Interiors — Real Estate Inspection, Charles Buell Inspections Inc

Basement Stairwell Lighting

February 19, 2012 By Charles Buell Leave a Comment

Stairs to basements in older homes are often steep and built to less than satisfactory standards. It is almost as if they were constructed as an after thought, and were fitted in any way they could. They often have sharp winding turns, insufficient or missing handrails, low clearances to bang your head on, and insufficient or missing side barriers. Often these stairs were never meant to be used on a daily basis but merely provided access to the furnace etc.

While these stairs might have been somewhat satisfactory when the only thing down there was the furnace and the water heater, as these basements took on more everyday uses such as laundry rooms, family rooms, and additional bedrooms, these stairs represent an increased safety risk.

Improving these stairs so that they are not so steep and are safe by current standards can be very costly and might even require relocation of the stairs and/or changes in the floor structure. This is usually not done.

One requirement that becomes necessary as the basement is developed into “living space” is for there to be a light switch at the top and the bottom of the stairs. This is especially important as a safety “upgrade” if the stairs are themselves to remain dangerous—-and least you will be able to see where you are falling and others will be able to locate you to pick up the pieces.

In older homes, a switch only at the top was quite common. A home I inspected some time ago used to have a switch located at the top of the stairs but it was abandoned in favor of one located half way down the stairs—-sort of “ideally” wrong for whether you were going up or down the stairs.

Light switch location for basement light

Light switch location for the basement light

Stairs are a complicated component of a home and making them as safe as possible is important. Having adequate side guards, handrails, headroom and lighting are critical to safe use of the stairs. Some safety features can be improved on even older stairs that cannot be completely brought up to current standards.

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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: stair barriers, stair lighting, stairs

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

Enamel Steel tubs are inexpensive because they are cheap

January 27, 2012 By Charles Buell Leave a Comment

As is indicated by the “bluish” highlighted areas in the picture, we can see the typical areas of an enamel steel type tub that are prone to water intrusion into the wall. Moisture is frequently found by moisture meter in these areas.

Enamel Steel Tub

On a recent new construction inspection I found a great example that shows why this is so.

Steel tubs like this one typically have a flange that runs up behind the wall covering to reduce the chance of water finding its way into the wall. The problem with this flange is that it does not run all the way to the edge of the tub or down the side. In this next picture one can see the flange where it stops at the black opening that is a hole all the way through. Really this opening should be properly caulked and sealed previous to installation of the finish surface to reduce the risk of water penetrating this area. There are filler pieces that should be installed at the inside corners previous to installing the wall covering. Then of course the gap should be properly caulked after the finish wall surface is installed—assuming it is a single piece type covering like the one shown. If it is a tile enclosure, then of course the joint would simply be grouted and the gap in the tub properly caulked and flashed behind the tile.

It is very difficult to seal this connection satisfactorily and part of what makes these tubs “cheap.” They are of course quite expensive in the long term.

Gap at corner of steel tub

The way these tubs are constructed speaks to the importance of keeping grout and caulk in good condition.

Similar indications of moisture are also very common at the inside corners of the tub because this flange does not wrap around the corner but instead ends just before the corner—-just like in the picture at the front of the tub. This creates an ideal place for moisture to find its way into the wall at the corners due to improper caulking of the corner prior to installation of the wall surface and poor caulking at the wall surface connection with the tub.

Doesn’t it make you wonder why they would build the tub this way?

Apparently it has to do with the way these steel tubs are manufactured and enameled that make it very difficult to do a proper flange all the way around the tub like a plastic tub would have—-and part of what makes this type of tub a “cheap” choice in tubs.

This is why inspectors are so adamant about keeping these areas well sealed/caulked/grouted. Of course if the work behind the surface has not been done properly, eventually water will find its way into these areas.

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Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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Filed Under: Featured, Home Tips, Interiors, Plumbing, Precautions, Type Tagged With: caulking, enamel steel tubs, grouting, tub enclosures

Home Inspectors do not fix things!

January 8, 2012 By Charles Buell Leave a Comment

It is very common for bathroom sinks to have problems with the pop-up stoppers.

Sometimes the mechanism under the sink is damaged, disconnected or just plain missing. Other times the lift arm isn’t properly connected to the stopper itself. Whatever the problem, since photographs are my only means of taking notes on an inspection, a reminder picture of a problem with a pop-up stopper might look something like the following picture.

Sink stopper handle would not lift up

Such a picture is usually enough to jog my memory and even tell me which bathroom the problem was in. Sometimes I photo the problem under the sink as well. When this one wouldn’t pull up and properly close the drain I sort of expected one of the usual scenarios under the sink.

I wasn’t quite prepared for the work of the last painters of the room.

Pretty clear why the stopper handle would not lift up

The stopper lift-arm had been taped to the drain pipe—-it was easier to fix than write up.

But I at least got a blog post out of it—pictures and all.

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Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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Filed Under: Featured, Home Tips, How to, Interiors, Plumbing, Type Tagged With: pop-up stoppers, sink drains, sink stoppers, sinks

Painting Bathroom Tiles—may not be the best solution

January 7, 2012 By Charles Buell 2 Comments

The house had great “curb appeal,” and had an 8 page glossy full color brochure to go with it. The neighborhood supported the curb appeal with incredible views of Mt Rainier and Lake Washington. The yard was meticulously manicured.

I would have expected the interior of the home to reflect the sales pitch.

On first glance it did—-

Nice spiffy looking new bathroom tiles

—-but it did not take long for the gloss—-and the color—-to go out of the picture.

The main upstairs bathroom looked “sparkling” with bright white tiles and shiny brown border tiles that seemed inconsistent with the age of the home. At first I thought nothing of it, because often the condition of the interior of the home merely reflects how well the home was cared for—-or not.

In this case the entire bathroom was tiled—-walls and floor. They even went to the trouble of matching the window trim the same color as the tiles.

So why did it look so nice?

All the tile work had been painted. The tile trim and wood trim were the same color because they were both painted the same color—-no color matching involved. When you looked close—it was obvious. At first glance it was not obvious. My buyer had been in the bathroom at previous visits to the home and had never noticed. The buyer’s agent had never noticed. It totally gave itself away under the toilet—where the painting was not complete.

Painted tiles

How many of you know the trick of how to clean dried paint out of a plastic bucket or a glass container? What you do is fill it up with hot water—wait a few minutes—-and all the paint peels from the inside of the container in one piece—-a floppy shape of the container it was once in.

So, now, imagine the shower walls after a nice hot shower. Me thinks the buyer would have been “hot” and seeing “red,” instead of the nice “white” tiles.

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Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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