toddler in a restaurant trying to stick a fork into a receptacle. *A kid playing in a bag of lime. *Unsupervised kids swinging baseball bats around other kids. *Standing a little boy on home plate in a batting cage, and letting the 70mph machine fire the ball right into the "equipment." When I moved into my early-20th-Century neighborhood (lots of renovation/restoration at the time), a neighbor kid ended up just shy of needing chelation for a lead overdose. I told that kid's mama time and again how to isolate chips and dust, keep the kid's hands clean, etc., but the mama was too busy with other stuff. So, I decided to fight the battle against adult-caregiver negligence mostly via memorable catch-phrases. In closing, let me gently offer one such catchphrase, regarding asbestos: "It ain't Kryptonite. Just walking up to it won't hurt you." Have a lovely day, WJ

I found the comments below ironic and amusing... 2.0 Business Practices Upon completion of this section, the student should... ...4. Understand basic business marketing principals. Duh... WJ

Originally posted by k3ackley Son of Swamp: Your "dog shit" story is a funny one, but could put people in harms way. If a typical lead poisoning incident were as simple as looking for something obvious, then we would not be talking about it 40 years after lead paint was taken off the residential market. Uh-huh. I'm all worried down with the blues, fearing that home inspectors here on the TIJ will read my little nugget and unleash a plague of lead poisoning on the unwitting public. The reality of lead poisoning incidents is that most of them are caused by kids crawling on a floor with invisible amounts of lead paint dust and then sucking their thumbs. Most parents, contractors, and realtors aren't aware just how sensitive kids are and that millionths of grams of the stuff can be that hazardous. Astounding. Got any reputable sources for that? "Most incidents" are cause by thumbsuckers? "Millionths of grams" is hazardous? How many millionths? If you've had children in the last 10 years, then you probably know that parents get hammered with information at the obstetricians and pediatricians office about keeping their kids away from the obvious hazards -- peeling paint. I've interacted with many a physician, including some who know this subject well. I'm unaware of any who "hammer" their patients. Can you name some? In the lead inspection world, we find that irresponsible parenting doesn't usually cause lead poisoning, old buildings do. Really? How's that happen? Parents, caregivers, vigilance, etc. can't keep kids off the lead dust, but the old (inanimate) buildings can poison children all by themselves? Can you cite some sources that'll back up your statement? The trouble is that folks don't know what to look for, because in most instances the hazards are not visible -- even if they know the history of lead paint told by us old-house mavens. Do us all a favor and find another way to explain the hazards of lead paint, because that story might actually get somebody hurt. Just so you'll know, I was an early explainer. If you were studying up on lead paint hazards in the mid-80s, it's likely that you were reading some of my stuff. I'm not terribly worried about the population here at TIJ reading my day-old post and triggering a worldwide panic about the lead paint menace. 5 year lead inspector in RI (where 80% of the homes are old enough to contain lead paint) 5 whole years warning people about lead? Most folks here are about 20 years ahead of you. Me, I'm even a little further along. Let me gently offer this from a 1+-year-old piece from the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/busin ... ref=slogin Good luck with those millionths of grams, WJ

Well, it is sort of a joke, but it's a joke meant to be taken seriously, and remembered. The mention of eating dogshit will, I think, stick in a person's mind better than some bureaucrat-written gobbledegook. Frankly, I couldn't think of a better way to inform a poorly-focused daddy that the best way to keep lead out of his kids' bloodstreams is to be vigilant when his kids and lead share some space. Jeez, if a daddy can't keep his kids from eating paint, there's not much I or anybody else could do for him. Knowledgeable old-house mavens have known about the lead threat since the late 70s - early 80s -- or sooner. And while it might be good to know when and why paint was invented, and when and why lead became part of paint, etc., I think no naive homeowner would benefit much from knowing the history of paint. What he needs to know is that he needs to keep his kids' hands off paint chips and dust, and out of their mouths. Reducing lead risk in my own special way, since 1984, WJ PS: Bill, your link to the National Safety Council is dead.

Much of my work was in old houses. I had a fair number of yuppie parents ask me about lead paint. I told 'em, "You can assume lead paint everywhere -- inside and outside, and even in the dirt outside. Just don't let the kids eat it." Once, a high-functioning but low-common-sense daddy asked me, "How do I do that?" To which I replied, "The same way you'll keep 'em from eating dogshit." I must've used that a hundred times. I had the RE agents repeating it. It ain't for everybody, but it worked for me, WJ