Jovag Home Inspection, LLC ​License #1820
  • Home
  • Services
  • Blog and DIY
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Services
  • Blog and DIY
  • Contact

Clean your dryer vent!

3/31/2017

8 Comments

 
It's finally spring and time to think about all those outdoor clean up and maintenance projects. While your are outside, take a minute to look at the dryer vent outlet cover located somewhere on the side of your house. It needs to look nice and clean with freely moveable vent louvers. You don't want it to look like the pictures below. 
Dryer vent clog on outside of house. Vent clogged with lint and debris.
Dirty dryer vent on outside of house. This clog is a fire risk and is decreasing the efficiency of the dryer.
View inside dryer duct showing lint accumulation. This is a fire risk.
View inside a dryer duct with lint accumulation. This is a fire risk and needs to be cleaned out.
Dryer vent clogs like the above have two main implications. The first is that they are a fire risk and a pretty significant one at that. From the FEMA website: "2,900 home clothes dryer fires are reported each year and cause an estimated 5 deaths, 100 injuries, and $35 million in property loss." The second implication is that a clogged dryer vent leads to decreased efficiency of the dryer. If it is harder to get the exhaust out, the dryer has to work harder and clothes will take longer to dry.

The fix for this is pretty simple. Remove the lint accumulation from the outside (you may need to remove the cover from the wall to do this). You can usually just brush and pull the lint from the cover but a vacuum with a brush attachment can come in handy for this task. If you notice a large amount of lint within the duct work, there is a brush on a long cable that can be used to help clean the system.

To check that everything is working correctly, put the cover back on the wall and turn the dryer on inside. The flap or louvers on the dryer vent cover should open freely and allow the dryer exhaust to blow out without restriction.
Taking care of your clothes dryer is important for home fire safety. The leading cause of home clothes dryer fires is failure to clean them. An estimated 2,900 home dryer fires happen every year, causing 5 deaths, 100 injuries, and $35 million in property loss. Visit the U.S. Fire Administration's website at https://www.usfa.fema.gov for a few simple safety tips to help you prevent a clothes dryer fire.
Picture from the FEMA website on clothes dryer fire prevention.
8 Comments

In Wall Heater Cleaning

3/24/2017

2 Comments

 
Houses heated by electricity often have a mix of electric baseboard and in wall heaters. When in wall heaters are present, there is often a blackish discoloration or "sooting" on the heater grill and surrounding wall.
In wall heater with
In wall heater with "sooting" or a blackish discoloration present on the grill.
Close up of the discoloration on the grill. This is caused by a build up of lint and dirt on the heating element and grill.
Close up of the discoloration on the grill. This is caused by a build up of lint and dirt on the heating element and grill.
Look at the heater grill cover and you will often see this condition present. This discoloration is caused by lint and debris on the grill and heating element. This build up results in excess heat being retained and will eventually cause the "sooting" condition. 
Internal view of an in wall heater. Dust build up on the fan blades and heating elements.
Internal view of an in wall heater. Grill has been removed (and the power to the unit has been turned off). You can see the build up of dust on the fan blades.
If you want to look inside the heater, the first step is to TURN OFF THE POWER to the heater, usually by flipping the breaker at the service panel. Most wall heaters use 220 volt power, you don't want live wires next to your hand when you take the cover off. 

There is often a build up of dust and dirt inside the heater. This can also cause problems with correct operation of the element or the fan. 

Wall heater manufacturers recommend inspection and cleaning of units twice a year. If you have an in wall heater and shedding pets, you may want to consider more frequent cleaning.

Here is a video link from Cadet Heaters on performing maintenance and cleaning of an in wall heater.
2 Comments

That hole is pretty small, what could go wrong?

3/17/2017

 
It's such a small hole, why should you bother to seal it? It doesn't look like much could get through. I can ignore it, can't I?
Electrical conduit attached to house with an improperly sealed penetration hole.
It's hard to see from this far away but there is a small hole where the conduit attaches to the house.
Unsealed electrical penetration hole in siding of house.
Look closer and you can begin to see the unsealed opening.
Close up of unsealed electrical conduit penetration in wall siding.
Close up of the unsealed hole. I wonder what is on the other side of this wall?
This hole is hard to see from far away but on closer inspection of the electrical conduit an unsealed siding penetration is easy to notice. The hole is less than an inch wide but this is a lot of room if you are an insect, a drop of water or even a small rodent. From the outside it can be difficult to tell where the hole leads. In this case, with the hole next to the main electrical service meter, you really need to investigate farther.
Inside picture of a unsealed hole in wall siding. Hole leads to the interior of the main electrical panel. Significant amounts of cobwebs and insect debris inside the panel.
The other side of the unsealed hole. It leads right in to the back of the main electrical panel.
Inside of an electrical service panel filled with cobwebs and insect debris.
Electrical panel with evidence of prolonged visiting by (hopefully) friendly neighborhood spiders and insects.
As you can see from the picture above, the hole leads directly to the main electrical service panel for the house. When the panel was opened and the safety cover removed it was quite evident that this panel was found to be an inviting and cosy home for spiders and other insects. 

This is a problem. There is a lot of organic and potentially flammable material in the electrical panel. This can trap heat and serve as a source of ignition for a fire. The panel needs to be cleaned by a qualified party and the hole in the siding needs to be repaired. A little bit of maintenance and routine repair can prevent a much bigger problem down the road. 

Clogged Gutters

3/10/2017

 
Clogged gutters full of pine needles and moss.
Gutter clogged with all sorts of debris.
Gutter clogged with moss and organic debris.
Where can all the water from the roof go in this gutter?
Clogged gutters are generally out of sight and out of mind until you start to notice that slow dripping after a rainstorm.

Roofs are a water shedding system and gutters are designed to take all of the runoff and direct it away from the house. For the system to work properly, the gutters need to be capable of collecting a large volume of water and directing it to the downspout.

The gutters in the pictures above have a bit of a problem. They are filled with tree leaves, pine needles and are a prime breeding ground for moss. Water draining from the roof is supposed to enter the gutters on the eaves and have a controlled path to the ground through the downspout. 

With these gutters, water can enter but it can't flow toward the downspout. Water will pool and eventually overflow the edges both next to the roof and over the far edge. This moisture will wick up into the roof sheathing and under the edge shingles causing damage over time. 

As you can see in the pictures below, prolonged pooling water has damaged the eaves of the roof and are causing rotting on the sheathing and fascia. This weakens the connection of the gutters and they have started to pull away from the house. Water from the roof will not get all the way in to the gutter and will instead run drip over the fascia and wick into the eaves. If this goes on long enough, damage will start to occur on the walls of the house.

Damaged gutter system pulling away from the edge of the roof.
Daylight seen between the edge of the roof and gutter system. These gutters need to be repaired.
Picture of roof eaves damaged by prolonged water penetration. Gutter is pulling away from the house.
Damaged eaves and gutter pulling away from the house.
The solution to this problem? These gutters need to be thoroughly cleaned and re-attached to the house. That will help mitigate the immediate problem but to help prevent future problems, the homeowner needs to start a regular, yearly cycle of gutter cleaning and maintenance. ​

Check out the video below from This Old House on repairing an aluminum gutter system. 

Deck Posts

3/3/2017

 
Can you see anything wrong with these pictures? This is a support post for an elevated deck with what appears to be an interesting repair in the past.
Picture of an incorrectly lengthened deck support post.
Post too short. Solution? Add an extra piece of wood...?!
Close up of incorrectly repaired deck post.
Close up of the post. How long do you think this connection will last with a 4th of July party on the deck?
It looks like the original post was a bit short or possibly the bottom rotted away. To fix the bad post, the previous owner added a short section of newer pressure treated wood and butted the two ends together. At least he/she toenailed it together though they forgot to add more than one nail for the post support bracket.

Though the owner did make the post a bit longer they did so by making the overall structure weaker. This post is not going to do well with a large group of people moving on the deck during a BBQ.

There were actually two posts repaired this way on this particular deck. Both need to be replaced with the correct length of post (using one piece of wood) and correctly fastened to the concrete footing and beam above. 

Look at this video from This Old House. They do a great job of showing the correct way to replace a damaged deck support post.

    Author

    Brian Jovag, owner of Jovag Home Inspection.

    Archives

    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

    Categories

    All
    Attic
    Brick
    Chimney
    Construction
    Corrosion
    Crawl Space
    Deck
    DIY
    Electrical
    Furnace
    Gutters
    Heating
    How To
    Information
    Insulation
    Jovag Home Inspection
    Maintenance
    Moss
    Needs To Be Fixed
    Plumbing
    Roof
    Rust
    Safety
    Smoke Alarms
    Tools
    Video
    Wall
    Water Damage
    Water Heater
    What Could Go Wrong?
    Yard

    RSS Feed

    Helpful Info

    Infographics
    CPSC Water Heater Temperature
    File Size: 49 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    CPSC Garage Door Safety
    File Size: 129 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    CPSC GFCI Info and Facts
    File Size: 263 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    FEMA Smoke Alarm Recommendations
    File Size: 1942 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

Site powered by Weebly. Managed by MacHighway