Brandon Whitmore

Chad, See below Gary, The cans are non- IC rated.

This is from my morning inspection. There are 700 square feet on the main floor and there are 17 can lights installed. 16 of those can lights are above the kitchen and bathroom-I believe there was a sale somewhere. There are only 2 total roof vents for the attic, and no soffit vents (aluminum shingle roof as current layer). The good news is that it did not take a flashlight to inspect the attic. Any ideas on how to insulate/ seal this mess? The R- value of the insulation is only between R-0 and R- 11, and the gas furnace was installed around 1974 (energy). Image Insert: 4.9 KB

Randy, It looks like it may only be enclosed on 2 sides from the pic....... or the car drove in sideways

Sorry about the semi- thread drift-- Did you all see the link at the bottom of that page. Do it yourself home inspections-- use the same CHECKLIST'S the pro's use. They can't be serious---I read the sample section of the report and got confused trying to figure out what they were talking about-- good luck non professionals. I am sure some Realtors would love for their home buyers to inspect their own homes.

I ran into a new furnace in a high rise condo today. Has anyone else ran into these units? Any known problems with them? Any other info. would be helpful -- thanks. http://www.enviro-tec.com/pdf/catalog/vh-catalog.pdf

Alrighty, I am glad I posted the question, but it did me no good on this home. I have no idea how they came up with the fact that there was originally a stucco siding material. It was a side over, but it was a single layer of cedar shingle siding installed over the original 2 layer cedar shingle siding. The siding installer installed a lath strip along the original siding, and installed a single layer of cedar shingles over the existing siding. The installation looked terrible, and I am unsure how they were able to slide the new siding behind the existing siding. Always something new.

Thanks guys. I am expecting a rain screen installation, but will let you know what I find.

I am wondering if they secured lath strips to the home with screws on the studs and then nailed to the lath strips-- guess I will find out. I am thinking it would be a good idea to have a felt/ building paper installed on top of the stucco. Always something new to learn......

I have a 1920's house coming up that has some type of cedar siding installed over the original stucco . (per architect purchasing the home). I am curious as to the installation details I will need to look for with this type of application. Should there be a WRB installed over the stucco? What are acceptable fastening methods, etc. ? Thanks in advance

I just finished inspecting a 6 plex condo conversion. The building was built in 1978. The siding is an aluminum siding that originally had the metal J channel around the windows. The contractor has cut out the J channel and installed retro- fit windows with no nailing flange (screws are visible at the interior jamb areas of window frames). The contractor omitted the drip cap/ Z flashing above the windows as well. The windows are the vinyl windows that are designed to allow for vinyl siding without J channel. My concern is that since the window flange is retro fit and there is no way there is any flahing behind the siding that water will seep into the house wall as soon as any of the caulk sealant fails. The window manufacturer is Milguard if that helps, and I am unsure of the siding manufacturer. I am writing this up as a poor installation of materials that will likely lead to future leakage, but I am hoping someone has documentation(or can push me in the right location) to back up what I am putting in writing. I know the developer is not going to be happy that I called this out. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am supposed to be leaving for vacation and can't leave until I get my report completed (girlfriend breathing down my neck).

Thanks for the reply Dave, I did not look at my code check on this one since the instructions were there-- thanks for the info.

(Yes, I did point out that the window over this vent didn't meet the 4' below or to the side clearance requirements) I inspected a high efficiency furnace (category IV) today and the installation instructions only indicated the need for a 1' clearance to an operable window in the US and 2' clearance in Canada-- am I missing something?

They only pressure washed the interior of the foundation and sealed the interior. The customer told me they explained to them that this sealant method was in essence like sealing a boat and that water could not get through. They did not put this in writing because I required that the homeowner send me all information (bids, invoices, etc. ) prior to writing up my report. I have never heard of sealing or repairing a boat from the inside to stop a leak. Even more ridiculous is the fact that right in the bid/ invoice they stated that they only treated the above grade portion of concrete on the exterior-- what the heck good is that? No effort whatsoever to stop any of the water-- go figure that the water is still seeping through any time it rains. Frost heave is not an issue here that I have seen or heard of. It barely gets below freezing for a 24 hour period more than one day a year on the West half of the state. I prefer to sleep well at night. Thanks guys.

I have a client who was having moisture issues in their basement. They hired a foundation waterproofing company to make necessary repairs to prevent future drainage/ moisture intrusion issues. The company told my clients that spraying the foundation with a silicone based sealant (2 coats) would prevent future water intrusion through the foundation, and that the sealant would penetrate up to 8'' into the concrete. The cost of installing the primer, silicon sealant, and prep work--- $10,000. As soon as the seasonal rains hit, water started seeping back in through the foundation. The company came back out 2 more times to re- seal the foundation in areas where water was seeping in. My clients finally got tired of having the company come back out to re- repair the foundation, and decided to get a separate professional opinion. The entire driveway is channeling water onto the ground against the foundation at the back and corner of the home. I ran a garden hose in the area to prove this to them. 1)Has anyone seen penetrating silicone sealant actually work to prevent water intrusion through a foundation? 2)Shouldn't waterproofing companies spend the time to figure out WHY water is seeping through a foundation before selling unnecessary repairs? For the price of the waterproofing repairs, they could have had a new driveway that would have prevented the moisture issues. They now have to pour a new driveway anyways.

I know I have a lot of learning to do when it comes to my writing-- it has been my worst subject since middle school. Please feel free to nail me on errors in any of my posts. Just keep in mind you will probably have to beat it into my head.

Bonnie, Thank you for the example. I have not read your book , and it has been years since I have taken a technical writing course (back in college). One of these days when I am done reading all the manufacturers installation requirements, code books, etc. I would love to sit down and take your class. Some home inspectors actually need sleep. I am not sure how Mike, Jim, and the others manage to get by on as little sleep as they do. I'm pretty sure there is more than one of each of them. Thanks again

I will not completely disagree with you on this one. Using passive voice in my example just makes sense to me. If I see something that does need repaired you will not see the passive voice come out. Any help with changing the wording in my post would be appreciated.

I will often put things in my report that are questionable, but then qualify it with the fact that it should be ok only in that specific circumstance. For example: Drip cap flashing is recommended along the top horizontal ledges of all window trims. Flashing was omitted at the upper level windows. I am not concerned with the lack of flashing at these windows since there is an eave overhang that will protect the upper level windows. I do not typically write the above paragraph-- it is just what came to mind. The reason I put this stuff in the report is that I do not want an inspector coming in behind me saying flashing is required and should have been installed. Maybe I am wrong in doing this.

It does make sense, but I was not about to mess with the wiring to try and find out (insulation completely melted away with bare conductors, etc). The neutral (white insulation) was on the proper side of the outlet,but I did not check to see if it was hot. It looked so scary that I can not believe that someone would have just covered it back up. Maybe they installed the wiring, put the cover plate back on and then turned on the breaker and never realized what happened. Could the bootleg ground wire have melted, thus preventing further issues?

My morning house was a 1950s home. The 3 prong outlets in the home said everything was grounded properly so I started pulling cover plates. The ground screws were loosened up enough to contact the metal junction boxes showing a false ground on my tester-- been seeing this quite a bit. Luckily I pulled the right one in the kitchen (or there could be more). There was a bootleg groud run from the grounding screw to the neutral screw. The white insulation on the grounding area and throughout the J- box was melted and heavily singed. The back side of the outlet cover plate had burn marks as well. I was really tempted to pull the outlet and get some good pics, but resisted temptation and put the cover plate back on after showing the buyer and Realtor who happened to be a building super (made explanation easy). Has anyone else seen anything like this on bootleg grounds?

Does anyone else use the ice cube trick to check for a broken seal in a window that is questionable? (push cube against the window and hold for 15 seconds or so- dry the exterior of the glass and if there is a ice cube/ moisture mark between the glass it has a broken seal). Does anyone else have other methods?

I can pull a code reference if you want, but I believe the wording is that flashing should be provided where dissimilar siding materials meet. My opinion is that this should qualify as a point where dissimilar siding materials meet.

When I see something that may contain asbestos, I just make a mention of the fact that it may contain asbestos , which is considered a health hazard. If they are concerned with it they should have it tested etc.

Just thought some may like to read this info. http://www.parex.com/pdf/stuccoma.pdf

I must be real hard of these dang contraptions............ on my 7th computer in 5 years and have had 5 crashes in the field. The last one my hard drive crashed completely and I had to pay someone to recover data