If you have a home that is less that 2 years old it is mandatory to have it inspected by a Professional Certified Home Inspector before your warranty expires, here's why!!!
Custom home buyers should think ahead and add the expense of having a full time inspector who works for & answers to them on site whenever hidden work is being done,all roofing & waterproofing are a MUST for full time inspection as is insulation and ventilation ,im not just some handyman either,im a retired master roofer & waterproofer who ran a 30 to 50 man crew for the nations 2nd largest roofing & waterproofing company so when I say all hidden work must have full time inspection it's from 32 years as a journeyman and 19 years as a senior foreman / master applicator..
For such an expensive house, hiring an independent FULL TIME home inspector for the duration of the project would cost him $50,000 which is a pittance, however expect the general contractor and subcontractors to object to his on-site presence. Only if the projects are publicly funded do you see inspectors hired by the government.
I hope to purchase my first home in the next 18 months, and videos like this are good training for some of the problems to look out for-even before we get to inspectors. Thank you for sharing these videos!
we bought a newly built home (Morningstar) in Cloverdale in 2010... and I did this again, I would have hired you to monitor the building of it and done a final inspection. Great videos.
You are the Man! Home builders must shudder when they see you coming. I'll call you the "Velvet Hammer", soft speaking with unassailable credentials. I would love to have my GKids be inspectors like you. Best!
who buys a million dollar home with a 2 year warranty? integrity is certainly missing nowadays with homes. not long ago they would build houses that would last 50-100 years no warranty needed because the people building them took pride in there work . now your lucky to get a 2 year warranty.
That's why you should only buy a home that you can inspect or have your own inspector while it's being built. Otherwise, you cannot tell if the basement is water proof or not until it dug out again. And never trust the new home warranty, they are created for the builders to avoid liability.
When I owned homes that required the asphalt roof replaced, I climbed onto the roof and sat on a cushioned stool the entire time the roofers were reshingling!
Unless you have a decent way to collect all that water and move it somewhere else, the waterproofing probably won't be enough. And by waterproofing, it should have both a sticky membrane and a dimpled plastic over that to keep ground from being in contact and protect the sticky membrane.
this house should not have a finished basement period. too much water, clay looking soil with the grade going the wrong way. a really good drain system would help, but i would bet it will always have moisture problems. waterproofing will help, but not a cure.
1 house built over shallow creek? 2 house built in wrong location where water sits? 3 soil grading away from house was not done? as others have commented, tar or water barrier on foundation probably wont solve this long term. maybe put in a french drain & let gravity drain all the water away
My home inspector had 20/20 vision. He found about 20 defects that cost 20 dollars or less to fix. never hire the inspector that the realtor recommends. If I knew then what I know now, I could have had her realtor license revoked. When you get a nitwit home inspector like the one I had who was recommended by the actual realtor who was supposed to be representing my best interests we get an inspector who is unlikely to to find anything to cancel the sale. Remember, there's three things that's important in the real estate game: commission, commission, commission. The other thing you get with such a nitwit is you will find defects he either missed or did not report. And, you may find them sometimes a couple of years after the sale. The inspector didn't know if the hot water tank had a pop off valve, I asked him. He missed several bad outlets and a couple of bad light fixtures including one ligiht fixture hanging just by the wires. He missed an exterior door rotting. He missed the main breaker box. How do you miss the whole breaker box? He did discover that the bathroom sink didn't have a stopper. Good for him. But, he failed to discover the front door had likely been kicked in, the jam repaired and door literally falling off the hinges. So, spend a day or two to pick your inspector. Don't let your bitchy real estate agent pester you ever 20 minutes on "have you picked an inspector?" Don't be afraid to fire your real estate agent. If the agent is acting in her own best interest and not yours, go to the broker and then go to the licensing board.
Actually they look to be 1/2 inch off the concrete leaving the required air gap. Pressure treated is not a code requirement in this situation. As long as it is gapped off of the wall and there is a sill plate gasket, it is fine. Standard construction method.
Tyg Rahof in BC where he is inspecting it is ok by code. Codes sure can differ. I am a certified home inspector and registered building official, I see both sides. Cheers to you, hope you aren’t impacted by the fires.
No waterproofing. Two other issues I'd like to address. One,, maid's quarters in the basement,,, I did not see any sufficient emergency egress for 'living quarters' in the basement. I must assume there are? And I believe you will agree with me,, to rely upon basement waterproofing to avoid damp and mold problems,,, The house was set to deeply into the lot. Too many, to most homes simply set too close to the ground. The norm of a century ago was to walk up 3 to 5 steps to the front porch. Today,, the norm seems to be a near flush entry at the front door, with the lot and lawn stretching table tennis flat in all directions. What works best is a substantial slope away from the house. The backyard of this house does show a swale 10 feet out from the back of the house. (The grass colouration at least seems to show that.) But the swale is nearly flat on the house side. The original build actually cut down into the hill to make a backyard,,,, NO. that's wrong! Not only will it entrap water,,, but it is guaranteed to slide,,, at some future time. The angle of repose is physics. Thou shall not defeat physics. Oh yeah,,, you are gonna hold back the hillside with some one ton pebbles. Silly, silly people,,,,tree roots hold back hillsides. But you cut and bulldozed all the trees. Lift the house 2 feet or more and have a 2 foot slope away from the house in the first 15 feet,,, cap with impermeable clay,,now you have a beginning. No house,,, zero homes, should have to rely upon a single membrane to keep then dry. Also,, basements are definitely NOT made for living quarters. All basements exhibit some degree of moisture problems. ALL basements made with that water sponge called concrete. What does not come through the wall, will come in through the rail footing,, will come up through the floor. No single membrane will prevent the intrusion of water. The best membrane, flawlessly installed,,, and you still have a rail footing and a basement slab. You are not going to ever win with that backyard.
Great follow through! The only time a basement will stay dry is when the house is situated on the crest of the incline/hill so that gravity will move the water downwards. People really need to stop building on mountains and hills, there is going to be problems for ever.
Absolutely agree. The two best things to do in a steep terrain are leave the trees and don't dig in too deep, respect the slope. All stacked materials sand gravel, stone, snow, mud,, have a maximum angle of slope, the angle of repose. If you look at an undisturbed hill or mountain,, that is some percentage of its maximum angle,,, don't muck with Mother Nature. And that a very good soils engineer had Bill Gates use as much as a 6 foot thick basement wall,,, and i would guess that is only the tip of the iceberg, that wall is likely deeper, wider, pilings, shear walls, anchored to bedrock,, I would expect some or all of that,,,,, that IS what is required to even attempt at holding back a hillside. I am not from Texas,, and each area of the country will have its own problems and solutions. The Houston area was all,, or nearly so, low land, swamp,, so I would expect soils, and sub soils, to be soft. A migrating building headed (humour) south in the winter and north in the summer would not surprise me. Texas does have one interesting aspect that I am familiar with. Most of Texas has an underlayment of clay. A clay that is very size sensitive to its water content. Dry it out,, it shrinks,, get it wet, it expands. Big box stores and large manufacturing building,,, often have sprinkler systems under the floor,,, to keep the clay damp, or wet, to the perfect percentage. Too dry and the clay shrinks and the floor sags. I hope you are well,,, Houston is having a rough go of it right now. Be safe.
wow. some of the stuff these "contractors" do is unbelievable. if the homeowner had gone with a licensed contractor they probably wouldn't have ended up with all headaches. thanks for the video, it really goes to show you that customer pays the price when shortcuts are taken.
+nick kirschner The sad part is that licensed conractors do the same quality of work also, Its important to find one with good work ethics. Just ask for a reference job to look at their quality of work.
dang thats crazy. I had to remove plywood before that was nailed on already because some jerk neighbor ratted me out to the inspector after she saw me put a couple screws to hold a stud in place. I was like 2 framing nails short. Like who gives a sheet right? I could have skipped those nails altogether and nobody would have even known. No that asshole came and made me take the plywood off and nail it only then signed me off. How do people get away with bullshit like this?
City inspectors here are garbage...they get hired not on skill but on whos in the family tree! We have houses failing all over our county and our city council is just as bad! And our last sitting judge had 3 DWI's and a domestic abuse arrest!
