PVC pipe is a no-no. This water heater has a 1/2" PVC extension tube on its temperature-pressure relief valve. PVC stands for Polyvinyl chloride, but a more suitable name might be “Pipe Very Cracky”. The piping is brittle and not rated for use inside a home generally, and especially not as an extension tube on a water heater temperature-pressure relief valve. In addition to [...]
Jiminy Cricket! This wide chimney is missing a cricket. No, not the small, noisy insect. A cricket is a small, peaked roof at the up-slope side of your chimney to deflect water and debris around your chimney. Without a cricket snow and debris can easily build up and lead to water penetration around the chimney. Chimneys that are 30” wide or more should have [...]
Duct tape and bailing wire are a short-term fix. Anyone who grew up on a farm knows that much can be done with duct tape and bailing wire, at least to get a job done in the short-term. But repairs made in the short-term are often forgotten and become long-term, permanent, repairs. Here we see duct tape used to repair a gaping hole in [...]
Rule #65 of home inspections: If anyone *can* do their own framing work, anyone *will* do their own framing work. We’ve all heard about the “good bones” of a house, and well, the framing members are quite literally the bones of the house. Here a homeowner has installed a new window in a wall but failed to install a header across the opening to [...]
I’m Melting! Melting! Well, no, this building isn’t coming to the same fate as the Wicked Witch of the West, but its split-face block wall does have serious issues with water penetration. Split-face block walls absorb a lot of water and it lifts the paint as it tries to escape. The source of the water penetration may be from improper flashing details or even [...]
Rule #64 of home inspections: If anyone *can* do their own plumbing work, anyone *will* do their own plumbing work. As we’ve mentioned before, every plumbing fixture is supposed to have one trap to hold a small plug of water and prevent sewer gas from rising up out of the drain. This homeowner must have been one of those people who believe that “more [...]
Perhaps these Christmas lights could be relocated... to a place where they’re not likely to fall into a tub of water containing a person. Just a thought.
Rule #63 of home inspections: If anyone *can* do their own electrical wiring, anyone *will* do their own electrical wiring. Especially with Home Depot and Lowes there to encourage them. This light fixture is intended to be installed over a flush-mount electrical box. (That’s a box that fits inside the wall and is flush with the surface of the wall – or better, yet, [...]
Insulation and Wiring - Rule #62 of home inspection: If a rodent *can* gnaw on a thing, it *will* gnaw on that thing. All rodents, including mice and rats, have four front teeth that never stop growing and must be worn down to keep them at a manageable size. If necessary, they’ll simply grind their teeth together to keep them at a manageable length, [...]
Avoid a "hot" summer. This electrical service drop contains a variety of defects: Both the utility splices are exposed at the "hot" legs of the service drop. The exposed conductors could shock or kill a person or animal. A strong wind could blow the splices into each other, causing an electrical arc that would damage them and pose a fire hazard to the house. [...]