What is this (commercial)

[Michael R. Boyett]

Originally Posted by Vernon Mincey

I'm a new HI but have been doing commercial site visits for the past 7 years, we are not required to take photos of things like that

Vernon, what are "commercial site visits"? For what purpose do you do those? What standard are you using for those?

Photo #3 - I'm with Brian on that one, could be scrubbers or air balancing blowers. In a prior life I had designed and installed similar equipment for fume hoods in a hydrofluoric and nitric acid etching bath. One duct exhausted the fumes and another brought fresh air into the facility to maintain proper positive air pressure in that room. What was the prior use of that facility?

[Vernon Mincey]

Commercial site visits are done on behalf of commercial mortgage companies. The site visits are done annually and the owner of the property must comply with the lender when something has to be fixed. Sometimes we are given a list of things to look for to make sure that they are repaired (ie. roof leaks, broken window, walkways etc.), simple things. I guess you can say they are more like the HUD REAC inspections.

The property here is just being used as a warehouse, the property owner had this property for 2 yrs but mentioned that it used to be some sort of production plant.

To be honest I was told that I would have to be carefull when doing this type of work since I am now a Lic HI----What are your opions concernoing this type of work ? let me have it
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[Michael R. Boyett]

Vernon, I'm of the opinion that HI's can effectively perform inspections on many low end commercial properties like small strip centers or things of that nature. We can quickly loose sight of the ball when stepping outside those parameters though. I think there are several areas that can get an HI in over his head real quick and those include environmental issues, specialized equipment, fire safety code issues and others. Unless you have a ton of experience or specialized training in large facility design, operations and maintenance then I would shy away from anything larger than a general use small building or strip center. In the case of the facility in you photos I would have put a team of experts together to inspect that, I wouldn't attempt it on my on and I built and maintained buildings like that for many years. The risk that you run on missing something of magnitude on a building like that is enormous, you better have a bunch of E&O.

[Joe Farsetta]

Brian,

ASTM is the nationally ratified standard. We may not like it, but many have embraced it as the defacto standard. When you understand it, it is not hard to follow the model.

My point was that vernon said that pictures werent required. Also, his photos were not complete enough to convey the issue he wanted us to comment on.

[Vernon Mincey]

Joe, I just wanted to know what those items were, we are not require to take photos of those items unless we see an active leak, I guess they have folks at the main office who could evaluate the pictures and send in qualified folks for futher investigation. As I stated before, I am new and would like to futher my understanding. What is ASTM ?

[Michael Larson]

Tell us bit about yourself Vernon. Your profile says nothing!

[Brian E. Kelly]

Originally Posted by jfarsetta

Brian,

ASTM is the nationally ratified standard. We may not like it, but many have embraced it as the defacto standard. When you understand it, it is not hard to follow the model.

My point was that vernon said that pictures werent required. Also, his photos were not complete enough to convey the issue he wanted us to comment on.

Point taken Joe, and it is point I agree with.

[Vernon Mincey]

Hey mike, I'm located here in NY, and I just received my Lic. But I find that I am really going to have to expand my knowlege if I want to do Home Inspections, The commercial site visits I do, well I really thought that was a big deal, But that is nothing compared to what you guys are talking about.

This is really serious stuff

[mreusch]

Picture 3 looks like it might be some kind of air handler scrubbing unit.

[Charley L. Bottger]

Let an old country boy that his spent his life working in that environment, makes me feel right at home tell you what I see.

The first Pic in my opinion is not fire suppression based on the fact the pumps are not painted red as required in this state and probably most others. I just see fluid moving pumps nothing special

The second pic I see hot water pumps based on the stainless steel braided flex couplings. Could be wrong but I doubt it.

The last but not least is very simple it shines like a diamond in a goats Butt
See the duct pipe traveling up the side of the building connecting to the center of the blower which is the suction side of a blower meaning it is an exhaust fan with open discharge. Its sucking out of the building
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[Joe Farsetta]

Vernon,

Your NY State license does not come into play at all, as this is a commercial inspection, and a license is not required to perform one.