Scottpat

This is so true! I had my ego (what little I have) handed to me on a silver platter last year on case because I went to four universities before I finished. The attorney made it sound like I could never complete anything I start and that I was not worthy to even park cars at a junk yard because I had a degree that is unrelated to my profession. It took the judge to step in and tell the attorney that his son has a law degree and owns a B&B in Gatlinburg TN! That kind of ended that line of questioning.... The best thing that came out of this case besides my client winning, is that I now know how to handle this type of question and situation if it comes up again. EW work is not for everyone, you have to be willing to be humble and humiliated from time to time. What makes it worth it besides the money is that your knowledge is helping somebody.

I have read several good books sitting out in the courthouse hallway over the years!

My hourly fee for court time is 3 times your fee with a four hour minimum. You need to find out what the laws are in your area that cover "witness of fact" and " expert witness". As Bill pointed out if you are a "witness of fact" you just answer questions about the report you wrote and you never offer an opinion or expand beyond the report. Once you do this you are entering the "Expert" area and you should be paid for your opinion.

I have to agree with Jim, it will be better and most likely cheaper to demo to the ground and start from scratch. A good example is an inspection I have scheduled later today; I have been hired to document and help discover the problems in a home that has had 4 major redo's over the past 140+ years. They built a "newer" home around the original log home that was dated back to 1870. Then somewhere in the 1950's they built a third addition around the first and second addition. Fast forward to 2010 when they tried to remodel the entire structure and now after the new owners have moved in they are having major foundation/structural and electrical problems after being in the home for only 3 months. What's that old saying.... You need to build on a strong foundation!

Set your email up with your own domain name, this way you control it. You can change providers, etc and your email will always remain the same. I have had scott@ traceinspections . com for around 14 years.

I'm thinking Indian burial grounds or the tester was once owned by Jimmy Swaggart..[]

I have the same one that Gary posted.

I think drilling through the studs to provide a nice arc for the PEX as it connects to the manifold is just fine. This is also a very common method to support the PEX and provide a gradual bend in the line so the fittings are not stressed. I would not worry about unknown down the road repairs; really not any different than a copper line in a wall needing to be repaired. I would have a concern with the manifold being on the outside wall and it being subject to freezing. I know that you are in West Monroe LA, but Y'all still get some freezing temps from time to time.

Jim hit the nail on the head. It will depend on the type of loan or the mortgage company. If it is a VA or FHA loan it will not fly. Codes or not if ya can't get a loan it really is a moot point.

Use a thermometer with a probe for air temps! The IR is a great tool but it does have its limitations. I use the IR thermometer to check floor and ceiling registers to make sure they have airflow, and to check wall and ceiling insulation.

That should get somebody's attention! Woof, that is one of the largest fine I have ever seen issued to a HI.

2005 was after the bad dip tube rash that we had , I think.... I always found bits of white plastic or even gel like stuff in the faucet aerator screens. If I suspected a bad dip tube I always took a couple off to see if I could see plastic in them. Not foolproof but it did help to ID a problem..

Well the humidity in your area is at 65% according to the weather service a few minutes ago. The plastic traps any moisture in the wall. The moisture gets into the area through condensation or seepage. I'm betting on condensation from a warm interior and cold air infiltration from the exterior. Yancey Mills, Crozet Elevation 600 ft Clear Temperature 42.8 ?F Feels Like 43 ?F Pressure 30.19 in Visibility 9.0 miles Clouds Clear - Moisture Humidity 65% Rainfall 0.00 in

My bet would be on the plastic sheeting. It is holding the moisture in the wall cavity. The Celotex substrate if it is the one I recall acts as a moisture barrier so whatever moisture is caught in the wall cavity will remain. I know that in many parts of North America the plastic sheeting is used but only in much colder areas of the country. Whenever I find plastic sheeting behind the drywall in the areas I inspect I almost always find moisture problems associated with it.

I like the "Optional Systems" SoP's section. Honestly, the TX SOP's are really not that much different than the SOP's I work under in TN or those that are being used in many other States. I have always thought that the inspection template that is required makes for a good checklist to make sure everything has been covered but it should not be used as a standalone report, it needs to be attached to a more in depth report. When you get down to just about every single home inspector SOP that is being used whether it is a State or Association SoP they are all like kissing cousins! They have been morphed from older ASHI SoP's with some minor regional tweaks and modifications to make their authors happy. Even in my state they did not want to use an association SoP(to show no bias to one group) so they chose to use the NC SoP with some modifications! Guess where the NC SoP came from? Yep, it is an older ASHI SoP with some modifications!

I encourage you to drop the bit about how refrigerators "should not" be on GFCI circuits. There's no such rule. I also wish that people would stop referring to nuisance tripping with regard to GFCIs. Modern GFCIs are pretty reliable things. When they trip, it's almost always for a good reason. Even if you ignore those two points, there's no need to put the fridge on a separate circuit. They can just wire the existing circuit so that the GFCI protection doesn't extend to the fridge. I can't agree more with Jim's comment. As for fixing the GFCI, I'm in the extension cord group!

Didn't old carbide systems have a larger pipe that channeled down to smaller pipes the further you got from the generation tank?

I'm curious if anyone uses a Blacklight or UV light to light up the pee during an inspection? I had a bad cat pee home a few years back that the day before the inspection the owners put down new carpet and had a few air fresheners around the home. It had no adverse odors whatsoever. Move forward about 3 weeks and the new owners move in and with in days they had bad cat pee odors throughout the home. They pulled up the carpet & pad and the wooden subfloor and found the old Masonite particleboard subfloor was puckered and swollen from all of the cat pee. They called me to help them document everything to go after the owner and I brought a black light with me. The walls up about foot and baseboards literally glowed under the light in almost every single room in the home.

I bought the AW100 and so far I have used in on 4 inspections and I like it. Similar controls as other Coolpix cameras so that made it easy to learn the camera. The battery usage is remarkable, so far I have taken over 200 pictures many with flash and the battery still more power to give. I too got some blurry pictures but I took it off "Easy Auto" and put it on "Auto" and that made all the difference in the world.

A little information on high stakes exams:The difficulty of an exam does not make it a good exam. A good exam should test an individuals knowlege of the subject matter which is usually defined by a role delineation study of that profession. The difficultly of the questions that are written come from what is called an Angoff score or rating that each questions undergoes during review. Each question will be given an Angoff score and this denotes their level of difficulty based on the degree of knowledge that is being tested. Many "difficult" exams have poorly written questions, such as questions with double negative and unfeasible distractors. Most high stakes exams test recall knowledge and learned knowledge. Learned knowledge usually reflects and identifies a more advanced type exam. Once you have all of the questions the psychometricians will compile the data/Angoff score and produce a "cut score". The cut score is the score that is needed to pass the exam. This is how you manipulate the difficulty of the exam.

Exams of the quality and type that is needed for a high stakes licensing exam is costly to maintain and administer, thus the profit is not a great as many think. EBPHI spends upwards of $100K a year on the average just maintaining the exam and publishing new questions to keep the exam fresh and updated. Look at the number of folks that will need to take the exam and then multiply that number by your projected exam fee minus the cost for the administration of the exam and this is what you will have leftover to maintain the exam. I think it is estimated that there are around 3,000 to 4,000 home inspectors in Canada. I do not know how many of those are in BC. So when your get down to the real number of folks it's really is not all that many but the first shot of exam takers will be the largest. FYI, the Canadian NHIE is not the same exam as the one that is given in the USA, it is based on Canadian codes. If y'all need some consulting help I'm available and I'm sure I could get Jim Funkhouser to assist as well for a nominal fee. Between the two of us we have about 12+ years of high stakes exams and home inspector exam knowledge It's been a few years since I have been to BC. []

So essentially they want to make their own version of the NHIE. When I was on the board of EBPHI, CAPHI approached EBPHI about using the NHIE in Canada. CAPHI at this time could not afford the cost that would be incurred to create their own "new" exam. Upwards of $2M have been invested in the NHIE over the past 10 years in its development and maintenance. Arrangements were made a couple of years back and several Canadian subject mater experts(SME) have been participating in writing new Canada specific questions(metric and words that have "U" are even included) that would appear in the Canadian version of the NHIE. As with all questions on the NHIE being verifiable the Canadian questions are all verified to a published Canadian source. I'm pretty sure that is already available or will be very soon in Canada through the testing network that already administers the NHIE across the states. I know they have several testing centers all across Canada. I guess time will tell if the wheel can be reinvented.....

I see those panels a few times a year, mostly in homes built in the early 1960's.

Are they saying that you missed something? I would not mind pouring a cup of water into the drain to see of that stops the problem, but I will not remove a poop plug!

Tell them that you do not have a clue and chasing odors in a home is not an exact science. If it is a sewer smell then it is plumbing related. Have them call a qualified plumber to chase it down. They will and can pressure test and smoke test the plumbing in the home which you as a home inspector will not typically do. It only hurts your pride for a few moments to say I Do Not Know and once you learn this it makes life as a home inspector so much easier and your clients will appreciate your honestly.