Ask the Charlotte Home Inspector

http://www.homeinspectioncarolina.com During a recent home inspection in Waxhaw NC, a Charlotte inspector found a drain on a tub that had been added where the p trap was not visible. The problem on the home inspection is that there is no p trap visible. You could not find it without tearing up the floors. The builder says it was there but this was not good enough for the buyer. What is the best option? Charlotte Inspector Preston Sandlin brought a see snake which is a flexible light camera extension that puts what is seeing on an LCD Screen. He put that dow the drain and ran it about 3 feet and sure enough he saw water which indicates that a p trap is present. Why is a p trap important? The P Trap was developed as part of the drainage system for the plumbing in your home or business. The P trap will also stop sewer odors from coming back up the drain and into your bathroom. This trap has been used all of the world for many years and will continue to be.

The p-trap is found in the bathroom, the kitchen, the basement, the bar and many other places in your home.Many P-traps can also be found in many commercial places of business. P-Traps can be found in fast food places, supermarkets, schools,hospitals, zoos, office buildings, outdoor showers at the beach and pretty much every where you can find a fixture drain.

The P-trap can be found under most fixtures. Common places you will be able to see the p-trap are under both your kitchen and bathroom sink. If you have an laundry tub/sink you will be able to see the p-trap under that as well. Your shower and bathtub also use a p trap but you will or will not be able to see the actual trap. This will depend if you have a basement, crawl space or even live on a slab.

If your bathroom is built on a slap you will not be able to see your p trap because it will be inside of the slab, which is under the bathtub or the shower pan. If you have a bathroom that is built on the first floor and you have a crawl space or a basement you will be able to see your p-trap if you go into one of those areas. The only problem you may run into is if your basement is finished, you may have to remove some Sheetrock from the basement ceiling before you can access the p-trap and the bathtub trip lever or shower pan drain. http://www.askthecharlotteinspector.com

While performing a home inspection in Chantilly, a neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte home inspector Preston Sandlin noticed a roof that was in need of replacement. How do you know when you need a new roof? The following are some things that home inspectors typically look for. Leaking roofs, poor drainage, and clogged gutters and downspouts can lead to significant water damage inside your home. We have listed two ways to help determine if you need a new roof. If you need assistance with determining if you need a new roof, please contact us and we will happy to send a licensed and bonded member of our knowledgeable team to your home .

Outside Roof Inspection
Inspecting a roof from outside is very simple. All that is needed is a pair of binoculars and a viewing point that is unobstructed by other buildings or trees. Following is a checklist of problem signs you can look for during an outside roof inspection.

Blistered, curled or split shingles.
Loose or missing shingles or tiles.
Loose nails.
Exposed nails (can lead to leaks in the roof).
Dark patches on asphalt shingles and/or large amounts of granules in the rain gutters (the granular coating is wearing away).
Sagging either on the ridges or in the center of the roof.
Broken or loose shingles at the ridge lines and hip lines.
Rusty or corroded metal (flashing) and loose shingles in the valleys, plumbing vents or near chimneys. It may be necessary to remove excess debris and leaves to inspect thoroughly (and lots of leaf debris can cause damage to these sensitive areas of the roof).
Rusty metal or loose shingles in locations where a vertical side of the house meets the roof Overflowing gutters or excess water pooling near the foundation of the house.
For flat roofs, look for blisters (pop the blisters with a knife and coat them with roofing cement to prevent further damage), depressions near vent pipes (can also be filled with roofing cement), separations in flashing, and clogged drains.
Note: Walking on the roof as part of the inspection is not recommended and may cause further damage to the roof.

Indoor Roof Inspection
Following is a checklist of problem signs you can look for during an indoor roof inspection.

Sagging decking between the rafters. If the decking is sagging or deteriorating, the decking will also require replacement when a new roof is installed.
Outside light that can be seen through the roof. This may be common (and not a problem) on shake roofs, since the wooden shakes will swell during the wet months, effectively preventing any leaks.
Signs of leaking in the attic (dark spots in the wood, especially around vents, chimneys, and other holes to the roof).
Test dark spots in the wood to decide if they are old or current problems. If the spot is still wet, or if it is soft (test with a screwdriver), the spot is a current problem. If the spot is dry and hard, it is most likely an old problem that has been fixed.
Signs of water damage or leaking (usually in the form of water stains, or sagging ceilings)–this could be due to an active leak in the roof or to condensation caused by poor roof ventilation.
If you observe any of the signs listed above, you need roof repairs or a new roof. Depending on the degree of damage, you can decide what is best for you and your house. Often the cost of fixing or replacing a roof is less than dealing with the damage an old roof can cause to your home. We will present you with both options.

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Charlotte home inspector Preston Sandlin recently inspected a house that had two different types of plumbing pipes in use. Fortunatuately the Charlotte homeowner did not have them connected directy to each other or he would have had a dielectric connection. What is a dielectric connection and how do you avoid it? If you put two metals together in water, one of them corrodes to protect the other. This is known as electrolysis. The action of a sacrificial anode rod, and that of a battery, are both examples of beneficial electrolysis. However, usually in plumbing, electrolysis is something you want to avoid, especially in connections, since it means that the corroding part is eventually going to leak.

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http://www.homeinspectioncarolina.com While performing a home inspection in Gastonia NC, Gastonia home inspector Prestion Sandlin found a buried fuel oil tank. What are the dangers associated with buried oil tanks? Buried oil tanks raise increasing environmental, safety, legal and economic concerns for home owners and home buyers because oil leaks underground or even within buildings can lead to both environmental damage and very costly cleanup operations.

Having to install a new above ground indoor oil storage tank involves significant expense, perhaps $2000. to $4000. to remove the old tank and install the new one.

Removing or abandoning a buried oil tank is more costly. If an oil tank has leaked the cost to clean up contaminated soils can be very significant, so much so that a property buyer should not complete the purchase before questions about the condition of oil tanks, past or present at the property, and the chances of leaks from buried oil storage tanks have been answered satisfactorily.

Home heating oil tanks are excluded from Federal Regulations about oil storage tank reporting and monitoring, but in almost every U.S. state or Canadian province, storage tanks are addressed by state or local DEP/DNR/DEC agencies and regulations. For example, in New York, even residential storage sites must be reported to the state DEC if more than 1100 gallons are stored at a single site. (A few U.S. states specifically exclude the regulation of storage tanks when used for home heating oil.)

In any case, should a home heating oil tank causes a release of oil into the environment, at that point the owner of the tank is not exempt from the other provisions of the State or Federal Regulations: the leak needs to be reported (often within two hours of observation), the source of leak/spill would have to be stopped, a site characterization would have to be completed, and appropriate corrective action (cleanup) would have to initiated, and the incident would have to be reported. Above ground oil tanks and clues for the presence of buried oil tanks are not usually examined during a pre-purchase home or building inspection unless specific prior test arrangements have been made.

Oil tank inspection, other than casual visual inspection for obvious leaks is not performed by such inspectors.

Oil tank tests for leaks, soil tests for oil contamination, soil tests for corrosivity, screening for evidence of prior or abandoned oil storage tanks, as well as oil storage tank removal or abandonment require that you use an appropriate expert.

However articles at this website outline easy on-site visual observations that any thoughtful observer can make to spot evidence of a present or previous buried tank and to spot evidence of leaks or other problems with above ground storage tanks.

From a previous use, a buried oil tank may be present or may have been present at a property now served by an indoor, above ground oil tank or even by LP or natural gas.

So don’t assume that because you don’t see a tank that none was ever used or present at a property

Subterranean termites live in underground colonies or in moist secluded areas aboveground that can contain up to 2 million members. They build distinctive “mud tubes” to gain access to food sources and to protect themselves from open air. Termite colonies are organized into castes depending on tasks — workers, soldiers and reproductives. The characteristics of a subterranean termite are dependent on the termite’s role in the colony. Cream-colored Worker subterranean termites are 1/8 to 3/8’s of an inch in length. Soldier subterranean termites are of a similar body length, but are distinguished by their powerful mandibles. Solider termites have cream-colored bodies and brown heads. Reproductive subterranean termites are approximately one inch long.

Habits
Subterranean termites live underground and build tunnels, referred to as mud tubes, to reach food sources. Like other termite species, they feed on products containing cellulose. Subterranean termites swarm in the spring — groups of reproductive termites go off to start new colonies.

Habitat
Subterranean termites need contact with the soil to survive and live underground. They can build tunnels through cracks in concrete.

Threats
Subterranean termites are by far the most destructive species. They can collapse a building entirely, meaning possible financial ruin for a homeowner. The hard, saw-toothed jaws of termites work like shears and are able to bite off extremely small fragments of wood, one piece at a time.

Prevention:
Avoid water accumulation near your home’s foundation. Divert water away with properly functioning downspouts, gutters and splash blocks. Reduce humidity in crawl spaces with proper ventilation. Never bury wood scraps or waste lumber in the yard. Most importantly, eliminate wood contact with the soil. Maintain a one-inch gap between the soil and wood portions of the building.

You may have heard recent news stories about investment in an electrical Smart Grid, but wondered, “What’s so smart about it?” Loosely defined, “Smart Grid” is a term used to describe investments and upgrades to the nation’s electrical grid, making it function more efficiently and in a more environmentally-sensitive manner.

We all understand the effect the electrical grid has on our household finances, because we come face-to-face with our electric bill each month. But the nation’s electrical grid is much more than a ho-hum utility.

The century-old power grid is the largest interconnected machine on Earth – so complex and an integral part of daily life that it has been labeled by some as a separate ecosystem, containing over 300,000 miles of transmission lines.

It comes as no surprise that, driven by power usage created by bigger homes and more electronic devices, the demand for electricity has exceeded transmission growth by 25 percent every year since 1982. Summer peak demand is expected to increase by almost 20 percent during the next 10 years. Yet spending on research, development and renewal is among the lowest of all industries, leaving the grid struggling to keep up.

The grid is also a major player when it comes to pollution. While transportation of all kinds creates 20 percent of the carbon dioxide we produce, the generation of electricity emits 40 percent, greatly impacting the discussion around global climate change. Grid transformation is seen as one of the key ways to address some of the effects of carbon emissions.

And while our electricity system is amazingly reliable- 99.97 percent by industry estimates, power outages and interruptions cost Americans $150 billion each year, or about $500 per man, woman and child.

What causes interruptions in electrical service? While storms and other natural occurrences lead to some unavoidable outages, blackouts and brownouts are occurring due to infrastructure concerns—such as lack of automation , slow response time of mechanical situations and lack of “situational awareness” on the part of grid operators. In fact, if the grid was able to improve efficiency by just 5 percent, the energy savings would equate to permanently eliminating the fuel and greenhouse gas emissions from 53 million cars.

How can these improvements be accomplished? One means many states are considering is the implementation of “smart grid” techniques labeled real-time pricing. Typically, prices paid for energy consumed during peak periods are established and known to consumers as a day ahead (“day-ahead pricing”) or an hour ahead (“hour-ahead pricing”). Taking advantage of real-time pricing, consumers can then vary their demand in response to actual electric costs, managing their energy costs by shifting usage to a lower-cost period or reducing consumption overall.

By communicating with consumers in this way, a smarter grid can reduce some of the need for new infrastructure because load is reduced during peak times. It is hoped that tapping the power of millions of consumers to shed grid-load will slow the need for new infrastructure and provide utilities with time to build in more cost-efficiencies into their plans. Reduction of demand during peak times also helps lower electricity bills, typically by a rate of at least 10 percent or more.

One locale taking steps to institute smart grid technology is Miami, Florida. In a program called Energy Smart Miami, plans call for deployment of more than 1,000,000 advance wireless “Smart Meters” to area homes and most businesses in Miami-Dade County. These meters will give Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) customers more information and control over their electricity usage while also providing FPL with information that will enhance system efficiency and reliability.

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The phrase structured wiring system is entering our lexicon as a way to describe wiring that will efficiently distribute a variety of data signals throughout the home. That sounds complicated but it refers to signals including cable television and phone, as well as Ethernet computer networks. This wiring system differs from previous schematics because of the amount of data it will be required to transmit, as well as the monitoring and control functions it will provide.

When some experts describe the technology, they talk about a wiring system that can serve current data needs, as well as expand to serve a family’s needs three to five years down the road or more.

How does it work? In actuality, structured wiring operates on a design similar to that of a home’s electrical system. Just as electricity flows into the home and is distributed via a circuit breaker box, external data lines come into the home and are connected to a central control box. The circuit breaker box and the data control box are even roughly the same size. They are often housed in a similar location as well, such as a utility closet.

From the data control box, bundles of wires are run through the walls of the house to different rooms. One advantage of this system includes the capability of playing a DVD in one location in the home, but being able to watch it on an unused channel from any room monitor in the house.

When it comes to a home computer network, this data configuration can easily accommodate all users in a household. The control box correctly routes data to individual computers, allowing multiple users to share a single broadband connection with no interference.

Other functions that might be integrated into a structured wiring system include residential security and home automation systems that can be controlled remotely.

Some systems make it possible for homeowners to turn on heating or cooling systems remotely, or pre-heat the oven, all with a push of a button on their cellular device. One green option that may be very attractive to homeowners is the ability to control window shades remotely. When the sun begins to heat up the house, the shades covering the windows on the east side of the home can be programmed to go down to protect the inside environment from the morning sun. Late in the day, those shades can be drawn up to let in natural light and the shades on the other side of the home can be lowered.

Monitoring systems are being produced that can be sensitive to the energy consumption for particular electrical outlets, and utilities such as water and gas, allowing homeowners to make changes in their usage to save energy and dollars.

Some builders are incorporating structured wiring in new home construction. For existing homeowners, the time to give real consideration to structured wiring is when undertaking a major home renovation, when walls are open and wiring and cabling is easier to install. Even if a homeowner’s current needs don’t include a home computer network, a structured wiring system may be a real selling point when the Home is placed on the market in the future.

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How smart is your thermostat? Probably smart enough to let you program temperature settings based on the weather and household activity for the week. But now, there is a thermostat that is smart enough to let you perform these functions via the Internet.

A “smart thermostat”, (also known as a digital programmable thermostat) lets you customize temperature settings in real time. The Ecobee Smart Thermostat, currently available for purchase on-line, refines this idea by adding a wireless Internet connection, so you can remotely monitor and control your home temperature from a personalized web portal. And since heating and cooling a home accounts for 70% of a home’s energy consumption, this function can help reduce energy usage and lower utility bills.

The Internet interface can be helpful to raise or lower the temperature a few degrees before family members return home from work or school. And it can be even more useful for controlling and monitoring temperatures while the family is away on vacation.

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat allows homeowners to program their thermostat easily using its touch screen, or over the Internet, in seconds. It connects to a homeowners’ standard WiFi (wireless network), which provides remote access to their thermostat settings. A ‘wizard’ function acts as a step-by-step guide through the programming process using simple commands.

While an Ecobee thermostat is $385, the Ecobee website demonstrates that the device will pay for itself in energy cost savings within 18 months.

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Most people don’t realize it, but it is not washing dishes or taking a shower that uses the most water during the day. It is actually the act of flushing a toilet. Older, less efficient toilets operate by passing over three gallons of water through the plumbing system with each flush. As water resources become more scarce, ways to cut down on some of the water that is literally being “flushed away” are being sought.

One method gradually becoming more popular is the use of a waterless, or composting, toilet. These toilets are rare in cities and suburbs because of the difficulty in securing appropriate building permits, but they are more common in rural areas. Composting toilets convert human waste into compost, which can be utilized as fertilizer once it has been treated.

Waterless composting toilets (also known as biological toilets) are waterless systems which rely on the principles of composting by micro-organisms to decompose human waste, paper and other materials.

In this type of system, chambers or bins are installed below floor level. Extra organic matter such as wood shaving, paper or lawn clippings, are added to create an ideal composting environment. Micro-organisms decompose the collected material, with about three-quarters being converted to carbon dioxide and water vapor. Air drawn through the pile removes these gases and assists the micro-organisms with the decomposition.

Waterless composting toilets do not treat wastewater from showers, sinks and washing machines, an additional system is required for their treatment. A waterless toilet can range in price from as low as $400 to nearly $3,000, depending on the type and features. Many models look like regular toilets and are available in a wide array of colors.

Until the use of waterless toilets becomes more common place, removing and replacing an older toilet with a more efficient one can save the average homeowner 4,000 gallons of water per year. If every older, inefficient toilet was replaced with a WaterSense-labeled toilet, nearly 640 billion gallons of water could be saved each year.

What is a WaterSense toilet? It is a toilet given a label by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certifying that it uses 20 percent less water per flush than current federal standards. Typically, a WaterSense toilet uses 50 to 60 percent less water per flush than older models.

The water efficiency of a toilet depends on its age and type. Most toilets installed prior to 1992 are considered inefficient by today’s standards, and typically use more than three gallons of water per flush. This means that a leaky, constantly running or simply inefficient toilet is the largest water-waster in a home, since toilets are by far the main source of water use in a home. In fact, flushing toilets accounts for as much as 40 percent of residential indoor water consumption.

WaterSense labeled toilets are not only water-efficient but are also financially efficient. Because they use substantially less water, it is estimated the installation of one toilet could save a family of four more than $90 annually, and $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilet.

Why is there such interest in the amount of water used when flushing a toilet? The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that water managers in 36 States expect water shortages in the next 10 years, even under normal, non-drought conditions. High efficiency toilets, also HETs, are one way to help preserve our diminishing fresh water supplies.

A few of today’s greenest homes use rainwater or grey water for toilet flushing instead of clean drinking water. Grey water is water that has been used for washing dishes, laundering clothes, or bathing. Although this used water may contain grease, food particles, hair, and any number of other impurities, it may still be suitable for reuse. Recycling grey water can help reduce the amount of freshwater needed to supply a household, as well as reduce the amount of freshwater needed to supply a household, s well as reduce the amount of water entering sewer or septic systems. About 65 percent of domestic wastewater is grey water, with bathing and laundry generating the largest quantities.

Until an older toilet is replaced, a water-filled plastic bag, bottle or a brick in the tank can be used to displace water volume. A toilet dam can be also be easily purchased and installed, and works by closing before the tank completely empties.