Recently there was an issue with an appraisal in the valley where asbestos was observed and the appraiser made the call that it had to be removed.  We would just like to point out a few facts in regards to asbestos in order to clear up a few misunderstandings.

Asbestos is an extremely tiny fiber and is a known carcinogen.  However, asbestos must become airborne in order for it to enter your lungs and cause damage.  If it does become airborne, conventional masks and filters are unable to filter this tiny fiber.  It is for this reason that certified asbestos companies are required in order for this product to be removed from buildings.

When asbestos was used in home construction it was used for multiple purposes.  It worked well as an acoustic insulator, it is a fire resistant material, it can be used to help bind products, and it works as a thermal insulator.  Often, these products which used asbestos were not prone to fraying, and therefore tend to help prevent the asbestos fibers from becoming airborne.

These products include, but are not limited to: tile, roof shingles, siding, paneling, and some insulation.

It is predicted that many homes contain an asbestos containing product, so what should you do if you come across it?   The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommendation is to leave the asbestos containing substance alone in order to prevent it from becoming airborne or to remove it using a certified asbestos abatement company. 

If you need professional asbestos testing, I am an EPA accredited AHERA Asbestos Inspector.  Feel free to contact me with any questions you have.

 

There are a number of inspectors out there that do asbestos. In my region, I have at least two that do asbestos sampling for their clients. I just want to add a word of warning.

If you have a commercial building, you want to use a EPA Certified AHERA Inspector. These individuals are the only ones allowed by statue to provide asbestos inspection on commercial property in both Washington and Idaho (Idaho is administered by the EPA).

Here's the WAC for Washington: WAC 296-62-0772

(c) Duties of employers and building and facility owners. (i) Building and facility owners must determine the presence, location, and quantity of ACM and/or PACM at the worksite. Employers and building and facility owners must exercise due diligence in complying with these requirements to inform employers and employees about the presence and location of ACM and PACM.

(ii) Before authorizing or allowing any construction, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, repair, or demolition project, an owner or owner's agent must perform, or cause to be performed, a good faith inspection to determine whether materials to be worked on or removed contain asbestos. The inspection must be documented by a written report maintained on file and made available upon request to the director.

(A) The good faith inspection must be conducted by an accredited inspector.

You do have the right to assume that all the subject materials are asbestos containing rather than test but that can become very expensive. Testing will often save you considerable money by identifying the primary materials that need to be handled as hazardous.

Also, as part of your due diligence, you may want to conduct an asbestos survey prior to acquisition of a building so you have an accurate idea of the projected costs of future renovations.

If you need a accredited inspector in Eastern Washington or Northern Idaho, call me.

If you are a Real Estate agent with questions regarding asbestos in residential sales, feel free to contact me and we'll see how I can be of assistance.

A primary source of roof leaks doesn't actually invovle the roof covering but the flashing. Unfortunately, flashing is one of the easiest items on the roof to incorrectly install. It's not that the parts are that complex - they're not. The manufacturers have made them easy to install. And, properly installed, the flashing is nearly leak-proof when installed on a simple roof.

However, there are very few simple roofs. Examples of simple roofs are dog houses and small outdoor sheds. Rarely will you find a plumbing vent stack, chimney, fan vent, valley, side wall projecting above the roof, etc. on a dog house.  Most of these are common on a typical home.

The easiest way to think of flashings is to consider them the transition from the roofing materials (shingles, for example) and projections (i.e, a chimney.) Many people expect roofs to perform for a minimum of 15 to 20 years. Some roofs can be expected to last 50 to 80 years. This means that the materials which are used for flashings must have the same, or greater, life span as the roofing material itself. Copper, tin coated steel, lead and galvanized steel are examples of traditional flashing materials.

Contrary to popular opinion, we do have pest issues in areas like Pullman and Moscow.  Our primary invader is the carpenter ant.  The problem that is starting to develop is that while we have a slew licensed inspectors in the area (and the number is growing), only two of us are still licensed as pest inspectors.

The Washington State Standards of Practice for home inspectors is pretty clear.  We are required to report any conducive conditions to pest infestation and wood destroying fungus and, if not also licensed as a Structural Pest Inspector, refer our clients to an SPI if we suspect insect damage.

One of the realities of the marketplace is that home inspectors market to Realtors rather than directly to clients.  I have my doubts that the referral will consistently take place.  There is a great deal of resistence to pest inspections in this area.  There is an ecomonic incentive to try to avoid messy areas like termites and carpenter ants and, of course, the liability involved inherent to a pest inspection. 

I've elected to keep my pest licensed.  I don't make much additional revenue from it but it does leave me in a better position to serve my clients.  Fortunately for me, the Realtors that I work with want a good solid inspection and will work with and help their clients when they get the report.

 

One of the things that I and anybody that works with me does is to take our shoes off when we go inside the house.


The reason we started doing this was just simple courtesy to the homeowner - we didn't want to track in dirt into a house they were trying to sell. A side benefit of walking through the house in stocking feet is using the feet as another method of inspecting.


Your feet have more than 7000 nerve endings and is one of the most sensitive areas of your body. When I first started walking in the house in socks, I also started noticing small seams, bumps and other oddities in the flooring.


These subtle changes underfoot give us clues to investigate as we go forward with the home inspection. On one recent inspection on an older home, I was able t feel the seams at each of the additions. I could also feel how small the changes were indicating that the additions were well designed to fit to the existing home.


Once, when visiting a niece of mine in the Portland area, I could feel a small change in the flooring by a wall. It seemed to be located at the shear wall (bearing wall) of the stairwell. Twenty minutes later my niece found me in the basement and I had an answer for her - the crawlspace hatch was located right under that wall and the top of the opening hadn't been reinforced to hold the extra load. It was sagging under the weight.


And yes, the kids and Donna joke they can't take me anywhere - my eyes - and in this case, my feet - are always moving.

Once an inspector, always an inspector I guess.

One of the very neat things about living in the southeast part of Washington State is that the weather is truly unique compared to the western half of the state.

For example, Clarkston typically gets less than 13 inches of rain per year effectively making it a desert environment. 

Pullman gets about 21 inches per year.

To put it in perspective, Olympia get  more than 50 inches per year. 

This makes inspecting a home very different for the Eastern Washington inspectors even though we're governed by the same rules. 

For example, I've had people say that we don't have termites here.  Fortunately, our incidence rate is very low.  But we still have termites.  I've seen and reported on them in Pullman, Clarkston, Colfax and several of the towns on the Idaho side of the border.

This picture is a recent one of an older home.  The mud tube from the termites is clearly visible and is attached to the water heater in addition to the wood post.  The water heater gives us the opportunity to determine the approximate age of the infestation.  In this case, the heater was less than 8 years old.  The agent was understandably upset at the findings and a bit surprised since we don't have a reputation for this sort of problem.



I had a similar experience in Lewiston, ID.  In that case, we found anabiod beetles.  And I say "we" because my client is an entomologist who works with Sun Pest down in the valley.  he was identifying things faster than I was.  According to Russ Craber at Sun Pest, we're in the midst of a challenging pest season.  They're seeing higher rates of incidence for almost every pest catagory.

Not good news for us.  Nobody likes to deliver bad news especially pest infestation news. 

Your clients do have some protection: if a Washington licensed inspector suspects insect related damage, they are required to refer your client to a structural pest inspector or pest control operator. 

It's not perfect but it is better than nothing.

Welcome to Monday!  It looks to be a gorgeous day and, hopefully, a great week for everybody.

The Fire Protection Research Foundation has released a new study on aging residential electrical installations.  The good news?  Many of the older wiring systems are still functioning surprisingly well.  Even pre-1950's conductors with thermoset rubber insulation are holding up well though the rubber can get brittle with age - the more these wires are handled, the greater the risk they'll pose.

Lights were also a problem area - primarily from using bulbs too large for the rating of the luminary installed.  Most luminaries (lights) have a maximum rating (many fan lights are rated a 40watts per bulb for example.)

The biggest non-surprise?  The most hazardous conditions found on the houses evaluated could be attributed to failure to comply with electrical code and home handyman wiring.  The CPSC estimates that there are 6400 fires annually due to house wiring.  It seems as though as least one of those per year happens around here.

Well, time to get to work.  Have a great week.

Paul

I'm not very good at looking before I leap and, in this case, slithered.  Just inside the crawlspace access, the owners had put a glue pad mouse trap.

Those things are incredibly sticky!

It took a few minutes to get it off my coveralls and I had to stand on a board over the trap and peel the clothe away.

My client Jeff had a hearty chuckle and took the picture for me.

 

html> A lot of the defects that I find in a home aren't the result of equipment failure or poor building techniques.  Instead, they're concious lifestyle choices that a home owner will make to improve the quality of life for themselves or their family.

It just turns out that the decision that they make, while convenient, may have a few unintended consequences.  In this case, the pedestrian door from the garage to the home is intended to be part of the fire barrier system - not that it will stop a fire but delay it.  Cutting a hole in for the pet door negates that barrier.

The odds of something happening?  Not high but present.

Video below.

RE:  SSB6433 Con

To the Honorable Rep. Conway,

I wish to thank you for your service to the State of Washington but I would also be remiss if I did state for you the reasons that I oppose the above referenced legislation.

For reference, I am a Licensed Home Inspector (#215) in the state who works and resides within the state.  I am also a Structural Pest Inspector (#69702), ASHI and InterNACHI certified and code certified through the International Code Council.

The proposal before your committee will substantially weaken the protections that are the primary reason for the development of the Home Inspector Licensing program.  Those protections are three-fold:

 •·         to develop qualified individuals recognized by impartial standards as competent to perform a home inspection in response to injury, financially, to the consumer;

•·         to provide for improving inspector performance through continuing education;

•·         and to provide a means short of active litigation to regulate the inspection industry by elevating inspectors into the same category of real estate professional as a Realtor or appraiser.

SSB6433 effectively legitimizes the inspectors that are currently in violation of Washington State law who are actively performing home inspections while not licensed.  Indeed, I have several individuals in my area who are operating in this manner.  This obviously weakens the consumer protections intended.  Granting inspectors who operate outside the existing law immunity will not strengthen the protections but will convey a message that the State is not truly interested in consumer protection when it comes to the largest investment an individual makes in their lifetime.  This will lead to consumer injury, both financially and, potentially, personally.  A home inspection is first and foremost a safety inspection.

On a personal note, it always conveys a negative message to the inspector who has complied with state law, invested the time and money to successfully become licensed and operated in good faith.  Rewarding unethical or incompetent inspectors would be damaging to the consumer and my profession.  Undermining the business of the law-abiding inspector does not constitute good representation of the citizenry, the state or ethics. 

Likewise, the weakening of the continuing education requirements as proposed in SSB6433 will further increase potential harm to the consumer.  The initial training requirements set forth are those necessary to become a beginning inspector.  There is still a tremendous amount to learn.  Indeed, that process never stops.  Allowing an inspector to wait six years to provide for continuing education will make his/her skills obsolete in the first two years.  As an example, look at the evolution of the energy code in the past 4 years and the proposals ahead of us - do we willfully want to create inspectors that are ignorant of those changes?  Clearly, no.  The same applies to the electrical, structural and plumbing systems of the home. 

There are reasonable changes that should be made to the existing Home Inspector Licensing laws. Weakening existing law is not one of them and is highly detrimental to protecting the consumer.

Thank you for your consideration of these matters, and I trust you will consider the ramifications of this legislation.

Respectfully,

Paul Duffau