Natural Gas Appliance Vents During Heavy Snow

As the snow piles up outside, keep an eye on those natural gas appliance vents.  You want to make sure that the vent's are blocked.  This mainly applies to high efficiency PVC furnace vents, gas dryer vents that are low to the ground and those through the wall vents for gas insert type fireplaces.  Blockage of a vent by snow could allow carbon monoxide to enter your home.

When snow blowing or shoveling, be sure to not to cover the PVC vents from you high efficiency furnace.  Most furnaces will shut off automatically without combustion air, but you may be able to save a service call if you know your vent got blocked by snow.

I often see dryer vents too close to deck surfaces; the vent was 3' off the ground before the deck was built, but then the deck was added and nobody thought about the dryer vent in the winter.  This goes or electric dryers too, but you won't get carbon monoxide buildup with an electric dryer, just damp clothes after a full cycle.

Here's a vent that looks ok in summer but can easily be covered by snow.

Here's a high efficiency furnace PVC vent in danger of being covered by snow.

Stay warm and safe everyone!

Proper Venting for Dryers

As a home inspector, one of the most common problems I encounter in homes is improper dryer venting.  Seems simple, what can go wrong?  Well, a few simple things done wrong can have the potential to burn your house down, cause thousands of dollars of mold damage, or just waste energy and take longer to dry your clothes.

Length: The shortest run is the best run.  25' max is the gold standard.  There is a reduction in length of 5' for each 90 degree turn, ie. if you have 2 90 degree turns, then your maximum length should be 15'.

Materials: Dryer vent should NOT be plastic.  This has the potential to melt and catch fire.  This includes the foil looking mylar type vents.  Vent pipe should be metal pipe or flexible metal dryer vent material, which is a heavy aluminum tube that can be bent.  White PVC pipe should never be used as it can build a static charge that can ignite lint buildup.

Correct vent materials

Incorrect plastic vent also showing how lint can block air flow.

Securing sections: Screws should not protrude into the air pathway.  Use foil tape (not duct tape) and clamps to connect sections.

So, the fire hazard should be obvious, but what about the other things I mentioned.  Dryer vents not ducted to the exterior can be a major contributor to mold/mildew in attic or other spaces.  I've inspected houses where major mold remediation was needed based on the dryer vent ducting into an attic or more commonly a crawlspace.  Think about how much water is in those heavy clothes when you put them into the dryer.  If not ducted to the exterior, this goes right into your enclosed space, and moisture is one of the building blocks for mold growth.

Cleaning: It is recommended that dryer vents be cleaned annually or semi-annually.  Sometimes, if it's in your basement and accessible, it's easiest to just replace the metal vent pipe.  In some houses, there are long fixed runs of metal vent duct that need cleaning with a vacuum/brush etc.  Some homeowners choose to do this themselves, others contract duct cleaning companies.  Hint; when a professional company is on site, have them clean your bath exhaust vents as well (they can also make sure your bath vents are ducted to the exterior as well).

This amount of blockage is very common.

Lastly, be sure you're not using a ventless type lint collector.  Although the home centers sell them, they put large amounts of moisture into your house.  I can't tell you how many moldy basements I've been in due to a ventless lint collector being installed.  The homeowner saved a few pennies on their heating bill but paid thousands in mold remediation not to mention creating and living in an unhealthy environment for years. 

Ventless lint collector installed with incorrect vent duct.

Hope this basic info helps you.  Correct materials, correct lengths and regular cleaning can make your house safer and the faster drying times will save energy.

Vintage Electric Fireplace

Occasionally on inspections I come across old electric fireplaces.  This one was in a Cleveland OH double circa 1920's.  

Both living rooms had these electric fireplaces installed but thankfully disconnected.  They used resistor coils similar to current electric heaters to provide heat.  If you have one of these, keep it as a conversation starter only.  Wiring is almost certain to be original knob and tube type and wire gauges were often undersized when compared with current standards.  

If you wish to have a new electric fireplace installed, consult with a fireplace shop that sells them.  Expect that you will need to install a new dedicated electric cable and that depending on the age and capacity of your service panel, additional electric upgrades may be necessary.

Adding Stone Stairs Against Siding; What to Avoid

Lots of people want to upgrade those builder grade temporary steps or perhaps upgrade what is already existing to stone or paver stones.  One of the improper installations that I see quite often is when the landscape contractors who install this type of stair just slap it up against the side of the house.  In the photo above, you can see how the steps overlap the siding.

So here's the inside view.  Not too unusual.  But as a home inspector, whenever I can access the rim joist beneath a sliding door, I remove the insulation to have a look.  Most sliding doors leak and cause unseen moisture damage.  

Here's what's behind that rim joist insulation.  Wet wood.  This is still in the early stages, the seller of this house had these stairs recently installed.  Remember that we're looking at the good side of the wood.  The exterior side will have more moisture.  With the moisture comes rot, mold and wood destroying insects attracted to damp wood.  

The vinyl siding doesn't serve as protection for the wood.  The siding should have been removed and proper flashing material rated for contact with masonry installed (common aluminum flashing will corrode when in contact with masonry due to the lime content).  

So what happened here?   The seller requested that the buyer make repairs.  The buyer had the original contractor come out (why would you want the guys who didn't know how to do it right the first time fix it?) and they took some blocks out at the area of the dampness and stapled some tyvek house wrap over the wood.  Not a proper repair, and they didn't address the other areas where the pavers were in contact with the siding.  

Work of this nature takes more than a landscape contractor to install.  A skilled carpenter familiar with drainage planes or a roofer who does chimney work should be able to properly prep the siding, and even then there should be barriers between the stone and the flashing to prevent the above mentioned deterioration from lime content.  Have a look online, there are some excellent drawings of how this type of installation is properly done.  If you're not doing the work yourself, be sure your contractor is doing it right.  If you do some reading online, you may be far more knowledgeable than you contractor.

Junk Drawer Dangers?

I saw a facebook post from a friend regarding a house fire started by a 9v battery.  I thought that's something I'd like to share, but it was on facebook, after all, so I did some looking into it.  The only real information I located was a news story where they spoke with a NH fire dept. about it.  For me, the fire dept. gave it some credibility.  I'm inquiring with a friend who is a fire marshal in the meantime and will share his thoughts when I hear back from him.  Here's a link to a youtube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j_rsLXtfkI

What To Do About Loose Outlets

Something that I see often on inspections are worn outlets (receptacles in electrician jargon) and loose outlets.

If you have worn outlets that won't hold a plug, you should have them replaces.  This is can be a dangerous situation, the loose connection creates resistance which in turn creates heat.  If you're handy and use a circuit tester (a radio works well also, plug it in and listen for it to shut off as you flip breakers) to determine if the circuit is off it's an easy repair.  Youtube is full of instructional videos.

Just remember, this is electricity, if you're not sure of what you're doing, make sure you have the work done by an electrician.  Besides getting shocked, which is never good, if wired incorrectly, when you turn the circuit on a spark can ignite combustible material and I don't have to tell you what that can lead to.

On to outlet shimming.  I see a lot of loose outlets.  Often, the junction box is recessed due to tiling, paneling being installed etc.  There is a great little plastic shim made just for the purpose of making those outlets secure.  You can buy it in the electrical dept at home centers, they'r emade by several companies.  See the photo below.  You simply stack the desired number of these together and the outlet is secure, the cover plate will fit properly and when you plug a cord in it won't wobble from side to side.

Transite – Bill Stone ACI

Transite is a a trade name for a product manufactured by Johns-Manville and was introduced to the building industry as early as the late 1920’s.  Johns Manville is not the only company that manufactured rigid panels and pipe using asbestos content.  The addition of Transite asbestos to Portland cement allowed the manufacture of strong and thin sheet products, typically the amount of asbestos content was somewhere between 12-50%.  Due to its fire retardant nature, Transite was widely used in residential construction and is often found in siding, flue pipes and in sheet form lining the areas around furnaces and hot water tanks but it was also widely used in siding. 

When used in siding it often mimicked cedar shingle siding but unlike cedar, which is a natural and imperfect product, Transite shingle siding will be uniform in nature.  When painted, the asbestos is contained, but when paint fails, weathering can release asbestos fibers to the air.  In addition, paint prep work such as scraping can release the fibers as can peeling paint itself.

Transite siding.

       

Transite is easily identified; it is very rigid and has a gray cement color to it.  Since one of its leading benefits was its fireproof nature, it will be often found lining utility rooms or in flues.    Leading producer Johns Manville’ materials typically have a cloth like pattern to it.  Remember that without lab testing, there is no way of knowing the asbestos content.  Asbestos in Transite was phased out by the 1980s, the asbestos content being replaced with crystalline silica which has its own list of health concerns.

Transite ductwork.

Due to its rigidity, the presence of Transite does not necessarily mean asbestos fibers are airborne.  Unlike boiler insulation wrapping, Transite boards require force to damage them, but crumbling or broken pieces of Transite board are a problem and if Transite is subject to continued moisture, it can delaminate.  Areas where this may occur are in slab ductwork and when used as appliance venting.  Sometimes the Transite extends above the roofline, in other cases it can be subject to high moisture in flue pipe from condensation etc.

What to do if you find Transite?  I recently inspected a slab home with Transite ductwork and followed the progress as the potential buyers attempted to determine the potential health risk.  My clients first contacted several duct cleaning services and asked if they ever clean ducts in these homes.  The answer was no, but I believe if they weren’t informed of the Transite first, they would have cleaned the ducts without any questions/concerns.  Several asbestos abatement contractors were called out.  All agreed that the product was Transite and it would most certainly contain asbestos based on the year of construction, which was the late 1960’s.  All advised against any lab work as they firmly believed it would have asbestos in it.  One contractor said he could apply a coating to the ductwork, but could not guarantee full coverage.  None of the contractors had camera snakes to determine existing condition or to inspect after duct coatings were applied.  It seems that it is difficult to get competent abatement contractors at the residential level as the leading companies are working in the more lucrative commercial arena.

As home inspectors, per the ASHI standards, we are not required to even identify items such as Transite, but I feel it is a disservice to not inform our clients about these risks.  Unfortunately, the list of solutions to the problem you’ve identified will be short and your clients may find it impossible to mitigate the risks to their satisfaction.

Keep Pipes From Freezing

In Cleveland as I write this, the temperature is about 8 degrees below zero and predicted to drop even more overnight.  Its a night to give a moment's thought to your plumbing.  I inspect a number of houses each year where there are poorly thought out plumbing runs, through unheated attics or crawlspaces or beneath kitchen sinks that overhang the foundation.  Water pipes can freeze and burst during periods of extreme cold.  So, what can you do?

Insulation is your best defense.  Be sure that pipes and/or the spaces they inhabit are heated or at minimum insulated.  There are a variety of pipe wraps available at home centers.  You may also need to add specifically made heat cables.  Some come with thermostat controls so you don't need to worry about turning them on and off.

Also pay attention to gaps that may allow wind to enter the house near interior plumbing, around spigots etc.  Wind can contribute to frozen pipes.  Even frost proof faucets can be susceptible on bitter cold nights.  Styrofoam covers are available that attach over the exterior faucet.  A piece of tape over the spigot can help prevent wind from traveling the 12" or so to the washer in the valve.

So it's 8PM, the temperature is -10 degrees F and you're not heading out to Home Depot.

Stop gap methods include opening cabinets beneath sinks on outside walls for better warm air circulation.  You want to keep warm air circulating around the pipes, so keep basement doors between rooms open etc.  Beneath a sink, for example, sometimes a lamp with an old style incandescent bulb will aid in keeping the temperature above freezing, but use caution if there is hanging insulation or other flammable material present.  You don't want to burn your house down on the coldest night of the year!

A trickle of water, although wasteful, can prevent a much larger loss of water due to a burst pipe.  Be sure that the trickle is from both the hot and cold lines.

Lastly, know where that main water shut off is located at and be able to get to it fast, if necessary.  Most homes on a municipal water supply will have a main shut off at the water meter.  If you have a well, there is usually a shut off at your pump or pressure tank.

Stay warm and keep those pipes from freezing!

Home Inspection for Sellers #1

You've sold your home!  Congratulations.  Now the buyer has scheduled an inspection.  What can you, as the seller do to make the inspection go smoothly?

1. Don't be there.  This may seem obvious, but often sellers just can't seem to pull themselves away from the inspection process.  It makes for an uncomfortable situation for all involved, so don't do it.  You've worked hard on the house, but it's a house and all houses have things wrong with them.   The inspector is being paid by the buyers to point out flaws, so there is no way you'll enjoy hearing this.  I often have to call buyers to have a private conversation with them because I couldn't when I was at the house.  This does not play well in the scenario of their comfort; many times they believe the seller is trying to "hide" something from them.  Prepare the house as best you can and let things take their course.

I'll follow this post up with more things to make the inspection go smoothly.

Galvanized Pipes Rusting From Within.

Here are two great examples of galvanized drain pipes rusting from within.  In the top photo, you can see how these become blocked over time.  The pipe looks ok on the outside, but inside it's a different story.  Eventually the rust reaches the outside of the pipe and you have pipes that look like the ones in the lower photo.  These leaks start as pinholes that often self seal with more rust.  anytime you see what looks like a rusty scab on a pipe it's an indication that the pipe is failing from within.  Another test is to knock it with something metal.  The more metal on metal sound the better.  If what you hear is nothing more than a dull sounding thud, then you know the pipe has got some serious corrosion inside.  

Depending on access, this sort of problem can be solved relatively easy with PVC piping and rubber couplings.

Mold in Your Home

I'll go deeper into this subject, but a quick word about mold in the home.  First, understand that mold is everywhere; under leaves in your yard, your car is a rolling mold factory, think about all that water that sloshes around your foot wells all winter long.  If you've got mold issues, you'll know it in a pretty big way, and some people do have serious allergies to mold- for them, the topic is very, very serious, but this is just a quick overview post.

If you think you've got a mold problem in your house, the only way to know is to have testing done.  Know that there are no "licensed" mold testers.  Testers get some training, typically from the company that provides the lab work for their tests and into the field they go.  This doesn't mean they're scam artists, but they're not scientists either.   That said, a lot of folks know the value of fear of mold and exploit it to their advantage.  This is more common among testing/inspection companies that mitigate mold, as they reap the real dollars from the results of the tests.

Just know that only a lab can truly identify mold, there are no gadgets that can be used in the field.  A good inspector can probably know with a lot of certainty they're looking at mold, but they will always call for a test.

Refrigerator and Room Air Conditioner Recycling by First Energy

I always like to post information regarding offers from the utilities for appliance hauling etc.  I just received a notice in my electric bill that First Energy has an offer to pick up older refrigerators and room air conditioners and as a bonus offer you up to $50 for recycling them.  If you've ever had to get rid of an appliance like this when you weren't purchasing a new one you know how difficult this can be.  These offers are usually for a limited time.

There are some limits on size, quantity per household etc, so make sure that this offer will work for you by visiting energysaveohio.com or calling for a pickup at 1 877-545-4112.

Caulking

Caulking.  Not too exciting stuff, but it does an important job.  It's something that nobody pays too much attention too though.  Caulking goes on when paint work is done on wood siding, new vinyl or aluminum siding was installed, and also when window and door work is done.  Then everybody forgets about it.

Over time, and that amount of time depends on the brand and quality of caulking used, like everything else it fails.  Cracks develop, at it's worst it dries up and will fall off in chunks.  Time to recaulk.

If you don't already have one, go to your local paint store and get a 5 in one tool.  You'll be amazed by what a great item this is to have in your tool box.  Helps clean paint rollers, opens cans, and that little pointed part is what you can use to remove caulk.




With caulk guns, the nicer ones are easier to use than the $3 specials.  A good caulk gun will last a lifetime.



Dig and scrape out the old caulk and then you're ready for new.  Pretty simple stuff, but there are a couple more things to keep in mind.  Don't caulk the bottom of siding, trim etc.   If water can get in, it needs to get out.  I see lots of rotted wood because people caulked all the way around something.  The other thing to keep in mind is to not caulk storm window drain holes shut.  These are typically two small holes that allow water to drain off the window sill.  The sill is pitched outwards for a reason, don't seal these up or you'll be replacing your window sills sometime in the upcoming years.  Below is a picture of what I'm talking about.

Lastly, you've got to  develop your caulking technique.  Practice a bit on some newspaper of an old board.  The correct way to caulk is to push the caulk with the caulking gun; this gets more caulk into the crack.  Pros can do it without ever touching it, I admit I'm guilty of using a finger on it more often than I'd like to admit.  If you do need to correct a mistake etc, just keep some water and wet towels handy.  A wet finger and a towel to wipe it off on are great things to have handy when caulking, and your clothes will thank you for not wiping it off on them; it won't come off once it's in the fabric.

So when the snow finally stops and spring is really here in NE Ohio, get out there and have a look at your caulking.

Springtime gutter cleaning

Spring is here and it's a good tome to check those gutters once again.  Spring in North East Ohio means rain, so  those gutters are going to be working hard over the next two months.  Make sure they're free of debris, leaves, bark etc. that builds up over winter.  Also make sure they're secure to the house.  Winter freezing can loosen and pull out gutter spikes.  Stand back and look at the gutters to make sure they're pitched correctly; you want your gutters pitched slightly towards the downspouts.

When it does rain, have a look to see what's going on.  Are they over flowing?   This puts a lot of water against your foundation, which can translate to a damp basement.  If they are overflowing, is it just because of blockage or is it improper pitch?  You may need a contractor to correct an improper pitch, if they're low enough, you can clean them yourself, but be careful on the ladder.

Lastly, have a look at the downspouts.  If your's go directly into the ground, your gutters are tied into the storm sewers.  When it's raining hard, make sure that they're not overflowing at the drain crocks.  Also check to see that if you have the old vitrified clay type drain crocks that they're not damaged; they often break into several pieces at ground level, which of course defeats the purpose of draining all that water away from your foundation.

If you have surface draining downspouts, the type that have 90 degree bends near ground level and then discharge the water on the surface of the ground, verify that there is an extension in place.  You want to divert that water away from the foundation, so you'll want a 18" minimum extension.  Sometimes there is a splash block, a short of diverter that is placed on the ground so the water doesn't erode the soil.  If your downspout extensions are crushed, replace them, these can get stepped on during gardening etc.  if they're crushed, they can't do their job.

Ice Dams and Attic Ventilation Pt. 2

So here's my follow up on my post on ice dams and some corrective measures.  First of all, correcting what is causing the ice dam should be your primary concern.  If your house is of recent vintage, you're probably going to find it rather easy to correct.  Modern houses (20-30 years old) typically have large overhanging soffits.  Sometimes the house was set up correctly for ventilation and insulation was installed in a manner that blocked the free flow of air into the attic from the soffits.

In the diagram above, you can see how the intake air enters.  It then rises to the roof vents; ridge vents, gable vents or the standard old metal "static" vents and out of the attic.  Sometimes overzealous homeowners or insulation contractors block the flow.  To correct this, vent baffles are available.

These foam vents help to keep the insulation from pushing against the underside of the roof sheathing and blocking the air flow.  But......

Yo must verify that the soffits have vents in them in the first place.  A newer house will most likely have vinyl soffit venting installed, but you never know what's behind it.  In a wood house, you can simply look at the wood soffits and see if there are vent.  Another way is to go in the attic and turn off the lights.  If there are vents you'll see some light coming from the soffits; the more the better.  If there is no light and no visual evidence of soffit vents on the exterior, then you'll probably need to install some.  See below for a few photos of soffit vents.

There are some houses that are extremely difficult to ventilate due to design.  There is always a solution, it may not be perfect and it may not be easy to find a contractor who knows how to do it.  I'll talk about the more difficult vernting solutions in the next blog.

A classic photo of the dreaded ice dam

I had the opportunity to take a photo of a textbook case of ice damming the other day.

So you've got big icicles, and if things are really bad, water is entering the interior near the ceiling.  This is why.  When the temperature hovers around freezing, during the day the attic warms and melts the snow on the roof.  It travels as water to the eaves, where it re-freezes.  As the cycle is repeated, it eventually builds an   "ice dam".
What happens next is that water is trapped behind it and backs up under the shingles causing the leaks.  Leaking may enter the soffit and run down the exterior wall, and in the worst case scenario, the inside of the house.
How to fix it?  Ice guard can be used when a new roof is installed.  It's a rubber membrane that is placed at the lower edges of the roof instead of the familiar tar or felt paper.  It seals around nails and typically is folded over the fascia board, so if water backs up under the shingles, it simply travels over the top of the ice guard to the gutter/fascia.
The other way is to keep the roof cold through proper venting.  The colder the roof/attic space,  it becomes less likely that heat will melt the snow.
More on corrective action and some of the problems that are encountered when doing them in my next blog.

Careful With Those Water Lines!

In keeping with the exterior faucet/Winter theme, you can never get enough warnings about keeping pipes from freezing.

As a home inspector, I often see plumbing in places where I worry about what will happen on those super cold nights, the ones where the mercury dips below 0 for several nights in a row.

Even if you live in a new house with frost proof faucets installed on the exterior, sometimes there are areas or rooms where temperatures can dip dangerously close to freezing.  Lots of new construction has laundry sinks in the garage, make sure those garage doors are closed at night and if this is your first winter in your new house, you may want to put a thermometer in the garage and check on it during those hard freeze nights.

A more common pipe freezing problem is when renovations place pipes in unheated areas.  A typical example is when a kitchen remodel moves the sink lines to the outside walls etc.  In a lot of older ranches and bungalows circa 40s and 50s there are little "bump outs" or soffits that overhang free space.  These locations are very susceptible to freezing pipes, if plumbing is installed.

Use common sense and caution this winter.  Keep an eye on those pipes, open cabinet doors beneath sinks when to circulate warm air if needed.  Heated pipe wrapping is also available if you identify a pipe that may freeze.  An ounce of protection ahead of the trouble can save thousands in flood damage.

Frost proof faucets

As we dip back into more seasonal temperatures overnight here in NE Ohio, I thought I'd talk about frost proof faucets.

There are basically two types of faucets used on the exterior of homes, although this information would also apply to faucets installed inside attached garages.  The first is the old standard, seen on houses since they started putting exterior faucets in.

The rubber valve that stops the flow of water is right at the faucet.  If you were to take this one off the house, it would consist of the greenish portion only; there would still be a small portion of pipe sticking out of the house.  Why is this not good in colder climates?  When you shut the water off, water is present in that portion of the pipe that sticks out and is subject to freezing.  Freezing water expands and bursts pipes.

The solution, is to put the valve that stops the water flowing deep inside the house where the temperatures are warmer.  This type of valve looks like this:

This works relatively well, but of course isn't completely infallible.  Under the right conditions, even these can freeze, so it's a good idea to use common sense with water in areas of the  country where you experience freezing temperatures.  I routinely tell clients during home inspections to be mindful of keeping garage doors closed during hard freezes, the kind of nights where it's single on negative digits.  Also, make sure your faucet is well sealed to the house with caulking etc.  And putting one of these in at an unheated crawlspace is also asking more of it than it was designed to do.  Remember, the copper pipe portion of the valve in the photo above must extend into a heated space.

There's lots more info out there on these if you want to read more.  They're a great device that allows you to hook up the hose on those warmer winter days without having to head into the basement and turn the water back on and then bleed the line again when finished.  You also don't have to remember to turn these off.  Just remember that it does still have water back at that inner end, and if it's cold enough, it can still freeze depending on where on your house this is installed.

New Construction Inspections PT 2

As home inspectors, we sometimes get asked to inspect new condos.  The other day I inspected a condo for a client who was to close in four days.  Workers were still in the unit trying to finish things up.  There was a long, long list of items I found that required completion.  Some were items that you might expect, missing hardware on kitchen cabinets etc. but many were not.

One of the things a home inspector can really help with on a new construction inspection is verifying all is in order.  Buying a house or condo keeps you pretty busy, and by hiring a home inspector for a few hundred dollars they can do a methodical inspection of all the supposedly perfect things in your new house.

The example from the other day was a condo in Ohio City.  If your house was built in the winter, you can bet the furnace was installed to help dry the drywall work.  Unfortunately you can also bet that no filters were installed in your furnace, and that as the drywall was sanded and the house was swept (over and over) that your furnace saw the brunt of this.  We often find brand new furnaces caked with construction dirt.  The ductwork will also be subject to this.  Who checks the ductwork on a brand new house?  The home inspector does.

In this instance, due to the economy, this condo project, which was new construction within the walls of 100 year old building had seen a very long delay between start and finish of the units.  The furnace, air conditioner and hot water tank, besides being filthy, were all almost 6 years old when I inspected them.  Questions are raised in this situation: will the warranties be honored?  If not, perhaps the builder can purchase a warranty on these mechanicals.

The bottom line is that inspections on new construction can save you problems and money, just as they can on older homes.  My advice is don't skimp on an inspection under any circumstances.

Inspections For New Construction

I thought I'd take a moment to talk about the importance of inspections for new construction.  Most people think "it's a new house, the builder gave me a warranty, why have a home inspection?"

The reality is you probably do still need a home inspection.  I've done more than a few inspections where problems were of such magnitude  that the buyers chose not to purchase the home.  I'll give a few examples.

This past summer, during the height of the drought I inspected a development home built by one of the areas major builders.  The home wasn't brand new, having been lived in about one year prior to the owners being transferred.  Things got interesting in the finished basement.  The lower half of the drywall had been replaced, and the recently installed carpeting had been removed.  These are clear indications of water damage.

Of course the sellers had nothing about any of this in the disclosure.  There was a sump pump installed which was not working.  As I told the potential buyers that the sump needed replacement and re-installed the cover, the sump began to run.  And run.  And run.  It pumped water from the basin for the next 30 minutes or so.  I finished my basement inspection and it was still running.

I had not seen water in that amount draining that long in a sump.  It was like fire hoses were filling the basin.  Clearly something was amiss.  I delayed my departure a bit to see if it would eventually cease and it didn't.  The buyer realtor called the seller agent to let them know something was not as it should be.

I contacted several colleagues about this and all agreed that there might be water table issues in the area or that the sump was discharging at the exterior and coming right back in.  Two days later, when the Radon tester arrived to pick up the Radon monitor, he called me to confirm that after two full days, the pump was still running.  I suggested the buyers do some old fashioned detective work and talk to neighbors in the development.  Sure enough, stories of flooding and failing sump pumps (these things weren't made to run that much) from both sides.

Figuring out exactly what caused this would take some diagnostics by qualified contractors.  The buyers, who thought a one year old house would be worry free decided to buy another house.  

Tomorrow, I'll post an inspection story about a brand new townhouse/apartment.