Inspecting a House With Software, a Drone, and Infrared

[Music] hi i'm ben from internachi and today we're doing a home inspection on this house right behind me it's like a modern house log home house up in the mountains and it's relatively new and what we're going to do is uh take a look at all the systems and components according to the home inspection standards of practice written by internachi and i'll go over a checklist and i'll use my phone to use the software that internachi provides to all certified home inspectors and what i like to do first is step back at a house before i go in to any system and get a good idea of what the surrounding area is like so let's take a look around the house and see what's going on at this home inspection so let's walk down the side of the home and go to the other side of the house and it looks like there's some construction going on and it looks like this is the back side of the home and they're doing some construction with the road so i'll put that in the report but it's a fairly obvious thing even though it's something obvious and if my client was with me we would both be looking at it and commenting on it i'm going to put in my inspection report anyways because our memories are not that great and after a while maybe a month or two maybe even longer things change or maybe even the next day some things change maybe this road will be all paved not sure my job as a home inspector is to document the condition of the home and the surrounding areas like the street and the sidewalk on the day of the home inspection so that's what i'm gonna do i'm gonna document it with my phone taking pictures and video and text using my inspection checklist internachi provides a free checklist that helps home inspectors perform home inspections on homes and it's a free checklist it's online any certified inspector through internachi has access to this checklist it's very basic i wouldn't use it for a client actually but it is in direct relationship to the standards of practice so you'll go through the checklist and you'll find yourself walking through the standards of practice so that's what i'm going to use on this inspection so i'll show you the checklist on my phone as we go through the house and check things off as we inspect them using internachi's inspection checklist and as i move around the house i'm also going to use my phone and take a lot of digital pictures on this home i'll probably take 200 300 digital pictures i'll provide all of them to my client and video to my client with the inspection report because my inspection report will be cloud-based so i'll be able to upload pictures and video for my clients my clients love videos and if a picture's worth a thousand words what's a video worth and it looks like i have an inspection restriction there's a fence there so i can't get around this way i like to go around the house counterclockwise so i've got a door back here an entryway looks like a little safety issue with the sidewalk and the steps and i'll take a look at the roof next so on the side of the home i'm just using my eyes using a ladder is not required by the standards of practice getting up on any roof surface is not required according to standards practice but using my eyes taking a look from the ground level it looks in good shape but let's take a look on the other side of the house so i can't really see anything from this side of the house either how about the side yard so on this side of the house i can see a large portion of the roof from the ground level it's very easy i don't see any problems with the shingles i'm looking for obvious things like crack shingles missing shingles flashing problems things like that all right let's take a look at the roof using my drone so i'm flying my little mini drone there it is and there's the internachi symbol on my truck do a little pull back so there's the house and i'll speed up the video of the drone a little bit it's shooting 4k video 4k photos it was under 500 for the drone you have to get licensed by the faa so you have to take your license we have a some training to prepare you to take the license free and online for internachi members and the roof from the drone shot is fantastic i like to go back and forth on all of the planes go down the ridge if there's something projecting out i like to zoom in and follow it so i'm taking a look at this area here it's kind of a critical area for me there's the porch and then the other one and we saw the kick outs before i don't see any shingle problems i don't see any flashing problems i'm also taking a look at the trim boards like the rakeboard and the ridge vent so i know there's soffit vents and there's a ridge vent there and there's a couple penetrations three pipes coming through the roof there's a vent in an event out for the hvac system high efficiency system and i'm not the best pilot right we're all getting better but that looks really good exhaust and inlet and the plumbing stack and then there's the valley that looks really good and the shingles themselves look really good so i don't have to risk my life getting up on the roof it's not required by the standards of practice to walk upon any roof surface and i'm not going to so if i can do it in a safe way i will and then i like to land um where i think is best there i am there hello and i'm gonna try to land on my truck just getting better and better using my equipment including my drone every day you know oh they're out there there we go and i get to land and it's common practice up in the mountains to not have gutters um it's funny about code in some areas gutters may be required for sure it's fairly common in the united states and north america to have gutters but in certain situations gutters are not required like this house now because there aren't any gutters i'm going to take a look around the surrounding areas and the grating and where i see a hard surface we want a nice slope to grade away to drain away to divert away that water that falls off this roof without any gutter catching it and it's causing these cosmetic stains i wouldn't worry too much about it and it should drain away from the house so i'm gonna take a look around the house make sure the the drainage around the house is sloped properly away down six inches in the first 10 feet so in the front of the house i see neutral grading and i'm on a driveway and in front of the driveway there's a lot of gravel in front of the house there's a lot of gravel and it looks like the street is above us the dirt street there is above us so i'm concerned about water coming down past my vehicle down towards the garage and into the garage it probably doesn't because it's a porous material it's all gravel you could hear it and also on the side of the house you can see no gutters rain falls you can imagine what happens hundreds of gallons of water per rainfall falls right here and what happens not sure there isn't a swale and actually it's fairly level the neighbor's yard has grass there and there's some missing grass and you can see it puddles up i don't want water coming towards the house and on the street side on the back side we know that it's graded away so i'm going to take a look on the inside of the house make sure that there aren't any water intrusion problems missing gutters hundreds of gallons of water in this climate in this area mountain house will have a lot of snow melt a lot of rainfall in the season and we don't want water puddling up against the house foundation so the next thing to inspect is the exterior wall covering materials the siding and then the softened fascia and then representative number of windows so i'll be inspecting different systems and components as i go around the house so as i inspect the exterior siding materials i'll also be taking a look at the windows and the doors and the steps and the sidewalks and things like that because a house is a system of interdependent parts and one part may affect other parts and so when you're inspecting your house you may have to inspect many systems all at the same time that's why the checklist is really important so that you don't forget anything okay so i'm looking at the exterior siding materials and i can see it's been stained it's wood but some of the staining is a little thin in some areas not a real big deal and then i can see we have an exhaust for a fireplace a gas fireplace probably inside um take a look at maybe in the living room or bedroom and over here is the fence and it's shared with the neighbor i'll put that in the report gotta be friends with your neighbors when you share a fence and this is inspection restriction going this way to the to the street being constructed looks like there is a future air conditioner unit going to be installed here here's the disconnect and um conduit and it's attached so let's see here yep 50 amp gfci protection uh so maybe it's something else not uh an air conditioner unit but maybe a sauna or a hot tub so i'm taking a look at the siding now the clearance from the bottom of the siding feels like that's the concrete foundation there and it's a couple inches so that's good i'm really concerned about how flat this seems to be this surface area without any gutters and there's the front door area i'll take a look at all exterior doors you're required to inspect all exterior doors and a representative number of windows and i'll test the gfci this is cosmetic item but always ring the doorbell for my client the windows on the outside aluminum with wooden siding and the trim and i can see the kick out flashing installed so i'm inspecting different components of different systems all at the same time but i'll go back and go through the checklist and make sure that i've documented everything here's the exterior door exterior side of the garage door the auto door i'll take a look at that internachi has an inspection checklist to inspect automatic garage door openers there's public gas supplied to the house natural gas underground pipe grounding bonding is always important there's the shut off valve and the meter itself phone cable underground electric conduit coming up into the main disconnect there it is there 125 amps i can take a shot of this information here and there's the meter above with a key lock exhaust vent above the meter but right here looks like we've got a a dryer exhaust with a lot of lint in it and that's a fire hazard [Music] another exhaust hood [Music] and we're at the front here with a water faucet frost free hose bib running water an electric receptacle gfci i'll test that and again unfinished work at the front step and some minor paint at the exterior door here this door is not three feet wide it's not the main egress store you need one egress store that meets building code some minor paint here at the window small window here this is kind of like the back of the house and again some minor paint here i'm gonna put this in the report cosmetic issue well that's a run around the exterior of the house not much wrong that's good but a few things to document okay so i'll show you the checklist and the exterior part and the roof part of the checklist and then we'll continue all right so here's the checklist i'm using my phone basic checklist exterior wall coverings no defects e soffit fascia no defects representative number of windows no b defects i got a cosmetic defect and you can type this in or you can use your voice weathered paint so there we go exterior doors cosmetic defect and i can use my voice or type and i've got rear exterior doorstep under construction weathered paint with wet third paint there we go flashing a trim no defects no defects observed at the stairs stoops no defects railings regards vegetation surface drainage no defects however you know i've got this comment i'm concerned about the hard surfaces around the house at the front near the driveway and on the side of the house where there are no gutters and there is a lot of rain and we want to monitor how hard how the hard surfaces divert water away from the house exterior wall covering wood did you observe any spacing defects no okay so next is the roof no defects no gutters right they're not present well they're no defects but they're really they're not even there so i want to make sure no defects no gutters really no downspouts not present flashing good structure of the roof no defects observed describe the roof covering materials asphalt singles any active leaks no and now i'm in the garage and the electrical panel is that well i'll move the ladder to get the door open and there we are nice electrical panel siemens the label is there and all the breakers are labeled there's 15 amp there's the range i have an electric range electric dryer electric hot water tank i have a house fan and i've got afcis all over the place got the microwave there's the kitchen bedrooms living room dishwasher kitchen refrigerator kitchen disposal all afc eyes dark blue and light blue test breakers so electrical surface drop not present overhead not present gooseneck not present service mess yeah um no defects meter based no defects uh scr no defects main disconnect no defects panel board no defects servicing grounding and bonding no defects switches and receptacles no defects gfcis afcis no defects smoke carbon monoxide detectors describe the amperage if rated so it's 125 amps outside we saw the main disconnect outside type of wiring everything's all covered up i don't have any unfinished rooms or areas so i don't have any problems any presence of aluminum no did everything test well gfcis and afcis any plate covers yes i've got a garage gfci plate missing any absence of smoke detectors no and here's the another closet here inside the closet is a mystery ah it's the hvac system and the hot water tank so electric hot water tank we saw the breaker at the electrical panel for the electric hot water tank let's shed some light here so nice clean installation all accessible i see a gas line csst possibly um you know we're in a garage and we're not 18 inches above the floor here a little concerned about the furnace ignition system i know it's a closed system high efficiency system but i'm going to take a look i'm going to reference the code i'm going to take a look at it maybe later oh expansion tank and i'm going to see about the low height of the utility room the doors were not airtight so i'll take a look at that get a note code in order to do home inspections gotta know a little bit about standards and codes there's the water source there frost free hose bib coming from the main line by the expansion tank above the hot water tank well it's not a hot water tank it's a water heater tank right there's the main water shutoff valve we've got a leak there we've got a corrosion leak the corrosion has sealed off the water leak cold water in hot water coming out yeah electric line conduit nice i don't need to open up anything there's the hot water tank tpr discharge valve discharging down into the drain it's not conspicuous i would really like to see it but that's okay i'm not a code inspector home inspector at least they have one the drain is not leaking electric heating elements there's the manufacturing label the energy guide other contractor qr codes and other information the main label with the capacity in gallons is 50 gallons right there so i'll put that in the inspection reports 50 gallons is good size now the hvac system is gas-fired we saw a gas meter on the outside main shot fell over there and ccst this is black and it's a icces pmg 1052 for underground and slab burial and the black jacket signifies a protective jacket design and the black jacketed csst is referred to as arc resistance csst so that's all good there's the electric supply going to the furnace there's the disconnect main switch i thought it was the light but it's not and it's a high efficiency heating system it's a down draft it's blowing into the crawl space this is um the air filter right there if you open up the cover you get to see got some nice air filters there a v-shape it's kind of like the air conditioner uh location if there was an air coil there so you've got two good filters but they're dirty uh they need to be cleaned out replaced actually and you've got two arrows one with airflow and one with a wash if you wanted to wash them or replace them if you want to wash them you got to direct them into into a sink or something in the right direction and then the duct seams are sealed air sealed with a mastic that's fantastic and there's the separation manuals right there it's high efficiency so you've got air coming in exhaust going out pvc exhaust pipes and that goes all the way up through the roof remember we saw that with the drone shot of the roof and so there's condensate being created and it's leaking into the pan so we've got a good thing we got a bucket because it's leaking i don't know what's going on with the discharge um it looks like it's working maybe it's not so we've got a problem there so we've condensate leak at the high efficiency gas furnace right in the garage utility room which also has a concern with the doors thermostat is in the living room nice electronic one and the heating checklist no major defects observed no material defects thermostat is in the living room and energy source that's you know it's natural gas so we'll just type that in heating method the ductwork goes in the crawl space there's no access to the crawl space so i can't see the crawl space foundation i can't see the duct work a lot of inspection restrictions you know we're concerned about the water going into the crawl space right so that's a problem there's no air conditioning there's no central cooling system so it's the same same thermostat as the heating system but there is no air conditioner unit remember on the side we saw the disconnect it's not for an air conditioner could be but it's not installed so i'm not sure um any defects nothing nothing no problems there this is the garage again i spent a lot of time in the garage and get a look around to see what's going on make sure there's a fire door there's the auto door and there's the automatic garage door opener if you wanted to know the 10 steps to inspecting an automatic garage door opener we have it at that url we've got a lot of home inspection checklists so there's 10 things 10 major things to check at the garage door opener this this garage door is it's the largest moving object in a house so there are some safety features installed and some devices and it's a good thing to know the 10 steps to check it like that cord there to disconnect the main door from the operation of the motor itself there's the laser eyes test it with my hand there just like expected and then test it again i'll reach over hit the garage door opener then i'll use my foot my boot to break the laser eye and that safety device works that's an easy test for a home inspector to do now over here i see that the foundation is exposed and it's about that tall and it's about that tall all the way around it's not sloped this floor doesn't seem like it's sloped so water goes out the door and we have a firewall breech can't have an opening in the garage that can't be there and then we have a high step at the garage door now this garage door must be self-latching and equipped with a self-closing device or automatic closing device there's the 20 minute fire door it's rated latching also helps with air pressurization issues so refer to the international residential code the door must close must be self closing or automatic closing device and self latching and fire rated so got a problem there so the crime store opener works got a refrigerator and it's plugged into a gfci so if you test that you gotta reset it before you leave the home inspection make sure you don't ruin someone's refrigeration let's go in the attic so we've got fiberglass insulation in the attic and again there's a firewall breach fire hazard can't have a hole in the and the attic insulation itself is 12 inches thick truss built roof well ventilated it all looks really good but the garage must be separated from other areas of the house so it has to be a firewall installed on the garage side but again the installation is really good i don't see any problems with the insulation or ventilation or the structure so here's the checklist ventilation no defects mechanical exhaust systems why i did that already but uh we've got a um i'll use my voice loose covering in the master bathroom fan and i'll show you that later it's not who's covering it's loose covering sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't type of insulation fiberglass there we go approximate average depth 12 inches no missing insulation so that's good kitchen there's the electric stove remember the breaker and the panel electric stove and oven and we got a sink and a dishwasher and a refrigerator and a microwave well just turn everything on and everything off if you're going to turn on the oven got to make sure you know how to turn it off too don't let the oven run so there's the stove and i've got a problem with one of the front left doesn't work that's a defect need an appliance technician to fix that so turn everything off in the oven and the broiler works that's good and the microwave you can put in a cup of water and heat up some water there gfcis they all test all receptacles on all counters even the island has to be gfci protected and dishwasher i like to run a short cycle at the dishwasher see if it works see if it leaks hot the cold water at the sink and if the sink looks good there's a ah garbage disposal i'll take a look at that look for leaks at the pipes and the hose and electric lines and everything like that and the island has to be secured bathrooms do all the bathrooms just about the same this is a three-bedroom two-bath house run hot and cold water at the fixtures flush the toilet a couple times tub and shower and make sure there's functional flow at the shower head gfcis in the bathroom and look for plumbing leaks at the pipe and the valves and make sure that the toilet doesn't move on the floor use the side of my leg and then hot cold water at the top make sure it drains and the walls look good and secure and sealed nothing loose at the pipes and the bath fan exhausts we saw the hoods on the outside the door opens and closes and the floor looks good and sometimes i like to pull open a floor vent just to see not that one and that's loose towel rack bedrooms take a look around at the surfaces and the walls and the ceilings smoke detectors in every bedroom and hallway every floor this is one level house representative number of doors and windows that register under that blanket can't get to every window and open and close them inspection restrictions test wall receptacles representative number with my tester that's properly wired windows that i can open and close i will and i'll lock it if i can yep that works i won't test the usb chargers they're becoming popular and the second bathroom so well this is the master bathroom we'll do the same procedure hot cold water flush the toilet a couple times make sure it's secured to the floor look for leaks at the valve not the fixture itself how it's secured turn on the tub hot cold water drain shower functional flow the shower surround and the tiles look all good clutch the toilet a couple times look for plumbing leaks at the sink at the pipe and at the valves and at the cabinet test the gfci there's a tester here that works there's a register pull that up nothing unusual the door closes look for water leaks at the corner where the tub meets the floor the tub surround the tiles the sealant that all looks good the grout no defects observed functional flow hot and cold water turn the water off the window does not open so we have an exhaust fan and there's that loose hood at the master bathroom exhaust fan it all looks good and the grass was just cut so i'm looking for anomalies on the interior the interior goes pretty quick just a couple minutes looking for major problems at the ceilings or the doors or the windows receptacles and the floors remember there's no central cooling and i found a fan control in the hallway inspection restriction i can't get on the other side of that fan but that's okay i can see it from here it's functional it goes off the house in that way and we've got a slider door that's nice buy the kitchen extra storage and also this is the laundry area so opening up the slider door all the way and oh careful what you do somebody left the plug in there and it's kind of like in the way of the door itself it kind of bumps in there so if you leave that plugged in you're going to crack something so i'll just leave it just like that that's enough room there's no water catch pan underneath the clothes washer i like to see a water catch pan and there's the dryer we know it's electric from the electrical panel and washer's plugged in and so gfci every every receptacle in the laundry room has to be gfci protected i get to see the discharge pipe there hot and cold water supply lines remember we have a fire hazard at the dryer exhaust hood and we've got electric plug so we need someone to clean that dryer exhaust no defects here at the ceilings but we have fire hazard at the length we can't have a screen at the hood so let's close this door this is kind of a cool feature make sure you put everything back where it was and i've got a control for the fan in the cathedral room so the cathedral ceiling has a fan and the moose is there to tell us where the fireplace is there's the fireplace we saw the exhaust on the outside that's secured looks really good mantle and the stone work i can't get the fireplace to turn on i don't have any controls no remote was found i can't open this panel here i can't open i feel that the pilot light is on but this won't open so i can't find a switch can't find anything to turn on so this is an inspection restriction there's usually a switch or a remote control or something on the on the side of the unit um side of the fireplace but nope can't find it i know it's on filler pilot light the interior of the cathedral room looks good no major defects smoke detector lights are on the flooring looks great i don't find any problems inspection restriction there's stuff all over the place so i like to take pictures of the inspection restrictions and if i can reach a window i will i'll open and close it and lock it same thing with the interior side of the egress door we saw it on the exterior when we were doing the exterior system and now this is the interior what's good then i pull out my infrared camera and i'm just looking for anomalies with my infrared camera i like to see things that other inspectors can't see but you got to get trained and certified and that's at nachi.org ir so obviously the stove is hot except for that one burner kind of confirms it and there's the fireplace kind of confirms that something's on the pilot is on but i can't get it to kick on as a system so that's an inspection restriction that'll be in my inspection report my infrared camera helps me see things that are hot or cool and the mousse doesn't look very hot but it's kind of cool looking for anomalies in the interior the walls the ceilings the windows the flooring i don't see any water intrusion problems like we thought of uh when we are outside with no gutters lights hot so it's a smoke detector interior no anomalies again looks good just looking around sometimes i'll give my client the infrared camera to look around garage door opener is warm it's hot outside nothing going on with the garage door itself but the attic access is on fire there's no insulation there and it's a fire hazard anyways so that was the home inspection hope you enjoyed it every home and building should be inspected every year by a certified professional inspector and i'm ben gromicko and i'm an internachi certified professional inspector from internachi the international association of certified home inspectors i'll see you on the next home inspection [Music]

Channel: International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI)

Views: 7,790

Keywords: International association of certified home inspectors, InterNACHI, NACHI, become a home inspector, home inspection training, home inspection education, gromicko, inspecting a house, infrared, software, drone

Id: uI1--HtL620

Length: 38min 34sec (2314 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 07 2021