Tom Raymond

Just thought I'd share these. Another WTF moment. Outside Click to Enlarge 36.78 KB Close up Click to Enlarge 39.56 KB Can't imagine where the mold is coming from Click to Enlarge 36.15 KB Tom

As I understand them, listing period warranties are purchased by the seller and are valid 6 months, or if it sells, 1 year after closing, at which time the new owner is bombarded with sales calls to re-up. They are most often sold by the listing agent (you can buy these wholesale for around $50). If they are not properly transfered at closing (and the transfer fees paid) they are void. I have a client that was willing to pay me to review his warranty and check the covered systems but he never received his warranty at closing. He has no coverage and I lost a gig. I read an article somewhere about an underwriter that is trying to build a new model where the Home Inspector checks the house and bases the warranty on his findings rather than the current 'blind' model, but I haven't seen anything new on that front. Warranties would be handy add on sales if prelisting gigs were popular, and I have considered marketing them to the FSBO crowd as a way in the door, but for now I'm gonna pass. Tom

My reports are numbered YYMMDDx, x equals A for starts before noon, P for after. My file names are customer last name followed by report number (no spaces) for my Word file, and .PDF for the customer copy. RAYMOND100323A or RAYMOND100323A.PDF All of my pics are in a folder labeled with the last name, and all of the above are in a client folder labeled with last name. All of my client folders are in a folder labeled HI STUFF, along with all the goodies I download from here, my SOP and COE docs and any emails relevant enough to save. I keep a hard copy of the report, my original notes and signed agreement filed cronologically. DVD back ups are filed with my hard copies, but probably not often enough. The problem with this system is that I remember the house long after I forget the name. If I could figure out how to label my files by photo thumbnails I probably would. Tom

At a minimum the gas valves will need to be replaced. Ten years ago when my septic was replaced the County inspector made the contractor remove the 2 foot or so section of my basement gravity drian that clipped the corner of the new sand filter pit. That was early December. Six weeks later we had a big thaw, over 2 feet of snow melted in a couple days. The melt water backed up into the basement. I would pump out 16" of water in the morning, and when I got home from work there would be another 16" to pump out. It was three days before the water stopped coming in. We cleaned out the burners and replaced the gas valves on the boiler and water heater, and one of them got a new thermocouple. We also raised the gas valves to just above the high water mark. The gap in the gravity drain was closed and I've been mostly dry ever since, just a few trickles through the field stone walls. I was fortunate that it happened when it did, as the 12'x30'x4' sand filter was clean and fresh. Tom I feel your pain brother.

Vinyl siding when properly installed allows 20% of the water that hits it to get behind it. I don't know the penetration rate for down spouts, but I bet it's a lot more. I especially like the siding over brick in the first two pics, that's classy. Tom

I have the opposite opinion. I like insulations that act like moisture banks far better than non absorbent insulations like fiberglass for existing structures. The 'banking' properties of perlite much more closely match those of CMU than wood framing materials. Managing the moisture within a wall system is far more sensible approach than attempting to prevent it altogether, but the materials in that system should dry at similar rates. The pics in the OP clearly show what happens when they don't. Perlite in a wood frame wall fails just as miserably as fiberglass, but for different reasons. Tom

Just like red cars, they go faster[:-monkeyd Tom

There are all kinds of radiant barriers out there, but I've yet to see one that can be applied to both interior and exterior surfaces. Given the woven appearance in the second pic I'd guess you have an interior product, unless of course it doesn't rain there. Sorry, no idea what product that is. Tom

It's a poorly thought out change in design. Richard spotted the odd casing with drip cap on top, now look at the bottom. The bump out overhangs the foundation on the window wall by several inches and by a foot or more on the goofy alcove side. It was drawn as a little bump, but it festered into a big ugly boil. Tom

I'd remove it, especially if the walls are opened up like your pic. Perlite is used as an additive to potting soil because it readily absorbs moisture, holds it, and releases it slowly as the surrounding material dries out. Pretty lousy qualities for insulation in a wood framed wall, especially one that leaks. Tom

Ask the HOA, but I bet they already have. It explains the lack of quality work. In that scenario the HOA wants the buildings to look the same, but the repairs and maintenance to be as cheap as possible. It's amazing they can't figure out that it's cheaper to do it right than it is to keep doing it over. Tom

What kind of brew? LOL Old English. Can you get 40 bowls by the case? Tom

Brandon, besides the stone issues, I don't see any ventilation for that composite decking. I know it sounds like a seperate issue, but there are several points of contact between the stone and the composite and bound up and overheated boards will exert enough pressure on the veneer to break stones and create addition points of entry for moisture. That system can't cope with any amount of water as it is, no need to introduce more. How old is the building? If it's as new as it looks, I'll bet you a donut that the screwed up details on the building are screwed up, or missing altogether, on the plans. It's bad enough that there are builders out there botching stuff like this, but there is an alarming number of 'home designers' and 'architects' that don't bother to read the directions either. Tom

You guys actually read that? My head hurt after the first sentence. In addition to hiring a writer I'd add a web designer to the list, the page asthetic as as bad as the text. Mike, you might want to rethink the elementary school as a writing resource. You wouldn't believe some of the written material that comes from my son's school. It doesn't matter if it's the principal, the super, the teachers or the PTA. It's a wonder these kids can read and write at all when you see the faculty's proficiency. Tom

Call the manufacturer and ask them to email you the installation and service manuals for that model furnace. If you're lucky they may be available online. After you look up what you need, forward copies of both to your client. They'll appreciate the effort. Tom PS, if it looks wrong, it probably is.

Do the homes that back the drainage ponds come with docks? I have seen at least two developments in Amherst where they do. The developers market these bodies of water as if they were desirable, and go so far as to landscape them so they look natural, none of the buyers realize they would be parking gondolas in their garages without them. Shifting several tens of acres of water from a site doesn't make it a good place to build. Proper land reclamation isn't that simple. Tom

Anyone who buys in Amherst has more money than brains. The frist step in any development project there is to build a drainage pond, some are more like small lakes, to dry the marsh so that roads and utilities can be installed. They've been doing that since the early 80's, maybe longer. Now we have to do soil testing for every new build or addition in the County because the houses built on swamp land sink. Who'd a thunk it? Tom

Erie County, NY has online tax records as well. I refer to them for every inspection, and so far every one has been wrong. My parents house, for example, was built in the 50's to replace an old farm house. The build date is the demolishion date of the old house (almost a decade off) , and the square footage is off by 64%. My report would look like: Square Feet:1800 (from County tax data, I estimate around 4900) They had it appraised about a year ago, and the turkey used the tax data. His description said 1800SF with 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths and 900SF In-law suite. He obviously has no idea what a square foot is. Tom

That was very fortunate timing, or they'd be all over contractors with the new EPA RRP rules. Tom

John, Word automatically runs consecutive numbers for you. You have to make it stop numbering. My report is divided into sections: exterior, roof, plumbing, etc. The SOP stuff is listed at the top of each section, followed by a numbered list of comments, then on to the next section. My comment numbers pick up where they left off in the previous section. If Word tries to start over with '1', I just type in the number I want to use and it takes over from there. Most of the time it is automatic, but at least once or twice per report I have to correct it. It even works when I start a report on one machine and finish it on another using a different version of Word, which I do frequently. I do not use templates or macros. I created an outline and saved it as a master. I open it, save as a new doc and fill in the blanks. It doesn't get any easier than that. Tom

I've yet to see a bath fan that moves any significant amount of air. Even if they're sized correctly the ducting is so screwed up that all they do is make noise. Tom

I'd rather pull that off of the MLS sheet. Many of my client's don't have clue as to whether there's a crawlspace. Neither does the agent, or they spin it into something else. Tom

That roofer should be hung by his thumbs and flogged with one of those shingles. The builder should be forced to watch so he knows what to expect when he takes his turn. Ben, those are high end Certainteed shingles, Cape Hatteras I think, and run about $280-300 a square. $1 million sure does get you a big turd these days. Tom

I just checked all of my supplier catalogs. There are fiberglass doors rated at 20 minutes, and steel doors rated at 90 minutes. All doors are in steel split frames with self closing hinges. The 45 minute rating applies to certain solid core flush wood doors (only those labeled) and the Stanley B series steel fire door. Chad, as a code officer would you approve a wood door? Label or no, it would never fly here between the house and garage. Fire seperation inside commercial buildings is about the only place we can use them, and most of those are concrete cores and rated well beyond 45 minutes. Tom

What is the fire rating? Every 90 minute door in my supplier's catalogs comes standard with two self closing hinges, the pins to set the spring tension are shipped loose but with the door. Every jurisdiction around here requires a 90 minute door with self closing hinges, but I've had a lot of 'handy man' types asking for 3/4 hour doors lately. I haven't heard of any 45 minute rule and the last time I used such a door was to meet a 20 minute smoke and draft requirement for an existing apartment complex, I was required to use the self closing hinges. Unless you have access to the plans you will need to call the AHJ for the right answer, but smells like BS to me. Tom