Bay Area Home Inspection

The 55 year old San Leandro house appeared to be in good shape as I drove up for my 9:00am house inspection. 

My routine is to start inspections at the roof, working my way down... around the house... checking the grading and drainage conditions on the property ... moving into the house to inspect the rooms and the attic... and finally under the house, if there's a crawlspace.

Attic spaces typically have a ceiling access panel, which you push up to gain access.  Due to low roof clearances, attic insulation, hidden electrical wires... Most of my attic inspections are viewed from the access opening. By using a 3 million candle-power spot light... it gives one a very detailed view of the attic space.

99% of the time, it's the usual observations: water stains on the roof sheathing... evidence of rodents... electrical cables spliced together outside of a metal junction box... no insulation... abandoned items, etc.

During a Milpitas house inspection, many of the visible galvanized water supply pipes showed signs of corrosion.

Galvanized pipe is a steel pipe which has been dipped in a galvanizing solution to coat it inside and out for better protection against corrosion. Even with this coating, the steel pipe will eventually corrode over time and sometimes develop leaks along its length. The life expectancy of galvanized steel pipe is 40 years.

Galvanized pipe has a tendency to wear out (corrode) from the inside out and gives few clues to its impending failure. A visual inspection cannot

Today the drain/waste pipe installed under your house is mostly ABS pipe (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene). ABS piping systems is a black rigid, non-pressurized plastic pipe used to drain your sinks, tubs, showers, toilet and washing machines. It is also used to vent the drain and waste pipes.

Plastic straps with a rigid hanger are used to support the ABS pipes off the ground and carry the water weight. As the strapping material ages, it weakens. Once this occurs, it's common to find broken strapping throughout the DWV system (drain, waste, ventilation). As each section of strapping breaks, more weight is transferred to other sections, resulting in more broken straps.

An earthquake can cause drain pipe sections to fall.

Take a seed... Give it nutrients, water and sunlight... And you'll get a garden weed that will grow.

 I had a house inspection in Santa Cruz the other day and started my inspection by walking the roof first. My notes on the roof are mostly the same observations... damaged shingles, missing a spark arrestor/rain cap assembly above the chimney flue, and debris in the gutters.

The purpose of gutters and downspouts is to collect the rain water from a roof and carry it away from the house. This can be problematic, if gutter debris is blocking the downspouts.

How much water is shed from a roof, when it rains one inch?