townhouses Archives - Charles Buell Consulting LLC

Three story townhouses, and even townhouses that might be considered four stories, are popping out of the ground all over Seattle. They represent special problems for the Home Inspector: from roofs too high to get on, to having to undergo extensive Cardiac Training to make the many flights from bottom to top.

These structures are also difficult to get a decent picture to use for the cover of the report—-so you end up using a picture of the kitchen, the gas fireplace, or the Hydronic heating system—-or occasionally a nice view of Mt Rainer or Elliot bay.

I know inspectors that would, in fact, likely keel over and die if they had to inspect a four story townhouse. For me they are kind of fun in that respect. Most of the time I find myself having to wait for my buyers to catch up. I have been known to joke with my buyers about how they will be able to give up their gym memberships once they move in—-no more Golds—-no more Jenny Craig—-no more Stone Gardens. It is no accident that the vast majority of people buying these critters are under 30, with no kids, and are Olympic Athletes—-go figure.

One particular, recurring issue that I have been finding in these structures is low water pressure and flow at the 4^th story fixtures. Water pressure (as indicated by PSI), will push water up hill at a rate of 2.31 feet per PSI. A more practical way to look at this is that if the water pressure at the outside faucet at the ground level is 43 psi—-by the time it gets to the 4^th floor Master Bath shower head it will be approximately 21 psi lower, or around 22 psi. Typically, the “minimum” pressure we like to see in homes is around 40 psi.

There are some fancy water-saver shower heads that would be a trickle at 22 psi. One of the routine comments I get from buyers when they call me to book the inspection is (after I ask them if they have any concerns about the home): “there seems to be very little water at the Master Bathroom.” I tell them—-oh that is very common and jokingly tell them to just use the shower at the ground floor level.

Actually it is “usually” a very easy fix. Most townhouse complexes, or the individual units themselves, have “pressure-reducing” valves. The pressure is just set too low, and the plumber merely needs to adjust the valve to provide adequate pressures to the higher fixtures. In the picture at the left, the Pressure Reducing Valve is the brass colored doohickey above the yellow main water shut-off handle at the bottom of the picture. At the very top of the picture, the blue thingamabob is the Expansion Tank—a type of thermal expansion device required whenever there is a pressure reducing valve on the plumbing system.

Note: the pressure reducing valve should never be adjusted by someone that doesn’t know what the heck they are doing. Here is why. Any system with a pressure reducing valve is also very likely going to have an “expansion tank.” The pressure in the expansion tank has to be adjusted to the same as the desired house pressure—-prior to installation of the tank—-just a little complicated for the average homeowner.

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Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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A recent trend in Seattle and other cities is the advent of Townhouses. Now these townhouses are not townhouses as defined by the building codes—they are more like a bunch of tall duplexes on a small piece of property. Builders are able to get more units installed on a property that might have originally only had one home. The four unit Townhouse set-up is very common.

The City of Seattle has recently come under considerable pressure to review its policies regarding Townhouses due to some people’s belief that the structures are a form of urban blight. The Seattle PI did an article recently about the problem.

As an inspector, I would say that some are a blight, while others are far from it. As a way to achieve density while maintaining a sense of privacy and a sense of actually owning something, it seems like a stage somewhere between the single detached structure and the condo.

On a recent inspection of a new Townhouse, I noted that the access to the back units was not ideal. In fact, downright silly. It is the structures with these kinds of design flaws that are likely to eventually fit the idea of “blight.” These kinds of design flaws affect the value of all kinds of homes—not just town homes. To achieve greater coverage, often times, the driveway to the back units goes under the second floor of the front units. These driveways are often very narrow with low clearances. The front units are often damaged or subject to damage from automobiles.

There is absolutely no way to get large vehicles, like moving vans into the back units, and all large belongings and appliances would have to be moved by hand to the back units (anything that is, that would not fit in a small pick-up truck lying down). This picture was taken from under the front unit while walking up the driveway to the back units.

The headroom clearance at the end of the beam is 81-3/4″ (Translated for those of you in the trades—–6 feet, 9-3/4 inches). The ladder on my Jeep Cherokee cleared by 8 inches.

While these conditions most likely meet jurisdictional requirements, they may represent restrictions to desired use by the buyer—and affect the value of the home.

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Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

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Townhouses—no more gym membership!

Tight squeeze