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Scottpat

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  1. Scottpat
    Coal was common in the South as well. It was shipped down the Mississippi river all the way to N.O. When I lived in Mississippi I found old coal burners in many of the older homes. If you find an old shallow fireplace in a bedroom of an old home it most likely had an old coal burner in it. All of the boilers in the various manufacturing plants used coal. Birmingham, Alabama (Birmingham Steel) was a huge user of coal.
  2. Scottpat
    I spoke with Bill Loden, he is about an hour south of me near Huntsville, AL. He said that they are fine but have been told they will be without power for around two weeks. He was out rounding up generators to help family and friends.
  3. Scottpat
    Just curious if anyone has heard from Phillip Smith. He lives in the near the area that was hit yesterday by the storms in Tuscaloosa Alabama. I tried to call his number but it was not working. I know that the power is out to the majority of the area so I'm sure the phones are out as well. Prayers are with everyone effected by the storms.
  4. Scottpat
    Looks like the window on the driveway side is the same.... Erby, I'm betting that the entire neighborhood is like that. The house next door looks the same. I think I would identify what you consider to be a safety issue and then note that they are very low and could present a safety hazard. A person could kick the window and it would break; a child could fall out of an open window, etc.
  5. Scottpat
    That is a vent drip loop. It keeps water from running down the pipe and putting the flame out!
  6. Scottpat
    Backflow preventer, I think..... Just about all of the BP I have found are installed horizontal and not vertical. I can't say I have seen one like you have in the photo.
  7. Scottpat
    So you are saying a water heater can not overheat and explode? What if those fail safe systems fail? Seems like I recall a recent event in Japan where a few fail safe backup systems failed on a little nuclear power plant. []
  8. Scottpat
    Not with a CMU foundation.
  9. Scottpat
    I asked the same question to the builder. He said that it is to keep moisture from wicking up into the sill plate. Yes, the sill is treated wood. I had a termite guy tell me that some builders put the plastic down so that when the CMU is insulated with spray-on cellulose or foam they can come back and remove the plastic and have a clean 6-8" line with no insulation. Honestly, I do not see any good reason for it. Old school before treated wood was to keep the moisture out of the sill plate.
  10. Scottpat
    When I pulled up to inspect this home the AHJ was just leaving from issuing the CO. Do you see anything wrong with the foundation vents from inside the crawlspace? Better yet, do you even see the foundation vent! Click to Enlarge 39.97 KB
  11. Scottpat
    It is just a silly design that really has little chance of being corrected. When I have found a stone(faux) and siding detail like that it is usally covered with a piece of trim that hides the transition of the two materials.
  12. Scottpat
    About the only way that you will get into trouble with what you do or do not put into your reports is if you have a client that gets pissed and sues you! Then you will have another inspector who does EW type work going though your report. Their goal will be to find errors in the report and that is not all that difficult to do on most reports. Many of the items that are listed in the various SoP's can be covered with standard boilerplate as it really does not change that much. You can then note any problem that you find.
  13. Scottpat
    I usually find 2x4's nailed to the roof and half rotted, most of the time around the chimney!
  14. Scottpat
    That is what I thought. The price came up when the buyer (6'6" 300lb little guy) asked me how much I thought he could get for it on Craigslist. The owner chimed in and said it cost him $4,000 about 7 years ago. He did say that he also got if from his brother who owned a plumbing showroom.
  15. Scottpat
    I know that shack! It use to be owned by the Fowler family.
  16. Scottpat
    At yesterdays inspection the home had a bathroom that I would call unique. It had an open shower area and then it had an old fashion style copper bathtub with a tin liner. It was only a few years old and the owner said the tub cost a little over $4,000. Yes, the window were not safety glass and the tub drain leaked in the crawlspace. Click to Enlarge 29.57 KB Click to Enlarge 31.04 KB Click to Enlarge 33.92 KB
  17. Scottpat
    I'm sorry but an app for a smart phone is just not going to get the job done.
  18. Scottpat
    I can't say I agree with those suggestions. Part of the problem with our profession is that folks jump into it with no training. A two week school (COA, ASHI School, or as Nolan noted) would be the way to go to get your feet wet. Then after the school find an inspector that has been in the business for several years and see if you can carry their ladder and help them for about 20-30 inspections. You will learn more this way than anything. TX has some screwy license requirement that you need to research. It is just not a matter of going to a school and getting your license.
  19. Scottpat
    Well, hell! Good catch but you're still not match for WJ! []
  20. Scottpat
    That is just bazaar if it is a radon mitigation system. Was the house on well water? Not that I'm a mitigation specialist but if I recall from my training that is not how you get rid of radon in the water. For some reason I thought that it needed to be aerated prior to entering the house and the radon expelled from the tank that the water was aerated in. Maybe this is some fancy new solution but somehow I don't think so...
  21. Scottpat
    Google is a wonderful tool. I found the GP logo with ease! []
  22. Scottpat
    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foundation
  23. Scottpat
    Kyle I hate it for you, happend to me about 10 years ago while I had my truck parked at a store. My homeowers insurance kicked in as well as my auto insurance to help pay for some of the items.
  24. Scottpat
    They've gotta be kidding. Ya ever read the instructions for owners to test their garage doors?
  25. Scottpat
    I hit the button to see if the motor works and if it has a GFCI that I can find. I do not fill them with water and run them. On a new home that has never been lived in, I will fill them with water and run them for about 10min. I have had a couple just stop (motor burned out) on new construction units. Seems that they do not like sawdust and the like from the home being built!
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