Jim Katen

Thanks for the link. When I've seen the stuff, it's been a total of a drop or two. If I ever see more than that, I'll consider it a problem. 

You can begin with NEC 110.12(C). 

Integrity of Electrical Equipment and Connections.
Internal parts of electrical equipment, including bus bars,
wiring terminals, insulators, and other surfaces, shall not be
damaged or contaminated by foreign materials such as paint,
plaster, cleaners, abrasives, or corrosive residues. There shall
be no damaged parts that may adversely affect safe operation
or mechanical strength of the equipment such as parts that
are broken; bent; cut; or deteriorated by corrosion, chemical
action, or overheating.

You might also want to study this document: 

http://www.nema.org/stds/water-damaged.cfm

(You'll have to create a NEMA user account, but it's not a big deal.) 

13 hours ago, Les said:

We treat them much like attic skuttles that are painted closed or nailed.  Our market would "eat our lunch" if we cut or gouged.

 

In that case, I put it on the agents. I can either omit this part of the inspection or they can get me permission to mar. 

I don't know why or how, but I see it every so often too. Sometimes's it's amber-colored and sometimes it's a light blue. It always seems to be oozing out from inside the thermoplastic insulation. As far as I can tell, it's harmless. 

On 1/11/2018 at 6:43 AM, Mike Lamb said:

What about the integrity of the exterior of the electric panel? Is there a reference to address painted and otherwise compromised covers and breaker switches?

There's no prohibition against painting panel covers. You can paint them as much as you want. 

As far as I know, you can also paint the front portions of the breakers, but you're not supposed to cover their amp rating numerals, which are supposed to remain visible. (240.83(A))  

If the panel cover screw slots are filled with paint, I place the blade of a screwdriver next to them and tap it with a small hammer, "plowing" the paint plug out of the way, and leaving a nice clean slot. 

On 1/11/2018 at 6:43 AM, Mike Lamb said:

Also, these are Federal Pacific electric panels but not Stab-Lok (the building was built in 1960). Is there any statistical evidence damning these type of FPE breakers?

Unless someone presented contrary evidence, I'd lump them in with Stab Loks and recommend replacing them. 

Learning the codes to further your knowledge is, in my opinion, essential. (As Les said.) Using code citations in your report is an entirely different topic, worthy of discussion on another thread. In his original post, Jake is asking how to learn to do home inspections. I agree with Jim Baird that it's good to study codes because every home inspection school that you encounter will avoid them like the plague. So study the blasted codes. 

Of course, you'll need other education as well. Starting up as a home inspector without a background in the trades is tough. On the one hand, you won't have to unlearn bad habits. But on the other, much larger hand, you'll have to actually learn how homes in your area are built, from the oldest to the newest, from electrical to plumbing, from foundations to roof flashings. That's going to be doubly tough if you plan to start in CA and later move to the south. (Particularly so in TX, which has some horrible home inspector rules.) 

There's not much you can do about hands-on prep or in-person classes while you're on a warship, but you can study codes there. . . 

5 hours ago, Jim Baird said:

Most here would not agree, but code certs in residential make a good knowledge base.  They are not cheap or easy to get, tho.

I wholeheartedly agree. 

Probably upwind of you. Still, that's the kind of mistake that prevents a young buck from becoming an old buck. 

As much as I'd like to participate in some Facebook groups, I find that Facebook just rubs my fur the wrong way. After more than a few minutes, I've got to close it and go breathe some fresh air. 

I'd love to hear more from John & Michael, but it's not going to happen on Facebook. . . 

I never tried it on DC. I was afraid that it would cook the wiring in my lamp, so I tossed it. 

I figured that there was a simple explanation that I was just ignorant of. Now I'm going to have to go get another and do some further testing. 

None of them are halogen. The ones I usually get certainly aren't and the automotive ones cost .88 for two of them - definitely not halogen. 

Definitely not a flasher. 

Here's what I usually use: 

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-416719-Landscape-Lighting-13-Watt/dp/B008ATHFGU

Here are the automotive ones that get hot, made by Barry's friends at Satco: 

https://www.amazon.com/Satco-S3623-Bayonet-12-Watt-Light/dp/B007ZY4NNO

To the best of my recollection, it was a perfect match with regard to voltage, wattage, and base configuration. Yet it produced way too much heat. 

I don't need to use automotive lamps, the regular ones are still easily available for landscape lighting. I might even try the LED versions that have just appeared. 

Mostly I was curious why a lamp designed for DC would produce so much heat when used with AC. 

Perhaps Marc can answer this question that has me puzzled. 

My desk lamp is an old Eagle gooseneck affair from the '60s. It runs off of a 12-volt transformer in the base and it takes 13 watt S8 bayonet lamps. 

While I was in the auto parts store the other day, I noticed some automotive lamps with exactly the same bayonet configuration, listed at 12 volts and about 13 watts. I figured that AC vs DC shouldn't make much difference with regard to a light bulb filament. When I got home and tried it, the light worked fine but it put out enough heat to cook over. 

Why? 

5 hours ago, JDG said:

Jim, thanks for the input and directions. I will pursue some moisture testing.

I never suggested testing. Why the fascination with testing? 

The mold document is crap because it provides no useful information. It doesn't tell you why mold is present or where it's present. It doesn't even tell you whether or not mold is a problem in this house. It's just a pointless distraction, a diversion, a red herring. Burn it (preferably outdoors so as not to add to the indoor pollution).

From your description, the only issue so far is that the occupant suffers from "allergy and flu-like symptoms." From this, people for some crazy reason, decide that there must be a "mold problem." I don't wish to offend, but that's just stupid. (That's not an insult, but a rational conclusion about a harebrained course of action.) Instead of chasing the mold boogyman, get the occupant to a competent doctor to figure out what the problem is before flailing around with "testing" of everything. 

If you must focus on the environment when you don't even know what you're looking for, approach the problem rationally and troubleshoot it like you'd troubleshoot anything else, without prejudice about what you're looking for: 

• Does the occupant suffer from the same symptoms when removed from the environment? 
• Do others suffer from the same symptoms in the same environment? 
• If you set up a "clean room" in the house, are the symptoms alleviated when the occupant is in the clean room? 
• If so, slowly introduce new things into the clean environment until the symptoms return.
• If not, study the occupant, not the house. 

Keep these principles in mind: 

1: Mold might or might not be a problem on its own, but it's *always* a symptom of a larger water problem. 

2: Attempts to address the mold without first addressing the water problem are pointless. You could get rid of every scrap of mold in the house, but it will just return. 

3: Anyone who tells you anything different is not concerned with your best interests. 

Do the following: 

1: Burn the Mold Test-Doc and never think about it again. 

2: Conduct a careful visual inspection of the building to determine where water is entering and fix it so that the water stops entering. 

3: Keep the house reasonably clean and dry indoors. 

4: If you're a disabled vet with ongoing allergy and flu symptoms, don't live in a cave for chrissakes. 

I remember reading an article in either JLC or Fine Homebuilding about 20 years ago. It was called "three ways to vent an island sink" or something like that. The method in your picture was one of the ways. The idea is that the 3" pipe is so much larger than the trap arm, that it will be impossible for this fixture to ever create a slug of water that will completely fill the 3" pipe, so it will never push air ahead of it or siphon air from behind it. Of course, fixtures upstream of this could push a slug of water that could increase pressure in this pipe and cause air to "burp" through this trap -- essentially the same thing that would happen with an AAV. 

Extremely unusual for an indoor, above-ground tank filled with a substance that generally protects metal from corrosion. 

We generally see corrosion at the very bottom of the tank, where water (from condensation) tends to collect. 

I would be *so* tempted to poke it, but doing so would be folly. 

Looks like they're trying to lengthen the neutral SEC. 

I've never heard of such an allowance except from uninformed doofuses. 

There's nothing in 210.19 that would allow this. 

I don't see any specific prohibition in the VSI's Vinyl Siding Installation Manual, but I wouldn't expect to. They're going to tell you how to install it, not how not to install it.  It's *siding*, not *roofing.*  I doubt that there's anything in there that says you shouldn't install it on your car, but that doesn't mean doing so would be ok. 

I'd just say, "Some moron installed vinyl siding in lieu of roofing. It's unlikely to work well. Hire a roofer to install proper roofing in its place." 

(Ok, I wouldn't actually write, "moron," but I'd mean it.) 

I agree with Tom. It's a rain screen system and whatever's behind it has to be a good water barrier. Tyvek might work if the wall were vertical, but I'd be worried about water seeping through all the nail & staple holes. It could have worked better if they'd put fanfold foam behind it. 

The IRC doesn't mention insulation, but it does say that the dryer has to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. 

A quick search revealed that some manufacturers require it and some don't. 

Example, page three here: 

http://products.geappliances.com/MarketingObjectRetrieval/Dispatcher?RequestType=PDF&Name=31-16224.pdf

Yeah, but your urine has gotten really dark. 

12 hours ago, Denray said:

A few years back I did my first 6+ mile walk around SF with my wife, her idea. My right heel has been slightly pissed off ever since. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and can barely put any weight on it, then after about 5 minutes, it's 98% gone. 

 

That's the classic symptom of plantar fasciitis.