Learn how to inspect a home and find major defects with Ben Gromicko from InterNACHI in his free monthly webinar for home inspectors at www.nachi.org/webinar
Bytheway, I really enjoy your videos, I have learned a lot. I was an electrician for 15 years so tend to notice electrical issues more easily. I really appreciate your knowledge and willingness to pass it on.
Thanks. And, you may be interested in other online training videos at www.nachi.org/videos.htm related to many other types of inspections, including electrical.
jimmyt568 gives the home buyer a bit more security and helps with publicity..have an hvac guy, an elect, have a plumber and a roofer. all are certified and ready depending upon the age and general age of the home..
International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) If you did electrical, you can definitely learn this other stuff. I was an electrician and became a foreman & eventually a PM, then an estimator, & design build PM so I was always in meetings and walk throughs with ALL the other trades discussing, coordination, conflict issues, requirements for wall, roof, & floor penetrations, fire blocking, back charges for stuff we had to remove, etc. etc. My father did structural. My uncle did pipe fitting. We all did roofing. I also did load balancing and I also spent a lot of time doing HVAC service, repairs and overall building efficiency optimization. So I had the full air balancing instrumentation, air quality & other test gear besides the usual repair tools. We also did flue gas analyzing to insure any gas fired anything was running at peak efficiency. This could be caused by backdrafts, poor combustion, wrong combustion fan speeds, or louver settings, etc. We could reduce a large commercial building's utility bills by as much as 70%! 30-40% was about average. We reduced one facility's bills by 78%!!! We also got sued by the feds, for not putting some replacement components out to competitive bid, but we won in the end. The facility actually made those components on site and we proved no one else could possibly compete. We got 10,000s of electronic light ballasts at below mfgr's cost, including delivery. The ONLY way anyone else could compete would have opened them up to legal action for artificial price fixing, which is far worse. Hence the case was dismissed. I made the call to use brand X. Brand X also saved probably 40% in labor costs for installation too. It was the best on the market, period.
Thanks, Robyn. You may be interested in other online training videos at www.nachi.org/videos.htm related to many other types of inspections, including electrical.
In the electrical panel there were neutral wires and ground wires connected to the neutral bar, and the same neutral bar was bonded to the box, both are against code. The neutral and ground should be bonded together at the meter main, but not in the panel inside the house.
John Cornell It could be grandfathered in. In older homes there was no grounding conductor, or branch circuit grounding conductors, so they just tagged them all to the neutral. Local jurisdictions must adopt a certain code cycle. Some jurisdictions are 4 or 5 cycles behind the most current, (12-15 years). Bonding and grounding has been changing drastically over the past 20 years. In older parts of Phoenix Arizona it is not uncommon to see the wild leg on an isolated neutral bus inside a panel Yeah, 208 volts to ground on a neutral bus! This was standard practice in the 1950s. If no one has touched that panel since the home was new, its still okay. APS would provide 120-240 volts off a Delta Delta transformer, and the Air Conditioner ran 3 phase 240. A 2 pole breaker was used to feed & protect the AC unit from over current, and a 3 phase fused disconnect on the rooftop was the disconnecting means. After the entray panel, which had the AC & sub panel breakers, the two other phase conductors ran into the sub panel, along with the neutral. The main panel can and the ground bus & can on the sub panel were ground referenced. So, finding 208 volts on a neutral bus is still not uncommon. That was just the way they did it back then. Was it right? It is still being used on a lot of older homes, and it still works.
51:40 drop ceiling . specially in a basement.. best way to see the hvac and anything with load points if has been renovated and was renovated to be an open concept.. run a string from an open span to determine the amount of deflection in main floor from basement..upper floors use a golfball and see were it rolls
I am using a Canon camera with a 20x optical zoom & 20 megapixel resolution. I can visually inspect windows 3 stories up, take a picture and examine it in pretty good detail later. I can even check chimneys that are 40 feet tall, and see the mortar, the cap, etc. Throw a digital line into the big screen TV and you can see quite a bit. It makes a great presentation.
You are correct, Todd. Good catch. We just made a nice illustration for our members and certified home inspectors to add into their inspection reports. It's related to the differences between the p-trap and s-trap. Visit www.nachi.org/gallery/plumbing/general/s-trap-vs-p-trap.jpg to check it out.
Defects and deficiencies require a trained eye and education. When you add InterNACHI'S Ben Gromicko and the educational courses InterNACHI offer you have started off on the right foot. It takes many many years to qualify to be a home inspector and as a business many more years after that which include investment capital. Watch the educational tutorials and enjoy Ben's great teaching expertise. Call montreal-home-inspection-services.com/ and see how an InterNACHI grade with 37 years of restoration, repair and building experance/expertise can help you.
about the only thing i have to say..is this vid is better than 2 yrs old..best i can say.. i really hope the course standards have changed.. over all i do have to say.. good job on the inspection..
Im interested highly in being a home inspector, would you have any insight to a reputable school for training and preperation for the state exam. I am relocating to the Kingsport Tennessee area WITHIN 2 MONTHS.
29:24 is a garage a cold zone.. alot of the photos depict no insulation.. problem with that is.. not sufficiate for a cold zone (hot meets cold cold condensation.. wood and moisture.. prime for bugs and mold.. but is a garage.. and also possible could leak carbon monoxide.. with the attic access.. new code is no access from garage (is not sealed carbon monoxide as well as fire )
jimmyt568 Absolutely! Fire, CO , CO2, NOX, water vapor (condensation), thermal, etc. So above the finished garage ceiling I would want to see a 2 hour rated mold & moisture resistant sheet rock firewall extended to the roof structure, & vapor sealed, as well as mold moisture resistant gyp board between the garage & the house, plus a fire rated door. Then I want a fire rated access attic door in the attic firewall.The garage I just looked at also had a hot water heater and a hydronics boiler in it. These were raised up 30 inches, so yeah, it's above the flammable vapor accumulation level threshold. Unfortunately the garage drains rain & snow melt water off the cars into the basement. Ohhh no! This included water from a faulty water heater too. They also needed bollard poles around the equipment closet containing the boiler & water heater. Watch grandma rip those out with her 1973 Buick 225, & see how that works out.
16:34 Deck is a structural fail for the deck..no point load in verticle.. not to mention no proper seperation of structure to deck.. they should be separate to allow for freeze and thaw ..reason i say no verticle point load for the 4 corners of the deck..firm footing of the point load..
material defect?.. i understand what your saying ..but to be honest you are way to clandanstine.. i let my clients know in no uncertain terms.. unless you are just trying to show peepes the basics and that is it.. i would really love to see the whole report on the house..
Yep. This video, like many of the others, are not actual training courses for home inspectors. They are webinars. Anyone can watch. To become a certified home inspector, there's accredited training available at www.nachi.org/
ben this inspector has been doing this for 35 years. come highly rectarmented.said just kept an I on it he said this has been like this for years. got a second opinion and he said the same thing.
have a block foundation with no cracks in it . but on the front wall is a bulge in the upper part of the foundation. has been there a long time what should I do about itif anything.
enginemodify Good call, EngineModify. It's really all how an inspector labels problems. Personally, I used the word defect for problems that needed correction or repair. I didn't use the word "code," because home inspectors are not code inspectors. Home inspectors main task is to report upon material defects.
For a home inspector, a component like the damaged gable vent is a typically defined as a defect. Because home inspectors are not code inspectors, we do not report upon code, or code violations. And I wouldn't say that a damaged gable vent is a safety hazard. Thanks for the feedback, enginemodify.
Very resourceful thanks Ben.
Thank you, Sagacious 1.
Bytheway, I really enjoy your videos, I have learned a lot. I was an electrician for 15 years so tend to notice electrical issues more easily. I really appreciate your knowledge and willingness to pass it on.
Thanks. And, you may be interested in other online training videos at www.nachi.org/videos.htm related to many other types of inspections, including electrical.
with that john..i would love to have you on a inspection team ..( i do my inspections with a team ,, not just one person)
jimmyt568
gives the home buyer a bit more security and helps with publicity..have an hvac guy, an elect, have a plumber and a roofer. all are certified and ready depending upon the age and general age of the home..
International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) If you did electrical, you can definitely learn this other stuff. I was an electrician and became a foreman & eventually a PM, then an estimator, & design build PM so I was always in meetings and walk throughs with ALL the other trades discussing, coordination, conflict issues, requirements for wall, roof, & floor penetrations, fire blocking, back charges for stuff we had to remove, etc. etc. My father did structural. My uncle did pipe fitting. We all did roofing. I also did load balancing and I also spent a lot of time doing HVAC service, repairs and overall building efficiency optimization. So I had the full air balancing instrumentation, air quality & other test gear besides the usual repair tools. We also did flue gas analyzing to insure any gas fired anything was running at peak efficiency. This could be caused by backdrafts, poor combustion, wrong combustion fan speeds, or louver settings, etc. We could reduce a large commercial building's utility bills by as much as 70%! 30-40% was about average. We reduced one facility's bills by 78%!!! We also got sued by the feds, for not putting some replacement components out to competitive bid, but we won in the end. The facility actually made those components on site and we proved no one else could possibly compete. We got 10,000s of electronic light ballasts at below mfgr's cost, including delivery. The ONLY way anyone else could compete would have opened them up to legal action for artificial price fixing, which is far worse. Hence the case was dismissed. I made the call to use brand X. Brand X also saved probably 40% in labor costs for installation too. It was the best on the market, period.
Thanks, Robyn. You may be interested in other online training videos at www.nachi.org/videos.htm related to many other types of inspections, including electrical.
In the electrical panel there were neutral wires and ground wires connected to the neutral bar, and the same neutral bar was bonded to the box, both are against code. The neutral and ground should be bonded together at the meter main, but not in the panel inside the house.
Thanks, John.
one question i have for you.. is why..? hint the home?
John Cornell It could be grandfathered in. In older homes there was no grounding conductor, or branch circuit grounding conductors, so they just tagged them all to the neutral. Local jurisdictions must adopt a certain code cycle. Some jurisdictions are 4 or 5 cycles behind the most current, (12-15 years). Bonding and grounding has been changing drastically over the past 20 years. In older parts of Phoenix Arizona it is not uncommon to see the wild leg on an isolated neutral bus inside a panel Yeah, 208 volts to ground on a neutral bus! This was standard practice in the 1950s. If no one has touched that panel since the home was new, its still okay. APS would provide 120-240 volts off a Delta Delta transformer, and the Air Conditioner ran 3 phase 240. A 2 pole breaker was used to feed & protect the AC unit from over current, and a 3 phase fused disconnect on the rooftop was the disconnecting means. After the entray panel, which had the AC & sub panel breakers, the two other phase conductors ran into the sub panel, along with the neutral. The main panel can and the ground bus & can on the sub panel were ground referenced. So, finding 208 volts on a neutral bus is still not uncommon. That was just the way they did it back then. Was it right? It is still being used on a lot of older homes, and it still works.
51:40 drop ceiling . specially in a basement.. best way to see the hvac and anything with load points if has been renovated and was renovated to be an open concept.. run a string from an open span to determine the amount of deflection in main floor from basement..upper floors use a golfball and see were it rolls
Great idea, Jimmy568.
Always great information Ben Gromicko. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, Robert. For everyone, please check out our past classes which have been video recorded at nachi.org/class
I am using a Canon camera with a 20x optical zoom & 20 megapixel resolution. I can visually inspect windows 3 stories up, take a picture and examine it in pretty good detail later. I can even check chimneys that are 40 feet tall, and see the mortar, the cap, etc. Throw a digital line into the big screen TV and you can see quite a bit. It makes a great presentation.
Great to hear, Seth B. Good idea with the hi-res camera. That could work for many home inspectors.
@BenGromicko a flexible inspection camera also works great for tight area's
That's an "S" trap in the bathroom sink at 38:36 and 41:20. This is a defect in NC. Should be a "P" trap instead.
You are correct, Todd. Good catch. We just made a nice illustration for our members and certified home inspectors to add into their inspection reports. It's related to the differences between the p-trap and s-trap. Visit www.nachi.org/gallery/plumbing/general/s-trap-vs-p-trap.jpg to check it out.
+Ben Gromicko Thanks, Ben. Great info.
Thank you.
Defects and deficiencies require a trained eye and education. When you add InterNACHI'S Ben Gromicko and the educational courses InterNACHI offer you have started off on the right foot.
It takes many many years to qualify to be a home inspector and as a business many more years after that which include investment capital.
Watch the educational tutorials and enjoy Ben's great teaching expertise.
Call montreal-home-inspection-services.com/ and see how an InterNACHI grade with 37 years of restoration, repair and building experance/expertise can help you.
Thanks for the feedback, Robert Young.
about the only thing i have to say..is this vid is better than 2 yrs old..best i can say.. i really hope the course standards have changed..
over all i do have to say.. good job on the inspection..
Thank you. InterNACHI School is the only home inspector college. Visit www.internachi.edu.
Sounds like this inspection is a real estate agents worst nightmare.
Not really. A real estate agents job, in part, is to find the right buyer for the right house.
Im interested highly in being a home inspector, would you have any insight to a reputable school for training and preperation for the state exam. I am relocating to the Kingsport Tennessee area WITHIN 2 MONTHS.
InterNACHI School at www.internachi.edu is a home inspector college accredited by the US Dept of Education.
29:24 is a garage a cold zone.. alot of the photos depict no insulation.. problem with that is.. not sufficiate for a cold zone (hot meets cold cold condensation.. wood and moisture.. prime for bugs and mold.. but is a garage.. and also possible could leak carbon monoxide..
with the attic access.. new code is no access from garage (is not sealed carbon monoxide as well as fire )
jimmyt568 Absolutely! Fire, CO , CO2, NOX, water vapor (condensation), thermal, etc. So above the finished garage ceiling I would want to see a 2 hour rated mold & moisture resistant sheet rock firewall extended to the roof structure, & vapor sealed, as well as mold moisture resistant gyp board between the garage & the house, plus a fire rated door. Then I want a fire rated access attic door in the attic firewall.The garage I just looked at also had a hot water heater and a hydronics boiler in it. These were raised up 30 inches, so yeah, it's above the flammable vapor accumulation level threshold. Unfortunately the garage drains rain & snow melt water off the cars into the basement. Ohhh no! This included water from a faulty water heater too. They also needed bollard poles around the equipment closet containing the boiler & water heater. Watch grandma rip those out with her 1973 Buick 225, & see how that works out.
Thanks for the feedback, Jimmy. And thanks for watching our videos on ua-cam.com/users/bengromicko
16:34 Deck is a structural fail for the deck..no point load in verticle..
not to mention no proper seperation of structure to deck.. they should be separate to allow for freeze and thaw ..reason i say no verticle point load for the 4 corners of the deck..firm footing of the point load..
Yep. The deck was deemed a material defect, as defined by the Standards of Practice at www.nachi.org/sop.htm
material defect?.. i understand what your saying ..but to be honest you are way to clandanstine.. i let my clients know in no uncertain terms.. unless you are just trying to show peepes the basics and that is it.. i would really love to see the whole report on the house..
Yep. This video, like many of the others, are not actual training courses for home inspectors. They are webinars. Anyone can watch. To become a certified home inspector, there's accredited training available at www.nachi.org/
@40:00 could be bidet hookup?
Or a small 1/4-inch line for the refrigerator downstairs. Oddly placed hook-up.
ben this inspector has been doing this for 35 years. come highly rectarmented.said just kept an I on it he said this has been like this for years. got a second opinion and he said the same thing.
Interesting, Edward. Thanks for the feedback.
have a block foundation with no cracks in it . but on the front wall is a bulge in the upper part of the foundation. has been there a long time what should I do about itif anything.
Consider hiring a certified home inspector in your area to provide a neutral 3rd party opinion. Find a great inspector using inspectorseek.com/
Lazy susan spins around!Lolthats the funniest thing ever!😂
Yep.
19:26 - not a defect, a complete code violation and safety hazard
enginemodify Good call, EngineModify. It's really all how an inspector labels problems. Personally, I used the word defect for problems that needed correction or repair. I didn't use the word "code," because home inspectors are not code inspectors. Home inspectors main task is to report upon material defects.
For a home inspector, a component like the damaged gable vent is a typically defined as a defect. Because home inspectors are not code inspectors, we do not report upon code, or code violations. And I wouldn't say that a damaged gable vent is a safety hazard. Thanks for the feedback, enginemodify.