First “bad” inspection: need advice

One more thing … do not involve Joe Ferry for intervention, or anyone else, if you have already been notified of action pending against you unless he is licensed to practice law in your state and you are calling to retain him. His involvement with the complaint on your behalf may, under certain circumstances, relieve your insurance carrier of the duty to pay to defend you if and when you are sued. The size of the claim that you quoted would not be tried in a small claims court and even winning a lawsuit in a higher court can still be quite expensive to pay out of pocket.

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It is unfortunate that you have to deal with this. The best advice I can offer is to consult with your insurance company and a lawyer. I doubt that your lawyer will want you talking directly with the other person’s lawyer.

I wasn’t talking about mold. I was talking about the “damp” you mentioned and a non-accessible crawlspace, which are 2 big red flags (crawlspace moisture issue(s) and a non-accessible crawlspace that wasn’t properly inspected). The mold may be the “aftermath” of the “dampness” you identified.

And yes, I think your suggestions were wrong. It sounds like you were trying to more or less “sugar-coat” or prescribe “easy and relatively cheap things”, as a “benefit” or part of a “long-term maintenance strategy” that “will likely save them money during ownership”. All of this based on your “belief”, instead of having a professional assess determine remediation/corrective action (especially when you couldn’t even access to determine how bad). IMO, you shouldn’t be worried about or focused on your clients saving money during the course of their ownership, but doing your job and finding/documenting defects and fulfilling your obligations outlined in the contract that you had with the client.

I’m just trying to be honest here and sincerely hope everything works out for you, but it sounds like you may need to rethink your approach and documentation protocols when inspecting and creating your report. Your responses and wording, sounds to me like “real estate agent pleasing phrases” or “sugar-coating”, instead of what and how you were supposed to be documenting. FWIW, I would never in a million years suggest a 6 mil vapor barrier (basically a painters drop cloth) and a french drain to deal with moisture issues (even if they may help). 9 times out of 10 crawlspace “dampness” or lets just say it, moisture issues, is not an easy or relatively cheap thing to correct.

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Where’s Larry?

If you found a bare ground crawl space with limited ventilation in a 5 year old house, what would your comment and recommendation be?

To install a professional grade vapor barrier and to leave the ventilation limited or excluded altogether, why? What does this have to do with this thread?

I recommended 6 mil, if there was none because when crawled on, over stones, concrete pieces, sticks, roots, footings edges, etc., it lasted longer without tearing. TMMV :smile:

Funny, you said you would never in a million years recommend it. Make up your mind :slight_smile: Also note, the OP mentioned “or heavier vapor barrier” which you conveniently left out. You’re bashing someone for recommending something the model codes prescribe to combat moisture intrusion in crawl spaces with limited or no outdoor ventilation, so I figured I would ask since you seemed to be the expert on the subject :slight_smile: Yes, the wording is important when crawl space is found to be damp… but I see nothing wrong with mentioning a vapor barrier to cover the ground as part of the solution. If you do, please explain :slight_smile:

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6 mil is the bare minimum and what I consider cheap builders plastic that’s gets thrown down in order to meet the minimum requirement.

I could be wrong on the mil, Josh, it has been a while. I recommended a stronger plastic than what you are describing. :thinking:

Edit: Yup, 6 mil is stronger that painter’s plastic.

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6 mil is not what I would consider painters plastic.

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6 mil is what NACHI recommends.

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Dewey, Cheatum and Howe?

https://www.airgas.com/medias/03509H.jpg-1200Wx1200H?context=bWFzdGVyfHJvb3R8MzYyMTM5fGltYWdlL2pwZWd8aGMzL2gzNi8xMTUxMTc3OTE2NDE5MC5qcGd8NGEzMTFhNDNjMGM2ZTliMGZlMGY2YTBjYjRlYjY3MGI2ZTU1Y2M3Nzg3MzliMDY5MjEyYWM4ZGRhNjdiMDU1Yw

0.31 mil? less than 1 mil? hmmm

typical painters plastic…

6 mill is the standard in the residential market for vapor barriers.
Then you have the 10 mill which is normally specified for Commercial properties.
2c0a9db9-8c8a-5a06-a064-214f4191eba0_compact

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Thanks, Marcel. I though I remembered it correctly…6 mill…not 3 or 4 or less mil. :smile:

I could use a mill or two myself! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Better get more. One of two doesn’t go as far as it used to. :rofl: :joy:

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