It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! This past week was nuts!!! I hope that you had an equally prosperous week too. Here is northern Utah we are preparing for the big return to school and the market demand for inspections has been very strong. The old phrase "There are not enough hours in the day" most certainly applied. Add to this the pressures of getting the medical bills paid and you have the recipe for one stessed out Home Inspector.
I've been in business for three and a half years and my first lawsuit came in a pair. That's right, two at a time. I went to my mailbox and there were two letter's - both from Lawyer's. Excited thinking it was two payments, was I ever wrong. Instead, I read two lawsuit threats. The first threat was for $4500.00 and the second was for $56000.00 (thousand is correct).
The smaller of the two threats came about because I didn't see minor termite damaged hardwood flooring under wall to wall flooring (basement had a plaster ceiling and both conditions were clearly noted in the report).
The second threat was for everything in the house from windows to door thresholds to a new roof, plumbing, dishwasher, sink, relocation of a bathroom door, dining room light fixture, an entire rewire of home, the list goes on and on. To sum this up the second lawsuit is not a worry to me because the Lawyer who wrote the letter later contacted me to tell me that the letter was just a favor to the buyer, and that he was not representing him because my report was very detailed and noted every possible thing the buyer was requesting and that no Lawyer in his firm or any Lawyer he has contact with would take the case. I submitted the smaller threat to my insurance company and they are just paying her what she wants so they won't have to go to court. Thomas M. Skrodzki - Westfield, MA
Please include your name so that proper credit can be given.
Michael: Have you tried this with 3D? Use the configure option in the import photo to have it load automatically when you click edit photo. Whats the verdict? Carl Fowler - Fort Myers, FL
After two weeks I am still using the Firehand Ember software for use with the 3D Inspection System software. I set it as my default photo editor from within 3D and this allows for easy photo manipulation, cropping and diagramming. I realize that this is probably an alien concept, so here is the explanation of how to do this.
Once a photo is imported into a line in the 3D Report Writer you can reclick on the import photo option while on the same line. This reopens the photo sizing option. The first time that you import the picture 3D takes the photo from wherever you stored the photo and it then stores it inside the report file. When you reopen the photo it opens the report file version (not the original) and then allows you to re-edit this file.
While the "Select Image To Import" option you then select the "Configure" and then "Select Import Image Options." You will then notice the image editor line and it tells you what program you are currently using, or have set to use. Notice the little box with 3 dots in it at the end of this line. If you click on it you can then go through your directory tree to use whatever program you desire to edit your photos. I scrolled through the C drive, then the Program Files, then to Firehand, and finally to select the Ember.exe file. This sets the Firehand Ember program to be my default photo editor from 3D.
NOTE: I used to crop my cover page photo rectangular before I ever imported it to 3D. Now I import the untoughed original into the correct line and then reopen it and crop it from within 3D. It is a much quicker process and cuts down the headache of saving the file in the right place.
ALSO NOTE: From the Select Image Options screen I also changed my default import setting to "Right" and "2.5" inches. This increases the default size from 2 inches to 2.5 inches. You might want to document the default settings of your image editor program and the sizes before you mess with them so that you can go back if you want.
I had several Inspectors respond back with details about this photo being associated with a water heater. This is not a water heater. Instead, it is a wall heater. You know the type, it is about 5 feet tall and has a blower motor on the upper end.
Keeping in mind that this is a wall heater, here are some responses.......
Looks like a piece of copper pipe was used for the gas supply line instead of an approved flex connector. What the *)%#@ is an electrical junction box doing inside the valve area of a water heater, with no cover, and no clamp holding the Romex to the box. The Romex also looks like it is very close to the burner. I've never seen a water heater that looks anything even remotely close to this. An import from Tasmania? Gary Holzbauer - OR
What is an open junction box w/no cable clamps doing in the base of a water heater? Where are the low voltage wires going to from the transformer located behind the junction box? The copper gas line suggests the lack of proper drip leg. Robert Lee
Of course, missing junction box cover. Looks like there is a low voltage feed to power the thermocouple solenoid. (red wires on left). Wire in the furnace should be in conduit to prevent overheating/melting. Hiam Naiditch
No gas shut-off. Copper gas line vice iron. Open electrical box/no cover. Exposed wiring not in conduit. No chaffing protectors on the wires or the copper feed line. One of the cleanest wall heater control boxes I've ever seen. Ron Cloyd - OR
Bad electrical, call an electrician. Besides the long list of obvious flaws, I am not sure that it is allowed to put a line voltage junction box inside this area of the furnace housing or even why it would be there. Is that a door bell transformer?
Bad copper gas connector and no local shut off, call a plumber.
20 year old furnace? Better have an HVAC guy check out the heat exchanger just to be on the safe side and install a Carbon Monoxide detector in the room the heater is in. Jon Gudnason - CA
The feedback brings up the need for more answers to some great observational questions.
Today's photo challenge comes from the shutter of Hy Naiditch. He simply asked..... "Ever seen this?"
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