4-Point inspection

[Donald Viehman]

While doing the plumbing part of the 4-point inspection, does anyone check the washing machine pipes and drains by running it through a rinse and spin cycle?

[gbeaumont]

Originally Posted by dviehman

While doing the plumbing part of the 4-point inspection, does anyone check the washing machine pipes and drains by running it through a rinse and spin cycle?

Absolutely not, the 4 point is a visual inspection only designed to report problem materials and obvious failures.

Regards

Gerry

[Donald Viehman]

Thank you Gerry, We had not been checking that, just wanted to make sure...

[wsiegel]

you do remove the electrical panels, right??

[Greg Bell]

Why would you remove the dead front?

[gbeaumont]

Originally Posted by wsiegel

you do remove the electrical panels, right??

Yes I do take off the dead front so I can report the wiring types, and improper connections.

Regards

Gerry

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Do you walk the roof?

[wsiegel]

I do. How else can you determine the condition and age. I went up on one once where the front of the roof was replaced but the back was not (old and shot). You would not have been able to see the back roof with getting up there. And the flat roof on this home was done with shingles

[wsiegel]

I agree with Gerry 100%.

[wsiegel]

Too many inspectors take these inspection lightly. When something goes wrong in a home that had a four point inspection done, who do you think the insurance company is going to come back to, not to mention the homeowner.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by wsiegel

I do. How else can you determine the condition and age. I went up on one once where the front of the roof was replaced but the back was not (old and shot). You would not have been able to see the back roof with getting up there. And the flat roof on this home was done with shingles

William,

You bring up a very good point. Always attempt to observe (and report on) all sides of a roof.

I had one inspection of a home (on a hillside) where I couldn't access or observe the rear portion of a roof and there were trees that were blocking my view from observing this particular roof. The front field was newer, but I wanted to make sure that the rear field matched.

I got on the adjacent roof and look what I found...note the newer shingles at the ridge.

[Billy Boerner]

Originally Posted by gbell

Why would you remove the dead front?

Why would you not?

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

Originally Posted by wsiegel

I do. How else can you determine the condition and age. I went up on one once where the front of the roof was replaced but the back was not (old and shot). You would not have been able to see the back roof with getting up there. And the flat roof on this home was done with shingles

Had exactly the same thing happen to me. The sellers had received money from their insurance company to replace the roof after one of the major hurricanes had damaged theirs. They replaced all the shingles on the front, then tried to used caulk to fill the hundreds of holes in the back where they had a blue tarp roof from the FEMA crews. Had I not got on the roof I would not have found that out. The roof was leaking inside a couple of the interior closets. Buyer was so pissed she walked away from the deal because of their dishonesty. I pull dead fronts as well and on these older homes more often than not I find problems that should be identified. The item on the forms "Any exposed or unsafe wiring? means just that. How can you observe the panel ground without making a point of looking inside the panel?

[gbeaumont]

Hi to all,

Yes I normally walk the roof, unless it's too steep or to high, but as most of mine are low pitch single storey then I walk them. To be honest by the time I have my ladder at the eaves to get an idea of condition, it only takes a couple of mins to get right up there and do a more thorough evaluation.

I don't walk the tile roofs at all on 4 point inspections, but I will get up to the eaves at a few different locations, especially the valleys to look at the flashings.

Regards

Gerry

[wsiegel]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you report fuse panels that have been improperly converted to breakers by just changing out the bus bar