Nolan Kienitz

Last two grafs in the article seem to indicate a "lack of air flow" around the heat generating servers, etc..

Well, when I was on the design/build group for internet web-hosting data centers (many years ago) when the dot.com world was growing like crazy, that was a prime item we had to deal with on all the data centers we built.

Did someone forget or overlook that at the Bluffdale site?

Humm [?][?]

Here is a rough PDF of the article.

Download Attachment: Chad Fabry is a man of many helpful hats - Democrat and Chronicle.pdf

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I think first step is to measure from your corners to locate the true property line.

Measuring from the corners is going to be tough. I just found out last week that my supposed .53 acre lot is much smaller. Apparently, I own out to the middle of the road/ highway.

Middle of road, etc. is not uncommon. My wife and I have some land over in East Texas that we sold a portion of and learned there "used to be" an old country road along the fence line going back to another section of land.

County stopped maintenance on it well over 20+ years ago and the fences have move a tad over the years and now the back section of land is actually 'land-locked' seeing as how the country doesn't really recognize the road.

Albeit if push came to shove the county could re-establish maintenance on the road if they desire and fences would have to be moved accordingly.

All that to say that once we had it surveyed the survey company advised that we owned up to the 'middle of the road' that was no longer maintained. From the middle to the other side was owned by the next door land-owner.

At least, in our case, it was not a huge deal.

Best of luck on getting all things settled for all.

Happenings up in Katen's territory ...

In-Pipe Hydro-Power ... Portland, OR

Interesting. The article said the retaining wall was holding a fence. Fence posts are supposed to hold the wall. They should be designed to support both the fence and the wall. Right?

Aren't home inspections required in Texas before a house can change hands?

Marc

No.

Also, retaining walls, fences, etc. are not part of the state mandated SOP.

But there will be someone that will see the required insurance for home inspectors and will try to tag us.

I'm lucky on this development. I've only done about 4 FHA Finals up there and none of them were on streets with the retaining walls.

And the FHA Final is not even close to a TREC inspection.

Saw this on the local news this evening and found the article in a local suburban newspaper.

Homes in this general vicinity are typically 'starter' type homes. All new construction.

With everyone tap-dancing around the responsibility I wonder how long it will take for an inspector to get tagged in some eventual suit?

Retaining Walls Failing ... McKinney, TX

Building and delivering a report to a client while on-site (in my opinion) is fool-hardy.

Many of us call such HIs "checkbox chimps" and a good number of such inspectors are awaiting their court dates due to legal actions such 'hurry up' efforts usually result in.

Inspectors that know what they are doing are not limited 'one whit' by the application they happen to use to collect, arrange the data for their reports.

Nest has introduced a new item for their product line.

Nest - Smart Fire Alarm

Hold this post- front page article forthcoming.

Do you have a Home Owner's Association?

Sometimes they have requirements about what can / cannot be done to the exterior veneer of a property.

Similar 3-wheel format as the CanAm Spyder products ...

CanAm Spyder

If you do us the LP product ... just be sure to keep it well sealed ... IE: primed and painted thoroughly.

Over time the bottom course (near grade/ground level) will still likely absorb moisture and crumble. Maybe not so much as the older product in the similar lineage.

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Excellent ...

Yeah, Toto.

Anything that can handle a Fabry load is good enough for the rest of us.

Yeah,

There's this urban myth that he once blew the back out of a cheap American Standard after attending a children's hospital chili cook benefit. He was leaving after eating when the urge overtook him. He went to the restroom to relieve himself and that's when he was involved with accidental damage to private property. One 10-year-old-kid sitting in the next stall was so traumatized that they later found him cowering in a hallway closet, covered in you-know-what, clutching a teddy bear and sucking his thumb.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

BOOM .....

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I "think" I recall seeing a thread or maybe a comment or two in a thread here at TIJ about some of the new toilets.

I've been doing some searches and can't seem to come up with what I "thought" I read.

I found Chad's rebuilt toilet with the 7-gal flush and resulting fiber comments, but that wasn't it.

It seems to me that it may have been Katen who commented about a specific toilet that was "good".

I'm just trying to refresh the old gray matter.

Odds are Erby will come up with the search and post in a heartbeat.

Tnx in advance.

OK, OK ... here it is ...

Thanks for the setup Kurt [:-slaphap

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Yeah, I got complaints about Realtors, builders, regulatory bodies and about lots of things but ask me to quit and I'd say...No way, I love this doggone job.

I don't know why.

Marc

Ditto what Marc posted.

Take a good span of time and spend it with Les. He has been in this gig for a long time and has seen almost everything.

As with any job there are ups and downs. I spent 35+ years in the corporate world and that included over 10 years of commercial inspections. I've been doing my own business and residential (some commercial) inspections for 12 years now and would not go back I simply would not survive in the corporate world today.

I tell my clients that I feel like I'm similar to Detective Columbo in that I'm always looking for clues to help put a puzzle together. In this job the extra challenge is that I don't know what it looks like ... except that I have a pretty good idea of how things should operate and "look like" and I can attest that I learn something new at almost each and every inspection.

.

Simply exquisite.

Well done, Chad.

Y'all count your lucky stars ... you don't have an SOP like the Texas TREC SOP and report template.

We have a new SOP that goes into effect on 01/01/2014. I posted PDFs of it (the final/approved version) back in May.

You need to first check to see what the North Carolina requirements are for licensing of home inspectors. There will be a detailed list of requirements that run the gamut from licensing to insurance requirements to report templates and what you can and can not put in reports and more.

Start there with your education first.

... he also wore bib overalls and a white cotton tee shirt = Mike Holmes? ....

That is nothing but "pure marketing" ... certainly doesn't add any real credibility. [:-crazy]

And to think I just spent ~4 hours yesterday emptying our side-by-side refrigerator/freezer.

This also included removing all the trays and bins and giving it a thorough scrubbing as well as turning it off, laying it on its side, removing the bottom and rear access panels so I could vacuum and thoroughly clean the coils of 8+ years of collected lint, dog hair and such.

The clue was the wet/stale dog hair smell that was wafting through the kitchen when the fan was running. DUH!!

Well ... it is clean now and the foodstuffs with excessive freezer burn is now in the trash.

Back to basics ... [^]

And ... to the point of some comments ...

Whisper Reporter does not provide any pre-built comments.

They do software for an application ... they do not write comments that we inspectors are supposed to write.

As I noted above you can make their software do whatever you want for any type of report presentation.

As many have noted ... you need to learn the software and how to work with it.

Please don't expect any software to "write your report for you"!

.

I use Whisper Reporter and also do testing for them on new features.

I started out using their first release called Whisper PI and started using Whisper Reporter when it was initially released about 5+ years ago. They often due multiple upgrades each year for new features. No charge for such or support. One time purchase price and that is it.

Customizable to whatever type of report template you want/need.

It is NOT "Texas Only"!!!

Whisper Reporter

Actually I installed one like that in our kitchen sink about two years ago.

So far ... it is still working.

Nolan,

are you sure it is not coming on in the middle of the night? Maybe the lever is just slipping down a little bit and SNAPS back when you enter the room!

You know ... I've been hearing some strange noises, but I think there is a damper controlling the the return SNAP noise. []