Paul MacLean

Speaking of which, when did H clips become required, i.e., what year? "H" clips were recommended by the American Plywood Association when I was a field rep in 1968. Required is code question dependent on the AHJ.

Down here those boilers could be mistaken for bank vaults. They're the only thing we have that looks anything like that.[:-cowboy] I take that back...it could be a pizza oven!

C-1s don't get the benefits of branding. Only C-2s and Members, and they're the ones coughing up $250.00. The C-1s $50.00 is passed on to his designated chapter. At least that's the way I understand it.[:-dunce]

I took Dale Feb's fireplace course for inspectors last year and he was adamant about sealing around the gas pipe at refractory panels to keep heat and combustion byproducts out of the chase areas.

I pushed pedals for 16 years during my triathlon days. Finally quit when a pedal broke and I hit the pavement at about 25mph. It was my third major crash and time to quit[:-sick] I think we can handle drunk Bostonians (I'm accounting for KURT being from Chicago). I have personal experience with Bostonians. The wife lived on Havard Square for years before she realized there were warmer climates and chose Austin. I'm glad she finally got some sense.[:-eyebrows]

Where are the pedals?[:-bouncy]

I try to get the buyer to attend every inspection. It's not always possible, but my experience says a good relationship with the buyer heads off many problems. Having the buyer follow me and bug me with "stupid" questions results in very few follow-up calls later. I print my reports on site, and I want to walk away and be done! It works most of the time.

I believe in leaving things like I found them and reporting the problems (i.e. screws). I put a pointed screw into a hot wire years ago.[:-hot] Believe me, it won't happen again!

I'm kinda with George. (how's that for wishy washy)[:-drool] In Austin and Asociate member can get a Supra Key, but you have to get a code from the listing agent. To many hoops to jump through for me. I agree with George that the agents are getting paid to take care of the deal and that includes getting me into the house - then they can leave[] I've never been accused of stealing anything, but I have left a $20.00 bill behind to cover the cost of a broken vase. Never heard a thing about it.

That's basically what I use, but then when the houses are only ten feet apart it's had to tell. For me it's a judgment call and I don't worry to much about "code". We have some areas of town that are table top flat and you won't get a 6" drop in three lots.

I really didn't want to talk about branding before InspectionWorld, and now that I have been to InspectionWorld and seen Branding I still don't want to talk about it. I'll use what I can and dump the rest. I'll shut up now.[xx(]

"That is why I don't charge extra for pools. I use the normal controls, and perform a visual inspection of the surface and equipment. ANY problems get referred to an expert. I can see someone charging $XX.00 extra for a pool inspection and not testing the water that the seller just dumped 5 gallons of chlorine into to make the water clear again. Buyer jumps in the next day and WHAMO they are blind for the next ten minutes and there hair and suit are now white." Boy, I screwed that quote up[:-banghead] I do the same and charge extra because it's extra time on the job. I don't test the water, tell'em I don't test the water and tell'em to get the water tested. All on the report.

Sounds to me like a couple of inspectors bragging at InspectionWorld...[:-party][:-propeller][:-splat]

My Streamlight Ultra is about two years old now and on it's third switch. Fortunately a local dealer takes care of the repairs. The only bulb replacement came when it rolled off the roof and fell 12 feet to a driveway (ouch!). I love it for general use. I had problems with switches on a 500,000 candle power baby I had and finally gave up on it. The Streamlight is not as bright, but does the job. My old 3-cell rechargeable Mag Light now serves back up duty. The Streamlight is brighter and lighter then the Mag Light.

Willie, Bad ethics is sending a Realtor to Cancun, not planting a sign. Go for it!

An Austin inspection outfit, used to place small yard signs after every inspection, but I haven't seen any in the last couple of years. He would leave them until they got carried away. Don't know how much good it did, but this was the same guy who, many years ago, put Realtor cards in a hat for a free trip to Cancun with every referral. Don't know how well that went either, but the ethics sure stink.

Well Willie...in Texas we have TAREI, and TAREI is a good group with reasonable continuing education. But some states don't have a strong inspector group, and it's important to belong to at least one good organization. If you have half a brain, you can't help but benefit from associating with other inspectors, both good and bad. Of course there is one "national home inspector organization" that is strong on promotion and weak on qualifications...and then there are the wannabie inspectors who care only about $$$ not quality inspections. Not much can be done to force someone to do a good job.

I have a question...how do you count inspections? 5000 was mentioned above as a good number to indicate experience. I have been inspecting for 14 years and have only done 3000 honest, fee paid inspections. I do not count WDI's as a second inspection. Doing a thorough inspection, I can't get out of a house in less than 3 to 4 hours, and many larger homes require 6 hours or more. So a really busy week for me is 6 to 8 houses. Allowing time for education, vacations, etc. I am probably inspecting 225 days a year. Assuming I can schedule every possible day available for inspections, I could do maybe 330 inspections a year. Of course that doesn't allow for any scheduling problems. So... 5000/330 = 15+ years. I guess that's why my eyes roll when I hear someone who's been inspecting (I use the term loosely) a couple years say he's done 10,000 inspections.[:-indifferent] I'm happy with 225 - 250 inspections a year. To borrow Chad's phase - OK, I'm through now.

A little drift, but close: A few weeks ago on a three year old house, there appeared to be almost no mortar between stones on the limestone exterior on some walls and full mortar on other walls. I wrote up the missing mortar and recommended a qualified mason. The next day I got a call from the agent who said she talked to the builder who said it was suppose to look like dry stack stones, and the stone was completely sealed on the backside. I asked why I could stick my pen completely through the wall. She said she would get back to the builder.[:-boggled] I never did hear the final outcome.

Knowing that the IRT measures surface temps, I still use it to "guesstimate" AC D/T. I just make sure the AC has been running 30 minutes or more to bring surface temps close to the air temp. I also check every register in the house. It's amazing how often I come up with 8, 10, 12 even 15 degree differences between rooms and even registers in the same room. I write it up as poor air distribution. This has worked well for me. I can't recall ever being questioned about my AC calls.

They measure the surface temperature of whatever they hit. They do not measure air temperatures. For example, if you use your IR thermometer to measure the temp at a AC supply register you're measuring the temp of the grill or the ductwork behind the grill (or, if you're not careful the surfaces around the register). Hope this helps!

Texas has over 2600 active inspector licensees now. In Austin there's probably 80 to 100. Competition is fierce, but in reality, that's good for the consumer.

I can't argue with any of the comments above. So far I haven't seen enough to have an opinion, so I voted undecided. I will agree that it seems like an awful lot of money has been spent on hype to members so far. InspectionWorld will be interesting!

Dan Bowers said in part: I voted for licencing on the poll. Licensing won't do any of the things above. What it did in Texas was make sure inspecting wasn't done by hairdressers. But the real benefit has been that virtually all resale homes are inspected. Licencing made home inspections legitimate and agents universally recommend that buyers get the home inspected. Of course this says nothing about the kind of inspection the agent wants; that varies all over the map.

Hooray! Now we're cooking. Thanks Mike![:-bouncy]