Seattle Home Inspection Newsletter

I always tell our clients that are buying an older home it is. 

The company you hire is very important. Don't hire the companies that also repair sewers.  At $5000 to $25,000 for a major repair, it is cheap insurance.  Ask if they pull toilets if necessary.

We were on an inspection yesterday and the scoping company would not pull a toilet, and could not get his camera all the way to the street sewer. The customer paid $250 (too much) for marginal service and still has no idea if the sewer is okay. 

If you need a referral for a quality company, give us a call, we work with them all the time.

Some tips to be looking for are:

1)Sewer snakes, root growth inhibitors, and excesive drain cleaners. 

2) If there is a sewer cleanout and the cap is different from the rest of the plumbing, (ie a rubber expansion plug in a cast iron drain) instead of the original brass cap, there had likely been work done on the sewer lines.

3)Look for stains at the floor drains in basements, foul odors, and tags from a sewer cleaning companies.

4)Sinkholes in the yard and movement of the soils, especially for steeply sloped lots. 

We recently got a note from a client after they had a sewer check after we recommended it.  This home was 100 years old and they had 4 bottles of drain cleaners in the basement. He said, "We used (a recommended vendor) per your recommendation (and suspicion during the inspection). It revealed a ~$1,500+ issue that could have turned worse down the road, so it was $195 well spent."

If you find this information useful, don't keep us a secret!
List us on any of your favorite networking / bookmarking sites

Does your home have LP siding? 

Be sure to check for any damage, diligently caulk and paint it.  Keep shrubs, trees and plants a minimum of one foot from the siding, keep sprinklers away, maintain gutters and downspouts.  See our tip sheet for more information on recognizing LP and maintenance tips. http://hipspro.com/pubs/TRIFOLD_LP-siding.pdf

If you find this information useful, don't keep us a secret!
List us on any of your favorite networking / bookmarking sites

If you have a freestanding range, be sure it can't tip over. 

Old ranges weighed so much they were hard to knock over,  but even a very young toddler can knock over a modern one.  Half of all fatal accidents involved kids less then 2!

http://www.cpsc.gov/volstd/ranges/ranges.html

206-295-4330

If you find this information useful, don't keep us a secret!
List us on any of your favorite networking / bookmarking sites

We found this under a sink last recently. This is a basement kitchen that is below the sewer for the home and they have installed a sanitary pump to push the waste water up to the sewer line. It STUNK, literally! 

It was allowing sewer gases to escape under the kitchen cabinet. These tanks must be vented to work properly. As water enters the pump basin, there must be a way for air to be displaced. A proper installation would have had this vent pipe go up the wall and exiting through the roof. They had a Studor valve sitting next to the pump. These devices are one-way valves that allow air in but do not allow for sewer gas to escape. In this example, it is not good idea, since as the basin fills with waste water, the air must escape, and as the pump empties it, air must enter the basin.

If you find this information useful, don't keep us a secret!
List us on any of your favorite networking / bookmarking sites

Spring is here and we found our first carpenter ants of the season yesterday. Everyone in western Washington should know how to recognize these destructive pests. They cause more damage to homes then any other insect in our area. 

If you find anything like these, call us and we will positively identify them for you . We will pass along advice to avoid them and keep them under control. BTW, don't bother fighting them yourself, you can't buy the recommended pesticide to control them without a license.

Other tips to recognize them, They almost never walk side-by-side, almost always in single file, and not head to tail, but about 1 foot apart. Their favorite food is other insects so look for them to be returning to your home with aphids or other small insects in their jaws. If you find these and want advice call us, no charge. 206-295-4330

The best treatment is called Termidor,  a very strictly regulated chemical, only a professional with a license can buy it, and by law, it can only be used 2 times a year on any given home.  If you have a serious infestation, they also may use a wall injection along with the Termidor perimeter spray. We have recommendations for local pest control officers that will help you with controlling these destructive critters.  If you want a their number give us a call.

Read more about these carpenter ants here:

If you find this information useful, don't keep us a secret!
List us on any of your favorite networking / bookmarking sites

We found this in a home in West Seattle yesterday. The furnace and hot water heater shared the same closet. The furnaces cold air return was broken, and sucking air out of the small space pulling the exhaust out of the burner chamber under this hot water heater.

The sheet metal is loose on the joists that make up this furnaces cold air return. Not only causing the hot water to backdraft, but very efficiently distributing these potentially lethal gasses throughout the home. This hot water heater has exhaust rollout. If your water heater has these stains please have it checked out.

What makes this so dangerous is that the exhaust gasses from this water heater are getting circulated throughout the home by the furnace! I repeat, EVERYONE with gas appliances, attached garages or in multifamily MUST HAVE CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS. What you can't smell can kill you!

Read more on backdrafting at our website.

If you find this information useful, don't keep us a secret!
List us on any of your favorite networking / bookmarking sites

A "GFCI" is a ground fault circuit interrupter. These are inexpensive outlets when they are PROPERLY installed prevent over 200 electrocutions each year. The problem is we find them wired incorrectly several times a week.

The 'TEST" button is confusing if they are installed wrong. Today, I found one with the positive and negative connections backwards, (the test button still works) and more commonly we find them connected without a ground especially in older homes (again the test button still works). While it is technically legal to install without a ground, most electricians prefer not to install a grounded-type "three prong" outlet in an ungrounded situation. Once the outlet is installed, there is no way for anyone to know if the outlet is really grounded or not without testing it. There is a hidden shock hazard should an appliance or tool that needs grounding is plugged into this outlet.

We recommend that you buy a cheap tester like we have, without it, you have no way to assure it is properly installed. Read more about the importance of GFCIs here

You can find these testers at your local hardware store on online for less the $10

If you find this information useful, don't keep us a secret!
List us on any of your favorite networking / bookmarking sites

Though a GFI will activate if a grounded appliance develops an electrical short circuit to ground... such as when YOU touch a metal saw and become the path to ground... you will experience a momentary electrical shock.  This could be a minor tingle or could be  more catastrophic, especially if you are on a ladder or roof.  This excerpt is from an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) article on wiring in nursing homes and the dangers to employees working with ungrounded outlets...

"The ground-fault circuit interrupter, on the other hand, is a fast-acting device which senses small current leakage to ground and, in a fraction of a second, shuts off the electricity and interrupts its faulty flow to ground. The rapid response of the GFCI is fast enough to prevent electrocution and this protection is independent of the condition of the grounding conductor.

A GFCI can prevent an electrocution; however, it cannot by itself prevent an initial electric shock to an employee before it interrupts the circuit. This initial shock could lead to injuries of an indirect or secondary nature in which involuntary muscular reaction could cause bruises, bone fractures, and even death resulting from collisions or falls. Therefore, GFCIs are in addition to, and not in lieu of, equipment grounding conductor requirements."

(Here is a link to the complete article: 

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=13346 )

Are there any situations where a GFI will not protect me from a dangerous shock?

GFI's are not effective in certain circumstances.  As mentioned earlier, they work by measuring the difference between the electrical current going INTO an appliance and the current going OUT of the appliance.  This assumes that the person being shocked is grounded.   If you were ungrounded and touched the hot and neutral wires at the same time, there would be no drop in current detected, so the GFI would not activate.  Then, you would be at the mercy of the fuses or circuit breakers, which may or may not stop the current before its too late!  

A second situation where a GFI will not protect you is when a second, unprotected circuit is involved in an accident.  This can happen when a wire is accidentally drilled into or a metal screw penetrates a wire hidden in the wall.  Unless this second circuit is also protected, you are at full risk of electrocution, even if the tool itself is on a protected circuit!

Source: http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infelectrical/infgfi.html#7