Exhausting! The building codes and their limitations.

Seems like a “cut-and-dryer” case of what were they thimkin?!

As anyone that regularly reads my posts knows---I love standing seam metal roofs.  Inspecting them is difficult if they are steep, but because a fair amount of skill is necessary to install them, they usually don’t have a lot of issues that are not going to be apparent from the eaves---assuming you can get to the eaves.  I was able to get to the eaves at two locations on this duplex, and overall the roof looked great.

The pitch is 7/12---not an exactly friendly pitch for an asphalt roof---and certainly not for a steel roof.  A slippery slide at the playground is not much steeper than this---some are less steep.  Add to that, that it was raining at the time of inspection, guaranteed that I would not be venturing onto the roof.  From the eave one thing was noted on this 5 year old home.

The dryer exhaust cap.

How is anyone going to do routine maintenance on this vent cap?  While the installation meets code requirements, I still find the installation wanting.

Even with the best filter/screens in dryers, these caps will eventually plug with lint.  Cleaning at least a couple of times a year is necessary.  At least there was no screen in the cap. 

The “close-up” of the cap shows a fair amount of lint building up inside the cap---who can tell whether the flap opens properly or not?

I have no clue as to a viable solution to this problem, when the dryer is not located on an outside wall of the home---but surely some solution is warranted.  If no other route for the exhaust can be found, then establishing a maintenance program with someone trained and qualified to be on this type of roof a couple of times a year may be warranted.

Perhaps it is time to make an adjustment to the codes---and/or common sense.

Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle