Richard Acree - Home and Commercial Building

Hint: Something is missing! You are in a crawl space looking at the end of a beam. What's missing?

ANSWER: The end of the beam is suspended in the air. A notch was cut or built out of the foundation wall to allow room for the beam to insert. But, someone forgot to install material under the beam to support it from below. What you cannot see is that the next support for the beam, a concrete block pier, is almost 10 feet away to the right. The "end" result is a beam that works better as a diving board than a support beam. Anything supported above by this end of the beam will start to move as the beam starts to fail and drop.

Also, a feeble attempt to protect the end and sides of the beam from moisture using plastic has been made. A more professional job could should have been completed.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at www.habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

RICK COZBY JOINS HABITEC!

HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, is pleased to announce that Rick Cozby, formerly President and Owner of House Sense, Inc., has joined Richard Acree and Ron Rittiner at HABITEC as a full time Home Inspector and Environmental Services technician. HABITEC is extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with one of the premier inspectors in Middle Tennessee.

Rick's experience and credentials as a licensed Home Inspector (#258) and certified Environmental Services Technician are impressive. Rick has been a Home Inspector in Middle Tennessee since 1994. Since then Rick has completed over 4000 home inspections! He is certified as a Radon Measurement Technician with the National Environmental Health Association through the National Radon Proficiency Program and he is certified as a Mold Assessment Technician through the Environmental Solutions Association. These significant credentials and experience as an Inspector combine with his knowledge and perspective as the former owner and President of House Sense, Inc., provide an impressive addition to HABITEC!

Rick also has many references for his past performance. One Realtor said "Rick is the Inspector I would use for my own home!" Another Realtor said "I always put Rick's name first when providing a list of Inspectors to my Clients. He is professional, on-time, accurate and he works well with the Client."

Please contact Rick at 615-376-2753 or rick@habitecinspections.com, or visit his page on our website at www.habitecinspections.com/rickcozby.aspx .

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at www.habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

Look at the first 3 pictures pictures. What's wrong with them? Taken individually, they might seem like minor cosmetic cracks. When considered as a group, they point to a common theme and one that can be significant. Then look at the fourth picture.

On the left is a floor crack in the hardwood flooring on the first floor.

On the right is a crack in the dry wall on a door frame also on the first floor. The door also impacts the frame when closing.

Same thing but a different door, again on the first floor.

Again, when taken individually, maybe not that big of a deal. When considered as a group as a series of cracks on the first floor and the fact that the doors impact the door frames when closed, settlement of the foundation comes to mind. Now look at the picture below.

In the crawl space, the main beam was placed on block piers with dimensional lumber spacers and shimmed with small wood shims. The beam ran directly under the areas where the cracks were found on the first floor. Over time, these shims have crushed under the weight of the house. This movement may well have been the cause of the cracks in the first three pictures and the door misalignment. Probably an easy fix with a house jack and some metal shims to replace the wood shims. While at it, HABITEC recommends the use of plastic poly between the concrete piers and the dimensional lumber spacers.

Thank you,

Richard

Comments in this blog posting are the intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at www.habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

RADON AND THE EMPTY HOUSE

Recently I inspected a large home with a foundation that consisted of a crawl space and a partial basement. The home was sophisticated in design and construction including a moisture extraction system for the crawl space. This system was active at the time of the inspection. Also, the crawl space moisture barrier was well done and in tact.

Like many houses for sale these days, this house had been on the market for approximately 8 months and had been vacant for most of that time. Wisely, in addition to the Home Inspection, my Client requested a radon test on the house. Unfortunately, the house tested positive for excessive radon gas with a Continuous Radon Monitor reading of approximately 6.0 pico curies per liter (pCi/L). This despite the active moisture extraction system!.

The listing agent approached me about the reading after discussing these results with the builder and another measurement technician. Both of those two individuals convinced her that the radon measurement reading was high because no one had lived in the house for many months. The listing agent suggested that when the Client/buyer moved into the house the radon gas level would go down because of the normal coming-and-going of a family. She went on to suggest that I inform the Client/buyer of this "fact" by frequently repeating that "this is a valid point".

While I agreed with the "premise" that the radon gas level may come down under normal occupancy, my questions to the listing agent was "How low will it go with normal occupancy?" And, "Is she or her contacts willing to guarantee to the Client that the radon gas level will not only be lower but within EPA guidelines?" Silence.

The point of this article is that we will all see many homes now that are in areas prone to radon gas intrusion and that have been sitting vacant for some time. Regardless, if the radon gas concentration is at or above 4.0 pCi/L, the EPA says the home/building should be mitigated. There is no allowance within EPA guidelines for how long the house has been sitting empty. In fact, the purpose of the Closed House/Building process is to create the worse case scenario for radon gas concentration by closing the building as much as possible for 12 hours prior to the test and then during the test. These days, 12 hours of closed house conditions before starting the test is all too easy to come by.

Thank you,

Richard

Comments in this blog posting are the intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at www.habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

Maybe we are seeing some improvement in the housing market?!!

Recently I have seen articles indicating that although the housing market is still weak and perhaps weakening overall, certain segments of the national market have seen significant improvement. Most noteably is a year-over-year improvement in sales of existing homes and pending home sales in places like California, Detroit and Minnesota. We all know what those markets have been like as they represent some of the worst during 2007-2008, But local numbers in those markets are showing significant improvement. Specifically, Detroit sales increased almost 30% in October 08 vs 07, and pending sales in Detroit were up almost 50%!! This may not hold up if the auto makers go Chapter 11, but for now the news is good.

Also, the CEO of Citigroup recently held a meeting with Citi employees (where he announced 52,000 layoffs!!) and he said "their data suggests the housing market curve is starting to bend". More positive signs that we may be seeing a slow but overall improvement in the market. What have you heard?

Thank you,

Richard

Comments in this blog posting are the intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at www.habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.