Mike Gillingham

I guess this photo speaks for itself.

I am amazed that the occupants are still with us.

This thing was in pieces when I came across it. Notice the flue vent cap on top of the water heater? It is almost pushed completely off the top of the flue. This is because the single wall vent pipe is too long and forcing it over. I don't know about you, but the guy who did this wouldn't get away with this level of workmanship in my place.

The single wall vent was also only covering about 75 percent of the vent cap. I guess there must have been one heck of a draft in this flue vent not to puke CO back into the dwelling.

This is why I ALWAYS recommend having CO detectors in place before sleeping your first night in this or any other home that has gas fired appliances. Not only do you have risk of equipment failure but also installer failure.

I say Hat's off to quality workmanship because it eliminates one of the two potential problems mentioned above that are associated with gas fired appliances.

While taking the order for a recent commercial inspection I was informed that the roofing material was polyurethane. The person who was ordering the inspection from me was no stranger to commercial building, nor am I. I had to ask, are you sure they said poly? The reply was yes. So I said ok and left it at that.

Immediately my mind raced to the application of polyurethane foam to foundations of older homes but did not imagine someone would use it on a roof.

Polyurethane roofing has actually been around for some time now and is used as an over-coating option for existing roofs or applied to new roofs.

It is, simply put, a two part liquid applied under pressure to a surface which expands and forms a seamless coating. Then an elastomeric coating is applied to the top of the foam to keep water out. The coating must be elastic due to expansion and contraction.

I have seen this applied to many foundations in my area while performing a home inspection but this is the first time I have seen it on a roof.

The benefits laid out by the proponents of this are that it is seamless, flexible, light weight and has a good "R" value if the closed cell foam is used. A claimed "R" value of 7.14 per inch of foam.

I don't want to get the Poly roofing industry on my case here but I have a few issues with this type of application, primarily when used over existing roofs.

First, as you can see in the pic to the left, the top coating can be easily punctured. The material must be applied to a clean and oil free surface. I don't know too many existing roofs like that.

If a leak does occur, how can we trace it? The coating material does require ongoing maintenance as stated by every company I looked into, and lastly if you had to tear it off...my goodness!

So there you have it. A look at polyurethane roofing from both sides of the coin.

Home Inspection, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo IA -Are Fuses Better?

A few times a month during the course of performing a home inspection I will run into a fuse panel.

Most folks in Eastern Iowa automatically assume that fuses are old, outdated, and generally less reliable than circuit breakers. Some would even go as far as to say they were dangerous.

Well, it's not the fuses that were dangerous. Fuses are typically more reliable than circuit breakers. Why? because the only thing it takes to make them blow is a flow of current that exceeds what they were manufactured to blow at. That's right they are manufactured to blow at a certain amperage and unless their was a major malfunction in the manufacturing process, they will blow when they are supposed to.

So why did we switch to circuit breakers?

As modern appliances became more numerous in our kitchens and other areas of the home, we found that we needed more circuits to accommodate them. The problem is that there are only so many circuits available, even on the larger fuse panels. So, naturally, we should just double up our circuits on the fuses. The natural affect of this was that we started to blow fuses now and again. Well, gee wiz, we can't have that, let's just throw in a bigger fuse, shall we.

You see where this is going don't you? Of course. When we blew the bigger fuse a couple of times we asked grandpa what should we do and he said "heck son, just throw a penny in there behind that fuse and she'll never blow again". Needless to say the insurance companies did not like it when they had to pay for a home that burned down as a result of over fusing or worse yet, sticking something behind the fuse, which may not even show up on an inspection report.

The obvious benefits of circuit breakers were that we could fit a lot more circuits in a smaller package and with that, the need to multi tap was eliminated. Or so it seemed. When you get a home inspection make sure your home inspector knows what he is looking at. There are actually some breakers out there that are manufactured and engineered to be double tapped, as long as the load is considered by a licensed electrician.

So, are fuses better than breakers? The answer is yes. If you are looking at it from a reliability standpoint. And, no from a insurance perspective.

Home inspector Cedar Rapids, Waterloo Iowa- Are new homes better?

That's a question that I rarely if ever get asked. I think that most people assume that if it's a new home, it's a better home. I would have to ask a question as well, and that is, better in what way?

I have been in homes that were less than five years old that were built by decent contractors and yet were in need of quite a lot.

As a home inspector that services and markets to a very large area in Eastern Iowa including Cedar Rapids, Waterloo/Cedar Falls and all of the surrounding areas I have seen my share of new and old homes.

A short list of some problems I have seen as an inspector in newer homes includes but is not limited to.

• Holes in the shingles left from siding contractors scaffolding.
• Furnaces in need of replacement because it would cost nearly as much to do the repairs needed to get it back up and running.
• Homes built on low lying ground that have sump pumps running almost constantly during the dry season. You better have a battery backup on that one.
• Physical holes in the roof that you could stick your finger through from underneath

I think new is great! Don't get me wrong. But, it isn't always better.

I have also had the privilege of being the Home Inspector on older homes.

Now we all know that there are homes out there that have been neglected and left in disrepair for many years. We also know what we are probably going to find in those homes.

The older homes that I am referring to are the ones that have been cared for.

As a home inspector one of my favorite vintage of homes in my area is somewhere between the early 1950's to the mid 1960's. I consistently see a level of craftsmanship in these homes that I really enjoy. The level of thought that went into the floor plan, the amount of closet space, the quality of the foundation. The rafter systems that look like they grew together even though they are 50+ years old. All these things play into making these homes one of my favorites.

Some of the perceived shortcomings of these older homes may be:

• older furnace
• insulation deficiencies
• older windows
• outdated electrical

As a home inspector my philosophy is, if it isn't broken, don't fix it.

I have seen gas forced air furnaces as old as 45 yrs and not a thing wrong with them. They may not be as efficient but they work like like a champ. Many gas providers offer generous rebate programs for adding insulation to the home which is great. I have seen as high as a 70% rebate as of late. Older windows if maintained will keep the original charm of the home and often do not need to be replaced with vinyl inserts. If the electrical system is outdated it can be brought up to date by a licensed electrician if so desired.

It's true that sometimes the new homes may be prettier on the outside and have that VOC new carpet smell, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are better IMO.

Not too long ago I did a blog post titled Every Day is a Good Day. In that post I talked about the benefits of getting up early or staying up late and studying God's Word every day. Or as often as you can anyway.

Here is a little testimony of what happened when I didn't spend time in the Word, and, what happened when I came back to it.

I am the type to get up early in the morning before my wife and kids. This is when I do my studying, plan my day and finish anything left over from the day before.

For several days I could not seem to get up at my usual time which is 3:30-4:00 am. On those days I did not spend anytime in God's word and generally rushed through the remainder of my morning to get caught up. Business has been slow lately and I get a bit uptight when the phone doesn't ring. During this time, under the surface I felt guilty for not tending to my studies. I count this as a good thing. I was also beginning to get a bit ungrateful as well, and that was bad. In today's materialistic world it is easy to get caught up in measuring personal value by the amount of material goods we posses. How could we be more wrong!

To keep on point, yesterday morning I rose up early and got back to my routine. After some time in prayer, I opened up to where I had left off which was 1st Timothy Chapter 6. Paul is telling Timothy how to teach about behaving in the workplace in the first few verses and then says if anyone teaches contrary to what he is saying to withdraw from them. They are teaching materialism, basically. We should always be on watch for false teachers for sure.

When I read vv 6-8 I got a big smile. Here I have been sorrowing inside like a little baby for the last few days and as soon as I get back to the Word I get slapped in the head with perspective. You gotta love it!

To save you the time of looking it up I'll quote the verses here. 6. "But godliness with contentment is great gain." 7. "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." 8."And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." So let's see, Roof over my head? Yup. Food in my tummy? Yup. Things aren't so bad after all now are they?

Now I'm not saying this happens every day, but it certainly is Ironic that the very thing I was whining about, is what I was only a few verses away from when I stopped my studies.

Have a teriffic week!