Look
for a siding cover-up
Whether a house’s siding has been damaged by
ornery woodpeckers, age, insects or bad construction, it’s the one
thing an owner will try to make look good for a quick sale. A new
coat of paint can cover a lot of defects. That’s why an inspector
carries an awl to probe siding and trim.
One needs to check for rot, delamination, peeling
paint and cracks. In particular, one needs to check where the
siding butts up against the trim or against anything else that
protrudes from the wall - a chimney, for example. One needs to be
especially vigilant where siding has been drilled through for
plumbing, electrical, phone or other utilities. These areas are
where water is most likely to enter, which begins the process of
rot. Water infiltration is especially damaging to hardboard
composite siding and to houses finished with certain kinds of
stucco. Today, a considerable number of stuccoed houses are
leaking water into stud walls, rotting the framing members and
wall joints. The problem has been especially severe in homes with
synthetic- stucco walls: Water gets in, but it can’t get out.
Most frustrating for the inspector is that
stuccoed walls and water intrusion rarely show signs of the rot
occurring within. Because it is so difficult to spot these
problems from outside it is worth spending the money for a
certified specialist to check potential moisture problems on
stucco walls. A specialist has the tools and the experience to
make an accurate assessment of what’s inside
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Drain lines have to be supported
properly
Kitchens and bathrooms are the most used, and
consequently most abused, rooms in a house. It is there one finds
all kinds of plumbing, electrical and mechanical problems, along
with rotted cabinet bottoms and warped floors. Beginning at the
kitchen sink one of the most obvious questions is how fast the
sink drains. A sink full of water should drain in less than a
minute. If it drains slowly or not at all, there’s a blockage in
the trap or in the drain line. But the cause may not be what you
think. A common culprit for a slow kitchen drain is lack of slope
in the line.
Today’s plastic drain pipe can soften if hot water
sits in it. If the pipe supports are too far apart (and most are
even if they follow code), the pipe will start to bend between
them. Food debris
then settles in the low spots, eventually causing the water to
back up. A simple test for determining this particular problem is
rapping on the bottom of the pipe with something heavy (such as a
pair of lineman’s pliers). If the pipe is full, you will hear a
dull thud instead of hearing a hollow sound. Also listen as water flows
down the drain. A glug – glug - glug suggests there is a vent
problem or, more often, both a vent problem and a partial line
blockage.
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Floating House
Some years back, a man called an inspector complaining
about water seeping into his garage and master bedroom. He was
leasing a house that was less than a year old. The customer had an
option to buy the place, and it was time for him to make up his
mind. The house was at the low end of a long cul-de-sac, and there
were no drains in sight. All the cul-de-sac water ran right down
his driveway and into his house. Well, sure enough, water flows
downhill. Even drooling babies know that. But the builder’s crafty
closer had developed a strategy to drag the poor flooded customer
to the closing table.
“That man told me,” said the buyer, “that the house was
built on a floating slab, and that every time it rained, the slab
would float up a little higher until the house would rise up above
the water line and stay there.”
Well, concrete can float—on occasion. The brainy kids at
Texas A&M floated a concrete boat some years back. But there’s
a reason a drowning man doesn’t grab for the Quikrete. I haven’t
checked into floating-house technology, but if there were such a
thing, I think we would’ve heard about
it.
Don’t believe a person who tells you that your house can
float. In more ways than one, you’re going to get
soaked.
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Keeping an eye on hot water
There are a number of appliances that should be
checked, but water heaters need extra attention. Every water
heater is required to have a temperature and pressure (T&P) relief valve.
It is the last line
of defence against a catastrophic water-heater failure - namely,
an explosion. If the
thermostat and the water heater’s overload protection device fail,
water will overheat until it reaches a preset temperature or
pressure. At that point, the T&P relief valve should take
over, releasing water as a steady drip or sputter and thus
averting the chance of any more serious trouble.
In the old days, water heaters did not have a
place in the tank for a T&P valve. Plumbers installed them
separately on either the hot-water or cold-water line. If one of
these arrangements is seen, it is an area of concern because the
valve is probably so old that it no longer works properly. On
modern heaters, inspectors should make sure the valve is installed
properly. A discharge pipe should extend from the valve to a few
inches above the floor.
Should you raise the little arm on the T&P
valve to release some hot water? No, because you run the risk of
having the valve drip continually or jam. One should just make
sure the valve is installed correctly and that it’s not dripping.
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