Red Flags On Permanent Wood Foundations

After recently attending a seminar on permanent wood foundations (PWFs), I've been turned in to a big fan of wood foundations, but now I'm also pretty sure that about 99% of the wood foundations get built wrong.

I was already suspicious about wood foundations before attending this seminar, because just about every wood foundation that I've inspected has had water problems.  Another home inspector who attended the seminar said it best: "I was worried about wood foundations before I took this class... but now I'm terrified."

This class really reinforced what I already knew about wood foundations - water management is critical.  If poor water management is considered problematic with traditional concrete foundations, it should be considered catastrophic with wood foundations.  For a wood foundation to perform properly, it needs to stay dry or be given the chance to dry if it gets wet.

When I find signs of moisture intrusion at a wood foundation, it means the water management system has failed, and the repairs will probably be expensive.  Here are a few water management issues that would be red flags at a wood foundation.

The obvious stuff. The soils around a wood foundation must slope away from the house at a 5% grade for a distance of a least ten feet.  Gutters and proper downspout extensions are also important.  Any time this stuff is wrong, it should be a red flag.

A traditional sump basket. Permanent wood foundations should have a wood sump crock that is completely open at the bottom.  If a traditional plastic sump basket is used with a wood foundation, the bottom should be perforated to allow water to come in from the bottom.  This will help to prevent it from getting clogged on the sides.  The sump basket should also be at least 30" deep.  The photo below shows a traditional sump basket that wasn't open at the bottom.



The polyethelene sheeting is damaged, unprotected, or incomplete at the exterior.  Polyethelene sheeting acts as a slipsheet for water that comes in contact with the foundation; it's not a waterproofing material.  The sheeting must be protected with a wood board for eight inches above the surrounding grade, and at least four inches below.  If you can see the sheeting, it a problem.



Black stains behind the insulation. This is the huge one.  If you can pull back the insulation and the wood is stained, this throws up a huge red flag.  If the wood is wet, the water management system has failed.







If you own a wood foundation, take the time to check it out for yourself.  If you're buying a home with a wood foundation, make sure your home inspector can check for moisture intrusion at several various locations around the perimeter of the foundation.  If everything is finished off, consider getting permission for a destructive inspection that would allow the inspector to do this.  If I ever buy a home with a wood foundation, this will be a prerequisite.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Wood Foundation Inspections Minnesota
    

Home Inspection Dilemma With Short Sales: Should You Risk Wasting Time or Money?

Anyone buying a short sale is faced with this dilemma; should the home inspection be performed before or after the offer is approved?

Risk Wasting Money: If a buyer decides to have a home inspection before the offer is approved by the bank, the buyer risks wasting their money on the home inspection if the sale doesn't get approved by the bank.   The benefit of having a home inspection performed right away, before the purchase agreement is approved, is that the buyer will be warned about any potential 'show stoppers' with the house up front.


Risk Wasting Time: If a buyer decides to wait until the sale gets approved to have a home inspection performed, they risk waiting around for months only to find out about a major defect with the home.
Personally, I'd get the home inspection done immediately every time; I couldn't imagine getting emotionally attached to a home for months and then finding out that it has major defects... but I've worked with many buyers who prefer that method.


What if you could lower your risk of both? I was recently asked by a real estate agent if we would consider doing two-part inspections.  These would consist of a quick 30-45 minute walk-through to look for any major issues or show stoppers, then a full inspection several weeks or months later, after the sale gets approved.

I think this is a great idea, and we're happy to do this.  This gives the buyer the opportunity to find out about any major defects at a price that's a fraction of the price of a home inspection.  We'll offer the buyer a discounted rate on the second inspection, but only as a gesture of goodwill; just because we walked through the house a few months earlier doesn't mean the home inspection will be any easier or faster the second time.


How useful is a forty-five minute walk-through? It's a great way to check for any show-stoppers early on in the process.    I have several clients that hire me to do these inspections for them on a regular basis.   They're mostly investors that aren't concerned with the little details - just the big stuff.  Occasionally, I'll perform these walk-throughs for home buyers that know the home they're buying needs major repairs.  Walk-throughs make more sense than standard home inspections in many situations.

If you don't want a full report or a super-detailed inspection, just ask.  We're happy to provide a-la-carte home inspections, or even just walk-throughs.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Minneapolis Home Inspections
    

ALERT: Jury Rules That CSST Is A Defective Product In Landmark Case

This is bad news for the manufacturers of Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST).  CSST is a relatively new type of gas piping that has rapidly been replacing traditional gas piping in homes throughout America.  To learn more about this product, check out my blog about CSST.

Key points of this landmark case:

• Omegaflex’s TracPipe was installed in a home in 1998
• A nearby lightning strike in June of 2007 caused the product to fail
• The manufacturer tried to say that “a properly bonded CSST system could withstand the energy produced from an indirect lightning strike.”
• The manufacturer failed to test their product’s ability to stand up to a lightning strike.
• The jury found TracPipe CSST to be a defective product
• To see the full story, click here.

What this means for the future of CSST: This may be the end of traditional CSST.  As far as I know, CSST is the same product from manufacturer to manufacturer.  If this particular brand of CSST was found to be defective, the other major manufacturers of CSST must be scared as hell right now.  I visited TracPipe’s web site, and I found that they’re actually making a new version of CSST called CounterStrike®, which is supposed to be much more resistant to the effects of lightning strikes.  They obviously know they have a major problem on their hands with traditional CSST.

What if you own CSST? If you have CSST in your home, make sure it’s properly bonded. The major manufacturers of CSST claim that properly bonding CSST will lower the risk of damage from a nearby lightning strike.   Is there any truth in this?  I’ve heard differing opinions, and I’ve been told that bonding is intended to provide protection against shocks, not lightning strikes.

When I inspect homes with CSST, I make sure the material has been properly bonded, and I write it up as a defect if not.  I won’t be calling out the product itself as ‘defective’ just yet, but I will be telling my clients about the potential problems with this product, and I’ll be linking to this blog post in my inspection reports.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email- Minneapolis Home Inspections

    

Reuben's Quick Tip: Caulk Doesn't Belong Here, Part II

Last week I blogged about not caulking at the base of storm windows, which is a simple no-brainer. Another place that should never be caulked is the space between the siding and the flashing above a window; this piece of flashing is often referred to as drip flashing, drip cap, or head flashing.  Caulking this opening shut is a very common defect, even on new construction.

Why not caulk here? The head flashing at the window provides a drainage plane for water that could potentially get in behind the siding; the head flashing allows the water to drain out above the top of the window.  If the space between the flashing and the siding gets caulked shut, where will water go?  It will get trapped behind the siding and potentially cause damage to the home.

Some siding manufacturers already require this space to be left open, such as fiber-cement siding manufacturers.  Unfortunately, this detail isn’t spelled out in any window installation instruction manuals, or if it is, I haven’t found them yet.   I also haven’t found any vinyl siding manufacturers that specifically say “don’t caulk here“.  For fiber-cement siding, it’s an installation defect.  For just about any other type of siding, including vinyl, it’s a ‘best practice’ not to caulk here.

Just wait though… I’m sure that the manufacturers of windows and other types of siding will catch up on this detail soon enough, and they’ll start explicitly telling you “don’t caulk here”.  Installation instructions for windows are getting longer and more specific every year.  Case in point: about ten years ago, Windsor Windows published a one page installation sheet; today it’s aten page installation manual.  Did the windows change significantly?  No.  Manufacturers are just doing their part to help prevent failures from improper installations.

Is this really a defect? Well, technically no, not on all installations.  It’s not a defect until the manufacturers put it in writing or it’s specified in the building code… but it sure isn’t wise.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email- Minneapolis Home Inspections

    

Reuben's Quick Tip: Caulk Doesn't Belong Here

If I'm going to write a blog about caulk, I need to get something out of the way first; it's pronounced kawk, not kallllk.  The "L" is silent, and the word rhymes with walk or talk.  If you're uncomfortable uttering this word aloud, try 'sealant' instead.  Moving on.

As we learned from Charles Buelle's blog about caulking not caulking at the base of tiled shower walls, there are just some places where caulking doesn't belong.

One of the most common offenders is at the bottom of storm windows; if the base of the storm window gets caulked shut, where does the water go?



Nowhere.  It just sits there and rots the window out.  Most storm windows already come with weep holes in the bottom of the window to allow water to drain out; keep these holes open.



When I find caulking at the base of storm windows, I recommend repair.  The fix can be as simple as drilling a bunch of holes at the base of the storm window.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Minneapolis Home Inspections
    

Photos From New Construction Inspections

If you're buying a new construction home, get it inspected by a private home inspector.

I could wax on and on about how important home inspections are for new construction,especially if the builder tells you that a private home inspection isn't necessary, but I've found that photos are far more convincing than anything I could say.  I took all of the photos below at homes in Minnesota that were either new construction or only a couple years old; the issues that you're seeing are all 'original' issues; they weren't created after the homes passed their final inspections by the city.

Click on any of the photos for a larger version.

Roofs

The first thing that I typically inspect is the roof lines - I start doing this as I drive up to a house.  When valleys dump next to a wall, or even worse, in to the back side of brick veneer siding, you're asking for trouble.  These roofs are designed to fail.








I took the photo above at a house that was almost ten years old.  Thankfully there was a small portion of unfinished basement where I was able to pull the fiberglass insulation away from the rim space to confirm my suspicions; this had been leaking for a long time.  I really wanted to know what it looked like behind the siding... but my home inspections aren't invasive or destructive so I couldn't get all 'Mike Holmes' on them.

Decks

I've written several blogs about deck construction defects, but unfortunately handy homeowners and weekend warriors don't have the market cornered when it comes to shoddy workmanship.  Yes, I find plenty of deck defects even on new construction.

The most common deck defect that I find is improper nails used on joist hangers.  The nail I'm holding in the photo below isn't even half as long as it should be.  I seem to find this defect at just about every other deck inspection.



When special / non-standard joist hangers are needed, there's about a 20% chance that the installer will use whatever happens to be in their truck.  In other words, this is usually done right, but I still find a lot that are done wrong.  The joist hangers shown below were the wrong ones for the job and won't hold what they're supposed to.





Stairway stringers seem to be a hard thing to cut.



Deck stairways aren't difficult to attach properly, but some people sure make it look difficult.  Those long metal straps shown below aren't designed to do anything on a deck, and they're certainly not holding this stairway up.




In the next two photos, the deck stairway is attached to a piece of siding trim with deck screws. This is ridiculously wrong.  Yikes.

Electrical

I don't find a lot of electrical defects on new houses, but I do find them.  In the next two photos below, there are double tapped circuit breakers and double tapped neutral wires.  These breakers aren't designed to be double tapped, and neutral wires are never allowed to be double tapped.  I honestly think the electrical inspectors never even looked inside these panels, because these are blatant violations.  By the way, these weren't at the same properties.





This next violation was more comical than anything else; it's no big deal, but someone obviously missed a day of training.

Plumbing

There are two common defects that I find on new construction houses all the time - one is test plugs or test caps still in place at the plumbing vents.  Test caps need to be installed at plumbing vents so the drain, waste and vent system can be pressure tested.  After the pressure test is done, someone needs to get up on the roof and get rid of the caps or plugs, but this is often forgotten about.  This effectively disables the vents.


The other plumbing issue that I find all the time with new construction houses is missing access panels for bath tubs.  Either there is just no access provided, or someone installs a panel but never puts a hole in the wall.  I always chuckle when I remove an access panel and there is nothing behind it... but I'm no longer surprised.

HVAC

I find a lot of the same HVAC installation defects over and over.  In the photo below, the AC units should have been at least 24" from each other.



Venting for high efficiency furnaces is done wrong all the time.  I often find installation manuals that have never been opened.  In the photo below, the vent terminals for the furnace were installed wrong; the diagram below the photo came right out of the installation manual.





Any time the vent passes through an unconditioned space, it needs to be insulated.  This doesn't always happen.





Powervent water heaters have a huge list of things on the outside of the house that they can't terminate too close to; in the photo below, the vent terminates way too close to the gas meter.





Heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) have their own required clearances - for instance, the intake and exhaust need to be lilatorocated at least six feet from each other.  The HRV shown below has the intake and exhaust with about four feet of separation.



Most HRVs need to be balanced when they're installed; if there are no screws present to lock the dampers in place, it hasn't been balanced or someone wasted their time balancing it and it needs to be done again.

Structure

Most structural problems manifest themselves years down the road from latent defects, but sometimes they're obvious.  In the photo below, someone took a sizable notch out of one of the beams.  If this was part of the original plans, great... but I'd bet anything it wasn't.


Remember how I said that the wrong hangers are often used on decks because installers just don't have the proper hangers with them?  Sometimes this happens inside the house too.



This next photo is one of my favorites; someone bent the heck out of this stairway stringer bracket and used it on a floor joist.  You can see that the bracket is actually splitting.  Just in case you needed a reminder, this is new construction.

Attics

As I've said in previous blogs, attics should always be inspected, whether the attic access panel has been 'sprayed shut' or not.    In the photo below, the roof vents weren't properly lined up with the holes in the roof sheathing, which significantly reduces the total amount of attic ventilation.


In the next photo, they completely forgot to install a roof vent; I'm glad I didn't put my foot through.



Broken truss chord - I'm guessing too many bundles of shingles were unloaded in one place.  I can't be too critical of this because I've done it myself,  but the big difference for me is that I fixed it after I broke it.



Same thing, different house.



This photo below shows a disconnected duct from a bathroom exhaust fan; just think about how much moisture would get pumped in to that attic over the years if it never got fixed.



When truss manufacturers put green stickers on every truss saying "Permanent Lateral Bracing Required", I expect to see permanent lateral bracing installed.  This new construction house didn't have any.



Finally, here's one of my favorites.  I took this photo at a five-year-old townhouse that had two separate attic areas.  One was insulated, one wasn't.  Wow.



I have a lot more photos that I could share, but hopefully I've made my point; just because a home is new doesn't mean it's right.  If you're buying a home, get a home inspection.  It doesn't matter if the house is new or not.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Minneapolis Home Inspections