Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, WA Home Inspector (King of the House)

It seems like we home inspectors spend much of our time posting photos and descriptions of problems. I saw this photo and decided to post a photo of something that is right. While it does not have anything plugged into it, this is an "in-service" cover for an exterior outlet -- a GFCI. Inspectors often see outside appliances or devices, from lights to ponds, plugged into an outlet and an improper cover is in place. This ranges from no cover at all to a cover that swings open at the top and rain, and garden hose water, get down into the outlet. That, of course, is bad. This type of cover is deep enough to allow a couple plugs in it, even when closed, and there are openings at the bottom that allow the cords to come back out the bottom. I have one at my pond and they are amazingly waterproof.

Thanks for peaking,

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA home inspector

Below is a photo of a deck, actually a small landing, that is in front of a door that faces south. The southern exposure door receives heavy weather, wind and rain, and to make it even more harsh the home is not too far from the ocean. You can tell by looking at the threshold just how wet this area gets and the black coloring on the wood and on the floor covering is a sign of heavy moisture, likely decay is underway in this area. This is an example of why qualified builders or carpenters, who know how to properly fit doors, weather strips and install flashings are mandatory for the long-term well being of the home.

Thanks for looking.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

This is a photo of a sink located in the center island of a kitchen. The main water was shutoff at the home, so I could not perform all of the standard plumbing examinations that I normally do. However, even in such a situation, I do try to look for loose faucets, shoe goo used to hold pipes together, rusted fixtures, signs of past leaks, etc. In this case, after locating the door to look under the island sink, I got quite a surprise. Despite it being an older home, the sink had never been plumbed in! There was no drain system nor was there any incoming water, hot or cold. Not only that, this was not merely a case of connections not being made -- the main supply and drain pipes did not terminate anywhere near this island sink. This is another example of why an inspector needs to look closely at things, even if main systems are off: electricity, gas, water. A careful visual inspection, despite the obviously adverse conditions, will often turn up more pertinent information than might at first be expected.

Thanks for looking.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham home inspector

www.kingofthehouse.com

A detail-oriented and thorough home inspector tries to look at as many standard components and systems in a home as is possible. This includes flipping the light switches and those that run fans, disposals, etc. Sometimes, even though the inspector has noble intentions, it is not possible to test, or even decipher, all of the switches and what they do, or might, do. Even with fairly simple lighting arrangements figuring this all out that can be a real problem. For example, if some outdoor lights are on motion sensors or photo-cell sensors so they come on after dark, it is not reasonable to expect an inspector to test these circuits. He or she certainly cannot be expected to, in the course of a standard inspection, crawl up and put black tape over all of the photo sensor eyes to fool the lights into thinking it is night and then run back and forth in front of them.

There are other complex situations too. An instance is depicted in the photo below. This small home had three locations with banks of switches. These in the photo were by the front door, similar banks of switches were centrally located in the hall and there were others near the back door. None of these switches were labeled and there were sixteen switches just in the one of three batches shown here. Sure, I tried to operate them, but the usual occurred: Some of them obviously operated something but even more of them did nothing that was readily apparent to me.

Were those switches defective? Who knows? Since nothing was labelled, and I had no clue what the intended function was, it was impossible to dig into this very deeply. In these situations, I state that there were a number of switches and a representative number of them, to all, were tested and that some of them operated lights and there were others that did nothing that was apparent. In a case like this, where there were a multitude of major electrical issues, I thought it best to refer all electrical matters on to the electrician who was a MUST at this home.  Usually that is not required and an inspector can comfortably suggest that the homeowner first replace any light bulbs, which might be burned out and, if it is necessary, consult an electrician. More often than not, in a newer and properly wired home, switches that do not work are related to defective bulbs.

Thanks for dropping by.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham Home Inspector

In a blog yesterday I wrote about Washington State mandated conducive conditions. Conducive Conditions -- In this state, they are a big deal to any home inspector who is properly licensed and operating in a legal manner. Below is a photo of one of the most common conducive conditions. Over and over again, the home inspector sees decks that have wood to earth contact in many different locations. In this case, there actually is a concrete pier under the post, but the homeowner has piled dirt around it and up onto the post. It has probably been this way for a longtime. This photo gives a great example of why this is bad. You will see the moisture wicking up into the wood, near the bottom. This makes the wood very wet and wood with a moisture content over 20 percent is likely to rot. The moisture content in this is way above 20 percent. By the way, wood in contact with gravel, beauty bark, etc is also a state mandated onducive condition. Wood such as this is susceptible to wood destroying insects and wood destroying fungi.

Thanks for looking.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA home inspector

In Washington State, any for fee home inspection, involving a structure and a real estate transaction, must have a complete wood destroying organism inspection. This must be performed by a state tested, licensed and financially responsible (bond or insurance usually) structural pest inspector. If that inspector fails to call out conducive conditions in the crawl space it is a violation of state law.

This photo has great examples of conducive conditions. This is classic earth to wood contact. To the right is a structural member that has soil piled up at the footing. To the left of that is old form wood. This was put in place when the concrete pier was being poured.

 Bottom line: Wood to earth contact is a serious conducive condition that will ALWAYS lead to wood destroying organisms. The issue is not "if" but how soon will that happen. Any inspector who fails to call this out is breaking the law. Also that person is subject to a fine and, worse yet, being hot industry gossip -- having his or her name bandied about in the state publication that lists the identity of those who recently violated the WDO rules. In Whatcom County, right now, there is a former home inspector who is wrestling with this very issue and it could be very costly for him. He would have been better off had he looked in the crawl space prior to writing up the report.

Thanks for looking.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

In an earlier post today, I wrote about septic tank inspections. Since septic tanks and wells often go together, I thought this information would be appropriate as well.

A private well is a specialized and complex system, mechanically and biologically. Generally speaking, these systems are beyond the scope of a standard home inspection. Many mechanical parts of the system are not visible and the biological aspects of the system require laboratory testing. Ifyou are buying a home that has a well, depending on the inspector you have hired, he or she will either exclude the well or attempt to take a limited visual exam for you. In other words, some inspectors will try to look at pumps, tanks, valves, gauges, electrical connections and make sure there are no leaks and glean other pertinent information. The inspector might, also, try to do a functional flow test.

The well flow rate is important. It is measured in gallons per minute, or GPM, and can be easily determined by timing how long it takes to fill a gallon jug at a faucetor outside hosebibb. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to determine the true water capacity of the well. There are costly and specialized tests to determine this, such as calculating the capacity by a "well draw-down" which consists of drawing water out of the well at a given rate, while monitoring the level of water remaining or being replenished.  This test is often considered to be extreme as it wastes water and stresses the well and maybe the home's septic system. Therefore, when evaluating a well, it is common and logical to rely heavily on a review of the past performance and history of the well. An honest homeowner or tenant, who has lived at the property for some time, can provide a buyer with detailed and important information. Any purchaser needs to be advised that, when a well is part of a home sale, it is wise - and often the law - to have the water tested at a lab for bacteria, pollutants or other harmful chemicals.

I thought I would take this opportunity to better define the role of the home inspector. The home inspector is a generalist and, if properly trained, should know lots about many different systems and components of the home. With a few exceptions, however, the inspector is not a licensed electrician, licensed plumber, licensed professional engineer or an HVAC trained technician. It is the job of the inspector to detect problems and then pass the upgrade or repair on to the proper professional. It is not unlike the GP who sends a patient to the skin doctor, who specializes in skin disorders, if he or she suspects a malignancy.

This point might be better clarified in the photos below. To the left at the top is a water heater that is rusted out and has issues with the TPR valve and drain. An inspector could go on for quite some time about this tank because even the basic photo shows major problems. Instead, an inspector might be better off to state that the TPR valve is leaking, the tank is rusted, there are no covers on the 240V terminals and that this tank should be replaced and installed to local standards or codes by a licensed plumber. The plumber, by being called in, will resolve all these problems. 

In the photo to the top right, there are really old drain pipes that look to be leaking. The supply pipes are copper connected to galvanized steel -- not good as that leads to corrosion. In this case, the inspector might approximate the conditions. For example, "it looks like 2/3 of the drain and supply pipes are old". Or the inspector might be better off just to state that there is a combination of old and new plumbing pipes, there are leaks and corrosion taking place, and send it all on to the licensed plumber for evaluation, upgrades and repairs.

Bottom left photo is old knob and tube wiring. This house had various locations where new Romex cable was installed but also there were many indications of live knob and tube circuits. The best solution here is to state that the home appeared to have both types of wiring and send the problem on to a licensed electrician for further evaluation and repairs/upgrades. If possible, the inspector will identify obvious live knob and tube circuits or two prong outlets typical of older systems.

Bottom right is a crawl space. In Washington State, a licensed structural pest inspector has to do a thorough inspection for conducive conditions and wood destroying organisms. This crawl space had enough challenges that I inspected the half that was accessible. I found signs of carpenter ants and listed a multitude of conducive conditions. While I drew a diagram of conducive conditions and any visible wood destroying organisms, I also referred this to an experienced crawl space repair professional. A crawl space as damp as this one, especially one with carpenter ant activity, can have many issues that are not visible to the home inspector in the course of a reasonable inspection. Referring to a licensed pest control contractor, for further evaluation of wood destroying organisms and vermin, and calling for a contractor familiar with crawl space issues to repair any damaged wood and resolve vapor barrier, insulation and other issues is a must.

rusted out.  

Thanks for looking.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Often homebuyers want to know why a standard home inspection does not include an inspection of the septic system. The truth is that the home inspector is not equipped to do a septic inspection. And, due to the nasty nature of the job, people would not want him or her doing it anyway. At least not if the inspector was then going to go inside and inspect the rest of the home anyway. This job needs to be done by specialists with equipment designed for working on septic systems. Here are some pretty basic reasons that the home inspector does not dig into the septic tank.

1. The tank is almost always buried in the earth, so no view of the system is available. The specialists who pump septic tanks require specific training and are equipped to inspect the tank once it is EMPTY. Obviously, they also have the equipment for pumping the tank. Home inspectors do not drive trucks designed for pumping septic tanks.

2. A home inspector is not set-up to locate, excavate the soil covering the lid, measure the scum mat or sludge depth, or pump the tank, which is required to do an internal inspection. A home inspector is also not prepared to dig up the distribution box, determine the groundwater level or research the system's installation and service history.

3. A home inspector is not equipped to deal with the biological processes taking place and the odors being created, once the cover is removed. The health issues are not to be taken lightly. A septic tank inspection is potentially dangerous, and certainly unhealthy and very unpleasant, unless one has the proper protective gear.

4. A home inspector, who is looking at hundreds of issues at each home, does not have the time to run hundreds of gallons of water and run dye tests, a complete process often done by specialists as they look for signs of leaks in the system or around the tank.

Thanks for taking a look.

Steven L. Smith

www.kingofthehouse.com

"Just the facts" that is what Joe Friday used to say in Dragnet, if you are old like me and remember the show. Providing facts to the client is what a home inspector attempts to do. Sometimes interpretations are made of those facts, for example, explaining why something is a problem and not an annoyance. Other times, merely giving the facts is all that is required: "The sidewalk is concrete aggregate." 

A year back I was dealing with a real estate professional who was very irritated that, on an older home, I stated that the drain pipes were old cast iron and galvanized pipes and that they were leaking, rusted and pipes of that vintage would have to be replaced in the near future. The fellow was angry because he said anyone buying a home of that age should expect knob and tube wiring and rusted pipes so I should just leave any old system like that totally silent on the report -- taking it for granted that the buyer had done his homework. Sorry. I cannot do that to a client. I do not make mountains out of mole hills but I, also, will not leave my client in such a position that upon occupancy, or right after, he or she discovers that the pipes need to be replaced. The photo below is from such an inspection. My staying quiet on this condition would be gross negligence on my part, regardless of what a seller and his agent might be pushing for. If the lawsuit was to come, I would be the one taking the heat as the inspector who did not perform his job in a competent manner. That is a detour in the road that I wish to avoid, even if it does make some parties mad.

Thanks for dropping by.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA home inspector