Jim Baird

Inspectornotes: been there done what? Yet again a client has shared with me a report from that other kind of inspector, the ones the realtor lines up for the buyer. This inspector was a staffer working for a branded corporation. He drove a custom painted logo loaded pickup truck, and he wore a uniform with a monogrammed shirt pocket patch and a matching ball cap. He carried a tablet and filled out a 25 page canned report with lots of photos. The inspector managed to fill out the report, but he failed to notice the dwelling’s status as a manufactured home, not a site built one. He failed to note the basic elements of support and anchorage that are typical of the building type. He called a red brick curtain wall a “foundation wall”. He photographed a one inch diameter wasp nest at an eave, and he recommended that the buyer contact a “qualified professional” to accomplish its removal. He failed to describe two additions to the original structure as additions. He failed to note how those additions are supported. He failed the buyer that paid him in so many ways there is not room here to list them all. In some counties manufactured homes are not even considered “real” property. They are taxed like vehicles, separately form the land parcel. It is hard to overstate the gravity of this failure by the inspector. Even though the county had somehow assessed the property as “real”, the buyer got blindsided when they refinanced. Their bank’s appraiser called the spade a spade, and demanded that a structural engineer sign off on the two additions to a manufactured home. That inspector did not flag that train, did not kill the deal. That is why the agent recommended him, but the buyer got railroaded. If you hire an inspector for a home you are buying, steer way clear of the agent’s suggested ones. Hire an independent inspector that does not use canned software and inexperienced staff.

I don't see a big problem. Their pier design is not one I have seen. The spot footing design is one I have seen, but not very well placed. I agree with Les about the call for someone qualified. All else not considered, my read of this item says no big deal.

The deck looks really thin. Must be a narrow rake to have no kind of fascia. I agree with others about the workmanship. Manufacturer instructions should show the way.

In our state electricians are allowed to leave existing work in place unless it is patently unsafe. I don't know why AHJ would want to know old codes. You can't enforce codes retroactively.

They are naturally dank, dreary, and musty also, and not good for anything electronic.

On a contrary note, my lowest paid service is your inclusion of me as a resource during your ownership of the building, which service I include when I send my report. I get a few, but very few replies.

Speaking of white oak, a 3000 yr old white oak dugout canoe was recently discovered submerged in a Wisconsin lake. USA Today https://www.usatoday.com › nation 3,000-year-old dugout canoe found in Wisconsin's Lake Mendota - USA Today

...looks like a good repair to me, long as you can keep termites away. White oak is what I think I see, and it was long a preferred wood for big thick entry door sills where weather and traffic bring stresses to bear. I give the job an A grade.

...when I worked part time for a local AHJ the county's new planner was found to be sleeping under his desk because he had no place to live.

Shortest height I ever saw on POA. Under nine ft from grade. 1959 install is pre-code in my state.

They don't like mine either. Often they say it is too technical, but the client can read them.

I heard Jeff Bezos wants package delivery drones. No explosives allowed, though, unless it's just water balloons.

Looks great. Maybe enough of those brick for a landing outside the door?

To focus on the building as much as possible and to report my findings in a way that ranks those findings along a scale of importance. Buyers have lots of different reasons for their decisions. Often they ignore items I find most important, but I am just the building guy.

You are correct. Finish floor looks like what they call LVP, "luxury vinyl plank", that is a lot thinner than solid wood. If they had used solid wood the riser might have fallen inside the 3/8 margin, but maybe not. Stair stringers are sometimes de!ivered pre-cut, with that first height trimmable. I have always been surprised by how many builders flunk stair requirements. My common label for this situation is "leg-breaker".

Yes. No licensing, no SOP. Wild west.

I do walk and talks by the hour and usually issue a letter, but with people I know it can just be verbal consult. I encourage clients to attend every visit, and walk talk slows my process, but I love direct delivery of my thoughts.

Three cheers for innovation. All that device needs is a motor and an operator outside with a remote. I was never in the military but my belly crawl is fairly well polished, and would not accommodate another item of gear not to mention the added height.

...as an 04 signee I feel old now! Are cap feathers handed out when propriety demands?

If you scan it with your phone you can download the app that will bring one or more butlers scurrying to serve you, by subscription only. Deductible as meals and entertainment expense! I signed up last week.

...take a hike. "...dear abbey dear abbey my feet are too long. My lefts are all rights and my rights are all wrong..." --John Prine

I saw the same thing done with mod bit where low pitch valleys didn't give water a clear path. Air pockets and all.

#general inspection From my inspection blog. Boomtown I’ve written before about boom times, boom time builders, and boom time busts. Here we are again, buffeted like before by the hurry-up gusts, the chilled guts wrenches of ones missing out, the rising rates red skies morning warnings and lumber prices’ punches through the very ceiling. An authority’s inspector’s day is a dizzying path across a widespread area with less time to look, way less time to assess, and zero time to think. The honk, smile, and wave protocol blesses any builder that holds a handful of CO’s. Especially in boom times, buildings need scrutiny by disinterested, expert parties that deliver objective stories about what they find that day. Something I learned as an inspector for authority is that builders tend to get more activity started than they can control. I saw that both performance and management can suffer from ignorance of codes, ignorance of skills, and in many cases inability to even read instructions printed on delivered materials. Older homes need inspections for obvious reasons, but “boomer shacks” are also especially in need of a disinterested, experienced, and knowledgeable inspector.

No, but once I inspected an office addition to a machine shop where the owner had floored over old carpet glued to a slab with 3/4 T&G and left it bare. Employees had smelled something funny and had bored through the wood for a sniff. They were worried about stealth infection by toxic mold after seeing scary TV stories.

Around here windows that old and tall are often "triple hung".