Bay Area Home Inspection

During a recent Pleasanton home inspection, I spotted this creative solution for cooling the attic space. Yes... an oscillating fan typically used to move the air in a room for human comfort was hanging from the rafters under a roof vent opening.

Think of what happens on a hot summer day when the sun is pounding relentlessly on your roof. The temperature of the shingles soars. They can easily approach a temperature of 150 F or possibly more. This heat then transfers to the roof-framing materials. I have measured wood surface temperatures of 140 F and air temperature up to 155 F in the attic, when the outside temperature was around 95 F.

During a San Jose home inspection, this photo was taken on the top of a water heater that's 4 years old. The top of the tank was damaged when a flexible copper pipe water supply line was incorrectly connected to a galvanized steel pipe fitting.

Galvanized steel and copper pipe connections, can cause rapid corrosion at the joint called dielectric corrosion (electrolysis), if a dielectric union or a brass converter fitting isn't used. These two type of fittings separate (isolate) the two dissimilar metals so they don't actually touch each other.

The leakage started when a flexible copper pipe was connected to a galvanized pipe nipple (short pipe on the right side) using Teflon tape as the insulator. If you don't

This is asbestos wrap on a heating/cooling duct found during a Pleasanton home inspection... Throughout most of the 20^th century, asbestos (view OSHA fact sheet) was hailed as a 'wonder fiber' that insulates up to intense temperature. Due to its outstanding resistance to heat, its fibrous structure and low cost... Asbestos was manufactured into thousands of products from toasters to heating ducts for 60 years.

In 1977, asbestos was found to cause cancer in workers who breathed its microscopic fibers in mines, shipyards and asbestos plants decades after their exposure. When the EPA discovered this, they restricted the use of asbestos.

With the discovery of asbestos hazards, homeowners began feeling nervous about an invisible menace that may or may not be floating around their home.

It's alive... This is white mold! The soil under this Oakland house inspection was damp, wet and muddy... Perfect conditions for mold and wood rot related problems.

If mold (or as an experienced home inspector might say, "bio-organic growth"... Not the M word) is growing on the soil or wood in the crawlspace, there are issues with inadequate or poor ventilation; negative grades around the house; hillside construction; no drainage collection system; downspouts discharging water next to the foundation; over-irrigation; broken water supply pipes; swimming pool leaks; high water table; or water leakage that leads to high humidity conditions.