Michael's View: April 2008

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Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector

Complete Home Inspections, Inc.

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618 Split Rail Drive, Brentwood, TN, 37027

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(615) 661-0297

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(615) 473-8803
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Photo of the Day

Home inspectors are not just a pretty face in the crowd. They really have to know their craft especially when it comes to new homes and framing inspections. As part of the services we offer for our clients, framing inspections are imperative since far too often, major framing faults and structural failures are hidden forever by drywall.

While conducting a framing inspection for one of my clients in the Brentwood, TN area, I came across this framing fault, which by all intents and purposes, is a failure within the structure waiting to happen. Keep in mind that all structural loads within the property MUST be properly transmitted to the earth. If not, a structural failure is imminent.

I know that this is a little technical, but GOOD home inspectors MUST understand loading and weight transfers. The green arrows indicate horizontal loads imposed upon beams and girders. These loads must be transferred to the vertical supports which are the red arrows. These arrows are the loads which must be transferred to earth for proper stability of the home. In this picture we have a structural failure waiting to happen as the blue arrows indicate improper transfer of the attic and environmental loads to the girder below. This can be easily corrected by adding additional blocking equal to the size of the column above to the girder below. The scary thing is that “the codes department” gave the green light for construction to resume. This is one of several pictures that I have of this property which I will post in subsequent posts as to why this Egg McMansion is a structural failure waiting for a place to happen.

I know that this is a slow economy for many real estate agents, and I totally understand that as real estate agents you do not want a “pesky, pain-in-the-ass” home inspector causing problems for your deal as your pay check rides on the consummation of the transaction. But, had this not been caught now, the home owner would have had to have spent thousands correcting this problem down the road.

7 comments • Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector • April 28 2008 04:49PM

Running Out of Hot Water? This May Be Why . . .

It seems as if here lately I have been running into many 40 gallon electric water heaters in my inspections, especially in new construction and rehabs. Depending upon the application, I write these up as being improperly sized. Here’s why.

The selection of a particular type hot water supply system for a house is determined by several factors including the utility connections available, utility rates, hot water demand, and builder or owner preference.

There are several methods used to calculate the hot water demand, each possibly giving different results. No one single method is a perfect indicator of the actual hot water needs. Actual demand can vary widely depending on the particular house and occupancy. The number of people living in a house, occupant ages, lifestyles, work schedules, and the number of appliances using hot water are all factors that can significantly affect water usage.

Most households use the highest volume of hot water during two peak periods every day. These peak periods are when the heaviest water draw from the hot water supply system will occur, and ultimately dictates the capacity requirements of the system in most cases. The common peak period for most households occurs in a two-hour period between 6:00 - 9:00 am or 5:00 - 8:00 pm each day. Regardless of the adequacy of a water heating system during off-peak periods, inadequate hot water during peak periods will lead most people to believe that there is a hot water supply or capacity problem.

Keep in mind too that not all water heaters are made equal. Nor, are all households the same. Hence, the specific water usage patterns and water heater design and capacity specifications must be considered to determine what water heating system will be most appropriate for any particular situation. If you are running out of hot water at various times of the day, you may need to have to change your life style or have a specialist in the appropriate trade further evaluate the size of your water heating system.

I have attached the following guide to give a reference for selecting the appropriately sized water heater based on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. I hope that this helps.

Below are links to other sites or articles that I have written:

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Photo of the Day

Tennessee Highways and Byways

4 comments • Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector • April 28 2008 04:31AM

Earth Day - Should It Only Be for One Day a Year?

This week, Active Rain was all abuzz with postings about Earth Day as there must have been at least 2 zillion posts about it. And, I think that is great because we only have one planet, and once this one gets screwed up, there ain't no going to another. Being good stewards does not follow political lines, it follows what is in your heart. What can I do today to save some of the Earth's remaining precious resources for my children and grandchildren? Every little bit helps, whether it is recycling old cell phones, computers, or handing out "green" reusable grocery bags.

As the price of gasoline keeps going through the roof, ($3.559 average here) conservation of this finite commodity becomes more and more important. I have found that slowing down from 70-75 to 65 mph on the interstate, driving the speed limit or a little below, coasting up to a red traffic light, eliminating jack-rabbit starts, coasting downhill, and driving my hybrid helps. Just being consciously aware and developing a stewardship mindset has added 4.5 MPG to my average gas mileage. I challenge all Active Rain members to remember, Earth Day is not just for one day, it is a lifestyle that we ALL need to live 24/7 365 days a year.

As I would like to send my friends and associates here in the Rain something special for their birthday, please sign up for my birthday list. To sign up and be added to my birthday list, click HERE. It is easy, quick, painless and most of all, you will be helping me out.

Below are links to other sites or articles that I have written:

My Profile/Subscribe to posts

My Home Blog Page

Photo of the Day

Tennessee Highways and Byways

10 comments • Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector • April 26 2008 04:26AM

Photo of the Day . . .

While inspecting a two year old townhouse in Nashville, TN's west side, I saw this unusual installation for the water heater. The fan unit is not what is unusual, as it is not uncommon to see this forced systems on gas water heaters in this area. What is unusual, is that the unit is plugged into a GFCI protected outlet which controls the exterior outlets. If the GFCI circuit should experience a fault, the power for the fan will be turned off, and if the gas water heater is running, CO will spill into the property.

Gas fired units that incorporate a fan such as this need to be on a dedicated circuit, most of which are a single outlet designed for this purpose. As I look into my crystal ball, I see a visit from a licensed electrician in this home owner's future.

This posting and the contents written here are the intellectual property of Michael Thornton of Complete Home Inspections, Inc. providing home inspections for Brentwood, Nashville, Davidson and Williamson Counties of Middle Tennessee. The views and opinions expressed are just that - views and opinions of Michael Thornton and those who comment. This post is a contribution to the ActiveRain Real Estate Network.

13 comments • Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector • April 25 2008 05:24AM

How Old Is Your Heating & Cooling System?

This is the first in a series of posts that I am going to make on how to read the serial numbers for the more popular units in my area. I am going to start with Goodman heating and cooling products out of Houston, TX. These are very common to see throughout the south and here in the Middle Tennessee area. One of the questions that I get asked quite frequently by real estate agents and home owners alike is what the age of the unit and will it adequately cool my house? As inadequate tonnage and older units can lead to considerable expense for the potential home owner, I tell them the approximate tonnage and the approximate age.

Different manufactures have their own system for identifying the age, tonnage, and where the unit was manufactured. But I will start with Goodman since their identification system is fairly standard.

Let’s start with the model number for the compressor units. Package units will differ slightly. The model number usually contains the tonnage of the unit for most manufacturers. Disregard the first three letters as they are not used. The next number 36 is significant as this tells the tonnage. To determine tonnage, take this number (36) and divide by 12. The result is 3. This is the tonnage of the unit. If the number was 30 or 42, the tonnage would be 2.5 or 3.5 respectively. To determine adequacy, the rule-of-thumb is to take the square footage of the property and divide by 650. EX: a 2000 sq. ft property divided by 650 BTU/H = approximately 3 tons of cooling. There are other determining factors such as age of the property, amount of windows, insulation etc. which factor in, but I will not get into this.

The age of the unit is found in the serial number. In this example, the first two digits 02 indicate that this unit was built in 2002. The 09 indicates that it was built in September. Hence September 2002.

As I mentioned earlier, package units, which house both the heating and cooling sections for the property, will differ from compressor units. In this example, the model number contains both the tonnage and the approximate BTU/H for the compressor and the furnace sections. The 024/12 = 2 tons of cooling capacity while the 075 = the approximate heating capacity in BTU per hour. In this case, it would be 75,000 BTU/Hour. Once again, the serial number indicates the age of the unit where the first two digits 01 give the year, and the next two digits 12 give the month of manufacture.

Most other manufactures follow this numbering convention, but there are a few that do their own thing. York is one of the exceptions to this rule. I will post other serial numbers and Manufactures in later posts.

I hope that you have found this information to be helpful. If you have, let me know.

5 comments • Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector • April 24 2008 06:47AM

Photo of the Day . . .

As a member of The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) for the past five years and a licensed home inspector for the state of Tennessee for the past 2, there are certain guidelines that we must follow when inspecting a property. I cannot speak for other home inspectors in other states as each state, if licensed, has their own guidelines for inspecting. Here in Tennessee which follows an old 1991 ASHI Standards of Practice, we must open electrical panels provided that the conditions are safe for the inspector. The purpose for this is that many properties have irregularities in the wiring system or panels. Most of them being either home owner or jack-leg handy man electrician induced.

The picture to the left shows an older panel with wires tapped off the top of the main bus lugs which are leading to another panel. This is not unusual to see because as the need for energy increases, many older panels do not have the capacity to meet the demand, hence taps such as this one.

The problem here is that the wires leading to the newer panel do not meet the amp load capacity of the main breaker which is 125 amps. The wires are rated to handle 60 amps. Under the right conditions, these wires could overheat causing a fire within the panel.

The wires from the box above go into an older style fused panel. The issue with this panel is that there are holes in the tops and sides of the box. Should an electrical fire develop within the box, flames would go through the holes igniting dust within the wall cavities.

We explain to our customers to have licensed electricians review the panels and make corrections so that the panels meet acceptable trade standards. As with older fused systems, we recommend that they be updated as many home owner insurance polices will not insure homes with fused panels as fuses can be cheated.

I hope that you have found this information to be helpful.

Below are links to other sites or articles that I have written:

My Profile/Subscribe to posts

My Home Blog Page

6 comments • Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector • April 23 2008 05:09AM

Photo of the Day . . .

The attached photo is a classic example why insurance companies classify extension cords as a fire safety hazard. The home owner used an extension cord that was designed and rated for light duty use such as lamps and other light duty appliances to run the air conditioner unit. Depending upon the size or tonnage of the unit, these can pull any where from 12 - 15 continuous duty amps which severely overloads the capacity of light duty cords such as this. These can only safely handle 5-7 continuous duty amps and even that is a stretch.

For your own personal safety, I highly recommend that you use the appropriately sized extension cord for the job. If you need to add another outlet, hiring a licensed electrician to add an additional outlet is far cheaper than replacing a burned out room.

Oh yes! The ground lug is there for a reason too!

9 comments • Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector • April 22 2008 09:49AM

Not All Home Inspectors Are Created Equal . . .

Not all home inspectors are created equal. The truth to that statement became really apparent yesterday while inspecting a relatively new property in the Franklin Tennessee area. The owner agent for this property confidently told me that he had just had this property inspected by HIS inspector a few months ago for their 11 month warranty inspection and, I probably won't find anything. Ouch! I hate it when people tell me that. I thanked him and went on about my business of inspecting this property for my client.

Now, just because the property has been inspected by someone else doesn't mean that I go out of my way just to dig up bones and show the client that I am "Earning my Money". That is asinine and unprofessional. If the property is clean, I say so. Overall, I thought that the builder did a respectable job of building the property and the current owner did a good job of maintaining the property, and told my client accordingly. However, I felt that they were a few major things that the home inspector should have caught and relayed to on to his client at the one-year warranty inspection. They are as follows:

The house was a traditional stick built house that incorporated engineered lumber for the floor joists. There are guidelines and parameters by the manufacturer of engineered lumber products that builders and mechanical contractors must adhere to. One of the main guidelines in using this particular product revolves around the flanges (which are the top and bottom parts of the floor joists). You can tug on Superman's cape, you can spit in the wind, you can pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you can even mess around with Jim; however, you don't mess around with the flanges on engineered lumber. Definitely a no-no! To do so, weakens the member and under the right circumstances, can lead to failure of the joists. The picture provided shows where a plumbing contractor decided to cut the top flange in order to get his connection to the tub installed. So much for plumbers and sawzalls – AGAIN!

Speaking of tubs, the whirlpool tub which was installed in the master bathroom did not have an access to the pump motor. In the event of a motor or pump failure, all of the tile work in the front will have to come out in order to service the unit. I have seen cases where the outside brick had to be removed to get to the pump. I point this out my buyers as considerable expense would be involved. Most builders will install removable tile panels for servicing purposes. After talking to my client about this, he did make the comment that he just underwent this procedure at his house and it cost him several thousand dollars just to replace the $150 motor.

Up in the attic, there were several areas where mold was growing on the framing members. As we all know, mold is getting to be the buzzword that is synonymous with “deal killer". It is not uncommon to see mold or mold like substances growing on framing members in the attic area. More often than not, builders leave the lumber lying around the lot. The lumber gets contaminated and once the moisture content in the wood gets about 20%, it will support fungal growth. During some of the cool damp winters here in the middle Tennessee area, it is not uncommon to see the moisture content of framing members in the attic get above this 20% threshold. Once again, as considerable expense would be involved in getting the property sprayed with a fungicide, I point this situation out to my clients.

The point that I'm making here is that all home inspectors come from different backgrounds and because of these backgrounds we are able to see or not see various issues with the property. Because my background has been in building, thankfully, I am able to find some of the inconsistencies in the building process that many of the other home inspectors in this area often miss. I have not seen the other inspectors report, but because it has been a few months between the inspections, I feel that if these items were found, they would have been addressed by the builder.

22 comments • Michael Thornton - Nashville, TN area Home Inspector • April 19 2008 04:07AM

Plastic Dryer Vents Are A Fire Safety Hazard in Your Home - Here's Picture Proof . . .

Plastic dryer venting has been banned from residential usage for several years now. This type of material is considered a fire safety hazard and should be replaced if you have this present in your home. While inspecting an older property in Brentwood, TN today I ran across sections of plastic dryer venting in the crawl space area of property. The burn hole in his plastic is an indication as to why this is considered a fire safety hazard. These people were lucky as their house did not burn down.