Typical Problems When Buying Older Home. When buying an older home you are usually buying a home with built in character which has withstood the test of time and is still in habitable condition. There are some inherent problems that you might encounter when purchasing an older home. I have listed a few basic ones just for consideration.
Your older homes foundation is probably constructed of cement and stone. There would have been no waterproofing done to the exterior of the foundation and there will be no weeping tile draining into sump. This inspection area is one of the most important and expensive to repair if faulty.
Knob and tube wiring was usually installed in all older homes and there is usually still porcelain insulators present even if it was all removed. You have to have a home inspector or electrician check to ensure all the knob and tube wiring was replaced. The knob and tube was usually replaced with older two wire which has no ground and unless a total rehab was done on building you will still find two wire at outlets on upper floors and other hard to access areas.
Asbestos and vermiculite can be found in many older homes. Some older homes had hot water boilers with cast iron radiators. This systems were typically insulated with asbestos insulation. Vermiculite insulation may contain asbestos and was frequently added to attics in older homes. Asbestos requires professional removal which is very expensive.
Lead plumbing pipes and galvanized plumbing lines can be very expensive to replace and were used on most older homes. Most insurance companies in Ontario will not insure a home with galvanized plumbing pipes. Galvanized pipes tend to corrode from the inside out so that there is no warning that a pipe is about to burst.
Older homes may have many layers of lead paint which has built up over the years. Lead-based paint is a major source of lead poisoning for children and can also affect adults. In children, lead poisoning can cause irreversible brain damage and can impair mental functioning. It can retard mental and physical development and reduce attention span. It can also retard fetal development even at extremely low levels of lead. Thus, young children, fetuses, infants, and adults with high blood pressure are the most vulnerable to the effects of lead.
Your house is old and gorgeous, as are those wonderfully ornate cast-iron radiators, but these days, energy prices are anything but old-fashioned. Older homes have radiators sized for a time when open-window ventilation was popular and insulation was uncommon. If you’ve insulated and updated your windows, your radiators are most likely larger than they need to be. You should have your home assessed by a heating expert to evaluate the expense and available options if required to upgrade your heating system.
The Barrie Home Inspector has many years of experience in inspecting Century Homes and is also a Certified Building Code Official with the Ontario Building Officials Association. Commercial Building inspections also entail the same problems as residential and buyers have to be aware of the risks and hazards involved in purchasing older properties. Visit the Barrie Home Inspector’s site at www.barriehomeinspector.com to obtain more information and advice when dealing with older homes.
Masonry Block Building Tips. Every block wall-regardless of height or length-should be placed on a secure footing of poured concrete. A block barbecue grill or outdoor fireplace requires a large concrete pad as a footing. The footing must extend down beyond the frost line to prevent heaving in the winter.
For a footing poured in an area where drainage is a problem, lay a drain line along the outer edge of the form. Allow for a drop of about 1″ for each 20′ of drain line. Backfill over the drain line with about 12″ of crushed stone or gravel. In Ontario this is mandatory and must be installed for any building of 100 square feet in size.
Building exact corners is the most important construction of a masonry wall as corners will guide the building of the rest of the wall. A corner pole will make the job easier. A corner pole is any type of post which can be braced into a true vertical position and which will hold a taut mason’s line without bending. Two such poles are set up, one on each corner, with the mason’s line stretched between them. Corner poles for block walls should be marked every 4 to 8 inches, depending on how high the material is with which you are building the wall. Such marks must be absolutely level when the mason’s line is stretched between them.
Set the corner block first. Be sure you are using the correct block. Check the starting corner block, both horizontally and vertically, and take time to get it positioned correctly. All other blocks will align with this starter block, so it’s very important to set it exactly. Follow this same procedure as you reach the other corners, laying the first course out about two or three blocks in each direction. Tie a line between two bricks and stretch it between the two corner blocks on the first course.
Corners and lead blocks are generally built 4-6 rows high, with each course being stepped back one block from the course below, creating a pyramid effect. The wall alignment, plumb and level should be checked on these corners before completing the wall. If everything checks out fine, it is now time to fill in each course between the corners.
Because they can be adjusted in size slightly, mortar joints provide some layout flexibility. While the ideal mortar joint is 3⁄8 inch wide, masons routinely shrink joints to as small as 1⁄4 inch or stretch them to as large as1⁄2 inch. Joints that fall out- side this range are unsightly and, with a few small exceptions, prohibited by most building codes.
The Barrie Home Inspector uses his training to ensure every building inspected meets or exceeds the required building code practices. As a Certified Building Code Official he is one of the few Barrie Home Inspector’s with Ontario Building Code training in both Part 9 and Part 3 of the Building Code.
Installing Pellet Stove for a WETT Inspection. Pellet stoves are relatively complicated machines, with electronic control boards, multiple blowers, safety switches and sensors. As a result there is much more to go wrong than with a simple wood stove or fireplace. Pellet stoves require regular attention, service and maintenance. Your first order of business when shopping for a Pellet stove is to ask yourself who will be taking care of your stove. If you are very handy with tools, draft gauges and chimney brushes, then it may be possible for you to troubleshoot and repair your unit. If you are a bit less handy, you should strongly consider purchasing from a local and reputable dealer with a service department. Ask questions about their future service policies BEFORE you put your $$$ down.
A pellet stove is simpler to operate than a classic wood-burning stove, but it’s certainly not as hands-off as a conventional furnace. “Our whole culture is built around giving the consumer products that you can plug in and forget,” says Dan Freihofer, vice president of operations for PelletSales.com, a pellet provider. “But the pellet stove takes a little more involvement. You’ve got to fill it every day, and clean the ash out every few days. The typical home owner is someone who isn’t daunted by a little technology–an engineer or someone who likes to tinker.” There are two basic stove types: inserts that fit into a fireplace and freestanding models, like the Lopi Leyden that Goodrow and Willis bought. This stove produces 45,100 Btu per hour, roughly matching the output of a small residential boiler or furnace–enough to heat 2250 square feet of living space.
Wood-heating technology and its safe installation are more complicated. It isn’t safe to simply hook up a wood stove to an existing chimney and begin using it for heating. You should get reliable advice from a trained professional and consider having the wood-burning system professionally installed. This way, you will get the best performance from the system and be assured of its safety. Before starting the installation, get a building permit from your municipal office and inform your insurance agent of your intentions.
Depending on the burn rate, a stove will run anywhere from several hours to all day before its hopper needs another load of fuel. Each pellet is an energy-dense sawdust extrusion that measures about 1/4 inch in diameter and 3/4 inch long. The average household uses between 2 and 3 tons per heating season. Last winter a ton of pellets (50 40-pound bags) cost about $200 to $275–providing, that is, you could find them. The pellet industry got a sooty black eye over the last few seasons in regions where demand outstripped supply. The producers and retailers say they have fixed the problem for this year with better production methods and logistics. Just to be sure, many stove owners started placing orders in the spring. Some groups of owners started pooling their orders to buy a whole tractor-trailer load of fuel at a time–bringing down the price while ensuring they’d have pellets once the temperature drops. “Supply looks dramatically better this year,” Freihofer says. “Supply will exceed demand.”
Wood-burning appliances and fireplaces may emit large quantities of air pollutants. Wood smoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, organic gases, and particulate matter, many of which have adverse health effects. In many urban and rural areas, smoke from wood burning is a major contributor to air pollution. Because of this, some municipalities restrict wood heating appliance use when the local air quality reaches unacceptable levels. Others restrict or ban the installation of wood-burning appliances in new construction. Before installing a wood-burning system, you should contact your local building codes department, state energy office, or state environmental agency about wood-burning regulations that may apply in your area.
WETT inspections can be booked at by calling 705-795-8255 or visit Barrie Wett Inspections. WETT Inspection for new home owners in the Barrie or Simcoe County area. Insurance companies now require that all wood stoves and fireplaces be inspected prior to issuing home insurance. Call now for a Professional WETT Certified inspection of your wood stove, fireplace, fireplace insert or pellet stove.
Want to find out more about Barrie WETT Inspections by a Certified Professional.
New Technology and Home Inspections. As technology advances new tools are being adapted to the home inspection industry. The Barrie Home Inspector is a leader in bringing this new technology to Simcoe County. First to introduce his Fair Pricing Policy , First to introduce Thermal Imaging , First to introduce a 30 day Money-Back guarantee with No Questions asked and the only Home Inspector in Simcoe County to include $50.00 Wett inspections with all our regular priced inspections.
To meet the need for specialized building inspections, which include, roofs, attics, leaking basements, foundations, and other building system issues, we have created our $129.00 inspection . We will look at a specific items for you or perform a Thermal Scan of your home for only $129.00. No report is given for this special priced inspection and you pick what service you require. We have created this inspection due to the sheer volume of requests for re-inspections, problem solving and moisture and leak detection. This particular inspection would be of great value to individuals who are selling their home and don’t want any expensive surprises after they have negotiated a price.
The Barrie Home inspector has been providing Free Thermal Imaging scans with all regular priced home inspections for the past year. This amazing technology can aid in the detection of heat loss, moisture, water leaks, over-heating conditions and even mould detection. We also perform moisture checks with our up-graded digital moisture detector which allows us to detect moisture up to an inch behind most building products.
We carry 3 ladders to access even the most difficult roofs, no looking from the road with our company . The Barrie Home Inspector carries 12 ft, 24 ft and 30 ft ladders and a multitude of tools to aid in our inspections. Our latest tool is a flexible video camera with built in LED lighting for inspecting hard or nearly impossible locations without damaging your home. A more complete inspection of furnaces, duct work, plumbing and penetrations of your walls are now fully visible to our trained professionals.
Commercial building inspections are an area where our training and experience enable us to provide the best possible inspection available. All inspectors are Building Code Qualified and I am personally Ontario Building Code Certified. We believe if you don’t know how it was supposed to be built, how can you inspect it? With over 28 years of combined building and inspection experience knowledge does make a difference.
When Only The Best Will Do !
Need advice or just some information pertaining to your house? Please call us and get our opinion at no charge . We are here to help and provide our expertise when ever possible. Call Roger at 705-795-8255 or Toll Free at 1-888-818-8608
Winterize Your House This Autumn. Everyone has heard about spring cleaning, but hardly any people know what it means to winterize your home. When fall arrives you need to inspect your home’s readiness for the upcoming winter.
Autumn means winter season is around the corner, and you should use the opportunity to make sure that your house is ready for it. At this particular time of year, with the leaves dying out, examining the house is easier, so you can tell if any shrubs are hanging onto the house. Siding is easily damaged by roots and vines that cling to the surface area – even bricks aren’t immune – and they should be cleaned off.
Once you are done with watering for the year, you must drain all of the hose, and roll them up to be stored away. The water to your exterior faucets should be turned off, in order that they can drain and get dry. Get the outdoor furniture cleaned up and stored in a place dry, once you are done using it till the following year.
You should protect any young trees you have with mulch, particularly in their first year of growth. To help protect against your yard from starting to be sodden if heavy rains occur, make sure that any drainage ditches are clear.
Winter naturally leads one’s thoughts to fireplaces. Almost everyone calls for a chimney sweep at the same time when a frigid spell shows up, so call early to beat the rush. If you use firewood, do not delay in finding someone and getting a good supply built up. When traveling around rural areas, you will discover local people who sell fire wood, without lots of advertising.
No matter if you use a fireplace in winter, you should check all of your smoke alarms to make sure they are working. If you leave your Christmas lights set up for the whole year, check that the cords remain flexible. If you are using storm windows, they should be set up. You must check if the weather-stripping has become dried out from the summer’s heat and should be replaced.
The windows are usually hardly ever opened in winter, therefore it is necessary to check the condition of the filters in the range hood.
Water leaks can’t be kept from happening forever, so check the places where leaks most commonly occur, these being the roofing, the guttering, the downpipes and the interior plumbing.
You should search for leaks, the most at risk places being the roof, gutters, down-pipes and inside plumbing. If you locate some leaks, you should obviously get them repaired. You need to cover the air-conditioning machines to prevent drafts, while, particularly with older homes, it is worth cladding the exterior pipes. It’s a wise decision to shampoo the carpets and rugs, since dust is more noticeable in the winter. While you’re at it, you might also thoroughly clean the windows.
Check your homes chimney if you have one. Look for cracks in mortar and brick which should be sealed with caulking or similar material prior to winter. If you have just bought your home you may require a WETT inspection by your insurance company. We recommend using Barrie WETT Inspection Services
Soffit Baffles Protect Your Attic
One of the biggest causes of ice dams are the lack of soffit baffles. What are soffit baffles most people ask? They are also be known as Mor-vents and Sur-vents, usually made of Styrofoam and designed to promote air flow and ventilation of your attic.
With today’s higher insulation requirements, soffit baffles are required by the National and Ontario Building Code. Some builders prefer to install plywood baffles which are nailed to the trusses or rafters allowing air to freely move from soffits past insulation into the attic. What ever the method your attic is required to have a square foot of ventilation for every 300 square feet of attic space. The building code requires a minimum of 25 percent of ventilation from the bottom and a minimum of 25 percent from the top area of the roof. The remaining 50 percent can be installed at any other locations of the roof. Most builders in the Orillia and Barrie area just install ventilation on the top and bottom of the roofs. Some complicated roofs with multiple levels have roof vents installed at all locations where there is a variation of heights.
Turbines have become a popular addition to many new homes. The visible spinning seems to assure people that their ventilation performance has been improved. Personally, although turbines do draw out more air than the standard passive roof vent, there are some problems most people are un-aware of. On the majority of inspections performed in Barrie, Alliston and Orillia, I have found that turbines allow moisture and snow to accumulate on the insulation in the attic space. Although I have never come across enough snow or moisture to worry about, usually the air movement dries up all moisture before it can become an issue, I personally would not install turbines on my roof for this reason. One cure is to lay insulation batts underneath your turbines which will then collect the water and snow and the air movement in attic will then disapate it. If you have blown insulation the moisture from turbines can compact insulation which will reduce its R-value and eventually leak into ceiling area.
A word of caution, when having your insulation up-graded, always ensure two items.
1. Your insulation installer did not blow insulation into your soffit baffles, causing blockage of air flow.
2. Your insulation installer moved into the different areas of your attic to prevent insulation from blowing over any protruding supports and creating voids or pockets of lower insulation.
Personal choice of blown in insulation is cellulose. Because cellulose is comprised of recycled paper treated with a fire retardant chemical, mice choose not to nest in cellulose. Over 95% of brick homes with fiberglass insulation have rodent holes from nesting.
