Then there are days that I struggle. I know I am protecting and preserving life but....
I just returned from a general home inspection on a BRAND NEW home. Unfortunately only three of the receptacles were grounded, there were NO ground faults (anywhere) the bedroom circuits were not ARC fault protected, there were no smoke detectors, neither bathtub stopper functioned, neither bath fan was vented at all, there was no pressure relief pipe or expansion tank on the water heater, the garage floor was cracked randomly in five different directions, the garage door pressure reverse did not work at all, the four inch PVC main sewer drain had a three inch droop mid-way through the crawlaspace. But those were not the main issue. When I got into the twelve inch by thirty six inch opening to the crawlapsce I discovered that the foundation block walls were stacked, YES, stacked six block high with some liquid nails used to keep them from sliding. I could find no means of foundation anchoring but with dry stacked block I did not expect to.
I have said all of that to say this: Take your time every time folks, just because it is new does not mean that it is right. AND THEN how do you answer the young couple, who are so much in love with their new dream home, when they walk in and just blurt out "well how do you like it???(SMILE SMILE) we sure hope you didn't find anything bad" I want to ask them to define the word BAD but of course do not. CRINGE! I generally muster up all of the empathy that I can and simply say, "there are some concerns just like there are in every home but lets take them one at a time and see what we have here"
We are challenged to one degree or another every day. Patience, compassion and honesty ALWAYS.
Blessings to you all,
Mike Reel Williamstown WV
Comments(11)