SIGNS!

by Bill Jacques November 1, 2013

YourASHI

When we perform a home inspection, we look for signs. What kind of signs? There are many: new work; old work; incomplete work; caulked-up areas around old repairs; fresh paint; old peeling paint; stains on walls, ceilings and around doors and windows. How about stains in attic roof sheathing, around plumbing vent stacks, in valleys and around the chimney? What about old plumbing repairs or new plumbing repairs on old plumbing systems? Several types of plumbing supply lines: poly, copper, PEX and PVC. There are flex drain lines under kitchen sinks and wash basins. There are rubber drain lines and lines spliced together with taped connections. Don’t forget plumbing waste or supply lines that aren’t supported properly. We look for electrical repairs, splices and new breakers inside an old panel box that don’t match up with the panel box manufacturer specifications. Then there are wall receptacles that are on a two-wire system, not grounded but with three slot receptacles installed on a two-wire system. We see open junction boxes, exposed wires and spliced wires not in a junction box. We find electrical wires exposed, not protected by conduit, and electrical lines not supported in the crawl-space areas. There are exposed wires not inside a closed junction box.

Don’t forget wood siding that is cracked, warped, split, cracked and damaged with nails backing out. And we see different types of siding: wood, vinyl, cement fiber, hardboard, brick, concrete block with settlement cracks and repaired settlement cracks.

We find footing problems that cause pier supports to fail, improper pier supports and wooden pier supports. And repairs to the floor system that are suspicious, some repairs to the floor system, but there is still damage to the floor system, moldy floors in crawl spaces, water in crawl spaces and HVAC condensation from drain lines draining into the crawl space. And there’s old, worn decks with splits, cracks, sags, nails backing out, not secured to the house properly or not supported properly. We see dryers vented into the crawl space or the attic, and vinyl material used for the dryer venting and bath vents vented into the crawl space or attic that should be vented outside. And we find signs of moisture on the floor system in crawl spaces, pier supports with water marks from rising water, basements with water marks and stains from
old leaks and fresh-caulked areas in basement walls and floors.

We look for HVAC ductwork that is taped up with duct tape; damaged insulation on ductwork; mashed down ductwork; and disconnected, old ductwork but with a new HVAC system. We find no pan under the attic air handler, rusty drip pans under the air handler, no condensation drain lines off the attic drip pan, no cut off switch on the attic drip pan and no drain line on the attic drip pan under the unit. We see HVAC systems past their normal life expectancy, rusty cabinets, damaged fins on the outside unit, dirty return duct system, no filters in the HVAC return, dirty inside HVAC coils and rusty areas on inside coil. In general, HVAC systems that aren’t working properly.

And there are old shingles needing lots of repairs, brittle shingles, caulked-up shingles, different types of shingles used for repairs, old flashing on new roofs, no kickout flashing, flashing with nails through the flashing, flashing just caulked up on chimneys and brick walls, valleys caulked up and not installed properly, uneven rows of shingles, tabs creased from wind uplift, shingle tabs not sealed, nails backing out of roof coverings, rusty metal roofs, nails and screws backing out of roof covering. We find appliances that don’t perform all the functions, damaged parts on appliances, ranges that aren’t vented at all or vented into the attic or the crawl space.

There are so many signs that the homeowners, repairmen or nature leaves for us that really make our jobs easier. Our customers are relying on us as quality ASHI Inspectors to inspect, find and detail these items for them so they will be purchasing a home that they can be proud of and not be surprised with large items of repair or failure. This means that we must employ all our resources to investigate the areas that give us the signs. Our training will pay off when we look closer than just the cursory look. Our years of experience from our background, training, chapter meetings, education seminars, ASHI IW and our online training, all play a part in our ability to deliver an ASHI home inspection to our customers. Now, does that mean if we report what we find that everything will be all right? NO, because we can’t guarantee that something will not fail in their home in the future. But when we are diligent and report all the signs to our customers, we are doing the right thing.

So what signs are you looking for? It should be the sign of a home inspector who is looking out for your customer! 


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