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Is Your Life Worth $25?

This very cold winter has been responsible for many accidents, including deaths from CO (carbon monoxide) poisoning. 

These disasters might have been averted if a properly located and operating carbon monoxide alarm had been installed. For just $25 a battery-operated or for $50 a hardwired alarm can be purchased and installed.

What is CO?  Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas that is tasteless, odorless, invisible, and none irritating gas. It also weighs approximately the same per cubic foot as the air in your house. If it is going to poison you, you won’t know anything about it!

What causes CO?  CO is a product of incomplete combustion due to an insufficient oxygen supply. This can occur by not supplying a fossil fuel burning appliance with enough air. Your furnace, water heater, fireplace, automobile either needs to be located in a wide open space or have an outside air supply. There are formulas for how big an open space is needed, but by installing an outside air supply you are assured of having sufficient air for complete combustion. Or carbon monoxide occurs when fossil fuel appliance burners are incorrectly tuned or when the burner exhaust system is blocked or leaking. In other words you are re-burning the original exhaust products. A safe appliance produces carbon dioxide (CO2). Only when there is not enough oxygen in the air or when you re-burn oxygen from the CO2 does the appliance become a CO producer.

All homes should have a CO detector within 10’ of all bedrooms.

What is the action level?  Obviously you would like to have zero CO in your house. But that may not be possible; you should expect a level of less than 15 ppm in your home. Exposures at 100 ppm (parts per million) or greater can be dangerous to human health. At this level the symptom would be a slight headache in 2-3 hours of exposure. People who survive CO poisoning and complain of low to severe headaches and nausea are lucky. They just got a relatively low dose of this insidious poisoning. Elevated levels of CO will simply kill you before you know anything about it.

All systems that burn fossil fuels… Oil, Gas, Wood… should be examined and tuned by an expert annually.

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI certified inspector, ACI
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

 

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6 Easy Steps To Reduce Radon

EPA does not recommend sub slab suction as the only way of reducing radon levels in your home.

In a real estate transaction there is limited time to test and mitigate radon concerns. Time is of the essence and contractual agreements must be completed. So typically when radon levels exceed the EPA guideline of 4.0 picocuries, buyers will demand a sub slab suction pipe and fan be installed in the home. This is an approved and proven method of reducing radon levels, but it is also the most expensive.

Radon gets into our homes when there are cracks and openings in the below grade foundation and floor slab or when the outside air pressure exceeds the interior building pressure. Understanding this opens up a savvy Realtor or homeowner to alternative, less costly, methods of mitigating high radon concentrations.

Try these before spending a lot of money:

Step 1. Get out a caulking gun; caulk all cracks in the floor and walls. Pay particular attention to the connections between the floor and walls, beam posts, sump basket, plumbing pipes and drains.

Step 2. Get on a ladder; make sure the top of the foundation walls do not have any cracks or open cores.

Step 3. If you have a sump basket, seal the cover shut and caulk the edges.

Step 4. Make sure there is no exposed dirt in the basement or crawl space. If so, those areas would need to be covered with 6 mil poly and the seams taped.

Step 5. Open furnace supply air registers in the basement and close off the returns. Turn the fan switch on your thermostat from auto to on. This continually circulating air will pressurize the basement.

Step 6. Re-test

This may be a good reason to have your home tested for radon before you put it on the market. It may save you some aggravation and money!

For more about Radon and other hot topics ‘Like’ us on Facebook!

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI certified inspector, ACI
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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Does Your House Breath?

I never had frost buildup on my windows before!

Like many houses my 1974 rambler was in need of attention.  For the past 5 years my justification for postponing the needed exterior maintenance was the bad economy.  I felt investing a large sum of money in the house was not wise.  Some of you may agree with this and some will not.  Regardless, at the insistence of my wife, last summer became the year of THE HOME IMPROVEMENT.  We contracted for new roof, windows, doors, siding, soffits and fascia.  Keep in mind to meet new state building and energy code requirements housewrap, window and door flashing, caulking, weather-stripping, and low E glass need to meet a very high standard of insulation and heat loss.  This old leaky house no longer leaked.  It is warm and comfortable inside, but this lack of breathability resulted in very large frost buildups on all of our windows and doors as soon as the weather changed.  Any home inspector would quickly recognize this as a problem that needed to be resolved now.  By ignoring this very obvious moisture sign, which many homeowners do, the next concern is going to be mold.  (http://bit.ly/19ut8aA)

I never had radon before!

But…it didn’t stop there.  As a MN home inspector radon testing is a big part of our business operation.   I had tested the basement previously and my radon concentration was at the minimum EPA standard of 4.0 picocuries.  Upon re-testing after the exterior remodeling was completed, my radon level is 3 times higher.  What is the lesson to be learned from these 2 events? (http://bit.ly/1huOoxd)

Houses work as a system.  By changing the exterior envelope of a home it will have a huge impact on how the interior functions.  What was never a problem yesterday may be a major problem today. 

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI certified inspector, ACI
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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What Is Ventilation?

Ventilation is not just air blowing in through an open window and it certainly isn’t the bathroom fan turned on to get rid of a bad smell. 

In a previous blog, I stated that many older houses are now much tighter than the owners believe. Remodeling, changing surfaces and even a coat of paint can do a lot towards tightening the house and reducing its ability to breath. You should, if you own a house that has new siding, exterior windows or doors installed, be concerned that there is an inadequate amount of ventilation. High humidity levels can cause all sorts of visible and concealed moisture damage to a home. Some clues are frost buildup on windows, ice dams, mold and wood decay.

Ventilation, broadly, is an equal exchange of stale air being continually exhausted from the house shell while being replaced by clean atmospheric air at code specified rates.

There are two general methods of ventilation:

  • The first is balanced ventilation. This requires design by an expert in the field. In balanced ventilation two fans of equal volume will be installed. One will suck air into the housing shell from outside and the other will blow stale air from inside the shell to the outside. Often the two air streams pass, side-by-side, through a heat sink material so that the heat being exhausted from the house may be captured and returned in the incoming air. Systems that employ this kind of heat exchange are usually about 70% efficient.
  • The other method is unbalanced ventilation. Unbalanced ventilation can be a fan sucking air into the house from outside and exhausting, by the pressure created, through an existing vent. Or, more typically, it would be just the opposite. Outside air would come in to the house through a lowering of pressure caused by an existing exhaust fan operating in the home. This method is not nearly as efficient as balanced ventilation but it will do the job.

The easiest and most economical way to ventilate your home is unbalanced ventilation. This is something that you can do yourself at a cost of a few hundred dollars. Some homes may already have the equipment in place and it will take little effort to implement. First you will need to select an existing exhaust fan in the bathroom or perhaps in the kitchen that is vented to the outside. Next, you need to create a vent opening in the basement, connect an insulated flexible air duct, and extend this pipe to the floor. The outside vent cover will need a screen to prevent vermin from entering the home. You may already have this pipe; it would be an open pipe near the furnace called an outside air supply. Finally, turn on the exhaust fan and run continuously. This will remove the stale warm moist damaging air in the home , replace it with fresh cold dry outside air and not depressurize the home. You are now controlling the quality and moisture level of the indoor air.

Any exhaust fan in the home will give you a result. Just remember that the smallest fan required by code is 40 CFM. The higher the CFM fan rating the quicker the home will complete a complete air change. Fans are typically rated from 40 to 130 CFM.

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI certified inspector, ACI
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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4 Top Tips to Keep You & Your Home Safe for the Holidays

What is the #1 cause of house fire?

The answer is electrical wiring. During the holiday season wiring to Christmas lights and trees are particularly dangerous. Some tips to keep you safe are:

  1. Carefully inspect light strings each year and discard any with frayed cords, cracked lamp holders, or loose connections.
  2. When replacing bulbs unplug the light string and match voltage and wattage to the original bulb.
  3. For exterior lights use only those rated for exterior use.
  4. Both interior and exterior lights should have an Underwriters’ Laboratory label.
  5. When connecting multiple strings of lights check how many can be safely strung together according to the manufacturers specifications or UL listing.
  6. When hanging outdoors lights keep electrical connectors off the ground and away from metal gutters and overhangs.
  7. Never connect more than one extension cord together. Don’t use extension cords that are too long. Never install an extension cord under a rug or near a heat source.
  8. Make sure each outlet you plug into is not overloaded.
  9. Always turn off lights when you leave the house or going to bed.

What is the #2 fire hazard?

Over 40% of all home fires are caused by defective heating equipment. If you haven’t already, you should schedule a tune up and safety check of the water heater, furnace or boiler before Christmas. Be sure the heat exchanger, the vent and flue are inspected. These are the primary causes of fire or CO poisoning.

Don’t forget to inspect both gas and wood burning fireplaces for condition and safe operation. Use a screen or glass door and never leave any fireplace unattended. Don’t burn gift wrappings, tissue, or evergreens in the fireplace.

#3 Keep your Christmas tree away from the fireplace, keep water in the base, and turn off the lights when you leave the home unattended.

#4 Check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Enjoy this very special season!

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI certified inspector, ACI
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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Knock Knock…What’s Leaking?

My plumbing pipes bang since I installed a new front loading washing machine.

Many people who have installed similar machines have the same question. You are experiencing water hammer. This is a serious problem, which should be overcome as soon as it is possible. The noise that you hear is caused by the sudden closing of the machines solenoid valves. This causes massive pressure changes in the water piping. The result can be broken or leaking pipes. Can’t you just hear the whisper of running water while you’re still at work?

This problem can be overcome by the installation of water hammer arrestors, which are also called shock or surge absorbers. In the case of frontload washers they should be installed on both the hot and cold water lines just before entering the machine.

High-efficiency dishwashers often have the same problem. 

The cure is the same. The water hammer arrestor is needed, on each line, at the point where waterlines enter the machine.

Some homes never have the problem, simply because the installing plumber has installed a whole system surge absorber on the first vertical pipe after the water meter. So, you have a choice of installing a surge absorber large enough to service all plumbing in the house or individual units at the offending appliance. This is not an easy decision. To be sure you do not make the wrong choice…

As always, you will save time and money by calling an expert!

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI certified inspector, ACI
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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Getting The Heat On

How do I prepare my furnace for winter?

Great question and even better timing! The quick answer is, except for checking a few basic items, you don’t. This is a job for professionals. Winter is close and if it’s another few weeks before you get around to a furnace tune-up you are going to be waiting in line for your contractor.

One thing you can and should always do, at the beginning of the season and then monthly, is to change the furnace filter. You will find it in the metal duct connected to the furnace, just before the air enters the lower fan section. A clean filter improves efficiency, performance, and safety.

Did you know a perfectly good furnace can create CO because of a dirty filter!

By robbing a furnace of air, combustion (the burning of fuel) will not be complete and a byproduct of incomplete combustion is CO.

The new high-efficiency furnaces are essentially people proof; good care for a homeowner would be looking for rust and moisture on the floor or behind the front cover. Older furnaces, however, can very often be operated in a condition that permits back draft which allows deadly gases to enter the home. Here the main indicator of a problem would be loose metal chips or scorching near the burners behind the furnace door. With all furnaces you could check the quality of the burner flame.  This will tell you if it’s burning safely.  The entire flame should be blue; orange flame tips indicate improper burner settings and yellow tips indicate the presence of carbon monoxide. Finally, check the round exhaust pipe which is on the top of the furnace. If this is rusted, scorched, has holes, or is leaking moisture it is unsafe and needs to be replaced.

After all that…still make The Call! 

Having a pre-season professional tune-up will give you peace of mind and will very likely save you money over the heating season.

A furnace, out of tune, having a cracked heat exchanger or even missing covers can be a source of carbon monoxide emissions. Unfortunately, we don’t get a second chance with carbon monoxide. It is a tasteless, odorless, colorless gas that kills many people during the heating season.

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI Certified Inspector
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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MN Inspectors Represent the House

What does “the home inspector represents the voice of the house” mean?

Typically, MN home inspectors are contracted to inspect the home for either a buyer or seller. This is usually recommended and arranged by their real estate agent. Often customers feel because they are paying for the inspector’s report that they can influence the content. Sadly, in a few cases, that is exactly what happens…but should it?

Good home inspectors are not influenced by the customer; they simply report accurately on the condition of the house at the time of the inspection. This is required by their national Standards of Practice, which is where the idea that “the home inspector represents the voice of the house” comes from. The home inspector must focus on the condition of the house at the time it is being inspected. Folding to the pressure of the customer or real estate agent and becoming their advocate is very tempting. Some home inspectors do fold to this pressure, believing that it will make them popular and that other customers will soon follow. The sad fact is that these inspectors soon leave the business because the real estate professionals, home buyers and sellers soon get to understand that their reports cannot be relied upon to accurately express the condition of the home. The inspector’s written report must be honest, accurate, and completely unbiased.

Accurate reporting on the condition of the house is both moral and vital!

Sellers need to know how the quality of the house, at time of sale, compares with other similar houses being sold in the same area so that they may set a realistic selling price. Buyers want to know exactly what is it that they are buying. All parties, being accurately informed, can accommodate cost and service issues within their buying/selling decision, providing they know fully what to expect.

Which inspector would you choose; the one who reports accurately and completely on the condition of the house or the one that tells a story that you would like to hear?

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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MN Inspector or MN Realtor’s Role!

How much is this home worth?

…is a question often asked, by buyers, of their home inspector! Value is in the eye of the beholder and what the buyer thinks is value may be very different to the home inspector’s opinion. The role of the home inspector in helping the buyer with valuation is solely providing an accurate report that covers the condition of every aspect of the home. The cost of overcoming individual weaknesses in the home can only come with price quotes from other experts involved. Reaching an accurate cost is a matter of being certain that all weaknesses have been found and can be allowed for in a renovation. Good inspection and accurate reporting will greatly reduce the risks involved in budgeting for any needed repairs.

The buyer, with an accurate home inspection report and a quality realtor evaluation, showing value against comparables in the same district, can decide if the house is good value when the cost of updates identified in the home inspector’s report are factored into the purchase price of the home. This fact… Identifying Final Value… is often lost to buyers, sellers and realtors! Buyers want to buy and sellers want to sell and all things are negotiable. Given an opportunity both sellers and buyers are very often better prepared to adjust their price to cover needed repairs that have been identified or; to make the necessary repairs adjusting the price to meet the new value.

How much is this home worth?

It is worth the perceived value of the buyer after the home inspector has identified and commented accurately in his or her report. And, firm quotes have been received from the experts required to bring the house up to the quality expectations of the buyer.

 

 

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie

MN Home Inspection
Minneapolis & St. Paul Home Inspections

Kaplan University

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Good Home Inspectors Listen to the House

Is a home inspection necessary?

This question is asked often because many homeowners and realtors do not realize just what an inspector does. A home inspector’s task is to represent the voice of the house. A good inspection report will tell you precisely the condition of the house at the time of writing. A well-written report will direct an owner, buyer, or seller to any action that is required to bring a house up to good condition relevant to its age.

Is a Minnesota Home Inspection Necessary?These days, most realtors realize that a home inspection is necessary at time of sale. Today, more than 90% of buyers have a home inspection, so that they know exactly what they are buying. Sellers are also learning the value of a home inspection. A good inspection will tell them what they are really selling and help overcome the surprise of being asked for concessions at close.

A home inspector is not an engineer and does not have a crystal ball. A good inspector cannot predict what is going to happen in the future or what the value of the house will be down the road. Assessing value is the task of the appraiser and life expectancy comes from plumbers, window suppliers, and other specialists. However, the home inspector should be an expert in understanding exactly what is happening to the house at the time of the inspection. In fact, a good home inspector needs to have a solid grounding in all of the elements and systems of a home.

How do you identify the right inspector for you?

When you are looking for the right fit, you need to find someone who is ASHI certified, has reputation, business longevity and can produce testimonials from realtors who have used their services over time.

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie

MN Home Inspection
Minneapolis & St. Paul

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