Originally Posted By: Morgan Audetat
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maybe we should ad hot water heat to this forum, so many sparkys out their an no plumbing chatter, come on ask me a question…heehehe
maybe we should ad hot water heat to this forum, so many sparkys out their an no plumbing chatter, come on ask me a question…heehehe
Originally Posted By: dbush
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Okay Morgan, why is it that 3 out of the last 5 houses I have inspected do not have a shutoff valve at the hot water heater? One house did not have any shutoff valves, except for the waterline to the icemaker.
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Dave Bush
MAB Member
"LIFE'S TOUGH, WEAR A HELMET"
Originally Posted By: adufresne
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Dave, How old are the houses you inspected with no shut off valves?
Armand QHIS
Originally Posted By: Morgan Audetat
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Do you have to have a license to be a plumber in Missoura?
Originally Posted By: dbush
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Two are 30+, one is 8; however, ALL of the hwh’s have been replaced fairly recently.
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Dave Bush
MAB Member
"LIFE'S TOUGH, WEAR A HELMET"
Originally Posted By: jhagarty
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Joseph Hagarty
HouseMaster / Main Line, PA
joseph.hagarty@housemaster.com
www.householdinspector.com
Phone: 610-399-9864
Fax : 610-399-9865
HouseMaster. Home inspections. Done right.
Originally Posted By: dbush
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I note that they are there. However, I, without always being seen, turn them slightly to ensure they are not frozen up. I do not completely operate them though.
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Dave Bush
MAB Member
"LIFE'S TOUGH, WEAR A HELMET"
Originally Posted By: jmyers
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Guess that means I am the only one here that fully opens and closes those babies to try to get them to leak!
Joe Myers
Originally Posted By: dbush
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Joe, my concern would not be if they leak, it would be them not stop leaking. Of course I guess it would be better to find out now then when they really need it. Liability be damned, I think I may start doing it too. What the heck, the bank already owns my house, what can they take.
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Dave Bush
MAB Member
"LIFE'S TOUGH, WEAR A HELMET"
Originally Posted By: adufresne
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Dave, I know that over thirty years ago, while growing up in Mass , most houses had one main shut off, so it was easy for the plumbers to run the pipes and hook everything up. It cut down time and saved money buying valves. The codes were not like they are today.I don’t know about the 8 yr old house? Don’t know what your codes are where you are. You can call your local building inspectors, they may tell you.
Armand
Originally Posted By: dbush
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Armand, code or not, I recommend that they have one on the hwh, and every other fixture in the house. The last thing someone needs to try to do if the pipe busts is try to go outside and take the manhole cover off so they can shutoff the water.
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Dave Bush
MAB Member
"LIFE'S TOUGH, WEAR A HELMET"
Originally Posted By: adufresne
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Yes, I agree with you on the valves. Most homes today have plenty of valves.
Originally Posted By: rray
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I would never in a million years consider operating a water shutoff valve.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: jmyers
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Russel,
So what do you do when the client operates it and it does not work or worse floods the basement?
Joe Myers
Originally Posted By: rray
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That’s exactly why I don’t do it as part of my inspection. And I would never advise my Clients to operate that specific valve. Usually it and all the pipes at the water heater are corroded anyway, so California law requires that I step aside for the plumber. Plumbers charge a lot of money here, and the last thing I would want to do is operate that specific valve so that it does not work anymore, floods wherever (basement?, what’s that?), it’s a weekend and plumbers don’t work or charge $250 an hour with a minimum charge of $250, so we have to shut the water off to the house, seller has no hot water (or any water) for the rest of the weekend, everyone’s pissed off (can I say pissed off on a public bulletin board?), etc. Just ain’t gonna go there. Similar to walkin’ on roofs (rooves?). Just ain’t gonna go there. I’m very, very successful at getting my Clients to spend another $1000 or so for a roofing contractor, plumber, and electrician to inspect certain things that I don’t inspect, irregardless (is irregardless a word?) of anything that I might say, good or bad, in my report about those things that I don’t inspect. How I get them to do that will have to remain my busines secret until I retire and then I’ll go into teaching. If someone would like to buy my business now, I’d be happy to go into teaching. Some would say that I’m not doing my job, but remember that I’m in California, and our Business and Professions Code restricts me in what I can do and can say.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: jhagarty
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
–
Joseph Hagarty
HouseMaster / Main Line, PA
joseph.hagarty@housemaster.com
www.householdinspector.com
Phone: 610-399-9864
Fax : 610-399-9865
HouseMaster. Home inspections. Done right.
Originally Posted By: rray
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The team approach? Yes and no. Yes, but not in the traditional sense that The HomeTeam Inspection Service developed back in 1993.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: rray
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Well, the alternate concept is still a team. However, our franchises in most places have as members of their team a pest control expert, a roofing expert, an HVAC expert, and a septic expert. That doesn’t work here because of the nature of the real estate industry. All those experts already have enough work to do, some booked as far as three months in advance.
I use a team only in the sense that I use all generalist home inspectors. I am my only pool, spa, and tennis court inspector, so when those are involved, there will be at least two other people with me. I always have at least two inspectors unless it's one of our infamous 461 SF condos selling for 215 thou. Then I just send one inspector.
I have taken as many as six inspectors to a 5800 SF, swimming pool, spa, and tennis court inspection, two water heaters, two kitchens, three FAU, and three AC condensers. We were able to do all of that in two hours flat. Realtors were impressed. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, I get a ton of business from the team approach, and I got a ton of business from both Realtors, who work in that type of neighborhood, because I don't use up their whole day doing one inspection. We did three inspections in one day, same type of house as mentioned, for one of the RE/MAX agents out in that neighborhood. He and his wife just adore us. She baked me three dozen peanut butter cookies for Christmas, one dozen for each house on that day. She'll never forget those three houses (since they made a cool $100 grand or so as commissions). And all I got were these dumb peanut butter cookies (actually, they were quite tasty).
There's a reason why we did 393 inspections in our first full calendar year.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: rray
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And vice-versa if you ever make it to San Diego.
My first year was the fourth best in the history of our company. If I make my second year goal, I'll have the best second year ever.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: rray
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I put the NACHI logo at the bottom of my stationery and at the bottom of my picture page in my reports.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.