Okay, I have to admit, this is not a blog about the supermarket or department store. But it is about something I find quite often in attics. It has to do with older "canned" recessed lighting. Look at the picture below:
The picture is of the older canned lighting in the attic. If you look on the white can, just above the metal box in the picture, you can barely see a white label with red letters. The label generally reads something to the effect of, "Warning, risk of fire, 3-inch minimum clearance needed to combustibles." Of course "combustibles" refers to anything that can catch on fire, insulation being one of those. So there needs to be a minimum 3-inch distance between the canned lighting and the insulation. The reason for the clearance is that the older canned lighting can generate a lot of heat.
So the danger is real, but the solution is easy. Crawl up in the attic and move the insulation at least 3-inches away from the light. If the insulation looks like it might fall back towards the light, then add a sheet of metal to act as a barrier. So there you go, and hence the title, "Clearance, Cans on Isle 3."
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surrounding areas.
Outdoor lighting is good, I think that's something everyone can agree on. It's great when you are trying to get the key into the lock at night, when you want the kids to play outside at night, to just sit and relax outside at night... any activity that you would like to do outside during night that requires sight.
So what happens when you come home late at night and the front porch light is not on? How do you see what you're doing so you can open the door? Isn't there some way to turn on the light? Oh no, the light switch is inside the house on the other side of the wall! Darn!
Well I've got the answer for you! How about the great invention pictured below that I saw during a home inspection:
Isn't that great! A light switch outside so you never have to worry about forgetting to put the light on and being stuck in the dark. What a great invention!
Okay, okay, in case you couldn't tell that was all sarcastic. The light switch at the exterior of the house is a nice way to get electrocuted in the rain. A weatherproof cover would help, but practically, when it's rainng you will still be touching the light switch with a wet hand and thus still have an electrocution hazard. It's one of those things that sounds good on paper, but...
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surrounding areas. Zipe codes 91701, 91730, 91737, 91739, 91784, 91786, 91763, 91709, 91710, 91773, 91750, 91711 and others
Sometimes I take great pictures, and sometimes I don't, I guess that's why I'm not a photographer. Anyhow, let me describe the picture below a little bit before I get too far:
At the bottom right hand corner of the picture is a chimney on top of a garage conversion to living space. The garage is about 9-ft. from the window at the top of the picture at the house. And as it looks in the picture, the chimney is lower than the window.
Okay, do you see any problems with that?
The chimney needs to be a minimum of 2-ft above any part of the building within 10-ft and at least 3-ft above any part of the roof within 10-ft. Therefore the chimney will likely cause that nice smokey aroma in the room that has the window in the picture. I guess that's nice if you like that cabin feeling during the ice-cold winter. But then again, most people don't want to breathe smoke. In other words, without being sarcastic, this is a health and safety concern.
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surrounding areas.
Did the title get you interested? Wondering how you get aromatherapy in the attic? First of all, make sure you hire a home inspector who enters the attic, otherwise you'll never know. If the home inspector says (s)he'll be 45-minutes to 1 1/2 hours on-site, (s)he probably won't enter the attic, or if (s)he does, it won't be very thorough.
Now back to the topic. How do you get aromatherapy in the attic?
The picture above is the best way to get aromatherapy in the attic. You'll get a nice strong scent that's sure to get your attention. Thanks for stopping by. Bye.
Oh wait, do you need a little explanation? Okay, the pipe pictured above is a vent stack. A vent stack is connected to the plumbing drains and simply allows air to circulate through the drain pipes so everything will drain properly. Because they're directly connected to the drain pipes, sewer odors and gases will travel through them and exit them. Therefore they must terminate above the roof line so the sewer odors and gases escape to the atmosphere above where the occupants can breathe. Therefore the pipe above should have been extended through the plywood sheathing for the roof in the attic and through the roofing material so the sewer odors can escape to the exterior... otherwise you get that nice aromatherapy sewer odor in the attic.
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in RanchoCucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surrounding areas.
It's always nice to come up with new and creative ways to find space in your home. I certainly could use some more storage area. Below is a picture I took at a home inspection where a previous homeowner was creative and discovered they could use the space under their stairs for more storage.
The homeowner even put in a door to make it nice and accessible. This picture was taken from inside the garage? However there is a problem here... do you know what it is?
The walls in the garage where there is living space on the other side is built as a firewall. Therefore it would take longer for fire to penetrate the wall and allow the occupants a better chance at escaping the house and danger. The small door in the picture used for storage would therefore have to be a fire-rated door so it would take longer for fire to penetrate the door. Well, as you can guess, it wasn't fire-rated. Also, the door frame has to be gas proof so the gas fumes from the vehicles don't enter the house and harm the occupants. Once again, it wasn't.
So the nice area for storage they made actually ends up being a safety hazard. They need a solid-core fire-rated door, gas proof weatherstripping and an auto-close mechanism so the door closes and latches by itself, in case the homeowner forgets.
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surrounding areas.
Yes, I do like boxing, and though the title of the blog may sound like the prelude to a boxing fight, you can prbably guess that boxing has nothing to do with this blog.
Okay, so you tell the seller there is a cracked wall. Well, they might be thinking it's a hairline crack that is typical, so they could care less. However, the measuring tape in the picture puts everything in perspective. I'd say a 15-inch damaged wall is a little different than a 1/4-inch hole in a wall.
Like I stated earlier, boxing had nothing to do with this blog... or did it? Maybe a boxer is the one who damaged the wall... anyhow, just a short blog to show the Pillar To Post difference while reporting items in our home inspection for you.
Of course as home inspectors we are very concerned about safety. Some safety items are more serious than others and some can be expensive or cheap to repair.
Main electrical panels are always a concern for safety. With all the power for the entire house running through the electrical panel, it's not to be taken lightly. Look at the picture below:
There is a missing breaker in the area labeled "dryer." In and of itself that's not a problem. The problem is leaving that space open. There are plastic covers that will fit in that area to cover the space, they're called "knock out covers." Kind of hits you like you're in the boxing ring, huh... at least it would if the knock out cover is missing and some one put their finger in there are put a tool in there... zap! Luckily it's an easy fix and the cost is very cheap. Just one of the many items we look for during our home inspections.
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surrounding areas.
Don't get me wrong, I do like football, I'm even getting ready for the draft in my fantasy football league, but I regret to inform you that this home inspection blog is not about football.
Today we will talk about jetted bathtubs... well, sort of. We will use jetted bathtubs as an example of the extra steps we take to provide you with a superior home iinspection report. Below is an example of a picture we include with all of our home inspections that have a jetted tub.
Wow, doesn't that make you just want to go in and soak in the tub!
We take pictures of these type of items because of all the foreclosures we have here in Southern California, but in reality, for any type of sale. The pictures proves that the jetted tubs were operating at the time of the home inspection. Therefore, if you do your final walk-through and notice the tub is damaged or the jets don't operate anymore, you can ask the seller to repair the item since it was previously operational. This is especially good for difficult short sale sellers who may decide to do some damages before they leave, or for vacant foreclosures that get broken into or vandalized (unfortunately not too uncommon around here in some areas). Otherwise I can almost guarantee you'll here these words, "The inoperable jetted tub was a pre-existing condition, therefore we won't cover it!"
We also take pictures of A/C condensers, furnaces, kitchen appliances, water heaters and other high-cost items since they are sometimes stolen from vacant houses. We have modified the way we perform home inspections and our report to change with the changing housing market.
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surronding areas.
As the title indicates, this home inspection blog is about hand rails. I find that hand rails regularly come up as an issue in home inspections. Many people seem to forget how important hand rails are in case you trip while going up or down steps, even more so for children and the elderly who have a harder time using steps.
In the picture below, steps were added in the landscaping without hand rails.
I point this out to the prospective home buyer so they are aware of the issue. Whether or not they eventually install hand rails is up to them, but at least they have the information and are aware of the safety concerns. Remember, here in Southern California, the home inspection is informational and does not mandate repairs be completed. However, some buyers will use the home inspection report to request repairs be completed. I, as a home inspector, simply give you the information so you are aware of the issues, your real estate professional will guide you after that (or at least they should).
By the way, a little "Where's Waldo?" fun: Can you spot the Pillar To Post vehicle in the picture?
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surronding areas.
I think most people would agree that roofs are an important part of the house. Unfortunately, it seems we are calling out problems on roofs daily. I suppose with all these foreclosures and short sales, people just didn't have the money to keep up with the maintenance or have items repaired properly.
Now, to address the title of this blog. A flashing can be one of numerous items on a roof. I will concentrate on the flashing below, which is the metal piece you see under the electrical mast in the picture.
The purpose of the flashing in the picture is to avoid water from entering the hole in the roof that was made to accommodate the electrical mast (the pole that the overhead electrical wires enter to give power to the house). So the roofer had to make a hole for the electrical mast and wires, just no way to get around that (unless your electrical service comes in underground). Now that there's a hole in the roof, something needs to be done to prevent water from entering that hole. That's where a flashing comes in. The flashing is integrated into the roof to deter water from entering. Therefore they are critical components of a roof. There are also flashings where the chimney meets the roof, where a wall meets a roof, valleys and any other object protruding from the roof (like a skylight). The flashing below was barely integrated at the right part of the flashing and not integrated at all at the top and bottom part of the flashing (as oriented in the picture). So the "handy" roofer decided to use good old roofing cement. The problem with roofing cement is that it cracks over time and needs routine maintenance. Roofing cement is good for some parts of the roof, but is not sufficient to stop this flashing from leaking. Below is another example:
So the moral of the story is: Mr. "Handy" Roofer, don't get "flashy" with your flashings, just install them properly.
I hope this gives you a little more information about a professionalhome inspection and its value. Be safe out there.
Pillar To Post is your local franchise providing home inspections for clients and real estate professionals located in Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Montclair, Chino, Chino Hills, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Diamond Bar, Brea, Fullerton, Placentia, Fontana, Rialto, Corona, Norco and surronding areas.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
;)
;)
