Typical inspection of a property that had renters occupying it at the time of the inspection. Very easy to see the lack of concern by the occupants for the proper care of the house and it was, well, just a dirty mess. The couple, who was home at the time, had a little girl may 2-3 years old. When I got to her room I turned to my right, looked down and saw what is shown in the picture below. I just stood there for a moment, confused and concerned. I didn't want to insult the renters, but did they know their little girl had done this? So I called the dad over andask him, "Have you seen this?". He was Oh yeah, I put that there myself so my little girl can't stick anything in there and hurt herself. I simply replied "OK". I looked at my clients agent who had come over and she was just, well, as floored as I was.

I may have found some reasoning behind this a bit later, when I went in the master bedroom where the couple was on the bed watching TV. The smokey smell (both had lit cigarrettes) and the floor fan propped up in the window gave hints, but the bag of weed, in plain view (no pictures, didn't want to agitate him) on the nightstand next to Dad summed it all up.

But just in case, for those that don't know, nails do not an electrical child safety device make.

Someone once told me, and I don't know if he read this or was told by someone else the following statement:

Believe in yourself, then others will too!

    As we head into 2009 full of economic worries, I think this is more important than ever. If you don't believe your going to not only do good business, but just be in business, how will anyone else believe it? When you walk into that meeting or meet some friends, are you talking up your business or talking it down? Are you complaining how rough things are and how 2009 is going to pose so many difficulties. Or are you boasting how 2009 is offering unique challenges and your excited by the challenge?

  I've posted it before in my I Refuse blog and I mean it even more than ever. When I'm reminded of all the home inspectors in my area that have left the business, I don't say or think, I may be next. I shout out how this means more opportunities for me. When I hear of people reducing services to cut costs, I do just the opposite. Expand your services and grow! Don't offer less, offer MORE!

  I know some find it hard to believe, but the power of self confidence can make all the differance in the world!

What are you doing to make 2009 the best year yet?

     Even if you’re not a fan of the NFL, the story of what happened to the family of Matt Bryant of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just breaks your heart. One morning he was getting his kids ready for school and he was about to leave to go to practice. When he went in to wake up his three month old son Matthew Tryson Bryant, he discovered he had died in his sleep.

http://www.pewterreport.com/articles/view/4682

     Life is so precious and can be so tragic. You never know what can happen or when. I’m sure nobody expects such a thing to happen in the safety of their home.

     After reading about this, of course as I’m sure you are now, I thought about my kids. It was still early morning so I got up and did something about it. I went to my youngest daughters school (the one that still lets me hug her in public) and had lunch with her. She was very surprised and we had a great time. Of course, before I left I gave her a hug and a kiss, a little bigger than usual. I still have my wonders with me and I wanted to make sure they know just how much I love them.

     When was the last time you had lunch with your kids at school? Surprise them and give them that extra special hug.

    I did an inspection a while back where I saw a stew kettle in the backyard just rusting away. I asked the home owner if I could buy it it and he had agreed. That was until I found problems in the house and he got all huffy as the deal fell through (because his house was falling through, he built a second story on top of a 1932 bungalow but failed to add any extra support so it was falling in on itself).  Anyways, I was annoyed for a bit but let it go.

    Well last week I get from the lady for whom I was performing the inspection. It seems she not only overheard me talking about how much my wife loves this stuff, but I guess she kind of liked me too. Anyways, she calls and asks if I can come over because she has something for me. I head on over not sure what to think and low and behold, she has a trunk full of stuff like this. She said it's just been sitting in her garage for years and since my wife enjoys the stuff, it would be better if she had it. BTW she said, this is just the first of three car loads. I knew I couldn't afford it all until she yelled at me "no payments, this is a gift because you helped us out so much."

    So now, my wife is in love with me again, at least for this week. But now she has tasked me with finding out how to restore these pieces. Does anyone have a clue or have a good website to throw at me that would help? Thanks!

These are just a few of the items.

Milk Jug

Irons and temperature tags

Tea Kettle

....to participate!

    No, I'm not taking my ball and going home because my big brother just pushed me down so his team could score a touchdown. I'm talking about all this recession garbage.

    Depending on what source you use for your daily supplement of information, we are currently in, have been in for a while or are soon heading towards a disastrous recession. Bah Hum Bug!

    Who cares what some official government document or reports states. You want the real truth? Can you handle the truth? If you can, keep reading.

*Imagine a momentary pause here with your favorite elevator music playing*

    Glad your still here. The real truth is, who cares. That's right, you heard me. Who cares? Well besides those people trying to sell you the wonder books on how to make millions in a recession or the TV shows trying to boost ratings? If anything, they prove my upcoming point more than anyone. And that point? Well it's the secret answer to...

"What is a recession?"

Again, not that lame government definition. The REAL meaning of recession? Or at least, what should it mean to you?

OK, come close, I'm gonna whisper it in your ear. But don't tell anyone else our secret. If everyone found out, then the TV producers might have to find something else to report on.

OK. Ready? A recession is......"An opportunity"

Yup, that's it. Nice and simple. A recession is just an opportunity. An opportunity for you to take advantage of. When it's cold, you take the opportunity to go snow boarding don't you? Or when it's warm, to go swimming? Why should a recession be any different?

For the last several good market years, lots of people went swimming in the nice warm water. But now thats it's cold, too many people just climb under their blankets and complain how cold it is. GO SNOW BOARDING!

There is no specific wonder all one step gazoo that fits every person. But if everyone had the guts and at least tried, there may not ever be a recession again. The marketing that you did two years ago isn't working now? OK, then do something else. That work process you did two years ago is now costing you more money than it's making, then change it.

A recession is purely a mental attitude. I myself, I refuse to participate in any recession. I just want to go snow boarding!

    Well it's that time of year again that I must sacrifice myself for the benefit of my family. As such I will departing tomorrow morning to rescue my family from their current hardship and despair. In the process, I'm sure to endure the same turmoil they have had to deal with all summer. But a good husband and father will do what it takes to care for his family. I hope each of you can take a moment to send me your good thoughts as I will need tremendous strength to complete this task.

    You see, my wife, a Spanish national and kids spend the summer at our beach house on the southern coast of Spain along with dozens of family and friends. Now I must fly over there and join them, being forced to drink sangria's on the very liberal beach. This could go on for days, only interrupted by family BBQ's, all night parties and ACK, loads of fun.

    But alas, with a little luck I hope to prevail and complete the rescue of my family from such hard times. Then after I return, I must absorb the costs of all this travel. Two round trip flights for myself and three round trips for my family. On my simple US Navy retired pension and utilizing Space Available Travel, I actually have to pay for a meal and drinks which could exceed $5 per person. I'm glad the flight itself is free or I just don't know how I would handle it.

    Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

NOTE: After the joking around I'm going to take a moment to remind all my retired military brothers and sisters. If your not taking advantage of the greatest benefit of your retirement, shame on you. It may sound hard but it really is very easy if you have an open mind. I firmly believe, at this stage in my life, that this benefit is better than the health care and even the pension itself. I see too many retired military members who have never flown space A. Add in the Armed Forces Vacation Club (lodging almost anywhere in the world for $329 a week), and you just can't go wrong. If you are retired military and you haven't taken advantage of this yet, drop me a line and I'll give you all the secrets.

    I got a frantic call today from my cousin. Her friend was selling her house and the first couple to look at it was about 1 hour away. While she did a last minute tidy up, she was horrified when she went into her daughter’s room. The carpet was soaking wet and there was a horrible smell. She is a do it yourselfer so she looked around then ripped the carpet up to try and find the source. She couldn't. That’s when I got the call.

    So I get there and start to look around. As I'm looking around, the potential buyers show up. Well as you can imagine, first impression and all, they were out of there within 2 minutes. The seller tried to explain it would be taken care of, but you never get a second first impression. Count that couple out.

    Anyways, I look for the simple stuff first. The windows and the ceiling (roof) weren’t leaking. Besides, it hasn't rained here in days. So the source must be internal. On the other side of the wall was the bathroom. I take a look see in there. One of the things that catch my eye is the separation between the tile and the base boards. I mention, “you know, if someone took a shower, the water could over flow/splash out of the tub, onto the floor, then flow under this wall into the next room”. Well I got an ear full on that one. No way can that happen. The shower curtain is always closed. Her son had showed there this morning and she knows it was closed. I couldn't get another word in edge wise, that could NOT be the problem. If that was the problem, it would have happened years ago she claimed.

    I checked the toilet. After all, she had stated how she had recently changed the ball valve and had to tighten down the toilet because it was loose. Now I knew exactly what it was and tried to explain it to her again. The overflow from the shower was....NO WAY, it can't be, there must be a broken sewer pipe, and don’t you smell that odor? And yes, the bedroom had a nice urine odor. But sewer is not a urine smell, it is much fouler.

    The hardest part in this whole ordeal was how upset she already was. She had just lost her first potential buyer and she was convincing herself that a plumber would have to break through the concrete to fix the sewer lines. It took me a lot of patience and small talk to not only gain her confidence but to calm her down. After listening to maybe 45 minutes of stories, talking about our kids and looking around the house, I tried again.

    I said, hey can I have a glass of water? I wasn't thirsty, I wanted to try something. But I took a sip like I was. We walked back into the bathroom and stood there for a moment. Then I asked her if she minded if I tried pouring a little water on the floor to see what happened? She was calmer now, and said OK. I poured the glass of water on the floor, it flowed straight to the wall and underneath it. We walked to the other side, and the water was pooling up right where the stain was. She looked at me and smiled and just shook her head.

    So, now that she believed me, she asked me to explain it all.

    Carpet wet, padding had slight mold - The water from the shower splashed onto the floor then rolled under the wall into the bedroom. I asked and she said yes, her son, who left for college today had taken an abnormally long shower, he was nervous about going to college. So the normal showers put a little water in there, causing the mold and saturating the pad and carpet. With today’s longer shower, there was enough water to seep up through the carpet and feel it.

B    ut why did it flow now and not before - The DIY fix on the toilet bowl. When something is loose, the best answer is not always to just tighten the bolts. The bolts are set into the concrete and fasten onto the toilet bowl. In between the two is the floor tile. When she over tightened the bolt's, the tile was the item to give and broke free. It was slight, but enough to break the caulk seam between the tile and the baseboard. The water would now follow the grade towards the wall, into the gap, under the wall and into the next room.

    But the smell? - She had put in brand new carpet about 1 year ago. But she didn't replace the tack strips. I surmised that the previous owner had pets (She confirmed they did). When pets urinate in the house, they like to do it along the edges, where the tack strip is. When the urine dries out, it crystallizes and the odor is minimal if at all. But now add a water source, and the odors returns.

    So now she has lost her first set of potential buyers and she can't bring anymore over this weekend until it is fixed. I suggested that she needs to reseat the toilet too. Although I doubt it, she may have crushed the wax ring. I recommended a plumber does it this time. She also needs to have the carpet cleaned and most likely replace the padding.

    As we know Murphy well, the worst will happen at the worst time as it certainly did for her here. And believe it or not, the whole thing could have been prevented by a tube of caulk. Had she re-caulked where it had separated along the base board, then the adjacent room would never have been flooded. The water would have most likely pooled up and brought her attention to a potential problem, but before it caused any real damage.

One major complaint I hear about Home Inspectors is that they are too nit-picky. First, what are the definitions inolved?

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source -

nit·pick

1. to be excessively concerned with or critical of inconsequential details. –verb (used with object)

2. to criticize by focusing on inconsequential details. –noun

3. a carping, petty criticism. –adjective

4. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a nitpicker or nitpicking.

The key word in that definition is inconsequential. What is inconsequential?

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - 

in·con·se·quen·tial  

1. of little or no importance; insignificant; trivial.

2. inconsequent; illogical.

So, nit-picking is when a Home Inspector reports on things of no importance or that are insignificant.

OK, se let me ask you this question. Who gets to decide what is nit-picking? Is it any condition that costs less than $1000 to fix? $100? $10? Is there a price tag? If it's a price tag, how is the price detemined? Would a comment on a $2,000,000 house be nit-picking, but the same comment on a $200,000 house is OK? Is nit-picking based on how many total comments are made? If the house has 10 items of note, is item #11 nit-picking?

Lack of caulking may be considered inconsequential to one client as he is a contractor of 45 years and routinly recaulks his home. But for that 87 year old grandmother that needs to save every penny on energy costs, it could be very important. So, as a Home Inspector, should I now be required to find out from the client what is and what isn't important?

The answer to that is no. A Home Inspector's job is to visually inspect the property and report the findings. If there is an item that does not operate as designed, it should be reported, period. Home Inspectors are not suppose to determine if they found enough problems, or too many or too few. Just report what is actually found. Any inspector that knowing omits a comment is not only opening themselves to a lawsuit, but they are doing a major dis-service to the client.

Note, I am talking about just reporting the item. Nit-picking is not over stating or exagerating a problem. Although some may do it, I think most agree that it does more harm then good. Nor am I talking about wrong comments like "Thats an ugly color rug" as a HI should not be discussing cosmetics.

IMHO, it is the job of the Agent to discuss the report with the client and together determine what actions to take. It is the job of the Inspector to report all of their findings, not just the one they think might be important enough.

Before anyone gives an example of nit-picking, answer this first. If you, your little sister, your 87 year old grandmother or your daughter were buying the house, would you say it's OK not to tell them?

As the weather turns nicer, we're all going to spend a little more time out on the deck. But is it safe? Take a couple of minutes to look over the deck. Not only can it save you some money, but it could save your life. Instead of copying already great information, you can follow the the below link on how to inspect your deck.

http://nadra.org/consumers/DSM_checklist2008.pdf

or you can view a good video from The Today Show.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24946165#24946165

Why am I posting this now. Well not only is it great information to share, but I feel good knowing I may have just saved a life, or at least serious injury. Yesterday I inspected a house and everything was looking very good actually. The plumbing and electrical systems were outstanding. The roof, AC, HW heater and most appliacnes were new. The seller put a lot of money into this house. But the deck in the back was a total disaster! Insufficient and undersized support columns. Undersized joist hangers. Nails instead of lag screws or carriage bolts. No metal connertors anywhere. Railing swayed a good 6 inches (3 back and forth). Several of the support columns showed severe distress and were already fracturing/collapasing.

So I report this, and what do I get? Insulted, thats what I got. The listing agent called me an alarmist deal killer and told my client she shouldn't pay me and get a new inspector. Well without getting into the, um, discussion, my clients agent had with the listing agent, lets just say he was a few feet shorter.

Still in a huff, a contractor and Structural Engineer were called to show just how poor of a job I supposedly did. It took them maybe 30 seconds to say "I wouldn't even let my mother-in-law on that deck." They told the current owner he should not go on the deck until it's repaired or replaced either.

It's never fun when insults start flying for doing a good job. But it's a GREAT feeling when you do your job right and the people that count appreciate it.

BE SAFE! Inspect your deck!

     As a home inspector I have seen a lot of "handyman" repairs on a home that don't really cut it.  Most of the time I just chuckle to myself and note it in the report.  But when I come across discrepancies caused by a licensed contractor, I get very frustrated. I recently inspected a home where, in my opinion, the contractor caused serious damage to the home and failed to inform the home owner. BTW this wasn't just damage, but a MAJOR safety hazard for whoever was in the home.

     In the picture below, you can clearly see the broken drain pipe and the resulting spill into the crawlspace. This crawlspace was not very clean yet this piping was sparkling clean. When I asked the home owner, he said it had been recently replaced. After it was replaced, some termite damage was discovered in a floor joist near the drain pipe. To get to the damaged floor joist, you would have to crawl over/under the drain pipe. I'm fairly certain a contractor climbed over the pipe and snapped it off. Of course, the damage may have been prevented had the drain pipe had a few more hangers, but thats not the point. Whoever broke it should have told the home owner and accepted responsibility. Instead, since it was in the crawl space and could not be seen by the owner, they decided to avoid to say nothing and hope they weren't caught.

     What irks me even more, when I find discrepancies, I'm suppose to recommend a licensed professional (not by name, just in general). Seeing things like this almost makes me throw up in my mouth when I say that.

John E. Coker

Family Home Inspection LLC

www.familyhomeinspection.com

john@familyhomeinspection.com

(757) 202-3282