Higher Standards Would Bolster the Home Inspection Profession
Question: As a retired city building inspector, I have a problem with home inspectors. Those of us who inspect buildings under construction must be certified as building code experts by the International Conference of Building Officials.
To obtain this rating, we must pass a rigorous four-hour exam. Without it, no building department will hire us. In speaking with various home inspectors, I find that hardly any of you are certified building inspectors. In fact, it seems that most home inspectors are in business without inspector credentials of any kind. How do home inspectors justify this obvious lack of basic qualifications?
Answer: Your question is a pertinent one. Home inspection is a relatively new field and in most states is not yet subject to legal regulation. As a result, many home inspectors commence business with marginal credentials, at best. Accordingly, there is a broad disparity among home inspectors with regard to professional qualifications.
The only standards of practice for home inspectors are those set forth by home inspector organizations, such as the American Society of Home Inspectors, and various state affiliations, such as the California Real Estate Inspection Assn.
But membership in these groups is voluntary, and membership standards go unheeded by a significant number of inspectors, especially those who inspect on a part-time basis.
In California, however, there is a new law requiring all inspectors to conform to the standards of recognized associations, whether they are official members or not.
But these standards bear no resemblance to the Uniform Building Code, because a home inspection is not intended as a code enforcement process.
Its purpose is to disclose physical defects and hazardous conditions, regardless of whether code violations are involved.
Association standards define those areas of a property that a competent inspector must include in a property evaluation, but they do not prescribe building code knowledge or other levels of competence as prerequisites to performing inspections.
In an effort to raise professional standards, the California association offers a voluntary certification program to distinguish home inspectors with higher levels of knowledge and experience, but only a minority of its members are qualified under this program.
Because there are no mandatory educational requirements for home inspectors, and because there are no apprenticeship programs available, most home inspectors learn their skills after they enter the inspection business, slowly mastering their trade at the expense of unwary customers.
Gradually, through experience, most home inspectors gain a considerable degree of building code awareness, albeit without certification by the International Conference of Building Officials.
But trial and error education is no substitute for a systematic learning of the code or for attainment of certification before starting to work.
The standard defense offered by home inspectors: “We do not perform code compliance inspections per se. Rather, we are looking for significant physical defects.”
The problem with this is that a large number of the defects considered in the course of an inspection involve issues of noncompliance with the Uniform Building Code. Therefore, the need for building code proficiency and for International Conference of Building Officials certification cannot be justifiably disclaimed.
White Fuzz May Mean Moisture in Chimney
Q: A home inspector noticed a white fuzzy substance on the inside walls of my fireplace and advised installing a chimney cap. This stuff is kind of powdery and appears on the bricks from time to time. I just clean it off whenever it occurs and haven’t noticed any other problems. How can a cap on the chimney top possible affect the inside of the fireplace?
A: The white chalky substance in your fireplace consists of anhydrous salts known as efflorescence. These typically form on brick and concrete surfaces when moderate moisture penetration occurs.
Slow water seepage is a common vehicle for mineral salts conveying them to masonry surfaces. When the water dries, these salts crystallize. This typically occurs with brick fireplaces because rain caps are not required on masonry chimneys. Consequently, rainwater entering a chimney can penetrate through the smoke shelf into the firebrick lining.
A small amount of efflorescence is not likely to have a significant effect on the general strength and integrity of the masonry lining of the firebox. But if continuous moisture seepage is left unchecked for many years, the bricks and mortar can gradually disintegrate.
The home inspector was correct in his recommendation. Have a certified chimney sweep install a metal cap on the flue top. In so doing, you can prevent continued moisture intrusion. In the process you can also ensure that an approved spark arrester is in place and that no significant deterioration of the masonry has occurred.
All That’s Cracked Isn’t Dangerous
Q: When we bought our home, the home inspector did not report any problems with the foundation. Yet, after moving in, we installed new carpet, and when the old carpet was removed, we found several cracks in the concrete slab floor. The carpet installer said this is normal, but cracks in our house don’t seem very normal to us. We’re wondering if something could be wrong with our foundation. Do you think our home inspector made a mistake?
A: Every concrete slab has cracks. Some are even invisible to the naked eye as the slab is laced with networks of micro-cracks resulting from common shrinkage. When new concrete hardens, shrinkage always occurs. And since cement is not an elastic material, cracks are inevitable and rarely a cause for concern. Unless the cracks in your floor are separated one-eighth of an inch or more, they are probably the result of normal stress, as the carpet layer said, and should not be the basis for other stress in your life.
Here in California, cracks in slabs may also result from expansive clay soil. When this happens, the floor elevation will usually be higher toward the center of the house and slope downward toward the outside walls.
But again, if the cracks appear narrow and even, serious concern is usually unwarranted.
If the adverse effects of expansive soil are significant, other symptoms, such as cracks in walls and ceilings or ill-fitting doors and windows, are likely to be observed. When such damage becomes apparent, or when the slab cracks are unusually wide, a licensed engineer should be consulted.
Cracks in slab floors can also result from expanding tree roots. If there are large trees growing too near your home, removal of some roots, or possibly even of the trees, may be warranted.
Inspector’s Ladder Damages Rain Gutters
Q: After my house was inspected, I noticed that the rain gutters had been bent by the home inspector’s ladder. I checked this out by placing my own ladder against the building and found that the gutters bend quite easily. I mentioned this to my neighbor, and he said that his gutters did not bend when his roof was replaced last year. Isn’t there a way for home inspectors to access a roof without damaging the gutters?
A: Most rain gutters consist of thin-gauge sheet metal that bends easily under the weight of an occupied ladder. There is a simple method for leaning heavy loads, such as ladders, against gutters without causing damage.
The trick is to place the ladder so that its rails straddle one of the fasteners that secure the gutters to the building. These points of attachment are the only places where the gutters are reinforced against lateral pressure. If the ladder is placed in any of the intermediate locations between these fasteners, bending is likely to result.
Wall Cracks May Be Due to Inadequate Nailing
Q: Our home is less than a year old, and already cracks have formed at the wall and ceiling corners in some rooms. Our fear is that settlement problems are causing these cracks, but the builder insists that they are merely cosmetic in nature. How can we be sure our house is not settling?
A: Cracks at the edges of drywall corners are common in some homes and are generally not indicative of foundation or settlement problems, unless unusual separation is evident at the cracks. If the cracks simply appear as looseness of the metal edges, the problem is likely a matter of insufficient nailing of the corners.
Inadequate nailing of metal corners has become a common form of compromised workmanship among some drywall installers. The rationalization for this shortcut is that the taping and finishing process will cover up the poorly nailed edges.
This kind of cover-up can have unattractive long-term results and may give the false impression of structural settlement.
To eliminate cosmetic cracks, the metal edges will need to be re-nailed. This will necessitate re-texturing and refinishing of the repaired areas. You might ask your builder if this repair is covered under warranty.
Inspectors Can’t See Invisible Problems
Q: Five years ago, when we bought our house, we hired a home inspector. At the time, his inspection seemed very thorough, but now we’ve found a problem that was not listed in his report.
We recently redid our landscaping, and the excavation revealed that part of the house is built on a slab floor without a foundation. This lack of foundation is a severe construction defect and was not reported by the home inspector. He refuses to pay for a new foundation. Shouldn’t home inspectors be responsible for negligence?
A: The inspector’s failure to discover the lack of a foundation on your slab home may not constitute negligent performance.
Most inspectors conduct their work according to the standards of practice set forth by the California Real Estate Inspection Assn. and the American Society of Home Inspectors. A home inspection is limited to conditions that are visually discernible.
Specifically excluded from an inspection are conditions concealed from view, such as items contained within walls, ceilings and floors or, as in your case, conditions that are buried beneath the ground.
According to accepted industry guidelines, inspectors are not required to perform dismantling of construction or excavation of soil to discover problems that are not normally visible.
The fact that the foundation problem at your home remained undiscovered for five years and was only revealed by means of excavation demonstrates that the defect was not visually detectable.
Readers may contact Barry Stone through his Web site at https://www.housedetective.com or write to him care of AMG, 1776 Jami Lee Court, Suite 218, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. Distributed by Access Media Group.
