For Your Health: Avoiding Carbon Monoxide poisoning In the Home.

Carbon monoxide ( CO ) is an odorless, colorless gas which is the byproduct of incomplete combustion of carbon in fuels and oxygen, which for the purpose of this article stems from household gas appliances.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 200 carbon monoxide deaths related to the use of all types of combustible appliances in the home occur each year, not to mention individuals becoming ill from the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning. In addition to those diagnosed, there are numerous people becoming ill from CO effects but being mis-diagnosed and thus are going uncounted.

Symptoms include fatigue, headaches, dizziness and weakness. In higher levels or longer exposures, it can cause sleepiness, confusion, nausea and vomiting, and then at higher levels, death.

Techical stuff:  Hemoglobin in your red blood cells carry oxygen to your tissues.  With carbon monoxide present, the CO is more attractive to the hemoglobin in your red blood cells, and carries the CO instead of the oxygen, and your tissues starve.

Some sources of CO in the home come from car exhaust in the garage, using a charcoal grill in within the house, loose and disconnected vent pipes on water heaters or gas furnaces, using a gas generator within the house, a malfunctioning water heater, or furnace.

 

These photo shows the absence of a flue vent to carry away CO and othe biproducts of cumbustion. This particular condition should be corrected immediately.

 

This brings us to the important issues.  If you have any gas appliances, or other fuel burning appliances, these should be checked on an annual basis, and a great time is to have everything checked when you have your furnace serviced in the fall. ( Servicing does not mean when it breaks, it means preventative maintenance!)

Although carbon monoxide alarms are not mandatory everywhere yet, if you have gas appliances, placing several CO monitors in your home could save a life!

To read more on carbon monoxide and other indoor polutants, go to:

www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/452.html

www.epa.gov/air/urbanair/co/hlth1/html

Look like a Hero when you have a pre-listing home inspection!

Here in Tucson, we are undoubtedly in a “Buyers Market”.   What ever edge you can get on the guy down the street with the same house, same price (or lower) and the same square footage, you should jump on the chance. Well, here is one edge to consider.  Have a home inspection done on your house prior to listing it, and here are some good reasons why:

* It shows that you are honest and have nothing to hide, that you are willing to step up to the plate and disclose everything about your house. 

*  If the home inspector does find issues, they are truly less expensive to fix before the buyer finds it.  For example:  The home inspector points out insulation missing at the A/C unit on the refrigerant line. You can fix it for several dollars, or the buyer will ask for a licensed heating and cooling contractor to fix it for $75-$100. dollars.  That is one of many things you can do as a home seller before the buyer comes in. Do the math.

*  Having a pre-listing inspection puts the seller more in control of the negotiations. You as the seller already know what issues there are and you are that much more prepared.

*  It adds to the marketing of the home.  On the multiple listing service, having that listed on the marketing remarks adds credibility and honesty.

*  The selling and buying of the home goes smoother, as the stumbling blocks have been removed or lessened ahead of time.  as a Realtor friend of mine put it,  ” It’s much easier to slay the dragon when it’s small than when it’s full grown”.

* When you live in a house for a while, things that may be issues to a home inspector just become something you get used to from day to day.  Knowing all about your house with a pre-listing inspection lessens your surprise factor as well.

*  On a more extreme side, a pre-listing home inspection may alert you to hazards that may affect yours and your families health, such as mold, carbon monoxide poisoning, etc.

Try something most home sellers don’t.  have a home inspection before you list it, and save more of your hard earned money.

IT’S EASIER TO SLAY THE DRAGON WHEN IT’S SMALL…! 

Why oh why inspect a new construction home???

The general thoughts about inspecting a brand spanking new home is, ” well, the County Inspector inspected it,  why does it need to be inspected by a Home Inspector?” 

Here are several reasons that you should seriously consider:

Some County Inspectors inspect 10-20 permited structures per day. That with travel time, leaves them with about 15 – 30 minutes to look at the house.  FIFTEEN MINUTES!  http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=79737&src                       

A professional home inspection takes 2-3 hours depending on the size of the house, and is quite thorough.  The lists of items on new homes that I have found are endless, however here are a few:

A Realtor called to inspect thier new construction house that they had closed on already, and low and behold, many items were not up to standards, beginning with the flat roof that hadn’t been coated/sealed yet;

The asphalt driveway was already beginning to show signs of wear after a month, was unprofessionally applied, and was eventually replaced;

The vent pipe for the the water heater didn’t meet the code requirements for the area, and had to be raised by 12 inches to vent properly, otherwise, rust could accumulate in the water heater and shorten it’s life span;

The furnace vent pipe was not installed completely and would have discharged the biproducts of combustion into the residence (carbon monoxide etc.);

The outside portion of the air conditioner was leveled using several rocks, as the grading was improper, and the grading had to be re-done, also as a direct result of the home inspection;

The kitchen kick boards/plates were unprofessionally installed, with nails sticking out by 1/4 inch;

   This previous inspection is from a semi-custom builder that is quite reputable in Tucson. These examples are not the complete list of what I found, however it gives you an idea that the new house you move into is NOT perfect.  There is no such thing. These Realtors I did the inspection for now INSIST on a home inspection for their new construction home buyers.

On other inspections, I’ve found a chimney that was not completed above the roof line, no top, no flue liner.  You could look down and see the framing open to the elements.  This was also a “finished” house. ( See below)

One thing I consistantly find are problems with heating and cooling units that are installed in the attic.   Frequently they do not reach the proper cooling temperatures,  they are missing insulation on the refrigerant lines, and a big thing is the secondary drip pan installed beneath the units to drain condensation are not tilted properly to the drain pipe, thus potentially causing the water to overflow into the house. This just occured in a friend’s house ( which was NOT inspected when she bought it new.)  Water in the pan had been consistantly leaking down the wall and into the bathroom, causing damage that is costing them tens of thousands of dollars for repair of the bathroom walls and vanities, and remediation of the mold, not to mention the repair to the A/C unit and the wood decking bewlow the unit.

  My 14 years of remodeling, inspecting, and building has taught me that sub-contractors don’t know or generally don’t care about the jobs of the other sub-contractors, and with the mass building that is going on, sub-contractors have to hire less skilled labor to do the jobs, which translates into less than ideal workmanship.

A little known fact:  The building codes that are adopted by whatever city or county you live in, are the BARE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS!  There,  I said it.  When a building company tells you that the house is built to code, it means that it is built to the bare minimum requirements that are required. and even then, sometimes they are not.

I could give hundreds of examples, but you get the jist…

Great idea to inspect a new construction home?  If you are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home, wouldn’t you want it to be as near perfect as it could be?  Hire a third party inspector to inspect your new construction home and THEN rest easy.