Inspectorjoe

WAG: Not corrosion but minute brick particles deposited from a wet saw?

They did offer - several times. I have to admit, I wasn't a happy camper at the start. I was mostly pissed at myself because I've stopped sending an email to buyers, asking them to limit the number of people attending. They all turned out to be very nice people. The buyers were a young couple. Their agent suggested they get an inspection done. It was a short sale on a 13 year old modular. The big problems were piling up when I discovered there was no weather barrier behind the siding. At that point, one of the dad's said the deal was off. Luckily for them, the radon test, water tests, septic inspection, hydraulic load test and septic pumping hadn't been done and could be cancelled. They ended up writing me a check for only $445 instead of $1,665. They were very appreciative. The dozen or so hangers-on are now a dozen potential referral sources. The morning turned out far different than I had anticipated. Click to Enlarge 61.23?KB Click to Enlarge 39.2?KB Click to Enlarge 41.55?KB

....when you pull up to find the buyers already there, with four cars-full of relatives and a breakfast buffet set up. Click to Enlarge 53.84 KB

I find the checklist format of that report confusing. I read it through once and skimmed through two times after that, but didn't come up with a real feel for the house - what the issues are and what to do about them. The unchecked and unnecessary items add to the jumble. My advice is to scrap that format and go to a narrative or semi narrative format. The agreement states "PAYMENT OF THE INSPECTION FEE IS DUE UPON COMPLETION OF THE INSPECTION." Then it goes on to spell out the terms if the fee isn't paid within 10 days. That''s kind of giving permission to pay later. I'd just state that the report won't be released until full payment is received.

Turn the breaker off and call an appliance dealer that has a good service department. This isn't a problem to diagnose on a message board.

I think that project is dead. They shot the pilot, but it bombed in front of test audiences. [utube] " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344">

Ha ha! I missed that. Where he's from, souls are made of sticky red clay.

I got an email from Horace the other day saying they acted on my concern and added my phone number to the end of the video. That's funny, how could I have missed it? I looked at the video again, to find it was exactly the same - it ended with Radalink's 800 number and then a 440 area code that I didn't recognize. I had assumed it was a Radalink number. I looked it up to find it belonged to an inspection company in Willoughby Ohio. At least they tried. I looked at a few videos posted after mine and they all ended with the individual affiliate number, so it looks like this is now their standard ending. That I can live with - as long as it's my number, not that of an inspection company in a neighboring state.

Radalink has made a promotional video available to its affiliates. They'll customize it for $10 - free for the first 25 customers. One thing about the sample that was assinine, was at the end, it says call Radalink to schedule your radon test, and gives their numbers. I emailed my dislike for that, but the finished product still has it. Also, it's hosted on Radalink's YouTube channel, instead of me having the actual file and being able to put it on my channel. Still, for being free, I can't be too critical. Is anyone else using this video? Erby??? If so, what do you plan on doing with it? www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__Wzbnstgo

Many similar books are available for free. Here's one published in 1903, that I've owned since I was about 14 (I was a strange kid). Maxims and instructions for the boiler room. Useful to engineers, firemen & mechanics, relating to steam generators, pumps, appliances, steam heating, practical plumbing, etc. http://www.archive.org/details/maximsin ... 00hawkrich

I don't see a problem if they're on the For Sale or Swap board. So far everything has been loosely inspection related.

I agree Garet. In fact, that's the same thing I said on my Facebook page this morning. Freaky! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... =1&theater

Reminds me of a confusing valley/chimney arrangement I recently had. Click to Enlarge 78.2 KB

It's come to that, Rupert?

Tom, I think there is an exception if a fire extinguisher is located near the source of the gas. Click to Enlarge 52.02 KB

Nolan, shhhhh. It's an upgrade. I'm selfless enough to do her first. [:-angel]

David, that Republic Wireless concept is intriguing, but it has a fatal flaw. One way they can price it so low is that it uses Wi-Fi for voice and data when it's available. If you're on the phone when transitioning between WiFi and cellular or vice-versa, the call gets dropped. I'm glad your son is happy with Straight Talk. That makes two people that I know of so far. From the lack of replies, I gather that prepaid plans aren't too popular with home inspectors. I hate to be the guinea pig when trying something new, so I came up with an idea. I think I'll switch my wife over to Straight Talk first, and see how it works out for her.

As much as I hate giving money to a company connected to Walmart, I'm considering dropping Sprint and moving to a Straight Talk prepaid plan. $45 a month supposedly gives me unlimited minutes, text and web access. It would cut my current monthly bill in half. One downside is there is no roaming, so if I go outside the carrier service area (Straight Talk uses the Sprint network for their Android service), I'd have no connection. That shouldn't be much of a problem, because Sprint coverage is good in my area. I'm not a heavy data user: mainly just email, schedule checking and radon monitor data uploading. My stepdaughter uses Straight Talk and is happy with it. I'm thinking that something that sounds too good to be true usually isn't. I don't want to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire to save $45 a month. Does anyone use prepaid cellular? Does it meet your needs?

Nice client or not, I wouldn't have hesitated to come out with a no - especially concerning something I couldn't test that was capable of inflicting severe injury. I'd also have taken the request as a minor insult.

This just made my day. On the page, click on the video 'Two Classics, One Car'. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/autom ... .html?_r=1

It is indeed designed to slide back and forth. I didn't try to move it, but I'm guessing that with a little beeswax, it would would be as good as new. Download Attachment: 1 126.jpg 668.25 KB

Check out this workbench that I found at Thursday's inspection. It doesn't contain a bit of metal. 19th century IKEA! Click to Enlarge 60.51 KB Click to Enlarge 61.72 KB

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom, Bill. Please accept my condolences. Because the power has been out, the inspection was rescheduled for today. The owner had moved out many months ago, but he stopped by at the beginning of the inspection. Turns out, he's a very well-known local architect, now in his 80's, and he designed the conversion. I can't imagine why he didn't take care of those issues at the start. To do it now would be a nightmare, not the least of the problems being matching the finishes. Thanks for everybody's responses.

Hi Harry, welcome. Hey, have you ever heard of something called the Merus ring? This is from a demo on their website: "The Merus Ring is made out of two halves of a treated alloy. The two halves can easily be installed on the outside of a pipe as a collar. Once the Merus Ring is installed, it automatically starts to emit different kind of oscillations. As can be seen in the movie, for each problem there is a dedicated oscillation to fight a specific problem. The red oscillation fights rust and corrosion, the black one fights calcium carbonate and other salts, the green one is fighting microbiological problems such as bacteria, algae or bio-fouling." What do you think of this device Harry? I found a lot of discussions about it though a Google search. I read many opinions that the MERUS ring can't possibly work, the MERUS ring lacks any scientific validity, the MERUS ring is a complete waste of money and even the MERUS ring is a fraud and a swindle. Also, the general consensus seems to be that a person hawking the MERUS ring would be the modern equivalent of snake oil salesman.

I'm sad and glad for you and wish you the best of luck. Something's got to give in this country ..... soon.