AHI in AR

Regarding discounts or free reinspections, I have to say that it's funny/sad/irritating what we experience. I assume that most of us have had clients who ask for a discount when we do a second or even a third inspection for them. Off the record, I try to help out a little when I can IF I think the client deserves it or truly needs it. But I find it extremely irritating when I have a doctor -- and they are generally a member of an ethnic group where bargaining is part of their culture -- ask for a discount. So I usually respond by asking them if they give a discount to patients who have to come back for a second visit or more. Of course, the answer is no. Then I ask them if the guy who mows their yard gives them a discount after the first yard mowing job. (Mine doesn't, and I'm sure their lawn guy doesn't either.) At that point they usually grin and look a little sheepish. Most of them quickly agree to pay the full fee. But despite that there are a few who persist in asking for a discount. I politely suggest that they look for someone else. We won't be considered to be professionals if we don't insist on it. And back to the original topic, if you give away your services for free that's not gonna happen.

And let's not forget the complete lack of a WRB...

I will be the first to admit that I am anything but a marketing genius. However, I would see the "free inspection" guy as an opportunity to expand my business if he were in my market. Why not turn this into a marketing plus? In other words, let the public know that your services are not worthless, though his apparently are. Hell, would you go see a doctor who is advertising his services for free? Or an attorney? Of course not, unless you have absolutely no money and it's public service freebie day at the local church or community shelter. And let's face it, we don't need those people as clients, do we? While we may not all work in those rare markets where we can charge 2 to 3 times what the goofball inspectors are charging, an intelligent and properly educated client would still be willing to pay a reasonable amount for a home inspection. I view it as our job to educate the clients as to what is at stake with a home inspection. We have to let them know why they shouldn't choose an inspector based solely on price. How we would individually go about this would obviously vary. But I can guarantee you that if I had somebody in my market doing inspections for free I would jump all over it letting home buyers know that the inspector was pricing his services at exactly what they were worth.

My Sure Test ceased working today and I would like advice regarding whether to have it repaired or consider replacing it. I didn't buy it new; it was very very slightly used but I have no warranty. It's stone dead with absolutely no display. I have voltage coming in at the terminals where the pigtail is plugged in but that's all I can check. My knowledge of circuit boards is decidedly lacking, but that's another story. Anyone have any alternatives or other advice?

Homes around here are too new to see structural brick very much at all, but I'd have to think that a plaster layer would help diffuse moisture so that it could evaporate evenly.

That seems a little harsh -- or at least presumptive -- to me. I don't think John was asking his question as a prelude to any planned pontification in his report; nothing in his post leads me in that direction. And I don't think speculating on the cause (in this forum) is anything to criticize. I think John was asking a legitimate question to further his knowledge. As I see it, that's mainly what this forum is about.

Around here I see more problems with the "orange" brick than I do with the "pink" type. This is true for old foundations AND chimneys on homes from the 1960's and 70's where antique brick was used. I see the same thing in your pics, so I suspect different composition is the real issue.

No, conventional nail down hardwood floors were installed on top. And there wasn't any unusual bounce to the floor. In fact, the interior walls looked great and I had no clue that the floor system was unusual until I opened the hatch to the crawl.

vermiculite

I came across an unusually built home yesterday. In 13 years inspecting, I have only seen this system three times, and all three instances were in the same neighborhood and were homes of similar age. This home was built in approximately 1941. Typically in homes this age I see a conventional floor system with wood joists and beams, and brick piers. But as you can see here we have poured concrete beams and piers. The subfloor consisted of two by eights (not tongue and groove or even shiplap) laying on their flat side and spanning approximately 6 feet between the concrete beams. I can't say that I saw any unusual settling or other movement inside indicating a problem, but I'm just curious if this system was/ is used elsewhere. Did a transplant from elsewhere bring it with him, or is it just a case of a local builder marching to his own drummer? Click to Enlarge 63.02 KB Click to Enlarge 59.6 KB

I found a newer-looking breaker on a 1994 condensing unit today labeled as type CP, not HACR. Is this kosher? Tag on unit didn't specify type HACR, and size was OK.

I can't imagine that hail could take out chunks nearly that large. I would suspect a manufacturing defect.

Nope. If you use a probe or a screwdriver, you'll find that the tabs have buckles with nothing but air immediately beneath them. Obviously weather conditions there are very different from my neck of the woods but I've never seen that condition. Maybe the shingles are formulated differently also.

I think the ridges visible in the shingles in John's second batch of photos are simply the edges of the layers of roofing underneath this one telegraphing through the roof.

I didn't remove it to look. The home was definitely built in 1925 and had a lot of the K&T wiring intact. It wasn't retrofitted. But this was the only receptacle like this in a 3300 S.F. home. As for Kibbel, I think there's a Dorian Gray sort of thing going on. He knows all this stuff because he's actually lived it.

It's not the location in the baseboard that has me stumped; I'm used to that in older homes. It's the fact that it has an Edison base socket in it and had some sort of hinged cover over it. I'm pretty sure the adapter converting it to a receptacle was done later. The other original receptacles were all mounted in the baseboard, but they were conventional ungrounded duplex receptacles.

I found this in a 1925 vintage home Friday. It had a recessed Edison base socket in it with the adapter in it which you see in the photo. Additionally, there also appears to have been a hinged cover over it originally. Anyone know why this would be used at baseboard level in a hallway? Some early type of nightlight? Click to Enlarge 28.15 KB

After all, a 24" wide storage tote fits great! Note the high water mark about an inch from the top. I wonder how they reached in there and lifted that heavy thing out of there to drain it. Click to Enlarge 60.09 KB

Maybe that's because it didn't officially start for another 9 years -- at the very tail end of the "roaring twenties"[] Nice work in any case.

As you said, not a traditional widow's walk at all. But it was there so that the first owner, the widow Parker, could step out in her diaphanous nightgown and greet the paper boy, then the mailman, then the yard boy who came by after school, then...

Did they at least feed ya?

I put furnaces with variable speed blowers in my previous home. They were really nice, coming up to speed slowly and quietly. Maybe it's just me but I appreciated the fact that they were a much more elegant solution than the typical forced air furnaces.

Electrically speaking, you are correct -- without the rocker arm as part of the equation the switch would normally be closed. But by "normally" open I meant "when no one is at the sink, water isn't flowing and the rocker arm is pressing against the switch."

It looks to me like that rocker arm assembly operates the micro switch itself. The rocker arm is not an electrical contact. I suspect that the microswitch is normally open, and when water flows and the rocker arm moves away from the microswitch the circuit closes, feeding power to the wall switch.

For the record, I never advocated using the passive voice. Just the opposite, in fact. But I think we are doing our clients a disservice if we deliberately use a small word which imprecisely describes something when a better one exists. Even if it has another syllable. Maybe it's just me, but being clear (as it applies to an entire report) entails more than simply using simple words. It means adequately describing a problem so that it can be understood by ALL those who need to, and dealt with properly. Sometimes the person who needs to understand exactly what the problem is isn't the buyer; it's the contractor there to give an estimate or perform the repair. In those cases the buyer needs only to understand that there is a problem with whatever system or component. Sometimes doing that accurately requires using words that the average client doesn't know. Do you want your doctor to simply tell you that you have cooties and thrust a prescription at you, or would you prefer an accurate diagnosis even if it means that you have to ask what an unfamiliar word means? I'll admit that I didn't run any of my report writing through the magic website earlier. But I just did, and it came back as 10.84. I'm not sure that means anything relevant since I think the methodology is decidedly goofy.