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Is an open ground on a GFCI receptacle that is installed in a 2 wire system and is within 6ft of a water source a safety hazard? Had this discussion with a colleague and now I am curious.

I am always amazed at American ingenuity. I believe this handy dandy DIY'er was trying to solve a back drafting issue on his wood stove. Download Attachment: Sobieski 018.jpg 288.95 KB Download Attachment: Sobieski 017.jpg 263.59 KB Download Attachment: DCP03131.JPG 281.72 KB

Just to play devils advocate here. How would one in the medical field have any knowledge of the performance of a building? It seems to me there a two aspects to this debate. One, the medical ramification in which we have no buisness making any recommendations in. Two, the underlying building problems that foster this growth. I do believe there are those of us out there that do have knowledge in this field to make recommendations. And no I do not believe on can get this knowledge through osmosiss and a 4 hour seminar with some rubber stamped certification at the end of it.

Kurt, Taking notes here. Gonna put some of this on you presentation next month?

Hey Guys, Thank you for checking my web site out. I would have never caught this till it was to late. Scott you weren't to far off but this turned out to be something closer to the old switching of the long distance carrier scams. Back up an running now, was down for only one day. Was wondering why I didn't get any spam yesterday.

Kurt, This is in my neck of the woods and although I have looked at a few of these my experience is limited. I was thinking John Gieger might be of interest. He sees a lot of these working the eastside of Milwaukee. I don't know if this is beyond where he would travel. Home Examiner, Inc 2040 E. Lafayette Pl., Milwaukee , WI 53202 P: 414-226-1696 F: 414-277-2040 Send Email Web: www.homex-inspections.com

The fear in testing an air conditioner in temperture below 60 degrees is that the coolant which is suppose to be in a gasoues state may have changed to a fluid state. Since a compressor is meant to compress a gas tryng to push a fluid through it can blow the compressor head. Most units have case heaters to solve this but some do not so we default to the lowest common denomenator and write them up as not inspected. One last thing, even if one would test the unit, the cooling of 65 degree air at 35% humidity is not going to tell one a whole lot about the its operation.

Yes, this style of ballcock valve is considered a cross connection.

quote:The shakes are not water proof so the felt is needed as an added layer of protection. I disagree. The felt, that is now required, is to prevent wind-driven snow from entering the attic. Bill, I should have stated that this was a personal opinion and not a statement of fact. If wind driven snow can get through whats to stop the water.

Danny, Just an observation here. The installation you describe is for cedar shingles yet you call them shakes. A cedar shingle installation is usaully done on 1x4 roof boards spaced off about 3/4" to allow air to dry the shingle from the back side. If these are shingles and they have installed a felt underlayment then these will probably rot out from being wet the felt will restrict air flow to the back of the shingle keeping it wet. Now a shake roof is different in that it is usaully installed over plywood sheathing and with a double layer of felt. The shakes are not water proof so the felt is needed as an added layer of protection.

In Wisconsin here our State inspectors association has worked the last few years to get a abritration system specific to home inspectors up and running that not only keeps cost down but also has professionals invloved as abritrators and reasearchers that have some knowledge of the inspection process. Some of the difficulties of arbritration have been that the length of time can get strung out costing everyone hunderds to thousands in expenses. We have set strict limitation to solve this. The other issue has been the arbitrator has no clue of home inspections and can return some pretty unexpected results. We are now running our arbitrators through a home inspection training course.

Here in my neck of the woods the local municipality has tried on a couple occasions to intrudoce fresh air intakes into the code. For awhile the standard was to have a 6 inch duct plumbed into the cold air returns. My experience is with our cold climate the warm basement air condisates on the cold duct at below freezing tmepratures. Even with insulated duct work to the main trunk the problem is just moved down stream. Lately they have been just leaving an open pipe into the unfinished basement areas. Some of the upper end builders invest in mechanical ie. air exchagers/HRV's to supply fresh air.

Just a couple pictures of my Monday afternoon inspection. Don't run into this to often but when one finds one like this it does you do take pause before sticking your head in the attic. The sellers had 2 humidifers running in the house during the inspection. Home is from 1920. Download Attachment: Mold1.jpg 21.15 KB Download Attachment: Mold2.jpg 22.42 KB Download Attachment: Picture1.jpg 19.56 KB

I have the Dell Axim and have been using Home Gauge. I have had no need for additional memory. I keep contacts, calender and a spreadsheet for tracking mileage. I see the smart phone as dupicating what the PDA does so I stick with a typical cell phone.

We had a problem with Semco windows a few years back. Had clients calling about leaks and after extensive investigations ruling out cauking, flashing and masonry problems it boiled down to the window frames were leaking. Semco had changed the manufacturing technique on the conrners of their windows. They use to have a insert in the mitered corner. They took this out and went to foaming the corners. This seemed to up up when the window would get torqued around from house movement and then leak at every rain into the wall. After that expereince we started to use a bib an every sill window and door.

This is a problem near and dear to my heart. I have had two call backs because of the lack of any kind moisture barrier on a vinyl home. My belief is that vinyl is not a weather proof covering. IT IS GOING TO LEAK. My normal finding is at the J-channel around windows and doors. Over time this rots the OSB at the bottom corners. Caulk does not bond well to vinyl and will fail. Builder fail to detail windows and doors with protecto wrap per manufactures specifications and as I understand most vinyl manufactures require a house wrap on OSB per their specifications. Clue here, it doesn't need to be code if it is not installed per specifications it is wrong. The standards are that we are performing a visaul inspection and looking for house wrap and flashing details around window go beyond the comfort zone of what most will do but I feel these Houses with vinyl siding are ticking time bombs.

I have mine with the ground plug up. The only problem I have had with this is with some electronics with polarized plugs and a heavy transfomer box. The box is top heavy and wants to fall out of the outlet from the weight in this orientation.

Just got done at a seminar with the FLIR sales rep there. The price on the B2 has dropped to 9600.00

Yellow Page Adds = Useless Mass Mailing = Useless for direct referals..only marginaly efffective for a branding effort. Mortgage Company Pamphlets and the like...might pay for themselves in the one or two you get but thats about it. Newletters and Handouts at brokers office..about as useful as the yellow pages. Best advice market to your client base be it newsletters or greeting cards. Get out and be in front of people pressing the flesh as one would say...ie. golf outings, board of realtor meetings, conventions either realtors of home, your own local home inspection organization. You can't by-pass time. It just takes time to build a referal based buisness.

I have found some municipalities in my area are allowing the installation of an upgraded meter in the round meter base with 100 amp service to the panel. I had called a few of these out as a mismatched service till I talked to a local municipal inspector who informed me they are not requiring the uprade of the base.

Good timing on this article. I just got done with a 2 family yesterday that had a 2 story balcony. I found 4x4's wrapped in aluminum supporting this structure. I found some rotting wood in an exposed area. When you grabbed the 4x4 and shook it the dry rotting material would come falling out of the aluminum seams. Looking at what this thing was sitting on I found the 4x4's hardly bearing on a couple concrete blocks laying on grade. I went home feeling pretty good figuring I just saved someone's life, although they probably do not will not realize this as the realtor will tell my client that I am being over dramatic.

We have a lot of lake properties that have been converted from seasonal to full time homes. Most of these are built on a crawlspace with a dirt floor. In the last two years I have found only one home that had a vapor barrier that was properly installed. Most had no vapor barrior at all and some had the painters light weight plastic all curled up and thrown around. I find that you really take your life in your hands when entering these enviroments.

$5,000 deductible is a bit steep. Most are at 1500 to 2000. I believe this is were they are getting the rates down.

One other thought here. If the original flu was for more than one appliance its ability to create a good draft my be compromised by the newer furnace with a lower exhaust temperature. This could result in back drafting issues under the right conditions and my be why the recommendation for a liner although I do aggree he is trying to sell a Cadilac repair.

Hi Mike, My normal sop on furnace inspections is to flip off the furnace disconnect and remove the service panel prior to firing up the unit at the thermostat. This way I can turn the unit back on from the disconnect and be there to watch for any rollout during the firing sequence.