What I'm Seeing Now

I was excited recently when I was called to inspect a very historic property in Northern Virginia.  Built in 1902, it has been actively listed and on the market for two years.  No offers.  Historic properties abound here and I love seeing them.  The picture is blurry.

The buyer had grand plans to fix it up a bit and rent it out for a while until the market improves.  They were grand plans.

I met him in front.  He said, "We need to go through the back door."

"No problem.  Let's go."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rear door turned out to be a piece of plywood over an old cellar door, the metal door long gone.  I helped him open it.

 

 

 

And this is what I saw.

 

It wasn't that deep, but the stairs were a bit frightful!

 

 

Well, maybe all this trash was moved toward the door to be able to get it out.

 

 

 

Well, no.  On the left, under that window, is the other end of that stair way entrance into the cellar.

We picked our way through the mess.

The house as been vacant for two years, the seller residing now in a nursing home.  There is no water or gas, although there was electricity.

 

When he called, he wanted me to determine the condition of the structure, the heating system, water heater, and roof.  I could see from the outside that the roof was in rough shape as a large limb had fallen onto it in the rear.  That couldn't be pretty from inside I thought.  But as to the rest...

The structure was generally a mish mash of fixes here and there.  As something sagged, it was supported from underneath - a column here, another there, a shim or two, some under floor support.  All resting right on the ground!  And cute!

It was quite wet (muddy dirt floor), moldy, sagging, full of termites and, in my opinion, dangerous!!

I recommended an engineer, but could say that it would need to be replaced, perhaps piece by piece.  Since this is an historic property, it could not be razed.  Repairs would be mandated, difficult, piecemeal and expensive.

To say the least.

"Well," he asked, "what about the heating system?"

And, here it is...

 

 

This is his picture, but you get the idea.  The unit was old, rusty, dirty and not usable.  The very old radiator service lines were the same, and galvanized!

I told him he would surely have to replace the unit, and probably the service lines as well.

It would be a major operation.

 

To say the least!

 

 

 

And the water heater?

 

It was a bit rough as well.

 

Not very old (12 years) but fairly used up, rusting all over, no incline on the very corroded vent line, no tube on the TPR valve, interesting heat deflector above...

 

Overall, I think it needed to be replaced.

 

To say the least!

 

 

 

"How about that old water heater on the other side?"

 

"Um, no, that one won't work either.  You will need a new one period."

 

To say the least!

 

He was disappointed to hear all this.  (His wife was not...)

 

 

"Well, what about the roof?  We should at least see that while we are here."  We made our way up some scary stairs to the main level.  The house was so full of debris and stuff that I could not see the floor or walls anywhere!  And I mean anywhere!

 

This is typical of what I saw when we got upstairs - the ceilings looked like this in most of the upper level bedrooms.  I said, "The roof looks to be in bad shape all over."

 

To say the least!

 

The access to the attic was a staircase in a bedroom closet. We had to move stuff just for me to be able to get onto the first step! I looked.

 

 

 

I couldn't see too much...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the house looked like this!  I did not expect much better in the attic.  I was not disappointed!  What bothered me most about the attic was the many, many huge piles of raccoon poop!  I hoped one would NOT show up.  They can be very mean when you approach or enter their territory!

My client said, "I think I'm going to blow up this deal.  I was just hoping to remove all the trash, fix a couple of things and rent the place out.  I think this is going to be more than I bargained for."

To say the least!

His wife said, "Thank you for saving him from himself!" Another day, another salvation!  All in a day's work...

My recommendation:  Historic properties can be interesting and a lot of fun!  Not all of them are like this.  But when you get a call to list or sell one, get a home inspection!

 

 

 

This house is 52 years old.  The sellers decided to remodel.

The little gem you see here is the underside of a former coat closet and part of an entry way that was converted into a full bathroom.  A powder room elsewhere was converted into a coat closet, nearer to the most-used door.

The far corner is the drain (the vertical pipe) for the new bath sink.  To the left is the drain (you see the trap) for the new bath tub.  The vertical drain under the toilet is in the center of the picture, beside the old drain stack.

The old cast iron drain was utilized variously to accommodate the new bath.  All in all the bathroom looked pretty nice from above.  Nice floor tile, heavy appliances and cabinets - very nice looking.  But heavy...

What bothers me is the support.

Look closely.  The new toilet is supported by a new cross joist, which looks slightly grayer, which is toe-nailed into the original floor joist.  They apparently notched the original floor joist to be able to toe nail it.  That tells me they may have added it as an after thought because the other end of that gray joist that is hidden behind the vertical toilet drain is merely resting on the top of the cast iron drain.  It is attached to nothing.  That cast iron drain is newly supported by the 1x4" board near the wall.  That 1x4" is attached to nothing, top or bottom - it merely stands there.  The end of the gray joist is toe nailed to the floor joist which was cut to accommodate the toilet drain line. 

That corner is resting on an old piece of 2x2", which, you can see, is bowing under the load.  This is approximately the center of the bathroom.

A large, heavy visitor sitting on the toilet, or Grandma and Grandpa using that bathroom at the same time, might just cause that little 2x2 to snap! 

What a mess!  Well, at least they used purple primer!  Notice that the new plastic stuff is strapped!

My recommendation:  If you see a remodeled bathroom, see if you can check the underside before you use the toilet!  You might avoid a real surprise if you do...

 

 

 

Every inspection probably brings the opportunity to teach and learn.  A recent inspection was no different.

This is the HVAC unit of a two-story, 60 year old house.  It was manufactured in 1993.

While I won't go into everything possible here, there are some things worth mentioning.  They are all correctable.  They are all important.

The house sits on a masonry foundation with a "continuous crawl space perimeter."  That means that the crawl space is the footprint of the entire house.

The crawl space is used for everything from plumbing to drainage to HVAC return ducts, electrical, gas lines, etc.  Some of the soil down there has a plastic cover, but not all.

This HVAC unit is installed in, or crammed into, the closet under the staircase.

As to this closet:

1. To get this unit out, you would have to cut through the kitchen wall and pull it out from behind.  It cannot come out through the direction of the door used for this photo.  Literally, a door could be installed behind the fridge in the kitchen right behind this unit.  There isn't one now!
   
2. The white AC condensate line drains into the crawl space.  That is a lot of additional moisture NOT needed there.  It should drain outside the foundation perimeter.  And a  trap on the line wouldn't hurt.
   
3. Only about 10" of space is available in front of this unit if you had to do repairs.  That is not enough.  The rule of thumb would be 30" - 36".  There was no service sticker so I don't know how much care has been given here.  But the HVAC tech would have to weigh about 60 pounds to fit.
   
4. The furnace and water heater woulda, coulda, shoulda be sitting on drain pans to catch any leakage.
5. When the door is closed, there is no way for fresh oxygen to get into that closet.  A couple of breather holes need to be cut into the walls to allow for that fresh air to ventilate the space.  We call those a "combustion source."  A slotted door could be installed, but someone built a linen shelf into that door.  It is the only linen "closet" on this level.  Fresh air is essential for proper combustion.  Inefficient combustion increases the potential for, and risk of, carbon monoxide.
6. Egregiously, there is NO Redskin sticker!!  Anywhere...  What were they thinking?

There were a few other things, not visible in this photo.  But that is the list of obvious stuff.

My recommendation:  Basically, a furnace room should have good access, plenty of room to work, fresh air and good light.  Common sense really.

 

 

I had a previous post, "I'll See Your Sump Pump, And Raise You A Drain," in which the sump pump was supposedly "grandfathered" and allowed to be plumbed into the sanitary drain.  Well, it turned out that there was no "grandfathering," which I knew all along.  That seller was forced by the County to correct the problem.

Well, yesterday, hidden behind a hydrangea bush (planted too close to the house) and under a potted plant, was another interesting plumbing job. You can see the top of the potted plant in the bottom of the photo.  It was placed, literally, on top of the horizontal pipe you see here.  Hmmm....

It was plumbed by another basement waterproofing company. 

They could have more easily sent this sump discharge away from the foundation wall and out into the yard.  They elected instead to attach it, poorly, loosely and not permanently, to the main drain clean-out stack in the yard. 

That's a similar no-no, at least around here.

What made this so funny was that THIS was the same Realtor who experienced the last sump pump post!  It was she who called the County, had them condemn the previous post's installation, went through the rigmarole and so was familiar with the process.

She met me on the porch and all I did was point to the installation you see here!  It was she who said:

"That isn't the sump pump is it?"

I said, "The bell tolls again, Carolyn, and it tolls for thee."

I have had two of these this year, BOTH with her!

My recommendation:  As always, check to see where the sump pump discharges!

My annual two-day vacation turned into a three-day!  The family spent a week at Virginia Beach, with me showing up for the weekend.  No pictures of the beach - I don't like taking the camera to the sand...

It was HOT!

Monday was spent at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg VA.

It is certainly the best park around.

We did all five of the great roller coasters before lunch.  Smart to do...

Our favorite is the Griffon.  It has two, count'em two, vertical 90 degree drops of 205 feet.  At the bottom it is said the coaster is traveling at 90 mph!  The front row gets you the most thrill - at the top of the slope they stop the carriage for about 7 seconds!  You are hanging vertical and looking straight down!

This photo is snapped at the point of maximum G's, just as you begin the climb following the drop!  We rode this ride three times - they used this photo all day, I guess to advertise the force of the ride!  Maybe they thought I am Jon Voight.

My pants (I was one of about three dopes who wore long pants in the whole park...) are plastered against the seat - the G forces did not swell my legs to that dimension!  My daughter is to my right.  How that kid on my left has his eyes open I don't know!  Given the obvious G forces, I calculated my weight as seen in this photo to be 6,153 pounds.  My sunglasses are in my right hand, and survived the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

How HOT was it?

I had a case of Diet Pepsi in my car during the day.

It was predicted that the temperature would reach higher than 100 degrees, so I left all my windows cracked 1".

That didn't help.

I think it reached 144 F that day, with humidity of 161%!  Maybe more...

We drank water ALL DAY LONG!

This picture demonstrates the heat.  Have you ever seen a soda can do this?  Maybe because it is caffeine free?  There was about 1/2 case left, and most of them exploded like this during the day.

That is hot!

All in all, it was a great day!

 

No photos of disaster or creative ignorance.  No single problem to report.  But I AM tired of this.

I arrived at the inspection of a short sale to the smiling owners (mostly undressed in a very hot, extremely filthy and cluttered house, sitting in the living room, watching TV) who immediately said, "We told the buyers that you really don't need to be here.  Everything works fine."

In English I said, "Thank you.  I am here for the buyers.  They want me to check everything anyway."

They began speaking rapid Spanish to each other, not realizing I understood every word.  "He's going to find out what's broken."  "What if he tries the oven?" "Go cover up the..."  "What if he tries..."  You get the picture.

The lady quickly said, "Oh, I'm sorry.  I forgot.  The washer broke yesterday, but I used the dryer this morning and it works fine."  Then, the tip off -- "You don't really need to test it."

You should know that everything in this 24 year old townhouse was original and VERY poorly maintained.

"Well, yes I do.  That's the only way to inspect it."

The roaches were so legion I passed straight through the kitchen, out a sliding glass door which did not roll on the track and put my bag and computer on the rear, very dilapidated, deck.  I hoped they wouldn't acquire any insectification out there...

Coming in I looked at the stacked washer/dryer closet.  The door was so broken it had not been closed in some time.  But I looked inside the appliances anyway.  The washer was obviously not broken "yesterday."  The dryer was used for long-term storage and did not come on.  The breaker box was not nearby.  It was in a locked, rear shed.  The seller said he "could not find the key."  So I picked the lock (No damage.  I have a kit in my bag).  Finding the W/D breaker, I couldn't help but notice that it was terribly scorched, and almost certainly not "yesterday."  No way had she used that dryer "this morning." 

It turns out that the washer/dryer was the least of the problems in this place!  NOTHING worked, except one burner on the stove and the fridge was somewhat cool.

THERE ISN'T MUCH WORSE THAN STARTING AN INSPECTION BY BEING LIED TO BY THE SELLERS.

I returned to the living room, and in very polite, very formal, very adult Spanish, I explained that I thought the washer/dryer had not worked in some time and that I would be quickly going through and doing a report on the entire house, but would be telling the buyers not to trust anything that they were told.  The shock and awe on their faces was cllllllaaaassic.  Oh, that I had a photo of that!

Did they really think I would just accept what they had to say, turn around and leave?!

Thank goodness some people still choose to pay for a home inspector!!

My recommendation:  Do your due diligence.  Do have a home inspection.  Do inspect carefully!  And don't trust everything you are told...