Terence McCann

Download Attachment: Fairweather003Small.jpg 66.13 KB

Might be a little hard to see in the picture but the siding on the front of the home is a manufactured wood siding. Technical/manufactures name for this stuff? Thanks in advance. Download Attachment: FairweatherSmall.jpg 62.75 KB

Hmmm, could swear it's sandstone however, could be wrong. Will need to investigate more. Any links on old foundations and how to identify etc? Tanks.

Hi Don: Try here, lots-o-info. American Standard US Product Info and Installation Instructions

I opened up the panel to the right of the one in the picture and found 3 or 4 empty nut shells before I opened up the one in the picture. There were missing knockouts in both of these panels & he was going back and forth using these. My client was a younger woman who was there with her parents. I wasn't startled until she let out a scream that damn near made me hit my head on the joists. Download Attachment: Summit Ave004Small.jpg 70.35 KB

Inspected a home built in 1874 today. Most of the exterior doors had the paint cracking in the small 2x2 square type of pattern. The realtor said that a home inspector once told her that this was a sign of lead paint. I replied that although I would think lead paint had been used in the home at some point the cracking pattern would most likely be do to lack of a primer base coat, improper exterior paint and weathering. Truth or urban legend on this pattern and lead paint? Thanks,

Thanks all: Kurt, I believe that it sandstone. Pretty common in this area for the older homes. I'm sure you see pretty much the same thing up there. The home had gutters that were dumping on the ground approximately 4' or so from the home.

Kurt: One opening could be considered a source for makeup air however, this topic would then turn full circle and we would be back at Dan's question regarding fart fans. What does code say about exhausting your makeup air?

Hello all: Inspected a home built in 1900 yesterday. The foundation material was stone (full basement). On the outside, right at the soil line & moving up approximately 6" - 8" I noticed the outside of the stone was crumbling in certain areas. Does anyone make a epoxy material that could be applied to help stop/curb the erosion? Thanks,

Hi Jim: It was either here or the ASHI site. They ran the duct to the soffit vent and the roof sheathing had quite a bit of mold on it. The discussion was centered around soffit vents being intakes and not an exhaust vent. I think we went on to discuss if it was ok to terminate the duct at a ridge vent or other high exhaust opening.

It's the next best thing to duct tape when they start to leak.

You got that right, I remember my first home inspection too! [:-eyebrows]

ITA takes care of printing my business cards and brochures (although I'm sure they farm this out) & Asha has done a great job with them. Very professional and I couldn't beat their price locally for the same stock. http://www.home-inspect.com/

Thanks again all, last question.... On older homes, where asbestos is suspected, do you point out areas that *might* contain asbestos? Mr. Purchaser, floor tiles of this era were likely manufactured with asbestos material, suggest testing, or, fine if left alone but if remodel is in the future test? I guess that would get into a whole discussion on where to start and where to stop. Lead paint possibility etc. As pointed out before in other discussions, if you move one piece of furniture to look at something why not all? Light the pilot on hot water tank, why not the furnace kind of thing. On a side note, just picked up my first pair of bi-focals. Really hard to get use to. How the age creeps up, I'm pretty sure it was yesterday that my father and I were tossing around a baseball in the backyard.

HP Jornada Brian, battery life is more than enough to get you through an inspection (as long as you turn it on and off as necessary). HP has always provided pretty good tech support as well.

I use 3D as well Brian and like it a lot. I however, still can't get use to the handheld. I've tried to use it on a few occasion and found that: 1) Handhelds that do not have a keyboard are next to impossible to type with. You have to use a pop-up keyboard and then tap all the letters. It took less time just to input everything on the laptop after the inspection. 2) Importing pictures still had to be done with the laptop for printing but from Scott's post it would appear that they now have PDA's that can take pictures as well. That would be a big plus. 3) In 3D they have "standard paragraphs" which you can import into a report. These are your custom boilerplates. In the PDA version of 3D you don't have this option (to the best of my knowledge.) I use my standard boilerplate on all of my reports for things I find in a home sooooo, that puts me back at the laptop. I've tried to use my PDA and then sync it with the laptop on an inspection but it took more time than just cranking up the laptop. Last but not least is cost factor. I use my PDA for contacts, scheduling appointments and tasks. Works great when you sync with MS Outlook. It would really bug me if I dropped it or crushed it or in some other way damaged it while climbing through a home. Other than the PDA thing I really like 3D. It also makes a great marketing tool.

Ok guys, thanks. Back to ceiling tile question, was asbestos used often in the manufacturing of these 1x1 tiles?

I'll be damned. I didn't know that we could import asbestos material from Canada, I truly thought that all asbestos was illegal here.

When (year) did they stop using asbestos in homes? More to the point, I know that some 1x1 ceiling tiles, the kind you would find in a basement rec room contained them (or the adhesive). I'm thinking 58-59, no later than 60? Thanks in advance.

That was fun, thanks!

Also, should the electrical plug be a GFCI?

Yes Dave, how about a clue. You didn't show us what was right above the mousetrap. Man's early attempts at an automatic garage door opener?

Rob: Great eyes, upon closer examination I saw the fire ant killer sticker. Amazing powers of observation... It is hinged, with springs, to take up on any movement. It has to be a friction wheel of some sort. Retractable car port cover?

Hi Rob: Off the motor, right in front, is a gear reduction transfer case. I don't think the larger sprocket is attached to a torque converter but it does look like it now doesn't it. BTW, I like ant trap. Or Aunt trap.

Hey Willie: Just kiddin' around however, you can, at anytime, UPS some up here! BTW, did you try that rib recipe at all?