Replies

1. 
   Mad_Dog | Nov 16, 1999 12:17am | #2

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   A real Dick Tracy! Sniff 'em out, Sherlock!

2. 
   Mad_Dog | Nov 16, 1999 03:57am | #3

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   A real Dick Tracy! Sniff 'em out, Sherlock!

3. 
   Guest_ | Nov 16, 1999 09:03am | #4

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   Hey Rich,

   I found this on another site, and I have never read it, nor have I ever read any article from FHB. Newstands around here don't carry it, and I am not a subscriber.

   Heck, anything older than a week is an "oldie" to me. I can't remember that far back.

   James DuHamel

4. 
   Guest_ | Jan 04, 2000 11:33pm | #5

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   Maybe some of you remember reading this, maybe not. I got a kick out of it anyway.

   Enjoy the reading.

   James DuHamel

   Reprinted from Spring 1996 issue of Fine Homebuilding Magazine

   b A Day in the Life of a Building Inspector by Redwood Kardon.

   I turn the corner onto Cedar Street. Halfway up the block, I see a Dumpster by the curb of a small single-family dwelling. I'm playing detective, thinking to myself, that this house is probably the site of my first inspection.

   How far ahead can I deduce the site of my next inspection? As I get closer, I see white gypsum footprints leading up the driveway. This house has got to be the place. I pull up, throw the car into park and glance down at my daily activity log. Nope, wrong address. The address I'm looking for is across the street and it's a rough inspection not gyp-board nailing.

   My work sheet tells me I'll be doing a rough plumbing and electrical inspection. According to the permit information, this job is by an owner-builder. Could take some time. From experience, I know this could be an on the job training exercise for the typical owner-builder. Not always but often. That's okay by me, but not always a shared sentiment amongst other inspectors.

   A prevailing attitude in our industry is that inspectors shouldn't be helping train amateurs. It's not fair to the folks who have put years into their careers.

   First I search for signs of the rookie-
   The first thing I look for when I get through the door is an electrical box. Before I became a building inspector I was an electrician. It's the trade I know best. To take a quick pulse of the job, I look inside an electrical box. A sure way to identify a botched job is to measure the length of the "free conductors" in an electrical box. The surest sign of a rookie electrician is stubby conductors in an electrical box.

   The National Electric Code calls for a minimum of "6 in. of free conductor...left at each outlet..." . Even if the NEC didn't demand this amount, anyone who has any experience working in an electrical box with too-short conductors knows the knuckle-wreaking frustration you suffer when coming in behind a rookie electrician. Being stingy with wire is a way to get off to a bad start with a wiring project. It's spells incompetence loud and clear.

   Rookie plumbing reveals itself with a broader brush. Often the novice plumber knows little more than the first rule of plumbing, which is that s__t flows down hill. Sometimes, novice plumbers don't even know that. The second rule of plumbing, by the way, is don't bite your nails. The third rule isn't as catchy: You must trap and vent every fixture.

   Venting a drainage system is one of those conceptual things that first-time plumbers often miss. The idea of maintaining a barrier between the sewage system and the house is an essential element in a sanitary public plumbing system. Without a trap to seal off plumbing fixtures, nasty things such as explosive methane gas and vermin can find there way into the house. Without venting, traps can be emptied of their seal by siphonage. Newcomers to plumbing installation don't always appreciate this fact. Every fixture requires a properly sized vent.

   Of course, even the pros have their problems-
   These problems don't only fall on the shoulders of owner-builders. A few years ago, I was inspecting the work of a general contractor. He was a grizzled old veteran of the contracting wars. An unlit shredded stub of cigar punctuated the corner of his mouth. His round solid head rested on thick shoulders. He could have been sent out from Central Casting. He looked and sounded the part, The Contractor.

   Unfortunately, his plumber had failed to vent all but one fixture. As I began to fill in a correction notice requiring vents on all fixtures, his cigar started to jump from one corner of his mouth to the other.

   "I've been doing this for 30 years and nobody ever called me on this before!" A diplomatic explanation followed. By the end he was cursing his cousin-in-law Charlie's incompetence. I didn't mention to him that we inspectors have a top five list of the most often heard reactions to a correction notice. He hit on No. 1, the top rated: "I've been doing it like this for ___ years".

   Then there's the divide and conquer defense, "The other inspector said I didn't have to do that." Probably the most sympathy producing reaction is, "But I'm making it better than it was." I kind of like that one.

   Of course there were other signs on this job that it wasn't the work of pro. A more subtle signature of a knowledgeable plumber is the cleanliness of solder joints. The solder joints on this job looked like melted candles. You see pipe joints that look like old candlestick holders, you just know what you are in for.

   Don't get me wrong. Pros make mistakes, too. Their mistakes are usually not through lack of knowledge or workmanship but ones of omission or oversight. By the end of the day, things get rushed, or maybe the inspector shows up before you can check over your apprentice's work. These errors can add up to a failed inspection for even the most professional builder. They're what keep building inspectors gainfully employed.

   But sometimes, everythng's okay-
   Back at the Cedar Street job, things are looking pretty good. There are plenty of conductors in the boxes. Pipe joints are wiped. The job site is clean and orderly. A disorganized and sloppy job site reflects badly on the level of craft.

   I'm met on this job site by a young worker. I take note of his tool belt. It's new and laden with pounds and pounds of tools. When I was a lowly electrician's apprentice, the old timer I was working for asked me one day, "You know how to tell a good electrician? Count how many times he goes up the ladder". Then he climbed up his ladder and did his work without coming down once.

   The other lesson he taught me in that moment was about tools. When he went up the ladder, he had two tools in his back pocket. I, on the other hand, had a shiny new tool belt with every hand tool an electrician or Ferrari mechanic could ever need. That's what I was thinking about when I looked at this young electrician's tool belt. The bigger the tool belt, the younger the electrician. He was a young 'un.

   Just then a pickup truck pulled into the drive. "Here's my dad. Maybe he should show you around. This is my first day helping him out." Turns out that dad had been an electrician before becoming a highschool shop teacher. We swapped stories as I completed my inspection. It went smoothly, I signed his building card and Iwas on my way to the next inpection....

1. 
   Guest_ | Nov 15, 1999 07:06pm | #1

   *Geeeezzzz, James. A Goody, OK. But does 3 1/2 years old count as an "oldy"? I don't think I can stand it.Rich Beckman