Jay Markanich

Anytime you have to find a hiding water heater, there are going to be other hidden surprises.

Here is one.

When I can’t see wiring, and other things I have seen around a house that give me pause, if not fright, I wonder about them, and want to know. I’m like that. So when I saw this cable duck under things stored in a kitchen cabinet, I wanted to see what I could. So I moved stuff out.

And, after I moved out a bunch of stuff, this is what I found!

Look carefully. Tucked away in that little cavity in the back of the cabinet is the top of a wire nut. It is one of two. They make up this disposal’s connection.

It might be surprising that this has not shorted out by now from water or stored-product spills, but looking carefully you might see the electric tape on the wire nut. I think that effectively sealed it off to no moisture would get inside.

It’s still incorrect!

But tape is obviously better than no tape…

A better installation would have utilized a visible and accessible junction box. I like to see such boxes secured properly to the cabinet, with connector clamps holding the cables to the box. Sometimes I see them fixed to the floor of the cabinet, which is alright but not preferred.

As you already know, there should also have been a connector clamp holding that cable into the bottom of the disposal.

My recommendation: If the connection won’t come to you, sometimes you have to go to the connection. You might be surprised what you find out!

The water heater was no where to be found.

There was this fine laundry room, beside the fine "bathroom" (door to the right). That bath could be a story in itself, but I digress.

The laundry room was special in its own right. You can see the water connection on the wall. And there was no drain, so I assumed that the washer drained into that special floor drain in the foreground. That is packaging tape over it now - keeps the snakes out.

I don't know where that floor drain goes. Perhaps to the creek behind the house.

The dryer receptacle is on the wall, just hanging around waiting for a dryer. It really was hanging - it should have been attached to a stud, assuming there is actually a stud back there.

That receptacle strip on the floor probably serviced the washing machine, or so I assumed. It comes from somewhere - I never did find out where it was plugged in. Perhaps to a receptacle behind the drywall, but I did NOT want to assume that.

The dryer vent is on the wall just to the left of that dryer receptacle. I know you don't see it, but it is there. At least it's outdoors, and from it you can see the back side of what I assumed to be the drywall.

Where does that plug in the receptacle strip come from? Ah, the mystery! I had to bet it was from something in the water heater closet. That is, IF, the biggest word in the English language, IF the water heater is where we assumed it to be.

As you know, I cannot be invasive on a home inspection, and wasn't.

But what about the Realtor?! I think we found ourselves a LOOP HOLE!!

And there it was! With just a gentle invasion of the wall we found the water heater! The Hardy Boys could not have done better! The shut-off valve for the rear hose bib was there too!

This is very comical! You need to know all that is going on here.

To the left is the fabulous "kitchen" "sink" "installed" in the "counter." I use those terms loosely, hence the ""s. There was a lot of leaking, creating what I assumed to be mold. I cannot say it was mold, for legal reasons. We would have to do a mold test. But, it was mold...

The "sink" drains into an ejector pump in the floor in front of the water heater. The "bathroom" drains there too. I did not have to assume that because the cover was not sealed and when we ran the "bathroom" water you could tell that it must have been draining there for some time. A long time. You catch my drift?

Good thing you aren't catching the drift I did when we gently opened that space up...

Do you see the cable coming out of the wall? That is connected to the ejector pump, and that's what is plugged into the receptacle strip in the upper photo. The vertical drain line for the ejector pump is visible just to the left of the gentle wall opening.

When we ran the ejector pump it seemed to drain into the house DWV line. I assumed that anyway because I could hear it. It might go into that creek behind too, for all I know...

I get to have fun like this nearly every day!

Laughing is good medicine. I am very healthy, and now you know why! I LAUGH A LOT...!!

You can assume that I love my job. Fortunately I live in an area where the local, shall we say, population provides me lots of opportunity to laugh and very good health. Don't assume otherwise!

My recommendation: If you can't find a water heater, you should assume you need to get a Realtor involved. A strong one...

And, unlike a mortgage, that would be a great assumption!

This is what greeted me in the front window of my inspection yesterday. I knew I was in for a treat!

The inspection was indeed a treat, but writing the report was not! I knew from this particular Realtor's name that there was fun to be had in this inspection. Reputation you know. But an inspector has to be careful - there are lots of things that are hidden and not easily detectable.

The report had 165 items in the summary of concerns. That might not be the record, but it is up there.

Here is a tour of things the Realtor saw and yet proclaimed this house to be in "Move In Condition!"

Enjoy...

This is one of the two rear downspouts.

The other was missing and it was draining right onto the AC unit below.

The new retaining wall, just outside the basement door, should be a lot of fun for the kids! It's only 18" off the ground and should make a great climb!

Here's the new master bedroom suite! It is located in the converted garage. These are two walls. Notice anything missing?

Right! No where to plug in the alarm clock! Anywhere.

Oh, and that double switch on the wall? I could not figure out what either controlled.

Right in the middle of the master bedroom ceiling is the attic access ladder. It comes down slightly to the right of the middle of the room. In order to install the array of new lights and fans in the "remodeled" house one needed lights in the attic.

Here is one of three, all connected. Never did find the switch.

Moving to the kitchen, there was a dishwasher (not attached to the counter or cabinet and one hinge was loose) but no other appliance present.

The house had been converted from gas to all electric. This is the "new" receptacle for the range. It was not labeled in the panel box.

The black cable is attached inside and seems to service something else, undetermined during the inspection!

And, yes, that is one interesting ground line and connection.

All that new electrical required new wiring. Much of it was in the furnace room. This is an example of the many junction boxes in that room.

Cables hung all over the house. They came from somewhere, as you can see, and went somewhere and were not attached to the wall.

The many switches in that room controlled nothing we could see.

That same furnace room had lots of the new plumbing.

It was supported very well ... with duct tape.

Right under this photo is the new heat pump. Eight inches in front of it is the new washer/dryer set. It's going to be a bit difficult for the buyer (a single lady) to get that filter out!

This is the fine new breaker for the fine new heat pump.

I'm not sure the heat pump needs a breaker with quite that much amperage.

Okay, I am sure. It doesn't...

A new HVAC system needs new ducts and registers.

This is the upstairs hall bath register.

What, you don't see it?

That's it right there, in the floor, between the end of the door and the tub.

Well, yes, it's covered with tile, but it is there!

Oh, yeah, the register in the living room, did not blow any air.

This is hard to see. It is one of two negatively-inclined drain lines. This is connected to the ejector pump beside the new basement bathroom. The basement bathroom was created from the old laundry room, I think. Below the gravity drain from the house, the effluent from the bathroom needs to be pumped upward and then into a current drain line so it can leave the house.

The problem is that this negative incline must go on for a while, because when the ejector pump is engaged and the effluent pumped out, a WHOLE LOT comes back into the pit!

It is negatively inclined because that pesky toilet drain above is in the way.

And finally, the chimney outside and the fireplace inside seem to have moved a bit. A lot of bit.

In the family room both sides and the center have cracked and moved noticeably.

Good thing they fixed that with some Great Foam and caulking!

Woohoo! That ought to handle it.

The exterior cracking was hidden behind some garden timbers.

I had 165 such items. These are only a few photographs. If these are the kinds of things we can see, what is happening where we cannot see??!!

Oh, there were no permits for any of the work. Obviously.

My recommendation: If you are going to put a "Move In Condition" sign on a house, be really, really sure!

Well, at least not for free.

I get interesting phone calls. This one was from a seller. “Your home inspection cost me a lot of money. I cannot sell my house until I fix the problems you said on your report. I have a contractor here now. You need to stop by immediately and tell him what to do. I am the house on Virginia Avenue.”

“Ma’am, I remember the house well, and all the problems. But, I am not nearby, have an appointment now and another after that. I can’t drop all that simply to stop by your house. But, please understand, what repairs you do or don’t do on your house are not my purview. My clients were the buyers. I don’t return to the houses I inspect to make sure any repairs are done correctly, unless you want to pay me.”

“Well, they aren’t buying the house, because of you! So I am your client now. And you have cost me so much money already I certainly will not pay you! My Realtor tells me she cannot sell the house until I have done everything on your list. You need to at least be available by phone when my contractor has questions. There is a lot to do!” (Wow…)

“If he is a professional contractor and knows what he is doing, he should not need to call me. I am not your general contractor.”

The problems, in part, were: bathroom remodel which leaked from the toilet and sink drain into the furnace room below; severe mold issues in the furnace room beneath that bathroom (which the seller tried to “hide” with storage); new carpeting and newly painted basement walls, but painted only in certain spots; not well-concealed stains under that new paint; serious moisture issues – 80+% - in those basement walls (which could mean many things, all behind drywall); a remodeled basement bathroom with mold in the walls behind the shower (which the seller ALSO tried to “hide” with storage). There were other things, but this is what the contractor was working to correct for now.

My recommendation: When storage is artfully placed in areas where it typically would not be, there might be intention to hide something. When parts, but not all, of basement walls are freshly painted, there might be intention to hide something. When sellers are upset when things are moved and problems found, they know they are caught, and they are INTENDING to hide something. Head’s up!

And don’t try to sell undisclosed problems to someone else… but you already knew that!

Not often does do I have the opportunity to go back to a house following a home inspection. I inspected this particular house just a couple of weeks ago. And, in addition to its problems, it had high radon, requiring remediation, which the sellers had to accomplish. So my clients asked me back to do a follow-up radon test.

When I arrived the front porch, which had many problems noted on the inspection report, presented itself!

So I looked around!

First, I looked at the newel posts on the front guardrail. Both had been rotting, high and low, and one had completely let go of the guardrail. It was on the list of repairs my clients presented to the seller.

One post had been noticeably "repaired." The other, nearly as rotten, had had nothing done to it.

That is it to the right. Can you see the repair?

My camera strap is playfully placed in front of the post. But if you cannot see it, that is the repair in the picture below.

My client came out to see me looking at the "repair." She said, "You aren't trying to ruin my Saturday morning, are you? Don't say anything, it will only get me started."

So, I didn't.

It's easy to see the rot. Look again. Can you see the "repair?"

Now, look closely.

That's it! The piece of plywood beautifully fashioned and attractively centered on the post. It is attached to the very rotting part of the post with drywall screws.

(Note: drywall screws are meant for drywall, which is an INDOOR product. They are NOT meant for outdoors.)

(Note: plywood is not a very good outdoor product because it comes apart when water softens it. It also rots easily. It is meant for indoors.)

Those drywall screws will rust pretty quickly. When they do, everything near them will rot away even more quickly. I was impressed that they were holding at all because that post was pretty rotten!

The rail is attached with an interior finish nail, toe-nailed from underneath. Solid! Very, very solid!

OK, not so solid.

I saw the look on my client's face. Nothing was said. That wasn't the only poor repair they inherited.

"Are you going post-al yet?" very, very nearly parted my lips. Fortunately, I didn't say it! She was very, very close...

She said, "Do you remember the section of fence that was lying on the ground?"

"Yes."

"Well, they fixed it too. With a bungee cord! We made such a stink that they actually came back and fixed it properly. We told them we were going to walk."

Bummer it had been fixed! I sooooo wanted a photo of that!

My recommendation: When you specify repairs, you might want to say exactly what you want done, what you expect it to look like when completed, by whom, and with receipts provided. Not everything counts as a repair!