Why ventilation in your attic space matters
We are always excited to see at least two forms of air flow to an attic space because this means there is air movement and a lesser chance for moisture issues. When an attic space is unfinished, we can have a better perspective of the conditions, but sometimes an attic can be finished off into living space. This obviously blocks our visual ability to observe the conditions of the attic, but we can still find clues based on what we see from the exterior.
Moss and lichen buildup along roofing materials, especially on the Northern side of a home, is likely to be found when moisture has no way to escape or dry out. Tree coverage over the structure can also affect their growth, but that’s an outside factor from what we are focusing on. Moisture can build up under the edges of shingles or along the connecting point of where a roof meets a wall.
Some of the key components we are looking for in an attic ventilation system are the entrance and exit points of the air flow. These tend to work in conjunction, such as soffit vents with ridge vents, a gable vent with a powered fan or a window along with turbine ventilators. Windows and gable vents are sometimes used on their own, but depending on the square footage of the space, these may or may not be enough.
The formation of ice dams at the eaves is a good indicator for a lack of ventilation. In this circumstance, the attic is too warm, which allows snow to melt off the upper portion of the roof. As the lower portion, or the eaves, is cooler, the snow does not melt as quickly and is more likely to refreeze instead of melting off the roof’s edge. As ice starts to form, the frozen water can start to seep into any crevices it can (ie. under the shingles and sheathing. This is what leads to water ingress between the structure’s coverings.
We had this happen to us in a previous home. The attic had soffit channels to prevent the blown in insulation from blocking the vents, and there were two windows on either side of the attic. Aside from a previous mold problem, it seemed like this should have been sufficient ventilation for this unfinished space. However, upon further review of the exterior, we found that the attic did not actually have any soffit vents installed. This is likely how the ice dam managed to develop and how we ended up with leaks in our ceilings and between the walls along that side of the structure.
Proper ventilation is a key factor in the functionality of the roofing system. Without steady air flow, moisture has a higher chance of causing problems. Let Short Notice Inspections be your guide to who you should call based on our findings.
When is the right time to get a home inspection? Part 3
We’re back with Part 3 of our topic of “When to get a home inspection”. This one focuses on when you should get a home inspection as a homeowner who is not looking to sell their house. Now, you may have noticed the gap in the posting of the last blog post to this one. The answer for the delay is quite simple, life just got away from us. Which is exactly when it could be the right time to get a home inspection as a homeowner. We recommend every 5-7 years for a Home Health Inspection. There are times we’d recommend before this mark too, but it’s a good rule of thumb.
With an inspection, we’re going to test as much as we can for you and visually inspect your whole house and lot, all piping and HVAC we can see. We’ll look at the conditions of materials inside and out to give you our professional read out of how the house is for functionality and safety as it stands. Your heating system and water heater’s age; these dates won’t change unless you change out the units, but the inspection will remind you of their age and prepare you for when their time is nearing to start thinking about their expected lifespan. You get your car inspected yearly, I know it’s a government regulation for emissions, but quite frankly, I’ve never had a technician not come back and make a comment on the status of the brakes or note if they see anything else concerning. In the majority of situations, you’ve spent a heck of a lot more on your house than your car, and this might surprise you, but most people are reactive in terms of home maintenance as opposed to proactive.
There are times when you’re just running through life and things just get so busy or overwhelming that you go into autopilot. Maybe it's an especially rough or hectic week at home with kids or at work in the office, or maybe you just hit a slump. There comes a time when most people just go into an autopilot mode and just don’t pay as close of attention to things as they normally would. Even noticing things but not registering what they mean. After a while these little things that are noticed, or in many cases un-noticed, sneak up on you and become issues. They become items that impact your day-to-day, but you just talk about them with frustration as opposed to any solution. Sometimes it takes another set of eyes or another voice that is not you, to get you to register that these small things can lead to bigger issues if you don’t take care of them.
We performed a home health inspection for a client recently, and when we arrived, we spoke to the homeowner as normal and explained our process. We gave a reminder of what was being inspected, the limitations of our visual inspection, etc…essentially our standard rehash of everything our contract says. The client in this case replied in jest, “So you’re going to tell me everything I already know?”
During the inspection, we found 3 newer, larger foundation cracks, leaking water lines and some settlement issues that he had “known” about but didn’t put together how they were impacting the property. This client leads an active life. They “knew” things were happening with the house, but they just were not focused on those things with everything else. While they knew there were some problems, like a new depression in the ground forming near a portion of the home, they didn’t check to see how it was impacting the inside of the home. Those cracks were directly in the area where the settlement had occurred.
In another case, one side of the house was not really accessed a lot on the property. The front and side doors were towards the right of the house and the left side of the house had mainly brush and not a lot of yard space. As such, the owner didn’t spend a lot of time on the left side of the house. If you’re entering and leaving the home only, you’re pretty much just seeing the front and right side of the home only. Well, when we did the inspection and looked at the left side of the house, that is where we found the majority of the exterior issues. It was out of sight and possibly out of mind because of that. From the clients view, they were seeing their curb appeal of the house when they arrived home. When we look at the whole house and property, we’re looking well beyond how you normally look at your house. In this case, we were able to spot that even though the right side of the dormers looked fine and in great condition, the left side of both dormers had significant moss build up on the roofline where they connected. It looked like they had tried to start a meadow on their roof.
Now, the above stories are actually part of the reason we tend to not post pictures and videos from our inspections. Another part being the client paid us for those pictures and information. It doesn’t feel right to be posting that on social media as marketing when we can just get the point across while not showing their home to the world. But the other reason is a psychological one that we’ve noticed with homeowners. You shouldn’t feel overwhelmed, you shouldn’t feel bad and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed that your home is not perfect and maintenance is needed. That may sound silly to some people, but knowing your home needs maintenance can lead to anxiety about how you’re going to do it and how things got this way when you thought you were taking care of your biggest investment.
We don’t want any of our clients or anyone else's clients to ever feel overwhelmed or embarrassed about the state of their home. It pains us to hear stories that include the phrases, “the inspector said it’s the worst house they’ve ever seen” or “it’s so embarrassing that I’ve let it get to this state.” Houses simply are. There is not a good or bad with them, they simply just are. Like everything else in the universe, they are impacted by entropy. They need maintenance. They need repairs, and systems in them do eventually need replacement. That being said, repairs and maintenance can be done in improper ways that make things unsafe, so it’s best to always confer with a licensed and qualified professional for what you’re looking to do. If we find anything on your home health inspection, you can be sure we’ll tell you exactly who to follow up with.
When is the right time to get a home inspection? Part 2
In part 1 of this blog post topic we talked about when the right time to schedule your home inspection is as a home buyer. In part 2 we’re going to talk about when to get inspection(s) as a home seller. Part 3, we’ll talk more for current or new homeowners that haven’t actually had an inspection.
The scenario is common, you’re going to sell your home and you are worried about what might be found in the home inspection once you accept an offer. It’s completely understandable. You’re about to sell something for the most money you’ve ever sold something for, most likely. You don’t want anything to derail that, and you’re worried about what you don’t know. Of course your real estate agent is as well. It is why they asked you all those questions about what you know about the house before they listed it for you. The questions about any history of water damage, any history of leaks, any known damage, etc… All of those are to make sure they have answers they can give to potential buyers, and to make sure they are not misleading someone when answering them, which would put them, and you, in a legal situation they want to prevent.
Before we go any further into this topic, I do want to put this disclaimer here. If you are already working with a real estate agent on a house you are going to list, or already have listed, consult them before scheduling a home inspection. You have hired them to help you sell your home for the best possible price. They do this through their experience and their sales strategies. Not all strategies include a home inspection, and you do not want to impede your real estate agents ability to do the best they can for you.
Back to the main topic, you’re planning on selling your home, and you decide you want to get a home inspection before you list it. The best time to do this is approximately 2-3 weeks before you list the home. Let’s talk a bit about why. First, the home inspection report is only valid for the time the home was inspected…that means the longer you wait, the more time there is for the status of the house to change from when it was inspected. A good example of this is if you had a home inspection when you listed your home, and a bad situation happens where the house sits for a year without being sold. Well, that home inspection that was done a year ago when the house was listed, really isn’t as useful anymore as it was a year ago. Especially if the agent is actively pushing the house the whole time and there has been foot traffic in and out of it. In this situation it may even be beneficial to have another home inspection to show its current state.
The second reason that 2-3 weeks before you list your home is the right time to do a Pre-list inspection is because it allows you to take time to figure out what to do. Is there anything in the report that the inspector has recommended further consultation and evaluation with another licensed professional? 2-3 weeks would give you the time to make those appointments and speak with them. Again, the point of these timeframes are to help you plan things out without adding a huge amount of stress onto you because of a time crunch. 2-3 weeks should give you enough time, but that’s on average. You yourself know how you act best, and if you need more or less time, then that is 100% what you need.
Giving yourself time to either make repairs or get quotes for said repairs, allows you to make sure your house sales goes smoothly. Either by having nothing wrong with the house, or by pricing it to reflect work that may need to be done. If you do have the repairs done, it’s also a good point to provide the inspection and the invoice for the repair work to the agent. That way, when they are asked by prospective buyers, “Have there been any recent repairs done on the property?” Your agent can confidently reply, “Yes, the owners had an inspection before they listed the house. The owners addressed these areas with a licensed and insured professional to make the repairs.”
Remember, the home inspection and home inspector are not trying to persuade anyone towards or away from purchasing a home. It is simply an inspection to provide information of the property. What the real estate agents and home buyer/seller involved decide to do with that information is 100% on them. We as the home inspectors have absolutely no idea what the buyers intentions for the home are, and it is none of our business. If they’re going to make it their new family home, that’s wonderful, and we wish them well on doing that. We’ll give them as much information as possible about the home to help them be successful on their journey. At the same time, that might mean as it stands currently, or going down to framing or even just the foundation and rebuilding from scratch to fit their needs. We have no way of knowing that, so we, at our company, do not judge a property. We simply state what we are seeing and give you information on if it should be corrected, why and who to contact for further help.