Heating, Roofing Woes Are the Most Common
Recently, we described some of the most common house problems found by a licensed professional engineer specializing in home inspections. Here are some additional possible trouble spots every homeowner or prospective buyer should be aware of:
Most modern homes are heated by warm air, hot water or steam through oil- or gas-fired furnaces or boilers. Nearly 42% of the inspections turned up an aging or obsolete boiler or furnace as well as malfunctioning or missing controls such as low-water cutoff, high pressure or temperature limit switch, fan control, relief valve, oil burner, gas valve, zone valves or circulating pumps.
Nearly 40% of the homes had deteriorated roofing. Most pitched roofs in the U.S. are covered with asphalt shingles that have a projected life of 17 to 22 years. As shingles age and weather, they begin to curl, lift, lose their granular coating, develop hairline cracks in the surface and erode in the slots between the shingle tabs. As they dry, they also become vulnerable to wind damage and can be blown off in a storm. Severely cracked or deteriorated shingles should be replaced as needed, but it is not usually necessary to reroof because a few shingles are bad.
Missing or damaged gutters and downspouts appeared on 34% of the houses inspected. Even houses with these items in good condition could benefit from cleaning them out or improving their layout. Gutters and downspouts control rain runoff from the roof, yet sagging, missing, leaking or clogged sections can cause problems ranging from basement flooding to structural rot.
Occasionally downspouts are connected improperly. The lower sections must be set outside the upper ones, otherwise water can leak through the joints.
Fire safety hazards should be checked or corrected. About 30% of the homes had one or more potential problems.
All houses should have a smoke detector mounted on the ceiling in the hallway near the bedrooms. Many homes also had exposed wood framing too close to the heating system boiler or furnace. The exposed wood should be covered with fire-rated gypsum board, such as type X dry wall, as a fire-safety precaution. This material has a one-hour fire rating. Although it will not stop a fire, gypsum board will prolong the time it takes before the fire makes contact with the wood.
Plumbing problems afflicted some 28% of the houses checked. Plumbing includes the distribution piping, the waste lines and the fixtures. Deteriorated distribution piping is very common in older homes. Normally, these pipes are made of iron, brass or copper.
Steps and stairs presented hazards in 21% of the houses inspected. When there are more than two risers in a set of steps, a handrail is recommended, especially for exterior steps subject to freezing rain in winter. Uneven risers (vertical distance between steps) present a tripping hazard. Indoors, attic or basement stairs are often missing their handrails.
Nearly a quarter of the homes checked wasted fuel with uninsulated hot-water systems. When the domestic hot water is produced through the heating system by a tank-less coil, there is often no relief valve in the piping. Both temperature- and pressure-sensitive relief valves are safety requirements.
