Podcast: George’s Pet Peeves

We had our very own George Ury on the podcast a few weeks ago to discuss the new Minneapolis energy stuff, and he was such a peach that we decided to have him on for another episode. This time, we just let him rant about all of his pet peeves. And he has a lot of them.

We had some fun with this one, but we really went off the rails. We’ll return to our regular podcast format next week.

 

TRANSCRIPTION

The following is a transcription from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it may be slightly incomplete or contain minor inaccuracies due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

 

Bill Oelrich: Welcome everybody, to Structure Talk, a Structure Tech presentation. My name is Bill Oelrich, alongside my co-host, as always, Tessa Murry and Reuben Saltzman. And today in the podcasting booth, we have a special guest of George Ury who is a long-time inspector at Structure Tech, yes.

 

George Ury: These eight years, I keep forgetting.

 

Reuben Saltzman: Wow. Where does the time go? It feels like it was just yesterday that we met at that awesome seminar.

 

Cartoon Character: Gee, George. You’re real smart, aren’t yeah, George?

 

George: That was a good one.

 

Reuben: Yeah, was that… Milind introduced us to each other, and it was just like, “You guys oughta meet”. And it was love at first sight. And I was like, “You should join our team, George.”

 

George: We need some string… Yeah, I do remember that, that was… And then I also remember, ’cause I trained under you for quite a while…

 

Reuben: Yeah, not nearly as long as people train under us now.

 

George: No. I don’t know what that means.

 

Reuben: Now there are only really short training period.

 

George: They’ve changed everything and made it better.

 

Reuben: Well, you know, after a couple of months of you training with us, I was kinda like, “Alright, he was already inspector before joining our team. He ought to be done training by now”, and they kind of push you out, like “Yeah, George. It’s ready to go out… Time to go out on your own.” It might have taken like three months or something. Now, it’s like, nobody gets out of training in less than four months, but on average it’s more like six months.

 

Tessa Murry: Six.

 

Bill: Okay, now once this embrace ends, let’s get to the point of this podcast.

 

Reuben: Alright, sorry. Alright?

 

George: Let’s light candles.

 

Reuben: Do we have a point? I thought we were just chitchatting.

 

Bill: Well, we brought George in, because aesthetically speaking, George has very strong opinions about things that we find in houses.

 

Reuben: I thought… Okay.

 

George: Yeah. But here’s the thing. So you’re talking about when we met and I would, you go to these MSHI meetings, when I first started…

 

Bill: Minnesota society of home inspectors.

 

George: Minnesota Society of Home Inspectors. You go to these meetings, I’m looking around the room, I’m thinking at that point, I was like one of the younger guys there. You, you were like…

 

Tessa: Baby.

 

George: A child at these things…

 

Bill: For sure, yeah.

 

George: But, I look around the room thinking, one, I need more denim shirts. I think.

 

That was one thing I needed to pick up on. But there’s so much knowledge in that room. We give home inspectors a hard time because what we do for a living, if we criticize, I tell people this is the greatest gig in the world. You show up, criticize the work of others, and leave. It’s almost like being in management. So, it’s a great gig, but we’re sort of geared to just look at things a little bit differently. So, the fact that a bunch of home inspectors have pet peeves should probably not surprise anybody.

 

Bill: And that’s the whole point of this podcast episode. We’re just gonna talk about some pet peeves that y’all have. I no longer have any pet peeves. I just…

 

George: You have none?

 

Bill: My only pet peeve is when people rip on story and a half houses.

 

George: That’s… I was just gonna say that. That is the only pet peeve.

 

Bill: So, that’s it. I bared my soul in the pet peeve-wise, but I’m gonna throw it to you guys. So, Reuben, you’ve been doing this a while. What is your biggest pet peeve?

 

Reuben: Gosh, that’s a tough one, Bill. I got a lot of them, but one of the biggest ones might be when people complain that they have to leave their house for the home inspection, and there’s nothing for them to do for four hours. “What do you expect me to do for four hours if I leave my house?” That drives me crazy.

 

George: A little thing called something else.

 

Reuben: Just anything else. Go to the mall…

 

George: Coffee shops… We live in an urban… What? Are you kidding me?

 

Reuben: Go see a movie.

 

George: That’s a good one.

 

Reuben: Go do some shopping.

 

George: Dinner.

 

Reuben: Figure skating.

 

George: Macrame. I think that’s… Is that still a thing?

 

Reuben: Just get out.

 

Bill: It will be soon enough. What’s old is new again.

 

George: Yeah, hopefully, so.

 

Bill: Alright, I know you have a list, and you’re looking at your phone.

 

George: I do… Well, when Tess brought this up, I’m thinking, “Okay, I need peeves.” And I was asked, Katie, my girlfriend for pod folks… And I gotta tell you, right now, being in my 50s and saying “my girlfriend”, sounds weird.

 

Reuben: You can call her your special lady friend.

 

George: My lady friend.

 

Tessa: That’s gross.

 

George: My lady friend? That’s like too old.

 

Reuben: You can call her your…

 

George: Now, I’m 85.

 

Tessa: Just say, your partner.

 

Reuben: Yeah, your partner.

 

George: So, my partner, Katie, I said, “So, this is gonna be the topic.” I said, “What are some of my pet peeves?” ‘Cause I go on rants, she said well…

 

Tessa: You actually gave her a chance to talk.

 

George: Okay, that wasn’t completely fair, but it’s not incorrect either.

 

Tessa: I bet she enjoyed that. That question.

 

George: Well, she said, “George, there’s just… There’s so many. I’ll try to think of them when they come up.” And she did think of a couple, but yeah, I like a good rant.

 

Reuben: Yeah?

 

George: Your example was specific to home inspections.

 

Reuben: For sure.

 

George: Mine can be very specific to home inspections, but they could be about the stuff at a home inspection.

 

Reuben: I mean, we have an internal company Facebook page…

 

George: It’s at the top of my list.

 

Reuben: It’s, every time we see it, we share it on our internal page and we tag George. Come on, you guys know what it is.

 

Tessa: The black toilet.

 

Reuben: The black toilets.

 

George: Absolutely.

 

Tessa: The black toilets.

 

George: I have no idea of their purpose.

 

Tessa: Black, black… Like the color…

 

George: The color black.

 

Tessa: Of black.

 

George: Toilet.

 

Reuben: Yeah, George hates those. I don’t have any feelings about them. I don’t really care.

 

George: I think it would be difficult… They are but most of them, as water evaporates, it just leaves these rings. They seem like a cleaning nightmare. They’re weird.

 

Reuben: Yeah, kinda like buying a black vehicle. It’s like it’s always dirty, right?

 

George: Right.

 

Reuben: You think it’s not, but…

 

George: And the other thing, I inspected a condominium in Minneapolis. Even if you could buy a shell of a condominium and they can decorate it anyway they want. And this had a, literally, yin and yang bathroom. One was all white, and one was all black. Down to the tile, the cabinet, toilet, shower, everything.

 

Reuben: I think that sounds cool.

 

George: That I can… I could accept that if it’s part, if it’s in context.

 

Reuben: If it’s a theme, there’s a reason for it.

 

George: If it’s a black toilet, just, “This is on sale.”, then no, I’m not for that.

 

Reuben: Okay.

 

George: A tag in the windows What… Why do we even have those?

 

Reuben: They’re difficult to flash.

 

Tessa: Very difficult to flash, install properly.

 

George: All of those.

 

Tessa: The seals break on ’em too, it seems like.

 

George: Yeah. Always, and there’s always condensation. All the condensation just goes down to that one little unfortunate strip in the middle, but mine is completely aesthetic, I’ve hated them since the 80s.

 

Reuben: All right, on that topic, what do you think about the transom window where it’s a half-circle transom window?

 

George: Those are difficult too, especially if they’re in a two-story…

 

Reuben: Really difficult to flash…

 

George: Yep, and if they’re on an interior space, you have two stories of stuff, and then how do you get up there to do anything with them, or even check to see if there’s condensation staining with those?

 

Bill: It’s interesting to watch Reuben’s practical mind colliding with George’s aesthetic mind right now.

 

George: You almost said “impractical.”

 

Reuben: I don’t have an aesthetic mind, I really don’t. It’s all practical.

 

Bill: Okay, we gotcha.

 

George: There’s nothing wrong with that.

 

Reuben: Thank you, George.

 

George: Well, no, there’s nothing wrong with that.

 

Reuben: Thank you George.

 

George: Well… No, there’s nothing wrong with that, I’ll stick to that one.

 

Reuben: All right, appreciate that.

 

George: Sure. This is one. Contractors that throw us under the bus. We could have an entire podcast series on these.

 

Reuben: Yeah, that’s not simply a pet peeve, George, it isn’t.

 

George: No, it isn’t.

 

Reuben: It’s much more than a pet peeve.

 

George: It hurts my soul when these things happen. Loose toilet seats. How do you live like that? I can’t tell you how many… I’m gonna almost say it’s at least in the hundreds if not a thousand toilet seats that I tighten at home inspections.

 

Tessa: No, George.

 

George: I do.

 

Tessa: You don’t personally tighten all of those loose ones do you?

 

George: I do. I tighten so many toilet seats because… Well, between that and knobs on doors…

 

Tessa: I was gonna say…

 

George: It’s a little… Maybe I’m a little OCD, but I would love to know if someone takes credit for it.

 

Tessa: Like the homeowner comes back, “Oh, this knob that’s been loose on this door forever, it’s finally… ”

 

George: Oh, Jerry, you finally… You finally tightened it!” “Sweetie, you know me.”

 

[laughter]

 

Reuben: I feel that way about cabinet knobs and cabinet hinges all the time, and just doors, loose door handles.

 

Reuben: I tighten every one.

 

George: I do too.

 

Tessa: See, but Reuben uses a drill, you use a hand screwdriver, and it gives you an extra five minutes at every door tightening it.

 

Reuben: That’s why I wear a drill.

 

George: No, well, it doesn’t take… It wouldn’t take you any more.

 

Tessa: You know what I do? Just leave it.

 

Reuben: Oh, Tess.

 

Bill: I have to interrupt you guys.

 

George: That’s fine.

 

Reuben: This is… This is really interesting stuff.

 

George: You don’t have to interrupt us.

 

Bill: Comparing how we adjust doorknobs. I do have a knob on my bathroom vanity that’s been loose for several years.

 

George: I can be there in 20 minutes.

 

Tessa: George, do a TISH before January 15th.

 

Bill: Welcome back, everybody, you’re listening to Structure Talk, a Structure Tech presentation. My name’s Bill Oelrich, alongside Tessa Murry and Reuben Saltzman. Today we have George Ury in the house and we’re talking pet peeves, but George has gone wild and he’s just been running rampant with his pet peeves.

 

Reuben: Amok.

 

George: With permission.

 

Bill: Yes, with permission. But Tessa, what drives you a little batty inside these houses? Then we’ll give it back to George and he’ll run for ten more miles.

 

Tessa: Two things came to mind. Stand-up showers where you have to go in the shower to turn it on. You know what I’m talking about.

 

Reuben: Yeah, you need to take a shower to turn it on.

 

Tessa: To turn it on.

 

Reuben: You need to get wet.

 

Tessa: Yep.

 

Reuben: That’s obnoxious.

 

George: Your arms aren’t long enough.

 

Tessa: No, it’s not. Can you reach those?

 

George: Nope.

 

Tessa: Okay, that makes me feel better.

 

Reuben: Side note, on that topic, it’s no longer legal to do those showers as of the new…

 

Tessa: 2015.

 

Reuben: 2015 Plumbing Code…

 

George: Plumbing code.

 

Reuben: You can’t do it that way. You need to be able to operate the handle from just opening the door.

 

Tessa: A dry point, yes.

 

George: Dry point.

 

Reuben: A dry point.

 

Bill: If you don’t meet code, if you don’t meet code, is it illegal?

 

Reuben: I don’t know how to answer that.

 

Tessa: I haven’t seen any new showers.

 

Reuben: I wouldn’t use the word “illegal.”

 

George: Well, you just did.

 

Reuben: What did I say? Did I say it’s illegal?

 

Bill: In the code, it’s illegal.

 

George: I think it’s now…

 

Reuben: Well, I wouldn’t say it again. I regret saying it that time.

 

George: Listen, Senator. You get one more chance at this.

 

Tessa: And the other one, electrical panels that have cabinets built over them or built-in cabinetry built over the electrical panel, and you open up the cabinet door and there it is, but they didn’t build the door big enough, so you can’t actually take off the panel cover fully.

 

Reuben: Unless you take off…

 

Tessa: The cabinet door.

 

George: The door. The cabinet door, which I did just this week.

 

Tessa: Did you really?

 

George: Really.

 

Reuben: Yep.

 

Tessa: You’re a better man than I am.

 

George: Oh, I was so frustrated. But I wasn’t…

 

Tessa: I don’t take the doors off.

 

George: I was gonna win. I was going to win.

 

Tessa: Have you ever dropped a screw down in that space between the wall…

 

George: I’m gonna answer that by saying I have a box of screws…

 

Tessa: Of screws, I knew you did.

 

George: That I carry with me.

 

Tessa: Extra screws.

 

Resuben: Smart, smart. Magnetic and then your tape measure.

 

George: Tape measure. Sorry to interrupt.

 

Tessa: That’s it. I’m pretty simple.

 

Reuben: Okay.

 

George: No peeves?

 

Tessa: If there’s loose door handles, I just leave ’em. If I can’t get into the electrical panel and there’s a cabinet built over it, I don’t dismantle the cabinet.

 

George: Right, but I think you’re talking about just access in general, even though that we have sent the sellers, just say, “We need access to these things. It would be great if there were access.” And so there’s one side where people do zero, and then there’s the other side where you open up a closet, a walk-in closet, everything has been…

 

Tessa: Organized…

 

George: Taped off… Well it’s been taped off with plastic. [12:02] ____ taped off with plastic and a ladder. Brought my own, but this person…

 

Tessa: That’s great.

 

George: It’s all set up for you to go in there, there you go.

 

Tessa: Love that.

 

Reuben: They’ve bought and sold multiple houses.

 

George: Have they?

 

Reuben: They had to have. I’ve been to their house as well, and it’s just delightful.

 

Tessa: It’s amazing.

 

Reuben: Oh, I love it. I love this, like I…

 

Tessa: You get a flashlight on the table.

 

Reuben: Garage door opener.

 

George: But I will not be swayed by treats.

 

Reuben: Oh, I will.

 

George: I will not be…

 

[music]

 

Reuben: Oh, man.

 

George: I let the buyer, “Hey, have anything you want.” I won’t lie to you one Girl Scout cookie. Even though it’s been presented beautifully.

 

Reuben: I think I mentioned it on this podcast, I just had my house inspected when I sold my last house in the spring, and darned if I didn’t leave a huge plate of cookies out there for the home inspector.

 

Tessa: Did you bake them?

 

Reuben: I left a huge plate of cookies out.

 

[laughter]

 

Reuben: And they were great. And several…

 

George: Raw hamburgers and the grill’s on. Did you do that?

 

Reuben: Right, right, that’s a great way to have a perfect inspection.

 

Tessa: I just thought of this, pet peeves, loose cats.

 

[music]

 

Tessa: Especially when the cats are the type of cat that like to escape.

 

Reuben: Or go into the attic with you.

 

Tessa: Yes.

 

George: Have you ever had a cat go in the attic with you?

 

Tessa: I have.

 

Reuben: Yes.

 

George: Really?

 

Reuben: Yes. Yes. Once.

 

Tessa: Side attic.

 

Reuben: Side attic, yeah.

 

Tessa: Yeah. Good luck getting that guy out.

 

Reuben: Yup or go in the crawl space with you?

 

Tessa: Oh man.

 

George: Well, crawl spaces and cats, that’s another story. Those can turn into…

 

Tessa: Hunting ground.

 

George: Litter boxes.

 

Tessa: Oh, seen that. It was not pleasant.

 

George: Yeah, that’s not positive.

 

Tessa: You could smell it…

 

Bill: You guys pay a lot of attention to the animals in these houses. It’s none of my business…

 

Reuben: Well we’re responsible for them.

 

Tessa: What happens if we open the door, or the buyer who’s there with us, or their kid opens the door, and the cat runs out?

 

George: Barry’s retirement party last night. Matt and I were talking about pets specifically, and I know this is a podcast, but if you saw me you know that I’m not a runner. However, there was one… The only thing that saved me was that the dog was almost as out of shape as me. It made its way out. I’m running, I’m trying to keep… I’m trying to catch up to it, just doing the, “Okay man, you gotta stop. Hold on.” So, I’m just this crazy guy walking out of a house that everybody knows who lives there. So, I’m just this running after this… The dog was entertained by this. Would just sort of stop, look back at me, I swear it was grinning, and he kept running. I think the only thing that saved me was that I think it pooped out about the same time I did. We just looked up at each other and was like, “Okay.”

 

Tessa: Okay.

 

Reuben: “Are you done? Are you done?” I’m sorry.

 

Tessa: That’s hilarious.

 

George: “Are you done? Truce?” and I just picked him up…

 

Tessa: Did you keep your tool belt on during that chase?

 

George: No. No, I unhooked it…

 

Tessa: You took it… You took the time to take it off…

 

George: No, I have… No, no I the clip on, I have the clips.

 

Tessa: I can just picture you.

 

Tessa: Clip, unclip.

 

George: Clip off, then drop them…

 

Tessa: Drop them.

 

Reuben: And then the hunt is on.

 

George: The hunt is on. We’re talking about there are dangerous breeds of dogs and there are dogs that just bark constantly.

 

Tessa: Yes.

 

Reuben: Oh, that is so Obnoxious.

 

Tessa: Yeah, very obnoxious.

 

George: And you feel a little bad. I’m not a pet owner but it’s like I don’t want…

 

Tessa: I feel stressed out…

 

George: Yeah.

 

Tessa: Well, it’s sad for the dog for being that stressed the whole time.

 

Reuben: Well, there’s that, and especially the big ones, who are nearby and they bark so loud…

 

Tessa: You can’t hear…

 

Reuben: You can’t even talk to somebody, but those little ones to it. I, once, I was doing a Truth in Housing, and there was this chihuahua on basically a fishing line and he’s tied up in a yard and he’s trying to chase me and he broke loose of his fishing line, so he’s after me…

 

Tessa: Oh my gosh.

 

Reuben: And he runs up and he just grabs on to my shoe, and he’s…

 

Tessa: He bit you?

 

Reuben: Well, he’s the size of a water bottle. I mean he’s small and I just kinda shooed him away with my foot and he did about three summersaults…

 

George: And he came back.

 

Reuben: And then he growled at me and barked from about five feet away the whole rest of the inspection.

 

Tessa: Wait, did you have to chain him back up, or did you call the seller?

 

Reuben: I didn’t touch him. I didn’t do anything.

 

Tessa: You let him stay loose in a yard that wasn’t fenced?

 

George: Was it a fenced yard?

 

Reuben: It was a chihuahua.

 

Tessa: They could run away.

 

Reuben: The owners were home.

 

Tessa: Oh.

 

Reuebn: They didn’t care.

 

Tessa: Oh.

 

George: I was just gonna say…

 

Reuben: They were like, “Yeah, he’s friendly.”

 

Tessa: Wait, the owners.

 

Bill: So you have multiple peeves going on in this one. The owner did leave, the dog’s biting you…

 

Tessa: The owners… Wow.

 

Tessa: They watched their dog attack the inspector from inside their house and they laughed.

 

Reuben: Yeah, I don’t think they were outside, but they’re just like, “Oh yeah, he’s fine.” Okay. Fine.

 

Bill: Attack might be a little bit of a stretch for a chihuahua.

 

Tessa: Well how many people… How many home inspectors in our company…

 

Reuben: I saw my ankles lives flash before my eyes, Bill.

 

Tessa: How many home inspectors in our company have a bit by an animal, or has seen an agent or client be bit? I’ve seen agents be bit by cats during inspections.

 

George: Really?

 

Reuben: Yikes.

 

Tessa: Yes.

 

Bill: That’s interesting.

 

Tessa: Yeah.

 

Reuben: I got bit by a cat once.

 

Tessa: Did you?

 

George: Were you trying to be friendly with it? Where’d it… On your hand?

 

Reuben: No, just my leg. I was walking by and he came up and bit me.

 

Tessa: That’s what happened to… Yeah.

 

George: Did it draw blood?

 

Reuben: I don’t remember. This is a while ago.

 

Tessa: That’s terrible.

 

Reuben: I just remember that’s the only bite I’ve ever gotten during a home inspection.

 

George: I had one Chihuahua, we’re not really talking up the breed here but I had one chihuahua that was just angry. The buyer was there… Or the seller’s a TISH, and I’m pretty friendly. I approached them, “Hey, how’s it going?” And this thing leapt up and kind of drew a little blood on my finger.

 

Tessa: Oh my gosh.

 

George: Then she says “Oh yeah, he doesn’t really like guys.”

 

Reuben: Good to know.

 

George: Thank you. That’s a detail that could have been shared a little earlier.

 

Bill: See the perils of this job are extensive.

 

George: They are.

 

Bill: You run into toilets that you find visually unappealing and you have dogs nipping at your fingers.

 

George: It’s not good.

 

Bill: Yeah. Okay, so when we get back, we’re gonna finish off the list as we scan…

 

George: The list is never finished.

 

Bill: We’re just adding to it. You’re listening to Structure Talk, brought to you by Structure Tech. I’m Bill Oelrich alongside Tessa Murray and Ruben Saltzman, and we’re here with George today, listing off the thousand things that he finds slightly annoying about homes.

 

George: I don’t think it’s only me. It’s sounds so…

 

Reuben: I would say it’s all of us it just bugs you more, that’s all.

 

George: It does. I’m real vocal about these things.

 

Bill: Actually, it’s like 12 things. I exaggerate.

 

George: Yeah, but I’ll work on this list even after this. I’ll be driving home, it’s like, “Oh that was a good one. I could have shared that one.” But a few more, bad LED lighting. The lights that have a delay. The only advice that I’ve been giving people on that one is when you go to Home Depot… They’re not a sponsor, right?

 

Bill: Big bucks.

 

Reuben: No. No, not for us. Not yet. Not yet.

 

George: Right. What about Square Space?

 

Reuben: We don’t have any sponsors yet.

 

George: MeUndies? Tommy Johns… These are the places we need to…

 

Reuben: No. Okay, alright. Tommy Johns, yeah, that’s good home inspection stuff.

 

George: Oh yeah, the bottom shelf, the Home Depot bulbs, the LED bulbs, I tested a few of them and all of them have that slight delay.

 

Reuben: So, you’re talking about, you flip the switch…

 

George: You flip the switch.

 

Reuben: You wait just about a 10th of a second, and then it comes on.

 

George: Yep. Yep.

 

Reuben: Okay.

 

George: That’s very… A tenth of a…

 

Reuben: Yeah, I don’t like that.

 

George: When I’m used to flip and this instantaneous thing happens…

 

Reuben: No, it is noticeable.

 

George: It’s unnerving.

 

Reuben: I know what you’re talking about, alright?

 

George: Yeah, yeah, so the Phillips, that seems to be the least amount of delay but they’re in the middle, right? So, they’re gonna be more expensive. It’s like cereal. You know, the two scoops of…

 

Tessa: Like alcohol.

 

Reuben: Yeah.

 

George: Sure.

 

Tessa: What’s the top shelf light bulb, George? In your book, what’s the top shelf light bulb?

 

George: Top shelf… I’ve enjoyed my Phillips light bulbs.

 

Tessa: Have you? Okay.

 

George: But here’s the thing, they’re energy-saving and money-saving, but when you have to test four of them to find the one you like…

 

Tessa: It’s expensive, isn’t it?

 

George: It can be. And they’ve also done a better job of getting the light temperature right.

 

Tessa: Yes.

 

George: There were so many homes you would go into early on that felt like a surgical theater.

 

Tessa: It’s hilarious that you say that.

 

George: It is just white, white, horrible light.

 

Tessa: You know what’s really funny about that? You should have a conversation with Jay. He used to love and would only buy the white light bulbs, and I kept telling him, “This is horrible. It’s so harsh, it’s blue, basically.” And I’m like, “You need to go for the warm light.” And he’s like, “No one likes yellow lights.” And now, after a year of living with these harsh white lights in our house, he has slowly changed over to all warm light bulbs.

 

George: Nice, it just feels like a bad European convenience store.

 

Reuben: Just to be helpful…

 

George: It’s not even bright enough, but it’s white.

 

Reuben: What’s the number you look for to make it more yellow? That’s a lower number, right?

 

George: 2700 K.

 

Reuben: 2700, okay.

 

George: That seems to be, that’s where it is.

 

Tessa: I defer to you on that.

 

Reuben: What’s the word for that?

 

Tessa: Usually there’s an image, isn’t there, on the box that shows you if it’s a warm light or a cool light?

 

George: Yeah, but that warmth, I think, is based on the light temperature I think is what it is. 2700 Kelvin, whatever the mathematicians decided that would be.

 

Reuben: And then the really cool ones are in the 4000 range.

 

George: Yeah, oh yeah, like 4000, 5000 the shop lights and all that stuff. Yeah, that’s like kaboom, you turn the world on when you…

 

Bill: I’m still buying incandescent.

 

George: If you could find them.

 

Bill: Oh, they’re there.

 

George: Yeah? I wish we had skipped the entire CFL thing.

 

Tessa: Oh, we should have.

 

George: I think you and I were inspecting a house that you turn on the basement light, and then there are three lights that go on, it’s like, well, we’ll be back in 10 minutes when they’re bright enough so we can see.

 

Reuben: Yes, yes.

 

Tessa: Well, they have mercury in them, so when they burn out, you have to dispose of them properly.

 

Reuben: Yeah, it’s hazardous material. Those were never meant to be a permanent solution. Even when they first came out with them, they said, “This is a temporary solution until we get the LEDs dialed in.” It was never supposed to be permanent. So they did what they were supposed to do.

 

George: I didn’t know that. This is me learning something.

 

Reuben: The more you know.

 

Bill: Yeah, it’s called reading the fine print.

 

George: It’s the silence. So, on with the list, I could skip a couple of these. Well, house flippers, that’s another podcast also. There are good ones… It seems like there’s no middle ground. There are great ones, and there are ones that, mmm, maybe should look for something else. So this has come up a couple times. Barn doors. The barn door craze, it’ll serve out its time. I’m sure it’s a fad, it’ll pass, there are really cool barn doors, I like the concept, but barn doors on bathrooms…

 

Tessa: Bathrooms.

 

George: Who… Who thought this would be a great idea, because there is that huge gap on the side.

 

Tessa: And the bottom.

 

George: And you gotta put a door sweep on the side or something just to block… Ridiculous.

 

Reuben: I just stayed at an Airbnb that had one of those.

 

George: Did you?

 

Reuben: Yep.

 

Tessa: It’s like not having a door there.

 

Bill: On the main floor, like right that goes right to the kitchen, the living room, and all that. It was right there.

 

Tessa: Oh, no.

 

George: Oh, no.

 

Tessa: That’s terrible.

 

Reuben: Barn door. And I’m just, who does this? Why?

 

Bill: You shut one barn door and you open the next.

 

Reuben: That’s right.

 

George: I need a little more privacy than that. But, and then I was just reminded of this moments ago, the application of the barn door, I love it on a shower door. And this is maybe just a me thing, but all of the glass doors that are installed with such a close tolerance, that I sort of wince every time I open… Just to make sure that they go by each other, but the barn door and this… The glide, it’s great, right? Oh, what’s the plural of joist?

 

Reuben: Joisteses.

 

George: Okay, good. I’m glad I got that right.

 

Tessa: Joists.

 

George: That’s a…

 

Reuben: Joists.

 

George: Joists.

 

Reuben: Joists.

 

George: But it’s not that easy to say, but I’ve had certain “joists… ”

 

Reuben: Joists.

 

George: Joisteseses?

 

Reuben: Joisti. [laughter]

 

George: That’d be the plural, I guess, I don’t know. Yeah, that would be the plural. So, and this came up just this last week because it’s just… It’s so noticeable when you’re in a new construction, $800,000 house, and they have put in $50 bath fans. I don’t even understand. This is the same one that the big builders are putting in every one of their homes, ’cause they get a million of them, and then you have chosen to go with that for some sort of cost saving measure. This is those…

 

Bill: I’m not sure the buyer of this home actually chose that, I think it just…

 

George: No, the builder.

 

Tessa: Builder.

 

Reuben: The builder.

 

Bill: Gotcha, all right.

 

George: All right, George, we gave you the… Thanks for begrudgingly letting me…

 

Reuben: All right fine, you win this one.

 

George: All right, whatever, George. Painted outlets, I think we’ve all talked about this one.

 

Reuben: Oh, my goodness.

 

Tessa: Yeah, that’s annoying.

 

George: Crazy. One, you’re not supposed to, because…

 

Tessa: Do we have something in our report rating software that talks about painted outlets?

 

George: I think I put a comment in about painted outlets.

 

Tessa: Did you? I think you did.

 

George: Just that they painted them.

 

Reuben: Thank you, George. Thank you.

 

George: Sure. I try. And then, of course, we have people that stop at the top of escalators. You gotta be kidding me.

 

Reuben: I’m gonna make my son listen to this.

 

George: Does he… Does he?

 

Reuben: Yep, it’s the worst.

 

George: Does he stop? No.

 

Reuben: No, he’ll just play around on them, you know how kids are.

 

George: Oh, yeah, yeah. I almost don’t mind that, as long as they… Kid, keep it moving, or make sure I can go, but it’s the…

 

Reuben: But don’t collect all your belongings like right there.

 

George: Yes, and it’s typically, there’s a certain generation, I’ll put it that way. I don’t know any other way to put it. But they get to the top and it’s there, “Ah, well, what store are we gonna go to next?” Uh, I don’t know, but we’re all… This keeps moving.

 

Reuben: Let’s figure this out.

 

George: This is a new development. We’ve heard about escalators for a long time. And then, ill-placed volume controls on remotes. Who… I could keep going.

 

Reuben: Yeah, okay, all right.

 

George: Am I running out of time? ‘Cause I got a huge list of…

 

Bill: Yeah, pretty much.

 

George: Waiters that don’t write down the order. I’m nervous the entire time that they’re gone. What, you just took our entire table’s order and you’re gonna get this right? I doubt it. And if you have that kind of brainpower, you’re not a waiter. You’re doing something else for a living, right? Oh, and we talked about this a little bit ago, I guess, the sound of people chewing, but I think there’s a group, like there’s a genetic mix of cannot…

 

Tessa: The loud gum chewers or food?

 

George: Just the sound of human beings eating.

 

Reuben: Well, you and Milind’s wife, Stephanie, oh boy. You two are in the same boat.

 

Bill: Or the fork chewers, the ones who you can hear their…

 

Tessa: Scrape the fork.

 

George: You can here their… Sliding off the fork?

 

Reuben: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

 

George: Yeah, that’s not good. The people that chew with their mouth open, that’s an easy one, you can kind of tolerate it with kids, but not adults.

 

Bill: I was gonna say, that’s called home.

 

Geoge: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I’m probably gonna insult a bunch of people that may find this as a tradition, but it’s the cranberry sauce that’s sliced into discs based on the shape of the can that they just got it from.

 

Reuben: Mmm, okay, all right.

 

George: I’ve had a couple of Thanksgivings that…

 

Reuben: That were ruined…

 

George: Yeah.

 

Reuben: By this.

 

George: Ruined, completely ruined. I left.

 

Reuben: I would have too.

 

George: I had to leave.

 

Reuben: You didn’t have a choice.

 

George: Nothing else was open on those nights.

 

Reuben: You didn’t have a choice.

 

George: I didn’t.

 

Bill: And this is a look into the mind of George. So if you are so lucky as to find him at your home inspection one day…

 

George: I have more. Are you wrapping this up on me?

 

Reuben: He’s wrapping it up.

 

George: You can’t wrap it up. What about people that say “supposably”? We have to talk about that for a minute.

 

Bill: We can talk about that…

 

Tessa: Or “conversate.”

 

Bill: All right, George, we’ll give you 30 more seconds.

 

George: No, go ahead, wrap it up.

 

Bill: All right. That’s George. He’s our resident comedian, and he does do a very nice home inspection, so you can call and ask specifically for him. You’ll get all of this material at your next inspection.

 

George: I encourage it.

 

Bill: And more.

 

George: Everybody’s saying, “I know, right?”

 

Reuben: I know, right?

 

George: Are we done with that? We’ve got to be… That’s got to be completed.

 

Reuben: No, I’m not done with that.

 

George: That’s right up there with “groovy.” No one says that anymore. Oh, and I don’t know when this happened, there’s an apostrophe that I’m putting where it started with “di’int” and it’s moved on to other words. The other one I had that I have, there are a number of them, but “impor’ant.” I don’t know… I’ve heard NPR staff say it. “Well, that’s really impor’ant to me,” “impor’ant.” It’s important. I don’t get that part. My list is not that deep, I guess.

 

Reuben: How about “often”? How about often?

 

George: Often?

 

Reuben: Does that bug you?

 

Bill: You’ve been listening to Structure Talk, a Structure Tech presentation. Thank you, everyone, and we’ll catch you next time.

 

Reuben: I “listen” when people say that sometimes, but I just wonder why the hard ‘t’.

Author: Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections