Scottpat

It will melt at around 2300f Of course at this temp the house will be gone!

Jeff, If you are going to the ASHI conference it is in Austin not San Antonio. Same state just a little more Northeast!

Hi Chris, Pretty view! The area I live in has had allot of construction in the flood plains. It took many years for the areas to develop and they were all near the major metro areas. All have been commercial developments, office building and shopping centers no residential construction. If you are away from town, I would think that you would be safe for many, many years. Might be something that your children might need to worry about.

If the Electrician says it is OK then that is what I go by. I don't attempt to overrule them if they have put a statement like that on their company letterhead. It's the licensed electricians butt on the line not yours, unless you say that the electrician is correct. When this comes up and it does a few times a year I simply say, the electrician overrides me as he is the licensed professional in that field and he has backed up his opinion by a written statement. Now if it is not in writing I tell my customer to get it in writing or replace the panel.

I would think that as long as Green Slime does not come out you are in good shape. For some reason I keep on thinking Ghost Busters!

I do the same as Steve, but I use a Dell PDA.

Do you think they might be cultivating some plants[] in the house?

Kevin, As Jim has said it is fine. In my area we see copper all of the time for natural gas. A man named Joe Zabadac(sp), "The Gas Man", has a session that he teaches at various conferences around the country on gas(natural & propane). He says's that the natural gas supply east of the Mississippi is clean and that drip legs are no longer needed he also says that copper can be used. In the same breath he also says that you should visit your local gas supplier, and ask them how clean their gas is and about the use of copper and drip legs. Joe's CYA statement. If you ever get a chance to attend one of his session it is well worth it. I think he is at ITA this week in Vegas. One word about copper; It needs to be protected from damage. It is soft and can be damaged easily.

With inspection software the quality and support of it are in direct relation to the price. Good reporting software will run in the $600 to $900 range depending on the bells and whistles your get. I personally like and use 3D reporting software.

I never see lintels on gable walls. The brick is always sitting on a a beam. It's getting to the point that I seldom see any flashing. I can't tell you how many homes I find with the shingles tucked into the mortar. Example: Download Attachment: No flashing.JPG 106.49 KB

I drive a 2001 crew cab F150, but I have given serious thought of changing to one of the following; 1. Honda Element $18,000 to 24,000 -- Don't really care for the side door configuration 2. Honda CRV $18,000 to 26,000 -- Can't find much wrong with this one 3. KIA Sorento(sp) $17,000 to $21,000 -- Can't find much wrong with this one either and has a great warranty. I do want all wheel drive on whatever I get.

Nope, I do not light anything if it is off other than a gas cooktop or stove.

The US Army imported this stuff over from China in the early 1900's to stop erosion and also for a low cost high fiber cattle and horse feed. Well it does stop erosion but the cow's and noting else will eat it!

Central Mississippi! Last year we had a storm just tear up a subdivision of homes in the $250,000 to $600,000 range. I had never seen EIFS pounded off of a home or HVAC condenser units(fins) destroyed. Broken windows and skylights were common. Yet you could go a mile in any direction and have hardly if any damage.

Carpet/Pad and Paint as Matt said is about the only thing left. I don't think moisture is an issue in your area?

Brian if you want to see hail damage just come on down Southwest about 120 miles to Madison. I am starting to think that the City of Madison, MS is the hail center of the South. Over the past 8 years I know of 5 major hails storms. The fun thing is when I go and inspect a home in an area I know it was hit hard with hail and the owners have not replaced the roof but have pocketed the money. Talking about some squealing and whining! It has also been a learning experience with hail damage. I have learned that the damage may not show up for more than a year after the impact depending on the size and hardness of the hail stones.

Paul, I live right on the Trace(my company is named after it) and it is beautiful just don't speed. The Park Rangers are kind of serious about the 50mph speed limit on the Natchez Trace.

Looks like a Bougainvillea gone wild. We only have them in pots as they don't like the cold.

Just had my water heater replaced (in the attic)for $760. I was not about to attempt it and would have paid just about anything the plumber wanted!

I wish I still had the picture of a Wisteria vine pulling an arbor away from the house that it was attached on. This vine had to be around 6" at the base, no telling how much it weighed. Paul, if you want some Kudzu, just let me know I can bring some over in January when I come over for InspectionWorld!

Not me. As long as it is within three feet of the appliance it is OK.

I have seen "Virginia Creeper" cause damage on just about everything grows on. Also "Asiatic Jasmine" ground cover is very invasive and I have seen it snake into a wall and increase the moisture in that wall to a point that the paint starts sloughing off.

Brian, It makes you appreciate our little "Podunk" Law donit!

Bruce, I am not sure if the HomeSafe folks will be at the ASHI InspectionWorld conference, I invited them and gave them the contact information. I hope they decide to attend, they do have some neat ideas and concepts. I feel like I already own a part of the company as much of the equipment was developed with the help Ole Miss and my tax dollars! From what I have seen we will have a good number of vendors with IR cameras and I think a manufacture or two of the IR cameras in attendance at IW this year.

How do you recover the cost of the IR camera. Cost recovery for the XRF analyzer was a big issue when Lead Testing became a hot issue a few years back, I jumped into lead testing with an XRF and learned quickly that the fees I could charge (based on what the consumer was willing to pay)were not offsetting the expense of the device. I just don't see the advantage for the consumer on a residential inspection. What I see is a new homeowner who is under impression that their new home is 100% OK, because our inspector used a machine that could see inside of the walls. As an expert witness who only works to defend home inspectors I can see this being a big issue. This is in the same line of thinking as the use of a CO detector and one of the reasons my client will never see me use my CO meter, I don't want them thinking that their inspection was technically exhaustive, and I am afraid the use of a IR thermal imaging camera is just that. I agree that this it is the most advanced tool an inspector could have and as good as the equipment is and the person reading the data being provided they can still be fooled or the inspector can still miss something. An example: A few weeks ago I was called in for a second opinion on a home that the first inspector used a IR camera on a single family two story home. The first inspector reported that the roof was leaking and that the wall cavity was wet on a second floor room. A roofing contractor was called by the owner and they could not find any leaks. The area in question had no windows or other penetrations. The interior ceiling followed the roof line similar to a cathedral ceiling. When I got to the house I had no idea what the other inspector had said or reported on or that they had used a IR camera. All I knew was that they had reported a roof leak. One of the first things I noticed was the room below the area of roof in question was a little warmer. I was showing about an 7 degree higher difference in the room than the rest of the upstairs. I shot the Raytek into the HVAC registers and one of the registers along a wall that followed the roof line showed 82f and the other two showed 61f. So I pulled out my trusty screwdriver and removed the grill from the register and found the air duct half way connected. It was shooting cold air into the wall cavity and it was being pushed up the ceiling between the framing. This was the so called roof leak, it had fooled the IR camera and the first inspector relied on the camera instead of doing a little more investigation. So I was paid for a half days work and millage for me to spend about fifteen minutes showing that the first inspector made a mistake, because they depended on their IR device too much. They also went through a week of training and passed the NHIE. My mind is open to the use of IR imaging, it has uses, I have even hired a person to use a IR camera on commercial roofing inspection but this was all that this company does. My advice is if you are going to use a IR camera on residential inspections is not to rely heavily on the information obtained and to use you instinct and skills before you commit yourself in your report. PS, Aaron if you are the Aaron in Bruce's post you did buy into a franchise if you are using the HomeSafe system.