flashing: Home Inspector Intervention - 02/01/09 07:36 AM

 
Most of the issues home inspectors encounter fit into one of two categories: construction defects and component maintenance/wear.
The construction defect category is the reason to have your newly built home inspected.  Inspections on new constructions are definitely catching on.  Builders and construction workers are human and they do make mistakes.  These mistakes can be due to lack of education, experience, or proper oversight.
All three of those things are what went wrong with the whole Exterior Insulating Finishing Systems or EFIS.  It the details of every system that make them work right.
This is a picture of one … (12 comments)

flashing: A Flashy Little Trick - 01/17/09 01:58 PM
A vast majority of plumbing vents I see during home inspections in the Salem, Oregon area are sealed with a heavy rubber boot.  These are great little things.  The soft rubber is able to mold to most any angle it is forced into and still create a tight seal.  As the summer sun beats down and raises the temperature of the roof to 180 F+ the wonderfully elastic rubber boot allows the building components to expand and still remain sealed.  And as the cold winter temps cool everything down and the roofing and plumbing contract at different rates the rubber boot maintains a seal which … (6 comments)

flashing: Edge metal flashing on rake rafters - 01/09/09 08:11 AM
I have not determined the exact percentages for how often I see this flashing is installed incorrectly during a home inspection, but it is probably more than 5% here in Salem, Oregon.
  It must seem like a good deal to put the metal on the top.  Maybe it seems like a good thing to cover the edge of the hand-cut shingles that, due to lack of experience, look like a rodent chewed on them.
  No matter what the reasoning, putting edge metal on top of the shingles is always wrong.  When rain is hitting and running down the top … (8 comments)

flashing: Where is this Water coming from? - 01/03/09 08:56 AM
Being an inspector equipped with a highly advance thermal camera I have been called upon to find quite a few leaks.
   Leaks can be very frustrating and challenging.  Our modern, climate controlled, super insulated and immaculately finished homes do not respond well to storm water on interior surfaces.  Window sills swell, drywall turns brown, and wood floors crack.  How rude it is when Mother Nature invites herself into the world we control.
   A very interesting pattern has developed after a few dozen, "....help me find where this leak is coming from," calls.  A majority of the calls that were … (6 comments)