resqman

See that condition every day in Ga. Usually just replace the trim and life is good. Threshold might find some water intrusion in crawl and sill rot.

First son has no interest. Graduated business school and has a job. He loves cold call sales and would hate working with houses. Second son is going into the medical field. He might like this after he tires of medicine. He likes tinkering. He could do it. Was in IT for 25 years prior to this. Suit and tie office job. Miss working indoors during lousy weather. I could see myself going back to being an ambulance driver. Was a volunteer EMT for about a decade. Patients are getting fatter. Not sure I wanna lift fatties into the truck all day. Miss the ability to make a real difference in peoples lives.

There is no need for a National License. Most inspectors operate in a single state. Those that live near a state border might be licensed in both states. A few inspectors who do expert witness work that travel around the country might need multiple state licenses. Only about 35 states license home inspectors. Some have reciprocity, some don't. If you move, take a 2 hr test, pay the $200 and go on your merry way. Licensing is not the cure for bad home inspections. It sets a very minimum bar to weed out the very worst test takers. Licensing provides a specific path to take a home inspector to court. Licensing defines an SOP. It also sets up rules so the licensing board can reprimand inspectors that don't follow the SOP, basic report writing and basic business practices. What would be the benefit of having a national license? How much money would you be willing to pay a year to maintain a national license? How many hours of ConEd would you be willing to take above and beyond your state required ConEd to maintain a national license? How many more customers would you get if you had a national license? I work in an unlicensed state. Most consumers don't know that inspectors are not licensed. When I tell them they are horrified. Does having a marriage license make you a better spouse? Does a drivers license make you a better driver? I worked in a licensed state for 7 years. Cost me about $750 a year for required classes and license fees. Since everyone had to be licensed to inspect, having a license did not provide any marketing value. National license would probably cost at least $500 a year between fees and continuing training. I don't think it would generate more than 1 or 2 inspections a year so it would be a zero sum certificate. Why bother.

Decade as volunteer firefighter & technical rescue. Three rungs above the roof plane. Side step.

Disagree with Scott. He said someone would... I insulated half the crawlspace of a 1200 sq ft ranch in Atlanta Ga around 1986. Just never got around to insulating the other half. I could physically feel a temperature difference when walking between rooms. Don't recall energy savings but sure did make a big difference in comfort while living in the house.

No, there is no disconnect to service the circuit.

Fix the water leak in the upstairs bathroom before you play with remediation.

Disagree. Spent some time working with a home inspector licensing board regarding report format & structure. The real estate board lobbyist was pushing for a more consistent report format. Home inspectors were resisting more control by outsiders. Standardization is simplification.

Not sure I want a licensing body to be too specific about format & structure. Most SOPs specify what must be in a report but not how to report. As you move to a more specific format and structure, the report becomes more cookie cutter. Filling in blanks, checking boxes. The profession gets reduced to the lowest denominator. Forms do not handle variety well. Houses are diverse. Reporting needs to be flexible to accommodate all the stupid stuff people do to them. I agree that most HI don't really understand communication and transfer of information. Sharing technical information between a competent inspector and a novice homeowner is a challenge to dumb it down enough anyone can understand but technical enough that the point comes across. Oral conversations have give and take. Written words do not. Converting oral conversation into written word that has multiple audiences is an imperfect task. The listing agent, buyers agent, buyer, tradespeople and home inspector all have different knowledge bases and to write a single document that all can understand and effectively communicate the problem is a challenging task. The different audiences have different needs and put importance on different parts of the report. Each feels their demands are the most important. Determining what is important and what is fluff often depends on which player you are.

Prescriptive Residential Wood Deck Construction Guide is a free online document that tells all regarding deck construction. Google is your friend.

I report improper screws. I carry replacements and will replace one or two in a panel if missing or wrong. I am not replacing all of them. Gotta draw the line somewhere. $3 for 6 screws at the big box store gets expensive. I carry both the coarse and fine thread screws. Will pickup loose extra screws in the bottom of panels to share at the next inspection.

In my area, many home inspectors become associate members of the MLS and get a Supra code. There is a box on the door, we enter a PIN and the CBS (call before showing) code and can open the door. We request the CBS code at the time the inspection is booked. Use this method for at least 98%+ of my inspections. Most agents show up about 2 hours after the scheduled inspection start time to chat with the buyer and get a recap of the inspection. Unless it is the first time an agent has met me. Then they will often arrive at the beginning to check me out. Occasionally have inspections where I am the only attendee. No buyer, no agents. Happens with both vacant and occupied. 10 years never been accused of any wrong doing. Look forward to vacant homes with no attendees. In and out in record time.

Where do you find that CODE requires a heat source? Your right. Circular thinking. My fault. Habitable space must be able to be heated to 68 degrees, 3 feet above the floor, 2 feet from the wall. Since sleeping rooms are habitable space, must be heated. Does not say a dedicated heating supply, just able to achieve temperature.

To broaden the comment there is no such thing as a bedroom in the code... It is a sleeping room. CODE only requires a heat source, emergency egress, 8% natural light, 4% natural ventilation, and smoke alarm. Closets are not required. That is a agent thing. Code does not require any closets anywhere anytime. If there is a closet, then there are a variety of things that can and cannot happen in closets. For example the spacing of light fixtures to storage, housing an electrical panel if designed for clothes storage, etc.

You can have a single gas furnace heat an entire home. The heat is distributed via a duct system. Usually there is a supply duct to the sleeping room to ensure it is heated.