Tom Raymond

John, the next time you peek under vinyl try pulling a piece right under a window. When you show your client the rotted sheething at the bottom corners they'll get the importance of a WRB.

That makes perfect sense. Thank you.

I understand what those citations say, but in the real world moving that GEC changes very little. What's the thinking there?

Aren't you from a little too far south to spell color with a 'u'?

If that last bit is true then CO poisoning sounds like the easy way out[:-dev3]

If that unit spills with enough frequency to require an aftermarket safety switch then wouldn't it make better sense to fix what is causing the spill in the first place, replace it with a power vented DWH, or go electric? I would think if even a very small handful of water heaters needed spill switches to be reliably safe then they would be standard equipment.

If they are out of business, then you could have your local print shop type set and print them for you. For a little less coin you can buy blank NCR stock and print them yourself with a laser printer. Or for even less money you can purchase reporting software.

Yes, but if he's already undermined the interior and at that point determined that there are no footers, excavating the exterior would risk toppling the entire foundation. If the basement is wet enough to have warranted an interior drain in the first place (and dependant upon soil conditions, water volume and pressure) he may have already significantly increased the risk of failure. Short of replacing the whole basement, Mike's got the right fix. Last year there was a 1906 house near me that was excavated around for an addition. There was a moderate over night rain, and by the next morning one wall had fallen out from under the house. Slip formed concrete walls without footers.

I think he just outted you[:-dev3]

Amen. If 20 pages of text and pictures is too much for them, perhaps they could get CEUs for remedial reading classes. Does NAR have a suggestion box?[:-dev3]

Ah yes, my boy wants one of those too. He's eight. I can't think of a better cause than boobies. [:-thumbu][:-thumbu]

It's not as useful as you think. I recently borrowed a Rigid scope, and while it was cool to play with for a few minutes, it quickly got pretty annoying to use. You have to be able to put your hands on the flex shaft to point it in the direction you want it to go. I ended up twisting and turning the hand held to the point that when the camera pointed at what I wanted to see, so did the screen. Useless. If you can't record or output an image, your better off with a good selection of mirrors.

I think you missed my point. There are a thousand 'one size fits all' passive ventilation products out there, and little if any actual building science or engineering. We talk all the time about the importance of properly sizing air handling equipment, there are formulae for all of the critical components, yet proper ventilation is left to a stupid 'rule of thumb' and a monkey with a hammer to figure it out. I say it every time this topic comes up: passive systems should be engineered to work, or engineered out. It's simply amazing that the current scheme works as often as it does.

It's more than enough, it's everything. Soliciting feedback on a client's impressions of a report is the 'research' and my secretary has standing instructions to do so after every home inspection that we do. They like hearing that we care. Marc That's customer service not market research. Some people like it, some don't. I'm in the latter camp. I only take my car to the dealer for service when it's warranty related, and a week or so later I'm chewing out some poor girl over the phone when all she did was make the follow up call. I think I'd shoot someone if I had to put up with a telephone survey every 3000 miles.

Thanks Mike. I actually have a folder full of marketing advice gleened from TIJ. I've tried all of it, except for reading the recently mentioned "Guerilla Marketing" which I intend to do. Perhaps I'll get it on tape. I have marketed a little to REs, but every one of my gigs has been a referal from friends, family, and coworkers. Not one referal from the Dark Side. I still talk to REs, but only the ones I happen to bump into. I don't go out of my way looking for them. My mother does a pretty good job of promoting me to her coworkers at Blue Cross and Blue Shield. That should eventually get me onto a couple of those intranet boards, hopefully before she retires.

Passive ventilation schemes make very little sense, even less so in hurricane country. It's my understanding that roofs fly when they generate lift, and buildings implode/explode due to pressure extremes. Both of those are significantly impacted by ventilation, no?

And that begs the question, why include a summary? Or the following question.......why not structure the report in the form of a summary? This goes to what I was saying about Katen's report.....that the form of the report is derived from the software. No matter that folks take the software and make it look different, or that they type in customer comments, it's still the same underlying engine and process, with the same result. So, we end up with reports that are two reports, with one that the customer avoids reading by going right to the summary. That is why I suggested that Jim delete the summary at the end of his report. I write in Word, on a master document that I layed out using Jim's format as a guide, because it looks good and is easy to read. All of my comments are in bold and sequentially numbered, again like Jim's, so that they are easily referenced. The entire document is a summary of my findings that I work very hard to keep around 20 pages. I could easily go on for days if I don't impose a limit. I have replaced the abridged info at the end of the report with an appendix of useful reminders about smoke and CO detectors, installing or removing tot finder stickers, changing furnace filters and such. Most if it remains the same from one report to the next, but I can easily customize it for each house. Lately I have been thinking that this too is little more than clutter and will probably axe it soon. As was said, I can't write one of these for fun, so I refine my document with every new report. Now, if only they weren't so few and far between...[:-weepn]

Sorry, my bad. I'll let the next one go a little longer[]

And that begs the question, why include a summary?

Those are air fresheners, very nearly fully depleted. Had the small beads been growing in volume and overflowing, they'd be damp rid canisters. Both are common in vacant houses. Steven, whatever you do, don't cross the streams!

I take a daily dose of aspirin to keep the arthritis pain at bay. I'm pretty sure I don't bleed as much as you, but I know exactly what you mean. Even the tiniest nick or scrape leaks alarming quantities of blood. Wolf, add bandaids to your tool list.

How much of that is canned?

Ouch! So just how long have you been married?[:-angel]

Snoeshoe looks lovely, but I doubt there will be any ski vacations this year. Just not in the cards.

I quit smoking about 12 weeks ago. I'm up 18 pounds to 215. Seems that I've found a replacement habit, pass the eclairs Mike! Snowboarders are bums. Skiers rock![]