Run those showers boys !

I just want to reiterate the importance of incorporating the extended use of all hand crafted showers in any inspection.

you can plug the drain and fill it to 1.5" or simply run the heck out of em…

Shower pans are easily damaged or installed improperly during the installation.

I don’t care how expensive the home is or how nice the shower appears …

Here is a pricey home I did 2 weeks ago where the owner passed away and never used the showers much at all , so the defects (leaking pans) were never realized.

There were 3 custom walk in tiled showers in the home, in which 2 were installed improperly and require new floors and pans…

The best pan material today is not a liner but Tec Hydraflex…my best friend I used to tile with is a union boy who does all the big U of M campus jobs and will never use anything else…

I can’t even imagine trying to answer to my client that the showers were bad after he bought the place , and I missed this …

If I didn’t run them for an extended amount of time I would have never caught this …I run em for an hr every time…

Awesome vids Kevin.

Thanks Dave …mucho appreciated amigo !

I try to always make it out to the septic tank and clean out after I inspect a home with a septic system .

Even if they didn’t purchase a septic inspection from me I give my high dollar clients a free hydrostatic load test as I run the water for the entire home.

As you see testing the integrity of the showers as well…:smiley:

I then look for any pooling over the tank at the lid area.

On this inspection you can see not only did the showers fail but the lawn boy decided to try and hide his ooops !

Another quite costly hidden defect that could have come back to haunt me had I not caught it.

I’d say my protocol had saved my arse that day as well as an angel looking over me.

These were items that I dare say 90% of inspectors would have missed.

Great video’s and reminders Kevin. Thanks for posting them.

Hi Kevin, do you start your inspection from the top to bottomso you can see if there are leaks from above? You said you run them for a hour, do you mean all showers, bath and sinks?

Thanks for sharing the knowledge

OK I usually don’t have time to even post anymore but I am just finishing up my 4th report for the day and decided to slip in here as I was homegauging it today …:stuck_out_tongue:

I will usually always start my inspection in the basement anymore as I get right to the meat of the matter and inspect the foundation since my geographic area dictates that many foundations are old and these may offer a deal killer at the onset .

If I find the foundation is bad I bring this to my client’s attention immediately and we may squash the inspection at that point, in which I only charge them 1/3 the inspection price and they continue to look for another home…

Is this the best way for me to make $$$ hell no !
Is this the most ethical and common sense approach ?

You bet and it’s methods like this that assure my clients are happy
to recommend me always.

I like to turn the ac to 57 degrees as soon as I walk in and get the home cooling down to inspect the capability of the HVAC.
I then go to all water outlets of the interior and turn em on …

Be careful ,slow drains and crazy things may create an overflow so be careful and monitor these to assure the drains are accepting them before
moving on …

This is the hydrostatic load test I perform tossing 400 gals of water at the waste drain and septic system.

I am then found in the basement inspecting that as I watch for any leaks from the floor overhead.

Eventually I save the roof for last anymore as well as the attic behind it , (can you say sweat ) ?

I used to do the exterior first but have switched up …

hope that helps…

I gotta run,gonna go wire up my buddy’s new taxidermy shop he built for his galfriend ,she’s a taxidermist from Montana but a former local and his ol sweetheart…:smiley:

Things ya do for your friends…

Thanks for the reply. I’ve got to learn more about hydrostatic load test

Here in San Diego (and probably all of California), pest control professionals test the shower pans. However, most of them don’t. Instead they disclaim them. Pest control professionals are licensed by the State of California whereas home inspectors are not. So, if a licensed professional is going to disclaim them, I as an unlicensed professional am going to do the same. Both my business attorneys and my E&O insurance provider appreciate that.

Whom are you working for your insurance agent your attorney. Seems to this old Okie your client might be a little disappointed with a leaking shower pan disclamer and a rotted wall plate:p:p;-)

I work within the guidelines of the State of California re home inspectors and home inspections, the guidelines of the various Courts in California (municipal, district, county, state, appeals), and the guidelines of the home inspection industry for California, created mainly by ASHI and CREIA. As long as one properly discloses what one does and doesn’t do, what one can and cannot do, and when it comes to property damage and personal injury, what one will and will not do, there doesn’t seem to be an issue. It’s worked for me for 14 years and 11,800+ inspections, so the track record is extraordinarily good.

Charlie, he is an ASHI guy who hides behind guidelines and basic SOP’s. Explains alot.

Who’s an ASHI guy? Certainly not me! Not CREIA either. InterNACHI and InterNACHI only.

However, since we have no licensing for home inspectors in California, the courts tend to take into account “generally accepted standards of practice” or “prevailing standards of practice” and that definitely is ASHI and CREIA.

I bet they would appreciate it even more if you did absolutely nothing inspection related and just sent them checks. Who is working for whom, while the client is buying a leaky shower?

Sure do have a lot of Ones and Wills in that post. I just stick to finding leaking shower pans and don’t care one bit what the attorney’s and the insurance agents want or don’t want. When they start sending me money then they can tell me how to operate my business. Its worked for me for the last 19 years;-)

LOL. For sure! But as long as I’m working in a state with no home inspector licensing, where attorneys and insurance providers consider us a non-industry, I’ll have to pay attention to them and what goes on in the courts here.

As long as I’m working in a state with no home inspector licensing, where attorneys and insurance providers consider us a non-industry, I’ll have to pay attention to them and what goes on in the courts here. And that pretty much determines what I can and cannot do, what I do and don’t do, what I will and will not do. Their advice and concerns allow me to sleep well at night knowing that if by chance I do mess up, they’ve got my back.

Sorry I depend on me to know that I will sleep well at night. BTW I found a leaking shower pan today on my second inspection and my clients will be real thankful and the seller will be a little unhappy because this pan has been leaking for some time and they just purchased the home one year ago with a inspection performed. Gee those amateur inspectors anyhoo;-)

Found a leak in February this year, the sellers had the leak fixed, did another inspection for new clients yesterday and it was still leaking. :roll::roll:

If I were living and working in Oklahoma where the cost of a home is, what, $100,000 maybe, I might be, too. The only real estate here that sells for anything less than $200,000 are the mobile homes built in Oklahoma…LOL

U so funny

Yipper you can sell a dumpy mobile home with wheels in Calif and buy a McMansion in Okla;-)