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Julie Moriarty
09-01-2015, 10:25 PM
We had a home inspector out to give us his professional opinion of the home we are considering buying. After he was done he walked us through the house to explain what he found. He didn't mention the leaks I found in the bathroom faucets (they sprayed from the handle) or the hose bib in the garage (a constant leak). When I pointed these out to him he said, each time, "It will self-heal." :confused:

Okay. I'm not a plumber. And in the Chicago area there is no such thing as self-healing plumbing fixtures. You can hope calcium deposits will build up and eventually stop the leak but that requires the leak area to be untouched.

Then I realized we are close to where Ponce De Leon was looking for the the Fountain of Youth. And it dawned on me that there isn't a fountain of youth but the waters here do heal leaking plumbing. Oh, if only Ponce were alive today! :rolleyes:

Tony Zona
09-01-2015, 10:35 PM
I wouldn't believe one word of his inspection report, and probably would decline to read it or accept it.

Most likely I would explain why I would not be paying him.

Then I would explain this to the group who certified him.

Mel Fulks
09-01-2015, 11:13 PM
Sounds like he believes in "the power of positive sprinkling"

Kent A Bathurst
09-02-2015, 2:48 AM
Sounds dumb, but......

Has the house been unoccupied for a while? Might the washers have dried out a bit, and will refresh with use?

Or - lotta minerals in the water, which will clog the pipes and the leaks?

Or - just a typical bozo, masquerading as knowledgeable.........

Jerry Thompson
09-02-2015, 6:29 AM
My pipes have leaked and never self healed and I too live close to The Fountain of Youth.

Julie Moriarty
09-02-2015, 7:21 AM
My pipes have leaked and never self healed and I too live close to The Fountain of Youth.

Well, obviously your water doesn't come from the Fountain of Youth like mine does. ;)

But really... The idea a construction professional would suggest that a homeowner allow a leak to "self heal" is ridiculous. As he was walking us through the house to point out his findings, I asked him if he noted the leaks on the bathroom faucets. He said, "What leaks?" I then turned on one of the faucets and water began gushing out from under the handle. He said, "Don't hold it like that." His comment reminded me of the old joke - A guy goes to his doctor and says, "Every time I raise my arm, it hurts." The doctor says, "Don't raise your arm."

Now, I know I will be chastised for my stupidity but I'm going to confess anyway - the realtor recommended the inspector. It was a weak moment. I was tired and burned out from this months-long selling and buying of a house and I succumbed. Shame on me.

Jerome Stanek
09-02-2015, 8:02 AM
let the realtor pay his fee. I would never use a inspector that a realtor recommends. I ran into this one other time when my daughter was looking for her first home. Realtor recommended an inspector and he gave the house a very good rating. He only missed the Black mold in the finished basement, it needed a new roof and there was no steps out the back door that had a 3 ft drop. My son had a pretty good one that kept him from buying 2 different houses but never pointed out that there was 2 dead trees that needed to be removed when we pointed it out to my son he asked the inspector and his reply was just leave them or have a party and have your friends help remove them. They were close to the next house and about 50 ft tall.

Karl Andersson
09-02-2015, 8:49 AM
Only one out of six home inspectors I've dealt with could be called a "construction professional" - the rest got their certificates from some company advertising in the back of a comic book (they apparently couldn't draw the pirate well enough to get into the art school advertising next to the home inspection school). Except for the good one, they all had maybe one area they knew about (roofing, electrical codes, plumbing) but were pretty spotty on the other areas. The good one was golden, but retired before I needed him again. I think he moved to Florida...
Karl

Wade Lippman
09-02-2015, 9:37 AM
I had a pipe self heal. A bad solder joint :rolleyes: dripped about once every 20 seconds. I tied a rag around it to let it evaporate and tried to forget about it.
A year later I put a pressure reducing valve on to reduce my water pressure from 80psi to 55psi. The leak stopped. It was healed!

When I bought this house the inspector missed that the furnace and water heater were both installed improperly. He DID pick up that a retaining wall might be failing. It would cost $10,000 to fix, and since it might be failing (people I had look at it said 50:50), I wanted $5,000 off the price. Seller refused to give it to me, but the realtor took it out of his commission. (and the HVAC contractor fixed the faulty installation after 6 years, so that turned out okay.)

So while my experience is that they don't know much, this one helped. Oh, the retaining was has deteriorated a bit in 4 years, but I am hopeful repairs won't be necessary.

Mike Ontko
09-02-2015, 10:53 AM
Sounds like your inspector needs to look for a more satisfying career. In the grand scheme of things, leaky faucets and fixture connections are not a big deal. It could be the "self" healing properties he was referring to are of the DIY type. It's another thing entirely though if the plumbing pipe connections themselves are corroded or leaking, if multiple sinks and tubs don't drain well, or if there are rust stains in the tubs, sinks, and toilets.

p.s., it would seem that some (most?) inspectors work more with or for the real estate agents and banks than they do for the buyer.

Tony Zona
09-02-2015, 10:53 AM
A civil engineer friend told me that if you look at a wall and it is leaning, but not fallen, the wall has already failed.

He taught me that failure is not falling down in a pile. Failure is when it leans.

We need to have a Sawmill Creek Building Inspector Posse.

Julie Moriarty
09-02-2015, 3:49 PM
I happened upon a forum for home inspectors when searching for wind mitigation resolutions. This particular thread was initially about double tapping in a panel and showed a picture of wires wire-nutted together in a panel. Well, it evolved and a few HIs took the others to task calling them "realtor's inspectors" and slamming them for selling out for easy business. The thread went on for over 25 pages. It was then I realized that there are home inspectors who have a conscience. That was refreshing.

Chris Padilla
09-02-2015, 4:24 PM
How about the Healing Waters of California? Yeah, I know we don't have any water but bear with me here a sec:

I installed a new shower head for my daughter's bathroom. It wasn't over pricey nor cheap and we like a couple of the settings on it but it turned out to be mostly chrome-coated plastic. So I got out my favorite, never let me down pipe dope and installed it but I could tighten as much as I would've like due to the plastic.

So it dripped every so slightly at the connection point when showering. Not a big deal since it fell into the tub but it still bugged me. Fast forward 6 months and low and behold, it no longer drips! Thank you deposit-filled California water for stopping up that leak!! :D

Wade Lippman
09-02-2015, 4:29 PM
A civil engineer friend told me that if you look at a wall and it is leaning, but not fallen, the wall has already failed.

He taught me that failure is not falling down in a pile. Failure is when it leans.

We need to have a Sawmill Creek Building Inspector Posse.

The wall was built at 9* 6 years ago. One corner had opened up and that area had shifted to 7.5*. The people I called in to look at it said that if it shifted the first year it was okay, but if it shifted the 5th year it was failing. Since no one knew when it shifted, I was willing to split the repair costs on the theory it may or may not need a repair. In the last 4 years since I bought it, it has shifted a half a degree. The block are designed to be used at 4.5* or 9*, so 7* is not so serious if it stays there. So I am optimistic, but not out of the woods.

William C Rogers
09-02-2015, 6:06 PM
Julie, not much of an inspector. Since you mentioned water, if on a well get it tested. And get a comprehensive test. I built my house and knew getting a well would be difficult. When drilled the driller said it was "soda water" and could be treated with RO. So I put in the well. Moved in and RO ran constantly for about 3 days with little water in the small tank. This soda water turned out to be sodium chloride (brine). It couldn't be done with simple RO. Three of us share a lake and that was their source. So I installed $12,000 worth of filtration/treatment and every so often I get smelly water. I use to take water for granted, but no more. I should have tested the well water before going down that road. So if any house you look at has a well, get a good water test. Hopefully this is not something you need to deal with and have city water.

Larry Frank
09-02-2015, 7:14 PM
Remember a realtor works for themselves and are only interested in the commission.

When buying a house, hire an independent inspector with recommendations that you can check. You are spending a lot of money on a house and knowing what is wrong or right is critical. I would follow the inspector around and see exactly what he inspects and make your own list.

As an alternative hire Mike Holmes.

Jerome Stanek
09-02-2015, 7:57 PM
Julie, not much of an inspector. Since you mentioned water, if on a well get it tested. And get a comprehensive test. I built my house and knew getting a well would be difficult. When drilled the driller said it was "soda water" and could be treated with RO. So I put in the well. Moved in and RO ran constantly for about 3 days with little water in the small tank. This soda water turned out to be sodium chloride (brine). It couldn't be done with simple RO. Three of us share a lake and that was their source. So I installed $12,000 worth of filtration/treatment and every so often I get smelly water. I use to take water for granted, but no more. I should have tested the well water before going down that road. So if any house you look at has a well, get a good water test. Hopefully this is not something you need to deal with and have city water.


I had a pond system we had a large activated charcoal filter to remove bad taste and odor

Tom Stenzel
09-02-2015, 8:34 PM
When the inspector we hired looked at the furnace in the house we ended up buying, he mentioned it was made by GAMA. I asked him if they were any good, he said he saw a lot of them. He didn't notice the air filter housing installation was botched. I did.

Later I talked to a mechanical contractor about the GAMA furnace, he said that stood for Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association. The furnace was made by Goodman.

The inspector the buyers of the house I was selling was better. I had to fix a few electrical problems and redo some of the insulation vapor barrier in the upstairs wall.

-Tom

Barry McFadden
09-02-2015, 9:44 PM
I don't know what it is like in the United States but up here in Canada I've heard story after story of "house inspectors" doing their inspection and missing major problems. Seems like anyone can be a house inspector! I believe that if you hire and pay a "house inspector" and they miss major problems they should be liable for paying to fix them, but apparently that is not the case. If and when I move I'll trust my own judgement and look over things myself and save the waste of money paid to an "inspector"....wait a minute...I'm retired...I could be a house inspector!!!...don't care if I do a bad job...I'm not accountable for my mistakes!!!....easy money!!

Julie Moriarty
09-03-2015, 7:52 AM
From what I could find, these are the home inspector associations: NAHI, ASHI and InterNACHI. The latter looks like you can get your license online in about a week. The other two require 80 hours of classroom training.

In order to become a journeyman electrician, you have to complete 200-300 hours of classroom training, over a 5 year period, and work in the field under the tutelage of a journeyman for no less than 10,000 hours. That's just for one of the many trades involved in building a house. Of course, a brand new journeyman electrician is still very green and it takes about another 10 years to really know your stuff. I don't know how anyone can absorb all the information provided in the home inspector (8) 10-hour classroom days unless you have a photographic memory.

As for accountability, I've seen two home inspections so far and both made sure to impress upon you that if you have any concerns about their report, you need to hire a professional in the field to further check it out. The home inspection is really there to provide peace of mind to buyers who know little about construction. But the industry pretty much requires them if you want to thoroughly inspect the house. Many home owners won't allow a buyer to do a thorough examination because they fear you may damage things. One comment in the report I got said the inspector would not check the sink stops operability because doing do may cause a leak.

Robert LaPlaca
09-03-2015, 9:06 AM
From what I could find, these are the home inspector associations: NAHI, ASHI and InterNACHI. The latter looks like you can get your license online in about a week. The other two require 80 hours of classroom training.


I hear yah, YMMV regarding home inspectors.. When we were having our 100 year old home inspected, our realtor recommended a home inspection where the basic structure was inspected by a PE, the plumbing, electricial and HVAC was inspected by licensed inspectors with each specialties license. The inspection was expensive, but a least one could get a warm fuzzy feeling the inspectors had a clue they knew what they were looking at...

Karl Andersson
09-03-2015, 10:11 AM
I bought my first house (a 1915 woodframe in Mobile, AL) with an FHA loan -they required the home inspector to be bonded and insured against errors (or something like that). I hired an FHA-authorized company, and the agreement said what they were responsible for inspecting and basically said they would pay to fix anything that passed inspection and later found to be obviously incorrect or broken. It said they could not vouch for insect damage, but were required to inspect and report on any visible infestation or damage. Long story short, one corner post and 8 feet of the 2 adjoining first-floor wall studs had been eaten away by termites (not just tunneled - severed) and when I went under the house in the crawlspace the inspector had been in, there were termite mud-tunnels and old tracks all over the foundation, floor joists, and sub-floor. The building contractor the inspector worked for, who is now a celebrity home repair advisor on a major TV network, tried to tell me he wasn't responsible despite the contract. I contacted the bonding company and the "third party arbitrator" agreed the inspector was responsible, but then ignored the bids I got from contractors ($2k-$2.5k) and awarded me the $500 that the builder said he could do the repair for. I then called the builder and said if he could replace 16 feet of walls and associated ceiling for $500, then he should do so- to which he responded he was already money behind on this deal and couldn't. He hung up on me when I suggested he was a liar, then called back immediately to try to make me see his point of view. I hung up on him. So that's how I learned how to jack floors, frame walls and hang sheetrock.

James Gunning
09-03-2015, 7:55 PM
The idea of the self healing faucet is not entirely impossible in Florida. Florida consists of a long chunk of limestone covered by sand and a little dirt. Below our feet in lots of places are huge limestone caverns that occasionally fall and create sinkholes. Water has been percolating through that limestone for a long time and the water quality varies greatly even in close by neighborhoods. Lots of dissolved solids. A problem in many Florida homes (mine among them) is the corroding of the copper plumbing installed in original construction. My house is built on a slab with the plumbing encased in that slab when it was poured. House was built in 1983, and by 2000 I had my first pinhole. The final one that made me replace the plumbing was 2011. Did a PEX install overhead. If the house has copper in the slab, I would directly ask if there has ever been a leak from copper corrosion.