Brian G

Sounds like an all-around bad idea to me. Duh! [:-dunce]

How in the hell do they nail the shingles down on top of the slate? Brian G.

Whatever it represents, it's good to see that attitude in print from the President. I've been reconsidering my own status with ASHI, so that's encouraging. Since I can't seem to get comfortable in or out, I may stay in to work for policies I'd like to see. There's a lot said about it in that article, but I won't light off into the issue of paying realtors for ad space on this thread. Some other time. [:-yuck] Brian G.

I know we're drifting here, but when I was researching PB for a report I ran across this article about the PB thing being overblown (written by a plumbing engineer). http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/file ... ssent.html The little house I was looking at had a lot of PB. The homeowner installed it himself, but when he tried it about halfway through he had leaks all over. He called a plumber-buddy who came by for look and told him he wasn't connecting it correctly. He did it over as instructed, no more leaks. I found none and no signs of any previous leaks (5 years later). Made me wonder... Brian G.

I came back from an inspection this afternoon to find that my faithful Dell would not boot up. It said a particular OS file was "missing or corrupted", and I couldn't get it to do squat. I had a report to write. We reinstalled Windows XP and the Maxtor software, accessed the back-up disk, and told it to copy itself to the C-Drive. All of that took a while, but it worked! I've temporarily lost a few things that weren't backed-up, but not much. Whew! [:-wiltel] I guess I'll try to find some help to fix the original problem early next week, see if I can get it all back. For now, the M.A.X. kept me from being D.O.A. Another tip of the hat to Kurt and Mark for bringing it up in the first place...Gracias gentlemen. [:-tophat] Brian G.

I don't know, but I'll take a flyer at it. They may have liked white chimneys but couldn't keep the top several inches from getting sooty. Maybe they decided to just paint that part black and be done with it (?). Brian G.

I typically recommend replacement around 15 - 20 years. I usually mention the likelyhood of scale and / or a sediment layer, and their affect on efficiency. Water heaters are relatively cheap compared to water damage and / or years of wasted energy. I lean harder on the gas units because there's so much more to go wrong when they get old (disaster potential). Brian G.

Well I'm off to Tampa in the morning, you boys will just have to limp along without me somehow. I'm sure some of you would love to pile in with me, the wife, the phone-addicted girl, and the high-energy / low-patience 6 year old boy for the many long hours of riding in the minivan, but I'm afraid we're full up this time. Maybe next year. [] Brian G. If They Start Singing "99 Bottles", I'm Taking It Right Into a Bridge Abutment [:-crazy]

I hear ya. It's on my list, but not in the top 5 yet. There's no doubt it's a higher level of inspecting, but I'm still mostly occupied with more basic business concerns for the time being. I'll get there. Brian G.

If you can't inspect the coil and it's got some miles on it, warning the client that it might need cleaning is not a cop-out. I lean on it a little more if they have a good-&-dirty air filter, a likely sign that it doesn't get changed much. "Sanitized" is an awfully strong word for this situation though, "clean" should be sufficient (IMHO). I wish they would pass a law requiring easy access to evaporator coils, I'd love to able to inspect every last one. Brian G.

That's a big help, thanks Norm. For some reason I look at those and the term "cone of compression" comes to mind. Norm, was the lot that tight or did they put it that close on purpose? Brian G.

Norm my man, Those files are HUGE. If you could please reduce them (say 100KB or less) and re-post I'd love to check them out. Brian G.

I don't know if it holds any meaning in North Dakota, but down here I always recommend clearance for termite inspection / detection if nothing else. That usually rings a bell with clients in this part of the country. Brian G.