John Kogel

That's the funniest inspection tool I've seen in a while, Jim. I'd save that one for the fuse panels, I think. [] Thanks for the lead on bits.

Yes, there are a few ICF buildings here, styrofoam Lego blocks filled with concrete, warm and very strong. Inspector horror story, a true story - He inspects the house, picks out a few deficiencies, the usuals, the client is happy and buys the house. 3 months later he gets the call "Why didn't you tell me all the walls are made of concrete?" It could happen to anyone I think, especially if preoccupied. Expect the unexpected.

I have a few of those, inherited, but my favorite gizmo tool is the drill version, the Yankee Handyman. Only got 2 bits left, and one of those is pretty short. The bits snap in with a little groove to hold them. Whose got Yankee Handyman drill bits?

Yes, it could be Transite and it probably is, given the date of the build. If you have googled it, you have already seen pics of pipe that are very similar.

Chad is right, mismatched and lacking in composition. For framing, I'd prefer a good photo of tools in action or hung above the bench.

Howard Pike is the man, Airco furnace expert. Chimo Furnace Service in Coquitlam. He will be posting here shortly to tell you all about your furnace. You should post the Serial #

Dang it, I can't compose a retort to an apology. Delete that so I can write something about Cajuns and hot air. [:-yuck]

It's a bottleneck, a restriction, to the flow of air. If it's in the D calc, it's fine, otherwise I write them up. Marc Bill says it is the return, so it is an expansion, not restriction. I would put a picture of it in my report so my client knows it is there. I would write nothing about it because nothing is likely to ever be done about it. It is like they bought a car with an ugly grill. Why waste breath or words on it?

It was not too bad in the kitchen beside the stove. The concrete outhouse out back was a bit of a hardship. []

This is about Fahrenheit, not fairness. And this is Rob's thread. A fair trade is probably not gonna happen. Rob Ford isn't very funny. John Candy was funny. Beiber is just a young goof. Canadians play football on a bigger field and there are only 3 downs. The Bills would have to learn to run harder and throw straighter. []

My map shows that area as "future expansion". A newer one shows it "exploit here" If I recall, y'all tried that in 1812. Couldn't beat us in hockey either. []

That is a though question. What is that in Celsius? Is there any other country in the world that is still using Fahrenheit? You guys cut me up. I like the map that shows 50 States with a blank between Washington and Alaska. []

Yes I was careful not to break my ladder today. Although the $50G speedboat was there to break me, I mean break my fall. The boat is parked diagonaly and fills the two car garage. The feet of my ladder are at the doorway into the house. I used a partly extended ladder to raise the hatch and jam it. Then raised 11 rungs to reach the lip. One feature of the Telesteps is you can pull more rungs from the top, which I did when I got up there, 12 feet extended gave me a rung in the attic. No other ladder in my arsenal would have worked here, but I could have got the seller to move his boat and I could go back to the house another day to find the kaka in the attic. It was risky and I gnash my teeth having to do it for peanuts. Click to Enlarge 35 KB

I second, correction, fourth the ants motion. They have been in residency for a long time. Damp cedar suits them just fine but I'll bet they are in the subfloor as well.

What, they ran out of bailer twine? []

John is that pic laying on its side? I think if you rotate the pic, the efflorescence would show the ground water level, maybe? I would not dismiiss the possibility of friable asbestos either, because somebody might decide to swab the pipes and have a lab test done of those particles.

Good point, David. I checked ground source heat pumps out before I filled in a swimming pool on my property. The plan was to line the pool with pipes before filling it in. However, a shallow hole is said to be inefficient. They say you need the loop to go deep to be practical. Does anyone know why that would be? Frost is not an issue here. I can see that pumping water through a pipe could cost more than operating a conventional above ground fan. Also in the shoulder heating months, the air temp rises around the outdoor unit where the ground source temp never varies.

It seems Geothermal is to ground source as Modular is to mobile home. []

I would do a heat pump inspection on each heat pump and if you still have that IR camera, I would get some shots of the pipes to show the temp differences. Then I would get some room temps and check thermostats. Then like you said refer a professional to do a formal inspection of the systems

They are a thick porous brick, yes they could be concrete. I found another example of those same bricks. These are in the more natural setting, faded a bit by the weather. Maybe I just never noticed them before. Click to Enlarge 57.55 KB

This 1940's house had some interesting interior design features. Does anyone recognize these colored bricks? I've not seen them before that I recall. Click to Enlarge 51.8 KB Click to Enlarge 38.5 KB Old Gyproc Click to Enlarge 51.65 KB

My take on that strategy is this - The limitation to the inspection fee helps to take care of nuisance or trivial complaints.They can get their money back without involving a lawyer and the insurance provider. Mr. Ferry is a lawyer so naturally he would want to be involved and can't see why not. [] But what is this horsecrap about allowing 3rd party lawsuits against the inspector? Who are these law makers representing and what are they trying to protect? The practice of passing inspection reports on to 3rd parties for free? Why are inspectors standing for it?

I am told the seal portion of the valve will slide on the rod. Even so, I always call those out. It is a safety device and it needs to be accessible for the homeowner to perform his routine testing, should he ever read the label and be inclined to follow the procedure. I have a new one in a box here. I'll check it out. Update, I tried to separate the valve from the valve rod by jamming the valve open and releasing the handle, but was unable to get the rod to move freely without the valve. Inconclusive results so far. Update #2 - Do you know that in many cases, the tank can be drained, shifted to the left a couple of inches, and refilled without doing the slightest bit of plumbing or drywall cutting? It can be a very simple fix, in other words. No excuse for it. I have a pic of that same thing with the plumber's company name and phone # proudly displayed on the tank. Update #3 - This is from a Lochnivar manual "It is recommended that a minimum clearance of four (4) inches be provided on the side of the water heater for servicing and maintenance of the combination temperature and pressure relief valve."

Apparently home inspectors are not allowed to limit their liability. So they are expected to have unlimited liability? [:-party]

Paint Shop Pro is what I use to resize my pics but it has Artistic Effects including Brush Strokes. You can get different results by adjusting the pixel size first. Click to Enlarge 92.75 KB Resolution too high so this one is just blurry. Click to Enlarge 87.08 KB Click to Enlarge 85.28 KB Less than 5 minutes to create these masterpieces.