Gifford Home Inspection

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Defect of the Month, 2007

December, 2007

This is an all too common condition which I have found in a number of houses over the years.  In this case an electrician left this wire under the kitchen sink for the installation of a garbage disposal.  However, the original builder of this ranch in Greenfield, MA  never had a disposal installed.  At some point the circuit breaker was turned on, creating this electrocution hazard.  In other cases a broken garbage disposal is removed but the wire is left dangling under the sink.

November, 2007

This photo shows that the electric system grounding conductor has been removed from the water main.  This was in a small crawlspace under a home in Turners Falls, MA.  (The grounding wire is the one with the clamp hanging from it.)  Two water mains can be seen along the bottom edge of this photo.  The old one on the right has been cut off and capped.  The new one is on the left with the newer yellow valve handle.  Most likely the cable was removed when the original water main was disconnected, unfortunately it was never attached to the new water main.

October, 2007

The insulation on this steam pipe in a basement in Northampton MA was in poor condition and was falling on the floor.  It is very likely that this insulation contains large amounts of asbestos fibers.  Although it is an excellent thermal insulator, when asbestos insulation and fibers become airborne they are a known carcinogen.  Care should be taken when working around this material and it should be tested for the presence of asbestos fibers.  

September, 2007

This photo shows a garage door opener with its light beam sensor or "electric eye" mounted on the garage ceiling.  While the owner who admitted to installing it on the ceiling may have considered it a nuisance, all garage door openers built since 1993 require this safety device.  According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), approximately 60 children between the ages of 2 and 14 have been trapped and killed under automatic garage doors since March 1982. This is approximately 2 1/2 such deaths per year. Other children have suffered brain damage or serious injuries when the closing door contacted them, and failed to stop and reverse its direction.

August, 2007

Here is a good example of asphalt roofing shingles covered with moss and lichen.  This North facing roof surface also has a thick covering of overhanging tree branches.  These roof shingles are only 5 years old.  The tiny "roots" of the lichen will eventual pull the grit off the shingles, shortening their normal life span.  Notice how there is no growth in the area under the chimney.  Microscopic bits of lead are leaching out of the lead chimney flashing, preventing the growth.  Strips of zinc or lead are available for installation under the top edge of shingles.  These perform the same function by letting our acid rain leach out molecules of zinc or lead, which will prevent the growth of moss and lichen.

July, 2007

Here is a chimney cap on a small house in Laurel Park, Northampton, Massachusetts.  The layer of creosote from the wood stove has almost completely blocked the screen mesh.  Besides being flammable, this creosote is substantially reducing the chimney draft.  Eventually the smoke will start backing out of the wood stove and into the house. (If it doesn't burn first.)  At the start of the inspection the seller's Realtor assured me that the chimney had been cleaned "just a few months ago."  A walk on the roof proves otherwise.  I talked to my clients, the new owner's of this house, a few weeks after the closing.  They stated that their chimney sweep cleared more than 325 pounds of creosote out of this one story chimney.

June, 2007

Would you want to trust this stack of stones to hold up part of your 2-1/2 story Queen Anne Victorian?  It made me nervous just to be crawling around next to this support post in a crawlspace under a house in Hatfield, Massachusetts.

May, 2007

Although the Realtor stated that the house was vacant, no one told this family of raccoons that the house was under contract.  They were living behind this chimney cleanout in a nice ranch house in Amherst Massachusetts.  I was suspicious when I saw the large animal droppings on the roof, next to the chimney.  A screen over the top of the chimney will keep them out, once they can be persuaded to move on.

April, 2007

This is a home made sink drain line under a basement laundry sink in Northampton, MA.  Not only is the tinfoil not a watertight seal, but the lack of a trap will allow sewer odors and sewer gases to rise up out of this sink and into the basement.

March, 2007

The outer insulation on this main electric service cable on a house in Amherst Massachusetts was badly deteriorated.  This was allowing rain water to run down into the electric meter box.  The water was then traveling down the inside of the cable to the circuit breaker box in the basement.  The standing water in the circuit breaker panel was an electrocution hazard.

February, 2007

This is a fiberglass patch on the main sewer waste line in this house.  It is only a matter of time before this patch lets go.  This cast iron waste line has reached the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced.

January, 2007 

The basement in this Amherst MA home had high levels of carbon monoxide during the home inspection.   Both this water heater, and the furnace, had visible flame "roll out" during ignition.  Since both of these appliances had separate flues entering the chimney it was very likely that the chimney had a partial or complete blockage.  Besides being a fire hazard, this also presents a life threatening hazard from the carbon monoxide.