common problems

[John Dirks Jr]

What is the most common problem you write up in the following categories? If you keep a pre written comment on hand for editing, what is the comment?

I realize that replying to this question could be time consuming. Reply in part only if you want.

Here are the categories;

Site

Foundation/Structure

Exterior

Roof/Gutters/Flashings

Attic/Attic Structure

Garage/Carport

Electrical

Plumbing

HVAC

Interior

[Chad Fabry]

Country: USA

Posts: 1151

Currently offline offline

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[#1] Posted: Aug 15 2008 - 05:01:49 AM Reply with Quote

What is the most common problem you write up in the following categories? If you keep a pre written comment on hand for editing, what is the comment?

I realize that replying to this question could be time consuming. Reply in part only if you want.

Here are the categories;

Site-house is the lowest point for 40 square miles

Foundation/Structure-column to beam attachment, column material

Exterior-flashing details or distinct lack thereof...followed closely by abysmal deck building practices.

Roof/Gutters/Flashings -Roof improperly installed, nailed too high, surface nailed, nailed through flashings. Gutters poorly attached and or clogged

Attic/Attic Structure- mold/rot/wet issues from condensation. Cut trusses, underbuilt, rafter spread

Garage/Carport-electrical issues abound in the garage, firewall issues, failed or failing cable to door attachments

Electrical- poor workmanship, no workmanship, grounding/ bonding issues

Plumbing- poorly supported, improper use of materials for dwv

HVAC-venting issues and wiring issues

Interior- cheesy doors poorly installed, windows hard or impossible to operate

[Darren]

John,

I’ll stick to one component, the deck/entry systems. These are the areas I find the most problems, safety issues.

1) Deck not properly attached

a. No bolts

b. No flashing

c. Connected thru the siding

d. Hangers missing

e. Hangers rusted

f. Hangers missing nails, rusted nails or screwed

2) Deck does not have complete load path

a. Posts not anchored to footing or to beam

b. Joists are not properly secured to the beam

c. Cantilever section exceeds maximum

d. Footings too small

e. Eccentric loading of the footings

3) Stair are hazard

a. Uneven riser heights

b. Open risers

c. Step to walk/ground exceeds max height (in NJ that’s 8 ¼ inches)

d. Treads are loose, pulled apart from stringers

e. Not properly connected to deck

f. Entire stair system is shaky

4) Rails are a hazard

a. Not graspable (a 2x is not a graspable rail)

b. Loose

c. Baluster spacing/broken balusters

d. Ladder affect

And don’t forget the overall wood rot or the masonry landing that is sloped back towards the house. The main beam that is spliced without any type of supports under the splice.

[John Dirks Jr]

I’ve been wackin the moles for a year now. Certain ones pop up more frequently than others. I still want to do narrative reporting, that’s for sure. I’m just trying to speed things up a bit by having hammers right over top of those holes, ready and waiting.

I’m building my most common comments into my template. I know I’ll need to edit them a bit each time. Sometimes I’ll have to dump them all together. That will take less time than having to retrieve them the 8 out of 10 times they’re needed.

[Chris Bernhardt]

What is the most common problem you write up in the following categories? If you keep a pre written comment on hand for editing, what is the comment?

It's like Walter says. Today maybe you will decide ten things are common, next year a hundred, five years a thousand, etc.

I would imagine to an old fart like Les that 99% of what he sees is common.

Chris, Oregon

[Scottpat]

Just about every inspection I do, I end up making a new boilerplate or comment that I store for what I think might be "Future" use. With all that I have stored, I should be good until the year 2025!

A few years back when I did a great number of inspections in the same subdivisions on homes built by the same three builders, I did have a list of common problems. Before I even pulled up to the home I could have about two thirds of the report already written! Keep in mind that when these builders finished building a home that had maybe a few bricks and a half of sheet of OSB left. They built the same few floor plans over and over and over and had it down to a science.

[randynavarro]

Yup. Auto-text entries are dying a long, slow death in my world - unfortunately.

Even the same things I see time and time again are always just a bit different than the auto-text comment states. I have to modify it anyway. It takes equally as long to type it rather than enter, cursor over the incorrect parts, and re-type.

[Les]

We use very little boiler. Life is too short to say and see the same thing everyday!

I got a wild hair a few years ago and insisted that every inspector write a blurb about smoke/fire alarms/detectors. Lasted abt a minute and a half. THEY (and me) couldn't really report anything without wasting a bunch of time - so now we sometimes write or tell folks to check or change them.