hausdok

Most basements back east, at least as far as I can remember, stay generally "warm" without heat, meaning the air in them is above freezing. They're built deep enough to go below frost level and gain a certain amount of ambient ground heat. Of course, in my memory they weren't placing panels of foam insulation on the soil before pouring the floors, so I don't know if that made a big difference. Ours was built from rubblestone and, with the furnace and water heater there, plus what heat radiated off the hot water pipes, which were uninsulated, I'd putter around there all day as a kid tinkering with stuff I was working on. The furnace didn't supply any direct heat to the basement but those uninsulated heating ducts, like the pipes, radiated heat. I'm not smart enough to comprehend all of what engineers imagine. I only know that if it works, it works, and that's good, and when it doesn't I'll declare it shit. Well, used to, in the days I was working.

Nah, just about anyone is sharper than I am. I wouldn't ever think that of you Les. Remember me, the guy who can't add a column if single-digit numbers three times without getting three different wrong answers? 😵

Les, Is it what I think it is - a thin acrylic coating?

Correction, Mine isn't a tracking report, it's a blocking report that tells me how many attempts at tracking me have been blocked. I don't track anything, neither does Duck Duck Go. It just blocks and reports how many it's blocked. One Team - One Fight!!! Mike

I have been recently using Duck Duck Go as a browser. It provides a tracking report on how many attempts at tracking it has blocked. I noticed this morning that since I've been using it 35 attempts at tracking have been made when I visited TIJ. How and who is trying to track me? When we set this site up there wasn't any such thing. Could it be all of those spam sites that are hidden from visitors but haven't been deleted? What the hell is going on? One Team - One Fight!!! Mike

I've seen this stuff advertised. Some Ohio inspector who claims to do more than 4,000 inspections a year (😂) is endorsing the stuff. It looks to me like it's probably a clear acrylic with a solvent base that, once sprayed on, soaks into asphalt and softens it and then the acrylic coating acts as a sealer and prevents the surface from sloughing off. Anyone had experience with this stuff being used on houses for sale? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

If my memory is working properly, I seem to remember that these things are allowed to sag more than 2X. Many years ago I had an issue where I found that a local builder had been mixing truss joists with rim joists of regular lumber. The truss joists were custom made for that builder to the same nominal dimension of the joists so he wouldn't have to rip the rims to get them to the same initial height. The builder tried to sue me when I reported it in a number of houses he built The late JD Grewell had helped me with that case. According to the TJI manufacturer and what was called the Truss Council back then, even a 1/8 inch difference can result in damage to a home. I seem to remember J.D. had written extensively about it because he'd discovered homes where the trusses has begun splitting when placed under differential pressure. I'm not clearly picturing what you have there in my head, so maybe I'm full of s*** as regards this one.

She doesn't seem to be reading what we say, so I'm going to lock this thread. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I spent a whole lot of time answering you twice. If you read what I wrote, you'll see that millions of people with casual exposure to asbestos live long and fruitful lives....and some don't. You'll also see that EVERYONE who is alive, babies as well as adults, has already been exposed to the stuff, so, it's always possible that you or your husband could get sick from asbestos, but I doubt you've been exposed because he was cutting on a 1990 house. I can't guarantee that neither of you will ever get sick though because you'd both had been exposed long before he ever cut into your house. We all have been. Understand that it is alleged by the medical people that it takes about 20 to 25 years for asbestos exposure to metastasize in humans. So, even if something in your house contained asbestos and you or your husband were exposed to it, there is no way that anyone a quarter of a century from now will be able to discern whether the asbestos either of you were exposed to came from the same source, came from driving down the highway, came from your home or a former home, or anyplace in particular because of the passage of time. All they would be able to do is make a diagnosis of asbestos exposure. So, fretting about this now is pointless and frankly, kind of foolish since it is after-the-fact and even if he, or you, have breathed it in there is no way to get it out of your lungs. It would be there to stay, period. Worrying about whether you'll ever get sick and die from asbestos exposure is kind of like worrying whether you'll ever be struck and killed by lightning or stomped on and killed by a hippopotamus. Any of us will be happy to answer any other questions about a home that we can, but re. this asbestos thing, I'm done. If none of us has managed to quell your fears, I'm sorry, but please stop beating this dead horse. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

No, as Les said, Masonite siding didn't contain any asbestos. Even if it did, so what? Are you standing around rubbing it with course sandpaper to create dust and then inhaling it? No. It's painted. Even if it were the old asbestos-cement siding, it's no threat to you after it's painted UNLESS you do something to it to create dust, like sand it. Nobody tests for asbestos on site, especially when it involves stuff they have no reason to suspect contains asbestos. Jeez, I'm sorry to be so blunt, but get this f*****g idea that you're in danger of asbestosis poisoning out of your head. The stuff is and has been around us 24/7/365 for decades and one hardly hears about anyone getting cancer or mesothelioma from it because the numbers of people that actually do are so small. Even then, it's mostly people who had been exposed to large amounts of the stuff every day for many years because they worked with it or around it and breathed that dust in constantly. I don't go around worrying every day whether I'll come down with MS, but if I do I don't think there will have been anything I could have done to stop it, it just happens. Every time you drive down the interstate there are most-probably microscopic asbestos particles flowing through the air that passes into and out of the interior of your car, because asbestos was used in brakes and as one applies their brakes the friction causes the pads or shoes to wear and be reduced to dust that is deposited along the highway. EVERYONE driving down that highway is exposed to it. Now that you know that what are you going to do, wear a space suit with a contained and filtered breathing apparatus whenever you drive? No, you won't because you realize that would be pointless. If you visit a friend that lives in an old house and he or she has a forced hot air heating system and tells you all of the asbestos sealing the outside of the heating ducts has been abated, take that with a grain of salt because, yes, they might abate the asbestos on the outside of the system but not realize that the frayed tape on the inside of the ducts which is sealing the joints contains asbestos. Do you see now what I'm talking about? I once spotted that frayed tape inside a duct in a 1940s house I was inspecting, pointed it out to my client and recommended that, if he bought the house, that he cover it with some latex-based duct mastic so he could minimize exposure. As we moved on, about a minute after I'd explained that to him, we heard a thunk, turned, and saw that the guy's wife had passed out and fallen face first on the floor. She'd heard me tell him about the asbestos-containing duct tape and, like a ninny, had held her breath until she passed out. There is a town north of here in my own state where the ground is rife with asbestos because it's exposed on the surface in fields. If it were the bogeyman everybody thinks it is, the hospitals here would be full of people that got sick after driving up and down that interstate every day. The EPA and lawyers who're making a fortune by suing companies due to clients who've contracted mesothelioma or asbestosis, are blowing this asbestos thing out of proportion when the truth is there is no way on earth to completely eliminate one's exposure short of the silly space suit description I used above. You have a far higher likelihood of dying from a car accident or falling down the stairs than you do getting sick from minimal asbestos exposure. Stop dwelling on it and live your life worry-free. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, welcome. You came to the right place for answers. First, let's address your concerns about asbestos. It's unlikely that a home built in 1990 will be constructed with asbestos-containing products. By the 1990s, product manufacturers had known for about two decades the hazards associated with asbestos and most, wanting to avoid any lawsuits, were no longer manufacturing asbestos-containing products. For instance, asbestos-cement siding shingles that were very hard and smooth were sold for a few decades after WW2 with their fireproof characteristics emphasized. After medical researchers connected asbestos to cancer in the sixties, the EPA began limiting its use in the seventies and the formula was changed to eliminate asbestos completely. The new product is an exact match to the old asbestos-cement shingles but is safe and is sold today to people wishing to repair the asbestos-cement shingles on their homes. Asbestos is still legal today in the US, except for its use in five products, flooring felt, roll-board, commercial paper, corrugated paper and specialty paper. The EPA attempted a complete ban in 1989, but that ban was lifted in 1991. Efforts are still underway by the EPA to reinitiate a complete ban. So, it's unlikely but not impossible for the home to contain some product that has some asbestos content, but it might not even be the home, it could be another product in the home like a hand-held hairdryer made in someplace where they aren't too concerned about product safety, like China. Now, to your siding. You didn't mention whether there are any issues with it other than your concern about whether it contained asbestos. There was a Louisiana-Pacific siding product from the nineties that was very popular. The stuff is generally referred to as "L-P Siding" in the construction business. It was oriented strand board (OSB) with a thin facing bonded to it. I can't recall what the facing was, but it was mere hundreds of an inch thick - vinyl maybe(?). It came in horizontal lap siding of several patterns and 4 X 8 sheets in a T1-11 pattern. Weyerhaeuser made a similar product composed of a fine hardboard, more like MDF (medium density fiberboard). Neither product contained asbestos, but both companies experienced recalls when the product began absorbing moisture, rotted, and failed. At the time L-P's customers were awarded damages (early 1996), it was the biggest lawsuit awarded in US history. The lawsuit against Weyerhaeuser was also huge, but that came years later, and granting of the award was more rigidly limited. I guess Weyerhaeuser had better lawyers. However, unless the siding on your home is absorbing water, swelling and delaminating and/or rotting, there's no point in diving down that rabbit hole, just understand that the claims period for both lawsuits, plus the product warranties, have expired. Any chance of initiating a claim now and receiving an award are nil. L-P still makes a version (Or did the last time I looked for it) but it's different than the stuff from the nineties because it's primed on the back and made with a waxier formula in the base OSB that makes it less likely to absorb water and delaminate, and it also contains borate so it's more fungal resistant and less liable to rot. I hope we've answered all of your questions. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Umm, Maybe you've mistaken this site for a bunch of HVAC guys? This is a home inspector's site.

I called it out for years while I was still active in the gig. "If it's not installed to manufacturer specs, it's not installed to code," is what I would reply to a builder's objections, and I'd include the graphic from the Hardi installation instructions. Hope that deck is not installed on/through that Hardi and that It's anchored with proper lateral ties, not just bolts, and there are spacers allowing drainage and through flashings from above to below the ledger. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

In any event, you don't see any drainage method and it looks like that gutter was installed before the cladding was done, which means, the cladding isn't complete just behind the end of the gutter. If that is the case, and the end of the gutter overflows because it's clogged with debris, that water is going to drain into the wall cavity. Guess what happens to the wood in that wall if there is no way for the water to drain out of the wall?

That house is covered with an E.I.F.S. (Exterior Insulation and Finishing System) exterior cladding. As far as I can tell by the photos, the installer didn't observe the proper steps for installation of through-wall flashings, clearances around protrusions filled with backer rod, etc., and that gutter is supposed to terminate at least an inch from that EIFS cladding. If an EIFS wall cannot drain, it rots. Sorry to put it so bluntly but EIFS walls when not properly done are a nightmare. As an example, years ago a realtor I know asked me to come by and look at his home. The exact same thing you have was happening to his three-year old home. I scanned the front wall of his home, which was on the windward side, for moisture and my moisture meter went crazy. "That wall is soaking wet behind the stucco," I told him. "You'd better have the installer look at it." He called me up the next day. "The installer says you're out of your mind," he said. I responded, "Tell you what, I'll meet you and the instructor tomorrow afternoon at your house, and I'll show him what I'm talking about. If it turns out that I'm wrong, I'll pay for whatever repair is needed." He called me back later and said the installer had told him, "He's on. He's gonna have a nice fat bill!" At the appointed time I met them both. I got out my moisture meter and showed the contractor what I was talking about. He laughed and said, "OK, I hope you've got deep pockets," as he got a saw off his truck. He proceeded to cut a 6inch by 6inch square out of that wall. When he pulled it out, we noticed the smell even before peering in the hole. It smelled like a moldy wet basement! The interior of the wall was soaking wet - sheathing, framing, insulation. "Okay, I guess you don't need me here anymore," I said, and left. For the next six weeks that contractor worked at stripping all of that EIFS layer off that home and fixing all of the rot. It was so bad that, when they stripped the two columns flanking the front stoop, water drained out of the wall, and one could break off chunks of the framing underneath with one's bare hands. That contractor ate that entire job plus the cost of completely cutting out walls and framing and rebuilding them where they were rotten behind the EIFS. He was obligated to do that because in my state there is a ten-year structural warranty, and this incorrect installation has compromised the structural integrity of that building. Just as soon as the job was completed, that realtor put his dream home in the market and sold it. He didn't want to have anything more to do with it. Now, I'm not saying your home is like that, because I don't know for certain, but from what I'm seeing, you definitely need an experienced EIFS specialist - not the guy that did this incorrect installation, to check that out because it could be hiding a very serious issue. Get a qualified EIMA (EIFS Industry Member's Association) professional out to examine that installation. Don't dawdle, don't delay, don't pass go, do it now. Maybe one will arrive and tell you that I'm out of my mind, but I don't think so. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike