Real estate listing insights
As a way of sharing knowledge that can be helpful to those of you looking for a new home or for your existing home, and to help to understand what home inspectors do, I will be sharing my observations in this and upcoming posts. Please note that I am not sharing the address or realtor information as this is just for educational purposes.
To keep my home inspection skills sharp, I review many listings in Realtor.ca and use the publicly available pictures to see what I would identify as issues. As a way of sharing knowledge that can be helpful to those of you looking for a new home or for your existing home, and to help to understand what home inspectors do, I will be sharing my observations in this and upcoming posts. Please note that I am not sharing the address or realtor information as this is just for educational purposes. Feel free share a listing if you would like me to feature it in an upcoming post!
This semi-detached home has a nice curb appeal, but I notice the absence of an eavestrough on the circle section of the roof. There is likely no flashing to divert the water away from the siding. The visible stain suggests that a significant amount of water is flowing down the siding. Siding is designed to repel water, but this staining suggests there is too much water hitting it so the wall in this area should be inspected for water damage both on the exterior and interior of the house.
This is a nice looking kitchen, but I see that there is a plug directly behind the left side of the sink. This is a code violation (section 26-724 of the Canadian Electrical Code) and for good reason! I cannot say for sure why this plug is here, and most people wouldn’t know that it breaking the law, but it also poses a life threatening situation! How dangerous is it? A little splash of water on the plug while you are doing dishes in that metal sink might enlighten you to one of the dangers. Additionally, these plugs are not designed for wet environments are likely to fail. The remedy to fix this would be to have an electrician move the plug (about $600) and then a drywaller to repair the damage (about $300). As a home inspector, I would also be checking the following in this kitchen:
the plumbing work;
whether the plugs are GFI protected since they are within 6 feet of the sink;
measuring if every 4 feet of counter top has a receptacle;
checking the installation of the cabinets and cupboards; and
investigating what is going on at the end of the cabinets by the refrigerator (look closely at the right hand side of the counter – where is the kettle cord going???).
The rest of the house interior looks okay, but the backyard is scary. The privacy fence is one good windstorm away from being a bridge to the neighbor’s deck. The stairs should be replaced, not just because they are leaning a little to the right, but also because the span between the stringers (the supports for the steps) shouldn’t be greater than 24”. Stepping on them would not only be springy, but also dangerous. The seat rail combination was a design back in the 80’s that is no longer recommended as young children can use the seats to scale the deck railing and fall to the ground. The deck blocks are also an issue. Everyone just drops them onto the ground and builds the deck on them, but you are actually supposed to mount the deck block below the frost line (see Using Concrete Deck Blocks Instead of Footings | Decks.com by Trex). At minimum, the building code requires removal of the topsoil and the block to be placed on compacted subsoil. The rationale is that the topsoil will settle over time and from the frost shifting the supports around. Additionally, the blocks are supposed to be placed between 6 to 8 feet apart and I suspect that there isn’t enough support for this deck since the house is almost 20 feet wide. Other things I would investigate with the deck are:
the post circled appears to be leaning slightly, so I would check that the supports haven’t failed and are still vertical;
if the deck is attached to the house (not floating) and, if so, how much damage is being done with the deck moving every winter;
whether the deck framing is failing and built to safety standards; and
if the deck surface is close to failing.
Repairing a deck of this size would cost approximately $10,000 to resurface. If you had to also fix the framing and opt to take the supports below the frost line, it would be about $20,000.
Home inspections help you to know the issues and potential costs to fix them before you buy, so you can make an informed decision!
#homeinspectioninsights #knowbeforeyouown