Jim Morrison

Hasn't MA addressed this in their law, at least partially? Yes. Sellers' agents can't recommend a specific home inspector to a buyer. If asked, they have to give them the complete list of licensees. Buyer's agents can recommend specific home inspectors. I've never spoken with an inspector who felt like that made any difference, though.

I think it's important for home inspectors to learn the difference between what we think is useful and interesting, and what our clients do. If I thought a client should replace an improper fitting, I'd just tell them to do it and why. Sure, you can include a link like that as well, but I don't suppose most of your clients would be interested in it, so it might only clutter up your report. In my experience, clients don't want you to make them into Deputy Home Inspectors, they just want to know what's wrong with the house they're buying. Then, they promptly forget you and everything you've told them and return to the business of running the rest of their lives. I've definitely been guilty of giving clients too much info, especially when I was just learning the business. I used to bury them in it. I was so impressed by what I was learning, I figured clients would be too. They weren't. My Dad used to counsel me: 'When someone asks you what time it is, they're not asking you how to build a watch.'

We call that, the: 'I Can't See That Wall (Future Pile of Brick) From My House Bond"

I couldn't tell you how many of the cheap-ass 'L' brackets used to hold the chimney to the house have rusted out and failed in my experience. This is a very good time to punt.

The sign is telling you that this is not just a regular-ass control valve, it is meant only for emergencies. If you happen to find it in the 'off' position, you should infer that an emergency has occurred -something out of the ordinary- and don't just turn it back on. Jimmy

Do you do any Radon testing?

Jim, I think you're only being 1/2 serious, but the point you make is the reason I posted the study. It illustrates just how little we know about the health effects of living in homes with elevated Radon levels. Jimmy

Indeed, forced hot water boilers shouldn't ever make steam, especially in August. Sounds like something relatively inexpensive went wrong to me. Nothing to lose sleep over.

Agreed, but why was the boiler firing in August? No mention of a tankless water heater.

Still, the high limit on the boiler should have shut the system down before the water in the boiler flashed to steam. Plus, there's no reason for the boiler to be firing in August anyway. One or more controls has clearly failed on this system.

It seems like a stretch, but could the nesting on the floor of the panel have insulated the mouse from the box. Plus, I object to your blatant sexism. There is no reason to think that wasn't a Ms. Mouse. Please try to be more thoughtful in the future.

Not at all. A fair amount of evidence shows that exposure to low levels of radioactivity is beneficial. The thought is that it stimulates the body's repair mechanisms. I suppose it's analogous to exposure to bacteria, viruses, and certain parasites. Not at all. The background radiation that we're all exposed to every day, each time we fly, get our teeth x-rayed, or take vitamins (some contain more radiation than you'd guess) is more than enough to provide any sort of benefit like you describe. I'm pretty sure that think most of us get more than enough radiation just be mindlessly living our lives. I don't think there's a single credible study recommending that anyone in North America actually increase their radiation exposure. I'm more or less convinced that reducing our exposure to radiation is a worthy goal. How dangerous it is to live in a house with 4 pic/l Radon in the basement, is another question altogether and there are as yet no good answers.

Thanks for uploading that Mike. Exactly, I think it's a reasonably well done study that points out there may be health risks associated with residential exposure to radon, but it's impossible to say definitively what they might be based on what we know today. Everyone will agree that less exposure to radioactivity is better than more, but the findings to date present more questions than answers. There are also some nuggets of good empirical information among the reams of obscure scientific language if any interested inspectors care to sift through it. Bottom line: Most of us know less about residential exposure to Radon than we think we do.

Never. Never heard about anyone else seeing it, either. That's novel.

It was an oil fired steam boiler with a gas kitchen stove.

Correct. Four 30 amp fuses protecting 4 #14 gauge wires.

Looked at a house with a 30a 120volt service this AM. I can't remember the last time I saw a 30a service, but I bet it's been close to 10 years. There were four #14 gauge branch circuits, can you guess what size fuses were protecting them?

Post a photo for us.

Looks like mold growth on the exterior walls of an unheated closet to me.

Corrected. Thanks. One thing I like about the cm4all editor at my current domain host is that I can make changes/corrections to the content in less than one minute. The downside is that it doesn't allow me to insert photos unless the template I've chosen allows it. I appreciate all the responses. Just about everyone seems to agree that I've too much text on the index page. I've considered that I might need to switch to a different HTML editor. What I'm not sure of is whether the brethren understands my sales technique, which is to tell the discerning buyer what he needs to know, in such a way that he will recognize that it's what he needs to know and that I'm an inspector that tells it like it is, on my website and on the job. The message begins getting across on the first paragraph and if they stop at that, it can stand alone. I use this same technique when I present to a class of first-time home buyers 4, 5 times a year. They love it. Marc Students in a homebuyer class are a very different audience than website gawkers. To begin with, students in a room are a captive audience. With people browsing the web, you have a very brief window to make them think you're worth considering. Web gawkers are a skittish bunch, always quick to bolt off to another page. We've got to grab them early and give them a reason to stay and we can't make them work too hard for it. To be honest, I get very little business directly from my website. Almost all of my clients are referred to me by someone. Often, on the strength of that referral, they'll click around my site and then call me in spite of it.

It's well-written, but you wrote too much. I'd slash 80% of the text and replace it with some great photos.

Other problems with outdoor tanks: The oil is much colder. Oil will congeal at about 10 degrees F, which will clog the 3/8 inch copper tube between the tank and the burner and shut the heat off completely. We get those temps at least once annually here in Boston. When oil is very cold but not congealed, the conical shaped spray at ignition can collapse and is much louder than normal.

That looks like a pretty old plate from a pretty old tank. I doubt that being inside or outside has a big impact on the longevity of the tank, though. Still, if it's old and not installed as intended, I think it's worth telling your client it's old and improperly installed and could leak and have to be replaced without notice. A 12 gauge steel tank in the Boston area will generally last 50+ years in my experience.

AC article from Slate.com

Even if it's on sale, you can't substitute sand paper for toilet paper.