Bobby Ryon

Kilt (with no bloomers) and some of those cool knee socks. No wonder there's always snickering around the base of the ladder when entering/exiting the attic.

You guys are taking this to the extreme. Aluminum foil on your windows is all you need.

Chad: Your cousin ended up a little better than this..... When I used to work for one of the local fire departments, we got a call one summer afternoon to a reported house fire. A neighbor saw "thick black smoke" and called 911. Upon arrival, the first unit reported only smoke from the chimney and cancelled the rest of the response. Inside were two teens that heard there was big money in scrap copper. They had stolen several spools of cable from construction sites and were burning the insulation off in the fireplace. I think all they netted out of their operation was restitution and the opportunity to pick up trash along the highway for a few weekends.

Dryer vent exhaust 14 inches from heat pump condensor unit. I think the architect owns an HVAC maintenance company. Download Attachment: DryerVentHPCondensor.jpg 74.53 KB

Please e-mail me a beer and I'm in too.

Donald: The ones I've seen have had brackets with hooks instead of nails. The brackets have a flat surface for nailing to the decking and two nail like hooks sticking out with the ends bent up to hold the shingle through predrilled holes. Almost every asbestos cement shingle roof I see has been damaged by homeowners and other people unfamiliar with the roof walking on the tiles or from fallen tree limbs. As brittle and easily cracked as these tiles are, I'm surprised we don't hear of more people falling off these roofs. btw....All that I have seen have been installed on steeply pitched roofs. If the hips and valleys aren't damaged, they seem to hold up pretty well, despite the moss growth.

Welcome aboard Mark. Glad to have you.

Hey Scott: How did you go about determining whether or not to use IR imaging? Was it specified by your client? And how would you find someone to hire that has IR equipment when you need it? Thanks....Bobby

Yeah. What Chad said except post a picture of both.

I like to have a blender with me at all times. Really an electric screwdriver is about all you need aside from various battery powered tools like a moisture meter, laser pointer thermometer, gas leak detector, etc.

Hey Ron: I thought I had been missing something all along or had just never run into that type of unit. Thanks....Bobby I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. (self inflicted positive reinforcement)

Ron: Vapor and liquid lines the same size on heat pumps? About 80% of the HVACs I see are heat pumps and I've never seen lines the same size. Do you have more info? Bobby

Ellen: I didn't do it, I swear. I've only done one inspection for a legislator and it had a sewer connection. The State Representative wanted a place to stay in Tallahassee during committee meetings and session and did not want to stay in a hotel. The place was a real winner if you know what I mean. He must have gotten a really good price! btw....I did not get that letter from FABI but I don't do them anyway. Bobby

Mark and George: I've seen it too. Both in garages and interior closet based furnaces/water heaters. I don't guess there was a wall in the garage making this a mechanical room?

I always tell people that other than a visual inspection of the areas containing the tank(s) and drainfield(s), I can't really offer them much in the way of a septic system inspection. I don't use any dyes. I have enough problems not damaging people's houses without adding dye into the equation. I do try and locate the tank(s) with a 3/8 inch 4 foot piece of rebar to show the client where it is and I check the tank and drainfield areas last to see if there is any water percolating up after running the dishwasher and plumbing fixtures. If the house has been vacant, I don't expect to find anything. I generally tell the client they should ask the Seller when they last had the tank pumped and if they'd be willing to split the cost of having it pumped again so a septic system contractor can inspect it before closing. If they ask me about a septic inspection when they book the inspection, I'll offer to make arrangements for a septic contractor to be there to pump and inspect the system. I don't charge extra for that but I've heard some HI's do.

A lot of the 30+ year old homes here had the medicine cabinet, light and outlet combo vanities in the bathrooms. Not uncommon to see one where the vanity and fixtures have been updated and an extension cord is run from a nearby bedroom or hall to the hairdryer on the counter next to the sink.

I like it Kurt. Your new site has a clean look. You might want to put some different pics up for each type of inspection (SF, 2-4 flat, commercial, etc.). My personal preference is that different fonts and font sizes be used sparingly on websites to give to all the pages a consistent look and feel. The font size on your remodeling page is different than the font size on other pages. You might also consider making your email address at the bottom of your pages a "mailto" link that people can click on to send you an email instead of having to copy, paste or write it down. Bobby

Alabama vs. Georgia in a gymnastics showdown? Too bad Valentine's Day just isn't that easy.

You could make an interesting house using only items that washed up on the beaches around here. Bales, old cars from Cuba, inner tubes, life jackets, etc. etc. etc.

Chad: Mike is a great developer. I am a satisfied customer of DevWave's Inspect Express. I copied the text below from a recent reply of mine to a post initiated by Steven Hocksten entitled "Web Site Review Assistance". This has worked very well for me. FROM THE PREVIOUS POST: You can use a lot of descriptive keywords that are recognized by the big search engines but your site visitors will never see. As the search engine bots "crawl" your site, they will pick up on data contained in meta data fields for descriptions, keywords and title fields that are mostly used behind the published part of your web pages. In the html of your page you should include every possible word you can think of that someone could use as a search phrase where you would like your site to show up. Obviously, "home", "homes", "inspection", "inspector", "inspectors", all of the city and county names you cover, etc. should be included. This has worked very well for me. Even though my site is in need of a face lift to reduce the amount of text and increase graphics and photos, I seem to have very good search engine placement and I don't have to pay for it. Be sure to register your website address at www.dmoz.org. All the big search engines access dmoz for new and updated webpages. Feel free to visit my site: www.AtoZHomeInspect.com and click View, Page Source (netscape) or View, Source (internet explorer) and see what types of keywords work for my site.

This chimney spark arrester was sealed around the multi-wall pipe with clear silicone. I don't really know how to write it up. What do you fireplace experts think? Download Attachment: SiliconeChimney.jpg 77.94 KB

Could be a poorly designed roof --- low slope or valley. Maybe there is no drip edge flashing installed.

Congratulations Pete. I have 19 and 16 year old son and a 4 month old daughter. Yep.....I've been recycled. The baby goes to bed at 9:45 pm and sleeps through until we wake her up at 8:00 am. It wasn't that easy with my boys. We've kept her on a strict schedule and it's paying off. We too have been threatened with the Children and Family Services phone call.

I think the logo is a great design and looks clean and professional. I'm just not sure what a potential customer might think the large question mark is supposed to signify.

Seems like I'm by myself in most homes too. When your client doesn't want or need to be there, having access to the home just makes it easier to do the inspection without having to coordinate calendars with agents.