Hello
This would represent # two of my following the inspector writings. Some time has passed since my last post, this was caused by a couple of contributing factors. One being my computer skills and the other being the fact that the inspection business tends to slow down some what this time of year.
January 4th 2010 and have just finished my first inspection of the year. Two inspections were booked for today but as you will come to see cancellations in this game are the norm.
This Haliburton home proved rather uneventful, which is what everyone involved would consider a great inspection. Exterior work is very hit and miss this time of year simply due to the accessibility, which means SNOW. I chose to go on the roof of this split level home because the top of the chimney did not look just right. As I reached the top of the TV antenna I stepped onto the roof and plowed through the 20 inches or so of snow, taking great care as I placed each step to ensure there was something that felt like a sound footing. Reaching the chimney it was clear that it was no longer in use due to the fact that it was packed with snow, as I walked the ridge of the roof the hoar frost was starting to form on the plumbing vent pipe.The pipe was sized adequately so there was no concern of the warm, moist sewer gases being able to form an ice plug ( or cap) over the opening of the 2.5 inch ABS pipe that protruded through the roofing.
We will stay with the plumbing for a minute as this was the system that had the only major concern during the inspection today. This is a very common problem that arises with rural plumbing, and this time the component proudly displayed the tradesman's company sticker. (ouch) The Ontario Plumbing Code suggests that any time we have a vessel that is under pressure such as a Hot Water Tank, or a boiler's expansion tank or in this case a well pump's pressure tank they need to have a mechanisum that will open to relieve a pressure build up, should there be one. This is a simple $40 valve that i would say is missed on easily 75% of the pressure ( or cushion) tanks that I look at, so, my question to you is WHY ?
dangerous hell ya
cheap to buy hell ya
easy to install hell ya
should the home owner care hell yes !

thanks for checking this out
love where you live and take good care of it
m

todays inspection dec 16 2009

well here we go this is the first!
how about we start with some background
My name is mike, I have been providing professional Home Inspections for the last 13 years, as far as credentials, I am what is referred to as a Registered Home Inspector as well as a National Certificate Holder. The inspections that I will speak of will have been preformed any where from Durham region north to Huntsville east to Peterborough and west to Lake Simcoe. My intent is to simply open the door to my day to day experinces, findings, confortations, and good times alike.
Todays inspection took me to Port Perry, the home was about 30 years old with some of the typical 30 year old concerns, ( never problems, only concerns). An interesting idiosyncasy of this era of housing is the electrical service. Flash back to the mid 70's, come on you remember disco, bell bottoms, base board heaters and fuse boxes. The latter two will be the topic for today due to the fact that in this particular duplex we have BB heat and a 200 amp CEB (candian electric box) fuse panel. Fuse boxes on there own can be of some concern due to the fact that the "bakelite"guts ( the blackfuse blocks ) are now becoming very brittle, cracking and breaking causeing contat hazards for any one that may be attempting to replace a blown fuse. The 200 amp CEB panels, however have some special concerns. The style of construction on this type of panel utillizes a metal bus bar that is very suseptable to over heating if the panel should be over fused. The end result being the bar warps and can arc out on the actual tub or box resulting in fires. that sucks.
This would typically require ( maybe a fire truck) a new service panel at the tune of between 900 to 1400 dollars (ouch) but wait the good news is if you need to do this Federal Pioneer actually makes an insert that can be put inside the old tub. An electrican would rip out the guts and a bank of breaker can, in most cases bolt right in. The beauty of this is that there will be no wall damage and the cost is less than half of a new system, you gotta like that. My client did.
Other than that we had a bad GFCI outside, which seems to be the rules that all houses have to have at least one, yes your house too. Up in the attic checking the fire seperation (remember this is a duplex) all was in tact but again as typical the range hood and the bath fan both vent into the attic. We also, are still working with 1970's insulation levels, about R20. The eco inspection should deal with that short comeing very nicely, R 50 here we come.
Hey thanks for tagging along, hope to see you on the next inspection adventure ( bet you won't sleep tonight with anticipation
m