Grow Ops

[Allan G. Berdahl, CMI]

Doing an inspection tomorrow on an old grow op house. It was used in 2005 as a grow op and has since been remediated and cleared by the Health Authorities.
I feel confident doing the inspection but does anyone have any tips for doing the inspection as to not miss anything. Have only done 3 to this point but anticipate doing more and want to do.

Thanks
Allan

[bjones5]

Pat close attention to the point where the power comes into the house. A lot of grow-ops bypass the hydro and it often gets overlooked.

[John Allingham]

Recommend an indoor air quality measurement if it hasn't already been done.

[wblakey]

Three years ago ... has it been lived in since?

All of the grow op houses I have seen have been small time efforts with little effect on the overall structure of the house. If it was a big time affair, with walls covered in foil and holes knocked in walls to accommodate vents and by-passed electric, that is a different thing altogether, but also quite obvious.

Remove the emotional overlay and think of it as indoor gardening with cheap electricity and you shouldn't have too much trouble.

[Allan G. Berdahl, CMI]

Did the inspection today. I agree with the statement that is was a small operation. Also, remediation papers were given to the existing owners. The only thing that confused me was that the electical service into the home appeared to be 100 amp line but the main disconnect was only a 40 amp breaker. Refered this to an electrician for review.
There was no other panels to this main distribution panel. A sub panel in the garage had a 30amp breaker to it and that was all. There was a City sticker on the main didtribution panel for final inspection for 2006(a year after that the house was deemed a grow op). Don't know why. Never seen this before. Other then that the inspection was routine.

Allan