CheckItOut

Anyone know how to tell if a water heater is adequately sized for an Apollo system and square footage? House is 1445' and the model number on the exchanger is 30 AHW 38. The gas water heater is 40 gals. Reason I ask is the temp inside was about 55 degrees and I cut it up to 70. I also started the dishwasher around this time. 30 min later I checked the output at the registers and found 78 degrees. I shut the system off for 30 min, tried again and got about 100. The water temp at the sink was 115. Seems like the water tank size is too small since it could not keep up initially. Thanks!

No landing. Picture a walkway leading up to a front door. There is one poured block, then you step into the foyer. If you removed the block, you'd have a 18" drop from the font door to the walkway.

True. Had not thought about it that way.

This house had one step at the front door. The step was a solid poured concrete block adjoining the house. Height fine on this. However, stepping up into the threshold at the door from the block step was about 10.5". Best I can figure the code book, it discusses specifics with stairs but this is just one step. Same rules apply right or is there a loop hole?

Saw in a sub panel today: hot wire from breaker leading to a wire nut. Then two wires going from wire nut then exiting panel. This is like double-lugging a breaker, only sneakier. Any suggestions on what to say? Overloaded, spliced circuit? I also found about a half-dozen splices with wire nuts in there.

I wonder if this is a safety issue or not... just curious. Another home inspector told me that if a gas range burner flame goes out when the knob is anywhere but off, gas is still coming out. If gas were coming out, that would be a problem. However, if you light the burner, then turn the control knob down to low and the flame goes out, does that not mean that the lack of gas put the flame out? Thereby no gas leak.

Thanks. Yes, this one had no other form of insulation. Wonder if the house was built to grow a lot of weed? On a similar note, my friend's sister stuffed foil in her light sockets so that aliens could not see her.

I inspected a 1963 house today and the attic had foil like sheets that went between the rafters on the back of the roof and against the framing of the interior walls. Is this some sort of reflective insulation? I'm sure it is pretty much dysfunctional but any info would be appreciated.

Do you know if there is a requirement for newer houses to have a separate water supply cut off valve, or line for that matter, for the dishwasher? Older houses just have the supply hooked up at the sink supply line but some new homes have a separate valve. If a requirement, do you know when this was?

Thanks. 1/16" is a lot IMO...

A board cups when its bottom is wetter than its top. Was this floor over a crawlspace and was the crawlspace wet? Where you put the recommendation is up to you. - Jim Katen The crawl space was fairly dry with damp soil around the perimeter in a few spots. Slight efflorescence in a few areas. Flat lot with no gutters and two covered porches with wooden floors that were open to the crawl space - more moisture. Insulation was fine but the house is only a few years old and we've had an extremely dry year.

In inspected a home today that had fairly wide hardwoods (maybe 4") and they were slightly cupped. I attempted to measure how deep the cup was and figured about 1/32". This seems minor but I don't know if it will get worse or if a moisture barrier was installed under them. We've had a very dry (drought) summer but still have humidity as usual in NC. Should this go on the summary or just the body of the report?

Sorry, no pics. This is just below the threshold plate (aluminum in this case).

Inspected a 2004 house that did not have kickplates on the exterior doors. Threshold plate had a void about 2" deep (going back toward the house). All doors were covered by porch roofs. So would you put this on the summary and call it a trip hazard or just say they are supposed to be there in general?

The CPSC said the white is subject to recall as well for horizontal thru-the-wall systems. Their ph # is: 800 758 3688.

No, it was not a high efficiency and it specifically said "ultravent" but my literature says the gray and black ultravent is the problem prone recalled stuff. I think I'll call the # on the CSP sheet.

I found some ultravent exhaust pipe on a furnace today and my literature says the black and grey is the recalled pipe. This pipe was white. It the white okay? Thanks!

Gaps are present. Yes, it has a roof. However, when I see these, there are grooves in the soil due to water dripping from the slats. We have front doors that are 4 or 6' back under a covered porch and they get wet from blowing rain. One of the houses I inspected lately had this set up with a vapor barrier and the soil slanted toward the rear of the house. There were nice puddles on the plastic from the front to about the middle where a drain was located. Diverting water into the c space is not a bright idea (that is another issue though).

Most of the receptacles in the 1962 house I inspected today were not grounded. Only two wires going to the one recept that I pulled a cover off of. Certain rooms were had grounds but most did not. All rooms had 3 hole recepts - obviously not correct for the non-grounded rooms. What year were grounded recepts required?

So, what is the discoloration? Type of fungus?

I have found several new homes lately that have wooden front porches that are open to the crawl space. I know this was common on older homes but is making a comeback here. Space between the planks gives a nice path for water to enter the crawl space. Personally, I would not want a situation like this on a house I own. However, what do you tell folks when you see this? The fist one I inspected had a drain running from the front porch area to somewhere and water was on top of the vapor barrier. That was easy to mention. But what do you say when you don't see an obvious issue other than the general setup? I'm inclined to just mention that a potential moisture source exists but I am sure that people will then ask what to do. Thanks for any input

P? I have been filling sinks and seeing if water will overflow or if the secondary/overflow drain will keep up. This would depend on GPH and vary house to house so I don't know if I am being unrealistic or not. Some are obviously blocked, some are working but the sink will still overflow. What do you guys do? Thanks a lot!!!

Thanks. Wish I could attach a pic but the file size is way too big and I no longer have a jpg shrinkage program...

See it all the time on wood framing members in crawl spaces. The house I inspected today had a good bit thicker and more continuous brown fungus on a good bit of the joists. Question is, I know when the wood is damp, the fungus will or will help degrade the wood. But what happens if the moisture problem in the crawl space was addressed and the wood actually dried out. Does the fungus still "attack" or does it need that approx. 20% moisture level? Thanks

Furnace is located in crawl space and is connected to the evaporator box. Paint has been heated or burned off on some spots at the flue connection. Area is rusted now. I was going to recommend an eval by a mechanical contractor due to the potential of an exhaust leak. I've never seen this before so I thought I'd see what you guys thought.