Future law suit with Stucco siding I called it.

[tybertown29]

Heres one for you. I was called to inspect a house for a local Real Estate agent that he was buying in hopes of turning and flipping. He asked that i look at the Major issues of the house and give him an evaluation. House was full of storage debris and other things that made a full inspection impossible. I let him know this but I was able to partially evaluate the stucco siding. The stucco siding had horizontal cracks all around the house and garage. Cracks where very linear in nature. I recommended having a stucco expert evaluate and make recommendations for repair/replacement. Now fast forward 7 months. I get the call to inspect same property for the new perspective buyer. I noticed the stucco had been resurfaced but had new cracks in same location. Upon entering the garage I noticed that the unfinished wall exposed the stucco siding from the back side. I also noticed that vapor barrier and fiber board where missing. I could also see the original crack and could see daylight along the other side. So I again recommended that the stucco expert be contacted and get his evaluation of the siding. I did advise that the current condition is not advisable and should be evaluated by a different stucco expert. Attached are pics and stucco eval. You should all have fun with this one.

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[hausdok]

30 years in the stucco business? As what, a marketing guy?

No expansion joints, no accessory joints under windows. Of course it cracked.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Jim Katen]

So, is a "perspective buyer" one that gets smaller as he gets farther away?

[hausdok]

Ouch,

Your just mean, Jim.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[tybertown29]

Ok you got me Yes they become smaller after reading the eval. That happens as they walk away

[Jim Katen]

Ouch,

Your just mean, Jim.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Hey, I was responding to the only interesting thing in the post.

I could have picked on other stuff, but that would have been boring, like pointing out the difference between "your" and "you're".

[Jim Katen]

Ok you got me Yes they become smaller after reading the eval. That happens as they walk away

See! He has a sense of humor.

[tybertown29]

My feelings are hurt that is the only thing you find interesting. Bad Form

[Jim Katen]

My feelings are hurt that is the only thing you find interesting. Bad Form

You found a commonplace problem.

It wasn't fixed properly.

7 months later it was still there.

A contractor with 30 years experience swears it's ok.

Yawn.

Normally, I wouldn't even comment. But "perspective client," who could resist?

[John Kogel]

Lucky they didn't put drywall over the hole in the garage wall. It would have been your opinion versus the signed letter from the 30 year vet.

That house will sell to the first guy who knows too much about houses to get a home inspector in.

[Tom Raymond]

Lucky they didn't put drywall over the hole in the garage wall. It would have been your opinion versus the signed letter from the 30 year vet.

That house will sell to the first guy who knows too much about houses to get a home inspector in.

And for about what it would cost to fix the stucco he'll have the whole mess covered in vinyl.

[hausdok]

Ouch,

Your just mean, Jim.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Hey, I was responding to the only interesting thing in the post.

I could have picked on other stuff, but that would have been boring, like pointing out the difference between "your" and "you're".

Hah,

Give it a few more years. When your own brain starts turning to pudding you'll start mixing them up yourself.

Putting my diaper on now. Gonna go sit in the corner and suck my thumb.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[David Meiland]

Wait... you can put your own diaper on?

[tybertown29]

Oh and I forgot to tell you the real estate agent that originally hired me is not happy with me because I called out the siding again

[hausdok]

Oh and I forgot to tell you the real estate agent that originally hired me is not happy with me because I called out the siding again

The next time the agent starts busting your balls about an inspection, remind the agent that you have a standard of practice that you must comply with.

Tell him that the days of the good 'ol boy inspectors and agents winking at each other and scratching each others' backs in order to make sales work and to get referrals here in Washington state is supposed to be behind us; and that you now have a code of ethics you must follow or risk the loss of your license, just like he does.

Point out that the division of DOL that administers your license in Olympia is the exact same group of folks that administers real estate licenses; and that he's free to call Rhonda Myers, the inspector program manager, at Real Estate Licensing Division (360-664-6524) and register a complaint with her if he thinks you didn't inspect the home in accordance with the SOP or violated the code of ethics.

Rhonda is a former real estate agent but she likes us guys and wants us to do good inspections. She'll put him in his place real fast the first time he starts complaining that you queered the deal by doing a thorough SOP compliant inspection and following your code of ethics.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Jim Katen]

Oh and I forgot to tell you the real estate agent that originally hired me is not happy with me because I called out the siding again

The next time the agent starts busting your balls about an inspection, remind the agent that you have a standard of practice that you must comply with.

Tell him that the days of the good 'ol boy inspectors and agents winking at each other and scratching each others' backs in order to make sales work and to get referrals here in Washington state is supposed to be behind us; and that you now have a code of ethics you must follow or risk the loss of your license, just like he does.

Point out that the division of DOL that administers your license in Olympia is the exact same group of folks that administers real estate licenses; and that he's free to call Rhonda Myers, the inspector program manager, at Real Estate Licensing Division (360-664-6524) and register a complaint with her if he thinks you didn't inspect the home in accordance with the SOP or violated the code of ethics.

Rhonda is a former real estate agent but she likes us guys and wants us to do good inspections. She'll put him in his place real fast the first time he starts complaining that you queered the deal by doing a thorough SOP compliant inspection and following your code of ethics.

In this case, I suspect that the real estate agent is upset because he's also the owner/flipper of the property. I doubt that he gives a rat's ass about standards, codes, or what Rhonda has to say.

[Ben H]

-In this case, I suspect that the real estate agent is upset because he's also the owner/flipper of the property. I doubt that he gives a rat's ass about standards, codes, or what Rhonda has to say.-

I'll bet dollars to donuts Jim is spot on.

[hausdok]

In this case, I suspect that the real estate agent is upset because he's also the owner/flipper of the property. I doubt that he gives a rat's ass about standards, codes, or what Rhonda has to say.

Yeah,

I got that, which is why I said, "The next time." Ferndale is a small place and the guy will probably hold a grudge.

The agent is a little bit hamstrung on this one; after all, he hired Kirk in the first place seven months ago. If he starts braying to the buyer that he shouldn't listen to Kirk because he doesn't know what he's talking about, the buyer is going to know it's B.S. because the agent had hired Kirk to inspect the home when he bought it, so the agent is left fuming.

The day will undoubtedly come when they meet on another job, where the agent isn't the owner of the home, at which point the agent is probably going to do whatever he can to bust Kirk's balls. There's no better way to shut that stuff down in my opinion than to drop the hint to the agent that if he crosses the line his real estate license could be in jeopardy.

It's easy to just say, "Sorry, Bud, but I had to report that stuff, 'cuz my SOP says I have to." It's another thing to say it in such a way that reminds the agent, without bracing him, that he too has limitations on his own conduct and that the same very small group of persons that oversees Kirk's conduct and license is the same that oversees the agent's.

Directly bracing the agent in a small town will have a ripple effect if the agent starts running his mouth. Kirk needs to subtly cause the agent to think about what the consequences could be of wanting Kirk to cross the line out of loyalty to him because he'd previously referred work to Kirk.

Sorry if that was lost on folks.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[tybertown29]

That's the problem whatcom county is very small and even though there are rules and regulations governing inspectors and real estate agents it does not prevnet them from black balling the inspectors that do it right. It happens all the time up here.

[hausdok]

I understand,

I grew up in a town of 1100 folks. Believe me, I get it. Where I come from, if you got up in someone's face most folks would consider you to be an a**hole for doing so; even if you were right - it's just not considered proper or polite. So, you have to do it in such a way that Mr. dipwad gets the message but can't go around telling folks you'd threatened him directly with loss of his license for suggesting or hinting you should have been nearsighted (If that's what you meant when you said he was not too happy with you).

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[tybertown29]

Exactly Thanks for the support.

[edwardh1]

why is stucco used?

cheap choice by the builder, or a style thing?

seems in my limited view that stucco failes over anything except concrete?

its always "well this new type stucco is problem free, or this new installation method is problem free.

why do people use stucco?

[Marc]

why is stucco used?

cheap choice by the builder, or a style thing?

seems in my limited view that stucco failes over anything except concrete?

its always "well this new type stucco is problem free, or this new installation method is problem free.

why do people use stucco?

Stucco, when applied according to the manufacturer's specs, works quite well here. I like the looks of it when the exterior wall design includes some brick veneer.

Marc

[Layla]

I'm a little confused... the pics to me look more like EIFS than stucco...I don't think the two words are interchangable, but maybe I am way off base.

[Jim Katen]

I'm a little confused... the pics to me look more like EIFS than stucco...I don't think the two words are interchangable, but maybe I am way off base.

Why do you think they look like EIFS? The crack patterns in the first few pictures are typical of hardcoat stucco. The last two pics show the backside of the stucco, which looks very different from the backside of EIFS. I don't see anything in any of the pics that suggests EIFS.