Charlie R

I have been using the FLIR E-6 for about a year, easy to use, no issues. Resolution is OK, certainly helps find issues.

You might want to try calling all the home inspectors in your area. Ask if anyone is thinking of retiring or getting out of the business soon. If you can find an inspector who has a fairly successful business but is thinking of getting out, you may be able to come to some agreement with the inspector about taking over the business, getting that business website and phone number, with an introductions to people. Get to go along on some inspections, get the tools, all sorts of advantages if you can find the right person.

Get a few coffee mugs with your company name/phone number printed on them. Get a few hundred pens printed up with your company name, phone number, and e-mail address on them. Walk into all your local realtor offices and place a coffee mug filled with pens on their front desk, smile, and walk away. Donuts on the side are optional.

Possibly a poor mix, too wet, could have been poured with the temperatures too low, the concrete is hot when you pour but if it got down into the teens that night you can have freeze spots that turn into cracks. Won't show up for years. Can also be that the rebar was rusted, did you see any spalling? That is usually the rebar (reinforcing rods).

He will be missed, condolences to the family.

I just did two different homes this week with the same boiler set-up - multiple zones, one was two floors, one three. Both boilers were running in the low 20s. I ran all the zones for about an hour, pressure never really fluctuated. All's good.

What labels should I see in the corner of impact resistant glass for high wind areas - ASTM 1996 & ASTM 1886? This type of glass is not normally found in my inspection area but I am looking at a home next week that says in the listing that the home was built with impact resistant glass and the client has asked me to look at the windows to see if it really is that rating or just tempered glass. TIA

Any more news on this?

I have run into that on new construction a couple of times. I thought another fan would be needed in the main bath area as the windows were fixed panel, but I was over ruled by the county inspector. At the time, the county inspector said you could turn the fan on and leave the toilet closet door open. I still recommended to the client to just install another fan, the client most likely did not listen to me.

Nope, everything else, including the two other toilets, were fine. I flushed it 3 times to get the temp up to that.

Cold weather commode Click to Enlarge 38.44 KB

One thing that can be taken from this article is that even if you operate in a jurisdiction where the judges will uphold the "Limits of Liability" clause, if you don't send your agreement out ahead of time, with that clause in bold print, then when the person suing you says to the judge, " the inspector put the papers in front of me and told me to sign so I did", then you can expect that clause to go right out the window. Always send your agreements out ahead of time (and a copy of the SOP you use), and have the agreement signed before the inspection, if possible. Judge may still go against you but, when you run a business, there is no sense in inviting trouble.

I like to carry the old style 6' wooden folding rule - you can make it stand on it's on when getting a picture, use it to hook the sump float. use it as a pointer, etc. Also, a cotter pin tool, great for probing wood, pulling up sump lids, carpet, etc.

I've been using the O-Light M22 and thinking of buying the M20sx to have around the house. Got a couple of old Fenix but stopped using them on inspections because the tail switches kept going bad. They all use the rechargeable 18650.

Dang Chad, that got a chuckle from me!

What is required and what the mason actually did are usually two different things. Like Mark wrote, the crown was sealed to the clay flue which lifted up due to expansion while the block of the chimney did not lift. I like how it actually broke the one block loose and lifted that block also. Good pics.

Never ran into a Ford water heater either. Thanks.

First one I've ever seen, I called them and they had no records on a CF30F. I guessed it as made in 1995. Anyone have anything definitive? TIA Click to Enlarge 35.31 KB

Some things about your sample report - the more you write, the less your client will read. Why tell them the square footage of the home, the number of baths and bedrooms, they already know. And you may end up in an argument about how many bedrooms as Realtors will list closets as bedrooms. "The shingles are missing or damaged--" Which is it? Picture shows some lifted shingles, no missing. The main panel is rated as 150 amp, but is that the amperage of the service? Doesn't say that, just says the panel rating. And, according to the NEC, we have 120/240 volt services, not 110/220. Don't you have to provide any info on the type of grounding or bonding? The garage door failed the anti-entrapment test, why no picture of it squeezing that 2x4? You got all these pictures of what I think are OK receptacles being tested - why? And think about just telling people what to do - "Hire a --" or "Clean out the" instead of "I recommend" or "I suggest", especially on life/safety issues. I know it was too cold to test the A/C but what is the brand/date of manufacture/tonnage? Manufacturer dates on the heating and water heater? I am not familiar with the SC SoP so some of this may be off base. Take this post as intended - to help, but you can feel free to disagree. That is the beauty of owning one's own business.

Do you have a sample report that can be seen from your website? If so that will give people a chance to see what they will be getting. Also, you may ask a few experienced inspectors to review that sample first.

Here is a good explanation on inspecting panels with tandem breakers installed - http://www.structuretech1.com/2012/02/t ... -breakers/

Tandem breakers count as two breakers. The diagram in the photo indicates a maximum of 40 breakers and I'm counting more than 40 breakers in the panel so the panel is in violation of the manufacturer's instruction. "Hire a licensed electrician to - - - "

Could be some condensate issues too - cold and wet outside, warm in the home.

Perhaps I missed it somewhere, but are all the block walls that are below grade painted? If not, prime and paint them with a semi-gloss latex paint, that will seal the walls.

Denray - I have seen the opposite happen some times where the smoke from the fireplace will get drawn down a combined furnace/water heater vent. The fire is drawing air from the home, and if the home is too tight, the home draws make-up air back down the water heater vent, and you end up with smoke in the area of the water heater which in the two cases I looked at, was the basement. When the people tried a fire and slightly opened a window on the floor where the fire was located, no problem.