Structure Talk

The gang discusses a timeline of home inspection defects or issues that might come up, based on when the home was built. Reuben shared this timeline on the Structure Tech blog and on the Structure Tech YouTube channel, but we thought it would be fun to discuss these issues during a podcast to help explain some of them a little bit more in-depth.

Bill opens the podcast talking about a terrifying fire that happened across the hallway in his mother-in-law's condo high-rise building, and about the damage caused by smoke and water.

The gang discusses the possibility of an FPE Stab-Lok panel causing the fire, and Reuben goes on to discuss the disproportionate number of condo buildings with FPE panels when compared to single-family homes.

The conversation then turns to a 3-alarm house fire that happened during a Structure Tech home inspection back in 2019, where things turned very serious very quickly. Because of legal and insurance concerns, this is the first time the gang has mentioned this fire, but it's quite a story to share.

Bill, Tessa, and Reuben start the show discussing a few minor corrections to the podcast from two weeks ago on air conditioners. Next, they discuss the new standards for home inspection attendance and safety for home inspections. Reuben also mentions a facemask that most Structure Tech home inspectors are wearing, which can currently be found here.

For this podcast episode, Reuben does a one-on-one interview with Structure Tech's business coach, Dr. Stephen Crawford. Dr. Crawford has been conducting weekly team huddles for his coaching clients every Friday morning, and he conducted a special meeting on May 29th to focus on George Floyd, protests, riots, racism, and advice to business owners.

Dr. Crawford shares his insight for this podcast episode. We'll return to our regular home inspection topics next week.

About:

Dr. Stephen Crawford with Experience Leadership is a founding partner of the John Maxwell Team. For the last fifteen years, he has been developing and training thousands of leaders seeking to improve their leadership skills and increase their impact on the world.

Bill, Tessa and Reuben discuss how air conditioners function, why it's extremely unusual to have an undersized air conditioner, and the end of R-22 refrigerant. Older air conditioners that contain R-22 refrigerant are typically going to be cost-prohibitive to service, but it's not illegal to do so.

We also mention a video compilation we assembled showing 60 home inspection defects in 3 minutes. One of those was an iced-up evaporator coil melting all over the place while the furnace ran.

The gang is super-excited to finally get Patrick Heulman, a leading building science expert, on the show! We've talked about having him as a guest for a long time and now that we're temporarily recording our podcasts from our homes, we were able to get Pat on the show. He's an Associate Extension Professor with the University of Minnesota and works on several other projects as well.

The show starts out digging into Pat's background and then moves onto the importance of considering a house as a system. Pat talks about how air exchangers first began making their appearance in Minnesota in the early 90s, and Pat also talks about "The Cliff", the benefits of insulation at the exterior of homes, and perfect wall systems for homes.

The show ends with Tessa sneaking in a question about one-and-one-half-story homes.

Milind Angolkar was the first home inspector to join the Structure Tech team after Reuben, and we love him. In fact, everyone loves Milind because he's a good, kind person. We start the show by discussing Milind's history with the company, and Milind shares some crazy home inspection fail stories.

Bill starts off the conversation talking to Reuben and Tessa about life, spring maintenance, and business in general. Reuben and Tessa go on a tangent talking about mean feedback given during free continuing education classes, which leads to Tessa discussing her current project of creating a home inspector training curriculum.

Bill brings up leaking faucets, and that leads into leaking backflow preventers, how to remove them, and what happens when a hack tries to take them off with a pipe wrench. Next, the gang discusses sub-slab ductwork, commonly referred to as transite ductwork.

Related links:

• How to remove a vacuum breaker (video)
• How to drain a vacuum breaker (video)
• Water in sub-slab ductwork
• Transite vs. sub-slab ducts

The gang starts off the show by talking about their lives spent working from home, and they quickly move on to projects happening around the house. Bill discusses the time that he ended up with a frozen outdoor faucet because he forgot to remove his garden hose. 

Reuben talks about the time that his entire 1.5-story home flooded because of a plumbing leak on the second floor. Tessa reminds us of the importance of knowing where the main water valve is. Tessa also talks about some flubs at her own home and shares the story of the first time she cut a hole in an exterior wall for a dryer duct.

Bill, Tessa, and Reuben start the show off by talking about the new standards for life at home, working with family, and trying to broadcast to large audiences while not having spouses carry on loud phone conversations in the same room. Reuben discusses how COVID-19 has changed the face of home inspections at Structure Tech, and has the potential to change home inspections forever.

Tessa talks about all of the new continuing education classes that are being taught to real estate agents, and that segues into the topic of accessing "sealed" attics in new construction homes. That gets both Reuben and Tessa whipped up, and they go on a 20-minute jag about attics, attic access panels, building code changes, and refusal to change.

Related Links:

• FREE Continuing Education for Minnesota real estate agents
• Reuben's blog post, Sealed attic access panels
• Reuben's blog post, Frost-free faucets are now required in Minnesota
• Skuttle-Tight attic entry systems (referenced during the podcast)
• Battic Door attic access solutions
• Tru-Seal attic hatch