Tom Raymond

And I thought our "John Wayne" toilet paper was rough.

2006 in NY. There is a development built in 02-04 full of $200K homes that have GP vinyl directly over the OSB.

You say that you are cleaning so presumably you have some soap. Whatever that is will wash right off.

I routinely advise against using the installer that put his name on the work that makes into my reports.

1854 house with an original dormer over the stairs, 2x4 rafters, no insulation, original plaster ceiling, 7-10 year old 3 tab roof cover. Pitch was approaching 1.5/12. I have seen wheel chair ramps that were steeper. Click to Enlarge 58.68 KB Nice job staggering the breaks. Click to Enlarge 57.91 KB Plywood covered with the remnants of the BUR the shingles replaced. I can't believe that emulsion is enough to keep this thing from leaking-we had rain for days prior to the inspection, including a whopper of a thunderstorm. I told my client to expect a leak any minute. Click to Enlarge 55.74 KB

It's wrong but it looks far better than the alternatives, J channel around it or chopping the crown short. Caulk it if it bothers you. Vinyl siding is a rain screen. Flashing is a detail that belongs in the WRB under it.

I think the landlord is right. You are annoying tenants.

The EPA claims that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Last year there were nearly 225,000 new cases reported. If even a tenth of those cases could be attributed to radon exposure then mitigation would be codified. Every new home would have a system by design and testing would be mandatory at resale for existing stock. It's all supposition. No one knows so who's gonna say they are wrong? It's scary that so many assume they are right. I live in one of the hottest parts of the State according to DEC maps, and in nearly 30 years of remodeling work all over WNY I have encountered exactly 3 mitigation systems, and one of those wasn't running. If it were killing thousands of us every year there would be as many mitigators as there are 7-elevens. Try to find one, let alone a reputable one to give you an estimate, then who do you comparison shop with? At least that's how it is around here. Everyone wants a test, nobody mitigates. In the grand scheme of things, it's a non-issue. In relation to a real estate transaction testing should be banned. This deal is going to go bad over a few hundred bucks worth of PVC and a fan that would do little more than increase the annual utility costs. All because someone advised them to test for something that not one of the parties knows anything about.

I don't know, and I after all the antics I doubt Dad would remember.

Well, the plot thickens. On my advice Dad requested the complete data set. The inspector refused. He also switched his position that 4.5 was the peak and now claims it is the average. He didn't say which average. He did offer to retest, but his report is useless so that would be a waste of time. Dad has his own radon test scheduled for Monday. Dad produced his 2006 radon report to show this turkey what an informative report looks like and the guy blew up at him saying that it's 8 years old and is useless. He later emailed a diatribe about how long he has been inspecting, how many certifications he has, how he looked up the weather for the dates of the 8 year old radon test and how severe weather affects test results, yadda, yadda, yadda. He was so angry when he wrote this message that he got his weather implications ass backwards and used a weather report (cut and pasted into the message) from the Ohio Pennsylvania border to support his argument, that's 4 hours drive away from the test location. He closed the email by directing a slur towards me. One could easily replace his choice words with most common expletives without changing the context. I never knew that "home inspector" was derogatory.

Sent and sent.

I don't know. He didn't include that information in his report. When asked what the reading was he said it was peak. Truthfully, I have seen reports from the mail in canisters sold at Lowes that are 100 times more useful than what this schmuck wrote.

Dad just sold his house and is asking me questions about the results of his buyer's inspection. Mercifully, the buyer's attorney has only forwarded a few pages of the report. My questions are regarding the radon screening. Here we go: If a Sun Nuke does hourly readings does it generate a chart or graph? Do you report the hourly readings, an average, or just the peak? Would you report the peak reading as actionable (4.5) and in the same report state the hourly readings are normal, or is this inspector as dweeby as I think? According to Dad, the CRM was placed next to the well equipment (the water line enters through a PVC sleeve in the block wall) and near a floor drain. According to the report the CRM was placed following protocol and the likely entry points are "floor cracks". Is placing a CRM between openings through the foundation really protocol or did this guy try to get a high reading? The only way I can sanitize this thing is to print it and redact it. If you need some encouragement to bang your head against the wall I can email you a copy.

Did someone put dish soap in the washer? That would make lots of bubbles.

Let's say they are. What then? The landing isn't, and those blocks are so far gone, it's not likely they would've needed to replace the steps without replacing the blocks, right? Steven got it. The block look old, not just the bad ones but all of them. The landing pad looks newer than than block and the jenga mess of steps looks way newer than that. People replace as little as possible all the time. In this case at least twice.

Maybe it's just the picture quality but it looks to me like the stairs are newer than the the landing and block.

In my experience they are constructed of materials that have 15 to 20 year life spans. Less when they are neglected. I made a decent living for years replacing the fenestration on units as little as 10 years old. There is an 18 year old unit a few miles from me that is going through foreclosure. The siding is falling off, the windows are 98% seal failed (the others are broken, so their seals have failed also), the doors are shot, and the roof cover is as crispy as potato chips. Most doublewides on private lots of that vintage are on frost proof slabs (Google em), this one is on 3 courses of CMU over trench footings. There is about half the ventilation needed for the crawl and they omitted the VB so the soil underneath it is literally erupting with moisture. It's dozer bait, the rehab costs are 125-150% of replacement, yet the town assessor has the market value placed at about a quarter mil. To be fair, it comes with 2.2 acres, and a 3 car garage on a floating slab and a pole building (both in almost as bad shape as the trailer).

Take a few of them apart. They're different, but they ain't that different.

I have a 2 piece tyvek suit, pants and jacket, that I got at Dicks sporting goods. It was cheap and it fits nicely in my tool bag. I have been fortunate enough not to need it yet. Or too slow to get caught in the rain. Half full or half empty, you pick.

If you switch the whole house to led bulbs you will need to burn an extra cord of fire wood to make up for the incandescent heat you're giving up.

Nothing. That will make it much easier to remove in 20 years when the cover is shot an the new one needs to be tied into the flashing. The builder is a putz.

Two weeks ago I was looking at investment properties. I toured 12 apartments in 5 buildings. Only one of them had a proper disconnect, this FPE that has been in service since 1915. Click to Enlarge 44.42 KB

From FLIR: MSX Thermal Image Enhancement Numbering, labels and other key features aren?t always apparent in a regular thermal image, often requiring a separate photo for reference. Instead, MSX virtually etches those visual details onto the infrared image in real time to create an all-in-one, thermal picture that shows exactly where problems are heating up. Essentially, it overlays the high contrast data from a visible spectrum image onto the IR image. Taking Scott's image with my Bcam at 8 degree limits I would barely see the bifold doors, I would need 18 degrees or more of range to pick up the individual louvers.

If it were dangerous OSHA wold assign it a PEL. There are no exposure limits to any fungi under OSHA, NIOSH, or the EPA. By contrast, I exceeded the PEL to AP flour on my trip through Walmart this morning. The baking aisle is a war zone this close to a holiday. Inspectors may not be regulated in MI, but appraisers are. I bet this idiot has violated a few of his licensing laws.

I haven't played with an MSR camera yet, but I really like the look of that blended image. No more "deer in the headlights" expressions from clients that don't get the traditional iron palette image.