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[Music] okay this is Paul robuk again we're continuing on our webinar concerning red flags property inspection try to give you a few red flags that we might see as we go around and uh inspect his houses but here's my email address for you uh if you haven't watched all parts of our six-part webinar I invite you go in and view those they'll be on internachi's website and send of you questions or comments if you have a topic you want us to talk about send that to us also we'll see if we can't work something out for you uh today we're going to go over roof window and flashing detail leaks uh these are biggies flashing detail is one of the largest things in the building codes that uh come up for code certified inspectors look at during construction uh not just home inspectors or code inspectors uh but for Builders and for uh City municipals inspectors RB if you don't know what WRB stands for that's weather resistant barrier this is a material that goes behind whatever the exterior cladding is if it's brick stone wood Hardy LP sighting it doesn't matter you have to have some type of a WRB behind that and the flashing details have to be there these have to work hand in hand together because theyve become very vital they are what keeps water out of a home so that our goal is to prevent water intrusion into a home which as you know as an inspector causes all kinds of problems and issues so here we go okay uh leaking roof is a major problem it's often very expensive to repair especially if the roof needs to be completely replaced now in looking at a home if you walk up to a house and you see those shingles composition shingles are real wavy looking you might want to look inside the attic space and look so if you see a wood shingle roof underneath all that if so then that's a major issue and should be a red flag for you because what that means is that they put a composition roof on top of a wood shingle roof or wood Shake roof both of those are improper installation building codes do not allow for that today and also one of the biggest things as inspectors if we see a composition roof installed over a wood shingle roof that should be a red flag and something that you need to stop and go tell your client look we have a composition roof installed over a wood shingle roof and this is why it's an issue go and call your insurance agent whomever you're going to have your homeowners insurance with and see if they will provide insurance coverage for this property 99% of the time the insurance companies will not cover that so they will not insure that home that's a biggie keeps a person from buying a home that they can't get insured uh they'll find it out later but you need to point it out to them because you're their expert you're out the one looking at it why would the insurance companies not want to cover the insurance on that home well think about it you got a got a wood shingle roof it's covered over the wood shingles are dry dry dry the least little spark it's like lighter material it ignites that wood shingle roof and a house fire develops and it's a massive fire so that's why they do it second reason is because when the composition roof Fells which when the roof composition roof shingle is installed over a wood roof it lasts about half the time that it's supposed to last ing to the manufacturers so by seeing that there's two things one they can't get insurance one the roof will only last about half the time it should and when they go to replace at three is it cost some double the time amount of money to have that roof replaced because I have to strip off those layers of shingles layers of wood shingles then they have to put a plywood type decking material on top of it before they can re roof it so your cost just went up big time multiple dollars so is it important that you tell a client that yeah absolutely that's your job uh it's they will love you for it the sellers May hate hat you but the the people buying the hes going to love you for it so be careful when you do that besides that you don't want to be the person to get the call back afterwards man I bought this house you didn't tell me had wood shakes or wood shingles underneath the composition roof now my roof needs to be replaced and I want you to fix it for me because you didn't tell me don't get caught in that report what you see guys and it'll keep you out of trouble if there's any signs of roof leakage then a general contractor roofing contractor should be called to do a further evaluation on the roof itself the most common signs of past leakage is wood cying or wall stains uh but where does all that begin well that that's something we can talk about but you know if the roof been patched to repair you need to let the client know hey look there's been some roof repairs on if it's got the poop theop we call it the tar product or uh Flex Seal that Seen On TV repairs jobs some of the flashing details around the plumbing vent pipes you need to note that to them because that's roof failure those need to be properly repaired so you know just keep an eye out for those kind of things and and don't try to sugarcoat everything sometimes not just sometime all the time our job is just to report what we see you don't have to tell them hey look it's got this stuff on it just don't it's improper repair and recommend a roof for someone else come out professional to further evaluate it and we talked about the window flashing details I put this in here because it it'll show you some if we let me let me slow down for a minute if we're in the framing stage of a house and we go out and we have done some infield training with our videographer uh AJ and sub couple professional inspectors and manfacturers in Texas and those videos will be coming out soon online you'll be wanting to see those because they are awesome I mean they are some some of the best video information that you I think you'll ever see uh not not excluding this one of course uh but self adhesive flashing during the framing stage before the windows are installed this type of flashing detail has to be installed you see how they done it several different areas here different ways but they make a manufactur flashing that fits in the opening and it overlaps the inside goes up the wall a bit Laps on the outside and then they come around they'll put the tape around the outside windows and and seal it but that makes a very good flashing but there's some that you can form make it fit the window these are self adhesive that they come in they stick but it cover that entire bottom seal of the framing up the wall section and rrap on the outside and then we'll correct the rest of it as we put the seal around the outside the windows so during the framing stage this is something you should see in all window openings okay winter flashing leakage in a home constitutes a serious problem can cause significant damage if it's not detected a leaking window flashings of major problems often becomes very expensive to repair the most common signs of past or present water intrusions are wet stains areas uh wet areas around the walls baseboard doors windows damaged wood damaged ceilings or even wall sections and you know it depends on where the stains are at as to what may have caused that but sometimes in a ceiling let's say that you see a water stain if it's a two-story house it could be a upstairs bathroom over that area close to that area it could be a plumbing pipe ran in the ceiling space uh that could cause that the old C galvanized water pipes are prone to leak during freezing so if you got freezing temperatures and uh pipes haven't been corre directly replaced or insulated then they could cause water leaks so those issues they go on long enough it causes major problems if there's any signs of water intrusions then a general contractor and maybe even a mold specialist should be consulted to do further evaluation uh we all know what mold looks like some states like in Texas we're not supposed to tell them that it's it's mold if we see it you can tell them it appears to be mold substance or something uh recommend further evaluation but you know in other parts of the country you can use the word mold I'm sure with a problem Texas we have some really uh different rules and regulations in what some states do so I mean pend on what your area is you know if you spot something that looks like mold uh you know your clients are going to know what mold is as well as you do so yeah just be cautious how you say it but uh you definitely want to tell them that there's moisture mold produces tiny spores to reproduce mold spores enter through the indoor and outside air continuously so the mold is all around us it's it's not only on inside of a house if there's mold spores but it's also on the outside I mean they they the mole people can check inside outside and compare the differ uh mole spores that are there but Mo spores seems to land on these damp spots indoor they may begin growing and digesting whatever they land on survive uh moles can grow on wood paper carpet backings of carpet and even more food products when excessive moisture water accumulates indoors mold growth will often occur particular if the moisture problem retains or remains undiscovered and unaddressed uh sometimes people cover up stuff if they're selling a house they will go to all types of extremes to hide moisture and mold because they don't want to pay for someone to come in and do the correct directions on it because at times it can get quite costly mold there's really no practical way to eliminate all mold mold spores in the indoor environment the way to control indoor mold growth is to control moisture stop the water stop the leakage you need to remember though the key to mold control is moisture control stop the water leakage you'll stop the mold inside many areas are prone for mold growth generally cause water intrusion or even a Plumbing Leak many times if shower leaks in the wall or the bathtub drain leaks if you open the Trap area the access to get into those sections then you'll see that there's intrusions uh water and the mold begin to develop if it's not treated or taken care of it becomes a very big issue kitchen cabinets one I've seen time and time again in my inspections uh you open the kitchen cabinet doors look underneath the sink it had a mold smell they to knock you out because it's so strong because there was a water leak and guess what nobody took care of the problem so it continued to grow until it begins to develop into mold but you know if you spot something like that it's not just going to be underneath the sink at you see it the water will go underneath the bottom cabinet section the board on the bottom of the cabinets it gets underneath there and then it begins to spread in areas that you don't see but yet it's magnifying and be getting worse and worse as the days go by without being treated so again the key to mold control is to control the moisture okay we're going to flip over a little bit of stairs and hen rails and and guard rails now and go over some of this but uh the codes give us that tells us that the hen rail should be provided on at least one side of each continuous run threads or flights with four or more steps so if you got four more steps uh up going up flight of stairs or steps four more you have to have a handrail that's inside or outside doesn't matter the handrail right excuse me hand wheell height shall not be less than 34 feet from the floor and not more than 38 inches from the floor so 34 Ines I think I said feet I'm sorry uh 3 Ines from the flooor and not more than 38 that's what most people children short uh adults tall adults it most people can reach those porches balconies a raised floor section located more than 30 Ines above the floor or above the ground shall also have guards of not less than 36 Ines in height now if you walk up there and your average guy say guys let's say you're 6 foot tall and the uh guard rail or rails around the porch are bony section comes up to your knees then that's an issue because of most people uh someone could trip fall someone can be shoved fall right over it so that's why the guard rails have to be uh 36 Ines in height but if you have a porch or Decks that are enclosed with insect screens you know which a lot of areas have insects I know down in our southern part of the world we have mosquitoes that big enough to take your car away almost uh they the if they have insect screens covering the ports then it has to be provided with guards where the walkin surface is located more than 30 inches above the floor or the grade outside more than 30 inches so you have to have something like that to prevent someone from falling uh causing injury so don't miss those things even many times we see people put a set of steps up to a balcony or not a balcony but to a a porch that they added on to a place and they forget to put G they forget to put handrails on the stairs Well everybody's not as balanced as as you are in your in your younger years uh a lot of time we could take a fall and not hurt us you as you get up in age uh some people have handicapped capabilities or uh that can cause them to trip or miss miss a step and cause them to fall but handrail is very important so pay attention to these and keep in mind what these requirements and all are uh required guard rails on open sides of stairways raised floor areas balconies porches shall all have an intermediate rails or ornamental closure that do not allow passage of the spear 4 Ines or more in diameter a lot of times a code will take a 4inch round circular piece of Styrofoam and they'll use it to measure make sure nothing uh any larger than that will pass through the opening the reason behind this 4-in separation requirement is protect small children even small pets that can slip through these openings and fall and get hurt or injured themselves or even worse depending on if it's on a balcony or elevated part of a second floor or third floor of a house uh so the 4- inch Ru is is a big I mean you can take a tape measure and and measure 4 inches and you know you'll be pretty safe on measuring that but 4 Ines anything larger than that if it pass through the openings uh of the stair rail balconies or the balls then that's something that should be written up that's a red flag for you older construction probably built before I'd say before the 90s 1990s didn't have that same requirement so some of them man some of them I would almost fit through the space was gapped so far and uh there's a lot of ways that people can correct those but again as a home inspector it's not our job to try and correct it to tell them how to correct it what to do about it so it's our job to point out hey this could be a safety issue we want to make you aware of it handil ends today shall be returned and shall terminate in no post or safety terminals handrails adjacent to a wall shall have a space of not less than an inch and a half between a wall and a handrail this means where you put your hand around you won't be able to get a full grip on that handrail so that gives you enough room for your knuckles of your fist to bend and wrap around handrail and hold on to it the end where the handrail returns to the end that talks about at the bottom of the top of the handrail the end of that handrail can't just be open in other words you can't you don't want to where someone's a lady's purse strap will get caught or loose clothing could get caught on it and cause someone to trip those ends have to turn and go back and touch the wall so if you have a straight handrail the very end of is going to make a 90° turn and go back end at the wall that's what that's that's what that's telling you uh all required handrails shall be continuous the full length of the stairs with two or more risers from a point directly above the top Riser of the flight to the point directly below above the lowest Riser of the flights in other words you have a a set of stairs it goes up it has to be a continuous handrail from top to bottom if you have a stairwell staircase that goes up and makes a 180 degree turn the handrail has to be continuous on that one side of the wall uh continuous so people can go up and uh be safe so hen rails are something very important uh all handrails shall be one or more of the following types are the equivalent grippable uh and I will read this to you in a second I mean we'll coding you some cat items here but these are Cod items that are safety issues red flags for you if you I can tell you many many times I've seen balconies from the outside staircase going up to a balcony to a porch to a deck uh a lot of time people like to take a 2x4 and lay it on top so people can grab well the problem with that is it's not it doesn't meet the grippable size uh you can't get a good grip most people with small hand cannot grip a two before laying down flat some Builders will take one and turn it up on this Edge and nail it to the side where people can get a hold of it the problem with that is you really can't get a full grip you can hold on to it but you can't get a grip so this just tells you the type one the handrails with a circular crosssection shall have an outside diameter of at least 114 in that's 32 millimeters and not greater than two inches or 51 millimeters uh if a handrail is not circular it should have a a perimeter dimension of at least 4 in and not greater than 6 and A4 in with a maximum gross section of Dimension 2 and a/4 in the edges shall have a minimum radius of uh .25 millimet here so it's it's just telling you the sizes of a handrail basically if you can't grip it your clients probably won't be able to grip it and that's something you probably want to make a note your report on type two handrails that get to be a little different uh perimeter greater than 6 and A4 in shall have a finger recess area on both sides in other words as your hand grips it you want to have something your fingers yeah kind of a claw effect if you would let that claw get in and hold on to so this is what this is telling you about and it tells you the sizes of it and all on it that that you'd have to get a hold of now let's go into stair we talk about handrails let's talk about stairs for just a little bit uh and remember you can go back and watch these videos as often as you like and compared notes to it and this one I'm going to refer to the international residential code section R 31.7 point1 but talks about the width of the stairs it says the stairs weighs shall not be less than 36 Ines and clear width at all points above the permitted handrail height and below the required Headroom height so you have a certain handrail height what we talked about then you have a certain required Headroom height and headro means you don't want to bump your head you walk up stairs uh but there's your code reference on it now the Headroom which is a headro Heights required on the paragraph above says a minimum head room in all parts not just some but all parts of the stairway shall not be more be less than 6' 8 in measured vertically from the sloped line adjoining the thread nosing or from the floor surface of the landing or platform on that portion of the stairway and this is the international residential code section r31 111.730 with each other now let me give you an example lot of older construction homes you'll see staircases coming down from the second floor and you'll have a section where the stair the ceiling over the stairs come down and then it makes a upward turn kind of makes the bottom of the staircase a height taller than the rest of it many many times they put the return air Chase in those sections and in doing so they fur that ceiling down further and into the space of the stairs making it where your head would actually bump those at top of the wall with the I me top of the ceiling where it turn for the return air Chase basically as you walking up no part of the stairway should be less than 6'8 Ines so unless you're a real tall person you should be walk in and not touch any part of that ceiling the other important thing is that so you don't get hurt or someone have a personal injury the other part of that is is they're carrying Furniture up and down those stairs mattresses dressers chest drawers whatever any type of bookcase whatever they won't have room to carry something like it up without causing damage to the property so that's very easy to miss on an inspection but it is something that's kind of a minimum standard that you should be able to see and if it doesn't meet those requirements you should write it up as you know it doesn't meet current building codes and let people know we don't expect people to go back and correct a home is 50 60 70 years old to new codes we don't expect that but some of this stuff comes up as being safety issues and red flags for you as a home inspector that we need to at least make a note of in our reports okay The Landings for stairways the codes again refer and say there shall be a floor or Landing in at the top of both of each at the top and bottom of each stairway so at bottom end the top there's got to be a a landing for it uh there should not be any doors that open over stair step in other words if you got a set of stairs going upstairs and at the very top there's not a landing but you walk right onto the hallway floor or bedroom floor whatever it is up there and there's a door someone de sayd hey I'm put a door here to block off downstairs upstairs so they put a door there well you don't want a door that opens and the first step you take you're stepping on the staircase guess what happens you take that first step you miss it because the floor is uneven because the stairs step down then you take a fall you as a home inspector may be aware of things like that and be cautious that you don't fall down but what about the innocent client that you're representing what about visitors coming to their house and spending the night getting up in the morning going looking for their first cup of coffee they open that door and take that first step and it throws them off they fall down the staircase not going to be a pleasant situation I promise you your phone's going to ring and it may be from an attorney saying check your mail I just sent you a certified letter demand letter and you're being sued we don't want that to happen to you sometimes you just report what's what you see but you have to make sure you're able to see what you need to see and be able to write up what it is that could be a safety issue and a red flag and I'm telling you guys and gals out there stairs and landings is something you don't want to miss it's it's very important if you're walking up a set of stairs and uh each step seems to be at a different height that's a problem that can cause people to trip and it's it's I I've seen inspectors miss it time and time again and I mean it gets so obvious my concern is way I my I I practice M business I stand at the bottom of stairs before I go up them I stand and look and I try to analyze visually each step oh do they look even do I see one that the gap's a little bit bigger than the other one yeah if I do then I'm gonna write that up because if it's off it's enough I don't care one step's off it's still enough to cause someone to miss getting their settings getting their steps and and kind of setting a pace if you will if they get one that's off it's enough to throw them off and they they probably going to fall so be cautious and be sure and put that down as a as deficiency okay thanks again for attender webinar I hope you've enjoyed it I hope I've been able to answer some question at least stirred up some thoughts in your mind mind and make you stop and think did I write it up on my last inspection or the previous one uh if you didn't then good for you this is something that gets your attention make you better inspect in the long run and hope you you've enjoyed this one and we'll go in and have the next session here uh for you ready so be sure you watch all of them again my name is Paul Robuck if you have any questions if you have a topic that you'd like for us to speak on uh send me an email that's Paul na.org and we'll try our best to uh help you as best we can to answer your questions I'm always here to answer your questions and help you any way I can all right thanks again for watching see you next [Music] time