DonTx

I have Series #5, "Pick A Wrinkle, Any Wrinkle"

Thanks Norm, My fax number is 281-572-1923 24/7. Thanks. Scott, thanks for posting your contract as well. Donald

Norm, I'd appreciate a copy of your expert witness contract. I may be doing my first one shortly on a improperly installed hardie plank siding case. Also, I'm wondering how you other inspectors charge for multi family units. Not price, how. For example; do you charge a base fee and then x amount of dollars per unit or something else. I've been charging by the total square footage and adding a couple hundred because I know there are a lot of kitchens, bathrooms and electrical boxes in these units. Just priced a 34 unit condo today. Somehow I feel I under priced at 2 and a half G's. Just curious what calculations others charge. Donald

This pool today had one continous coping/deck. I'm guessing, (judging by the date on the pool heater) that this pool was constructed around 1993. It appears the pool shell may have been replastered but I don't think the spa was. There are cracks in the mortor between the stone just about where the coping would meet a deck on most pools. Is this a concern or just typical mortar curing. Photo's 1 and 2 Also, in the spa there appears to be some spots worn through the plaster. Not rusting, just looked like bare spots. Photo 3 Photo's 4 and 6 are some staining on the pool shell. Is this typical? And while I'm at it, on photo 6, are the intakes suppose to more than 3 foot apart or within 3 foot? Donald Download Attachment: ChantillyPool 001.jpg 63.02 KB Download Attachment: ChantillyPool 002.jpg 57.84 KB Download Attachment: ChantillyPool 003.jpg 30.32 KB Download Attachment: ChantillyPool 004.jpg 27.42 KB Download Attachment: ChantillyPool 006.jpg 37.35 KB

Those are what you call shakes? We call that kindling here [:-jump] Donald

That's what I like about this site. If your curious about something, just wait someone else will ask it sooner or later [:-dev3] Many a night I've often pondered who this Mel Bosch is and what it is he was proposing. [:-paperbag]

There goes Chad again, quoting code!!![:-magnify]

Great pics Norm. Sounds like you had your hands full for a while. Questions: 1. Why was there a 240V outlet in the bathroom? 2. In the pic titled "Condensate line and damaged stud" it looks like the stud next to the wall is notched on both sides? Donald

If Chad can't help you out, try our local Guru...http://www.texascardoctor.com Donald

Thanks everyone, I like Dan's site, I've visited it many times in the past for all types of information. I even put a link to his AL pages in my report when I find AL wired homes. However, I've never found a definate answer on his site or on my own. I always refer AL to electricians, but I know many of them don't have a clue as to what the dangers of AL wiring can be.....but they know what 5 to 10 bucks per outlet/switch is to pigtail the wiring. I don't pull the outlets out of the box to insure that the pigtailing has anti-oxidant paste on it and how else would you know if the wire nut is not flammabe unless you set some of fire? When it's all said and done I tell them to see a sparky and I give them a copy of the CPSC page that basically says that pigtailing is not a safe alternative and leave it at that. Somehow it still doesn't feel like I've done enough to educate them. Donald

Okay, As I've understood it for quite some time, the CPSC does not recognize pigtailing AL and Copper as a safe alternative but the NEC does. Now this is where I get a little fuzzy....if the wires are pigtailed, can any wire nut be used or just an Ideal 65 type nut? Yes, I know there are issues with Ideal 65's. But I'm wondering if any ole wire nut will work or does it have to be a special one? Donald

ROFLMAO...that one will go down as a classic! [:-jester]

I dislike 1 year warranty inspections. They take longer and I hate having to deal with the homeowners following me around. For example. Yesterday the wife was home with a 2 month old baby. She kept asking if we could be quiet..did I have to go into the baby's room...did I have to check the smoke alarms...did I have to open all the windows...why was I filling all the tubs...etc, etc. Drives me nuts. My other inspector loves them. Go figure. We do a lot of 1 year warranty inspections and they are probably easier and less liability for us. But as others have said, you need to know your stuff, especially when it comes to the codes. Scott - I like the thought of such an organization - how soon can you get it set up and running? [] Chris - Thanks for the fax. It sounds like AZ is a consumer friendly state. I envy those kind of laws. TX is a builder friendly state. Out of the top 25 business conntributors to politicians, 3 of them are builders. They own Austin and our consumer protection laws show it. Our new Texas Residential Construction Commission has just published some proposed warranty and performance guidelines. They avoided the easy route where they could have just adopted the IRC. Instead they have some guidelines along the same route as the NAHB. Pretty lax. http://www.trcc.state.tx.us/Rules/Warra ... dards2.htm Donald

Thanks Kurt, Chris and everyone else. We've hashed this out several times with the leadership of TAREI and LoneStar ASHI. The general consenses is that the builder is selling a product and the consumer has a right to have it inspected before buying it. There are two Federal laws that they're (our leadership) basing their opinions on. (I have them here somewhere, but I'm too tired right now to look them up) I live for the day when I find out that I'm on a black list of a Real Estate Office. Right now I have an idea of a couple rural offices that I'm black listed on, but it's just a hunch at this point. When I'm banned from a builders subdivision, I'll be on the 6 O'clock news getting the best and cheapest publicity that money can't buy. Chris, please fax me the paperwork you're talking about. I'd appreciate it. My fax # is 281-572-1923 We're having a LoneStar ASHI business meeting in little over a week and I'd like to give them a copy. Donald

This man is a friend of mine and a very good inspector. One builder finally had enough of his "nit-picky, code quoting" inspections. The letter and picture explains it. http://www.inspectionconcepts.com Donald

I have Adobe Acrobat 5.0 and will be upgrading to 6.0 shortly. I have a couple questions that hopefully some of you can answer. 1. When I make changes in reports with AA 5.0, people who have AA 6.0 tell me they can see the changes even though I've secured the document. Is there any way I can hide all the changes from everyone? 2. When I open a PDF document up, the book mark window opens as well. It's annoying and I've tried many times to prevent this from happening by changing some settings. No luck. It didn't do this when I first bought the program. How do I keep that box from popping up? 3. What is the difference between the Standard Version and the Professional version other than the price? Can I upgrade to the Professional verstion if I have the Standard version? Thanks in advance, Donald

Okay. If it's what I'm thinking of, it's like Sto's powerwall or powerflex system. It's made up of elastomeric polymers. It may or may not have silicone in it depending upon the brand and manufacturer. If you pick at it just a little, it will look like rubber or vinyl. You'd think you could peel it off if you tried. Donald

Paul, probably applied a one coat stucco over the CMU's. For the life of me I can't remember what the type of coating is that your talking about although I see it quite often. Let me dig into my files and see if I can find the name. Seems like it's an expoxy type finish for stucco though. Looks like a 20 year shingle on the roof. Amazes me how builders spend money on some things and then scrimp on things like shingles. Donald

Tip of the week... Don't eat Mexican food within 3 weeks of having hernia surgery. [:-bigeyes2] [:-weepn]

Same stuff, different food coloring. Go to www.owenscorning.com and take a look at it for yourself. I don't think this is designed for ductwork anyhow. Forget about when the fire code became law. We all know there should be a garage/home seperation. Donald

I've been side lined since Tue. when I had hernia surgery. I'm living through my guys out in the field now. Today our Client was a couple that we've inspected 2 other homes for. The 1st one was a POS pier & beam home that had termites and unlevel floors throughout. The late husband thought he was an electrician and his lack of experience showed. They backed out of that one because the old lady wouldn't give in to repairs or renogotiate. The second home was a new home built out away from the city. There is no AHJ's here so the builders do pretty much what they want. This home also was a POS. No insulation in several parts of the attic but plenty over the garage. Disconnected ducts, no AFCI's, no GFCI's at exterior and only two in the Kitchen, etc, etc. Mark called me today and said he could hear the theme song from Deliverance playing as he drove up to their latest find. He was on the phone to me when the water well pump came on and suprisingly said "F*** you should see the water coming out of this well head!" Bad and leaking roof. Rebar rusting and deteriorating the concrete. Huge brick veneer cracks. You name it. Seriously, I don't know how these kids keep coming up with these diamonds in the rough. Here's a link from the MLS. The agent should be a best selling fiction writer. http://www.har.com/search/engine/indexd ... 0&leadid=6 Donald

Great...I've been doing those two things...now on to the third item. Some ballcocks do not have a fill hose. Should all of them have a fill hose running over to the overflow tube? I've often thought that those flush assemblies filling from the bottom could be a source of cross contamination. I suppose there is a back flow preventer built in? Donald Toilet Mouth For A Day [:-king]

This is one of the qualities I like about Mr. G, always bringing up stuff I forget about. Now that he's cleared up the leaking head gasket problem I've wondered about, I'll ask another one. Should there be a 1 inch difference between the top of the fill tube and the ball cockvalve? I've heard something about needing an air gap to prevent possible back siphoning...is this it? C'mon people, let's talk commodes! Donald

I actually did try that first. I kept getting an icon that led me to a folder without the PhotoDraw exe. in it. Once I re-installed it to a different folder I had no problem finding the exe. icon. Thanks everyone, Donald

Thanks Terry. I could find all the other PhotoDraw files but never the exe. So I uninstalled it and re-installed it in its own folder. Found it right away then. Thanks again, Donald