New Home Don't Need an Inspection

[Preston Sandlin]

How many times have I heard that.  I keep this pic that I took a few years back with me now and I show this pic.  This is a new home.......Still think it doesn't need inspecting.  (see photo)

Preston Sandlin

[Dominic Maricic]

That's hilarious. How the heck could someone get that so wrong?

[Bert de Haan]

When I saw the title, I thought about an inspection I did last Saturday.  I figured I would post the picture here but it is going to look pretty lame in comparison to this one.  That is absolutely incredible.  Almost to the point of being staged.  (I'm not saying it is though.)  I just looked at the picture with my mouth hanging open.  Wow.

Looking on the positive side;   It would save about $25 on a privacy door knob.

[Joe Keresztury]

That is hilarious, so what was your write up?     Toilet does not have 30" clearance side to side?   

[Joe Keresztury]

OK, now that the dust has settled and Preston has settled into HIP, call me a A__h+++ if you want for busting his bubble Dom and Bert from your previous warm and fuzzy posts, me too, but this new house in the pic isn't as bad as it looks and wasn't ready for a move in inspection. If you look at the pic it's obviously a small 1/2 bath- powder room you can see each side wall.  About 3' wide 8' long, toilet on one end w/  sink on other end. In the pic you can see that there is tape at bottom of wall, top of baseboard, meaning they haven;t finished painting or ... There is no shoe mold at tile to baseboard that would indicate completion. There is no door handle hardware on door and if you look close the hinges of the door is still covered with tape by painters. Not that the door isn't painted but that the house is not completed.  With this small 1/2 bath the plumber was not able to close the door back and forth to set toilet in such a small area. Actually looks like there is no finished flooring outside of bath in pic. Pic prooves house wasn't finished IMHO. (Not ready for inspection)
SOLUTION- Remove the pin from hinges and reset the door to not be behind toilet. I have a feeling that as house was being completed this probably was done, Pictures don't lie but timing of pictures do. Pic looks funny and/or bad for builder, but it's not that big of a deal, house ain't done. As far as inspecting new homes, if that's all i could find ............

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

How many times have I heard that.  I keep this pic that I took a few years back with me now and I show this pic.  This is a new home.......Still think it doesn't need inspecting.  (see photo)

Preston Sandlin

To play devils advocate... if that was all that was wrong, I think the buyer would have discovered that on their own... no inspector needed.

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

When I saw the title, I thought about an inspection I did last Saturday.  I figured I would post the picture here but it is going to look pretty lame in comparison to this one.  That is absolutely incredible.  Almost to the point of being staged.  (I'm not saying it is though.)  I just looked at the picture with my mouth hanging open.  Wow.

Looking on the positive side;   It would save about $25 on a privacy door knob.

Post it anyway... whatcha gots to lose???

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

That is hilarious, so what was your write up?     Toilet does not have 30" clearance side to side?  

Now Joe... you know dang well you don't need 30" side/side clearance!

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

OK, now that the dust has settled and Preston has settled into HIP, call me a A__h+++ if you want for busting his bubble Dom and Bert from your previous warm and fuzzy posts, me too, but this new house in the pic isn't as bad as it looks and wasn't ready for a move in inspection. If you look at the pic it's obviously a small 1/2 bath- powder room you can see each side wall.  About 3' wide 8' long, toilet on one end w/  sink on other end. In the pic you can see that there is tape at bottom of wall, top of baseboard, meaning they haven;t finished painting or ... There is no shoe mold at tile to baseboard that would indicate completion. There is no door handle hardware on door and if you look close the hinges of the door is still covered with tape by painters. Not that the door isn't painted but that the house is not completed.  With this small 1/2 bath the plumber was not able to close the door back and forth to set toilet in such a small area. Actually looks like there is no finished flooring outside of bath in pic. Pic prooves house wasn't finished IMHO. (Not ready for inspection)
SOLUTION- Remove the pin from hinges and reset the door to not be behind toilet. I have a feeling that as house was being completed this probably was done, Pictures don't lie but timing of pictures do. Pic looks funny and/or bad for builder, but it's not that big of a deal, house ain't done. As far as inspecting new homes, if that's all i could find ............

I agree Joe. This is common practice in new construction. The door gets placed in such a way to make it easier to work in the room, keeps it out of the way of potential damage, gets it (temporarily) installed to empty the materials trailer, and takes all of 30 seconds to correct. Not a big deal.

[Joe Keresztury]

 Jeff, you are right, who couldn't have figured that one out. Goes back to what I'm saying, look at pic, house  
 wasn't done. But if it was time for an inspector, home completion, I would  assume someone even w/o Inspector would have noticed.   Don't we do more than that???    Don't we?

[Bert de Haan]

Here is the new home problem I found.  (Actually the home wasn't quite new anymore. The owner just put up with it for four years.)  I made this a topic for a blog here:  http://www.kitchenerwaterloohomeinspector.ca/rough-in-plumbing.html

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Here is the new home problem I found.  (Actually the home wasn't quite new anymore. The owner just put up with it for four years.)  I made this a topic for a blog here:  http://www.kitchenerwaterloohomeinspector.ca/rough-in-plumbing.html

Again, not untypical for new construction, at least in my area. I will state though, normally the roughed-in pipes are 18" tall, not just a couple of inches. As for the location by the stairs, from what I can see of the pic, no problem, lot's of room.

[Bert de Haan]

You would put up with a stub sticking up out of the floor right in the line of traffic and in your area it's okay to have a shower stall two feet in front of the stairs? 

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

You would put up with a stub sticking up out of the floor right in the line of traffic and in your area it's okay to have a shower stall two feet in front of the stairs? 

Nope, never said I would, just that it is not unusual to see this. As for the shower, you never said there was only two feet clearance. Looking at the pic, I was visualizing 3-4 feet. For me personally. still too close, but I am not the one who toured the model home with the finished basement and decided it was right for me. And that goes right to my point. As an inspector, it matters not what the layout of a home is. I don't have to live in it. My only concern is defects and safety. A pipe stub on the floor is a safety issue. An 18" pipe is not.  

[Bert de Haan]

Yes you are correct.  I didn't say it was only 2 feet but I didn't mention anything about stairs at all so I assumed you read the blog.  The two feet is from the shower or bath rough is in under the mat in front of the stairs.  I didn't write up the location of the shower stall because there is no shower stall.  I did mention it to my client because the house was advertised as having a rough in for a three piece bath in the basement.  It will not work where the shower or bath drain is roughed in.  If I had inspected this home when new, I think I would have made a point of it in my report.  Layout does matter in some instances. 

[Joe Keresztury]

If those are PVC pipes it wouldn't be too tough to cut them flush and cap them. I kept wandering what ya'll were talking about a shower stall? You're kidding there's a shower drain under that mat in front of the stairs? LOL. Must have been a mis-measurement on that one, at rough in. Or not very good planning.
I'm guessing there are alot of basement conversions to living areas up you and Jeffs way. As you know I'm not familar with basements in my area. What do you commonly use for the floor joist system above it, TJI floor joists or open web floor joist trusses? In your cold climate what is the R value of insulation used in the living area floor to basement? Is there an issue of proper placement of insulation batts if there is as much roughed in that area as I'm assuming?

[Bert de Haan]

The most common flooring system is dimensional lumber but TJIs and open web floor trusses are gaining ground. 
Basements are usually heated so there is no insulation in the flooring.  It makes more sense to insulate the foundation wall (R-20) than the floor because you gain the use of the basement area for the furnace, etc or for bedrooms or family rooms.  The hardest place to insulate is the rim joist.  Actually the insulating isn't that bad but doing a good job of installing vapour barrier in the joist spaces is a pain.