kurt

The accessory shingles I am aware of are "starter" shingles, hip & ridge cap shingles, & a couple other products that I've never worked with. The hip & ridge accessory shingles are coordinated to be compatible in color and design w/specific Certainteed lines, i.e., same color, reveal, texture, or whatever. The units come in bundles, are pre-formed, & provide a very nice finish to ridges & hips. I've seen them on 2-3 residential roof systems, all extreme high end installations. As an industry "standard", they don't seem to exist in my market (Chicago). 99% (or thereabouts) of all installations I see use the same tabs for ridges as the rest of the roof; a laborer sits for hours & cuts them by hand on a jig. Seemingly an expensive manner to obtain ridge & hip caps, but apparently cheaper than the Accessory shingles. The Accessory shingles, due to pre-forming, are vastly superior to hand cut tabs; cracking is essentially eliminated. While not wishing to condone "cracked" ridgecaps, I am a realist. Triple coverage ridges have to be nearly non-existent to leak; minor cracking just doesn't do anything. Yes, it can accelerate, degree dependent on cracking, i.e., what's major & what's minor. As an aside, what about ridge vents? There is an open space approx. 1" wide running the length of the roof on both sides of the ridge. Is this a potential leakage location? Not according to the mfg. According to Certainteed, a cracked shingle is a problem, but not a ridge vent. Do you get my drift here? It is helpful to have some hands on experience w/ the product if one wishes to convey meaningful information to their client. Reiterating the contents of a mfgs. instruction manual can be very pertinent w/ certain products, but in the case of ridge cap shingles, I'm not sure it is useful information in all cases.

The operative word(s) here are missing, i.e., degree of cracking. Of course Certainteed is calling it in their manual; their attorneys likely require it. Then there is the world of roofing & roofing contractors that we must exist in. If one attends the Certainteed class, it takes about 30 minutes to realize that nothing is being done the way Certainteed thinks/wants/requires it to be done. The class then continues for another 3-4 days, & by the end of it, you are made well aware that the world is completely off axis. The general disconnect, IMHO, is that very few, if any, individuals in the home inspection profession have any practical experience w/ roofing (or any other aspect of actually building stuff), i.e., no one has any sense of tolerances. If one spends just a few hours nailing down ridge caps, one learns very quickly just what tolerances are acceptable. Without that knowledge, one is left to analyze via the manual, which pretty much consigns all installations to the garbage pile. Since our report SOP requires us to not just note the defect, but inform the client as to what it means, & as to what appropriate action is necessary, where does one reasonably go w/ "cracked" ridge caps? Following the instruction manual is certainly safe, & provides maximum CYA, but excessive CYA always leads to mushy reports, & ultimately to the pedantic. Spend some time nailing off ridge caps, & this question (more or less) answers itself.

No picture.

Georges answer cuts to the heart of the matter; temperature is "important", but is somewhat meaningless if the equipment is not compatible w/ the house.

I vote sex. It's the most interesting theory.....

Nope, not likely, and almost nothing if there are just minimal cracks.

Is there an ejector pump or sump pump in the bsmt. w/ a check valve? Sometimes the checkvalves thump when they shut down. Or, the neighbor is psycho & is toying w/your client.

Well, I never thought I would, until I had a client quite upset that the bsmt. FR didn't receive enough air movement to provide adequate heating in extremely cold weather. Somehow, me telling her that it was "beyond the scope of my inspection" didn't placate her. The harsh reality is that we can, & will be held liable if a particular client thinks we should be. I now subcontract suspect installations to a certified air control technician. That really blows......

Just a quick aside.... Anyone who wasn't @ the class taught by Michael Leavitt ("3 Bulb Testers & Big Fat Liars") missed something really good. The fact that I was a raw little guinea pig was one of the best educational experiences I've had in my life. I was humbled in my opinions, something that I value greatly; walking around in the fog of ones own limited experience is dangerous. Michael cleared the fog. Scott has been pestering me to get a SureTest for a year; he (& Michael) were right, I was wrong.

OK fellas; I've submitted some photos to Master Chief O'Handley. The Cocopelli avatar is now up for grabs (although I reserve the right to grab it back!), & Profile photo is now something other than a werewolf.

Thanks Scott; you're a champ. I'll leave interpretations up to those inclined to interpret. Richard..... Just remember, infinity is a long way off, & you can't get there from here. It doesn't matter anyway, because if current theories are correct, you're there right now. And there, and there, and there, and there..........

I'm gonna give that a big fat AMENid="size5">id="size5">

These are the sorts of discussions that scare me. I'm usually busy finding all manner of grotesque major defects in the City that I tend to overlook this sort of detail. Please pass the hairshirt........ Douglas is so correct that I should just study harder & charge more, but sometimes I have to study lots of other stuff instead of minutiae related to a single bathroom circuit. Could someone just say it in a sentence that is 20 words or less so that I can digest it & then move on to trying to understand the current changes to the Chicago Mechanical Code?

Spyware Nuker. I learned about this from Cramer, & he's always right (dammit). It costs money, but it allows more selective scrubbing of your system. I run it once a week & always find 20-30 spyware components hidden the cookies, or sometimes even deep in system files.

That's what makes this business fun; there is so little history, and even less legal case history, that everyone imagines all sorts of things as gospel truth, such as "using special tools will make us expert", or somesuch goofiness. We're making this thing up as we go along; anyone that doesn't realize this is missing something. Think about it; it's only within the recent past that there are even published Standards of Practice for this profession. I realize that it has been a few years, but a few years isn't squat. Someday, these ideas will become more consistent across the board, but for the time being, it's still the Wild West; that's one of the greatest things about the job.

A couple crisp C notes would be delightful.....

Quite toasty. He invented the rolling mill for the inexpensive manufacture of portland cement. Master Doug, just can't get nuthin' by yez.....

Complete topic drift..... Who knows how Edison made his fortune? (this is not a joke, & don't guess the lightbulb; he lost his ass on that project)

I kick the overall average up; itemizing my charge based on what tools I use is too complicated. Just crank up the average fee to cover the cost. Chad is right about charging for time.....

Stop the presses; Stingers are great "little jobs", but 500,000cp spotlights are where it's at. I've got 3 of them, all obtained from Bass Pro Shops for $19.99. Yes, they are big & mildly bulky, but they light up a crawlspace/attic like nothing else.

The great Sufi master, Pir Vilayet, explained to me (yes, I have been in the presence of said master) that humans in a state of ecstasy always appear foolish. Since that time, I have never felt embarassed to appear foolish, as ecstasy is often hiding in the immediately adjacent shadows. [:-angel] Michael, you [%|]. So it wasn't enough to humiliate me in front of a large crowd; now you got to blow my cover here in cyberspace.[:-paperbag]. Oh, the pain........ For those that don't know Michael, he is my friend, he is an entirely engaging & wonderful human being, he is seemingly without ill will toward anyone or anything, & I am quite happy that he has found his way into O'Handleys joint. Welcome Michael.

Double yep. There is no way, and I mean no way, that it is possible to accurately assess all the components of a septic system. You can pump & view the tank interior, baffles, outflow tees, or whatever else they do in your locale. The drain field is another matter; it's impossible to know what is going on without excavating the entire field, which is 2/3 the work of installing a new "Infiltrator" system. Speaking of which, has anyone else installed an "Infiltrator" w/ the plastic "drums"? I installed one 2 years ago, & it beats heck out of dinkin' around w/ stone, finger tiles, hay/straw, & the usual other installation techniques. http://infiltratorsystems.com

I think the sign on a warranty inspection is a very smart marketing tool; nothing unethical about it. It just plain wouldn't work on resale inspections, at least not in my market.

Jim, that's one of my favorite Seuss' works. I like to imagine that I'm the worm most of the time, but know that I have been the bear & rabbit on occasion. Better analogy than the Branding thingie; apologies to Hockstein.

All of what Scott said. I've been lucky, haven't had to market, but I am not complacent; this is a changing market, & those that become complacent will be a memory in the coming years. SCOTT; cool pics. What isn't visible is the people on the dance floor & others in the room laughing, talking, & enjoying a great time. Many thanks to Jim Hemsill & his (very cool) wife who brought all the drums & instruments. I think the drum is called a "du-beck", or something like that. I play the drums, in addition to other instruments, & had a gas jamming w/ Larry, Paul, Jim, & Roger. Chad; what's w/ the sneakers? Did you think I was a nerd wearing orthopedic shoes?[:-eyebrows] The nerd part is accurate, but I take a certain interest in sartorial splendor. I do after all, live in the Big Dirty, where everyone knows everything about food, art, & clothes. Anything else is up for grabs, but that is what allows me to earn a decent living.