We love what we do, and so we love discovering quality work, “creative” work, and the occasional Oops!
Here are some of our favorites…
Older furnace with metal vent. But watch out when it's running...
Same furnace vent - hot enough to cause a nasty burn.
Kitchen ceiling showed no visible deficiencies during a visual inspection.
Infrared image shows a large area of the kitchen ceiling with no or very little insulation.
Signs of recent subterranean termite swarm. Termites fly toward light sources when swarming, so evidence is often in window tracks or next to exterior doors.
Small guest bathroom? Meet the ultimate space saver toilet! (Disclaimer: not guaranteed to be code-compliant.)
Tjernlund Products makes some of best pier & beam foundation ventilation fans. They use little power, are super quiet, and work well in retrofit applications. Various automatic controls come built in, depending on your application.
There you have it. No upgrading.
Make sure your HVAC technician runs a condensate drain to the exterior, not into your crawlspace and definitely not onto the closet floor. A small amount of water over time can cause significant damage. The floor beneath this unit is completely destroyed because the drain lines were left unfinished.
Moving? Don't forget your autographed baseball collection in the attic.
An infrared camera can be the ultimate stud finder. We used it here to check for unusual framing alterations. This works as long as there is a good temperature difference between the exterior and the interior. Usually, 20 degrees is enough of a differential for great contrast in an infrared image.
The studs, blocking, and cut-in bracing are all clearly visible.
Staining at utility closet in a commercial building after recent rains. However, the stains have been there a long time. Are they old or still a problem?
This is the same utility closet ceiling as the prior image. This infrared image shows damp areas as cold spots. Rainwater was later found to be entering the building through a failed seam in a combustion air vent.
Faint stains at a patched garage ceiling indicating possible past or ongoing leakage.
Using an infrared camera, we were able to justify making an opening in the ceiling to investigate what looked like active leakage.
Yuck! Would you want to breathe the air coming out of these ducts?
Sweating foundation walls in a crawlspace. This happens when the ambient temperature in the crawlspace falls below the dew point. The foundation wall and metal pipes are usually the coldest and exhibit condensation first.
Sweating foundation walls. If the soil in the subarea is damp, or if humid air enters through foundation vents, the water vapor in the subarea air will condense onto cool surfaces. In some poorly-ventilated crawlspaces, we also find water-logged insulation and sweating floor joists.
Decay in floor framing. This is often the result of a high soil grade next to exterior walls. Here, water is running over the foundation wall and has decayed the sill and floor framing.
Yes, termites like to build castles. If you look carefully, you can see two large tunnels in the background, each about 1-2 inches wide, and spanning a nearly three foot distance from the soil to the floor joists. The mud glob stuck to the floor joists was the size of a basketball.
Guaranteed...to leak. The roofer was kind enough to leave pre-installed plumbing vents for the plumber, but forgot to let him know.
Don't know which way the drain pipes run from that upstairs bathroom? Try this: Turn you air conditioner down to 65 for 15 minutes. Then run hot water through the drains for 5 minutes. Scan with an infrared camera to get a quick idea of where the pipes travel. This may also help you avoid putting a nail into a pipe to hang that picture...
Drain line and offsets are clearly visible. Running hot water through the drains heats them enough (and the wall cavity they travel through) to show up on an infrared image.
Remember the jars of water that got turned into wine in John 2? I think we found them.
Termite stalactites hanging from your floor framing are a good indication of activity. These eventually get extended all the way back down to the soil so termite have convenient, direct access to the wood.
Tile shower pans can be a huge expense when they fail. Here, a slow leak is easy to see from the crawlspace after filling the pan with some water. Stains above the wet drips show past leakage.
Basement Systems® makes is one of the more robust crawlspace encapsulation systems we have seen. It uses reinforced sheets which are similar to what you would expect to be used in an above-ground swimming pool. All seams are taped and the barrier is installed up to the top of the perimeter foundation walls and wrapped around each pier.
This is an integrated sump pump to handle moisture which may collect beneath Basement System's® vapor barrier. Most houses have between one and three installed at the time the encapsulation system is put in.
Checking moisture levels in floor framing a few weeks after installation of a vapor barrier using a FLIR pin-type moisture meter. This floor framing was meausuring at 20% moisture cotent before installation of the vapor barrier, but is now at an acceptable moisture level a few weeks after barrier installation. Maintaining a dry subarea helps prevent the conditions that foster growth of wood-decaying organisms.
We use pinless moisture meters to check for suspected leaks. Generally, a reading of 20% or more is unhealthy for wood and will result in decay. This window stool could be damp from window leakage or condensation at the glass and aluminum frame.
Condensation leaking into furnace cabinet.
Gauranteed...to leak. This is a split rubber vent pipe flashing on a roof. The installer forced it onto a larger diameter pipe than it was designed for.
Engineering joists are no match for a damp, poorly ventilated crawlspace. This joist has decayed to the point where we could pull pieces of the webbing off by hand.
The plumber left a wood 2x6 temporary support under this cast iron toilet drain. By the time we inspected the building, the termites had already found it.
Failed skylight in a vaulted ceiling. Notice the rot in the sash to the left of the latch. If you look carefully, you can also see a brown water stain at the trim below the latch.
A travertine tile outdoor stairway is beautiful, but the corner details create numerous potential failure points for water to leak past the waterproofing membrane.
This is the same travertine tile stairway, viewed from inside the closet, beneath the steps. We found water stains at the drywall and recommended opening the area to confirm and identify the source.
Water damaged window framing as a result of missing and improperly installed window flashing.
Door leak due to improper installation over an existing deck coating. Water had entered under the door and had begun rotting the subfloor.
Yes, this was real.
Inspection of the interior framing of a traditional stucco column for an HOA.
Watch your step when you walk out this patio door. A missing landing at this manufactured home is unsafe.
A badly corroded neutral bus bar inside an exterior subpanel could lead to overheating wiring.
A missing vent cap for this furnace flue means that rain will end up inside the furnace.
Cupping vinyl plank flooring a newer Princeton home.
Water pressure over 80 psi tends to cause premature failure of plumbing fixtures, valves and seals. A pressure-reducing valve installed by a professional will help keep pressure between the recommended 40-80 psi range.