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

head_left_image

Move it A Little To The Right

I think the photo below might be the classic example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing. Or it is a case of doing jobs in the wrong order -- guessing instead of knowing how things will turn out. As you probably know, when furnaces and water heaters are located in the path of a forward moving vehicle, they should have some means of protecting the appliances from the car. In my area, the norm is a metal pole, a bollard.

At this home, the builder knew about the concept but put the bollard in the wrong position. The furnace is well-protected but the water heater is a wide open target. Sometimes one bollard will protect both but, when that is the case, it has to be carefully located so a car moving toward either appliance would first hit the bollard.

The typical fix here is installing a second bollard in front of the water heater.

 

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

        

        

Check out "This Day In History" -- music and vintage television from the 1950's through the 1980's.  I enjoy writing these articles because they take me back to my days in radio broadcasting. Click on Elvis' gold record, below, to revisit those golden hits of yesteryear.

           

Comments

I learned something today. I never knew what those were called.

Posted by Richard Mielke, REALTOR, Gettysburg Pennsylvania Real Estate (Miller & Associates Real Estate, LLC) over 3 years ago

Steve, so true----and depending on the width of the space two bollards might be necessary.

Posted by Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector (Charles Buell Inspections.com) over 3 years ago

They put those things right in front of where you park the car?  Hope they don't have teen-age or senior : (    drivers.

Posted by Barbara S. Duncan, CRS, GRI, e-PRO Searcy AR (RE/MAX Advantage) over 3 years ago

Barbara,

That is why they put them there, careless drivers. That way the appliances, in this case gas, will not be hit and damaged or a gas leak created. You do not have anything like this in garages? It is standard here and a defect if not there. Years back they allowed something more like a tire stop, think grocery store parking lots, but now they want a metal pole in all jurisdictions where I work.

Posted by Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector (King of the House Home Inspection, Inc) over 3 years ago

Wow .... With those being gas units I sure would want a pole in front of the Hot Water heater too.

Sean Allen

Posted by International Financing Solutions over 3 years ago

Steve, we have ours in neat little closets so they don't get seen and banged up.  These are so obvious!!  And we don't have any of those metal poles.  I guess we're just good drivers!  LOL

Posted by Barbara S. Duncan, CRS, GRI, e-PRO Searcy AR (RE/MAX Advantage) over 3 years ago

Steven,

Bollards! Sounds like an exclamation of frustration. Try it. Bollards! Any how these are also required if the gas meter is installed to the house with the driveway along the side. See that here more often than in the garage.

Posted by James Quarello - Connecticut Home Inspector (JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC) over 3 years ago

Thanks James. Same here but, here, we do not see that very often as the meter tends to be out of the way of the driveway. But when they put the meter there, it needs protection. I would say the arrangement in the photo is the case 90 percent of the time, not the bollard out of place, but the configuration.

Posted by Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector (King of the House Home Inspection, Inc) over 3 years ago

This blog does not allow anonymous comments