Ask the Inspector

Question:
What is the truth about why there’s always a big push to get your air conditioner serviced every year? Is this just self-serving so the service companies can make more money?

Answer:
I like where you are going with this question and a home inspector is the right person to ask.

It does seem like these service companies are trying to make extra money on service, but in reality, they often lose money on the service call because the fee for the service is low. They make money on repairs when problems are found during a service call, and there are some very good reasons to have the service and make repairs on any problems found.

Question: 
We are being asked if our rural Phoenix area mobile/manufactured home is tied-down. How can we tell?

Answer:
Mobile/manufactured home tie-downs are installed to resist wind loads that can topple or rack (deform) the building. Sometimes the home has a tie-down system put in place when the mobile/manufactured home was set at the property, or the structure might have been placed with no tie-downs installed. It is always best to have a professional verify your existing home for the presence of a tie-down system. There has historically been very low levels of consistency and enforcement for tie-down placement in Arizona. This is likely because of a lower risk (Wind Zone I) HUD rating for the area. HUD stands for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Wind Zone I only equates to a top wind speed of 70 mph, however, it is very possible for wind to exceed this speed in Arizona.

Question:
I am getting these colored beads coming out of faucets in my home. What is the cause?

Answer:
Great Question! You must have a water softener at the home. There are resin beads within the water softener and the membrane or screen inside the unit that contains the beads must have ruptured, allowing the beads to travel throughout the supply piping. This is a rare event, but it does happen, and the photo shows the evidence perfectly. Another indicator is a reduction in flow to faucets and fixtures because they get clogged with the small beads.

Home maintenance projects are often one of those things that is painful to pay for since it rarely results in a better appearance for your home. It is, however, extremely important and done to retain maximum property value. A well-maintained home sells faster for more money and it is far easier to pay as you go with proper home maintenance. You will be financially impacted either way. If you do not maintain your home, you are simply delaying the cost and putting the home at risk of additional associated damage that can occur. As home inspectors, we find it very sad to see systems installed and then ignored for years or even decades.

We have some inside information for you: a home inspection report can panic a buyer for two reasons. The first is when one or more significant items come up that represent a major expense – this one is obvious. The second reason is less obvious and involves a buyers’ response to a large list of problems, even though many of them may be simple to repair and are just deferred maintenance items.

As a 30+ year home inspector in Phoenix and overseeing more than 100,000 inspections, I have some opinions about the care of a home. Generally, it can be said that:

1. Most people today are not properly maintaining their home.
2. Most people don’t understand the financial impact of a failure to maintain their home.

Here is a flipped Phoenix house we inspected that had not one, but two ceiling leaks at the first floor. Can you believe that both the hall and the master bathroom plumbing systems upstairs were leaking heavily?! It seems that…