carle3

I have a Garmin Nuvi 750 with the traffic service. This has been great as I typically have to get through Milwaukee rush hour traffic. It has save my a** on a number of occasions by re-routing me around traffic jams and accidents. Not much help in Chicago because everything is at a stand still there. Garmin has a subscription option on map updates. This does help keep you up to date. My fall back is my phone. The mapping service on my phone uses a internet based map which typicaly will have a new subdivision in its data base before it ever makes it to the Garmin data base.

I use the local municipalites 3/4 inch repair threshold for sidewalks. If sidewalks slabs that have a deflection in excess of 3/4 need repair according to the city than I feel I have a justification for my opinion as anything over that is a trip hazard.

Instead of stating that the footer does not exist I note that I am unable to verify it existence. As a builder, I use to have the excavator set the sauna tubes during the foundation phase of the home. By the time the final grading was done the footing was well below grade. An inspector would not be able to hit it with one of those short probes that is typically used.

I have done a couple ride alongs with John and it was very interesting watching him work. I was surprised that there was not a substantial amount of time added to accomplish the video taping.

It may be a shared well. In this case the well could be in the neighboring lot. Was there a pressure tank on the property? A pit that was well hidden could account for no visible casing or pump house. In our area well pits are being forced out and would be good information for ones client. Another location is in the basement, if you have them. These are commonly point wells which are out of favor in our locality and another good mention for ones clients. Most lending institutions will approve lending on a home with a point well. I would stay away from any comments on the septic system. The electric is a good observation but the evalution of the pump would be stepping out from under your home inspector 's hat and putting on a new septic inspector's hat. Unless you want to wear that hat, not recommended.

The way in which the market works in your individual area is a factor in how many leads you may or may not get. My market is still heavly driven on the referals from the agents. I In the last few months I may have had one lead from the ASHI web site and have had none from the GLC's site. Even tracking hits I have to my web site there is little traffic coming from ASHI. I get just a couple of calls a month I can attribute to my web site. When I query my clients on where they got the name of my company the answers are, you were one of the cards my agent gave me or you were on the list from the brokers office.

As framers we use to refer to this style of roof as an eyebrow.

If there is electric in those location I would think sections that deal with draft stopping IRC 602.8 "Seal gaps around ducts and pipes @ floor and ceiling level penetrations."

I have not heard Doug's presentation but I would think the concern in cold weather climates is that the majority of the pipe is not tempered in a warm air cavity. This would allow the gases to condense before they get out the termination. Result acidic moisture eating at the walls of the pipe.

I have a tablet. It is a Toshiba Tecra M-4. I love the tablet interface. I use HomeGauge for my report writing and the use of a pen works great. This program was designed with the pen interface in mind. I used my tablet for about a year and moved over to using a PDA for data collection. I found the notebook a pain to drag around with me. I still use it at the end to format and print the report. I did have an issue with Toshiba just after the computer went out of warranty. The video card failed and took the mother board with it. I think these units run awfully hot. This was a Tecra, which is supposedly their buisiness class machine. I thought it would be bullet proof and it was not. On top of it, after only a couple years Toshiba had quit making the mother board and quit supporting it for parts. I would not recommend a Toshiba to anyone. On processors usually the one that is one step down from the top dog is the best bang for the buck. I always recommend buying as high up the computer technology scale as you can afford. At the pace of change this will at least give you a couple years of use before the thing starts becoming obsolete in what it can run.

(3) WATER. All roofs shall be designed and constructed to assure drainage of water. (a) Roofing. 1. ‘General.’ a. Underlayment consisting of number 15 asphalt#8722;impregnated felt paper or equivalent or other type I material that shows no water transmission when tested in accordance with ASTM D 226 or ASTM D 4869 shall be provided under shingles.Note: Underlayment materials meeting the requirements of ASTM D 1970 meet the performance requirements of this section. b. Fasteners shall be corrosion resistant We do not fall under the IRC. We have are own code section that is a derivative of the IRC the UDC.

Thanks Gentleman for all your good wisdom. It is a help and does allow me to speak with some knowledge going into this. I think all points are valid and is one reason I continue to frequent this place. If I find something of interest I will post it and pictures. Thank You

Hey Brandon, Don't know that yet. I will be looking at it tommorow morning.

I have always worked with the notion that a concrete patio should at minimum have a least 2" of clearance from the last row of siding. I have a client that would like me to come over and evaluate his patio. In the phone interview the concern is over the distance to the siding. In preparing for this, I was researching this 2" clearance and I have not found any creditable resource for my position. Our code is for 8" earth to top of foundation clearance. Any specification on concrete patio is nowhere to be found. We are not an IRC state but even that seems to be lacking. I am not in a termite area so there is no specification for an inspection zone being left. I have found some talk of a 2" splash zone to untreated wood products but I have not found a creditable resource to quote for this. Anyone have any direction to point me for a standard of practice on a concrete patio?

We had sightings in Wilmont and south central Wisconsin. they actually cast some foot prints to verify if it was a big cat or not. I wonder if this was the same animal working its way south.

I recently had my passenger window broke and all the electronics stolen out of my van. It was 10:30am and on a reasonably well traveled street. On top of the theft it I was 30 miles away from home and it was 10 degrees out. Nothing like traveling down the highway on a freezing cold day with no window. I think anyone I passed by must have thought I was drunk driving trying to stay awake. I made the descision as Bill has suggested to just price these local's out of reach and not go. It just is not worth it.

Personaly I have built the better part of 250 homes. Never had to use an Air Hammer. Maybe he meant Nail Gun???

I frequent the Inspection News Forum. Mike, I saw a few of your posts and I don't know if that is what you are refering to, but I thnk most ignore that guy and move on with life. You are right, the political in-fighting on the othere boards is amazing and I prefer the demeanor of your board. The patrons on this forum, as a general rule keep it to buisness and stay away from non-relevant who's stick in bigger arguments.

A bridge is tempting but I think swamp land is a better purchase these days. [:-mischie

I think there is a spot under the drawer of the appliance on the left that needs further evaluation or is that just a chew toy.[:-bonc01]

Looks like a manufactured product to me. That bottom edge looks like the installer had a dull saw blade and cut it from the wrong side chipping and busting the edge up.

The installation instruction for most building papers will have a limited amount of time that they can be exposed to the weather. Ultraviolet will usualy break them down over time.

Image Insert: 63.82 KB Image Insert: 74.73 KB And spring is coming when? [!]

I thought it was Kurt or Chad, but someone about a year back had a picture of a compressor unit that was chained and paddle locked down to its pad to keep the thief's at bay.

The angle of the picture could distort this a bit, but that extension above the roof looks a bit longer than it needs to be. Couple that with the run through the cold air cavity and a mid-efficient furnace and you get gases cooling and condensing before they can get out the flue. That run needs to be reduced, if possible. This installation would be better suited to a power vented water heater and a high efficiency furnace vented with PVC. Replacing the appliances may be the only fix.