One way to help seal your home from air leaks and to help with energy lose is to caulk your home. There are specific areas of the home to caulk. You should caulk the areas of any penetration through the roof. Also places where the wall and floors change directions. Around all windows and in between wall and foundations. In actuality you should caulk at ever place there is a joint that can allow air flow to occur. Caulking is very important to the air sealing of your home and should be over looked or taking lightly
Here we can see knob and tube wiring on the floor joists in a basement. Knob and tube wiring presents a fire hazard and should be removed by a licensed electrician. The lack of insulation between the floor joists also needs to be addressed in order to maintain proper energy efficiency.
Improperly installed railings pose a hazard to small children. Railings with spaces between spindles or vhertical rails larger than 4 could cause children to become stuck between rails or even fall through. If vhertical rails have a space larger than 4 the hazards should be brought up and discussed during the inspection.
This photo shows a rain gutter that uses the older aluminum gutter nails for mounting,a few of them have managed to work themselves out and are no longer supporting the gutters properly.This is also causing heavy erosion at the foundation of the home and requires the attention of a professional.
I have learned that not only are rain gutters important for proper drainage away from a homes foundation but that proper installation is equally important.I have seen gutters that are improperly installed cause fascia and roofing issues because the slope of the gutter was inefficient causing the water to back up which allowed some of the overflow to penetrate underneath the roof shingles/tiles.
Doors have several components. They are as follows: The stiles are vertical boards on either side. Rails are the horizontal boards, Mullions are small vertical boards that separate the door into panels, Muntins are vertical and divide the door into smaller panels, Panels are large boards that fill space between stiles, and lites are the glass.
Customer profiling is collecting information on your customers to better target your marketing and to provide better service. It’s common sense that it is more effective to market products based on what your customer is already interested in. Many factors can be used as information for profiling. These factors will be similar to those you use in your business plan for targeting demographics and your market region.
This is a photo of recently upgraded, higher quality aluminum, attic pulldown stairs. It appears the installation was not completed. There is no weather-stripping or insulation in or around the stairway in the attic. The lack of these items increases the stack effect and allows excessive moisture to escape into the attic. Installing insulation and weather-stripping will decrease the stack effect and help improve utility costs.
This set of stairs is missing a hand rail, not continuous, large drop off greater than 30 inches in height and a major safety hazard especially if children will be in the dwelling. This would be red flagged and wrote up as poor.
This set of stairs is missing a hand rail, not continuous, large drop off greater than 30 inches in height and a major safety hazard especially if children will be in the dwelling. This would be red flagged and wrote up as poor.
As every time before, the enclosed picture was lifted from google images. The picture is that of a double hung window and shows the window being able to tilt out on both the upper and the lower portions of the window.
I chose to read the article regarding the R-Value of insulation. This was a short, but wonderful article that goes over how to convert R-Values, their importance, and their correlation to insulation. It also talks about the importance (briefly) of the energy saving associated with higher R-Values.
On a recent inspection we found this staircase baluster to be loose to the floor, movement was just over 4" side to side causing a defect. We recommended further evaluation by a licensed professional to install new anchors to resolve the issue.
I inspected a single family home to day, in the attic I found several roof sheathing pieces to be wet from the rain occurring at the time of inspection, after further examination, I found the ridge vent to be defective causing the water to enter the roof area and saturate the sheathing.
This thermostatically ventilation fan is an electric fan that is working properly at the time of inspection. There are more cost effective energy saving for ventilation when this fan fails in the future. Other ventilation options are turbine vents or Ridge vents.
When entering into an attic, safety is a must. You must have overalls to protect your clothing. The right type of shoes or boots to protect your feet. Other protective equipment such as gloves to protect you hand, knee pads, goggles and a respirator. Also pay attention to where your stepping and always have a flashlight with you.
This is a fixed window that is single paned. It is constructed of wood. It has areas of visible damage and deterioration from weather exposure and might possibly present a significant source of external air infiltration into the conditioned living area.
I read the article titled 15 Tools Every Homeowner Should Own, the list the authors present will get you a long ways towards addressing many common maintwnance items around a house. The four tools i would add are; a circular saw, a drill, a speed square, and an impact driver.
The vent fan shown in the image was not operable. although there is an opening window in the bathroom the window opening is less ideal as a natural ventilation means. During colder seasons ocupants are less likely to open the window and let in cold air.
Based on the article Bathroom Ventilation Ducts and Fans.
Common observations made in inspections in my locality are 1. Heavy accumulation of debris such as animal dander, lint and dust where its recommended to periodically clean so that the build up does not impede air flow but more importantly reduces potential fire hazard risk.
