.........

Yikes! I hope you're ok.
I've never had anything remotely like that happen - knock on wood.

Glad to hear you are OK. I gotta' wonder - any chance the tester faulted?

thanks for the heads up--or should I say heads down.--Ill carry a fire extinguisher and say a pray before inspections.

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dmn

Robert,

Glad to hear your sorta ok.

Did you ask the homeowner for their homeowner insurance company provider name?

Was this some kind of new wiring? I've never heard of F******wiring yet? I'll ask the guys at the big orange box while I'm in there today if they can show me this new f****** wiring and explain its hazardous condition to them.

rick

Glad you are ok.

Any chance this house had aluminum wiring?

Here is a picture from yesterday's inspection. It is a kitchen outlet with aluminum wiring.

Attached Images

IMGP0061 (Medium).JPG (75.9 KB, 76 views)

Thanks guys. I'm fine.

No aluminum wiring.

THE TESTER IS NOT AT FAULT - THAT'S MY ANSWER AND I'M STICKING TO IT. The tester worked fine on all other outlets until I got to that one.


Lou, now imagine the entire wall burned and ceiling above it....

I'm not fretting over this in terms of liabilty. Could care less , actually. I'm living that's all that matters. Just got a headache.

Can't wait to find out what the root cause will be, though.

Robert,

Did it feel like this?

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Yup_its_hot.gif (24.8 KB, 42 views)

Robert
Something like that happened to me ONCE, had the multimeter set to read miliamps, I think. No fire, but did have fireworks.

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Rick Cantrell
Columbus GA

Yo, Robert-- what Rick H. stated above is a very good come back (regarding asking for their homeowners insurance carrier and policy#). I think the homeowner does have the responsibility/ liability of your safety, and in this case, hospital bill. That POS homeowner coming after you and speaking to you as she did, deserves to be knocked on her own arse by the same outlet.

rr

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"If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?"
Richard Rushing, HCRI
Duncanville, Tx.

In NC the "Offer To Purchase Contract" that was Revised 7/2007, paragraph 17 say that the Buyer and Buyer contractors are responsible for any damage done while on the property. A copy is attached.

Not sure how it is on other states but the agents I deal with are well aware of it!

Attached Images

NC Form 2-T.pdf (1.46 MB, 20 views)

James,

I submit to you that Robert caused no damage to the property. All he did was find a defect. This is the same as if you "FIND" that the roof is bad.

Would you expect to have to replace the roof since *YOU* are the one that found the defective roof during the course of a normal inspection???

Of course not....

The homeowner, on the other hand, can certainly be held responsible (via their homeowners policy) any personal injury caused to a person invited onto your property-- and in alot of cases, even if they were not invited.

I tell ya, *any* realtor will have one hell of a time proving that this was a case of negligence or an error on the inspectors part. They just don't have a leg to stand on.

Rich

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"If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?"
Richard Rushing, HCRI
Duncanville, Tx.

James,

I opened your pdf and it was upside down.

That said there is a huge difference between causing damage and being injured on someones property. Repairman working on an appliance and the light fixture falls on his head.Did he damage the light fixture or was he doing what he was contracted to do and was injured by the light fixture?

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It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.

Billy...

You need to rotate it!

I did not say anyone was at fault. I just passed along some information.

James,

Thanks much better. The information you posted is between the Seller and the Buyer.
Looks like the Buyer holds the Seller harmless. The buyer may do so, the injured party is
not bound buy their agreement.

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It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.

But the buyer is on the hook for repairing any damage done by his inspector(s).

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Jim Luttrall
Mr. Inspector.net, Inc.
Allen, Texas 75002

I spoke with a member of the NC licensing board Friday about the HI being responsible for damages causing turing an inspection.

His response was, if you probe a piece of soft and rotten wood and cause a minor hole, the wood was already damaged, you did not cause any damage. No liability. If you pry off an entire piece of lap siding, you are responsible.

During a ConEd class the instructor told the story he experienced while he was an investigator for the licensing board following up on customer complaints.

HI found the windows sills were deteriorated and cracked. He took a screwdriver, jammed it in the crack and broke off the rotted sill on every window in the house. His explanation was now they would have to repair the damage. He claimed he did everyone a favor. In such a case, the HI would be liable.

The interperation is minor holes made while probing with a finger or screwdriver tip are acceptable. Removing pieces of the homeis not acceptable.

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Bruce Ramsey
Advocate Inspections
www.NCAdvocate.com

There is no damage done by the Inspector. The damage was done by a defective outlet.

If he had turned on a faucet and water went every where the damage was caused by the defective device.

A normal expectation is to operate an item as intended. Open a door if the knob comes off in your hand defective. Turn on the heat and it explodes defective.Plug an electrical device into an outlet it catches on fire defective.Any damage caused was done due to defective items owned by the seller.

Fall off the Roof,Kill Poodle,Ladder Bust Sellers Window damage buyer is responsible for.

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It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.

Billy, just for the record, I was not commenting on this particular event, but the wording posted from the contract.

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Jim Luttrall
Mr. Inspector.net, Inc.
Allen, Texas 75002

While I agree that Robert "did not cause the fire" and thus the buyer has nothing to hold the seller harmless from ...

... I also submit that the final word will come from what the forensic investigator determines was wrong and the judge's take on it.

If the action of plugging in a tester 'caused' the receptacle outlet to fail, which 'caused' the resulting fire, then the action of plugging in that same tester into any and every receptacle outlet would 'cause' the same results ... but it did not.

Likewise, if plugging something into that receptacle outlet 'was not the cause' of the resulting fire, then the receptacle outlet had to have been previously 'defective or damaged' in some way. That's where the forensic investigator removes the receptacle and determines what was what when.

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )