“But it’s too hot in here. Well, go turn on the ‘attic’ fan…”
Pretty sure Darwin made this trip through a household… 
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lets just say thats not the kind of thing You do more than once…heard it from a friend… 
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See:
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A modern whole house fan that works for both Winter and Summer:
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Oh shut up.
Everyone new is at some point.
It was an innocent question.
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I have zero problem with that or the question per se. You missed my entire point. He is doing mock inspections before studying the material. The point of mock inspections is to apply knowledge in the field and practice creating the actual reports, not to learn what a whole-house fan is. This is how inspectors then start charging money while having little clue as to what they are doing. The client depends on the inspector’s knowledge to make a large purchase! That to me, is a problem, perhaps not to you.
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Before taking any “basic” courses regarding the mechanical, electrical, and structural components of the home. I believe you are right but that is definitely wrong.
That sounds like what Nick used to complain about ASHI, and still does, how they let people join and become certified, and then actually learn how to perform Home Inspections by charging people money to inspect strangers homes.
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Says the guy who uses a cartoon character instead of a photo, and doesn’t come up in any searches as actually being in business.
It was a question. Answer it or don’t. No need to be an ass to someone who’s learning.
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That’s a whole house attic fan meant to move air and cool the house, not to be confused with a power vent, which is meant to vent the attic.
A whole house attic fan is something that can be really nice to have in the summer. I used to live in a house that had one that was on a timer, open some windows and turn it on and set the timer to run for an hour at bed time, the white noise along with the air flow is great to go to sleep by.
And not only does it cool the house down but it also blows the heated air out of the attic and cools it as well.
Most I’ve seen around here are the HD uninsulated types, in the winter it’s like having a huge hole in the ceiling that allows the heat you just paid to heat the house with, to flow into the attic, the louvered metal doors help very little if at all. I always tell my clients to install a switch in the attic near the fan, turn it off at that switch and insulate during the winter months.
As mentioned above, some of the nicer models come with insulated doors.
And the first thing I look for when I see one of these installed, is if they cut the bottom chord of a truss to install it, which is probably 8 out of 10 times and an automatic call for a Structural Engineer.
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They have some new designs out now for whole house fans that address all the old problems:
- Fit between standard trusses.
- Auto-close when not in use.
- Well insulated.
- Less noisy.
So, don’t put whole house fans out to pasture just yet.
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They are great at cooling the house at night but are too loud for anyone to sleep.
Hi, @tglaze. How can I help? I don’t understand the question.
Hi, @ccurrins. I don’t understand what’s “definitely wrong.” What’s the question? How can I help clarify?
That’s the point, @srechkin. You’re correct. Mock inspections are fake or pretend inspections. Not actual. No client. No agent. No money. No transaction. Writing mock inspection reports are for practice only.
Ben, the OP stated that order of the curriculum presented to him is the mock inspections should be done prior to taking “advance” courses. My questions is why would mock inspections be done having only taken The SOP and Ethics courses?
**Although I do see he did list pass the inspector exam. I guess I never saw any indication that he did. Maybe I answered my on question. Thanks for the reply though. My mind was thinking SOP+Ethics then Mock Inspections prior to courses.
Simon, you are incorrect. I’ll drop it after this, but so that you know, the order of education is:
- Pass the online inspector exam
- Join as an all-access member
- Complete the standards of practice course
- Complete the code of ethics course
- Submit four mock inspections
6-X. Take the advanced courses
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Too few of “requirements” to become a “certified inspector”. As the OP noted. You don’t have to take any courses related to the actual home in general.
[Matthew Boucher]
I won’t speak for Ben/Nick, but I think the idea is that you could start doing inspections in most states legally after completing those requirements
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First off, Welcome to the party Mathew. This is a tough crew at times, so as others have stated, check your feelings at the door. It is true that the only dumb question is the one that is not asked, however they are not treated very well at times, so take that into account. Especially for newer folks that haven’t done their homework first. A simple search online of your photo could have netted you great results regarding a whole house/attic fan. Use the search function of the MB as often as you can to “do your homework”. Top Left corner of the screen… BTW, you never mentioned what field of work you are currently in…
These are by no means “advanced” courses. They are more like introductory courses. And if you have not already passed the Online INSPECTOR EXAM, you should take at least some of them. Yes, you can take the exam at any time, and @bgromicko1 has stated in several different ways, that it is a good idea to take the exam right off to see where your weaknesses are.
Mathew, at no time in this thread thus far, did you mention that you have taken the exam and passed it with no training. That is how you can find out what you are proficient in. Just throwing it out there.
In UNREGULATED states, you don’t have to do any of those things. Just open your biz and let 'er rip. Those that do just that end up being what gives this industry a bad name. You said you are in PA?
How to Become a Licensed Home Inspector in Pennsylvania - InterNACHI® Doesn’t look like you need to be licensed, yet… but that doesn’t mean you are ready to conduct paid inspections…
@bgromicko1 I believe what the issue is that caused you to be tagged is the order of this:
It does seem that passing the exam should be 2nd to last on the list, the mock inspections last, with at least some of the basic courses included somewhere in the middle. It would seem that many “InterNACHI Veterans” were required to take courses prior to taking the exam in the past and writing reports (per comments made in this thread anyway).
@tglaze Am I correct??
I always thought the process was a little easy to get the CPI badge, and did find it odd that course studies were NOT required until after the fact. The SOP course does cover WHAT is required to be inspected (generally speaking) but doesn’t really go into depth about the “HOW TO” aspect of it all…
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I wonder if it was set up that way to accommodate inspectors that were already practicing and/or were a part of ASHI? In other words, the CPI certification wasn’t set up exclusively for new students.
That said, as a new student, it seemed obvious to me that taking all of the required courses should be done before taking the test. So that is what I did. And I performed my mock inspections only after passing the test.
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Thanks Michael, I appreciate the welcome and support. I’m a therapist at the VA hospital. Been here 13 years.
I’ve been at this only about a month. Just following the path laid out by interNACHI. Ben’s videos and the coursework have been excellent so far. I also have no illusions I’m ready to be an inspector having done this limited coursework, or that I’ll know it all after I do the individual modules.
I have a lot to learn before I can even think about being proficient enough to make this a career, but it’s been meaningful taking these steps so far.
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This is a good point. I’m going to do the individual modules before I do my other mock inspections.
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