Seattle Home Inspector's Blog

I found a kitchen exhaust fan the other day that was installed in 1950.

The thing even ran when I turned on the antique controller.  Typically these old units, if they start at all, make so much noise they probably would not get used.  But not this one---this one just “purred” like it was put in yesterday.

The part that was not so cool was the ductwork in the attic---and was the reason for the Dirty Harry quote.  The thing about ductwork installed in 1950 is that it most likely has not gotten any better since 1950.  All kitchen exhaust fans need to be cleaned now and then and should always be smooth wall metal pipe---I don’t even like the flexible metal duct that lots of builders seem to like.  Of course the foil type vent pipe is a total no no.

It is possible to have a grease fire inside these vents and it is a pretty good idea to make them out of materials that can stand a little heat.  That said, you do not want to EVER have a fire in a kitchen exhaust duct---so keep them clean.

Given that this vent pipe was made out of wood---it would seem to me that every time that timer was turned on you have to ask yourself one question:  Do I feel lucky?

 

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

We can never totally stop air movement in and out of homes. Not only are our attempts to seal homes never perfect, materials change over time and sometimes create new gaps where there were none to begin with.

In this first picture we can see the very common black staining that happens around the edge of the carpet where air is finding its way in and out of the living under the wall bottom plate.  The carpeting is merely acting as a filter.

 

 

In this next picture the black staining on the soffit around this beam of a home, with a flat roof, is where air is leaking in and out of the building.

I have long held that since it is going to be difficult to completely stop air movement, why not do our best to at least torture the heck out of it as it moves?  In other words make it difficult for air to flow.  We can do this with really good quality insulations like cellulose fiber insulation---it gets into every little nook and cranny making a very good barrier to air movement.  We can caulk the connection of bottom plates and sub-floor.  We can use weather-stripping on doors and windows and access hatches. 

If we can stop or slow down air movement something else happens in the process.  One of the major ways moisture moves through the building envelope is in moving air.  If we can stop air movement we can eliminate or greatly reduce moisture movement as well.

Fiberglass insulation is notoriously bad at stopping air movement---and thus moisture movement.  In fact, in the early days (early 1970’s) of making homes more energy efficient, one of the main reasons we went to such great lengths to install plastic vapor barriers behind the drywall was because fiberglass insulation could not do the job adequately.  Everyone has experienced the cold drafts that can occur around electrical outlets of homes insulated with fiberglass insulation.  This does not happen with cellulose fiber insulation.

In my opinion stopping air movement is perhaps the single most important quality of insulation. Its “R-value” is a moot point if it can’t stop air movement.  How much money are we really saving by insulating our homes if we cause structural damage by moisture related to air movement?

Your home inspector will often be on the lookout for signs of air infiltration/exfiltration during the inspection.  An important thing to keep in mind is that air moves both in and out of homes depending on atmospheric conditions.  At times your house can be pressurized and at other times depressurized---close to “neutral” is ideal but not always easy to manage. 

For example, if you turn on all of your exhaust fans, where will air come into the home that is being displaced by the exhaust fans?  Well, if it can’t “easily” find a way in, a negative pressure in the home will be created and the fans will actually not move any air---won’t do their job.  In most homes, air does find a way in---somewhere.  It will find its way into the home around poorly sealed doors and windows, around the bottom of walls under the wall bottom plate, around electrical outlets---perhaps even around crawl space access covers or down the chimney.

Another important factor to remember is that we want air to come into the house---we just want control over how, where and when. 

Energy efficiency is compromised when we lose control.

Take this picture of a heating system supply-air duct in a crawl space.  This is a great example of how poor of an air barrier fiberglass insulation is, as well as a good demonstration of air movement at a location where we don’t want to see air movement. 

All duct connections should be air-tight.  If the connections are not air-tight, when the heating system is running, warm air will be pushed into the crawl space---right through the insulation.  When the system is not running, these leaking ducts will become a place for air to enter the home when the home is under negative pressure---when exhaust fans are operating.  As you can see from the black band around the ductwork, the yellow fiberglass insulation is acting like a “filter” as air moves through it.

These are just a few of the “visual” indications of poor control of air movement in the home.

 

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

Now I have to assume that no one in their right mind really wants to get hit by a bus---but it does represent what it takes to succeed at whatever you are undertaking. (I won’t get into a long winded dissertation on the definition of “succeed” at this point.  No one except the voice in the back of your head knows what "success" means anyway.)

If we don’t take risks, and if we don’t go where we are afraid to go, we are not likely to get where we want to go.

If we plan carefully and put all our ducks in a row, we can step off that curb and right inside the bus that will take us where we are going. 

This is much preferable to being like an insect on the bus’s windshield.

Part of planning carefully---of calculating the risk---is to know that when the busses do come rolling by, that we make sure the one we take has the sign to where we want to go.   Each bus will have a sign that says where it is going---so pay attention.

It is not unusual for people to spend their whole lives on the wrong bus. 

Once on board, because they are looking for a bus stop that the correct bus would have taken them to, they never figure out when to get off.  They know they are on the wrong bus, but it is warm and comfortable on this one.

When that happens, sometimes you just plain have to summon all your courage, pull your pants into a wedgie, and get off and ask where the heck you are---there is always someone willing to give directions.  Usually the person sitting next to you will give you hints---probably has been giving you hints (spouses are good for this) and sometimes even the bus driver will tell you where you went wrong.  But don’t count on that. 

While most busses have schedules they attempt to maintain, they can sometimes get bogged down in traffic or even get a flat tire.  There are sometimes other passengers on board that make the trip less than pleasant too.  These events can sometimes really test ones patience, but hang in there, bring your lap top or a good book---there are always blog posts ideas to work on---sooner or later the bus will get you to where you want to go

It will ultimately always be “you” that chooses whatever bus you end up on---so make it count---and make the ride count as well.  Much of our "experience" of the bus ride itself is really what makes our chosen profession so meaningful at the end of the ride.

It is also not unusual to actually manage getting ourselves on the correct bus only to discover that we’ve changed our mind and don’t really want to go where that bus is going after all.  When this happens just ask the bus driver for a “transfer.”

There will be other buses along soon enough---with as many possible choices of destinations as we dare to dream.

Do you know where your bus is going?

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

Water follows the easiest path.

Sometimes the “easiest path” can be overcome by other forces---but usually water does run down hill.

“Wicking” is just such a force that can literally make water go up hill---or horizontal.  We all know about sponges and their ability to “lift” water.

In the picture below, one can see a fungus growing out from behind the trim board at the exterior of the home. 

Somehow water was getting into the wall structure---feeding the fungus.  The culprit is that little white pipe at the top right hand corner of the picture.  This pipe is the condensate drain from the high efficiency furnace.  Because the pipe does not stick through the trim far enough, and because there is no elbow on the pipe, the condensate (water) does not drip off the end entirely and some of the water wraps around the bottom of the pipe and wicks into the wall structure.

This is a condition that is conducive to wood decay rot as well as an open invitation to wood destroying insects. Over time, decay within the wall will result---as is already indicated by the fungal growth at the exterior---and reinforced by mold growth on the drywall surface at the interior---drywall is a great sponge.

Extensive hidden damage would not be anticipated in this instance, given what we can see, but the wall will have to be opened up and all the damaged materials will need to be properly repaired and/or replaced as necessary---including replacement of the moldy drywall.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

I have had recent discussions with agents and inspectors about what to me is a scary proposition.  These discussions are not scary because the result would mean less work for me and other inspectors---but because of the sheer risk to the consumer.  It also reflects badly on how well the real estate industry has communicated about the importance of inspections.

What I am hearing is that buyers are forgoing (and in some cases being encouraged to forego) home inspections to both save money and to avoid “one more obstacle” in the way of closing the deal.  I can’t imagine the thought process behind this---and one can only hope it is not the tip of the ice-berg of some “trend.”  I would much rather see this as an isolated conjugation of the planets and/or stars with no merit or substance in reality---that somehow I am the only person on the planet that has heard these voices.  Perhaps I ate some tainted shell-fish or exotic mushroom and it was all just a nasty hallucination.

These are my thoughts on the two parts of the hallucination that bother me the most.

1.      Placing the emphasis on “closing the deal” as being the most important part of the process is overlooking the bigger picture of taking care of the buyer and fostering relationships that would encourage both repeat business as well as future referrals.  Can one really afford to ignore the path one takes to get to closing?

2.      Lawyer fodder.  While all of us like to save money, I would suggest that the home inspection is the last place that a buyer should scrimp on.  Information that might be missed could end up being much more costly to both the buyer and their agent.  Inspectors are ALWAYS cheaper than lawyers. 

The bottom line here is that if the buyer can’t afford a home inspection they can’t afford a house.

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

Last fall I was sitting in my office working on an Inspection Report when the door bell rang.

I can see from my office window (without being seen) who is at the door.  We get lots of sales people pounding the streets and sometimes it is easier to just ignore them that it is to go into some long winded discussion as to why I don’t want vinyl siding, new windows, magazines or a their version of a free ticket to heaven.

I don’t even know why I decided to answer the door this time---but I did---and I was glad I did.

As a builder, I used to build custom kitchen cabinets for the kitchens I built or remodeled---it was my “niche” as a designer-builder.  In the early years---through the end of the 80’s---I used to always build my own doors for these cabinets.  At some point I discovered Design Craft Doors in Damascus, Oregon.  These guys are incredible.  They could make and deliver doors cheaper than I could buy the materials---and they were always as good if not better than my own.  The other cool thing was that if you ordered a door the wrong size, or one ended up with some defect, they would expedite a replacement within a few days.

So it was with great surprise, when I opened the door and found a representative of Design Craft Doors standing on my doorstep.  He introduced himself and said that he was in the neighborhood delivering an order and was doing some “door-to-door.”  I introduced myself and told him that I had considerable past experience with his company and that I would like to show him something.

I invited him into my kitchen and showed him his doors. 

He looked them over and said that they sure looked like his and that they were obviously made prior to some milling change that he recognized by looking at the way mine were built.

His visit was just more proof of what a small world it is----perhaps just six doors of separation.

I am glad I get to keep his doors.

 

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

On a typical home inspection, it is unusual for the inspector to be privy to “how” a tub was installed.  Sometimes however, homes are sold with remodeling projects that have been started and we might get that opportunity.

In the following picture you can see that the walls around the tub consist of the backer-board for the tile that has yet to be installed.  While it would not be obvious to the typical viewer, there is a glaring issue with this installation, that would not be obvious if the tile were installed---but had better not get missed by the inspector.

This tub was never designed to be installed in conjunction with a shower.  If it had been, there would be no raised lip above the flat surfaces around the outside of the tub and there would have been a tile lip on those flat surfaces that went up behind the wall tile.

In this installation, any water that gets outside the tub will eventually find its way over the edge and behind the tile and backer-board. 

We all know what happens then.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

Well actually it is more about gratuitous inspection-horrors posts than it is about anything actually horrible---but I gotta get the reader in the door somehow.

Inspectors love to do posts about all the crazy things we find---me included.  In a way these posts are like sucker punches because usually the more absurd, the more scary or the more off the wall our stuff is, it also means the more “interesting” and/or entertaining it will be.  It is like an accident along the side of the road---who cannot look?  If you need more evidence of this fact just look at the huge back-ups that often happen on a divided highway on the side of the highway that isn’t even involved in the accident.

But today’s post is simply about sharing a very cool sink I found in a home a while ago.  Now if this sink had a high yuck factor---like oil or tootsie rolls came out when I turned on the faucet, or steam came out---I could almost guarantee the post would get featured---or at least get a lot of comments.

But like I said---this is purely about a VERY COOL looking sink!

My only caution to you about these “vessel” type sinks is that they have no overflow---so be careful when you fill them up.  It is probably a good plan to never fill one up while you are on the phone, texting or changing the baby’s diaper---they are not compatible with distractions of any kind.  They are becoming quite popular---and many inspectors learn the hard way about the lack of an overflow.

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector