A Troubling Discovery

Years ago I had an appointment to do a home inspection on a small ranch. I arrived at the site and one car was parked in the driveway. My protocol was to knock on the door, meet the owners, and explain that I am the home inspector here to examine the home and ask a few questions about the property.

I knocked on the door and got no reply. I knocked again and finally an elderly woman wearing a bathrobe came to the door looking ill. I introduced myself and asked if I could ask a few questions about the home. She said, “I don’t know all that stuff, but my husband Harry does. However I can’t seem to wake him up this morning.” I said, “That’s OK. I’ll just walk around the property until the real estate agent arrives.”

I started my 360-walk around the perimeter of the home. Out back I found a center hatch that I suspected was the entrance to a crawl space. I hate entering crawl spaces, but it is part of the job. I opened the hatch to see what the crawl space looked like, as they are historically a difficult place to inspect and are never opened for maintenance. Looking inside I saw a furnace at the center of the space. Looking further I saw that the metal flue pipe was detached from the chimney and was laying on the ground with the furnace operating.

I instantly knew why Harry would not wake up. Both occupants were at immediate risk of carbon dioxide poisoning! I headed back to the front entrance just as the real estate agent arrived. I screamed, “Quick, dial 911! The owners have carbon monoxide poisoning!” Fortunately, the fire department and EMTs were only a half-mile away and their response was very fast. Emergency services arrived as the real estate agent unlocked the door. The EMTs removed the elderly couple from the home still alive but unconscious, and off they went in the ambulance.

The fireman went through the home opening the windows to ventilate the property. I met the head fireman and said, “Shut off the furnace immediately. It’s venting into the home!” I explained I had found that the furnace flue pipe was detached and venting gases into the home. We walked around back to see the furnace venting problem. He thanked me and said they would post the home as “uninhabitable” until repairs were done. I could not inspect the full home that day and never did get a call to return.

To my knowledge, both occupants survived. I did not see any story about the incident on the news, and I suspect that the real estate agent got the recognition, as she made the phone call, but to this day I proudly know I saved two lives by being in the right place at the right time.

ASHI home inspectors do save lives every day!