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Archive for the 'Tools' Category


Yet Again My Surveymaster Made Me Look Smart

Posted by manorhome on June 1, 2008

So todays inspection was nothing out of the ordinary - 8 year old house, couple cosmetic issues (not my concern) and a few botched homeowner repairs (definitely my concern). I was just getting into home inspection “cruise control” when it came time to check the main bathroom. It was a lovely bathroom, bigger than many bedrooms, jacuzzi tub, nice tile…..

As I do in every bathroom, I gave the toilet a little nudge with my leg to see if it was loose at the floor, it wasn’t. I then scanned around the toilet with my Surveymaster (moisture meter - real nice one). After taking a measurement well away from the toilet as a baseline reference, I scanned all around the toilet along the floor. I was just finishing up when I heard the Surveymaster chirp, then scream. I found what appeared to be an isolated moisture site right by the horn of the toilet (sub surface moisture, it reads beneath the tiles).

Can’t be, I thought. Everything was nice and tight, bathroom looked to be professionally done. But the moisture meter strongly disagreed. Before I jumped to any conclusions, I decided to go back down to the basement and have another look from below. Sure enough, hidden by the heating duct, there was a stain in the subfloor around the toilet flange. I then switched the Surveymaster to pin-mode (as opposed to the pinless scan mode) at took a reading. Wet, really wet. It seems the seal between the toilet and the flange had been compromised.

Fortunately we found this problem before any serious damage had occurred. Remedying it will simply be a matter of having the toilet lifted, a new seal put down and then putting the toilet back. All in all it should take a competent person about a half hour. Had I not had the Surveymaster, I never would have found the leak. If undetected and left alone, a leak like that would eventually rot the subfloor and cause thousands of dollars in damage.

Does your home inspector have a Surveymaster (or even an inferior moisture meter) and know how to use it? Before you decide to hire a home inspector to evaluate one of the biggest purchases of your life, consider giving me a call. I may not have all the answers you’re looking for, but I have the important ones (provided the important answers are dealing with houses and not calculus :) )

Thanks for reading, I hope to talk to you soon,

-Brad Manor, your Windsor Ontario home inspector.

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Tools Make the Man

Posted by manorhome on May 27, 2008

I guess being a home inspector is an appropriate career choice for someone like me. You see - I love tools. I admit it I’m a gadget guy. My appreciation for tools is like that of anyone who takes his pleasures seriously. Just as a golfer will have a substantial amount of money invested in his club, I too can pump money into my passion.

A big difference between myself and the golfer is that my passion is part of my profession. I buy the tools and use them, but you benefit because they make me a better inspector. Sure there is way more to inspecting than buying fancy tools, but the right tool in the right situation is indispensable.

Not too long ago, I inspected a home that had a suspected moisture problem. Fortunately, I have some pretty sophisticated moisture detection tools - I am the proud owner of a Protimeter Surveymaster (moisture meter) and a Novasina MIK300 (thermo-hygrometer). Chances are you’ve never heard of either of these (unless you are a home inspector, then you should own them or something similar), so I’ll explain. The Surveymaster is a dual mode (pin and pinless) moisture detector. It’s purpose is to find concealed moisture, or tell me if a stain is an active leak. It has enabled me to find moisture problems in places where they wouldn’t become apparent until plenty of damage had been done. Naturally being a precision instrument it takes a fair amount of knowledge to interpret it’s readings, but once you know what you’re doing it is a must-have tool for home inspectors. The thermo-hygrometer on the other hand, tells me what the temperature and humidity are. This comes in handy in determining if attics and crawlspaces are damp.

Is it possible to bee a good home inspector without these gadgets? Sure, I guess. Just like it is theoretically possible to be a good golfer without a sand wedge - life is just better if you have it. I could go on and on about the different tools and instruments I have in my go-go gadget inspector kit, but I’ll save it for a later time (so I don’t sound too nerdy).

Until then, thanks for reading!

-Brad (tool nerd) Manor, your Windsor Ontario Home Inspector.

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