gtblum

Sure. Follow the money and the guy with the loudest voice. That's pretty much how everything goes. I saw a similar opinion of the same Jerry's talking about, a few years ago. I think it was from a study done at a well known university. Mark, Don't decay rates alter half lives dramatically? Isn't it a flip of the coin whether or not radon might or might not cling to particulates? Going back to what Dirks said. There's really no way to prove it, given the number of other things humans are exposed to and have different tolerances for during the course of a life time. My personal favorite is second hand smoke. Impossible to prove. You can't smoke in the grandstands during a tractor pull or an auto race, (except Indy, where anything goes) but don't worry about the exhaust and brake dust. that's good for you, I guess.

My brother in law is a Radiological Engineering Supervisor at one of the local nuke plants. Someone who actually deals with this stuff on a daily basis. The guy is a very low key individual who usually doesn't bother getting involved on controversial discussions. Since there is a spot in one plant that has a radon problem, and they never seem too concerned about it, or even mentioned it while 1200 of us sat through days of mandatory rad worker training required to enter the gate, I asked him about his opinion of home inspector testing methods. He laughed, and likened the most common methods used to be right on par with that of mold testing. I don't remember the whole conversation about half lives and the wild chance of radon surviving long enough on a particulate that might be ingested. I won't pretend I do. I do remember him saying, without a full years worth of careful monitoring, under very controlled conditions, tests results would be pretty much, worthless. I can tell you this much. It likes to cling to plastic badges, safety glasses and helmets. They have a nice big fan to stand in front of, to blow it off you before you enter the monitors to exit the RCA.

I heat with only a stove. Haven't run the furnace in at least eight years. I think most of what you're seeing is incidental. Looks pretty normal, and pretty clean, to me. I make a habit of having a chimney fire every day, to prevent real one from occurring.

I guess I still didn't get the right angle? It's easier to see in person. Everything is directed away from that area. Not toward it. That's why I now think, it had to be from years of someone packing snow and salt against it. I just don't see run off damaging a vertical plane like that without seeing evidence of any erosion or other related deterioration. Maybe they tried to clean it with a hydro laser?

You forced me into taking a three minute ride back to this place. [] The house was built in 85. It all looks original to me. I appreciate the input. You guys made me re-think about what was there. That's why we come here. Click to Enlarge 60.98 KB Click to Enlarge 73.18 KB Click to Enlarge 58.95 KB

What's the difference? If it's screwed up one way, it's screwed up. Let an electrician figure it out!

Let's say they are. What then? The landing isn't, and those blocks are so far gone, it's not likely they would've needed to replace the steps without replacing the blocks, right?

I agree. Sometimes, all it takes is the input of others to turn on the light bulb and see the obvious. We are all creatures of habit, and since it's not an event to have five inches of snow, or more for days or weeks at a time around here, It's likely the snow was always pushed off of the steps, in the direction away from the driveway, which would allow for any excess salt used to melt the build up of ice on the step below the roof without a gutter system, to be packed against the block under the slab. Blah Blah blah. What do you think?

It eats only block? What chemical reaction is this? Marc No. It will tear the top off of a sidewalk flag. I think that's what puzzled me. I'm used to seeing damaged walkways and concrete porch decks. Not that, though.

Thanks guys. I considered that, but as you can see, the steps slope away from the damage and the steps are fine. I suppose it wouldn't take much to eat the block, once it got going. Interesting. I've never seen that before. Probably should've included this, as well. Click to Enlarge 47.7 KB

Anyone have a clue what might have caused the deterioration of these concrete blocks? Just a bad batch? There's no evidence of anything that might have contributed to this. Click to Enlarge 63.43 KB

[]

If it's raining that hard, I usually just drive on the lawn, and check out the stuff I can reach from the window of the truck. Rain gear?

Kind of surprised by him. He's no dummy. He regularly contributes to wood web.com. He should know better. On the other hand, I suppose we should be grateful for his suggestions, and attempt at warning his readers of the inherent conflict of interest that plagues this so called profession, since we as a group have no ambition to do so. Shame on us, again.

Check this out. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/oklaho ... ar-panels/

I'd proceed out the door I came in. You okay, man? []

Yup! Wild hogs have made it to New York State. I love bacon.

I don't disagree with that. However, You know damn well they're going to bring the nonsense our way, anyway. So, why not jump in, stand up to these guys with some documentation, and settle it before they have a chance to weasel out of it and run their mouths behind your back in an attempt to discredit you, like people will? Your client probably won't stand a snowball's chance in hell of explaining it on their own. They'll likely appreciate your effort, and gain confidence in knowing they hired the right guy. They won't forget it. I'd rather they told ten people I stood my ground for them, than give the contractor a chance to tell a hundred people, I didn't know what I was talking about.

What a waste! Every bit of that woodwork could be used elsewhere.

I have a pile of cut-offs laying on the ground for over 12 years. They only have the factory primer and have untreated field-cut ends. I could pick up any of these scraps and install it like it was a new piece without concern. Tom Raymond and I saw a piece delaminate into shards in a cup of water, in about four hrs, at a CE class. I've seen pieces that were installed in close contact to the ground, that were shot. Who knows what you might see? Might be ok for one timers who'll study the most recent rule book and take their sweet time but, I'm not so sure about the same results for a contractor with a schedule and an ant farm full of new houses to complete.

John, Do you have to go back and forth between the file and the report template to drop pictures into the strip on the right? I don't understand the steps needed to include a picture. With HG you load the pics into a regular file from the camera. When you start a report, you load that file to the report. Every picture you took, is on the side strip whether you plan to use it or not. If you inspect the house in the same order as you set up the report template, the strip follows the order as you go down through it. It's a simple matter of opening the chosen picture, adding arrows or whatever, and dropping it. There's always a stray here and there that you might have added and have to fish for but, for the most part you really don't have to chase after them. When I'm done, I drop the report PDF in the picture file with a scan of the paperwork and it's done. Saved in one file. Erby, I tried to run one this morning by dropping the pictures first. It slowed me down. I've been doing it within sections for a while, and that works for me. Trying to drop them through the whole report first, doesn't for me. Did I misunderstand what you meant?

Try this. http://www.repairclinic.com/

You don't need to buy anything. Just keep digging into it and create your own. It teaches you the tricks in the tutorial. I've changed mine to the point where it's mine. I also have separate templates for multi family and commercial. You can transfer your boiler to any of them with a click. Once they're part of that template, they stay there. And, if you need more help, go to the HG forum, or just call them. They're real good about walking you through things until you get it.

I just learned that trick, myself. I also leave the picture file open, so I can pop it up to find them faster, look for the picture number if need one I know is out of sequence, or to just open it to look at detail in a larger size. Like the serial number on a water heater. Erby, I'm getting a little tired of this snow. Are you hiring?

Isn't that something the agents should already be aware of?