Amn

There are standards set by the Tile Council of America (TCA). The local adopted Building Code will probably have a chapter on Accessibility which may direct the reader to CABO/ANSI 117.1. The IRC may as well. CABO/ANSI 117.1 has a section on ground and floor surfaces. I'd look at these three. The TCA would definitely apply but only as an industry standard, not an enforced code. A

"Why am I here.jpg" Well, that explains the fire streaking... A

The Cover page prohibits me giving you the PDF. However there is a lot of contact information included on the page: Published by - TLPCA/TBLP 1615 W. Abram, Suite 101 Arlington, Texas 76013 817-461-0676 Fax 817-461-0686 Texas Watts: 1-800-441-2507 E-Mail: tlpca@aol.com Web Site: www.tlpca.org

Another good resource that is free is the Texas Lathing and Plastering Association (TLPCA) website www.tlpca.org. They have a PDF manual which is a great resource for both stucco and EIFS installations. A

I agree with all of the aforementioned. One thing to add, you'll usually see some form of asphalt paper or moisture retarder on the outside of the gyp sheathing -even though the gyp is moisture resistant.

Some clarification: the swing-up outer panel blew off. The face plate, held in place by screws, remained. I did not see it blow off, I only saw it afterward. Well, it wasn't energized when I screwed the one small screw into the bottom of the face plate -otherwise I prob would not be posting this ! That screw was a wide-diameter, machine screw, prob no longer than 3/8 inch. I don't remember it going into the panel housing very deep at all. Looking back at the original photo that I posted, doesn't the dual 40 amp breaker look out of position? A

I'm not a home inspector, but thought that I'd suggest an idea to those of you who are, that might enable you to increase your business somewhat. I'm currently selling my house in Dallas. I've only lived in the house for two years, and now the Seller's Disclosure requires the seller to disclose all reports received in the past four years. When I bought the house, I had a home inspector inspect and produce a report, and the sellers disclosure required me to disclose it. Fortunately, I referred to that report when getting the house ready to list and it provided a really good road map for me to follow in fixing things up and prepping for a buyer's home inspector. OK, here's where the idea comes in: It might be a valuable service to market your expertise to potential sellers, and informally visit a property, perform a walkthrough, and give the home seller a "heads up" on what a buyer's inspector is probably going to find and require to be fixed. I mention "informally" since no homeseller is going to want a report of any sort, but I can say that some up-front guidance would certainly benefit a seller and soften the blow when a buyer's report does come in (I've read a lot of horror stories on here about sellers indignant of anything that you find and write up). Sellers would most likely not want to pay the full amount of an inspection and report, but you may find a way to reduce the cost since the time and effort of producing a report would not be required. Anyway, I don't even know if this idea makes any sense or can fit into your business plans, but I have read here of many guys looking for additional work and it seems to me to be an untapped market, with a minimal, if any, risk associated. I pass it along, only since it benefitted me as a result of a short duration of owning a home. A

When he touched the housing he got a hell of a shock and it blew the front panel off the housing! I don't think that he would have touched it if I hadn't photographed it a few days prior... Pardon my ignorance, but do you mean the metal-tipped testers with the red bulb that lights when touching a surface carrying current (resembling a screwdriver) ? A

Now I understand. Thank you. A

At my former job in Dallas (Forensic Engineering company) our Cert. Industrial Hygienist (CIH) recommended motorized vents on timers to evacuate the crawlspace because of high moisture from the sump effect. What made that house unique was that we actually measured a dead air area where a bunch of large ducts bordered an area and essentially blocked nearly all air movement. Of course, that was where the mold found a happy home. One nice item to mention though. In this area of town homes are VERY nice and all the crawlspaces are at least 30" high with plastic vapor retarders from the grade beam in to 10 ft. and the entire floor is covered in pea gravel; much nicer than the clay dirt typical in Dallas. A

Update: I had the house inspected and guess what the inspector found? The panel is energized and not grounded!!! (can you say "back away slowly...") Needless to say, that contract is terminated and we're looking at an alternate property now. The homeseller had the gall to ask me what the big deal was and that a "home shield warranty" would cover it. The house had plenty of other concerns, active termites in the garage being a main one. I don't think I've ever felt so good about cratering a deal that fast before. I just want to pass along an easy example of the value inspectors bring a homebuyer; in this case, potentially life threatening. I'm just waiting for the next quip from a realtor about how nit-picky inspectors are. Suffice it to say, I now carry my contact tester in my pocket whenever I go near any panel and I know not to touch anything with "Zinsco" on the front of it. A

[Warning, amateur alert] So are those bare ground wires grounded or what? It almost looks like they brush up against the left neutral bar, which is jumpered over to the right neutral bar, which is connected at the green screw to a thick, striped sheathed, grounding wire which disappears in the middle of the photo to god knows where....still with me? Dazed and confused. A

Ah, a great opportunity to place my neck on the block! Some fundamental points: 1. The grade in a crawlspace is lower than the exterior surrounding grade, therefore a crawlspace is essentially a large sump, and moisture will naturally migrate from the surrounding grade (planting beds, etc) into the crawlspace. 2. Moisture will migrate from wetter to dryer environments, eg. vapor drive. 3. Moisture is going to migrate into a crawlspace with or without venting. With a lack of venting, when moisture migrates into a crawlspace, the moisture-rich air is stuck there. The benefit of venting is that moisture has a way out. When the moisture content (MC) inside the crawlspace exceeds the exterior MC, it will migrate to the dryer air outside via the crawlspace vents. Additionally, with ventilation the crawlspace air will have the ability to change over when a pressure differential occurs from wind on the windward side of the house (high pressure) and a resultant lower pressure (suction) occurs on the leeward side. Sure vents will allow some moisture laden air in, but moisture will migrate into the crawlspace with or without the vents. You want a way for it to get out. Vapor barriers/retarders, etc help to prevent moisture drive but cannot eliminate it. Moisture migration into the crawlspace is obviously exacerbated by poor grading, poor drainage, and irrigation systems that are set to overwater the areas adjacent to the perimeter. I'm shocked to read in Kurt's post that people are actually conditioning the air in crawlspaces. Did I read that right? A

I was waiting on one of you guys to call me on that. I was being a smart-alec, posted it, then wondered if there really was Kudzu here. Again, thanks for the help guys. A

Excellent responses! Thanks all. And thanks for the tip on the Zinsco panel. I was happy seeing that it wasn't a Federal Pacific, now it seems to be the same concern under another name. A

I'm looking at a house to buy in Houston and have dodging houses with aluminum wiring that seem as prevalent around here as the kudzu . This house's panel is all copper wiring, but I noticed a breaker that was labeled co-alum and that got me wondering (see attached). I took off an outlet and the wire around the screw was solid copper, but silly me, I forgot to check for pigtailing in the outlet box -I'll get that next visit. Is there any reason why you'd pigtail a copper-alum system? I did manage to get a photo of the wiring sheathing in the attic. It's labeled "NARAX TYPE NM 14-2T 600V" (see attached). I don't see the word "Aluminum" anywhere on the sheathing at all. Any guesses if this is co-alum? Google reveals nothing on the sheathing label. Any help is appreciated. A Download Attachment: Breaker.JPG 489.66 KB Download Attachment: Sheathing.JPG 359.85 KB

There is no Federal Standard. The only guidelines that are in place were established in New York City. Nearly all Certified Industrial Hygienists reference this standard: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/epi/moldrpt1.html

[Cross posted from the "copper clad" thread in this forum] I thought that I'd throw some new found knowledge in from my recent experience: I found out that State Farm will not issue a policy on a house that is 30+ years old with aluminum wiring. I was also told by my State Farm agent that copper-aluminum alloy is considered the same as straight aluminum. Apparently, a house 29 years old w/ alum wiring will get a policy, but the rates will rise the next year: the policy will stay in effect. 30 years is State Farm's line in the sand. My agent is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas and I was inquiring on a house in Houston, so I assume that this goes for the rest of the state, I have no idea on the rest of the country. A

I thought that I'd throw some new found knowledge in from my recent experience: I found out that State Farm will not issue a policy on a house that is 30+ years old with aluminum wiring. I was also told by my State Farm agent that copper-aluminum alloy is considered the same as straight aluminum. Apparently, a house 29 years old w/ alum wiring will get a policy, but the rates will rise the next year: the policy will stay in effect. 30 years is State Farm's line in the sand. My agent is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas and I was inquiring on a house in Houston, so I assume that this goes for the rest of the state, I have no idea on the rest of the country. A

No. It's more along the lines that you should at least show a token measure of respect to your friends that gave the lives of their sons and fathers to protect you. The french participation in the War of the Revolution and their gift of the Statue of Liberty, are nothing in comparison to the selfless courage and tragic sacrifice left on the shores of Normandy. American Revoultion: 1775-1783. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_revolution French Revolution: 1789-1799. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution Sure about that? A

OK. Give me a little time. I've just bailed out of buying a house here in Houston -because of what was revealed in the Inspector's Reports. I need to regroup and catch up a little on the home front. And thanks Brian, but "Amn" is fine too. I use that nick a lot on the web and gotten used to it. Either works for me. A

It's been a heated debate, but I must admit that those are my favorite kinds. It's just tough not getting too worked up over it . New topic then? A

I'm desperately trying to stay on-topic here about the use of photos in reports and the value they bring in conveying the idea to a less knowledgeable reader. Hell, I'm currently a client to a home inspector, I am the reader! If not being a home inspector bunches you up about it, then ask me to leave the forum. I rather like getting exposure to other professions especially when our knowledge overlaps; it's what has brought me here. But if a litany of 2-a-days is a perquisite to an opinion around here, I'll spare you the trouble. You can focus on the difficulty, time, and effort involved with expanding your skills and enhancing your reports with photos if you want, but IMHO I don't think that it's going to serve you well. Just look around this forum. Your peers are incorporating photos in reports and raising the bar here. I have never made any success telling anyone how hard it was to produce my work. All my success has been from focusing on wowing my clients and I do that by gaining new knowledge and incorporating it into my work every day. You really don't get a say in the acumen of your reports' readers. If photos assist in telling the story, then I say that they are a benefit -for what it's worth. I think that we've drifted far off topic on photos and maybe we should leave it at "reasonable men may differ". A

Fine, I don't do both. And since it's only a member of my family, I have no idea of what I'm writing about in your view I suppose, but I'm am re-reading all of the followup posts by other inspectors since I jumped in, and all but yours say that the inclusion of photos in the report are both valuable and helpful in conveying the message across to your client who may not be as knowledgeable as the report's author; points that I made in the original reply. I'm not missing the point; I'm disagreeing with it. And I note that you reiterate another point in my first post. The integration of photos with your software is the rub, not their value. We're certainly getting a lot of mileage out of that original $.02! A

I'm talking about adding photos to a written report. I disagree that it has little to do with home inspecting. Sorry, wrong here. We do usually get symptoms of a problem, but our observation pretty much starts from 0 and we have to hunt the problem as well. We also are expected to consider nearly every possibility in formulating our conclusions. Failure to do so invites a nasty smack-down from opposing counsel in deposition. We are on an hourly basis but up against a set budget (at least initially) and to state that our work does not have to be rigorously competitive is incorrect. My father is a home inspector. I'm not imagining the simularity. The three home inspection reports that I've obtained over the last seven years have all contained pictures and they do help to illustrate the report. I don't want to argue about it, but my experience differs. Sorry, I disagree. A