There are times when we put forth our best effort and come up short of our goal. If it’s a personal goal, we have usually disappointed no one but ourselves. When working / playing on a team, it can be a let down for the entire group. Reminds me of the kicker from the game on Sunday. Who would want to be that guy?
It seems of late I have been inspecting quite a few modular homes. First of all I do not think they are inferior to stick built homes. In fact there are some qualities of the construction process I think are superior to site built houses.
And some I think are not.
One of these aspects is the house wiring. Since the house is built in sections or modules, the wiring has to be connected from section to section. This is accomplished by splices done using a type of locking plug. These connections are in addition to the splices made during the course of wiring up the house. Splices are weak points in any circuit and should be kept to a minimum. Knowing that these splices exist I tend to check the electrical outlets a bit more thoroughly. I do this by using my fancy tester. This tester has features I will never use, but has a few that give me very insightful information. One of these is voltage drop.
Voltage drop is what happens in a circuit when a load is applied, like when you turn on your TV or the microwave. The appliance draws current causing a drop in the voltage. The amount of voltage drop should be minimal, ideally no more than 5% according to electrical industry standards. The other parameter is the voltage associated with the drop. Ideally it should not be less than 108 volts under load.
When I tested the first outlet in the house, the drop was over 22% with a measured voltage of 93.8. I found many more outlets throughout the newer, modular structure with similar amounts of drop. A large amount of drop is indicative of high resistance in the circuit. High resistance is created at connection points.
The culprit more often than not is the connection at the outlet. Removing the cover plate I wasn’t at all surprised to see the outlets had been connected by “back stabbing”. This method is acceptable though not what would be called a best practice. Back stabbing is connecting the wires to the back of the receptacle inside a pressure type connection. The wire is inserted into a hole and is locked in place. The connection however is not as strong as one made using the screws at the sides of the outlet. Basically back stabbing is done because it is faster and easier.
What are the consequences of excessive voltage drop? Over heating wires, and with use over time potentially a fire. In addition with low voltage damage can occur to appliances.
With this amount of voltage drop in the houses wiring, I think the quality control at the factory may have dropped the ball.
James Quarello
Connecticut Home Inspector
Former SNEC-ASHI President
NRSB #8SS0022
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC
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In the home inspection industry there are numerous sets of standards for inspecting a house. There is 10 x 10 the amount of standards for constructing buildings. Most people know these as building codes. One thing all these standards have in common is this;
Getting back to that seven bathroom house, would any reasonable person consider an aged tankless coil type water heater that may deliver 2 gallons of hot water a minute adequate for this house? Apparently there must have been quite a few, because that is exactly what I found in that house I described.
What we see in our world may be at times an illusion, a trick. Magicians make a living out of tricking our eyes, really our brains into believing something that has not actually happened. In life we may have the misfortune of being duped by a real life “magician”, a conman or just someone dishonest.
While the deterioration and peeling paint on the surface is about one foot from the edge, the IR camera shows the moisture extends much further and in other areas that have yet to manifest. The issue is throughout the entire building. The very simple reason is the product was never installed correctly.
Look at the flue vent from the water heater to the chimney. It’s clearly pitched downward, not up. It is also very close to the plastic covering on the duct insulation. The other issue which no one can see is this unit is venting into a very tall unlined chimney. This unit has a venting combination that is almost sure to cause back venting.
As we journey through life, we are every day making connections on several different levels. In our personal lives we connect we our loved ones and friends on an emotional and intellectual level. In our businesses or work we make connections that help us accomplish our tasks and be successful. On a cerebral level we make connections continually in our brains that make all the other connections possible.
The appliance connector should be directly connected to a shut off at this connection point. The information is quite clear on this point. My belief is the stove location was moved from where the shutoff valve is located and so this extension was improvised. Improvisation could be said to be making connections on the fly.
The first thing most people notice about a home is usually referred to as the curb appeal. An integral part of the appeal is the landscaping. Beautiful blooms and striking shrubs intertwined with walks and accents draws one in like a moth to a flame.
Seeing branches tangled among the chimney is not all that unusual for me to find, but finding them growing through the flashing is a rare first. The sheer will and strength it took for these first tiny branches to find and exploit a weakness is amazing.
No, and yet I can’t help but think they someone would see this as a “business opportunity”. What has actually happened is over the years gunk (that’s a technical term) carried by water has seeped between the tightly placed plastic decking and has stuck. It looks like the fungus from the wood joists found something tasty and comfortable fastened to the plastic.
Another licensed trade is HVAC or mechanical contractors. These are the people who install among other things heating and cooling systems. These folks are really the jack of all trades. They must know a little electrical and plumbing as well as their own area of expertise.
Pipes, they’re straight, which would be fine if wherever a pipe was to be fit was unobstructed. Since that’s not how things are made, especially with houses, there are pipe fittings. There are countless types of pipe fittings, the most common is the good old elbow.
During a recent home inspection my attention was directed to something my client found quite bothersome. While looking over the basement he found a hose that went from a pipe to a jar. The jar was partially full of water. It was clear the jar filled with water often and overflowed. He wanted to know why this hose was there and what he could do to correct the filling and dumping. He felt this was going to be a pain.
The same kind of emotion can be felt when we purchase a product that is expected, stated to last a certain period of time and fails miserably short of the mark. Like everything manufactured, some things are made better than others. Differences in quality are most often understood when a product is purchased. Yet once in a while something goes wrong at the plant, with some of the product made with a hidden defect. The deficiency may not be apparent at the time, but rears its ugly heads later after purchase when it’s in your home. The sad thing is, there is not always restitution from the manufacture for their error, especially if a fair amount of time has passed.
Upon ascending the roof I noticed the gutters were full of the protective shingle granules. Looking closer I saw the shingles themselves were pitted, cracking and in some places worn down to the substrate.