I have been inspecting homes in Connecticut now for about 10 years. Wow where did the time go! Like any job after a while you acquire an intuition, a six sense about certain aspects of the work, in my case homes and their owners. Usually I get a feel for the property after walking around and setting up. For example I arrived at a home the other morning and after walking through finding the kitchen, I had a good idea of what was in store for this particular morning.
The home was well kept, a bit dated, but very neat with a definite bent for the ascetics. Bad news for me. What I find is this, when an owner cares for the looks of everything, the ugly stuff, e . g. , the mechanicals, ends up behind something pleasing to their eye. Often times their prettying things up creates big problems.
This home was a great example of form over function.
The first hint of trouble was on the exterior. The electric meter, A/C compressor, oil tank fill, chimney, dryer duct and sump pump discharge were all behind a massive amount of shrubbery...on the same side of the home.
Inside, the lowest level of this split level home had been finished into several rooms. Everyone knows what's in that part of the home, yep all that ugly stuff. Finding the water meter was not too challenging as it had been put inside a very obvious and removable box. Finding the other end of the plumbing, the drains and main cleanout took a concerted team effort and a call to the owner. The boiler was crammed into a tiny space without adequate room to work. The chimney cleanout was behind the boiler, again barely accessible...and very dirty.
The laundry had been moved from the back wall where the main waste drain was to that side wall. It had been conveniently placed in front of the three electric panels, of which two were found to be wired wrong and were inside a wall. Since a washer needs a drain, someone had run a new drain through the foundation wall out into the yard. (the owner confirmed it was not hooked up to the city sewage system).
That's just the highlights. Needless to say this information cast a pall over the buyer's excitement. Fixing all these things, some not so big, others quite involved, was not well received.
There are many necessary, but not eye pleasing things in our homes. No one, including myself likes to look at an ugly old boiler or stare at the plumbing, but these things need to be accessible for many reasons. All that eye candy will now be costing these sellers money in one form or another.
James Quarello
Connecticut Licensed Home Inspector
2010 - 2011 SNEC-ASHI President
NRSB #8SS0022
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC
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