John Kogel

I used Excel a lot when I was doing forestry work. Everything is a cell, so every page is made up of rows of cells. Each cell has a name, and you can instruct each cell or whole rows or columns of cells to do things. Excel never makes a mistake in simple arithmetic. Like you say, pictures can be arranged by which cells they occupy, and that position will never change on its own. F3 is always F3, always in that position. I used and modified an Excel report system where the entry page is separate from the report page. You fill in squares with data (like a check box report, shh) and that data gets calculated into whatever percentages, totals and averages, which appear on the display page. You build templates and save them into files, so simple to use and versatile too.

This is something that has worked in the recent past - provide a free IR scan of the house along with your thorough inspection. This can be done in 10 minutes, believe it or not. You stress that if the client wants a comprehensive IR scan done, then of course there is a charge for that. This is the free version that picks up blatant issues if they are there. Put a few IR pics in the report to show that this was done. In the boonies, this might still attract some attention, and is a great way to get in with a presentation. You need to make contact with realtors. You need to gain their trust. You need to avoid getting black-balled, as that sucks. One broker was happy with my work when it led to a sale. I got a second job, foot in the door. There was water flowing down the side of the stucco condo building. I pointed it out to the young female client and said it could be fixed, an issue with the balcony above, but would need to involve the condo association. Black-balled. [:-boggled Another issue another time, clients walked, the realtor was gushing praise and heaping referrals upon me. Tread lightly until you can walk the walk and talk the talk. Be thorough but work quickly to gather the info. Never late getting there, always courteous, and never walk thru the place with dogshit on your shoes. If you can't hustle up 100 inspections per year in your town, move to another town or you will go broke. Trade shows get you out there with samples to show, but mostly you need friends in real estate that can send you several jobs a month. Those guys have no time for trade shows, and rarely are seen in the office. On the flip side, they expect you to find major issues and keep them out of court. They have other houses to sell if that one is a dud.

"appears to be unlisted" probably means he can't find a label on the back. That looks like it is from a manufacturer, so has a paper trail somewhere. But he seems to say that single-wall stove pipe has been shoved up into the fllue and used as a flue liner. Then he goes on to suggest that he will have nothing to do with it, or something to that effect. [:-boggled

Bundling becomes a concern if it istretches 12 feet or more, and I have never come across more than a couple of feet in residential. But those pictures show long spans with no clamps, and missing securement of boxes, and bundling, too. Yep, it needs repair and that means support and clamps every 4 feet.

...........the device is a shower head with an internal electric heating element. Powered thru zip-cord/plug from the shower wall or ceiling. OK, I get it now. Suicide shower.[:-boggled

That gas pipe looks like a handy place to chain up a bike. [] Do people lock up their bikes? Or do they bring them inside?

No way hot water did that. PVC starts to decompose when the temperature reaches 284 degrees F, with melting temperature starting around 320 degrees F. That's from Wikipedia. PVC pipe can be bent by heating it in a double boiler, so some types will soften at 212 degrees F. I think Bill is probably correct, or those could be stress cracks from Sumo wrestlers using the crapper upstairs. []

The clear plastic boxes are cool. Fried connections will be easy to spot. The straps on the latches, are they sealed by the utility provider? Few societies are as anal about safety as we are here in NA. What electric device do you use in the shower? Would you need to charge a cellphone, maybe? []

That's good to remember, but it extends how high? Surely not into air space as in flight space. Drone air space? The trees improve the air quality. That was the benefit I was referring to, shade, fresh air, buffers and so on. I have lived amongst trees for ever, and the worst needles came from old growth Sitka Spruce. Long and sharp like asbestos fibers, they stuck to your shoes, carpets, eavestroughs, the wife's sunroof drains (a $400 fix by the Subaru pros. "The wheel-well liners have to come out".) I chopped and sawed massive Spruce roots to get to the old perimeter drain pipes. There was a 30 ' line to the road that was plugged solid with roots and clay. That is the damage from trees too close. New house, no needles, no leaves, tiny strip of grass, I'm in heaven. []

John, is that a Canadian thing? I think it is a town thing everywhere?People share the surrounding air so by twisted logic maybe, they share the benefits from your trees. They will suffer a loss if you cut 'em. We can't have them suffering, can we? [:-magnify []

Check with the local bylaws. These days, in a suburb, you don't just walk up to your tree and cut it down. But, you can prune it. The best way to know what is going on is to dig down to the footings along that side and cut any roots you encounter. Then replace all that old perimeter drain pipe. The roots will be in there.

Cool!

The reducer and elbow fittings are prone to leaking, and the drum trap appears to be either reversed or upside down. The lid appears to be pointing up on that thing, so upside down. I would say it is an amateur installation prone to leaking and clogging. The standard way is the best, 3/4" line tapped into a 1 1/2 sink drain pipe. There is always air in that drainpipe, so that provides an air gap of sorts I guess.

Since there are 4 sides to a piece of angle sheet metal, you could draw 4 different scales on there and just face the correct one to the camera. Fiberglass, cellulose, Rocksul, uh ....shredded bark? [] Now about your choice of ladders: Fiberglass is heavy but you are a big boy. I used one of those for a portable desk, added a plywood tray with 2 zap straps. I did the odd attic hatch but was not thrilled stepping down onto the top step, which is not a step. My conclusion is that you are not venturing into the attic. Your choice, but walking or crawling the attic reveals stuff nobody sees such as mold, loose pipes, wasp nests, cracked rafters and more. Fire damage. If Telesteps is too light duty for you, an aluminum extension ladder can slide into a closet, past the clothes pole, easier than any step ladder.

Good idea, the depth gauge. Take a pic, there's your insulation depth. The varying R value maybe would require a sliding scale on there, like a slide rule. Then you'd have something to patent.[:-magnify

Yeah that top rung is not a step! []

No switches? There's one right there on the lamp socket. [] That chimney looks like it might have bounced around a bit, maybe from a seismic tremor? Gravity will prevail if nothing else happens first. Firetrap defies all odds and is now for sale for how much? []

I found a belt pouch with elastic sides at the builders supply. Holds the iPhone, which has a Roots rubber jacket. Have another belt pouch for the moisture meter. Why does my wifes Galaxy 4 go dead just sitting there, while the iPhone holds a charge for days.

OK, that's a brilliant idea, Denny. If I disappear for a while, it will be the Fresnel equations bogging things down. []

1X divided by 2 = 1/2X Study the Fresnal equations and get back to me. The answer is there, just beyond my grasp. [:-graduatThe tinfoil helmet isn't helping. Jim B, you have seen the light. My quest is to retrieve some of the diffused light that would otherwise be lost, reflected back or absorbed. Thus there will be more light.

Right, I think the stain was slapped on too soon. He should have gone over the uneven spots where the drum sander dug in. I hope you didn't pay too much for that. Hard to fix it if you are living in the house in the winter months.

Something I recommend for a deep well submersible pump installation. The one thing an owner can service easily is the pump control box, which has a big capacitor for starting the pump. That capacitor will blow at some point. A spare pump control box costs between $75 - $100, good investment. Buy the same brand and the new capacitor unit plugs in to the old housing. Click to Enlarge 20.7 KB That is how you troubleshoot a stalled pump. If a new capacitor doesn't start it, it is time to call a pump guy, or build a tripod over the well head.

Usually makes no difference unless a key to the pump house is not provided by the sellers or their neighbors. The client needs to get info, but your inspection would be normal, I think. I'd want to see separate shutoffs, big supply lines and winterized everything.

I'll just line my toque with tin foil and call it a day, then. []

Yes, in Northern latitudes in the winter, the sunlight hits the side of the tube, and then is reflected down to the lens in the ceiling. If you look up into the tube, you can see that the side of the tube opposite the sun is brighter and that bright area rotates as the earth turns the house away from the sun.Sure we could install another light tube for twice the light. But my question is can we catch more light from just the one roof tube by dividing it. Y'all say no. Can we make the distribution more efficient? Yes, we could do that, reduce the losses with better reflection. Then suppose we reflect that salvaged light toward another lens in the ceiling.