Seattle Home Inspector's Blog

I remember when I was a kid it was common to make some spare change by scavenging the neighborhood for old farm equipment.  This old metal could be turned into cash.  

Nowadays the opportunities to make some extra cash in this manner seems to be less than it used to be---now we are expected to recycle for free---although there is still a pretty decent market for aluminum and copper scrap.

It is not uncommon, at least here in the city, to see a street person with a shopping card full of beer and pop cans headed for those places that will give them some cash for their haul.

Another common source of copper for these endeavors in recent years has been the pieces of ground wire that runs to the ground rods outside the foundation of the home.

At a recent inspection I found it curious that on the nearby utility pole there was a warning to anyone interesting in pilfering the ground wire on the pole.  This wire grounds the utility company transformer above and is very necessary.

About 10 feet from this pole the wire from the building I was inspecting had been cut where it was supposed to attach to the first ground rod.

The wire that was supposed to run from the first ground rod to the second ground rod had indeed been pilfered.

Because of this possibility, some jurisdictions now require that these exposed ground wires be adequately protected from this kind of terrorism.  Of course in new construction where the grounding is connected directly to the rebar in the foundation, this type of pilfering is not possible.

Home inspectors should always be checking for these electrical system grounding components---to at least make sure they are all "visually" in place.


Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

Yup, hidden right there in plain sight.

I see lots of improper wiring while inspecting Seattle properties.  Missing junction box covers---even the whole junction box itself  being missing, with wires just running wild, are all too common.

A recently discovered missing junction box that was a little jarring---and humorous.  



While the connections were indeed covered---as is plain to see---it leaves much to be desired.

I am not sure if the glass is half empty, half full, or just plain half-assed!



Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

Every inspection report likely comes with a fair amount of "qualifiers."  Qualifiers are anything that has to be added to cover somebody's butt---whether it is the buyer's, the agent's or the inspector's.  These are affectionately referred to as the CYA's of the report.  

These CYA's can be broken into two categories.  Since I don't think anyone has named these categories yet, lets call the first category:  FIXED CYA's.  

Fixed CYA's are anything that limits the inspection that is more or less true regardless of the condition of the house---whether the house is being lived in, whether the house is repossessed and vacant, or whether the house is possessed and "maybe" occupied.  For example, that the inspector cannot see inside walls would be considered a fixed CYA.  That the inspector cannot tell the condition of the interior of drain pipes could be another fixed CYA.

Lets call the Second type of CYA, MOVABLE CYA's.  

Movable CYA's are anythings that limit the inspection that could vary from home to home.  For example carpeting over wood floors would limit the ability of the inspector to tell you much about the condition of those wood floors.  Storage and furnishings throughout the home would also limit inspection of the areas they cover.  Automobiles in the driveway might limit inspection of the driveway.  Snow on the roof or around the home would be a serious limiting factor.

While no inspector likes to use these CYA's it is for the benefit of everyone involved in the transaction to be on notice that there could be hidden concerns related to both of these types of limitations.  Not every house is going to be empty at the time of inspection and those that are vacant might be staged.  Staging in in itself is a limiting factor.

On a recent inspection, because of conditions at the exterior of the home, I had to resort to the second type of CYA to a greater degree than I really like.  

There was so much vegetative debris on both the roof and the deck that inspection of these surfaces was minimal at best.  The condition of these surfaces may just be fine, but would any inspector be expected to say that they are?

I don't think so.

In spite of the logic of it,  when problems later rear their ugly heads, and the inspector is asked why he didn't report on the extensive granular loss of the roof surface or the rotten deck boards, the agent will at least be grateful that the inspector specifically stated in the report (pictures and all) that inspection of these surfaces was limited.  

I am not sure what the answer is.  Certainly, compelling sellers to have the homes more prepared for the inspection than they often are, as well as getting buyers on board with the fact that the purchase of any home comes with some risk, would both be important.

 


Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

There was once a time when houses could be neglected in many ways and not suffer the way they will today if neglected.  This became less true as soon as we started to insulate our homes to save energy.

The interiors of older homes, for all intents and purpose, communicated very well with the exterior.  

They were drafty.  

This draftiness allowed for a sort of built-in means of changing the air on a regular basis.  In fact the air changes were more or less continuous.  The key to saving energy was to figure out a way of stopping these air changes.

So we started, insulating, and taping, and insulating, and caulking, and insulating, and vapor sealing---and then insulating some more.  The result was that we started having houses that were very successful at stopping air movement and we no longer had to spend 1/2 the year cutting wood to heat them.  

But along with this saving of ax handles, energy and money came an unanticipated cost.  

Poor indoor air quality.  

Poor indoor air quality manifested itself in the trapping of all sorts of nasty particulates inside the home.  Chemicals out-gassing from interior components and furnishings, dust from pets and human occupants, and the growth of mold due to elevated moisture levels and poor circulation, were just some of the things became trapped in the home.  There was also the byproducts of combustion related to fossil fuels and solid fuels burned in the home.  Many other sources of indoor air pollution contributed to this soup of poor indoor air:  air fresheners, incense, candles, detergents, hair spray, paints etc.

So as a result, after figuring out that we could indeed stop air movement altogether, we figured out that it was a very bad idea and that we better figure out a way to have "controlled" air movement.  

In modern homes we provide a way  to mechanically ventilate the home---to provide air changes.  

Every time we turn on an exhaust fan, we are removing air from the home and "theoretically" we are pulling fresh air into the home somewhere else.  These fans can, and should, be placed on timers to maintain ventilation according to predetermined times.  Usually leakage around doors and windows will suffice as a place for fresh air to be pulled into the home.  

Modern doors and windows however, are so well weatherstripped and constructed, that very little air leaks into the home at these points and when we turn the fans on they literally do not pull as much air from the home as they should be and the home experiences negative pressure.  Air can then be pulled into the home through the other exhaust fan locations (the dampers in these fans will still let some air by) or down the b-vent chimneys or the fireplace chimneys.  I think everyone can appreciate that using the furnace b-vent as an air intake is not a good idea.  It will also result in air being pulled under the baseboards or around crawl space hatches, leaving that characteristic "black ghosting" that everyone worries is mold---but is in fact just dirt being filtered by the carpet as air comes and goes from the building.

Because of this we want to provide actual locations where the air can come-and-go from the home whenever the indoor environment is placed under positive or negative pressure.  Sometimes this is done by little vents in the windows or walls or by automatic dampers that are part of an air intake into the forced air heating system.  Most structures deal fairly well with small pressure differentials but when they become great enough, moisture vapor can be pulled or pushed to places we don't want moisture to be.

With two or three bathroom exhaust fans, the kitchen range hood, the gas furnace/water heater, and the dryer all running at the same time we can create quite a bit of negative pressure and that air that is being exhausted has to come from somewhere.

The vast majority of homes in the United States have inadequate means of balancing the air that is being exhausted.

It is not rocket science as to why so many homes suffer from air quality issues right along with their occupants.

Perhaps the best way of all to manage this air exchange is to install an HRV or Heat Recovery Ventilator.  These are great because as they exhaust air from the home the outgoing air stream passes over the incoming air stream so that the warm air leaving the home can heat up the cold air coming in---and visa versa in Summer.  Of course the air is filtered in the process as well.

In the State of Washington we are lucky enough to have an Energy Code that is very specific about the installation of these air exchange systems.  Even if you live in a state without an energy code (or perhaps especially if you don't), I consider it prudent to not only ask the following question but to understand its answer:  "When I turn on an exhaust fan in my home, how is fresh air getting in to replace the air that is leaving?"  If you cannot answer that question or did not even know that the question should be asked, you may not adequately understand how to take care of your house and your home may be at risk of poor indoor air quality.

While there are other important things to know, it is the control of the air changes in the home that is perhaps the single most important thing that every owner (or tenant) of a modern home needs to understand---and yet, based on my experience as a home inspector, very few do.

A home inspector with some training in building science (and shouldn't they all?) can help you access how your home is functioning and/or how it should be functioning.

P.S.  Today, Reuben Saltzman and I were on the same page in terms of this topic---please see his post about insulating your rim joists.  In that post there is a link about Combustion & Makeup Air that is very important no matter what state you live in.  It provides very good infomration that covers what I talk about in this post but in much greater detail.



Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

This post is kind of an addendum to a previous post that I did about improper bathroom vent fan terminations.

First of all, take a look at the roof of this house.  It is a tall hip roof on a relatively small house.  The attic floor space is about 600 square feet.  The bird blocking was vented every 4 feet all the way around the edges of the attic on three sides (the other side was overlapped by an extension to the house with no communication between the two attics.



Now pay attention---this is where it gets a little complicated.

Typically we like to see equal amounts (sq ft) of ventilation at the soffits and at the peek of the roof and we like to see approximately 1 square foot (144 sq inches) of ventilation per 300 square feet of attic floor space.  So given this formula we would want to see about 2 square feet of ventilation---1/2 of which should be located around the eaves and 1/2 at the peek of the roof.

In this case the total of all the bird-blocking vents added up to more than 144 square inches (actually about 300 square inches or 2 square feet)---so that was acceptable, and we would like to see a similar amount at the peek.  However, because this is a good deal more than is "actually required," it does not present a problem as long as the amount at the top is at least as much as what is "required."

In the previous picture we can see that there are three vents.  Each vent is about 50 square inches of ventilation giving us a total of 150 square inches.  This is certainly more than the 144 inches necessary according the Washington State Energy Code.

So the roofers did their job and likely followed what the plans spelled out.

Now along come the guys that are going to hook up the bathroom exhaust fan vents.

As you can see in the picture they merely took the vent pipes and went to a lot of trouble to connect the ends of the pipes to metal sheets that were then screwed to the roof sheathing over two of the vents.

So now we are down to only 50 square inches of top ventilation for this entire attic.

The interesting thing is, related to the ventilation of the attic, significant moisture issues throughout the entire attic were not apparent---outside of the staining around the vent terminations themselves.

This staining is because the vent screens themselves are now clogged, after 18 years, and much air is being forced into the attic from behind the metal plates.

So why aren't there more issues than this?

There can be many answers to that question.  First of all it is a good indication that air sealing from the house to the attic space was successful.  This means that moist house air is not finding its way into the attic---or any that does is still sufficiently vented out.  

Another factor is that the height of this roof and exposure to the elements allows for great air flow across the roof structure which promotes air movement through whatever ventilation there is.  

Another factor is likely the installation of vapor retarders on interior ceilings that discourage the movement of moisture into the attic space due to pressure differentials.  With proper vapor retarders the amount of required ventilation can be cut in half.  That brings us down to 75 square inches which is not too far away from the 50 square inches that remains with the one uncovered vent.

Another factor is that it is a very small attic.

What all this adds up to is that the house has been "lucky."  

Many homes with these same kinds of improper installations result in considerable damage to the interior of the attic.

Is your home performing properly or is it being lucky?


Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

Of course there is no end to the "stuff" home inspectors find in crawl spaces.  

These spaces get used to store all kinds of stuff.  Many people are probably crawling through their crawl spaces at this very moment retrieving their Christmas decorations.  Like poor Rudolph here from an inspection several years ago.

And while there may have been an old medicine cabinet thrown into a pile of other stuff in some other crawl space that I have inspected, none stood out quite like this one.

In the first place it was HUGE----as in WAY bigger than the ordinary recessed type medicine cabinet you might have in your own bathroom.

It was shiny and metallic like many medicine cabinets.

It had a door like most medicine cabinets.

It even had a lights like most medicine cabinets.  But these lights were on the "inside," and the shiny metal was foil insulation, and the door----well the door was HUGE.

What we actually had here was a "medicinal cabinet!"  Not your ordinary "medicine cabinet."  This of course explained the size, and the lights being on the inside instead of the outside---and the insulation.

No mirror necessary---as any reflection would have more to do with reflecting on things---after the harvest.

Medicinal brownies anyone?

Charle Buell, Seattle Home Inspector.

Finding improperly terminated bathroom exhaust fans is an almost daily occurrence as a Seattle Home Inspector.  While they are mostly found on older homes or installations done by homeowners, these improper terminations can be seen even in New Construction.

Perhaps the most common improper termination is where the vent simply aims at a regular screened roof vent---the type used for venting the attic.  These caps have a screen in them and perform quite well for their intended purpose.  When they are used as the termination point for a bathroom exhaust fan the screen can become clogged with lint which then will direct the moisture laden air back into the attic as well as minimize the function of the roof vent as well.

It is best practice for each bathroom exhaust fan to terminate to the exterior at a proper cap with a back-draft damper and no screen.  The cap should have a protrusion that extends to the interior that the pipe can attach to.

In the following picture we can see such a screened roof vent.  Note in the back ground the metal/rubber type flashing used around the plumbing vent pipe.  While not the ideal flashing for a plumbing vent pipe, the flashing is being used for what it is designed for and has lasted as long as the roof has.

Since I knew the house had a bathroom, and there were no vent caps through the roof, I knew enough to anticipate improper venting of the bathroom fan into the attic---assuming there was a bathroom exhaust fan  (sometimes there isn't one and they aren't required if there is a window that opens).

At any rate, there was a bathroom exhaust fan and here is the termination in the attic.

Do you recognize the pipe flashing from the earlier picture?  Of course, sooner or later the rubber seal will fail and the vent pipe will drop to the attic floor. 

Solutions to problems often create unintended consequences---unforeseen consequences.  This is especially true when it involves something where the information is available---just not used.

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

I am generally not much of an alarmist when it comes to home inspections.  

After all, houses are nothing more than earth, water, fire, and air combined together in a form that we can call shelter.  Everything can be either fixed or replaced---all it takes is time and money along with the decision as to which is necessary---and how much.  Sometimes we decide to find another assemblage of earth, water, fire, and air---but that is usually done out of choice, as opposed to anything inherently wrong with the "other" house.  

Of course sooner or later all houses succumb to one or more of their basic elements---no longer combined in such a manner as to constitute proper shelter.  A bulldozer is merely another form of earth, water, fire, and air.

As one can imagine, in terms of the components of a house, some of the basic elements had best be kept in proper proportions or disaster could be the result.  The element I want to talk about today is "air," or more accurately "gas."  We have done a pretty decent job of keeping natural gas contained in pipes.  Leaks are still common and dangerous explosions of natural gas, while rare, do occasionally happen.  Every once in a while we hear about a house or even a whole neighborhood being leveled by a gas explosion.

Not only do actual gas leaks "unglue" me as a Seattle Home Inspector---the mere possibility of gas leaks unglues me almost as much.

A common gas piping defect that Home Inspectors find is where points of use have been abandoned and not properly capped.  Sure, there may be a gas shut-off present, and not leaking, but the potential for the shut-off being hit and inadvertently turned on represents a serious safety issue to me.  The tiniest of leaks occurring in a closed-up house can have disastrous consequences if the gas builds up and a spark occurs---such as entering the home and flipping on a light switch.

At a recent inspection I found such an abandoned pipe in a place I have never found one before.  In a crawl space.  Because the abandoned pipe was a flexible type pipe it is even more vulnerable to damage than a rigid pipe would be.  That it was laying on the ground where the valve could be hit by anyone crawling around in the space seemed a little scary to me.

While the serious rodent infestation in this particular crawl space would not likely result in the gas valve being turned on, how about if it was an infestation of raccoons?  The antics of raccoons in a crawl space could certainly result in the gas valve being inadvertently turned on.  In this case the compromised vent screen where the rodents were getting in the crawl space could easily be made big enough for any raccoon to get through.  A gas explosion in a crawl space, at best, could only be described as an extreme approach to rodent control.  Caddy Shack comes to mind.

It is time to remove the flexible piping and properly cap the gas pipe to eliminate a possibly dangerous condition. 

If you have any locations in your home where gas is no longer being used, make sure the pipes are properly capped.


Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

When it is not raining or has not rained for a long time, it can be difficult to have much to say about whether the gutters leak or not.  

It can become pretty obvious when it is actually raining.  (Believe it or not it does not rain ALL the time in Seattle.)

When inspecting a home, inspectors will check the gutters even when it is not raining in an attempt to find evidence of "past leaking."  Because gutters so often leak at corners, any signs of leaking at these areas will typically get noted in the report as showing signs of "past leaking." Also, steel gutters can actually rust through and leaks can develop almost anywhere.

As you can see in the following picture the Shadow can see a rust stain on the deck---indicative of a leak at the gutter above.  In this case there is a small hole in the gutter and there is actually still water dripping out of the rusted hole.  An important part of inspecting the gutters is inspecting the ground under the gutters.  On a day after a long dry spell about all the inspector might see is the rust stain on the deck and rust on the gutter.

Whether these leaks are active or not during the time of the inspection is really not material because the end result is the same---repairs and/or replacement is necessary.  Let the arm wrestling begin.  

Stains on soffits and fascia in these areas will likewise be reported on as evidence of past leaks and---if possible---they will be checked with a moisture meter to perhaps add some clarification as to how recent the stains had been wet---or perhaps discover that they are still wet.

The connection seams of gutters do not stay sealed forever, and periodically they need to be resealed.


Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector