I purchased a 2017 house in orange county and it has self close door in the garage and whole community house have self close door. That is why I believe the self close door plus I get training in InterNICHI class.
My first inspection house is 2014 without self close door, I report
The second house is 2003 without self-close door, I report and the buy agent said it does not matter and they always close the door by themselves. At that moment i start to scepsis myself.
The third house is a brand new construction and it without self close door. OMG, should be something wrong with me.
Haha.
I’ve never said anything about it… occasionally, I will have someone move from out of state and ask about it, but otherwise I just Make sure the door is fire rated, has proper weather stripping, and that the home has CO detectors.
Those, I believe are much more important
About the CO or SD or both combine detector. Are you try to test them by your inspection to hear if they really work, or just see if they are on the ceiling and see the green light on it?
There are many threads about the smoke / CO testing. The best thing to do for your client or the homes occupants is to remove the unit from the mount and determine the date (stamped on the backside). Units over ten years old should be replaced. Pushing the button merely determines if the unit has power and makes a noise, IT WILL NOT determine if the unit detects smoke or CO.
I would be very cautious about canned smoke. It is not really smoke and cannot test to the UL 325 standard. Consider for a moment that replacement recommendations of ten years is due to reduced sensitivity not total failure. Would your use of “canned smoke” be sufficient to GAURANTEE the tested unit had the appropriate sensitivity. I think not. Better just stick to the date.
I automatically recommend all detectors be replaced in all homes I inspect that are older than 6 YO, and newer than 6 years old if I see a problem, such as a missing detector.
The reason for 6 years is because that’s when Ohio started requiring Ionization, Photoelectric, and Carbon Monoxide Detectors in all new construction.
In the original Ohio SOP home inspectors were required to check the dates on the detectors but the requirement was removed due to the fact that many detectors get damaged when removed and attempts at reinstallation.
I do include the standard notes about testing them, keeping fresh batteries in them, and that all detectors should be replaced every 10 years regardless.
You’ve probably done 500x the number of inspections I’ve done and I’ve found 3. The houses with them were built 2014, 2016 and 2017. Super annoying too.
We inspect Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola, and Volusia Counties. I have completed 7000 inspections. Even before 2010 a lot of the homes in Orange and Osceola had them. Now they are everywhere. I would guess that I see 3-8 homes a week with them.
