Telling an inspector he is wrong

I think my inspector is wrong. How can I make him see his error without affecting his ego.

A roofer friend of mine has warned me that if I offend or challenge him, he could become a stickler for the remainder of the project.

Ask him how he wants it done, then explain why you did it the way you did. Don't try to shoot him down too hard or he'll probably get pissy. If worse comes to worse call the building department and request a different inspector.

Not saying inspectors never make mistakes....but exactly what did he rule on that you think is incorrect? They live and breathe the code books and local rules, so it would take some doing on your part to convince him he is wrong. How hard will it be to do it HIS way???

jimbo said:

Not saying inspectors never make mistakes....but exactly what did he rule on that you think is incorrect? They live and breathe the code books and local rules, so it would take some doing on your part to convince him he is wrong. How hard will it be to do it HIS way???

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This is related to a previous thread, the inspector said "The toilet vent needs to be upstream toilet".

It would take a day to do it his way, and then it might be wrong.

dealing with inspectors

the best thing you can do is ask the building
department to send another inspector out to

"verify and comfirm " the originals decision to flunk your work...
becasue you have gotten others opinions that
this work is ok.....

if you live in some po-dunkey area where this inspector
also delivers the mail, and is the justice of the peace,

you might have troubles....


keep things diplomatic, because you are dealing with

Barney Fife...... in the form of a plumbing inspector...


I have seen a few of them in the past,

they dont even make 24k a year in Indiana, but the badge and authority goes to their heads...

or maybe they get good health insurance, I dont know...,

Just a thought...

I ran into that exact situation when I was doing a bathroom remodel. My inspector, (that was an electrician prior to becoming a city inspector) was very cool. When it came time to inspect my toilet, shower, and sink drain and vent lines, he was almost sure that what I had put together wasn’t correct. (I, being human in nature, thought what I had installed was correct). My inspector called in another city inspector, (that use to be a plumber) for a second opinion, and sure enough, I guess what I had was wrong, and I redid what I had. My point is, (because we are all human in nature), make sure you are correct in what you have installed. If you have a friend, of a friend that is a plumber, see if you could have him come over and check out what you’ve installed. Maybe post a photo of what you’ve install, and let the experts and this forum that a look at it.
I’ve also had an issue with some electrical work that I’ve done, where I did call down town, for clarification, and I did get another inspector out, and it did pass.

Wish you the best of luck with this one!

Mike

He posted a picture of his toilet that he had plumbed.
The wet vent was run at a 45 degree angle, which is considered vertical for code purposes, and run with a wye fitting, (Combo)
If wet venting the lav over the tub was okay there, then it should have passed.

Normally what I would have done in your spot, would have been to make him do a drawing of what he expected it to look like.
Pipe and fittings are not that much anyway.

In a rare case, I've asked for a different inspector, that was in Tacoma, and they do things a little different there on their commercial projects.
I had discussed with the first inspector what I was going to do, then when the work had been completed, they sent an inspector out wear gold chains and his shirt open, with some talk of not letting his "boys" lose work to out of town plumbers.
I called back the first inspector and got it back on track again.
I still don't know if he was looking for a bribe or not.

My father used to go down to Pierce County and try cases that involved Pierce County judges when they needed outside, non influenced judges.

I had one case in Seattle, where an inspector turned down a 2" vent for a sink. He said it should be 1.5"
Dooh!
A call to the head inspector straightened that out. He was like,

"Are you kidding me? You can always go bigger!"

I told him, "Hey, it was your inspector out here that didn't like it."
I mean, who even buys 1.5" no-hub cast iron?

Terry said:

I mean, who even buys 1.5" no-hub cast iron?

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That animal doesn't even exist in hawaii.