Jim Baird
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Content Count
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Joined
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Last visited
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Days Won
10
Everything posted by Jim Baird
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Article: Bird's-Eye View: Why home inspectors are trading apologies for drones
Jim Baird replied to InspectorPro Insurance's topic in Roof Forum
I'm sure you can find romaine insurance if you look around. -
Don't have the link but section details are posted on the Brick Institute of America site.
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Waterproofing and finishing a basement with a stone foundation
Jim Baird replied to KellyCondron's topic in Foundation Systems Forum
"...We have good ceiling height (around 7ft)..." Seven feet is not compliant with minimum height for "habitable space". Do not waste time or money with the effort. Real estate types often encourage buyers by hinting that they can "finish" the basement and increase SF/value. I have seen some spectacular botch jobs in this direction that actually devalue the property. I was told by an inspector even older than me that there are two kinds of basements, those that do leak and those that will leak. -
So I guess this is a great leap forward? The code agencies are struggling a bit, as they make their money like any publishing house, selling their copyrighted content. NFPA publishes the full range of codes, but they dominate in electric, life safety, and fire. ICC used to run a great forum, but they shut it down several years ago, broke it into pieces, and the traffic dropped to near zero.
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...when I mention potential cost of remedies, it is expressed only as far as number of figures, as in, three, four or five.
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Like Marc said be sure you know what you are looking for before you head down to the big box. Most of all don't ask the guy at the big box what to do or buy.
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...if all you are doing is making up for that notch you are doing fine. That kind of scabbing can also be done with plywood and screws. Looks like you had plenty of room to swing a hammer down there. I have seen lots of floor joists way overnotched at their very ends that have lasted fifty years without failing.
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HI Artography - Foil Wallpaper
Jim Baird replied to Mike Lamb's topic in Open Discussion Forum (Chit-Chat)
...so who's afraid of a little color in life? -
Odd combination of materials and techniques
Jim Baird replied to Chad Fabry's topic in Inspecting/Appreciating Old Homes
...such a historian. You should be lecturing at local design schools. (In today's parlance I should have said an historian, but I have always thought the use of an before historic is affectation. It's like bone doctors calling their practice "orthopaedics" , I guess to claim some connection to ancient Greek whatever. -
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HI Artography - Gargoyle
Jim Baird replied to Mike Lamb's topic in Open Discussion Forum (Chit-Chat)
I don't think it's about appeal. I think they are supposed to ward off evil spirits/influences. -
3 inspection photos you should take to manage your risk
Jim Baird replied to InspectorPro Insurance's topic in News Around The Net
Exactly my reason for pics is to see what I might not have noticed live. Often I am talking to client as I move and click, so there is a lot to be missed at the moment, but still if I manage 100 I have made a good record. -
"...I occasionally visit your place, but not as regularly as I should..." Funny, I used to visit Jeff's site fairly often but since my last laptop swap I can't seem to get back onto it via pswd/login probs etc. Also likely bcse I never would put any dinero in their offering dish since I am not an AHJ and most of their membership is. You are right, Marc, about those ladder rungs.
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Real Estate Radio Show Co-Host
Jim Baird replied to Jerry Simon's topic in Safety Alerts/Health Advisories
...a new kind of celebrity. Maybe Andy Warhol was right after all. Re toilet tank shrapnel I know a potter who stumbled coming out of a shower and fell across his toilet, knocking the tank off with his falling mass. Toilets are technically made of porcelain china, and when broken against a tile floor can become a field of shards, Those shards nearly severed this man's forearm. He survived, but just barely. -
HI Image - Warning - Not for the squeamish
Jim Baird replied to Mike Lamb's topic in Open Discussion Forum (Chit-Chat)
Mice babies in the glove box, you could blame that on the wife's dust cloth, a cozy baby blanket. The invasion of unwanted species came during, we are fairly sure, a retreat weekend in the NC mountains where we parked the little car on some steeply sloped ground where the uphill side came really close to soil/grasses. Cabin air filter plus outside air ports we think were entry points. Cabin air is right behind glove box. Cabin air filter material was first nest. -
HI Image - Warning - Not for the squeamish
Jim Baird replied to Mike Lamb's topic in Open Discussion Forum (Chit-Chat)
I don't take credit for inventing the method. I think I actually learned it from youtube, but it worked very well. The species was a little mouse not a woodrat. My cats have caught some wood and field rats with seven-inch tails that could probably jump over a row of buckets. How many here have stepped on one of those glue kind of traps during an inspect? -
HI Image - Warning - Not for the squeamish
Jim Baird replied to Mike Lamb's topic in Open Discussion Forum (Chit-Chat)
BTW, as Marc noted a mouse can't jump high enough to escape. I caught two mice in my wife's honda that had built a nest in the glove box. Their babies tumbled out while she was sitting in traffic and reached for little duster she uses to dust the dash. I bought a shiny new slippery sided 5 gallon bucket and put it in the back seat with some oatmeal in the bottom. Took a cpl of overnight settings to catch them one at a time. I used the catch and release program, made them promise not to come back. -
Mold remediation or paint?
Jim Baird replied to Mike Lamb's topic in Indoor Air Quality (I.A.Q.) and Mold Forum
Years ago I inspected a little house that used gas space heaters, those notorious moisture generators, on which a contractor had laid a metal panel roof. In so doing he eliminated every bit of attic ventilation there was. The entire attic frame and deck was blackened by something related to moisture accumulation. -
HI Artography - Lamp on a Chair
Jim Baird replied to Mike Lamb's topic in Open Discussion Forum (Chit-Chat)
As you know, I hope, Mike, not every scene deserves a permanent record. BTW I think you are doing a good job of screening them so far. -
HI Artography - Lamp on a Chair
Jim Baird replied to Mike Lamb's topic in Open Discussion Forum (Chit-Chat)
...must be the New Minimalist style of decor. One room I inspected with a bad floor had an attempted concealment of bad floor by filling the room with beds. -
...looks to me like they were building a bench right by that fence, and they were going to lay them out that way anyway, maybe even dry stacked, so that when the video was over they were almost done for the day.
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...adventures of the overpaid.
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These photos are of an L shape ditch a spec builder is making at the rear of a cpl of lots he is building two houses on. Half acre lots generally, some 3/4 ac, all septic tanks. Neighbors don't like it. Their call to state environmental officer got zero answer. In nearby metro areas sinkholes from buried c&d wastes caused numerous problems that only occurred up to 15 yrs after the deed, in a state where this kind of violation has an 8 yr stat limit. Is this practice allowed where you guys live?
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The installer might be the grandson of Rosie the Riveter. This is one of several boot flanges on this roof fastened this way.
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Here Bubba Roofer decided he didn't need no flange.
