Structure Talk

Reuben, Tessa, and Bill discuss home inspection schools, certifications, licensing, and training requirements, along with the training process at Structure Tech.

Reuben, Tessa, and Bill discuss what would make for a perfect house. They talk about roof lines, water management, siding, basements, heating, and cooling systems. They also talk about an old blog post of Reuben's, titled Boilers vs. Furnaces.

Reuben, Tessa, and Bill discuss repair methods for ice dams. Before starting with Structure Tech, Tessa used to spec out insulation and air sealing work for houses with ice dam issues. The team discusses the cause of ice dams, how to fix them the right way, and things to look for when hiring an insulation contractor.
Also mentioned in this episode is Project Overcoat, which Tessa was involved in.

Reuben and Tessa gang up on Bill, complaining about the shortcomings of story-and-a-half houses. The discussion is focused on insulation, ventilation, heating, cooling, and ice dams.

Reuben blogged about this topic back in 2011: My beef with 1.5-story houses

 Sewers and floor drains: In Episode 3 of our podcast, Reuben, Tessa, and Bill discuss all things related to wastewater leaving houses. They discuss the importance of sewer inspections on all houses, not just old houses, and discuss what it takes to fix these issues when they occur. They also discuss the mystery of floor drains backing up, the importance of floor drain cleanout plugs plugs, and how floor drains work. 

 In Episode 2 of our podcast, Reuben, Tessa, and Bill discuss ways of keeping water out of basements. It all starts with exterior water management; roof lines, gutters, downspouts, downspout extensions, and drainage and grading. When everything has been done at the outside of the home but there are still problems, drain tile and a sump system can be added. We discuss how these systems can work, and what typically goes wrong with them. We also discuss recommended backup options, which was blogged about here: Backup Sump Pumps.

Tessa also mentions one of the most disturbing things that she has found in a sump basket, which was a doll floating face-down, covered in bugs.

This is our very first podcast episode, hosted by Reuben Saltzman, Tessa Murry, and Bill Oelrich. The focus of this podcast is crazy stuff that we've found inspecting, and finds that we're especially proud of.