Gerry Beaumont

Hi to all, Dennis, I was convinced that you had lost your mind so I went and started checking the temps on mine at home, and you are correct about them reading 4-5 degrees higher. all of which got me thinking about why this phenomenon was present, then I remembered that GFCI's have energized coils and resistors [:-bulb] Check out this link: http://www.codecheck.com/gfci_principal.htm Regards Gerry

Hi Brian, Are you sure what you were looking at was PEX, as QEST was one on the infamous PolyButylene brands ?? Do you have any pics ?? Funny 2 others were answering at the same time, here's a hint if it was grey and leaking it's PB, if it's grey and about to leak it's still PB. Regards The inspector formaly known as Encoga1

Hi to all, OH MY GOD who put a lunatic in charge of the asylumid="size4"> Seriously Jim, only busting on you, good luck and don't forget your hardhat and Kevlar underware [:-bonc01] Regards Gerry Download Attachment: bluelogo150.jpg 3.51 KB

Hi to all, Chad, just included an extra picture in your report. this one should get the concept across [:-eyebrows] [:-glasses] [:-eyebrows] Download Attachment: demo_20_s.jpg 127.05 KB

Hi to all, When you stop and think about it the whole issue of grandfathering existing inspectors is completely ridiculous, any state or municipality that feels the need to license home inspectors is doing so because of perceived defficiencies with existing inspectors. So to take a whole bunch of existing inspectors who are the ones that need to be licensed, and to allow them to meet a lower standard than newer inspectors coming into the business is completely illogical. I strongly feel that any licensing proposal should be based on a level playing field, and that any inspector should have to prove a minimum level of competency regardless of how long they have been involved in the business. From my own experience of dealing with other inspectors I can tell you that there are many bad inspectors who've been in the business for a year, but there are very many more poor inspectors who've been in the business for 10 years. Regards Gerry

Hi to all, before I start, I must acknowledge that due to my "political" affiliations I know I'm gonna get my ass kicked in this forum. However I do find myself nodding my head to the comments of both Brian G. and (heavens forbid) Jimmy M. Of the whole issue of licensing, is incredibly contentious as we all know, and in particular the issuer grandfathering tends to raise more debates than any other area, the bottom line is, that those who have been involved in home inspections for longtime prior to the enactment of legislation feel they have no requirement, (or feel they should have no requirement) to be bound by the regulations that a new inspector would fall under. This has to be complete BS, I generally tend to find those newer members of our profession to be the most education hungry bunch I have ever seen in my life they will spend hundreds of dollars if not thousands to gain knowledge that many people feel they have already gained due to their years in the business. If someone else's previously commented that you can have one years experience 20 times or 20 years experience, and that is very much true statement, I personally tend to find that the older established businesses in the unlicensed states that I do business in do the very worst standards of reports that I have ever seen. So, where do we go with this as an industry ?? I sure as hell do no one spend the rest of my career acting as a sop for the real estate industry, the real bottom line is that all inspectors have a huge duty of care to their clients, whether they work in unlicensed states or an unregulated state the best that all of us can achieve is to be the best informed and the best educated inspectors that we possibly can and with the best when the world knows state licensing or national licensing is going to force us into being that. The state of New Jersey is currently a very interesting case on piont, insofar as they have enacted legislation that is not in anybody's best interests especially that of the consumer, not only that, but they've also elected to take a second look at the legislation that they have enacted because they realized that effectively they have handed control to the members of an industry that they had decided to regulate due to problems within that industry. So forgive my late-night ramblings, realistically what should make a good inspector, let's put out political affiliations aside and discuss wants are the minimum requirements for somebody to be able to prove to legislatures that they are competent to perform home inspections, and less bear in mind home inspectors on generalists, we're not required to be rocket scientists we're not required to being professional engineers we're not required to be anything other than an uninformed clients eyes when performing an inspection. Here are my own personal thoughts: 1) to have passed the NHIE all an equivalent psychometrically valid exam. 2) to have "N" number of inspections validated by one's peers. 3) to be mandated to carry errors and omissions insurance to a level that would meet any potential claims. I will state now that any perceptions that are held by members of this forum about my opinions based on my political affiliations are probably wrong, and to that extent the second this debates enters into the area off what various associations believe, i will stop contributions into this debate, which really would be a shame as I think as others have stated in other areas that this debate is worth having, even if it only serves to solidify what many of us already believe. Let the games commence !! Regards Gerry

Hi to all, OK I give in, I can't bare to see Brian suffer anymore, here witha bit of luck is his "THING" Regards Gerry Download Attachment: thing.jpg 17.92 KB

Hi to all, just to add to what has allready been stated, you are looking at a drumtrap, we still see many of these in the north east in older properties. I have seen them made from many materials including cast iron and Brass (If you buy this house I want the salvage rights) Here are a couple of pics the first is from the CDC (which tells you all you need to know about drumtraps !!) The second is somewhat surprising as it is from a supply house that can still offer replacement cover for some models !! Regards Gerry Download Attachment: 6p69-2.jpg 22.12 KB Download Attachment: drumtrapcleanout.jpg 2.68 KB

Hi to all, Kurt has hit the nail on the head: To be able to use this software effectively you first need to know how to speak English, which seems to be something that you guys have lost the knack of in the last 250 years since you kicked us out[] Jim, are we gonna play nice here ?? Regards Gerry

Hi Brian, This response is being dictated straight into this forum, using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 6.0 professional, this program is compatible with all Windows-based applications, and I use it for everything from writing reports, messageboard imputs and instant messaging. Not only does the convert my voice into the text that you're reading now but also I can voice command the computer in some of its functions. Like yourself I am a lousy typist, and also think much better when I'm not having to concentrate on using the right keys all of the time !! The software does have some limitations and does take some time to train to your voice and your speech patterns, the new version of NaturallySpeaking is supposedly 15 percent more accurate than the version I'm currently using, so I can see a software upgrade in my near future. The software costs around $200 and comes with a headset to using you on your computer, I would throw this away immediately and by a higher quality microphone I personally use a headset manufactured by Labtec. Regards Gerry BTW I had to go back and manually correct this post in three areas, if I were using the software with an application like Microsoft Word and spellcheck and grammar check would've automatically corrected at least one of the mistakes the software made in this post