Just a Query on Log Cabin Inspection

Please keeps responses brief and address the answers to Q1 or Q2:

  1. Would you inspect a $million plus log home if you had never done one or been mentored on log cabin inspection?

  2. Do you think that taking the online course makes you qualified if you have never done a log home inspection?

Funniest answer doesn’t win! :twisted:

I would but that is me and I think it boils down to your knowledge and experience in our field of work.

Definately take the online course, heck I took it twice before doing my first log home inspection…

All the best,

If you do not feel comfortable don’t do it. On line course probably would qualifiy you. I find it helpful to find out who built the log house. We have several builders here who do them and if it is recent enough they will have records, pick their brains.

Scott:

  1. Nope

2 ) Nope …The on line course would help. If you do it be sure to disclaim the logs!

Because:

A proper, complete log home inspection includes “sounding” every log for its entire length, and checking every log for upward facing checks.

You are trying to determine if any of the logs are rotting from within

Recomend complete re-inspections every two years and seasonal inspections for checks.

Cheers

Yes, if take InterNACHI’s free, online Log Home Inspection course.](http://www.nachi.org/loghomecoursereleased2008.htm)
Yes.

There really aren’t a lot of courses on this subject, and the few that are out there can’t hold a candle to InterNACHI’s Log Home Inspection course. It is very comprehensive (73 sections long) and the only log home inspection course that has been awarded state approvals. So if you don’t take ours… I’m not sure what other options exist. None, I think. There is nothing out there that tops InterNACHI’s.

Anyway, here are the agencies that have awarded it their approval:

Alaska Department of Commerce Community and Economic Development, Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, Home Inspector Program
Alberta, Service Alberta
Arkansas Home Inspector Registration Board
Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Home Inspector Licensing Board
IAC2
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Professional Regulation*
Indiana Real Estate Commission, Home Inspector Licensing Board
InterNACHI
Kansas Home Inspectors Registration Board
Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet Office of Occupations and Professions Board of Home Inspectors
Master Inspector Certification Board
Mississippi Home Inspector Board
Nevada Department of Business and Industry, Real Estate Division
New Hampshire Home Inspector Licensing Board
New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Division of Consumer Affairs, State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, Home Inspection Advisory Committee
Oklahoma State Department of Health, Occupational Licensing Division, Construction Industries Board, Committee of Home Inspector Examiners
Oregon Construction Contractors Board
South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Residential Builders Commission
South Dakota Real Estate Commission
Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, Division of Regulatory Boards, Home Inspector Licensing Division
Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC)
Washington State Home Inspector Advisory Licensing Board of the Department of Licensing
West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, State Fire Marshal’s Office
Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing

Scott:

As Nick says there are not very many log home courses out there, if any.

I attended a seminar some time ago where a log home builder explained the process. That’s why I posted the above info.

You could do a regular inspection but be sure to advise the client that you will not be inspecting the logs. There is a log disclaimer around here somewhere, maybe in the course.

Cheers

Hidden Wood Decay:
Although the Inspector uses techniques such as resonance testing (tapping), probing and visual examination in an effort to determine the presence of wood decay in the logs of log structures, these techniques are not technically exhaustive and will not reveal the presence of wood decay hidden in inaccessible places, such as log cores and/or the intersections of log walls. For this reason, locating hidden decay in logs incorporated into the structure of log homes lies beyond the scope of the General Home Inspection.
Compliance with Manufacturer’s Specifications:
Because there exists a multitude of log home builders offering both Manufactured and Handcrafted homes, each using a method often of their own choosing and invention and often requiring that the contractor building or assembling the home adhere to a similar multitude of proprietary engineering specifications, the adherence to most of which cannot be confirmed without disassembly of the relevant home component, inspecting for compliance with Manufacturer’s Specifications lies beyond the scope of the General Home Inspection.
Chinking Disclaimer:
Modern caulk-like sealant and its supporting substrate, together commonly known as “chinking,” have certain requirements for proper application including but not limited to proper backing and sealant materials and installation and minimum sealant thickness which can be verified only before or during the application process and are not visible after completion of the chinking application process. The chinking application process was complete at the time of the inspection and the Inspector disclaims these and any other conditions relating to materials and/or installation of the chinking sealant which were not visible at the time of the inspection.
Compliance to Standards:
Confirming compliance with any Standards set forth by any organization or association relating to log home construction lies beyond the scope of The General Home Inspection.

InterNACHI has been a member of the ILBA for many years. InterNACHI is listed about 1/2 way down in: http://www.logassociation.org/directory/associations.php Good association, but most of their courses are about building, not inspecting. And none are as robust as our course.

As for disclaimers: http://www.nachi.org/loghomedisclaimer.htm

I might add that to get your HI licence in Alberta the InterNACHI’s Log Home Inspection course is not only approved but required.

As usual all great advice.

I passed on the inspection and referred the job to another hommie that I know who is quite familiar with log homes (he will reciprocate for sure)…this one was in excess of 4000 sq ft. Better safe than sorry is my motto …I will take the course and there is a log home builder a couple of miles away that I will talk with at length.
I explained to the customer that at this time I think it would be in his best interest to get someone more familiar with log homes…he thanked me for my honesty and said that he has referred my name onto someone else buying in the area…I got that call today…so it all worked out!

Scott,
You should contact the other “Homie” and see if he will allow you to do a ride along.

See… you can make lemonade

Cheers

The inspection has already been done …I went to a wedding that day (on time instead of after the inspection) so everything worked out.
Excellent idea Jeff, I will ask if I can go out with the same inspector for a ride along on his next log cabin inspection.