I was recently hired to find a water / moisture problem in a condominium complex here on the Gulf Coast of Florida. We had spent countless hours tacking down wind currents, water leaks and attempting to define building techniques. On our third day I decided to use a smoke pencil to see where the air currents were coming and going within elevators and shafts. I knew we had to use it sparingly due to the smoke / fire alarms installed.  This worked great from the top floor down to the 2nd floor. Yes, Whoops!!! The alarm started sounding and it was near deafening inside the building. "This is not a test, you must evacuate the building immediately. This is a fire alarm, you must exit the premises immediately". I am a fire fighter from a nearby town and so I called 911 to notify them of my error. To late, there engines were en-route and they wouldn't stop until they got there. What seemed like an eternity (though it was only a matter of minutes) we were watching everyone exit the building via the stairs. Spring break has started here, what an array of clothing can be found at noon in the middle of the week. Kids in PJ's, girls in bikini's and somebody I'm sure was Walter from "Grumpy Old Men" Most people took it pretty well as I told them what had happened.

I was sure embarrassed to tell the Fire Department when they arrived what had happened. I had to sign a fairly expensive piece of paper stating what I did. Lots of lessons to be learned here. Things like, when to use a smoke pencil, when not to use a smoke pencil, how to turn off a fire / smoke alarm in a condominium, response times of fire departments, how to contact the management and alarm company quickly, and of course how to swallow some pride.

What did you do today?

It is very common to find squirrels have chewed on the lead plumbing vent collars on roof tops. This eventually allows rain to enter into the attic then house which is not a good thing. This home owner was creative and decided to fight the squirrels by adding aluminum foil and a gas vent hood.

Here in Pensacola, FL and the Gulf Shores, Al area many of the homes we inspect have prefabricated fireplaces and chimney units. It is very common after a short period of time to find them sagging and rust forming on the top. It doesn't take long for that rust to work it's way through and next thing you know there are holes allowing water to enter into the home.

A few repair people have had some success making repairs to prolong replacement. A few of those repairs even looked pretty good. It may seem rather petty but...The alternative is to spend $4-600 and have a new cap put on.

There is lots of controversy regarding the ventilation or the lack of ventilation in crawlspaces under homes. Locally here in Pensacola, FL and Gulf Shores, AL  I have seen only a few crawlspaces that are not vented. Of those few homes I saw which are not vented, they were not updated with a completely sealed structure nor an HVAC system installed. The result was no mold (yet).

The pictures are from a crawlspace I inspected yesterday, which is typical for me to see this type of mold / fungus.

Building code says put a vapor barrier down on the ground and add some vents. It is very rare not to see some mold growing somewhere under these homes. I would like to see some sort of retro fit kit that is easy, quick and relatively inexpensive that would close in and condition crawlspaces that do exhibit mold conditions.

International Residential Code

408.2 Openings for under-floor ventilation. The minimum net area of ventilation openings shall not be less than 1 square foot (0.0929 m2) for each 150 square feet (100 m2) of underfloor space area. One such ventilating opening shall be within 3 feet (914 mm) of each corner of the building. Ventilation openings shall be covered for their height and width with any of the following materials provided that the least dimension of the covering shall not exceed 1/4 inch (6.4 mm):

What do you find in your neighborhoods?

During this home inspection the other day, I walked into the master bathroom to find a hair dryer, plugged in and sitting inside the sink. This is just one reason why we have safety devices. People not using their heads. I checked the Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI's) circuits and found it working in the outlet and in the dryer itself. Still....

    A home inspection today revealed bad news for the home. I'm sure most people are familiar with different types of stucco. For a short time in this area some builders used gypsum board (a form of sheetrock) as the exterior sheathing and installed a stucco finish coat over the outside. Typically this gypsum was used in combination with plywood or OSB board as the structural panels. As you can imagine, when it gets wet, problems arise quickly. This 8 year old property has no evidence of damage today, but I'm afraid it's a matter of time.

The view of this panel is from the attic.

Remember to always get a home and stucco inspection. Beauty is sometimes more than skin deep!

Some things don't seem to change, that is the quality of some work I've been seeing. I am wondering if perhaps it has something to do with hurricane Ivan. It's been over 3 years and some of those homes repaired are likely up for sale again. This is another picture of a poorly installed kick out flashing and a homemade extension.

I want to thank Jim Summers from the Pensacola, FL area for requesting to his client that we perform this home and stucco inspection and allowing me to put the photo on here at Activerain

While entering a crawlspace during a home inspection here in Pensacola, FL I couldn't help but notice a rank odor. The odor was strong enough to pierce my breathing apparatus. It didn't take long to see someone had done some plumbing work under the home and didn't bother cleaning up. By the looks of things it has been some time since work was done. 

The picture is not very clear, what it shows is old wet fiberglass insulation laying on top of some broken drain cast pipes. Once I realized what was gong on, I exited and requested they call me to make an appointment to finish the crawlspace portion of the inspection after it was no longer a health concern. 

At an inspection yesterday all flashing and window sealants looked terrible. I expected to find lots of damage. Though I did get some elevated moisture readings, I probed to find no damage under windows or kick out flashings.Here is a picture of how someone added a kick out flashing.