AHI in AR

John-- What you'll discover soon enough is that smaller homes often require MORE time than larger ones. Economic realities take their toll. If you have a 4000 s.f. home, chances are that the owners have generally had the financial wherewithal to make proper repairs. There are exceptions, of course, but not a lot. On the other hand, that 1100 s.f. home likely had an owner (or owners) who had to decide between making a proper repair or paying, for instance, the car note. In the home owner's mind, a gallon of tar, a roll of duct tape, or some epoxy putty is cheaper than the expenses they can't do anything about. The decision is made to perform a homemade repair on the problems until they have a little "extra" money to have it done right. All too often, that day never arrives. Another sacrifice is made to the god of deferred maintenance. Bad news for anyone having to inspect the home later.

I'd have to agree with Mr. G. Looks like 3 layers to me. Was this the little home you posted earlier this week? How'd it go?

Like you said, it would have to be hyperlinked to a file hosted on your computer or elsewhere. Seems like a lot of trouble though. For those few pics I want larger, I simply enlarge them in the report itself before converting it to a PDF. You should be able to easily do that if your working in Word.

If not, it should improve yours to a degree directly proportional to the force applied to the cat. Either way it's not a waste of time.

I seem to find more on the front on smaller homes. The larger ones have them on the rear most often. I attribute it to economics. Your basic small home layout wasn't conducive to an additional bump out on the rear for the sleeping room. You already had some of the necessary structure in place in the front courtesy of the front porch ceiling; adding a sleeping porch at the rear would have added complexity and cost.

Brian-- I forgot to add this since I thought you were joking. Maybe you were. However, no one else has taken it up, so... It's not called a cold pump because it doesn't pump cold...in either season. Cold is merely the absence of heat. You can't really pump "cold" into an area any more than you can pump a vacuum into an area. A heat pump absorbs heat from outside and transfers it into your home in the winter. No matter how cold it feels to us, until you reach absolute zero, there is still technically some heat outside.

I inspected a home which previously had a sleeping porch that had since been closed in entirely. Originally, there was a neat system of "pocketed" windows which dropped into the lower wall section to allow for ventilation. The roof had deep overhangs, so I guess water didn't get into the cavities much. They were actually in good shape. Anyway, when I looked thru the narrow slot into the wall cavity which the windows previously dropped into, it was full of old pints and half pints of gin and vodka, and tobacco tins. Must have been the "vice" room. Presumably the full pints were from weeks when the paycheck was better! Oh...In case anyone didn't get the meaning of the winking smilie in my earlier post, I was being facetious regarding the stick-on muntins.

I don't see what all the fuss is about. Simply put some of those electrical-tape-looking fake muntins on the windows -- in the appropriate diamond pattern, of course -- and it will blend in perfectly with the half timbered gables. []

Yes. It's a drain from a stand alone under-counter icemaker, not one built in to a freezer. While I don't see a lot of them, (kinda pricey) they do have drain lines. Normally, I see them drained vertically into larger diameter drains mounted below the discharge, and with a gap between them.

I don't know that there is an exact number, but I seem to recall that their heat output isn't really adequate/ efficient at some point in the 40's. You had better have backup heat if you expect colder temps than that.

I realize that the drain line has to go into an indirect receptor. It doesn't, but that's not the question. Admittedly, it was amusing to see the looks on the faces of the clients when I explained why you didn't want to tap directly into a drain line with an icemaker drain. I not sure they'll ever be able to use it. I just wanted to know what this thing was since I had never seen one on a drain line. After looking at the link that Frank posted, it appears that the fitting used is actually intended for larger diameter supply lines, not drains.

Bubba Fitting I've never seen one like it, hence the question...but it appears to be commercially made. If it wasn't, someone spent a hell of a lot of time making it. Maybe Bubba's brother made it. (The one who went all the way THROUGH 8th grade.)

The copper fitting connected to the PVC is the fitting used for the icemaker drain. What is the name of the fitting...and is it proper? It may not show up well in the pic. It's a clamped on thing like a saddle valve. I can't say if it leaks as the unit has no water supply on to it yet. This was a 43 year old home which burned and was rebuilt. Image Insert: 376.75 KB

Why thank you. Would you explain that to my wife? - Jim Katen, Oregon Jim, Jim, Jim...need I tell you that you are in danger of damaging (if not outright losing) your facade of "amazingness" simply by asking us to inform your wife that you are amazing? Shouldn't it be obvious to her? Admittedly, my wife doesn't see me as amazing. However, I'll admit the problem could be me...

The only way I could see winds as a factor is if the window is improperly sealed and cold air is being forced in around it, thereby cooling the inside of the window frame enough to allow condensation to form.

As a common sense matter, if the installation is the EXACTLY the same on both angled sides of the bay, and there is noticeably higher moisture on one side, then it seems likely that directional orientation may be a factor in causing condensation. BUT...if there is a difference in air flow across the interior of the windows then orientation is less of a factor. If there is not dryer, warm air flowing equally across both the windows that may be the real issue. I would also suspect that poorly sealed gaps around the exterior may allow wind-driven moisture to permeate the area. That said, I wonder what interior sources of moisture there would be to form condensation in an unoccupied home during winter... in a cold climate where the thermostat is kept low. No cooking, no breathing, no showers, etc. Any humidifiers in use? Bottom line as I see it is that there are too many variables to call this with the information given. From where I sit anyway. Oh yeah...I have no idea what a sill muffler is either. Maybe it quiets the sound of the wind whistling through a poorly sealed sill...

I take this with a grain of salt since I don't know how things are actually enforced in each state. But here's a quote from the article: "Pennsylvania, for example, was ranked fifth on ASHI's 2005 list but dropped dramatically in 2006 and 2007 because the state's "inspector experience" requirement as stated was not enforceable. California has been ranked dead last for two years because several of its provisions -- including its "prohibited acts" provision, which outlines an inspector's code of ethics -- cannot be enforced." It would appear that they DO take enforcement into account...at least whether it is legal to enforce any given requirements. I would think it would be hard to quantify the actual enforcement effectiveness of those that are truly enforced. Bottom line, I don't think you can necessarily draw any assumptions about the quality (or lack thereof) of an inspection performed in a state based on this info. I didn't intend to imply that. I threw this out there for discussion. For instance, I wonder how the Cali inspectors feel about their state regs and the fact that some of them are unenforceable. Do they still try to follow them anyway?

Maybe you guys have seen this before, but I didn't know they ranked such things. I definitely found some surprises. Louisiana first and California last? http://sev.prnewswire.com/construction- ... 008-1.html

Phillip-- (And everyone else sending in close up pics which are out of focus) Some well intentioned advice here...when taking close up pics, most cameras require you to switch to macro mode. It only takes a few seconds, but if you don't, all we and your clients see are blurry photos. That makes it real hard to figure out what's actually going on in some cases.

Honestly, I couldn't pick out either of these guys in a police lineup even if the rest were pygmy headhunters. But this sounds entirely too Village People-ish for my comfort zone!

Note to self: Stay as far away as possible from the entire state of Washington in the summer.

Unless you have absolutely encyclopedic knowledge, I don't see how you can remember what was "required" in any given year in any given municipality. I suspect a lot of areas had pretty lax insulation requirements until fairly recently. On items like insulation, I say something to the effect that the level of insulation was common for the time the home was built. However, with rising energy costs, today's standards would require more insulation in the (fill in the blank) area. Adding insulation to bring it to the appropriate level is advised where possible since this will reduce heating and cooling costs and prolong the life of the HVAC equipment.

The discussion turns to frilly knickers and yet you guys wonder why HI's don't get much respect as a profession. Hmmm []

A bit of an unusual question. Many inspectors have been trained to avoid anything having to do with the exchanger. It's some sort of instilled phobia that I think separates the newer inspectors from those who have been around for a while. I always pull those off. How else can you see obvious external clues possibly indicating a deteriorated heat exchanger such as rust flakes? Are they honestly telling inspectors in training not to perform simple tasks such as this? IMHO, 'taint right.

I fully agree that it's a sad state of affairs when we feel compelled to warn people of what should be obvious dangers. However, I don't necessarily do it thinking I'm going to protect them; I do it to protect ME. Look at the idiotic product warning labels you find on all too many consumer products. Would those really be necessary in a rational world? The unfortunate fact is that all too many people absolutely do not take responsibility for their actions. In their way of thinking, if they are hurt someone owes them some money. Guess who will come after you with a hungry attorney (paid on a contingency fee basis) after they do something stupid? Writing a brief recommendation to add a rail seems like a prudent step to me.