Exterior Systems

These recent photos are just a sample of the kinds of things we see.

<To EIFS or not to EIFS- This is an EIFS and brick sided home. Looks like a pretty nice home. Can you see anything wrong here?

Answer: The gaps between these two materials is a great place for water infiltration, which could cause rotting and mold development. This house was brand new, so damage is probably minimal, but with the gaps present in the center of this picture, it won't be long before a problem exists. Good thing we caught it when we did. If installed properly EIFS can be a nice siding option.

>Metal lintels are required above any brick opening (this supports the brick above the lintel). Here is a new home, but the lintel is missing.  Perhaps you are thinking, 'maybe the contractor was going to install it later' (?).  But lintels are incorporated within the mortor joints, and must be installed while building the brick wall.

V As a pastor might say, "Repaint, Repaint and Thin no more"- Rotting siding on the outside can lead to rotting problems on the inside.  Wood siding must be maintained.  Laminated, particle, or pressed wood products have a shorter lifespan than solid real wood.  Our inspectors can tell the difference. 

V Lend me some support- The next four photo's are of the same deck.  Although it is not high off the ground, its support is suspect at best and it is already out of level about six inches left to right.  The right photo shows a main support column is barely being supported by the concrete pad under it.  Lower left, this column is not supported at all as I could put my hand under it.  Lower right, the only thing under this support column is a plastic window well, which (as you can image) isn't designed to support much downward weight.

VThe support column below (left) totally missed the concrete footer that was intended to carry the weight of the deck.  As a result the photo (right) shows that the deck is beginning to separate from the ledger board.

>All decked out-

Sometimes the concern we might have with a deck is not structural, but safety as it relates to how the deck might be used.  Having kids ourselves, we can envision how a loose skateboard could easily run into these windows.

<Jacobs ladder- Any guesses as to this very common concern?

Answer: One of the most common concerns we find at homes is deck and balcony handrailing that are either horizonal or more than 4" wide.  Children can (and will of course) climb on these railings and could fall. 

>You're pulling my leg!-The same deck as pictured above has pulled away from the house and started to slide down the hill, note the cut out for the dryer vent (if the deck hadn't moved, there would have no reason for the vent cutout).  The deck was lacking lateral support.   

<Since we're talking about decks, here's a new deck we inspected.  Floor joists are appropriately sized, joist hangers in place, ledger board lag bolted to the house framing.  Not too bad.  Can you see a problem?  Come on, look closer. 

Answer:  It may be too hard to see, so I give you some grace here.  The joist hangers have nail holes that attach the hanger to the ledger board (which is against the house), PLUS nail holes that attach the hanger into the joists (what most people call beams that run under the top deck boards).  Without these nails into the joists, nothing is really holding the deck to the home.  It could pull away (see above deck).

VThe two photos below are the same deck.  The left photo shows that the main joist support for the deck is nailed with finish nails to the 4x4 columns.  We'd feel a whole lot better if a nice block was secured under the joists and the joists had a couple of bolts with nuts through both joists and column.  The right photo shows that the main support for the stair runnings is nailed to the lower 1/3 of a 2x10, which would be inadequate support to begin with.  Lumber is strongest bearing support end to end and least strongest side to side along the grain.  Over time, many boards will split along the grain and separate, probably causing this stairway to fall.

VThe outside and inside pictures below are of the same spot and demonstrate the importance of routing downspouts away from the home.  The sill plate (bottom board of the wall) was rotten and the wall will soon sink due to sill deterioration.  Basement or crawlspace seepage isn't always caused by improper downspout routing, but much of it is a direct correlation.

VThe two photos below are the same house and location.  The damaged siding, lack of roof flashing (note mastic tar at base of siding) have caused damage into the kitchen below.  It is interesting that inside repairs have begun without proper repairs to the exterior first.

<The Flasher!- This is a home we inspected previously and noted that the flashing was missing.  Our client wanted us to come back out to see if the work was done properly.  What do you think of the flashing work (flashing is the metal pieces between the roof and siding). Hint- There were new water stains inside under this area.

Answer: Water will run down the siding and go behind the flashing, making the flashing almost worthless.  Improper flashing installation- someone didn't understand the purpose of flashing.

>On the rear of this same house the roofer forgot to install flashing.  The wood rotted and he replaced it with plywood and wood filler (puddy).  Note how the wood siding touches the roof, wicking up roof water and rotting the siding.

<When water runs down a roof, the water fans out across the roof surface.  When wood siding in butted up against the roof, water will run along this joint, prematurely rotting the ends of the siding.  Wood rots faster on the ends of boards because the wood pores are open at the ends of wood grain.  In this photo, someone has caulked along the joint between the wood siding and roofing materials, which might mean that the flashing that was supposed to be installed under the siding and shingles is either missing or failing.

>It's all downhill from here- Slope toward the home is difficult to see in a photo.  Our camera is level, note the fense top in relation to the top of our photo.  See the slope toward the home? Water runs down from the yard and the neighbors yard around the homes foundation, ponding around the foundation, killiing the grass.  Over time small hairline cracks allows seepage into the basement.  This house had had seepage problems for many years.  Instead of regrading a positive swale, a distant homeowner installed a interior sump pump.  But that didn't fix the problem, so the most recent homeowner installed a exterior sump pump (that froze up in the winter). The seepage continues......

VThe below two pictures show the same spot inside and out.  The homeowner recently finished the basement so that the home would sell better, only to have water seepage quickly develop mold behind the new drywall and carpet (that was removed the day before our inspection).  This could have been prevented.

VThe house below had an improper slope toward the house on all sides, causing water to seep into the basement. Unfortunately filling up around the house, over the brick veneer, with dirt and gravel only made the problem worse.  Brick is a porus material, water can enter brick.  The gravel and dirt fill around the house retains water, allowing freezing water to break up the brick, damaging the bottom rows of the brick veneer, rotting the wood framing behind the brick and excellerating the water seepage into the basement. Note the base of the gas meter covered up.  This home was build too low in relation to the lot evalation.  It can be saved, but some significant lot regrading to create a positive lot swale is needed.

<Sloped Patio- This nice concrete patio has settled, causing water to pond up against the foundation.  There had been a lot of water into the crawlspace, rotting some framing and causing mold to develop.  Also note the large tree might be a little too close to the foundation.

>Arch Rival- Arch windows, very nice.  Unfortunately the first homeowner didn't paint the window framing for years and rotted causing the glass to sink, opening a hole between the glass and the wood at the center of this picture.  A cool breeze was blowing into the home that day.

<Covered siding-

This is very very common, especially on garages.  The wood siding is nicely tucked down to (or into) the ground, giving a nice dressed look (and hiding any kind of rot or damage).  However, the earth naturally retains moisture much of the time, and as we all know, moisture rots wood over time.  The bottom row or two of siding will need to be replaced every few years with this situation, not to mention being a termite magnet. 

VHere is another example showing the outside and inside of the same spot.  What isn't pictured is rotting that has probably occured under the white siding.

<Thin is not in-  Here the mix of stucco was probably too wet AND the layer too thin as the stucco siding material sagged and cracked. 

Landscaping bonus tree- These two pictures show trees planted too close to the foundation.  Over time they could crack the foundation and damage the home.

<I've fallen and I can't get up!-  As sidewalks settle, trip hazards can occur.  Just a difference of 3/4" can cause someone to fall.

>I did it myself!- This happy homeowner proudly informed us that he sided the home himself a few years ago.  How's it look to you?

Answer: Most vinyl siding is made to look like clap board siding with either two or three faux molded board rows per strip of vinyl siding.  If you look closely you can see dark green stains every other row of the board row.  This is the seam between rows of vinyl siding.  As we looked further, water was entering behind the siding at the top of the siding near the roof gable and running down behind the siding.  The buyer did buy the house, and reported back to us that he appreciated our catching this and it resulting in him having to pull off all the siding and replace some of the wood sheathing. 

V Brick is better. Right?  Brick is a porous material (meaning water can pass through it).  So when it rains hard against the brick, water goes through the brick to the other side and runs down to the foundation.  On the right is an inside picture of the same house at the same location, where the sill plate is rotting (the bottom wood that the house sits on).  To fix this, weep holes that allow the water back out at the bottom of the brick is needed (and should have been installed when the brick was layed).

V Flower Power- When I arrived at this home for the inspection, the homeowner was busy outside installing flower boxes for the new buyers (that he agreed to do).  Unfortunately he is covering up the bottom few rows of brick with dirt, thus closing off the weep holes and allowing ground water to freeze inside the brick and break the brick up, which will allow the water to rot and mold the wood framing over time.  Although we have no responsibility to inform the opposing side (non-client) about problem conditions with the home, I didn't want to see the poor guy working so hard damaging the house.  Although he was upset, I'm pretty sure I did the right thing in telling him.

>40 days and 40 nights- Water has been rotting out this window for many years as it had been patched with wood filler a couple of times AND it was the newest window in the home (meaning it had been replaced at some point).  Water had run into the basement many times as well.  Being an old home, it probably did not have a foundation drain system (one could be added), but certainly a properly sized window well would certainly help.

<For the birds- When the flapper in a dryer vent diverter is missing, it makes a great place for a bird to build a nest.  Just ask one.   Actually this seemingly harmless event, can be a fire hazard.

Although it may not have effected the buying decision significantly, all our clients really appreciated just knowing about these concerns.  We realize you have a choice in home inspectors, we hope you make a wise choice in hiring Home Check America.