Charles

Greetings, I recall that several years ago the Flat Glass Manufacturers and code writing folks were trying to develop standards for installation and fastening of glass surrounds in showers/tubs. It is my understanding these standards never made it to the latest additions to the building codes. Comment. In my market, we are seeing larger and large walk in showers. With and without doors. Some of this glass is huge, six feet tall by eight foot in length. Might be mounted to the wall with two brackets, but none on the threshold/sill/step other than silicone. Need some help finding where in the IRC or Florida Building Code, I might find reference, to fastening requirements, and or design specifications. Thanks in advance. Charles

We like caulk and flexible flashing tape! Charles Click to Enlarge 58.45 KB

I know time has passed, but it is possible to repair a brick veneer wall from the inside when client wishes to not remove brick. Expensive and time consuming and can lead to future discover and ever increasing cost. Repairs involves supporting existing floor and roof above. Removal of exiting wall. Building a new framed wall with sheathing (ZipWall) (Huber Engineering). Fastening/anchoring per plan. Using special fasteners to tie in existing brick to new wall framing. Charles Click to Enlarge 105.9 KB Click to Enlarge 36.85 KB

We prefer even lower costs bidets. Charles Click to Enlarge 23.16 KB

Thanks for the comments. Charles

Good morning. I have a client that has a new home who is now starting to paint interior walls new paint colors. Upon painting several rooms, bubbles have occurred. It appears that the new paint activated the original builders paint at the joint compound on the drywall and bubbled/peeled due to improper preparation. Beneath the paint bubbles the joint compound was/is dusty. New home painters in production building here in Jacksonville typically spray the field and cut in with a brush; trim, casings, and ceilings. No primer is applied. Does this appear to be a correct assumption? How does the owner correct? Continue to paint, and skin coat the drywall with new joint compound, sand and prime, where bubbles appear? That's a lot of work. Any immediate solutions? Thanks is advance. Charles Click to Enlarge 16.56 KB Click to Enlarge 22.34 KB

My bet is on connecting a hose to flush out the in-ground drains of debris. Might be easier than jamming the hose down the downspout from the gutter/roof above. I know I have to flush the leafy matter out of my drains on a periodic basis. what was on the end of the hose behind the downspout (male-outlet or female-inlet end)? Charles

Good morning. Guidance please. First one I have seen. International Comfort Products. 2-1/2 Ton. Condensing unit MFD 2013. Labeled R22. Air handler MFD 2014. Labeled R410. I know that R410 systems run at a much higher pressure and use different metering devices than R22 systems and replacing an old R22 condensing unit requires an air handler replacement because of these pressure differences. But what about the opposite. Can a R410 air handler work with R22 refrigerant? I recommended that the buyer consult with an HVAC contractor to ensure proper matching and to also discuss potential warranty denials due to possible mismatch. Thoughts? Respectfully, Charles

In our area, NE Florida, we have tons of wood frame stucco homes. Many have significant water intrusion issues. Below you will find comments that we use in my company on every wood frame stucco house. I don't believe that a couple of sentences can address the risk with stucco, or at a minimum, relaying to a home buyer the limitations of our inspections. "This is a wood frame home with a hard coat stucco type finish (we are unable to determine the thickness and number of layers during a visual home inspection). It appears that the home has a mechanically attached lathing, cement base coat and either a synthetic, shell, or painted finish. Cement based stucco systems are designed to drain water if the system gets wet on the outside of the self-furring lathing and builders paper. The finish is supposed to dry to the outside (exterior) or drain down to the bottom weep screed or stucco stop. We also need to consider face sealing the finish system in certain areas to keep water out, as such it is important to keep all through the wall penetrations; windows, visible flashing, doors, hosebibbs, and electrical connections sealed against water intrusion (these are areas where the original construction flashing details cannot be seen or observed and are often behind the stucco finish system). Additionally, if cracks occur and/or if water intrusion is detected immediate corrective action is recommended. Intrusive wall examinations have not been conducted." We have recently started using the following on new construction. "ADDITIONAL STUCCO COMMENTS. Application of plaster stucco is intended to follow two specific National Standards, ASTM C926-14a and C1063-14c. While the majority of these two documents are followed there are several items that are not adhered to in our geographic area; head flashings over lower level windows on two story construction, weep provisions at second floor projections, and casing beads at penetrations and/or dissimilar materials. We cannot answer why these important details are ignored, we can only alert you that they are missing. Care is needed to ensure that you have proper rain control provisions (rain gutters and s crack free, sealed finish) and that you monitor your exterior finishes for proper performance on a routine basis." Charles

Hilti makes concrete anchors of all types. https://www.us.hilti.com/anchors Charles

Your tree stump dilemma brings back a bad/yet pleasant memory. Living in Florida we always worry about windstorms and trees. Well the inevitable happened and a large oak in my front yard broke apart and fell on my roof. Luckily no structural damage but the branches poked about seven holes in the roof deck. During the storm I was on the roof with a chain saw, wife on the ground with a flashlight while I cut and removed branches and covered the roof to minimize water damage. Well, what to do about the stump and palmetto bushes that surrounded the tree? We cut the tree stump off at the ground and cleared the palmetto fronds. And spent the next several weekends washing away the soils to get to the roots. Worked with axes, hatchets, and hand saws. Gave up. Turned to kerosene and beer. Neighbors would come by with beer and lawn chairs. Each weekend, we would burn a gallon of kerosene, drink beer, watch the fire and shoot the breeze. Too much moisture in the roots and palmetto stumps. After several weekends the thrill of the fire went away. Stump grinder to the rescue. Made easy work. No real memories though! Charles

Marine grade tung oil

Sure looks like subterranean termite treatment holes. Where is your finished floor in relationship to the holes? Charles

I don't know how many jalousie windows you have on your home but you might want to consider replacing the window and replacing the precast sill. Charles

New construction. National builder. All the vanity sinks have a 1-1/2 inch lip to the sink (four bathroom house). It certainly appears to this inspector that a lip this large is not correct. I have scoured the internet to look for a standard and cannot actually find a standard on the lip. I know that the vanity counter top fabricator should use the template provided my the basin/sink manufacturer. Opinions? Thanks in advance. Charles Click to Enlarge 20.83 KB

Living in Florida there is probably a swimming pool at every four houses. Yes we inspect them. Inspection includes barriers, visible components of the shell, liner, coping, visible piping, pressure gauge, type of filter, electrical components, timer and controls, heater (solar, gas, heat pump), lights, bubbler, and pop up sweeps. Excluded items would include automatic valves (can and will fail and anytime), automatic chlorine generators (can and will fail at anytime), leaks, in-ground/buried components. I do not see any significant risk associated with inspecting these luxury items. Its a nice add-on fee. We include the CPSC Bulletin on Pools/Entrapment. Find attached. Charles Download Attachment: PoolSafety.pdf 703.06 KB

How is this for big water? And a little pool. From the Atlantic coast in North Florida. Charles Click to Enlarge 64.43 KB

Good morning, I have two clients who have recently called me after discovering; 1-damaged/moisture logged wall base, 2-damaged, water logged engineered hardwood flooring, beneath their windows. House number 1 was built in 1994, wood frame, plaster stucco. On this home the plaster stucco runs to grade. No rain gutters. House number 2 was built in 2002, wood frame, plaster stucco. Stucco terminate with a weep screed. No rain gutters. At the time of the inspections, no visible signs of failure were observed. At this time our clients are not faulting us but are looking for solutions (but certainly could in future). Based on our history in Jacksonville and the age of the homes, in both cases, the homes will simply have the windows inserted into the wood framing, and nailed to the face of the oriented strand board wall sheathing using the nailing flange/fin. One layer of felt back lathing. No secondary weather barrier. No window flashing (flexible or other). No head flashing, either. We have had several significant weather events in July/August, two tropical storms, and several stalled fronts, that have dumped inches of water at a time. The bulk water has finally found a way into the homes. I know that the only solution is to cut back the plaster stucco, remove the windows, repair the rot, and reassemble with appropriate weather barriers, flashing, etc., which we will do. Now, the question(s). The common denominator in both houses is the brand of windows. They are builder grade General Aluminum windows. I have not discovered anything specific regarding any claims against this window manufacturer. I suspect that the sealants have failed at the sill to jamb intersection. I cant prove it yet as we have not disassembled the wall sections yes. We do plan on documenting what we find when we get there. Any information regarding General Aluminum Windows would be helpful. Additionally, and based on my recent experience, I am wondering if I should make specific comments in any future reports, regarding the potential failure of this specific brand of windows. That's an awfully large number of homes in our areas. Many of the national builders were using these windows. Thanks in advance. Charles

Now come on guys! North Florida is a beautiful place to live and work! Sure we have swamps and alligators but we also have miles and miles of white sandy beaches, moderate temperatures (today its 66F with a low of 55F) and more golf courses in one city than you could imagine. In North Florida we rarely see CMU construction. Its almost all wood frame with a smattering of block homes and those usually date to the 50s. We have a mixed climate here and block homes offer some unique challenges as moisture can accumulate inside the block cells in such volume that floors and wall bases can get wet. The block cells can also be a wonderful habitat for palmetto bugs (our wonderful flying cockroaches). In the case I described in my original post the condo was wood frame on slab. Have a great day inspecting. Charles

Thanks for the comments. The condo unit was located over eight miles from the beach. The unit faced due West. The corner bead at the windows was metal. The corner bead at the remainder of the interior walls was rounded vinyl. Usually when we have wind driven rain or poorly flashed windows we will also see moisture damage to the drywall at the window returns and moisture damaged to the sills. In this case there was evidence of moisture at the window head at two of the eight windows and no damage to the drywall. Moisture readings were inconclusive. And yes, my olfactory senses alerted me on this unit. Again, thanks for the feedback. Charles

Good morning, Also Posted at the ASHI Forum. I recently inspected a small condominium. It was approximately 8-10 years old. It is a first floor unit in a two story building. Siding was concrete fiber lapped. Building had wood trim that was extensively decayed. A weather barrier was observed (some form of house wrap). Discovery: the metal corner beads at all the exterior windows showed some pretty good corrosion. See picture. And to be honest I can?t recall ever commenting on corner bead corrosion on the interior of a home/building before. Before I continue some will say that Charles has gone off the deep end of the pool and has hit his head, but here goes, I have developed what I believe to be an acute sense of smell or I have become super sensitive to certain odors related to moisture and wood decay. I will get a slight headache in the frontal lobe of my brain and my eyes will burn. Whenever I get these symptoms I have always found a wet wall of significance and related decay. Now mind you, I have told my clients before about this keen olfactory sense, but only as simple banter, and have never used this ?skill? as a reason to report anything, however, back to the condo unit. I kept mentally going back to the corroded corner beads at the windows. The interior of the unit had rounded corners which are vinyl. Why would the corner beads be corroded at the windows? The unit has not been recently repainted but certainly wasn?t 10 year old paint. Carpeting was several years old based on wear patterns and where I pulled back the carpet the carpet tacks were clean and unstained. Why corroded corner beads in an apparently clean unit? I went back to the bathrooms and the kitchen. I noticed in one of the bathrooms some very subtle stains on the ? round behind the toilet and missing ? round in a linen closet. And upon closer examination of a wall I observed a subtle sheet rock repair on the backside of the wall to the tub/shower. I suspect that this unit had a water related claim from a plumbing leak. The potential long term high relative humidity in the unit led to the corroded corner beads at the window. In the verbal wrap-up to my inspection I told my client to ask his Insurance agent to get a CLUE Report. (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) a claims history database created by ChoicePoint that enables insurance companies to access consumer claims information when they are underwriting or rating an insurance policy to see if this unit had a water claim in the past. I also recommended that the conduct an air analysis to see if there is any contaminants in the air. I don?t want this to go off into a mold is gold debate. You should know that I am not a proponent of testing for the sake of testing and do not recommend testing, even when visible mold is present. I believe in the stop the moisture and clean it up as my personal philosophy. However? Constructive criticism please. Have I gone too far? Charles Edited in Word. Posted via Mozilla FireFox. A apologize in advance if this post appears as one giant paragraph. Click to Enlarge 30.07 KB

Good morning. On yesterdays inspection I discovered a home where the small label on the outside edge of the breakers were "fuzzy". I cant imagine why this would occur other than maybe moisture. Thoughts. Thanks in advance. Charles Click to Enlarge 96.47 KB

Good morning, Inspected a large foreclosed home yesterday that had an interesting range hood. The builder used components from a Thermador range hood. Blower is on the roof. Cook top is a four burner GE Profile with griddle. Problem: exposed framing in the site built hood. There certainly appears to be a problem associated with the builder using components and not the full hood as well as heat/potential of grease fire and the exposed framing. My advice to the client is get a listed hood and install all required components. Comments please. Charles Click to Enlarge 56.23 KB

I wear Ariat Electrical Hazard (EM) work boots (cowboy style boot). Great slip resistant rubber sole. I get some unusual looks when walking roof tops wearing my cowboy boots!! Charles

Good afternoon. Posted same over on ASHI Forum but am interested to hear this groups opinion. Home was built is 2000-2001. Wood frame structure with plaster stucco wall cladding. Main distribution system is located at garage. No on site chemical storage. No swimming pool. What could be the cause of the black patina on the expose copper in the main distribution center? Thanks in advance. Charles Gifford Click to Enlarge 89.09 KB