These pictures are from a 1950 home. I am still growing in this business and need some help. Are these pipes galvanized steel? Is the wiring considered cloth?
No pics (yet)…
What’s your definition of cloth wiring? I only see thermoplastic insulation.
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That helps. Thank you!! What about the pipes?
Looks like copper but you were the one there. They’re completely different materials.
As I said, the house was built in 1950. I thought maybe galvanized. Thoughts?
What did your magnet say?
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Could be galvanized, copper, lead, w/e. Use a magnet for galvanized, scratch the pipe for lead, look for green patina or corrosion for copper.
You can’t differentiate between different materials relying on “thinking” and “age of house” only. Even though the SOP states the inspection is a visual inspection only, a lot defects require hands on or other methods to detect.
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What were the pipes serving?
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Did not do that, I am ashamed to say.
I do not do as much as I want to.
Bathroom and kitchen
Understood. It did not occur to me at the time. I found a lot of issues with the house.
In consideration of minimum reporting requirements within the SoP you are off the hook. However, you got caught with your pants down on a home over your head. Next time on an old home, refer it out or ask an inspector to accompany you. Give him/her the entire fee and enjoy the learning opportunity.
I think this was an excellent post. There will be other learning curves. We all learn everyday.
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The 1st pipe looks like it might be copper. But I’d scrape it with a key to be sure. The 2nd pipe is covered with too much paint and stuff to really tell.
The wiring, looks old and ugly to me. Not cloth though. But worthy of being on my report.
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The water supply looks like copper. Galvanized doesn’t use compression fittings.
The drain line also appears to be copper, which means the home probably still has original sewer lines.
(Most likely Cast Iron, but could also be Clay)
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Bookmark this link about wire types from Inspectapedia. Besides wire identification, Inspectapedia is an excellent resource for many other home inspecting technical questions. My “go to” resource.
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As a side note, for your reports, a camera with a flash will take far better photos.
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I don’t think I mentioned that this was for a four point and a wind mitigation. They had so many things wrong it was almost hard to write I didn’t want to be too harsh. The roof was a disaster because it’s old number one and two it was missing a lot of shingles. The windows and doors were all not up to code for the wind mitigation. They had problems with their faucets. The handles did not move. The water heater was fairly new, but there was rust on the entire bottom but absolutely no leak scene was totally dry. I guess when I got to the pipes I had forgotten some of the tricks. I don’t do this as often as I should but that’s not because I’m not trying. I do appreciate the insight that you all give me. I don’t see it at this point that the pipes will be a big deal and I can put in my report pvc, copper and possible galvanized. They have to get other things fixed first. I could not even get up into the attic to see what the straps look like. It was totally surrounded by air conditioning ductwork. It is a 1950 house. It was quite the deal. I could not even find any nails that missed. Again, the condition of that roof in the sinks I don’t feel very promising on the report.