Real Estate Inspection, Charles Buell Inspections Inc

Double lugging of wires on circuit breakers

February 6, 2012 By Charles Buell Leave a Comment

Today I want to discuss “double lugging” or “multiple lugging” of wires on circuit breakers.

Double lugging (some say double tapping, although this is not an entirely accurate description) is when more than one wire is terminated under a screw or connector on a circuit breaker or fuse block.

Most circuit breakers are only designed and UL listed for one wire per connection. (Exceptions are some Square D, and some Cutler Hammer/Eaton Breakers). For example, take the average screw-type termination on a circuit breaker. It is not hard to understand that when the screw is turned down over one wire you end up with a very positive connection. When you install one wire on each side—-one of the wires will not end up being quite as tight as the other side and arcing is possible. Since we are not talking about welding, we consider electrical arcing a bad thing.

The other day I came across a panel with several double lugs on circuit breakers that made this issue even clearer—-DIFFERENT KINDS of wires on each side—–solid conductor on one side and stranded conductor on the other side. It should be clear, even to a novice, that there is no way that there will ever be equal pressure on these two different types of wires. The risk of arcing is very high—-all dependent on what kinds of loads are placed on the circuits.

Double lugged circuit breakers

This is not a difficult fix for the electrician. They will just wire-nut the two wires together with a single wire, and run that single wire to the breaker instead of the two wires.

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Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle

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Filed Under: Electrical, Featured, Home Tips, Precautions, Type Tagged With: double lugs, electrical

Stair Handrails and the minimum standards of the building codes.

February 4, 2012 By Charles Buell 3 Comments

I have done posts in the past about stairs, and how as a component of the home, they are perhaps one of the most difficult things to get right.

There is tread width, riser height, riser/tread ratios, consistency of riser height, nosings, stair width, slope of treads and many other factors.

Side barriers and hand railings are more things to take into account.

On a recent new townhouse I found a hand rail that was not parallel to the run of stairs. As in this next picture “A” and “B” should be equal. Due to “perspective” they may actually even look parallel.

Stair handrail that is not parallel to the run of the stairs

In this case the handrail at the top of the stairs, from a point at the stair nosing vertical to the handrail, measured over 41.”

At the bottom the height was 37.”

This meant that “A” and “B” could not be equal.

Current regulations require the handrail to be between 34” and 38” from the nosing vertical to the handrail. Because the highest point of the handrail is more than 38,” it will need to be corrected, but the fact that it is not parallel would not, in itself, require repairs. As long as one end is above 34″ and the other end is below 38,” the handrail would “technically meet current regulations.

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Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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Filed Under: Featured, Home safety, Home Tips, Interiors, Precautions, Type Tagged With: handails, stair handrails, stairs

How many clamps does it take to stop a leak? Too many are never enough.

February 2, 2012 By Charles Buell Leave a Comment

Galvanized drain pipes installed prior to the mid 50’s are likely to be at the end of their life. For all intents and purposes this is the fast majority of galvanized piping. Inspectors will use these general guidelines when he or she finds them in your dream

The Real Stuff

house, to let you know that you should be prepared for replacement of the pipes—-even if they seem to be draining OK at the time of inspection.

Galvanized drain pipes usually do not spontaneously start leaking. In fact, failure happens pretty much continuously over the life of the pipe, gradually as the pipes deteriorate on the inside. Eventually small pin-holes start to develop. These tiny leaks will seal themselves with rust until they corrode through again and then start to leak again. Eventually the leaks can’t seal themselves any longer and the pipe leaks all the time.

It is common to see these holes patched with duct tape, electrical tape, tar and banding clamps. I have sometimes seen repairs that would cost more than replacement of the pipe—-well except that the plumber would have to be paid for his time. So the homeowner looks at the leak, and will spend 40 bucks or 10 bucks and figure out a way to beat a little more life out of the pipes.

The pipes pictured below drained just fine at the time of inspection—–and were not even leaking—-and they are certainly WAY past the end of their expected life. The inspector would be remiss to not recommend replacement NOW.

Pipe coupling patch

Numerous pipe couplings used as patches

For arguments sake, let’s just say you are a “Pipe-Beater,” and you really need to get a little more life out of the drain before you call in the plumber—-and then have to fork over the big bucks. The stainless steel no-hub couplings that one can see in the lower picture cost about $4.00 each, of which there are four—-for a total of $16.00. To replace that same section of damaged pipe with new plastic pipe would have required about $1.00 worth of pipe and two connectors for a total of $9.00—-assuming you didn’t have to buy a hack-saw.

Those of you that read my blog religiously will recognize the Asbestos wrapped pipes below the leak—-the subject of the post previous to this one.

Will the plumber be willing to work around the stuff? Good question.

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Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspector in Seattle

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Filed Under: Featured, Home Tips, Plumbing, Precautions, Type Tagged With: asbestos, asbestos insulation, galvanized pipes, plumbing

What is that white powder in my crawl space?

January 31, 2012 By Charles Buell 4 Comments

It is truly a delight when the inspector opens the crawl space hatch and sees a nice new ground cover laid down throughout—-plus plenty of head-room—-SAAWEET!

It seems that all too often the ground cover is more like a sheet of plastic laid out with the express purpose of collecting dead vermin and rodent feces—–and assorted other varieties of nastiness—-but still better than none. To have plenty of headroom and not have to crawl on one’s belly through the whole space—-now that is luxury. This particular crawl space was divided into 3 sections and as I entered the 3^rd area which was under my buyer’s condo unit—-this is what I found.

What is this white powder in the crawl space?

Well, I knew immediately what it was—-but for the sake of this post, what do YOU the reader think it is?

Let’s make a list of possibilities—-just to give you a sense of some of the things inspectors can encounter in crawl spaces—-as well as some possibilities that I would hope would NOT be encountered very often.

1. Sport climbing chalk, (Owner owns a climbing gym?)

2. Drywall dust that filtered down through a knot hole in the sub-floor above, (Recently remodeled?)

3. Insecticide from treatment for Wood Destroying Organisms, (House had wood destroying insects?)

4. Baby powder, (House was a day care?)

5. Lime, (Used to be a farm house? Perhaps an outhouse?)

6. Cocaine, (Not likely—-it would NOT have gotten left behind!)

7. Crushed stick of kid’s driveway chalk, (You never know where kids are going to play with chalk!)

8. Crème of Tarter, (Someone was REALLY into making pancakes?)

9. Fiberglass dust, (Previous owner used to build boats in his spare bedroom?)

10. Asbestos, (What house doesn’t have asbestos?)

11. Rice Flour, (Hey—-it’s possible!)

12. Laundry soap, (The laundry is nearby?)

13. Borax hand cleaner, (How do these things end up where they do?)

14. Rotenone, (There is a huge garden in the back yard?)

15. Diatomaceous Earth, (Ahhhhh, hippies—trying to kill bugs the natural way?)

16. Sugar, (That big hole in the kitchen floor?)

17. Salt, (You have to store it somewhere when it isn’t freezing outside!)

18. Baking soda, (The butcher the baker the candle stick maker?)

19. Titanium White artists pigment, (Former owner was an artist?)

20. Most anything, (What can you think of?)

21. Most anything white. (What can you think of that is white?)

This next picture should give you the answer.

The cause of the white powder

If you picked Asbestos, from the list you were correct. These old asbestos wrapped heating pipes had been whacked by workers in the crawl space which created the friable mess below on the ground cover.

While one of the popular recommendations for dealing with these materials is to leave them alone and protect them from becoming friable, now we have a situation were the “big guns” (asbestos abatement company) may have to come in and properly clean up the mess. Perhaps the big guns should have been called in the first place.

Some materials with asbestos in them are not very easily made friable—-this old type pipe wrap is not one of them. It is easily damaged.

Here are the requisite sites for “official” information on how to deal with these types of materials in:

The Environmental Protection Agency.

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (for those in Washington State—-the information is still good for all interested).

Lastly—always wear proper breathing protection in the crawl space—you never know what is in there—or even used to be in there.

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Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspector in Seattle

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Filed Under: Crawl Spaces, Featured, Home safety, Home Tips, Precautions, Type Tagged With: asbestos, asbestos insulation

Spray foam—the new duct-tape

January 29, 2012 By Charles Buell 3 Comments

Every once in a while I have to visit the, “Twilight Zone”……..

Spray foam used to fill holes

It is a great feeling, when I call for repairs by qualified repair persons, that I can go to sleep at night after sending out the report, knowing that the repairs will be in good hands. To sleep well knowing that our buyers will continue to be as well taken care of by the repair person as they have been by their agent and their inspector.

It is great to know that when I am called back for the re-inspection of the repaired items, that the best part will be sharing a cup of coffee with the agent and the buyer and being able to sign off on what was done.

Welcome to the real world—back from the Twilight Zone……..

A world where all too often repairs are done like the one in the picture to the left.

Spray foam insulation is a poor patching and exterior wall covering material for these damaged concrete blocks around the overhead door. And while it may keep out drafts and vermin (temporarily) it is no substitute for epoxy, concrete and/or rebuilding—-as would be called for in this repair.

One could argue that this “repair” was worse than doing nothing at all since all that spray foam will all have to be removed in order to make “proper” repairs.

I have a hard time understanding what the person making repairs like this can possibly be thinking when they read the report and it calls for, “professional repairs by a qualified repair person.” These repairs are not “professional” and the person doing them was clearly “not qualified.”

Why would anyone conclude that a knowledgeable buyer, being advised by someone committed to taking care of them, would think that this kind of repair would fly? Add to this that someone is going to have to pay for another re-inspection fee. Wouldn’t it have just been cheaper to have done it right in the first place?

There is nothing more unpleasant than the inspector foaming at the mouth.

Sometimes I wish I lived in the Twilight Zone.

Now where is that roll of duct tape?

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Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle

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