John's Blog

A Foundation Interpretation: Home Inspection Photo of the Day!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:43:15 -0700

This photograph is from under the home. As you can see there is no concrete foundation on this part of the house. They used wood and the wood is deteriorating and falling apart. This is not acceptable, homes in Los Angeles must have concrete supporting them.

Home Inspection Nightmares: Interesting, Funny, and sometimes scary photos!!!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:56:42 -0700

I'm always sharing all sorts of funny or interesting looking photographs that we find on our inspections and I stumbled across this great website the other day with all sorts of interesting and humorous inspection photos so I thought I'd share! Click the link to see Home Inspection Nightmares!

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,1220600,00.html

Here's a little sample fro the site to pique your curiosity... you may remember the photo I posted of a lightbulb in a shower... well how about an entire electrical panel in a shower ?!?!?!?!

PHOTO OF THE DAY! Live wires... Keep out of reach of children!!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:09:58 -0700

This elecrical panel was exposed at an apartment building that we inspected with children running around playing nearby. There were no covers on the electrical panels and as you can see the wires were completely exposed. Definitely a safety hazard.

Oh the things your home inspector finds on the roof... PHOTO OF THE DAY!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:42:08 -0700

Whoops, looks like this seller lost the top of their chimney somewhere along the line... oviously this is unusable in this condition and unfortunately it is going to be a major repair cost.

Tip for Home Owners or Home Sellers:

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:12:48 -0700

Changing a furnace filter is a simple but often neglected home maintenance task. It’s recommended to change the filter every three months. Don’t buy the cheapest type; a high quality filter does a much better job of removing fine particles of dust, lint, animal dander and pollen. A quality filter improves air quality making your home a healthier place to live.

If you're planning on selling your home and do not change your filter regularly, consider replacing the filter a week prior to the home inspection and running the system. The filter may get dirty pretty quickly, if this happens you may want to replace it again prior to inspection. Doing this will not only improve the air quality in your home but it might even help the outcome of your home inspection!

If you're not sure which filter to buy, here is a handy guide from Home Depot that has a rating system. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Air_Filters&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&cm_sp=96e5c9cd-b521-47d5-a204-eb524aebd146

SAFETY HAZARD, Inspection Photo of the day.

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:58:40 -0700

This furnace exhaust vent was disconnected and the fumes were permeating the house. This is safety hazard and very dangerous.

One FLUE over the cuckoo's nest... INSPECTION PHOTO of the day

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:40:42 -0700

Another creative fix... the previous chimney went down in the last earthquake so they sort of put up some other type of flue and used plumbing tape to hold it secure to the roof. Obviously, this needed to be redone properly.

It's never a good idea to put trip hazards across the sidewalks... INSPECTION PHOTO

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:16:49 -0700

This is a sprinkler line. It is made out of pvc piping and is not supposed to be exposed to sunlight nor is it suppose to be across a sidewalk. It also breaks easily so if anyone stepped on it, it would crack and be spraying water everywhere.

It is supposed to underground to protect it and protect the people walking on the sidewalk.

What's happening under the house? (Home Inspection photo)

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:09:06 -0700

When your inspector crawls underneath the house there are many issues that they may find. These pipes under the house are starting to leak. This is a pretty common find but if the inspector did not go into the crawl space, the client would never have known about it.

Let's see what's behind curtain number two... (Inspection photo)!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:00:04 -0700

When the inspector peeled back the shower curtain, they found a second curtain had been fixed to the shower wall... it appears that they forgot to tile part of the shower and decided to just cover it up instead. Barely noticeable, right? :)

Fire Hazard (Inspection photo of the day)

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:25:23 -0700

It seems like common sense that open electrical boxes are a fire hazard but as home inspectors we see them all the time.

LOS ANGELES HOME BUYERS FAIR THIS WEEKEND - LA CONVENTION CENTER!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:13:56 -0800

Los Angeles based home buyers, real estate professionals, and other related professionals should consider coming to the Homebuyers Fair this Saturday and Sunday at the LA Convention Center. LaRocca Inspections will be there educating buyers on the Home Inspection process and giving out information (and other fun giveaways) at booth #207. Please stop by and say hi if you attend.

http://www.homebuyersfair.com/

We hope to see you there!

Shocking find! Inspection Photo of the Day

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:31:37 -0800

The electrical wires in this photo were live. If anyone would have touched them they would have been for a nasty surprise. Definitely a safety hazard. Good thing they had a home inspection!

A "post" about a "post"... INSPECTION PHOTO!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:44:27 -0800

Under this house we found water that was coming from a plumbing leak. You can see it in the background. Additionally this post is leaning and has shifted off its base. It is not even attached to the base and will fall out soon.

This plumbing fix is not such a smooth move... INSPECTION PHOTO of the day!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:57:05 -0800

In this area, this type of drain pipe is not per code as it will not drain well. Things get caught in the ridges and it blocks up. This was creative... but in the end it just backed up the waste water.

I think we've got the problem "cornered". INSPECTION PHOTO

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:07:57 -0800

Looks like we lost the corner of the roofing material; this roof was obviously leaking in the corner and the inspector had no trouble finding the source of the leak.

Look ma, I built a fort (Inspection Photo)!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:56:33 -0800

I always recommend to have a licensed contractor do the work and to ensure that additions are permitted... Otherwise it may end up looking like this.

Do you catch more buyers with honey than vinegar? Maybe not in this case... (Inspection photo)

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:51:21 -0800

Here's a photo of a bee hive we found on an inspection recently. Not exactly what someone would want to find under their new deck! Not such a "sweet deal" after all!

Asbestos in the attic (Inspection Photo).

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:58:21 -0800

What you see here are old heating ducts, covered in asbestos that we found in the attic of a house we were inspecting. They had been disconnected by a tradesperson when he installed a new furnace. Asbestos has been found to be a potential cancer-causing agent and is regulated in its use by the federal government. Since it is considered a hazardous material, by law it has to be properly disposed of at a hazardous waste dump. To be left in the attic is a serious violation of these regulations and would need immediate abatement by a licensed asbestos removal company.

www.LaRoccaInspect.com

CREATIVE PLUMBING! (Inspection Photo)

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:10:47 -0800

If your drain line is a little short then why not just use the top of the water bottle... HA! Some of the things we see on inspections!

www.LaRoccaInspect.com

Angies List Service Award!!!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:43:44 -0800

LaRocca Inspections has a sister company which performs mold inspections Mold-Check Professionals. Mold-Check was recently awarded a Super Service Award by Angies List for 2009.

Each year Angie's List awards this honor to companies that have given outstanding service according to the members for the previous year. The most recent award given is for 2009. In 2009, the criteria for the award included receiving a minimum number of reports from our members, maintaining an A average on both the reports for 2009 as well as on their overall reports and not being in poor standing with the Better Business Bureau.

Less than 5% of the companies on Angie's List received the award in 2009! Keep up the good work Mold-Check!

For more info check out Mold-Check's website at www.moldcheckpros.com or call them at 818-951-9120

MAYBE WE CAN GET THE BUYER'S TO AVOID THE BATHROOMS! Inspection Photo.

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:23:46 -0800

As home inspectors we run across some ugly looking things at times.

Wouldn't you love to take a bath in this sparkling tub?

www.laroccainspect.com

WOW, Good catch (Inspection Photo of the day)!

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:19:59 -0800

This water heater metal vent line had such a big gap in it that the inspector could take a picture through it. This was letting gases from the burners escape into the house causing a health hazard.

WIRING THAT REALLY SPARKS A CONCERN! (Inspection Photo)

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:17:54 -0800

Look closely where our inspector is pointing and you will see that someone has stuck three wires in one breaker! This is a fire hazard as it may cause sparking and it can also overload the circuit.

www.laroccainspect.com

What are home inspectors looking for on the roof? INSPECTION PHOTO

John LaRocca (LaRocca Inspections) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:55:30 -0800

Home inspectors look for a variety of things on the roof, here is a photo that shows an issue that we recently found while inspecting a roof.

Skylights are supposed to set up on a curb several inches above the roof as part of a standard waterproofing. This one did not and it leaked, no matter how much they tried to patch with that gray stuff.