Seattle Home Inspector's Blog

      This is the second post in a series of posts about pending legislation involving Licensed Home Inspectors in Washington State, that should be of interest to all parties involved in the sale of real estate in the State.  The first post dealt with Senate Bill 5644 regarding mold. 

     This post will talk about a second provision of Senate Bill 5644  which would require the Fundamentals of Home Inspection training course to be available both as an on-line course and as live instruction.  Currently the Fundamentals of Home Inspection course can only be taught in a classroom setting with live instruction.

     As an educator I can testify to the difficulties inherent in attempting to teach a “fundamentals” courses on-line.  While it may be possible to justify on-line training for some professions, the job we must do as home inspectors is a very visual and tactile profession that often requires all of the senses in making the best evaluations of properties being inspected. 

     The reasons being given for allowing this course on-line is due to supposed hardships for people in remote areas of the state to travel to get the training.  While it may be unfortunate that there may be additional costs for some to travel to get training, this would not likely be any different than it would be to get professional training for many other professions. 

     Being a newly licensed profession, the free market place also has not had time to create services where needed around the state---it likely will in the future if deemed economically practical.

     Given that the number of hours of training to become a home inspector is so MINIMAL as it now stands, it does not make any sense to me to dumb it down any further.  In the future, when the number of hours of training are equivalent to a 2 or 4 year degree it will be highly likely that at least some of those hours will be able to be adequately accomplished on-line.  Until that day comes it is important to not mess with the “minimum standard” we are currently at.

     The Fundamentals of Home Inspection course at Bellingham Technical College, which I teach part of, has had many students that have traveled across the state to take our course and they all, when polled, agree that it would not be possible to do what we do in terms of training on-line.

     Another thing to consider is that if current education providers were required to do both methods of instructions we might just loose some of those providers of education completely---thus reducing the currently few options that exist for training.

     Perhaps it is time to allow doctors to do their residency on-line.

     If you click on this paragraph you will find the bill and its current status.  You will also find links to the sponsors where you can email them directly about this bill.  You can also find links to your own legislators that you can email as well.  Please take a moment to give them your opinion on this matter.

Other Important Bills:

Senate Bill 6433

Senate Bill 6434 

Charles Buell

     Actually this message is directed to anyone involved in any part of the real estate transaction in Washington State.  All agents, appraisers, loan officers, and inspectors should be concerned about several bills currently working their way through the House and Senate in the State of Washington that in one way or another relate to home inspectors that will affect the entire real estate transaction.  This will be the first in a series of posts designed to bring to your attention the major concerns around these bills.  While some of these bills may never even make it out of committee, all deserve a quick email to your Senator or your House representative to voice your concern.

    The first one I will discuss is Senate Bill 5644 that would change Home Inspector Licensing to require home inspectors to include “looking for mold.”  Since home inspectors are not generally qualified to identify mold, and are not likely to get trained to identify mold, this bill could literally bring every real estate transaction in the state to a halt or at least slow it down while a mold expert is brought in to test the house for mold. 

     Mold is the result of conducive conditions----in other words there are: roof leaks, plumbing leaks, foundation leaks, ventilation problems, drainage problems, and other building science issues that must be addressed to get rid of this one of the many results of these problems.  Home inspectors, while not specifically required to identify mold are already mandated by law to discover and report on conducive conditions, so adding the word “mold” into the law is unnecessary.  As long as there is considerable controversy over the effects of home-environmental mold on occupants of the home, blanket legislation regarding mold is not necessary to better protect the health & safety of Washington residents.

     No one would argue that particulate in the air, whether mold or dust or other contaminates, can affect anyone’s breathing, but these are “building science” issues not mold issues.  Knowledgeable home inspectors are trained (or at least should be trained) to identify conditions that contribute to poor indoor quality including conditions conducive to the growth of mold.  Any inspector that found conditions that they didn’t understand related to these issues would already be calling for further evaluation by the appropriate building science expert----calling for a mold expert to evaluate every real estate transaction would seem draconian to me.

     While calling for the “mold expert” would not be “required” by the current bill, can you imagine any inspector “signing off” on a house as being mold free?  I think not.  To paraphrase Chicken Man, “Its everywhere, its everywhere.” 

     If you click on this paragraph you will find the bill and its current status.  You will also find links to the sponsors where you can email them directly about this bill.  You can also find links to your own legislators that you can email as well.  Please take a moment to give them your opinion on this matter.

Other Important Bills:

Senate Bill 5644 PART 2

Senate Bill 6434 

Charles Buell

     Another example of “collateral damage” in the current Real Estate mess----that most of the country finds itself----is that more and more home inspectors are becoming un-intentional “deal killers”----including this Seattle Home Inspector.

     Before the bubble burst, it was much less common for a home inspector to kill a deal in such a way that the house might not sell in a timely fashion.  This was because if one buyer walked away there might be 10 others waiting in the wings.  Previously, while a home inspector might nix the deal for a particular agent involved, the sale at least would likely happen even if it was for some other agent----and in a timely fashion.

     Nowadays it seems, with so many distressed properties for sale, there are a great many more issues that come up that justify more caution on the part of buyers----especially first time buyers without the cash reserves to fix the additional issues found at these properties.  The result is that more buyers walk away after the inspection----and it is more likely that there are not going to be ten people waiting in the wings----and that the house is not going to be sold in a timely fashion.

     The odds are stacked against a house having been properly maintained----if the owner was not able to pay the mortgage in the first place. 

     Add to this that some of these homes get vandalized by unhappy owners being forced to leave, or that homes are trashed by being winterized and we end up with the “perfect storm” for the home inspector to “write a book” about.  Many of these places look like they have been hit by a tornado ----followed by a hurricane to “smooth things over.”

     Please remember (for the most part) inspectors are not “deal killers.”  Each house has a “story”----we merely write that story down.  For many of these properties, it would be splitting hairs to say that it might be possible for the home inspector to write the report in such-and-such a manner so as to negate the tornado and the hurricane.   It is up to the agent to sort out how these storms have compromised the deal.

     It likely had nothing to do with the agents or the home inspectors.

Charles Buell

     I am sure that most everyone has put away their Holiday decorations by now.

     Where do you keep yours?

     If you are like many homeowners in this country----you stuff them in the attic.  While the attic is a common repository for all kinds of things, it seems that Christmas decorations top the list of possibilities.

     The weight of these items is not likely to pose any structural issues for the home (unless you store real reindeer)----plus it gives any rodents that live up there lots sparkly things to play with all year long.

     There can be other concerns though, as can be seen in the following picture.  Stored items can be pushed into electrical equipment/wiring, exhaust fans, ductwork----not to mention crush insulation.  (Compacting insulation decreases its R-value----in other words increases heat loss/gain.)

      Now admittedly the receptacle is not properly wired and covered----but are you sure there are no similar conditions in the space that you stuff your seasonal decorations?  In this case the plastic base of the Christmas tree stand prevents the metal screw from touching the exposed electrical connections----all bets would be off with the metal tree thrown on top though.  These sorts of electrical hazards are like snakes poised to strike----just waiting for the right opportunity-----and they strike when you least suspect.

Charles Buell

     I expect that every inspector has his or her own pet peeve that maxes out the old yuck-o-meter.

     For me it is whirlpool baths.

     There is nothing like waiting 40 minutes for the tub to fill up because someone didn’t bother to run large enough water lines to the thing, only to turn it on for a tenth of a second and watch a confetti of human skin, mold and who-knows-what-other-disgusting-stuff enter the tub.

     Why don’t these things get cleaned before we have to test them?

     I would think that having these tubs cleaned would be on every listing agent’s must-do-to-get-the-house-ready-to-sell list.

     These tubs should be professionally cleaned once a year----perhaps more frequently if the jets are never operated.  It is apparent, that as cool as people think these things are, they never seem to get used after the novelty wears off.  Over time, crud builds up in the water that stays in the lines when the tub is used without using the jets.

     Some people swear that lying back in one of these things, and then turning the jets on full blast and listen to a 747 do a continuous landing over the bathroom, is relaxing. 

     What I find relaxing is cleaning up this mess.

Charles Buell

      While the following picture of a defect may constitute “trying” to do something---it is actually accomplishing very little.  Most attempts at “trying” to do something rarely accomplishes as much as simply “doing” something.  Also, 50% of nothing is still nothing, this pipe will need a proper flashing to keep all water out of the house structure.

Charles Buell

     There is a tendency for people view the world from the narrow time frame of their own lives----and extrapolate that information to mean that things have always been that way----or at least for a longer period of time than is statistically meaningful historically.

     One example of this is this idea that somehow tomatoes and Italian cooking are virtually inseparable.  The reality is that Italians have only known tomatoes since the discovery of the New World----not really very long in terms of the total history of Italian cuisine.

    The same sort of thing happens in the way we look at houses.  We sometimes want to know if the house we are interested in buying has ever been remodeled.  We tend to ask this question as to mean “remodeled” in the context of, “brought up to current standards.”   I find houses all the time that have been remodeled.  Some fit this definition of being brought more up to date, but most fall short because standards change so fast and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

     I even find homes where changes to the house were made before it was even completed.  In other words “remodeled” before it was even “modeled.”  I know this happens because as a builder I had to do it many times myself. 

     Sometimes in older homes I find where homes were remodeled within a few years of their original construction so that even the newer portions are really no more “up-to-date” than the older part----at least in terms of today’s standards.

     Take a look at the following picture.  This house, built in 1901 (very old by Seattle standards), was remodeled.  As part of this remodel the original REALLY tall ceilings were lowered to 8 feet creating this nice crawl space between the new ceiling and the original ceiling. 

     In the picture, one can see the old lath and plaster and also see where the electrical needs of the home have been “upgraded” with the “new” knob & tube wiring.

     It would be difficult to determine when the “remodel” was done----but most likely some time between 1901 and 1950-----since 1950 is just about the end of the use of this wiring method.  So by modern standards this remodel doesn’t even count----it is all hopelessly outdated.  Perhaps due for another “upgrade.” 

     Now take this information and extrapolate it to a building that is “actually” old (like in Europe) as opposed to “pretend” old like we have here in the United States.  The old farm house that I grew up in, in Connecticut, is about 200 years old----pretty old for the United States.  Britain’s oldest continuously inhabited dwelling is 850 years old-----just think about the number of remodels that home could have gone through----and the stories its walls could tell. 

     Now we are talking archeology.

Charles Buell

     I know that you would rather be listening to the Jefferson Airplane than reading this----but oh well.

     Plastic piping in homes is becoming the norm.  It is pretty rare to find new construction with anything other than PEX type plastic pipe----or perhaps CPVC plastic pipe.  I don’t have any heartburn over the use of PEX in homes----in many ways it is a better choice than copper and is certainly cheaper.  As far as installation problems go---they have no more issues than metal types of pipes.  All systems are only as good as the installer doing the work.

     One problem that does occur though is when homes are changed to plastic or have plastic components added to the existing metal piping systems.
     Without getting involved in discussing all the rules/requirements of electrical “grounding & bonding,” suffice it to say that all metal piping systems in the home have to be bonded (connected) to the electrical service ground.

     People that do not understand these electrical bonding requirements sometimes break the continuity of these bonded metal piping systems by installing plastic components.  This frequently happens when metal drains or water supply lines are broken to add drains to new locations or supply water to new locations.

     In the following picture we can see where someone has spliced white PVC plastic into the main water line to install a lawn irrigation system.  This installation potentially leaves the house side of the plumbing system disconnected electrically from the grounded electrical system----and possibly even leaving the whole house disconnected from one of the means grounding the whole system.

     This repair can be as simple as jumping across the plastic component with a “jumper wire” or as complicated as having to run a new ground wire to the pipe on the street side of the plastic. In this next picture we can see where a “bonding jumper wire” has been installed around a plastic water filter.

      Either way the system it will need to be evaluated and repaired as necessary by the Licensed Electrical Contractor.

Charles Buell

     Sometimes it seems that when one can’t tackle a problem “head-on” we must take a “side-ways” approach.

     Take a look at this ordinary vinyl sliding window in the following picture.  If we look at it we can see that things are not as they should be. 

     On the right hand side of the window, can you see those two little square openings?  Those openings are to let water out.  Now if the whole shed were to fill up with water----all the way up to these openings----I suppose they might be functional.

     On the other hand perhaps the window really needs to be hung as a single-hung window so that the drain holes are on the bottom where they belong.  In the next picture I have done a color overlay to show how the track was full of water because it could not drain out.

     I guess this installation went “side-ways.”

Charles Buell

     I think most people agree that smoking is not the best thing for your health.

     Even most smokers agree.

     I have done posts  in the past about the effects that smoking has on homes and how it can literally destroy them, turning them into toxic waste dumps----with the walls all covered with a yellow toxic frosting of nicotine and soot.  Nicotine is a very toxic substance and in the quantities present on walls can be more deadly than smoking the cigarettes themselves.  While the smoker may long be dead and gone, their legacy may live on posing a health hazard to anyone having to clean up the mess later. For infants and small children this can be as deadly or damaging as lead----and yet it seems to be barely on the radar of most people’s concerns.

    This is a perfect example of what the absence of a little hype and the absence of bad press can do for an otherwise perfectly good problem.

     Sixty milligrams of nicotine (the amount in about 5 cigarettes) is enough to be lethal to an adult.  Historically the stuff created a lot of health problems when it was used as an insecticide.  That yellow cast you can see on a home’s walls is concentrated Nicotine----and should be treated with a great deal of respect.  It can be very difficult to clean up satisfactorily in some cases.  It does not wash off easily.  It does not paint over easily.  It can coat the inside of stud cavities if there is any air flow into the space.  It can make a serious mess of duct work.  The duct work of homes that have been heavily impacted by smoking will most likely need to be replaced---can you imagine trying to clean them?

     At an inspection the other day I found a great example of just how nasty this stuff can be in ductwork.  In the picture below, one can see the nice new shiny duct work that has been connected to the Nicotine Coated ductwork that runs throughout the home.

     Now put your feet up-----take a deep breath----and relax!

Charles Buell