Structure Talk

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 wel...

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 pr...

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 t...

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 abo...

Bill, Tessa, and Reuben do their first-ever remote podcast, where everyone on the team broadcasts from home. The gang discusses changes that COVID-19 has brought to the home inspection world, which includes things such as restricting buyer and seller attendance at the inspection, wiping down surfaces, and even wearing a mask during the inspection. They also discuss the importance of having a suppo...

Do ceiling fans actually cool down rooms? No! They only cool people. Reuben and Tessa explain how this works, while Bill grumbles about how he still likes running fans all over his house while he's not home. In the sustainable urban core. The gang also discusses the misconceptions that more insulation is always better, high-efficiency furnaces are always better, and new windows are a smart in...

We have Dan on for a second podcast because there was just too much content to cover in one episode. We continue on with the discussion of pocket listings, and Dan discusses the pulse of real estate in the Twin Cities market. This episode was recorded earlier in March before our entire world turned into the twilight zone, but there is still a lot of excellent information in this podcast about list...

For this episode, we sit down with Minnesota Realtor® Dan Sibinski to talk about the ins and outs of pocket listings. Tessa also shares a frustrating personal story related to pocket listings.

We interview Reuben's dad, Neil Saltzman, on this episode. Neil talks about doing home inspections in a suit and tie, and Reuben and Neil talk about the early history of home inspections. Reuben also shares the best advice that Neil ever gave him related to doing a good home inspection.

We interview Minneapolis Truth-In-Sale of Housing   (TISH) program supervisor Breanna Patsch during this podcast. We discuss the purpose of the Minneapolis TISH program, and how the program has 'teeth'. We also sidetrack into the licensing requirements for TISH evaluators and discuss how difficult the licensing exam is, making the National Home Inspector Exam seem like a cakewalk. We als...

For this episode, we answer your questions about houses and home inspections. These include the following: Should home inspectors open Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok panels? How to deal with ice dams if you don't want to pay a professional to remove them How to best find a drain leak with an infrared camera Should people be allowed to do work without a license? Sagging beam, repair desired...

For part 2, the gang starts out discussing the operation of gravity furnaces, and then discuss forced air heat vs gravity heat. They also discuss ductwork design and the design of heating and cooling systems.  Next, the gang discuss changing out the air in a home, and how older heating systems used to unintentionally change out the air, and what an 80% efficient furnace means, vs a 97% efficient f...

Today the gang digs into the pros and cons of old houses vs new houses. We all know that we don't build them like we used to, but is that a bad thing? New houses are more energy-efficient, but they're also less durable. This the result of less drying potential, different building materials, and different building methods. The gang also discusses moisture management, building science, and...

Today, we interview Charles Thayer from All Around . If you listen to the radio here in the Twin Cities, you've surely heard his company's rock-anthem slogan: "We get it done and we do it right! Chya!" Charles explains that while his company is an exterior contractor, he himself is probably the last person you'd want working on your home. He's in the relationship busi...

For this episode, the gang digs into the details of smoke alarm safety, starting with a discussion between the differences between smoke alarms and smoke detectors. That turns into a discussion of exactly which smoke alarm everyone should have, and why most smoke alarms in people's homes will probably not protect them in a fire.  Related links: Do you have photoelectric smoke alarms in your h...

We complete our two-part interview with Ross Anderson, president of the Minnesota Building Performance Association . We discuss the myth that ventilation is a cure-all for roof and attic and ice dam issues, and discuss the real reason for these problems, which is attic air leaks (aka attic bypasses). The gang also discusses turbine vents, turtle vents, and ridge vents. The gang also works in a jab...

We interview Ross Anderson, president of the Minnesota Building Performance Association . We discuss energy score ratings for homes, managing indoor moisture levels and indoor air quality, and challenges faced by Minnesota homes. We also discuss the perfect setting for an air exchanger in a home, along with the ideal humidity level for a home. You can get in touch with Ross through his company web...

Bill, Tessa, and Reuben discuss negotiations after the home inspection. Some home buyers turn to the home inspector for advice on how to negotiate with sellers after the home inspection, but this is something that we also lean on the real estate agent for. This is their realm. Nevertheless, we at Structure Tech do have a list of things that make for reasonable and unreasonable negotiation requests...

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.

One podcast just wasn't enough. For part II, we open the show with Reuben discussing whether or not it's possible to identify mold in attics just by looking at it. We also discuss mold remediation strategies for attics. Tessa asks about the Top 5 places to find mold in homes, then we discuss mold testing procedures, along with conditions in a home that might prevent mold from being found...

We sit down with Vickie Swenson of Minnesota Mold Inspection to discuss mold testing in Minnesota. We discuss Vickie's background, the lack of official standards for mold testing, the health effects of mold, contractors diagnosing mold types by sight, and the #1 location to find mold in Minnesota homes.

It's official, Minneapolis is implementing a Time of Sale Energy Disclosure program, which takes effect on January 15, 2020. For today's episode, we invited Structure Tech home inspector and Minneapolis Truth-in-Sale of Housin g Evaluator George Ury onto the show to help discuss this new program. We explain why the program is happening, the nuances of the program, the stuff we don't...

Tessa starts off the podcast by talking about a recent "memorable" home inspection. A less-than-helpful seller decided to stay home for the inspection because nobody told her that she was supposed to leave, and the situation got extremely awkward. To make things much worse, the seller's agent showed up to the inspection and tried to get in the middle of the whole process. Next, we t...

Bill, Tessa, and Reuben discuss several 'smart home' improvements they've either made or have considered making to their own houses. Reuben also mentions how his Arlo camera caught some kids stealing his pumpkins and his kid's scooter from his front door: Thieves stealing pumpkins and scooter .