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By
Home Inspector with NCW Home Inspections, LLC


When building a home you want professionals to perform the work. Hopefully these professionals will take some pride in the job that is performed.

During a recent home inspection I came upon this curious little bit of craftsmanship.

The contractor must of had some damaged material, in the old adage of “waste not, want not” you want to be efficient with your materials.

But as a home inspector and as a home owner I would not want this type of work performed for me. If I am paying for a job to be done, it should be done with care and thought, and done right. If the contractor had some damaged material he should use it on a short field of siding or scrap it entirely. I do not want to see this in a large open field of siding. In addition they should read the manufacturer's instructions on how the material is to be installed, because this was not installed in accordance of the manufacturer instructions.

                          Hardiplank siding installation

                                                            (broken corners that have been patched)

 

                        Hardi-plank joint installation



As you see the manufacturer does not recommend this type of installation. So if there is a failure of some type what will be the warranty?

This also makes you wonder what else they skimped on. What can I not see?

As a home inspector I look for clues that lead to the larger picture. Now this is a fairly minor item but it shows that care may have not been taken.



“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

 

Steve Jobs

 

NCW Home Inspections, LLC  is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Orville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…       

Your Wenatchee and Chelan Professional Home and Structural Pest Inspection Service

509-670-9572 or on the web atwww.ncwhomeinspections.com

 

Comments (10)

Kathy Sheehan
Bay Equity, LLC 770-634-4021 - Atlanta, GA
Senior Loan Officer

This is a good example of why I always recommend a home inspection.

Dec 11, 2011 02:15 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Don, so what are those, broken corners that have been patched?

Dec 11, 2011 02:23 AM
Donald Hester
NCW Home Inspections, LLC - Wenatchee, WA
NCW Home Inspections, LLC

Kathy, Thanks

Charlie, Yes...  I guess I should of highlighted them more. Then they did all that face nailing to ensure the boards lay flat. Was pretty sloppy work on this side. I will go back and put an edit in.

Dec 11, 2011 02:32 AM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

Those look a little bit like the knees on my pants growing up!  Did you see the installer's pants while you were in the closet?  Maybe he is just being a consistent fellow!

Dec 11, 2011 07:34 PM
Donald Hester
NCW Home Inspections, LLC - Wenatchee, WA
NCW Home Inspections, LLC

JAy,

May be, may be ; ) You have to wondering what the heck they were thinking on this though.

Dec 12, 2011 08:16 AM
Anonymous
Jesse Longman

It continues to amaze me how many siding contractors don't read the installation instruction. It is sad to say that it is rare to see siding actually installed per the manufactures recommendations! I have been back on re-inspections for siding and I have the installation instructions in hand and the contractor still doesn't believe what I'm telling him. 

Dec 12, 2011 08:21 AM
#6
Donald Hester
NCW Home Inspections, LLC - Wenatchee, WA
NCW Home Inspections, LLC

Jesse, It is sad that they do not read the installation requirements. The hardiplank moves quite a bit and those butt joints never seem to hang in there. The caulk fails pretty quickly.

Dec 12, 2011 12:07 PM
Adrian Willanger
206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com - Seattle, WA
Profit from my two decades of experience

Donald-thanks for the "what to look for" in siding, well done a good picture really helps to explain the process.

 

Best

Dec 19, 2011 02:43 AM
Donald Hester
NCW Home Inspections, LLC - Wenatchee, WA
NCW Home Inspections, LLC

Adrian, Thank you. Hardieplank is a great product. Like all of these materials they should be installed correctly. I find when they caulk this product it becomes a pretty big maintenance item to keep it up.

Dec 19, 2011 04:36 AM
Stephen Gaudet
Gaudet Inspections - Manchester, NH

Nice catch, I noticed the water image on the bottom seems to match the top joint.  "Might" be due to how the siding was stored prior to install.

Nice job!

 

Jan 12, 2012 11:44 PM