If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Stephen, who has been inspecting homes in Central New Jersey since 1998, says he often goes the extra mile when inspecting attics. When necessary, I have taken clothes out of the closet myself or with the help of the home owner or real estate agent. I usually put an old sheet or towel over the clothes and try to position my step ladder as best as possible so as to gain access thru the scuttle hole. If there are two access points, I can climb over to the other side and get in that part of the attic anyway.
Gaining access into the attic is always an important part of the home inspection process. There are many areas of concern, such as, plumbing venting pipes used in conjunction with bathroom exhaust and clothes dryer ducting, flue pipes that are connected to the homes heating system, fire separation walls, type and condition of installed insulation, possible animal infestation, possible mold and mildew, deficient structural conditions, attic ventilation and the possiblity roof leaks.
The most difficult problem I sometimes face is actually squeezing through the scuttle access hole itself, that can be severely undersized especially in older homes. If I didn’t go in the attic or any other space for that matter, the lack of access is documented in the report . “Photos are always a plus.”
A disconnected/and damaged gas dryer duct was found while inspecting a house the other day. The clothes washing appliances were located in utilty room connected to the main house. At first, it was a little difficult to see the damage because the duct was pushed behind the dryer appliance. As soon as I started the gas dryer appliance did the extent of the defect become noticeable. Lint debris was blowing into the air. 
Since this was a gas dryer, fossil fuel must be combusted along with deadly oderless carbon monoxide gas. And expelled, in this case, into the living space of the home causing a very hazardous condition. The house had only been vacant for a month. The service person that did the installation just didn’t do a good job. Luckily the duct ruptured when I started the appliance. Even a small hole in the duct would be very dangerous to anyone living in the house that could cause headaches and also be life threatening. Carbon monoxide is colorless and oderless and it doesn’t take very much to harm an individual. The hole is located where the gas pipe and shut-off valve are situated.
For several years plastic dryer venting has been banned from use with clothes dryer appliances. However I still see this material being used in some newer but in mostly older homes. This product is considered a fire safety hazard and should be replaced if you have this material installed in your home.
Today, most households use flexible metal foil ducting as the connector between the dryer and the exterior discharge. Much better than it’s plastic counterpart, it has been approved for residential use by fire code officials in most municipalities.
Optimally, the best product is smooth wall aluminum ducting using rigid metal adapters connected to the dryer discharge and the vent. The cost and effort installing is well worth it in the long run.
If it has been more than 3 years since you cleaned your vents, we recommend doing so. Dryer lint can build up on the sides of the duct, and will greatly reduce the efficiency of your appliance. If the build-up is extreme, your dryer appliance could burn out, or perhaps, even start a fire.
The common situation that sometimes abruptly surfaces: after doing a Central New Jersey home inspection and returning to the house to pick up a radon canister only to be confronted by a disgruntled homeowner telling you that you had made life very difficult for them. All too often I hear, ”that it wasn’t required when the house was first built so why even mention it during the home inspection.” Or the realtor may say that there is no need to recommend future changes, that no more is needed.
When I go out to do a home inspection I need to do the job as I see fit. I will report things as I see them but will also mention and include in the report findings “safety upgrades” as they come up, especially in older homes. When talking with other home inspectors I find they are faced with the same sense of ingratitude coming from the selling realtor and/or the homeowner. Even though something wasn’t required when the older home was first built, I feel the home inspection “ is the perfect time to educate people” in regard to how to improve the condition of their Central New Jersey home.
My area of expertise is home construction and design in New Jersey. I have spent many years educating myself in this field of endeavor. I consider myself a generalist. but also a house expert who understands how the structural, mechanical and electrical systems should work together in a house. Many homes, old and new, were built with minimum standards. The average person may not understand how& when a house is supposed to be maintained. They are not house experts. That’s where I come in.
I don’t see why anyone would have a problem with a home inspector “recommending” safety upgrades? If an older home doesn’t have GFCI protection, I always recommend them. I also ask my clients if they actually know what GFCI’s are used for. If they don’t, it’s “time for me to educate” them about the importance of these modern safety devices.
I always check to see if handrails are up to today’s current safety standards here in New Jersey because- this is always a big safety issue. Or egress windows that meet minimum requirements- providing an escape-way in case of a fire. Of course garage doors need to be installed correctly and openers need to have proper auto-reversing function fully operational. And the garage floor and living space floor should not be at the same height- that could allow gasoline fumes to enter into the house during an accidental spill and cause a fire or explosion. And any access hatches into the attic that would affect the integrity of the firewall.
Many times I see that in older homes that there is no division/or fire safety wall that separates the attic area between the living space of the house and the garage. The installation of an attic fire wall between the garage and the home’s living space is an important concern. I know of a whole block of older townhouses that recently burned down in New Brunswick, NJ because there were no fire walls. Installing a firewall could save the rest of the house or buildings from going up in flames. It could help provide needed time for the fire department to respond to the emergency and save the home or buildings and it’s inhabitants from disaster.
It may sound like a cliche to talk about fire safety tips in the central New Jersey area
during the holiday season, but if there’s one statistic that bears
repeating, it’s this: Even with adequate smoke alarms, a house fire today can
become uncontrollable in less than(3) three minutes.
That’s down from an average 17 minutes in 1975 — a whopping 82 percent
difference. And the reason for the drastic change, according to a report by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, isn’t just the type of house you live in, but what you put inside.
“It’s not how old the home is, but it’s the furnishings,” Jack Watts,
Director of the Fire Safety Institute, told AOL Real Estate.
A spokesperson for the National Association of State Fire Marshals told AOL
Real Estate that the worst culprit in home fires is upholstered
furniture, because it often contains highly flammable polyurethane foam. These
all-too-common materials provide the fuel for what fire experts call the
flashover — the point at which everything in the room simultaneously bursts
into flames. It doesn’t help that many of today’s homes are built with more
open floor plans and modern building materials like wallboard that can lead to
faster fires, according to the Wichita Eagle.
The numbers show an alarming trend. In 1977, the first year when data was
available, there were 750,000 residential fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
In 2010, there were roughly half that many, thanks in large part to widespread use of smoke detectors. But the incredible speed with which home fires can spread in today’s homes represents a major step backward in fire
safety.
