Charles Buell Consulting LLC

Consulting on Building Science and Forensics in the Seattle Area (Formerly Charles Buell Inspections INC)

You are here: Home / Archives for Type / Roofing

by

Good reasons to think like a mouse.

Good reasons to think like a mouse.

The first thing I saw when I entered the attic was dozens of little ¾” holes peppering the yellow fiberglass insulation.  There were trails stained with urine and studded with feces running between the holes.

Evidence of mice in insulation
Evidence of mice in insulation

I was in mouse heaven.

It is nasty enough crawling around in attics, so when they are vermin infested it makes the job even more interesting.  It makes me glad to have a good mask.

An inspector has to be a bit like a rat or a mouse when it comes to crawl spaces and attics.

Rodents explore EVERYWHERE.  That is why you generally can find signs of them EVERYWHERE.  It also explains why they are able to get into the home in the first place.  They look everywhere–it is what they are about–and they spend their entire lives doing it.  There is usually something that drives their searching–the smell of food–water–and I think just plain curiosity.

Exploring like a mouse is what pushes me to go to the parts of attics that one might otherwise ignore.  This is especially true if I have been given reason to be curious about a particular area of the attic from something I saw before I got in the attic.  There was mold or mold-like fungal growth apparent on the drywall in one area and I really wanted to see if I could see any evidence of leaking in the attic.

The attic above the garage was large and circuitous.  It was an “L” shaped three car garage.  As I crawled through the trusses to the farthest corner, I could see with my flashlight what looked like an opening near the eaves—in the area of suspected leaking.  There was no way I could actually get to this location without eating a lot of mouse infested insulation but I knew that I could probably get close enough to get my camera into the area.

In this first picture one can see the opening.

Missing fire-blocking
Missing fire-blocking

Now this opening in itself should have been fire-blocked to prevent the spread of fire from the walls below to the attic space I was in.  This alone was worthy of mention in the inspection report.  As I extended the camera even further, to get a shot down into the cavity, I saw something that I would have had no other way of knowing had I not insisted on being a mouse.

At the bottom of the cavity I noticed in the camera picture what appeared to be a blue electrical box that had been covered by drywall.  More good information for the inspection report–and more proof of the benefits of acting and thinking like a mouse.  Here is a picture of the fungus covered wall and the approximate location of the buried outlet box.  As you can see, the mold condition on the interior of the garage is not apparent behind the drywall.

Buried Receptacle Box
Buried Receptacle Box

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

If you enjoyed this post, and would like to get notices of new posts to my blog, please subscribe via email in the little box to the right. I promise NO spamming of your email :-D

 

 

by

Sway-back roof–how much can it take?

Sway-back roof–how much can it take?

In older homes that were what we call “stick-built,” finding roofs that sag a bit is not uncommon.

Sometimes this sagging is cosmetic–other times repairs are called for to prevent actual collapse of the roof.

As you can see in the following picture this old horse had quite a sag in half of the roof (from the chimney to the end of the house).  The portion that was not sagging was over the vaulted kitchen and living room areas–and was well supported by an adequate beam for the span.  The back half of the home, where the bedrooms and bathrooms were, was framed conventionally with a ridge board and rafters.  The ridge board was made of two pieces that butted together in the middle.  In this type of framing, the ridge board should not be relied upon to carry the load of the roof anyway.  Inadequate attachment of the wall-to-wall supports has allowed the ridge to sag.  Intermediate supports of the ridge, a proper ridge beam and/or adequate restraint from wall to wall could have prevented this sagging.  The sagging you see in the ridge resulted in corresponding bowing out of the walls on both sides of the home.

sway_back1

So for 50 years this roof has been settling–a little more every year just under its own weight, seasonal snow loads and additional layers of roofing materials.

It is not unusual to have unsupported ridge boards.  About all the ridge board does is to give the builder a way to assemble the rafters and to space the rafters.  It would be “possible” to build the roof without a ridge board–just like we do with trusses which have no ridge boards–but it would be considerably more difficult.  Once the roof is sheathed and the framing is complete the ridge board really does not serve much function and is not typically relied upon to support the roof structurally.

This is all especially true of roofs that are fairly steep—like 6/12 and steeper.  These roofs will usually have collar ties and/or intermediate knee-wall structures to assist in supporting the roof to resist sagging.  As roofs become flatter these intermediate supports become even more critical and in most cases you would probably want to support the ridge board to prevent sagging.

It is not rocket science that this very low pitched roof needed more support–and fortunately will not be that difficult a fix for any experienced framing contractor.  The roof was leaking at the time of inspection so making repairs in conjunction with the roof replacement was recommended.

This old horse was not really ready for the glue factory–or even to be put out to pasture after all.

Now if you want to see a horse that IS ready for the glue factory take a look at this next picture.

sway_back2

This shed at a neighbor’s house, near where I live, had looked like this for at least 18 years–leaving me to conclude that a garbage can on top of Grandma’s old Desoto sedan must be what is holding up the roof.  The building is now finally gone–it disappeared one day when I wasn’t looking.  I have no idea if there was actually a Desoto in it or not.

By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle

 

If you enjoyed this post, and would like to get notices of new posts to my blog, please subscribe via email in the little box to the right. I promise NO spamming of your email :-D

by

Plumbing vent flashings—some are better than others

Plumbing vent flashings—some are better than others

One of my pet peeves as a Seattle home inspector is the use of inadequate flashings for pipes that penetrate the roofing materials.  My opinion is that the flashings chosen should be designed to last as long as the roof is projected to last–if possible.  There are some types of roofs–like slate or steel where this may be difficult–but let’s at least do the best we can.

On a recent wood shake roof, that was about 25-30 years old–and at the end of its life–we can see a good example of a flashing that should never have been used with this roof.  The rubber component of this flashing is good for about 15-20 years–maybe less in environments harsher than the cloudy NW.  They certainly don’t last 25-30 years.  This one has been leaking for quite some time.

A 20 year flashing used on a 30 year roof
A 20 year flashing used on a 30 year roof

Why does this happen?  Cost.  A good flashing, that will last all of the 25-30 years of this roof, might cost $25.00 per pipe as opposed to $3.75.  You might want to consider copper starting at $75.00 per pipe.  A roof with 4-5 pipes sticking through it starts to add up to a lot of lattes–so most home owners go with the flashings that cost as much as a latte.

I have seen these latte-priced flashings on metal roofs and heavy asphalt shingle roofs designed to last much longer than the rubber flashing.  These flashings might need to be replaced two or three times over the life of the roof and when these costs are factored in (labor and materials, one might have been better off choosing the more expensive flashings from the get-go–ones that might even be able to be reused when the roof is relaced.  Here are a couple of pictures of such flashings.  The first picture is a rubber/metal pipe flashing on a faux-slate roof that is designed to last 50 years or more.

Faux-slate roof
Faux-slate roof

This next picture is of a rubber pipe flashing on a typical 25 to 35 year asphalt roof that has already failed after 15 years.

Failed pipe flashing
Failed pipe flashing

Lead type flashings work very well in some areas of the country, but sometimes squirrels like to chew on the lead–perhaps that is why they are known to be squirrelly.

 

By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle

 

If you enjoyed this post, and would like to get notices of new posts to my blog, please subscribe via email in the little box to the right. I promise NO spamming of your email  😀