Scottpat

Scott - Anybody can be found these days. Especially a high profile guy like you. I plan on using my Indian name![] Large Blading Eagle of the Choctaw nation!

I think that the vast majority of us who have E&O have a claims made policy. Last I heard Allen was the only one still writing an occurrence policy, but I'm sure others might do it as well. As for tail coverage; I see little need in it. When I close shop my company will be dissolved and it will be dang hard for anyone to find me! [] I see little to no benefit in paying extra for an occurrence policy. Of course I also have only term life insurance. I look at an occurrence policy as the whole life insurance of the E&O market!

Yep... NAHI pulled out of the talks and the task force was dissolved. No, reason was give by NAHI as to why they did not want to proceed any further. It should be noted that many ASHI chapters still welcome their NAHI counterparts at their meeting and some of those meetings are even joint meetings.

That's not good.. VA has a state license that forbids home inspectors that are licensed from working on stuff they have inspected.

I made my own many years back when I started my inspection business. I acquired 4" to 6" sections of various gauges of wire and attached one end to a piece of wood that I had drilled holes in. I have long lost it, but I only used it for a few months. After awhile you can see a wire and know its size

I had an AC unit that was jammed tightly against a brick wall a while back. I was sure it was wrong and looked it up. The manufacturer allowed reduced clearances on one side (I believe it was 6"). The installer either knew that, or got lucky as right at the minimum. Just figured I would post to say that it's a good idea to take a picture of the data plate so you can go home and look things up like this. I could have guessed, and written it up as wrong. I would have looked like a fool. That is a very good point. On this unit the manufacturer required 12" along that side.

Let me know what I'm right and wrong about. 1. No legs under the heat pumps Built into the base of the unit 2. Units are sharing the same disconnect/breaker? That's hard to believe. Nope, each had their own breaker 3. Cement slab has good drainage but it's sloped the wrong way (likely settled). Nope, it is sloped away from the house 4. I'm not sure about the clearance on the far unit between the unit and the fence. The fence clearance was an issue. Only eight inch clearance on the far side. 5. I would have done something different with the termination of the drain line. OK Does this house have electric or gas back-up heat? Electric was popular around the Bowling Green, Kentucky area. Some gas back-up. Electric supplemental heat

How about this pad? It is a beautiful concrete slab and the units are heat pumps. Actually, this photo is showing a few things, but the pad is what I wanted to show. Click to Enlarge 62.65 KB

Those supports do not look like anything I have seen that is approved for PEX pipe. The manufacturers have specific holders, not hangers.

One of the common things I see are several bags of drywall mud (removed from the box) and placed on the floor and then the tub is set on top forming a pad of sorts.

About the only time I get permission to use a moisture meter is when I do an EIFS inspection. Even with that I patch the holes back to a point that it is almost impossible to see the holes. Like Steven, if I'm using a moisture meter it is for a good reason and most likely the area already has some type of damage. A good noninvasive meter will tell you if you have high, med high, med med low or low levels of moisture. In our profession that is about all we need to know. Now if you are testing concrete for moisture levels, then you have to drill and place the probes in the holes. My meters of choice and what I use are the Tramex Moisture Encounter, Protimeter SM and Delmhorst (J-10 I think). They all have a specific use in my book. If I had to select just one meter it would be the SM.

Well, if you had your crystal ball polished up you could tell what was wrong! [] Now if this was a newer home and still had the bulbs that the builder installed, I would just chuck it up to the bulbs just burning out. They were all installed at the same time so it would be logical to think that they will start to burnout around the same time, depending on usage.

That is another good reason not to put plastic up on the joist, instead of the ground!

He claims that the nails are hot and self seal against the roofing. I say it's BS. Chris, Oregon Tell him that you researched and you can not find anything about "Hot nailing". Ask him to provide you with documentation from the shingle manufacturer saying that "Hot nailing" is OK and does not need sealing. I bet he can't find anything..

I have a spam/junk mail filter from my domain host (www.hostmonster.com), it cost $12 per year per email address. 98% of the junk mail is stopped at my host and I never see it except in a single report that I get every day. I have a specific email address for my site, and I definitely get 100% more spam to that address than any other.

Try this link for the NHIE exam content outline http://www.homeinspectionexam.org/docum ... ew2009.pdf

Walter is being a little modest.... One of the folks we moved to TN with owns a streaming video company that specializes in the music profession. He told me how to find Walter! Like to a site with a video http://www.tennesseeconcerts.com/jam02_2009.html And the man himself! Click to Enlarge 170.06 KB

What type of system are you talking about?

Erby, last year I had a house with almost identical brick damage. The house was less than a year old. The owner discovered that the builder used cheap Mexican brick that was underfired and had impurities in the mix. You could walk around the house and see the chips on the ground. It was more pronounced along the mortar lines due to the mortar being harder than the brick. I found a good deal of information at www.gobrick.com

When I was a teenager we had a power company substation in our subdivision, for some unknown reason we thought it was fun to stick old fluorescent light bulbs along the fence with tape a few times a year. They would all start glowing as soon as we got within a few feet of the fence that went around the substation. We use to spell words out on the fence (Stop the War, Peace and Flower Power,etc....were the common ones).

I had a pair many years back. They scared the heck out of me because they allowed me to go places I would not normally go. I also noted that they made my knees hurt and even swell, from the torque that was exerted on them due to the slope I could navigate. I used them for a few months and then stopped due to knee problems.

Using contractors for systems you do not inspect or the $15 Brinks program?

How long does the free pool inspection take? The guy I recommend needs about 2 hours to inspect the pool and equipment. I don't inderstand how a quality inspection can be done for free. The last one that I used the company on lasted about an hour and a half. It was a good size pool with three pumps and filters for the different levels of the pool. They had about a dozen or so things that needed to corrected. Heck, it sure beats me doing the dang thing. I'm sure that it they were not getting the chemical and monthly service contract they would not be doing them for free. I do know that if an individual homeowner calls that they will charge them $100 for the inspection, but if an inspector calls and sets it up then it is free. Kind of like the pest control service I have on my home. As long as I have a service contract with them, they will also spray my yard for weeds and fertilize it for free. I asked the technician how they could afford to do this and he said it cost them about $7 in chemicals to do the yard, three times a year. They use it as a Lost Leader just to make them more of value added service. Since I have used them I have gotten just about all of the neighbors on our street to use them. Just like us, it is word of mouth marketing.

I can agree in part, but in the end all that the pool and alarm company wants is the service contract. This is what they make their money on, the inspection is just to find items that need repair and to show that they can provide a good service.

I know nothing about alarm systems, and I'm inspecting homes with systems that cost in excess of $30,000 on multi-million dollar homes. They are not typical and cover everything from wine vaults, outside motion detectors, pool alarms, automatic gate controls, etc. I also have homes with $500 systems. I guess I could use any alarm company, but I chose Brinks and I have not had any problems. It is simple, I call them and tell them I need them to be at the home at X time and date. They produce a report on what is wrong, I have never seen or heard a sales pitch from the techs that do the inspection. I have elected to not accept the $15 fee. When I have a client that wants a pool/spa inspection, I pretty much do the same thing. I call the company and set it up. I have a company that does not charge for pool inspections and I pass that along.