theBCInspector.ca Update
Dear Future Subscriber,
Hope
everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Lets all
have a safe and profitable 2012!
Our
family has grown by 21 members in the last quarter and we are now
knocking on the door of 300 members. Thanks for helping us
get
there. Please pass this email on to friends/colleagues in the
business you think would be interested in this publication and
encourage them to subscribe.
You are encouraged to log-in and check the seminar calendar
located on theBCInspector.ca today and see what seminars are available
in your area. Many events for the first quarter of 2012 have
recently been added. Check back often as new seminars are
added
regularly (contact us if you need assistance logging in).
We need your input and welcome the submission of articles, photos, and
Ask The Inspector submissions.
Industry Numbers
Current list of Licensed Inspectors per CPBC
(January 1, 2012).
| CAHPI (BC) |
265 |
| ASTT(BC) |
114 |
| CanNACHI |
80 |
| NCPCHPI |
6 |
Note: The 'independent' provisional licenses
are no longer available.
Maintenance
Maters Before and After the Sale of a Home
Home Inspectors and Builders
recognize that owning a home is a big investment – perhaps the largest
financial investment that their clients will ever make. Following good
maintenance practices is one of the best ways that homebuyers can
protect their
investment.
In most cases there is a
legal obligation to maintain homes with home warranty insurance. If not
maintained, home warranty insurance coverage could be limited. In
strata titled
homes, there is always a duty to maintain the home even if there is no
home
warranty insurance in place.
Home Inspectors and Builders
should encourage homebuyers to ask if there is an existing maintenance
plan in
place and if the building has been properly maintained prior to making
an offer
to purchase. Homeowners should also be aware of how to maintain the
home after
the home is purchased to meet legal obligations. That’s where the
provincial
Homeowner Protection Office (HPO) can help.
The HPO’s free Maintenance
Matters bulletins provide practical information on maintaining the
building
envelope of multi-unit residential buildings, including townhouses, low
and
high-rise residential buildings. The bulletins target homeowners,
strata
councils, strata managers, maintenance managers, housing co-operatives
and
building owners.
If your clients live in or
look after a multi-unit residential building, encourage them to visit www.hpo.bc.ca and
check out these bulletins.
They explain why maintenance needs to be performed on a regular basis,
what
needs to be maintained and when. You’ll also find practical tips and
checklists
to help homeowners stay on track with important maintenance
requirements.
When homeowners need to make
repairs that require professional help, the Maintenance Matters
bulletins offer
practical guidelines for hiring professional contractors.
“During the life of every
building, owners make decisions and take action to maintain and renew
the
various physical components of their buildings. Each of these decisions
and
actions can affect the lifespan of the building components,” said Wendy
Acheson,
HPO Vice President and Registrar.
“What many owners of new
homes may not realize is that failure to perform regular maintenance or
improperly performed maintenance could limit their home warranty
insurance
coverage,” Acheson added.
Under B.C. law, residential
builders and warranty providers must provide maintenance information to
the
original buyers of a new home, if they want to make home warranty
insurance
coverage conditional upon proper maintenance. Realtors can help protect
their
clients’ interests by ensuring that any maintenance manual provided is
passed
on to subsequent purchasers or is in the possession of the strata
council, for
the maintenance of common property in strata titled homes.
The HPO, in conjunction with
Polygon Homes, has released 10 bulletins in its Maintenance Matters
series.
Visit the Publications section at http://www.hpo.bc.ca/maintenance-matters
to view the following bulletins:
#10:
At-Grade
and Below-Grade Assemblies
#9:
Exposed Wood Structures
#8:
Cladding
#7:
Building
Envelope
Maintenance and Renewals Planning
#6:
Decks and Balconies
#5:
Sealants
#4:
Residential Windows and Exterior Doors
#3:
Avoiding Condensation Problems
#2:
Maintaining Your Roof
#1:
Paints, Stains and Coatings
Maintenance Matters videos on
these helpful topics are currently in production and will soon be
available for
viewing.
Free online subscription to HPO
publications and
announcements
To be notified by email when
new Maintenance Matters bulletins and videos are available, go to Email
Subscriptions on the What’s New page of the HPO website, www.hpo.bc.ca.
theBCInspector.ca would like
to thank the HPO for their submission of this article.
Ask
the Inspector
Ask an inspector sponsors discussions regarding the best way to report
on specific deficiencies or provides research on a specific question
that an inspector may have. All responses will remain
anonymous.
For editions where specific questions have not been received from the
members we will post photos and ask for viewer submissions on how to
best write up a deficiency presented in the photos. We will then
publish the anonymous responses received and also elicit follow up by
industry professionals relevant to the component(s) being shown in the
photo. The result will help us, as inspectors, refine the way we
describe defects and improve our services to our clients.
theBCInspector has received input regarding our October 2010 Ask The
Inspector - Stucco, from a highly regarded Senior Project Technologist
and a Building Science Research Engineer who both work at a prominent
building envelope engineering firm in the city. These
gentlemen asked to remain anonymous but provided approval for your
editor to paraphrase their email and telephone comments on this subject.
In general they felt that the responses from the home inspectors were “speculative & alarmist.
They are far overstepping both their knowledge and responsibility”.
“If a leak allows rain
water behind a stucco surface, moisture related damage may occur
whether the stucco is breathable or not.” Stucco is
composed of Cement, Sand, and Lime at different ratios depending on the
application and applicator. "Stucco with a higher lime ratio
has higher vapour permeability." The permeance can also
change depending on the coatings applied during and after construction
to attempt to ‘seal’ the wall or change its colour.
“However
- It is impossible for an inspector to visually determine the permeance
of a stucco system. Assumptions should also not be made based
on the era when the stucco was applied.”, “Inspectors should instead focus
on the principals of a face sealed wall assembly” “Bottom Line: The
primary barrier (water shedding surface) needs to be continuous.”
All penetrations or joints should be flashed if horizontal or caulked
if vertical. “Any
hairline cracks in the stucco should be protected with a coating of
highly permeable elastomeric paint.”
An inspector should also not try to advise the client on which walls
are the most susceptible to problems and therefore may have the highest
liability, as this is determined by the complicated balance between
wetting and drying of the wall assembly, which is well beyond the
requirements of a home inspection and cannot be calculated from a
visual inspection only.
Their
suggested write up for Home Inspector reports is as follows:
Based on our visual observation of the exterior stucco surface,
discontinuities are present in the water shedding surface (name
locations). If these voids are left unaddressed, they may
allow water ingress past the primary water shedding surface.
This could potentially lead to extended periods of wetting of the
underlying moisture sensitive materials in the wall cavity in medium to
high exposure locations. We recommend making the primary
water shedding surface continuous at all penetrations and joints
between dissimilar materials. This can be achieved with flashings (with
end dams) above all horizontal locations and caulking at all vertical
locations. Hairline cracking within the field of the stucco
should be sealed with a highly permeable elastomeric coating.
Cracks larger than a hairline should be repaired prior to coating.
We are then recommended to add one of the two options below:
Option 1:
No visual indicators of current water ingress were observed during the
inspection.
Option 2:
Visual indicators of water ingress were observed on the date of the
inspection at the following locations:
List Locations
We recommend further evaluation by a building envelope specialist to
determine the scope of repair required for any damage present.
Editors
Notes: The HPO Building Enclosure Design Guide – Wood Frame
Multi-Unit Residential Buildings provides the following
definitions:
Water
Shedding Surface: the outer surface of
assemblies, interfaces and details that deflect and/or drain the vast
majority of the exterior water impacting on the assembly. For wall
assemblies the water shedding element is the cladding – wood siding,
vinyl, masonry veneer or a variety of other materials. For windows the
water shedding surface is a combination of the outer portion of the
frame, exterior gaskets, glazing tape or sealant, and the insulating
glass unit. For roofs it is the shingles, metal roofing or membrane.
Face
Seal: combines the water shedding surface, water resistive
barrier and the air barrier into one layer at the exterior of the
assembly. This strategy relies solely on the elimination of all holes
through the cladding.
theBCInspector would like to thank these gentlemen for their assistance
in this article. From your editor's point of view, this was a very good
learning experience and will effect my personal reports going forward.
Past Topics:
2010-10: Face sealed stucco wall assembly on
a single family dwelling (Stucco Photo). Inspector
& Industry responses Industry
Response Above.
2011-01: Shingle Roof - Single family
dwelling (Roof
Photo) Inspector
& Professional Responses
2011-07: HVAC Tape – Cloth tape over
asbestos tape (Tape
Photo) Inspector
& Professional Responses
Please submit your questions for future Ask
The Inspector to theBCInspector.ca
Inspector
Photo Gallery
The dwelling benefits
from a Green Wall Assembly
(Photo submitted by your editor: Sean Wiens)
Owner did not have any
construction adhesive for this bath surround.
(Photo submitted by ASTTBC Inspector: John Kostelnik)
Have a picture you think others would like
to see? Submit to theBCInspector.ca
CPD
Corner
Online
CPD calendar: Lists seminars and courses in your area (Agenda
View is best
as it shows venue cities). This is a free resource to subscribers of
this
newsletter so please use it. Contact us should you have any difficulty
in
logging into your account.
ASHI
Reporter's, The Word discuses the meaning of
Backflow Prevention
ASHI
Reporter: Lessons in Risk Management: The Inaccessible Crawl Space
ASHI
Reporter: Home Inspection
– Staying Safe Out
There
ASHI
Reporter: You Can Safe
the Life of a Child
Regular
Links
Upcoming Courses of interest to Home
& Property Inspectors
BC
Building Envelope Council Past Seminar Presentations
Green
Building Advisor
Building Officials’ Association of BC
RCABC
Job
Site Safety Course
RCABC
Fall Protection
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in 3rd Party
articles may not align with those of SENWI Services Inc. or
theBCInspector.ca, but are being presented to provide differing
viewpoints that can lead to discussion and an overall better
understanding of the topics involved.
Typical Bad Practises &
Materials Calendar
Materials and Practices of caution organized
by year.
Email in your additions to what
will be an excellent resource for our subscribers.
Note:
Does anyone have a reputable online reference on what years window
putty was likely
to contain asbestos?
Grow-Op Resources
Policies listed by City/Municipality
Other Useful Links
Have a resource not listed? Send us an email
Industry News
Latest Home & Property Inspection
Industry News is available at theBCInspector.ca (Check back
often for updates).
Have a news story of interest. Let us know
Recalls and Safety Alerts
Health and Safety Information for common
household products
CSA Product Recalls & Alerts
Other Links
Inspector Fun
Home Inspection Nightmares XII
(published by This Old House)
Find the defects X
Sometimes
Darwinian Evolution does not work fast enough
Got a Suggestion? Let us know how
we are doing?
theBCInspector.ca wants to be the best
learning resource in BC for Home and Property Inspectors. Let us know
what we are doing right and what we can improve by taking this quick survey.
About Us
At theBCinspector.ca, you will find the
latest house and property information; educational resources and
industry news that will help raise your professionalism and that of the
house and property inspection industry as a whole. Sean Wiens of SENWI
House Inspections is the editor and publisher of the newsletter and has
been involved in the home and property inspection industry since
September of 2006.
Note: The Views expressed herein represent the opinions of the editor
and SENWI Services Inc. only and do not form any opinion, position, or
policy of any organization outside of SENWI Services Inc.
Copyright (c) 2012 SENWI Services Inc.
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