Common Inspection Problems We find.
Deteriorated bathroom floors & walls from leaking toilet wax seal & caulking around shower and tubs.
Defective circuit breakers and single strand aluminum wiring. Zinsco and Federal Pacific(FPE) Stab-Lok breakers: both of these become loose on the buss bar, loose contact on corroded buss bars, overheat and not trip when over-loaded. Aluminum wires loosen at their connections and/or corrode. Additional information is available at these web sites, http://www.inspect-ny.com/electric/Zinsco.htm, http://www.inspect-ny.com/fpe/fpe.html, http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum.htm
Defective or improperly Ground Fault(GFI) breakers that are serious shock hazards. Outlets with reversed connections (reversed polarity) are potential hazards. All exterior, garage, kitchen and bath room outlets should always be grounded although GFI protected in better.
Over sized fuses in older homes with fuse panels. 30 amp fuses should never used were wires a sized for15 amp.
Damaged and improperly spliced knob & tube wiring in older homes.
Homes with ceiling recessed "can" lights that require ventilation that have been covered with attic insulation have been known to cause fires.
Poorly or improperly vented homes, attic and crawl spaces causing serious mold, wood rot and other wood destroying organism problems. Carpenter ants are a serious problem in this area. These ants live and nest in rotting logs & landscape timbers, tree stumps and many times in beauty bark. During the summer, they're dormant during the cold season, they will establish a satellite nest many times within a home. Unlike termites these ants do not eat the wood but only tunnel and nest within the structural timber of the home. Piles of fine sawdust and ant body parts usually indicate an infestation.
Defective wood composite siding: Louisiana-Pacific(LP), Weyerhaeuser and Masonite the most common. Many times the defective rotted siding has been painted making it difficult to detect. In the last 10 years I have seen vinyl siding installed over defective siding. Mold will continue to grow under the vinyl.
Unlined old brick, furnace & fireplace, chimneys have caused many house fires.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is the deadly killer. CO is generated by poor combustion in a defective furnace, water heater, fireplace (gas or wood) or power generator. The initial symptoms of CO poisoning are similar to the flu (but without the fever). They include: headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness and nausea. Concentrations over 50 ppm are not healthy and over prolonged time can be dangerous as CO slowly replaces oxygen (O) in the blood. During the evening and at night while sleeping CO builds up. During the day while away from the home CO slowly dissipates and a person feels better. At 400 ppm severe frontal headaches occur within 1 to 2 hours and life threatening after 3 hours. At 800 ppm death occurs within 2 to 3 hours. An auto idling in a closed garage can quickly reach 200 ppm. Every home should have CO detector with a digital readout. If things are normal within the home it should never get over 10 ppm.
Older homes with galvanized water pipes slowly lose flow and develop leaks within the walls. Manufactured homes with gray plastic (polybutylene), used between 1978 to 1995, is prone to failure.
Defective Cadet or Encore, models ZA, RA, Z, ZC, FX, RX, LX, RLX, TK, RK, FW & RW, electric wall fan heaters are latent fire hazards should be replaced immediately. The units should be kept dust-tree.
A clothes dryer duct requires requires regular inspection and cleaning as lint dust can clog causing this moisture buildup within the attic, walls or crawl space. NEVER EXHAUST THE DRYER INTO THE HOME HOPING TO REDUCE ENERGY COSTS.
Wood shake and standard compostion shingles have an average life of 20 years. If not kept clean, removal of tree debris, failure can occur much sooner. I do not recommend a pressure washer to clean a roof.
Water heater pressure relief valve (PRV) should be piped to the exterior and never reduced in pipe size.
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