Nashville Home Inspector – Electrical Installation – What’s Wrong With This Picture? 12-14-11

Nashville Home Inspector – Electrical Installation – What’s Wrong With This Picture? 12-14-11

Look at the picture below.  What is wrong?  HINT:  Junction boxes should be used for junctions.

ANSWER:  Junction boxes should be used to house any junction of electrical conductors, or wires.  But, junction boxes, like the one in the picture above, should not be used to rig an outlet so one can plug in an extension cord.  So there is a lot wrong with this picture.  Junction boxes should be used only for conductor junctions and the box should be closed after the wires are joined and inserted.  Outlets should be housed in outlet electrical boxes with that appropriate cover plate.  Extension cords should not be used as permanent wiring.  If you need permanent wiring, call an electrician and have a dedicated circuit put in.  The installation in the picture above is a fire or electrocution waiting to happen.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

HABITEC Completes another Continuing Education Course for REALTORS licensed in Tennessee!

HABITEC is pleased to announce completion of another successful 6 hour Continuing Education course for REALTORS licensed in Tennessee.  On December 7, 2011, REALTORS attended the TREC-approved Tennessee Home Inspection course presented by Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  at the Brentwood Library in Brentwood, TN.  The following realtors have graciously offered their names as references for this course.

Nina Stern, Benchmark Realty, 202-0363, NStern@hotmail.com

Elaine Finucane, Fridrich and Clark Realty, 300-5093, finucanee@realtracs.com

Maureen Johnson, Main Street Realty, 419-7216, maureen01@comcast.net

Walter Rudd, Legacy Realty, 351-6795, ruddw@realtracs.com

Gretchen Jolly, Century 21 Premier, 519-0986, GretchenJolly@bellsouth.net

Ann Mann, ReMaxElite, 305-3716, annscasa@yahoo.com

Nancy Heap, Main Street Realty, 479-4322, nheap@comcast.net

Tom Heard, Main Street Realty, 646-7744, ThomasHE@realtracs.com

The next class at the Brentwood Library is scheduled for January 25, 2012.  Please contact HABITEC at 615-376-2753 to register for this class.  Information about the class is available on the HABITEC website at http://habitecinspections.com/EducationMaterial.aspx. 

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Ugly Bug Alert!

 

Ugly Bug Alert

 

by

Richard Acree

 

http://habitecinspections.com

 

Please look at the picture below.  Ever see one of these bugs around your home?  What is it and why is it there? 

HINT:  It looks like a cross between a cricket and a spider.  Now that can be ugly.

ANSWER:  That’s it!  It’s a spider-cricket!  And boy is it ugly.  Some people refer to them as cave-bugs, apparantly because they are common in caves.  So how did it ever get started?  Do you think a spider and cricket got together and, wait, let’s not even go there.  Suffice it to say they are common in damp and dark places, like caves.  

Notice the Romex cable next to it.  That cable is about 1/2″ in width, so you can imagine how large this spider-cricket is.  And that grey stuff is concrete block commonly used to form a residential foundation.  That’s because this picture was taken inside a crawl space during a home inspection.  So why is this spider-cricket here?  Well we know a crawl space can be pretty dark, right?  And we now know that spider-cricket’s like places that are dark, but also damp.  Remember, bugs go where they can live and flourish because there is food and moisture there.  So if there is a spider-cricket living in this crawl space, there must also be moisture of sufficient levels that they can live and flourish.  But it gets worse.  Like roaches, if you see one, you can bet there are more.  See the picture below.

And if you keep going in this crawl space, you will find the rest of the gang.  See below. 

The good news is, these guys don’t like people and will scurry off to hide when light or people come around.  But they won’t go away permanently until the moisture source is fixed.  In this case a malfunctioning water management system on the outside of the home allowed significant water intrusion into the crawl space.  All that water is just the ticket for an insect infestation like the one you see above.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

HABITEC completes another Continuing Education Class for REALTORS licensed in Tennessee.

Nashville Home Inspections - HABITEC completes another Continuing Education Class for REALTORS licensed in Tennessee.

On September 12, 2011, HABITEC completed the 6 hour TREC-approved Tennessee Home Inspection Course at the Middle Tennessee Association of REALTORS in Murfreesboro, TN.  The following REALTORS generously offered the use of their names and contact information as references for this course.

Patricia Copeland, Cottage Realty, 889-8093, TopProducerRealtor@gmail.com

Angie Kuka, Reliant Realty, 714-0414, angiekuka@realtracs.com

Yvonne Scott, Bob Parks Realty, 400-8996, YvonneSC@realtracs.com

 The next presentation of this class is scheduled as follows:

 October 26, 2011

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Brentwood Library, Meeting Room B

8109 Concord Road, Brentwood, TN 37027

Contact: Richard Acree

richard@habitecinspections.com

615-376-2753

Price: $30 (Includes a light breakfast and lunch snack)

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – Electrical Panel Bonding – 9.9.11

Nashville Home Inspector – Electrical Panel Bonding

Please look at the picture below.  What you are looking at is the inside of an electrical panel in a home.  This is a common panel installation.  There are many items that a Home Inspector should check while conducting an inspection of an electrical panel.  One item they should look for is bonding of the electrical panel.  Bonding is a name used to describe when the electrical panel is connected to the grounding components of the electrical system.  Look in the picture below and see if you can see if and how the panel is bonded.

If you look closely and through the wires, you will see a copper metal “strap” fastened to the grounding bus bar and to the back of the electrical panel with a green screw.  Bonding!  The ground bus bar is connected to the metal electrical panel using the copper bonding strap.  With this installation, should the electrical panel become active with current, the bonding strap provides a path of least resistance for electrical current to ground itself.  So if a person touches this panel and the panel is active with current, the bonding strap will provide a better path of travel for the electrical current than the person.  This is a protective device to protect people from electrocution.

The electrical panel can become active with current from a faulty installation or a fault where somehow a wire that is “hot” with current comes in contact with the panel.  It is not common but it has happened.

Other types of bonding are also possible.  The straps can be made of aluminum.  Sometimes the grounding bus bar is connected directly to the panel itself and a strap is not necessary.  And sometimes a large green screw simply goes through the grounding bus bar directly into the panel.  All of these methods accomplish the same thing of connecting the electrical panel to the grounding bus bar.

This is one of the many items your Home Inspector should check for during a home inspection.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – Hairy Wood?

Nashville Home Inspector – What’s Wrong With This Picture?

HINT:  Hairy wood is rarely a good thing.

ANSWER:  Everything!  What you are looking at is a piece of wood that supports a porch.  So you are looking from below the porch and the grey material at the bottom of the picture is the concrete foundation wall.  What you are also looking at is some white fungal growth (that’s the nicest way I can describe it) in different forms.  There is the white powdery stuff near the top of the wood, then there is the creepy angle-hair stuff hanging down from the wood.  YUCK!  To make matters worse, there is a brown fungal growth growing on the white angle-hair growth.  These are probably all different types of mold.  So we have mold growing on top of mold.  Talk about a situation out of control!

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – Electrical Installation – 7.27.11

Nashville Home Inspector – Electrical Wiring – What’s Wrong With This Picture? 7.27.11

HINT:  Orange extension cords are a red flag during a Home Inspection.

ANSWER:  HABITEC does not recommend the use of an extension cord as permanent wiring.  These cords usually come with plug attachments at both ends but sometimes people cut those off and use the cord for permanent wiring.  This is a fire waiting to happen for two reasons.  Not only has this homeowner used the improper material as an electrical conductor, they have also not installed the conductor into the metal junction box correctly.  You can see where the cord simply goes through the open knockout hole in the side of the box without any protection from the sharp edge of the hole.  This installation should have a composite grommet, or strain relief, to protect the electrical cable (not a cord) from the sharp edges of the metal box and also to protect the connection of the wires from pulling apart inside the box.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – Exterior Electrical Installation – What’s Wrong With This Picture? 6.11.11

Nashville Home Inspector – Exterior Electrical Installation – What’s Wrong With This Picture?  6.11.11

HINT:  If you can see the romex cable at an exterior installation, it is probably a mistake.

 ANSWER:  Actually, two things are wrong.  First, this electrical circuit probably is not designed to handle whatever additional load is place on it by the additional component at the other end of this romex cable.  And it is true, if you can see the romex at an exterior installation, because it is unprotected, then it is probably a mistake, as it is here.  This was an after-thought installation completed by a do-it-yourselfer.   This romex conductor was installed to supply power to another exterior light nearby.   So it is likely no one verified the circuit can handle the additional load and no one made any effort to protect this conductor from mechanical or weather damage. 

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – Lintel Plate Installation – What’s Wrong with this Picture? 6.25.11

Nashville Home Inspector – Lintel Plate Installation – What’s Wrong With This Picture?  6.25.11

HINT:  Lintel Plates are the metal strip that should be installed across the top of exterior doors and windows.  Lintel plates should extend into the exterior surface above the door and/or window they protect.  Look closely at the lintel plate as it crosses above this door and window installation at a rear porch.

ANSWER:  The purpose of a lintel plate is to provide structural support for the exterior surface, in this case brick veneer, above an opening in the shell such as a door and/or window.  Without this support, the weight of the brick veneer would overpower the frame of the window or door and cause the brick veneer to collapse.  Below is a closeup of the lintel plate near the point where the door on the left meets the windows on the right.  Look how the lintel plate has dropped down above the windows.  Why did this happen?

Lintel plates should extend uninterrupted across the opening in the shell, be it door and/or window.  In fact, the lintel plate should extend beyond the sides of the door or window and into the shell several inches so that the vertical weight load is distributed to the shell beyond the sides of the door or window.  In this case, the lintel plates did extend past the ends of the door and windows.  But, this split in the middle is what caused the problem here.  By not using a continuous plate the loads at the split allowed the vertical loads to overcome the frame of the window and start the collapse of the brick veneer.  Look at the picture below to see that the brick veneer is not only dropping down but also falling out away from the wall.

In the picture above, the only thing holding the brick veneer above the windows is the wood fascia in front of the brick.  This situation needs repair and will likely require complete re-installation.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Tennessee ranks Number 18 in CNBC Rating for Top States for Business – 2011

Tennessee ranks Number 18 in CNBC rating for Top States for Business in 2011!  [Tennessee is tied with Florida for 2011]

Each year CNBC ranks each state in the United States for their accessibility and business-friendly environment based on a series of metrics including Cost of Doing Business, Workforce, Quality of Life, Transportation and Infrastructure, Economy, Education, Technology & Innovation, Business Friendliness, Access to Capital, and Cost of Living.

For 2011 Tennessee ranked Number 18 overall!  Tennessee ranked Number 2 for Cost of Living, Number 5 for  Infrastructure and Transportation, Number 8 for Business Friendliness, and Number 9 for Workforce.  According to the CNBC rating for 2011, areas that Tennessee can seek to improve include Quality of Life, Economy and Education.

In 2010 Tennessee ranked Number 16 overall and Number 1 in 2010 for Cost of Living, Number 4 for Infrastructure and Transportation, and Number 5 for Workforce.  According to the CNBC rating for 2010, areas that Tennessee can seek to improve include Quality of Life and Education.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector HABITEC Announces Another Continuing Education Class for REALTORS in TN

HABITEC announces another TREC-approved 6 credit Home Inspection Course for REALTORS in Middle Tennessee

TENNESSEE HOME INSPECTION

September 12, 2011

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Middle Tennessee Association of REALTORS, 311 Butler Drive, Murfreesboro, TN 37127

Contact:  Roshawnda Perry-Barlow roshawnda@mtar.org

615-893-2242, 877-893-2242

Please call 615-376-2753 or visit our website at http://habitecinspections.com/EducationMaterial.aspx for details.

Thank You

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – Gross Picture Alert – 6.1.11

Nashville Home Inspector - Gross Picture Alert!  Do you know what you are looking at?

HINT:  These guys come out in droves in Nashville every 13 years.

ANSWER:  Dead Cicada bugs!  Hundreds of them!  YUK!  All found laying on the driveway and swept up into this pile.  YUK!  But the birds and fish are really getting fat down here.  YUK!!

Can this affect your home?  Not usually.  Cicadas are not known to do damage to homes or cause unusual circumstances.  But, it would be possible for a large colony like this to impede a vent line such as a plumbing vent or HVAC vent or exhaust.  But this is not a common occurence.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – What’s Wrong With this Picture? 5.23.11

Nashville Home Inspector – What’s Wrong With This Picture?

HINT:  Water is real heavy!

ANSWER:  Very interesting what happened here.  What is laying on the ground in this crawl space is styrofoam insulation board that was at one time glued to the crawl space foundation wall.  The glue is the brown lines of material on the walls.  Look at the bottom of the wall and you can see the stain from the high water mark on the foundation wall.  So the water got so high the styrofoam board got wet.  The weight of the wet board was too much for the old glue and the board was pulled off the wall.  So clearly, the high water is the main problem.  Need to fix that before worrying too much about re-mounting the board. 

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

HABITEC Co-Hosts MTAR Panel of Experts on Home and Commercial Building Inspections

Middle Tennessee Association of REALTORS Master Mind Panel

Monday, May 23, 2011

 11:30-1:00pm

HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, will co-host a presentation at MTAR in order to help MTAR members navigate through some of the issues that may come up during a home or commercial building inspection.  To do this MTAR has put together a Panel of Experts that will address major concerns that your clients may have after the inspection has been completed. There is no CE to attend and this panel will be held at MTAR.  The Panelist will include (in this order):

1.      Premier Home Inspection – Residential Home Inspector

2.      Richard Acree – HABITEC Home & Building Inspections – Commercial Building Inspector

3.      Bob Warren – Structural Engineer

4.      Jim Thomas – Mold Remediation Specialist 

5.      Randy Dickerson – Soil Scientist

6.      Steve Arnold - Certified Professional Builder/Remodeler

PLANNED ITINERARY:

§         11:30 – 12:00pm    Lunch

§         12:00 – 12:30pm   *Each Panelist given a maximum of 5 minutes to introduce themselves       

                                      and their company and talk about ways their company can help clients  

                                      that have concerns about their home or commercial building inspection

§         12:30 – 1:00pm      Moderator will open up floor for questions from attendees

*Home and Commercial Building Inspection Panelist will begin by telling what they look for and maybe give description of some main points to consider after concerns have been found with the residential or commercial property.  All MTAR members are invited to attend.  Please call Roshawnda Perry Barlow, MTAR Education Manager, at 615-893-2242, for reservations.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – Poor Roof Installation – What’s Wrong With this Picture?

Nashville Home Inspector – Poor Roof Installation – What’s Wrong With This Picture? 4.16.11

HINT:  Actually there are three things wrong.  One involves metal, one involves wood, and one issue involves proximity.  Please see the picture below for the first issue discussed, the metal issue.

ANSWER:  Hopefully the metal issue jumps out at you.  For locators, you are standing on a ladder looking at a 2nd floor corner of a house where the roof joins the brick veneer.  Look at the metal flashing.  Look at the cracks, or gaps, in the flashing caulk as it comes around the corner of the house.  You should be able to see the vertical gaps in the caulk were they have opened up and the flashing has pulled away from the veneer.  This is a water leak waiting to happen.  The next picture is a closeup of this discrepancy.

But, a more subtle issue also lurks in the photos above.  This issue involves some wood.  See the picture below for another view.  Remember, water flows downhill following the path of least resistance.

So in the pic above where is the water flowing down the valley on the right going to go?  Looks like it terminates at the piece of vertical wood trim.  So the wood trim acts like a bit of a dam, doesn’t it?  See another closeup of this installation below.

Sure, eventually the water in the valley comes down and kicks out around the end of the wood trim and valley and goes on down the roof, but was it really necessary to point the valley exactly at this corner of the house.  NO!  A better design would terminate the valley to the right of the corner of the house so the majority of the water runoff does not flow into the wood trim and the side of the house.  This installation combined with the cracked flashing caulk makes a roof leak at this corner likely. 

And the third issue with this installation is proximity.  Most manufacturers of wood or composite siding require at least 1″ spacing between adjacent roof shingles and their siding products.  Failure to provide this spacing can allow water from the roof to wick onto and into the siding material and damage it.  In the pictures above you can see the composite siding and wood trim are all the way down and into contact with the roof shingles.  In fact, if you look close at one picture above, and look up the roof somewhat, you can see where some of the composite siding has already started to be damaged (flaking) due to moisture.  The 1″ spacing would have prevented this.  Another picture of this damage is provided below.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Tennessee Building Inspector – HABITEC Inspects Retail Services Building – 3.15.11

HABITEC Inspects Retail Services Building

HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, is pleased to announce the completion of a Commercial Building Property Condition Assessment of a 5000 square foot single story retail sales building!  This 60 year old building has been renovated and increased in size several times since the original construction.  Currently it is used as a retail sales building and office space.

 

Services contracted by the Client included Field Notes and Photographs, a Mold Assessment, a Radon Test, an Americans with Disabilities Act Tier II Survey, and an Executive Summary.  Richard Acree was the Inspector of Record for this project.  He was assisted by Rick Cozby.

The structure is built primarily of concrete block with brick veneer walls and wood framed flooring and roofing.  The roof is constructed of composite shingle and rolled roofing material.  The electrical system is a combination of 3 phase and single phase electrical service.  The HVAC system is a combination of gas fired split systems and through-the-wall electric heat pumps.  Plumbing is a common system of copper, galvanized, cast iron, and PVC.

HABITEC offers Commercial Building Inspections in Tennessee for Apartment Buildings, Retail Services, Offices, Distribution Centers, Recording Studios, Medical Clinics, Gas Stations, Warehouses, Schools, Day Cares, Clubhouses, and more.  Information about our Building Inspection services is available on our website at http://habitecinspections.com/CommercialInspections.aspx .  Please call us at 615-376-2753 to discuss your needs. 

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – Question – How Much Water in the Crawl Space is Too Much?

Question:  How much water or moisture in the crawl space is too much?  For instance, is the moisture indicated by the picture below too much?

ANSWER:  Yes!  When the mushrooms start growing in the crawl space, that has to be too much moisture.  I am not aware of any numerical metric to declare a crawl space too wet or not, but this has to be over the limit.  You can also see the very wet condition of the soil, and unfortunately, you can clearly see the wet soil, which should be covered by the moisture barrier.

Surely, despite all our best efforts, some moisture will still make its way into the crawl space.  But there are things we can and should do to minimize the issue.  HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, encourages Clients to take every possible step to prevent moisture from entering a crawl space.  Zero defect water management on the outside is the first step.  An impenetrable moisture barrier on the inside of the crawl space is also a must.  And a functional positive drain to eliminate what gets by the first two efforts is a good backup.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspector – House Fire Caused by Tree Hitting Power Line – 4.11.11

Nashville Home Inspector – House Fire Caused by Tree Hitting a Power Line. 

Recently it was reported in the linked article above from The Tennessean that a house fire was caused by a tree hitting a power line.  This is a scenario that is all too common yet easily avoided.  Look at the picture below.

Unfortunately some people think it looks good when vegetation encroaches on power lines or a building.  However, from a Home or Building Inspector’s perspective, there is never a good time for a building or component of a building, like a power line, to share space with vegetation.  Even without the fire, vegetation is a common source of mechanical damage to buildings and components such as power lines.  There are different standards for how far vegetation should be allowed to exist with respect to the building, but there is general agreement that when the vegetation can touch the building, it is too close and should be cut back or removed.  Usually this must be done by a professional.  Home and building owners rarely have the training, equipment or experience to take on a project line the one in the picture above.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Tennessee Building Inspection – What’s Wrong With This Picture? 3.24.11

Nashville Home Inspector – Gas Line Meter Barrier – What’s Wrong With This Picture?

HINT:  I suppose it could stop a small car?!

ANSWER:  The idea behind a barrier to protect the gas line and meter is to stop most vehicles that might drive up to this setting before they can hit the meter or line.  This might work for a Yugo, but a Suburban or F-150 would probably hit the gas line and meter even before it hits the barrier, especially if backing up.  Or they might even run over the barrier and really paste the meter.  At least move the barrier back away from the gas system another 2 feet or so.  Better yet, install a couple of bollard posts or a raised metal barricade like you see on the freeways.

Please contact Richard at richard@habitecinspections.com should you have any questions.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!

Nashville Home Inspectors – Service Conductors – What’s Wrong With This Picture

Nashville Home Inspector – Service Conductor Intrusion – What’s Wrong With this Picture? 3-22-11

HINT:  Electrical power and vegetation should not share the same space.

ANSWER:  It is seldom a good idea that vegetation and power lines share the same space.  This vine grew up from below and seriously encroached on the electrical power mask.  Movement of the vine can damage the insulation on the wires and make electrocution and serious power malfunctions a possibility.  See the insulation that has worn away below.

This should never have been allowed to happen, and getting the vine out of the wires is no easy, or amateur, job.  This is a classic example of deferred maintenance.  Below is a view of how this got started.

HABITEC recommends a minimum of 18″ of space between vegetation and any component of a home or building.

Please contact Richard at richard@habitecinspections.com should you have any questions.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!