Properties, Houses and Condos for Sale in St Petersburg Treasure Island Florida

Inspecting water heaters - Part 2

Water heaters are something we take for granted. They set unnoticed in the corner of the garage or utility closet. When looking for a new home, buyers and agents alike seldom take note of this appliance, save for turning on the tap to see if it is working.

Home inspectors need to look at the safety features. Today I will address TPR valves. Temperature/Pressure Relief (TPR) valves need to be installed on all water heaters. Water heaters are pressure vessels that can explode under the right conditions. The TPR valve prevents this from happening.

All TPR valves need to have an extension. Far too often, many handymen or DIY'ers forget this all important feature. Should the temperature rise or pressure build up past the set point of the valve, super heated steam or scalding water will be released. If you or a family member is in front of the valve, you could be badly burned.

TPR valve extensions need to be appropriately sized and use the proper material. The valve extension material should be equal to the diameter of the valve body opening. Generally 3/4" is standard. The extension material has to be rated for high heat. CPV or copper tubing is most widely used. PVC, with a 140 degree F temperature rating, is not acceptable. Depending upon local guidelines, Valves should extend to withing 4-6" of the floor. 

© 2009 michael thornton | complete home inspections, inc. | brentwood, tn | 615.661.0297 | www.completehomeinspectionsonline.com
Helping YOU Live YOUR American Dream

Inspecting Water Heaters - Part 1

Inspecting Water Heaters - Part 1

Water heaters are one of those modern conveniences that most folks take for granted. That is, until something goes wrong. As Murphy's Law would have it, this will be the major appliance that will head south shortly after moving into your new home. This often becomes a major bone of contention when dealing with home warranty companies.

The serial plate reveals a lot of information, if you know how to read it. The serial number reveals the age. This water heater was manufactured 7/99 and is 10 years old. The capacity is 40 gallons, it is electric, but the major item to notice is the big number 6. This tells the consumer and the inspector that the tank has a 6 year rust-through life expectancy. After that, how lucky do you feel? For the most part, this should tell you and your clients that this unit is at the end of its serviceable life. This information needs to be in the inspection report so that your client can budget for eventual replacement. This will also be very useful for any warranty claims against the home warranty company.  

© 2009 michael thornton | complete home inspections, inc. | brentwood, tn | 615.661.0297 | www.completehomeinspectionsonline.com
Helping YOU Live YOUR American Dream...

Just because they are a licensed electrician...

doesn't mean that the job has been done right. While inspecting a property in the Nashville real estate market the other day, I came upon several wiring inconsistencies. The property owner stated that a friend of theirs was a licensed electrician, and they made several "repairs and updates" to the electrical system. 

HUH?  Well I guess that these folks will either need to get a new friend or a REAL licensed electrician out to address the many repairs that were written up in the report. These are just a few. So you still think that you don't need that home inspection? 

© 2009 michael thornton | complete home inspections, inc. | brentwood, tn | 615.661.0297 | www.completehomeinspectionsonline.com
Helping YOU Live YOUR American Dream...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     I have been accused of being “clever” myself on occasion, so I tend to recognize it when I see it.  When it comes to home repairs being clever can be a good thing---but without enough information it can be dangerous.

     Take TPRV drains for example.

     There is a TPRV (Temperature, Pressure Relief Valve) on every water heater.  It should have a drain on it that runs to an appropriate location without running up hill.  While these valves may harmlessly leak a little water now and then, they are designed as a safety relief valve where tremendous amounts of very hot water may need to be drained away in a hurry.

     The installation of the drain termination pictured below (copper pipe entering from the top, right) will likely be satisfactory for minor leaking of the TPRV, but it will not be satisfactory in an explosive relief of pressure.  Very hot water would likely be sprayed everywhere in the room before it found its way into the drain with a washing machine hose stuck in it.

     The odd thing about this installation is that it would have been way easier to have routed the drain to a more appropriate location.

Charles Buell

 

 

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DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

      Sorry if I have offended any cigar smokers out there, but by the time the smoke clears maybe you will forgive me----then again maybe not.

     Inspectors are always harping about how hot heat lamps and electric heaters can get.  The following pictures were from an inspection of a home that was less than a year old.  A far shorter period of time than it takes to age a good cigar (some might say this is an oxymoron---but what do I know----I just don’t like cigars).

     When the door is left ajar it parks itself right under the heat lamp with the obvious result that the heat lamp is smoking the door.

     It was really hard to get a good picture of the top of the door but there is a large depression in the edge where the wood has become charcoal.

     Leaves one to wonder about the smoke alarm/detectors in the home doesn’t it?

     My buyer seemed to take it all in stride and just said they would be sure to remind their teenage son to be careful not to park the door under the heat lamp.

     This time it was the inspectors turn to “freak-out” at the inspection, as I told them, “NO---this was not acceptable----and MUST be fixed.” 

     Someone needs to relocate the heat lamp so that it is not in the swing of the door.

Charles Buell

 

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DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

     Sometimes we have those “light-bulb” moments in our lives where something just “clicks” and we understand things in a way that we just could not grasp them previously.

     The “mechanisms” for these moments are not well understood, and yet sometimes it is actually hard to understand how we could possibly miss some of the details around us. 

     We have all had these moments haven’t we?

     The other day, something came up on the inspection that got me to thinking about this.  The problem I have with the issue that I found is:  1. how could the original installer NOT have had a light bulb-moment about it; and 2. why would everyone put up with it for 27 years?

Charles Buell

 

 

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DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

Different Strokes...

Dif ● runt. An ad-jek-tuv meanin':
     1 unlike in form, kwality, or nature
     2 dis-tinkt
     3 dif-ring from all others
     4 un-use-u-al.

Havin' lived in the south all my life, I know that southern folks are dif-runt. That's jus' the way is an' some folks jus' ain't a-gonna change.

Now jus' when my tired 'ol eyeballz thought that they'd seen it all some brilliant sole came up with this novel way of installin' one of those new fanguled satti-lite antenna thing-a-ma-jabbers. 

Hellz-Bellz, they musta got plum tuckered out carrin' those diggers from the shed ☺☺☺

© 2009 michael thornton | complete home inspections, inc. | brentwood, tn | 615.661.0297 | www.completehomeinspectionsonline.com
Helping YOU Live YOUR American Dream...

Inspection Photo of the Day - Asbestos Tape... 

Like many communities, Nashville has a lot of older real estate for sale. Although not perfect, many of these older properties were built to last by craftsmen that took pride in their work. As modern conveniences like air conditioning became more affordable for the general public, and duct tape had not been invented yet, the answer to sealing the pipe joints was to use a readily available material - asbestos tape.

There is a lot of information floating around the internet about asbestos and asbestos tape and the health risks. Duct work leaks. As the tape decomposes, particles can be sucked into the duct work due to the venturi effect. These deposited particles can become dislodged and circulated throughout the property. 

I inform my clients of the health risks. I also suggest having the offending material removed and have the ducts professionally cleaned as part of the sales transaction.

So if you are looking at purchasing an older piece of real estate in the Nashville, TN market and see a white cloth-looking type material, be suspicious. Most likely it is asbestos tape.

© 2009 michael thornton | complete home inspections, inc. | brentwood, tn | 615.661.0297 | www.completehomeinspectionsonline.com

Helping YOU Live YOUR American Dream...

     I think most people grasp the basic concepts behind how the foundations of houses work. 

     The basic idea is you want the mass of the foundation to be set on a footing of sufficient size to support all the weight of the house itself that is to be applied on it----as well as any incidental loads added to the house.  The actual thicknesses and widths of these foundation structures is a function of soil conditions in relation to projected loads.  Most modern footings in this area are a minimum of 10” thick and 18” wide and would only get wider or thicker if there were some unusual soil conditions or concentrated loads (called point loads). 

     In relation to footings, there is an engineering term called the “angle of repose.”  You have perhaps noticed railroad track beds of gravel slope away from the track ties at an angle----not straight down.  This is called the angle of repose and is typically no steeper than a 45 degree angle, and if it gets steeper than this vibration and other factors will cause the ties to be undermined.

     House foundation footings are subject to the same rules. 

     As a simple guideline, we always want to see at least a 45 degree angle of support along the footings and away from the foundation.  Of course other re-enforced concrete structures can be installed to counter these rules, but that can be the subject of another post.

     The home inspector is going to be looking for these kinds of issues when checking out the foundation of the home or its interior support posts which follow the same rules.

     In a recent crawl space, a large area had been dug out between two main support posts to create a place to install the furnace.  I think you can see from the picture that there is certainly no “angle of repose” to properly support this pier footing and the ground under the footing is subject to collapse.  The red line is where the angle of repose should be----not exactly rocket science.  The vertical drop from the footing is approximately 4 feet. 

     This home had two such affected posts and proper supports will need to be installed.

Charles Buell

 

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

 

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DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

     Everyone that regularly reads my blog knows how much I love to gross everyone out with stories about rats.  Finding them in crawl spaces is as common as finding the bathroom inside the house----as opposed to being an outhouse.  In other words----dang common.

     Perhaps the most common way that these vermin find their way into the crawl space in houses that have concrete foundations is through damaged crawl space vents and through the access door itself.

     Other common ways into the space is through or around pipes that run through the foundation that have not been properly sealed.  Common pipe-related entry points are gravity drains that have not been properly screened and around sewer pipes.  I don’t know exactly how or why rats like to follow the sewer pipes into the crawl space---perhaps it is easier digging.  I don’t even know how they find the sewer pipe to follow it----but they do.

     On a recent house, the main house sewer drain went out of the foundation on one side of the house and there was a second smaller drain that went out the other side of the house.  This type of drainage installation is common in this area and the drains will join together outside the home prior to getting to the city sewer at the street.

     In this house the rats were using the crawl space as a “Midnight Oasis” as they used the well traveled highway from one drain to the other.  There were very large deposits of dirt at both openings where the rats had mined their way into the crawl space.  On the right side of the picture the condition of the phone wire looks like the rats wanted to make a call----there is always a phone at a rest stop isn’t there? 

     In order to eliminate this pathway some means of blocking their ability to continue to build these tunnels will have to be achieved.  If the hole was merely an oversized hole around a pipe going through concrete, it would simply be a matter of blocking the hole with something harder than the rat’s teeth.  In this case, where the pipes run under the foundation, simply filling the opening will likely only result in the critters digging around the blockage.

     It is time to call the “Rat Busters” to set up a “feeding” station at the Oasis----and perhaps a few rat highway speed traps.

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

 

 

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DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

     Most inspectors will tell you “no” and yet I would be willing to bet that most inspectors do.  No inspection is ever truly just a visual inspection, even though most Standards of Practice say that it is.  Most Standards of Practice even give guidelines for moving certain things----like opening readily accessible electrical panel covers and access hatch covers etc.  Few inspectors however would move a refrigerator.  Most I would be willing to bet will move a garbage can out from under a sink, but probably would not move a heavy sofa to check electrical outlets.

     Every day inspectors must make judgment calls as to where the boundaries are of what they will move and not move.

     A fairly simple item I moved the other day gave me the idea for this post and how important it is for inspectors to be able to move things as they deem necessary and safe to do so.  While this item is purely “symbolic” of the point I am trying to make, finding similar and actually consequential defects are just as possible.

     I like for my buyer’s to be as informed as possible about the property.  Whether it is missing tiles behind a towel on a towel bar, or missing/damaged tiles under a soap bottle, seemingly “cosmetic” conditions can take their toll on a buyer when they start to move in. 

     While it is not possible to discover “everything” about a home at the time of inspection----it is always nice to do what I can.

Charles Buell

 

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

 

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

     Well it is not as bad as elevators, but it is not unusual to smell gas at a home inspection.  Natural gas (as opposed to “un-natural” gas) has an odor added to the otherwise odorless gas that is not easy to ignore----like the other kind----“silent but deadly.” 

     It is designed that way. 

     When you smell it, you are supposed to know that you have a problem and do something about it----and I am not talking about asking someone to pull your finger, excuse yourself, leave the room or pull the covers over your sweetie’s head.

     Whenever you smell gas, you should call the gas utility (except the personal kind of course).  They are more than happy to come and figure out what is going on.  Now I am not talking about an incidental amount that occurs when you the light the gas stove.  I am talking about that lingering smell that you might encounter when there are no combustion appliances operating.  One very common place to find a gas leak is around the gas meter.

     During my walk around the exterior of a home the other day, I noted the smell of gas near the gas meter.  The nose is a really good tool for sensing gas leaks.  When possible I like to see if I can pin-point where the actual leak is.  If you get really close to the leak the odor intensifies.  (I think I better stop the allusions to "un-natural" gas right here.)

     Gas leaks are invisible and they can be made “visible” with a little soapy water----as can bee seen in this picture.

      I showed the buyer and their agent the gas bubble.  I then asked the buyer’s agent to call the listing agent and the gas utility to get the leak fixed.  Within about twenty minutes the gas company arrived and fixed the leak.  The gas company is very prompt at answering these kinds of calls----as one might imagine.

     If you have bad gas----make sure you call the gas company right away!  For the other kind, just open a window and smile.

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

      I used to love to play Jenga with my kids---it is a great game that requires skill, patience, planning and an “appreciation” of gravity.  One wrong move and the whole thing could collapse.

     Over the years I have seen a lot of chimneys.  In fact a chimney almost got me fired back in 1970 when I was working part time for one of my college professors.  This was all way before I could have ever imagined ending up being a Seattle Home Inspector 39 years later.  I spent weekends and breaks doing handyman work for him while his house was being remodeled.  I ended up working for this builder for about a year after he fired the guy he had working for him at the time.  While the following incident is not what got Jay fired, I am sure it did not help his case any.  The builder sent him up on the roof to start shingling the roof.  The roof had been covered with felt paper the day before.  We could here the dull thud of “occasional” nails being driven----until the builder couldnt take it any longer and he went up on the roof to see what kind of “progress” Jay was making. 

     Jay was shingling the roof from the top down! 

     When questioned about this “less than conventional” approach to installing shingles, Jay merely stated, “This the way I always do it.” 

     After this event----and some other events that ultimately got Jay fired, I figured this was my chance to ask the builder for a job.  I figured I could EASILY do better than Jay.

     The next day----or soon thereafter----the builder sent me up on an older part of the roof to tear down the chimney.  Seemed simple enough, and even sounded like fun.  So, there I was up on the roof and knocking the bricks apart and throwing them two stories down onto the lawn----having a ton of fun trying to hit the bricks that were already embedded in the grass below.  It was not long before I had a growing pile of bricks and a boss running and screaming out of the house like he had pulled up his trousers with a hornet’s nest in them.  He was waving his hat----his bald red head glistening in the sun----saying things I really can’t repeat here.  He wanted to know what the “H” “E” double hockey sticks I thought I was doing.  Like his previous helper I merely said (but a little baffled), “This is the way I always do it.”    After he calmed down a bit, he informed me that he meant the OTHER chimney.  “Oh,” I said. 

     But he didn’t fire me and the rest of the story----is my whole life.

 

     Like I said at the start of this post----over the years, I have seen a lot of chimneys.

     The chimney pictured below, from an inspection I did the other day, is perhaps the worst chimney I have ever seen.  And I am sure that left to its own devices it will soon find its way to the lawn below, “That is the way they always do it.” 

 

 

     Jenga anyone?

Charles Buell

 

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

     One of the most common things a buyer wants to know about the house is, “How old is the roof.”  This is code for, “How much longer will the roof last.”

     These questions are not all that easy to answer---especially the later one.

     While I do my best to give some “general” guidance regarding these questions, I make it very clear that whatever I say should be considered a “guesstimate” at best.  There are many factors that can contribute to the condition of a roof:  color, type, style, installation methods, exposure, maintenance, factory defects and many others.

     For example take your typical “15-year,” three-tab, composition roof.  Exposed to full sun, a light colored roof will tend to last longer than a dark black roof.  Protected from full sun all colors will last longer but if this protection results in the roof staying covered with moss the roof can be damaged anyway.  Frequent pressure washing will take years off the life of a roof, as will installing it over other layers of shingles.  Shingles that are stapled as opposed to nailed are more vulnerable to wind damage. 

    Roofs can be subject to other forms of mechanical damage such as from overhanging trees, shoveling off snow in the winter, hail, un-guttered water from upper roofs beating down on lower roofs, and downspouts from upper gutters flooding across lower roof surfaces.  Even pigeons and seagulls hanging out on the ridge pecking at the roofing granules can damage a roof.  Installing shingles when it is too hot can cause mechanical damage that will later result in a shortening of the life of the covering.  Of course using the roof for sunbathing and star gazing can cause damage to the roof----as well as uncontrolled falls to the bather/gazer.

     So when a buyer asks me how long is the roof going to last, these are the kinds of things I must consider in giving any kind of an answer.

     A roof that has few visible signs of aging is the hardest to predict in some ways.  We often have sources of information to give us clues as to when the roof was installed and then we can use rough rules of thumbs to give an “approximate” idea of how much longer the roof might last.  For example if the seller tells us that the roof was replaced when he bought it and we know he bought it ten years ago it is a “fairly” safe bet it is 10 years old.  That info, coupled with what it “actually” looks like at the time of inspection, one could reasonably expect to get another 5 years out of the roof----assuming that it is a 15-year-roof----and it looked like it might last another 5 years. Again, I always warn my buyers that these are “best guesses” and that there are many factors to take into account. 

    No home inspector is likely to “warrant” a roof and most are pretty careful to make their predictions “necessarily” vague.  The reality is, that predicting the life of a roof is very difficult and if one is accurate within 5 years one is probably pretty close.

    On the other hand, some roofs speak very clearly when they are past their expected life, as the following picture will attest. 

     There are no maintenance questions here. 

     There are no questions as to how much longer the roof will last. 

     This roof was likely past its expected life 20 years ago.

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

     My grandfather, on my Dad’s side, was badly crippled with arthritis his whole adult life.

     I can only guess at the amount of pain he lived with----pain made visible in the gnarled fingers that could only sort-of grasp the ever ready cane at his side.

     I have to think that his occasional short temper and sometimes “crotchety” nature were in part a reflection of this pain he lived with on a daily basis.  There were six of us kids growing up in the big, old, two-family farmhouse----and there was always one of us that was deserving of one of his favorite admonishments, “Use your head for something besides a hat rack.” 

     Now, none of us kids would have ever been “clinically” considered to be, “A few bricks short of a full load.”  In fact we all had to carry our bricks with pride.  I like to think this was just his way of pushing us kids to perform even better----when we would occasionally not quite meet his expectations----or trip over his cane chasing each other around the house.

     I got to thinking about this the other day in relation to people being “smart,” and what it means to be “smart” as opposed to “dumb-as-a-bag-of-hammers.”

     One would like to think that people that break the law are some how less “smart” than the rest of us.  I had something occur at an inspection the other day that made me think about this in a different way.

     I tend to think that really smart people can still do really dumb things----perhaps no different than my grandfather used to point out some 55 years ago.

     Try this question out on yourself----would you have thought of this?

     The house I was inspecting had been vacant for 9 months.

     Would you have thought to use the address of this house to have a “mystery package” delivered to it----in order to avoid having it delivered directly to your own address?”

     My grandfather would have still said, “Use your head for something besides a hat rack.”  

     I found it very clever----

----if not “smart.”

Charles Buell

 

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

 

 

     There is a saying here in the NW that, “Good fences make good neighbors.”  Perhaps this is a saying in your area as well.   Where I came from, back East, there were no such saying that I can remember.  There were plenty of stone walls and barbed wire fences but they were more to control livestock----than to control neighbors.

     At a recent inspection of a bank owned property there appeared to be what may have been a neighbor taking things into own hands “in the middle of the night” so to speak.

     Sometimes it is actually hard to determine who actually owns the fences between homes and often maintenance and construction is shared between neighbors.  Regardless of how this fence got to be the way it is, it is pretty clear that “someone” wanted it shorter.  Three sections of the fence had been completely removed and then the next section cut down to about half of its original height.  The rest of the fence has been cut off to that height---but only half way through.

     The other side has been “marked” for cutting but remained the original height.

     I have to wonder if I went back to the site today whether the “remodeling” project has been completed.

Charles Buell

 

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Licensed Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

 

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

 

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.