stubrooks

White or yellowish-white gunk at solder joints indicate to me that there is a pinhole leak in the solder joint. I also see that often in cheap brass castings made in China. The blue-green on the pipe can mean flux wasn't cleaned off and the residual acid corroded the copper for a while. However, on a valve and it's at or just below the gland nut it can mean the gland packing has failed and the valve is leaking at the stem or the gland nut is loose.

Ivy, vines, whatever -- remove it! Ive seen it growing up under siding, into attics and under shingles. Keep it on the ground. Vines can even kill trees so that's an iffy.

Use Epoxy coated rebar. To me, it looks like the coverage is insufficient to prevent moisture penetration causing rusting.

I often tell clients that it's not a matter of minor, major, or maintenance it's a fact of if I see it and it needs repair or attention of some sort then I have to report it. It is entirely up to them what they want to ask the seller to do - or not. Some are only looking for major items but I have to advise that a lot of less major repair and maintenance can quickly add up to a bunch of dollars.

Just a few pertinent questions: How long was the dryer vent? What material? What diameter? Does the anti-back flow flap open when the dryer is running?

Its not in a HI SOP because it's not a standard practice.

You might have to force the system manager to see a USB port as a real Hardware port like COM1 not a virtual port like COM9 and up . I had a problem with the 1028 connection and it ended up being the virtual port enumerator assigning COM ports numbers like 9 -15 to USB ports. The SunNuclear software was programmed to recognize ports numbers that high. When I assigned COM1 to the USB controller, it took care of the problem. It looks like the SunNuclear software has been upgraded since then because it now accepts COM9.Check with SunNuclear for available software upgrades

I went to solid plastic cards several years ago. They don't melt in my pocket, get dirty, or get dog-eared. I do all my own artwork and send the PDF file to a place in FL. Yes, they cost quite a bit more than cardboard but people are really impressed. I put my picture on the front and some thought I was just showing them my ID. I had a REA use one to open a locked door at one inspection.

I post them and add that there may be adjustments made due to age, travel distance, and extreme conditions. I've had several comments from callers who appreciated the fact that I had posted them.

I had an inspection in a house last fall where the previous owner must have had a whole herd of little dogs. Every floor register was eaten up, the base of the kitchen cabinets were stained and the dishwasher door and kick plate were rusted out.

I do it and use the camera when possible. I had one ceiling where there was not enough room above the tiles to get my head up there but the camera caught a bad plumbing connection. I hate putting them back in place. They seldom such fall back into place and I spend too much time trying to reset them without breaking them.

I've almost existed on short sales and foreclosures for a while. The market was really hot when the first time home buyer tax credit was in effect. The real estate agents would always say, "This inspection is for information purposes only. The house is sold AS IS". I stopped asking what was that supposed to mean. I never got a good answer. It certainly didn't change the depth of the inspection. Gee, I thought that was what an inspection was for, information on the condition of the home and systems at that point in time. I don't worry about aesthetics and cosmetics.

I check them for voltage. I even made a set of test leads using the blades from a 240V plug. Yes, I've found a few that were either completely dead or only one side hot.

For normal travel distance, 70 miles one-way isn't normal for me, $150 first hour, $100 each additional hour on .5 hour minimum increments. Some clients may have choked a bit at first but when I found really screwed up repairs, they came to realize it wasn't such a bad deal after all. Obtain list of exactly what they want inspected as related to your report. Make it clear that unless the repair is obviously wrong that you are looking for conditions for which you would not have reported a deficiency in the original report. It is not a total inspection. You cannot be responsible for materials and workmanship used in the repairs.

Yes. All the time. I have a bunch in my yard and termites will also do a job on it. It may have a lot to do with what part of the country it's in. I've seen deck posts completely rotted through where they were run through a concrete surface. Standard PTW is not rated for ground contact.