FALL INSPECTION CHECKLIST (part 4)

LiveJournal Tags: Fall maintenance,inspection

Electrical System -

Exterior:

• Check all the trees around the house to see it they are impinging on any wires like the power drop, phone or Cable TV feeds. Heavy weather or snow can break branches and take down any wires caught in them.
• Observe any electrical feeds to out buildings like garages. If they cross over a driveway, they should be at least 10 feet high. If you get ice storms, the extra weight can drag them even lower and pose a danger of contact.

Main Electrical panel:

• Open the outer cover and look at the breakers/fuses. look for any scorch marks or discoloration.  Run your hand lightly down the face of the breakers to feel if any are hotter than the others. It is normal for a circuit under load to generate some heat but it should not be enough to be uncomfortable to the touch.  An excessively hot breaker could be a sign of a bad connection on the inside of the panel and possible arcing.
• Check all the outlet covers and switch plates as well. They should all be tight, without movement and be tight to the wall with no gaps or cracked covers.  Look for scorching here as well. The outlets themselves should also be tight with no movement when plugging or unplugging fixtures.
• Use an inexpensive electrical tester to make sure all the outlets are working. Note: some outlets are “switched” meaning they are operated by a wall switch. Don’t be fooled.
• Test any GFCI outlets that may be installed in bathrooms, kitchens, garages or exterior locations with the tester. Hit the GFCI’s test button and make sure it actually interrupts the power as it should. Older version could be miss-wired and trip without shutting off the power.

Interior & Structure: General condition.

• Check all doors for proper function. Look for loose hinges or door knobs. Houses shift as the ground moves due to moisture content and freezing.  if a door is sticking now, it may not be operable at all later in the season. Check exterior door thresholds for proper slope and drainage. Is the door sealed at the bottom to keep cold air and moisture out?
• Check all the windows. Check counter balance ropes or springs, latches and weather stripping for damage. Make any needed repairs. Observe any cracked panes and missing glazing putty.
• Pay attention to floors as you walk around.  Look for loose boards, popped nails, loose floor tiles and any “springy” or soft spots that could indicate structural problems or rot.
• Look at the ceilings and note any staining or peeling paint that could indicate a roof or plumbing leak.
• Observe any cracking, especially anything new or that has gotten worse since you last noticed it. This often is a telltale sign of settlement and possible foundation problems.

Fireplace:

• Take a flashlight and look at the fireplace. Check the firebox and hearth for loose brick and deteriorated mortar.  Operate the damper if you have one to be sure it actually does move. If it does not move and is rusted, you may need a proper weather cap on the chimney to keep the rain and snow out of the flue. If you don’t have one, get one installed.  This is a huge heat leak when the fireplace is not being used.
• Look up the flue.  Check for loose bricks and mortar here too.  Also look for animal nests and excessive soot or creosote buildup.  I strongly recommend getting a proper Level 2 fireplace inspection before the season starts if you use the fireplace at all during the year.

Misc.:

• Check any installed ceiling fans to make sure they have not worked loose with all the use over the Summer.
• Shake the stair handrails to see if any are loose. These are an important safety item and should be solid and capable of withstanding a 200 pound side load in an emergency.
• Test all smoke alarms and install fresh batteries.

Next: Kitchen, Garage and Attic

FALL INSPECTION CHECKLIST (part 3)

LiveJournal Tags: heating,maintenance,inspection,fall service,save energy

The heating system:

Home heating is one of the largest consumers of energy in many families budget. Making sure everything is working properly can go a long way toward making it as efficient as possible. Now is the time to have the fall service done to avoid potential problems in the middle of winter.

Physically examine the heating system components.

• The flue:
• Look at the metal pipe and observe any corrosion or exterior staining.  This could be signs of improper installation. The combustion products, from gas especially, contain a lot of moisture.  If the flue pipe is in a cold area, this moisture will condense and run back down the pipe causing corrosion and white stains on the exterior of the pipe. it is currently against most codes to vent a gas appliance into an unlined masonry flue for this reason. The condensed moisture on the inside of a cold masonry chimney becomes very acidic and will deteriorate the mortar and the bricks.
• The Furnace:
• Look at the exterior of the furnace itself. observe any corrosion, especially around the area of where the flue connects.
• Look for signs of scorching or sooting that may indicate improper combustion.
• Take the front panel off the furnace and look inside the firebox.  Start with the furnace off and without the main burner running. Turn up the thermostat and watch the furnace burner light. Observe the flame pattern and color.  The flame should be a nice even blue with little or no yellow or orange flames. After a while, the blower should come on.  Watch the flames when it does. They should remain burning pretty much straight up.  If they start to waver around or start leaning to one side, shut the unit down and call the repair man. It is likely that the heat exchanger is cracked and the system could be introducing carbon monoxide into the living spaces.  This is VERY bad and potentially life threatening.
• Heating Ducts:
• If you have a forced air system (as opposed to a gravity furnace) there will be large pipes, called ducts, to distribute the warm air to the various rooms. These can be metal, fiberglass or plastic wrapped flexible ducts.  If these are damaged and in disrepair, they will be leaking a lot of heated air into places that they shouldn’t. This costs you money if these places are the normally unheated spaces like attics and basements or crawl spaces. Look at all the visible duct work and pay special attention to any joints or junctions.  Look for signs of dark staining that indicate air is blowing out of these areas. Even fiberglass wrapped metal ducts will show this staining.  Ductwork often gets damage by maintenance people crawling around in attics or crawlspaces to do their work. Plumbers, the cable guy, pest control people and even animals can damage the ductwork.
• Registers and vents:
• Observe the heating outlets in each room. Are they properly fastened to the walls and the ductwork? Look for a pattern of dark staining on the walls around the registers. This can tell you that the filter is either missing or has collapsed from lack of maintenance and is allowing the dust to be carried all throughout the house with the warm air.

Next time, The electrical system.

FALL INSPECTION CHECKLIST (part 2)

LiveJournal Tags: Inspection,fall maintenance,plumbing,water heater

In the previous installment, I covered the exterior areas or the home. Now I will move on to the other systems.

Plumbing, including bathrooms, laundry and water heater:

Look at any piping that is exposed, both outside where it enters the house or in the basement area if that’s where your service enters.

• Look for any obvious leaks or sighs of leaks like rust stains on the walls or floors.
• Look for green staining on brass components like valves and pressure regulators or on copper piping. If copper comes in contact with dissimilar metals, a condition called “electrolysis” can occur that is very damaging to the copper and can eat away the pipe or fitting.
• Check the water pressure and flow rate. Low flow rate can be a sign of old galvanized piping getting near the end of its life or simply a clogged up faucet aerator.
• Check all the drains for proper “functional drainage”. This means does it drain away the water as fast as it is likely to come in. if not, you could have an overflow even if the drain is “sort of working”. Slow or bubbling  drains may need to be snaked and/or have the venting system checked for obstructions.
• Flush the toilets and make sure they are operating properly.  Remove the tank lid and examine the mechanism for damage or  deteriorating parts and cracked rubber components. Flush the toilet with the lid off and watch the operation. Do the parts all move freely? Does it refill to the proper level? Does it maintain that level without gradually creeping down and refilling? This is a common sign of a leaking flapper that should be replaced called “phantom flushing”.
• Look around the base of the toilet for signs of a leak. Does the toilet sit squarely on the floor or does it rock a bit? it should not move. if it does, the seal of the wax ring could be broken, causing a leak that may not be visible or noticed until the floor has rotted out and needs replacing.
• Water heater:
• Look at the exterior of the water heater and note any rusting of the outer casing. Look at the piping and the flue, checking for corrosion or deterioration.
• Remove the access door and look inside the burner compartment for excessive rust or sooting. Also look for scorched paint, sooting and corrosion around the door.  This could be signs of a malfunctioning system that is not getting enough air for proper combustion.
• Turn up the heat control or run some hot water in the house to cause the unit to fire up. (keep your face away from the opening when it fires!)
• Look at the flame.  It should be a nice even blue throughout.  There should not be any yellow flames. Yellow indicates incomplete combustion and excessive carbon monoxide production.
• This would be a good time to do the twice yearly service of the water heater that all manufacturers call for.
• Shut off the cold valve at the top of the heater, open the drain cock at the bottom. (you may need to put a hose on the end to drain the water to a safe place. Make sure it can stand the hot water.) Open the cold valve again slowly and let the hot water run full force out the hose or drain cock for several minutes, at least 5-8 minutes, until it has flushed any sediment buildup out of the bottom of the tank. Close the drain cock. That’s it, you are done with this service.
• Bathrooms and tiled areas:
• Look for cracked tiles and deteriorated grout or caulking.
• Gently tap on the individual tiles and listen for any that sound hollow.  They may have come loose and are telling you the backer material is deteriorating.
• look for signs of old or mildew where water tends to stand for a while.
• Operate any shower doors to make sure they are moving without excessive force. If they are hard to move, it is time to make repairs with new rollers etc. If there is ANY cracked glass, especially the old style “wired glass” it time to replace them.  This is a very dangerous condition that should not be ignored.
• Operate the shower and tub faucets and look for any leaks around the handle stems. do the valves turn off easily? you should never need to apply excessive force to turn them off.  If you do, it’s time to replace the washers and possibly the seats as well.
• Remove the shower head and clean out any accumulated debris.  Soaking it in vinegar over night can remove the hard water scale.
• Check any vent fans.  Clean out any dust and junk that builds up on them. It would be a good idea to make sure they are piped to the exterior and not just blowing into the attic area. This can introduce a lot of moisture into an attic and cause mold problems.
• Check out the washing machine supply hoses. Are they cracked and showing signs of age?  Time to replace them. I recommend the braided stainless steel type. They are less likely to burst. Did you know, almost every washer maker says to turn off the water supply to the machine when not in use? People rarely do this and end up with a flood when the hoses inevitably leak.
• Look at your dryer vent pipe. You know, that lint covered thing behind the washer/dryer where you never look?  Is it in good shape and free flowing?  Or like most, is it jammed against the wall and crushed?  If it is not free flowing, it can cause a fire! At minimum, it will take a lot longer for your clothes to dry and it wastes energy. Any dryer vent piping under the house or in the attic should be rigid aluminum pipe, not flex type.
• Wells and Septic systems.
• Look for signs of surfacing water in the leach field.  if it is doing this now, it will be much worse when the ground is saturated with rain during the winter months. have the septic tank pumped and the system checked by a qualified specialist.
• Make sure your well equipment is in good shape. Protect it from freezing and weather damage.
• Basement areas:
• If you have a sump pump system to handle water in the basement, test it to make sure it is functional.  Dump a bucket of water in the sump and see if the pump cycles.
• Okay, that’s enough for this time.  Next, the heating system

FALL INSPECTION CHECKLIST

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Fall is upon us in many parts of the country.  Although not here in SoCal  other than on the calendar, it 95 here today, October 15th! Just another beautiful day in Paradise. ;-)

Fall is a good time to start a program of inspection of your home to make sure everything is ship shape.  Not doing this now, when the weather is more conducive to making the repairs is asking for trouble down the road! Imagine attempting to make roof repairs with several feet of snow covering the area. Not fun! 

The following is a list of items to check. It will be a multi-part article.

1st INSTALLMENT

EXTERIOR:

Take a walk (or several) around the outside of your home. look closely at the following things:

• Paving on walkways and driveways
• Look for cracking.  Frost heave can tear up a sidewalk or drive and cracks allow the moisture to enter more easily.
• Retaining walls
• Look for bulges, loose blocks or stones. Make sure any drainage is clear and working.  Many retaining walls have a “swale” or concrete lined trough behind them to catch debris and direct water away from the back of the wall. if they are full of debris, they won’t work very well.
• Porches & Decks
• Check for loose deck boards and nails sticking up. They can play hell with a snow shovel!
• Check the railings and steps.
• Look at the support posts and check for wood rot. The extra weight of snow can take a deck or balcony down if the structure is compromised.
• Fences
• Look over your fencing, check the gates and posts for damage or rot. A good winter wind storm can knock over a fence is it is weak.
• Siding / building exterior
• Look for telltale signs of staining on the siding. This could indicate a problem with the roof drainage or damaged gutters.
• Check for bird nests in the soffits or damaged/missing screens over attic vents.
• Brickwork and chimneys
• Does the chimney have a good weather cap? Is the mortar starting to deteriorate? Is it leaning? Look at the flashing where it meets the roof. This is the number one area for leaks.
• Is the brick siding well attached and sealed on the top? Can you move it by pushing on it? It shouldn’t move, ever.
• Foundation
• Look for any cracking. If found, it should be sealed to keep water from getting in. Water that gets in and reaches the re-enforcing steel can cause it to rust and swell.  This can blow apart a foundation.
• Check the slope of the ground around the foundation. It should be sloped away for at least 6-10 feet on all sides to prevent the build up of standing water against the foundation.
• Roofing
• Examine the roof materials for any damage: loose shingles, deteriorated asphalt, bare areas where the gravel ballast is missing on a built-up roof system, damaged or missing flashings.
• Be aware of any trees or vegetation overhanging the roof. The build up of leaves can become acidic and damage the roofing materials and wind movement of branches can damage the roof.
• Check the gutters to make sure they are firmly attached and will handle snow if you get that. Make sure the downspouts are free running and extended away from the building and foundation.

Nest time, PLUMBING.  Stay tuned!