Commercial Building Inspection Home Inspection Blog

You’re a real estate professional and a new couple has contacted you regarding one of your listings.  These prospective buyers are absolutely in love with this house.  So you set up an appointment and take them in, showing them all the wonderful features of the house.  It almost seems like this house was built for this couple.  It’s absolutely perfect.  As the couple looks around for a bit, the wife looks up and notices some paint peeling on the bedroom ceiling near the air conditioning vent.  The husband reaches up and touches the peeling paint and it’s wet.  There was a rainstorm last night so the husband immediately believes it’s a roof leak.  The couple informs you that they don’t have money for a new roof, and they would rather just keep looking then to waste time and money on continuing with this house.

I’m sure many real estate agents have seen similar situations to this more than once.  But a bit of knowledge could mean the difference between this couple walking away immediately, or at least waiting until a professional home inspector can fully evaluate the situation.

Finding moisture around air conditioning vents is extremely common in South Florida, especially in older homes.  While the cause of the moisture could be anything from a roof leak, plumbing leak, or some other deficiency; it is more commonly caused by condensation of the vent or the ceiling box (also known as the boot, or ductwork boot).

Condensation occurs on a surface that is below the dew point of the air.  The temperature of the cold air in the ductwork could range from 50 to 65 degrees (depending on many different factors).  During our summer months the temperatures can reach upwards of 100+ degrees which dramatically raises the dew point of the air.  The temperature is even higher in your attic which raises the dew point of the air even more.  When the cold metal on the ceiling box or the vent register gets below that dew point, condensation will occur.

Repairing this is often very easy.  All that needs to be done is to prevent the hot air of the attic from touching the cold metal surfaces of the ceiling box or vent register.  There is a wide variety of insulation or ductwork sealants that can be used for this.  The problem is usually an inadequate seal between the ceiling box and the vent register due to improperly cut drywall.  Hiring a contractor for this repair could cost anywhere from $75 to $150 per location.  This is a huge difference from a roof repair that could cost $500 or worse, a roof replacement which could cost tens of thousands of dollars!

Recommending a low-cost or under qualified inspector could have dire consequences for yourself and your company’s reputation.  The following article in Sunday’s Miami Herald shows exactly what can happen when under qualified inspectors are used.  Don’t let your name appear in the next newspaper article like this one!  Recommend only one inspection company and make sure they have the knowledge and experience to not miss a major structural problem like this.  See the qualifications of a BIS inspector at www.bis-inspections.com

Posted on Sunday, Mar. 07, 2010

Chinese drywall was imported between 2001 and 2006, however most of the problems are with houses built between 2004 and 2006.

Problems with Chinese Drywall

• Foul Odor (could smell like rotten eggs or ammonia)

• Corrodes metal surfaces, especially copper

• Potentially causes adverse health effects.

• Not yet proven, but the potential exists that the sulfur gases can penetrate and corrode wood and concrete, which can potentially cause structural failures.

• Note:  all of the above conditions can still exist after the drywall has been removed if it’s not remediated correctly.

Chinese Drywall Inspection

• Smell for foul odor when you first walk in.  Be aware that the chemicals temporarily cause your sense of smell to diminish so you won’t smell it for long.

• Look at all metal surfaces including plumbing fixture handles and faucets, kitchen appliances, etc.

• Remove all panel covers from the air handler unit and check the coils and wiring for corrosion or blackness.

• Remove electrical receptacle cover plates and check for corrosion or blackness.

• Remove the distribution panel cover and check for corrosion or blackness of the panel box, cover breaker and wires.  Pay close attention to copper wires.

• In the attic, look at the back of drywall.  Look for the following writing:

  • “Made in China”

  • “Knauf”

  • “Knauf Tianjin “

  • “KPT” (which stands for Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin)

Chinese Drywall

• No official protocols exist for remediation of drywall yet but contractors are having success with removing and replacing the following components:

• Drywall

• Insulation

• All electrical wiring

• Distribution panels including all breakers

• Appliances and similar equipment including alarm systems and intercoms

• Air handler units

For Real Estate Professionals:  For more information, a knowledgable representitive from Building Inspection Services can come to your next office meeting to discuss the Hazardous Chinese Drywall Inspections as well as the impacts it is having on our real estate market free of charge.  Call (800) 255-3317 and ask for Mike Jenkins for more information.

Back when my husband and I first got married, we did what many newlywed couples did – we made purchases to enhance our brand new condominium unit.  One of these was a large 50 gallon fishtank complete with a wooden cabinet stand. 

We spent a great deal of time picking out accessories for our fishtank and setting it up.  My husband filled it with water and set up the pumps.  Then, we followed the instructions that said we should let it sit for a few days before adding any fish. 

The following day, my husband I went off to work.  We returned home that evening to find a DISASTER!  The Condominium Association had broken into our apartment because of complaints from the unit below that water was pouring down from their ceiling. 

The fishtank glass had somehow burst and our unit was flooded with shattered glass and water.  Our furniture and carpeting was ruined!  Not only that, but water had seeped through the wall behind the fishtank and had destroyed clothing, books and other items!  The wall had significant amounts of water damage, not to mention the damage on the flooring and to the roof and wall of the unit below us. 

We were devastated. 

We contacted the manufacturer of the tank and they sent out an insurance adjuster to assess the amount of damages.  The numbers that he claimed were extremely low and not enough to even come close to repairing the damage to our unit and the unit below us. 

At the time, my husband and I weren’t aware that we were entitled to have our own public insurance adjuster represent us.  We didn’t realize that the insurance adjuster that had come out to our home was representing the best interests of the fishtank manufacturer – not us.

By: Jamie Yonan

Do you know the difference between roof trusses and rafters?  Rafters, or conventionally framed roofs, are historically how roofs were built.  It’s, usually 2″x6″ or 2″x8″ lumber put together on the job site by a general contractor to form the roof.  In Florida they cannot consist of any structural member smaller than 2″x6″.

Nowadays, we have really moved away from conventionally framed roofs and moved towards trusses.  Trusses are engineered systems manufactured in a factory and then shipped out to the job site and then assembled on site.  Trusses usually consist of 2″x4″ lumber.  Because they are designed by an engineer, and manufactured under the supervision of an engineer, we can actually get more strength over conventionally framed roofs while using less lumber, which actually lowers the cost of construction.

A few other inspectors from my company and I inspected this building last year.  It really looked like a castle, inside and out.  Some of the cool features of this house I remember were the stucco on the house was done by an artist drew pictures in the exterior walls in some areas and made it look like the stones of a castle wall in other areas. 

It had towers, for bedrooms and even had a salt water moat stocked with fish and a drawbridge.  The fireplace was a huge hand carved masterpiece.  The interior walls were decorated like a castle with full suits of armor, tapestries and such. 

There was a giant pool which was pretty much the equivalent of three normal pools.  The pool had a “pirates of the Caribbean” theme complete with barrels of gunpowder and cannons.  The best part of the pool was that you could swim under the exterior wall and come up out of the water in the middle of the living room.

This was one of the most unique buildings in South Florida and it’s a real shame that it was destroyed.

See the full story about the fire from NBC: http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Miami-Beach-Castle-Mansion-Torched-by-Fire.html

Building Inspection Services was recently hired to perform a rather interesting inspection on a commercial building.  Before I tell you what we’ve been hired for, let me give some background information.

The owners of this 15,000 square foot commercial building leased the property for a number of years to a fitness center.  It was an upper scale fitness center which included a swimming pool, running track, wet and dry saunas, masseurs, etc.  Recently, this fitness center decided to move out so the owners got a new tenant, a widely known drug store chain.

In preparation to move in, this drug store performed major demolitions to the structure including removing all the interior partition walls, the electrical system including panels, plumbing, flooring, running track, showers, restrooms, drywall etc.  In addition to that, they dumped all of the construction debris into the indoor swimming pool which destroyed the pool.  If you walk into this building, all you see, for the most part, is just bare concrete floors and walls.

For some unknown reason, this drug store decided they changed their minds and did not want to lease the property.  So after destroying all of the interior improvements to the building, they just walked away.  This is where we came in for a litigation inspection.

We were hired by the owner of the building as a construction expert witness to determine the cost of the improvements that the drug store demolished because there is a pending lawsuit on the matter.  We are still working on this case, however first estimates are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Most of us have heard of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA). It’s a set of laws to help prevent discrimination against people with disabilities. Part of those laws deal directly with construction. If you own or are a tenant in a commercial building, then you better pay attention because most likely, you aren’t as compliant as you think you are. (more…)