House Detective: Making the Most of Home Inspection

The House Detective:  by Barry Stone, Certified Home Inspector

Dear Barry: My daughter lives in a student apartment with a large, double-pane picture-window in the living room. Last month, that window developed a long crack on the inside pane. Neither my daughter nor her roommates have any idea what caused the crack. They just came home one night, and the crack was there. The apartment management replaced the window and the billed the girls $450. The manager said the windows were installed several months ago, just before they moved in, so he holds them responsible for the damage. Couldn’t the crack have been caused by faulty installation or building settlement?  Art

Dear Art: There are several possible causes for the window crack that do not involve liability for your daughter or her roommates. For example, when a sheet of glass is cut, an edge can be slightly chipped, and this flaw can produce a crack at a later time. Sometimes, all that is needed to convert a chip to a crack is a door forcefully closed by the wind or a large cement truck rumbling down the street.

Another possible cause is stress from normal building settlement, particularly in areas that have expansive clay soil. Expansive soil can swell or shrink due to seasonal changes in ground moisture. When this happens, buildings can lift and settle unevenly, causing doors to rub and, sometimes, windows to crack.

If the management company insists on payment for the cracked window, your daughter and her friends could test the strength of their position in small claims court. The judge could decide either way in this case, depending on whose position appears more credible. But win or lose, this could be a beneficial experience for your daughter and her friends. At the very least, they will receive some first-hand education in judicial civics.

The House Detective by Barry Stone, Certified Home Inspector

Dear Barry: We recently installed two, large, double-pane windows in our living room, but we ran into a problem. The weather last night was very cold, and warm air from the floor register caused the glass to crack along the bottom edge of one window. It seems that we made a mistake installing the windows so close to the register. The windows are just a few inches above the floor. What do you think? Trudy

Dear Trudy: The apparent errors in this window installation are worse than you realize. Temperature differentials may indeed have caused the crack, although the cause might have been a flaw in the glass edge, as sometimes occurs when glass is roughly cut. There is, however, a bigger issue.

Windows that are larger than nine square feet and are within 18 inches of the floor must be made of tempered safety glass. The fact that your window cracked, instead of disintegrating into small shards, indicates that it is not safety glass. If someone were to walk into one of these windows, major injuries could result, and you could be liable for the costs of those injuries. My advice is to have these windows replaced by a professional glazing contractor.

The House Detective by Barry Stone, Certified Home Inspector

Dear Barry: I recently bought a 1944 home that needed many repairs. Before buying it, I hired a home inspector, but he missed many of the problems, including windows that won’t open. I’m planning to replace all the windows in the house and have three questions: 1) Shouldn’t my home inspector have reported the faulty windows? 2) Is a building permit required for window replacement? 3) Can they really deny my right to occupy the house until the window replacement is approved? According to the permit application form from the building department, a Certificate of Occupancy cannot be issued until the permit is signed off. Delbert

Dear Delbert: Here are three answers to your three questions:

1. Home inspectors typically test a random sample of windows to ensure that they function properly. When windows are not tested, it is usually because furniture or window coverings restrict access. Ensuring that windows are functional is particularly important in bedrooms and bathrooms. Bedroom windows must be openable and must meet minimum dimension requirements to enable emergency escape by occupants. Bathroom windows must be openable in order to provide ventilation, unless an operable exhaust fan in installed.
2. The building code does not specifically require a permit for window replacements, but it does require permits if you “alter” a building. Some building departments interpret this code to include window replacements, while others do not. However, when window replacements include changes in the wall framing, a permit is more likely to be required.
3. The requirement for a Certificate of Occupancy typically applies to buildings that are under construction, not homes where windows are being replaced.

Before commencing work on your home, check with the local building department for clarification of their requirements.

The House Detective by Barry Stone, Certified Home Inspector

Dear Barry: We installed new hardwood flooring on our concrete slab floors about 12 years ago. Last winter, we began to notice darkening and buckling of the wood flooring in one area of our hallway. A contractor made some holes in the nearby walls to see if there was any plumbing leakage, but he found no pipes in those walls and everything was dry. So now we have two questions. Should we replace the bad floor-boards before selling the house? And if we leave the floor as it is, will this scare off buyers? Miriam

Dear Miriam: The buckling and darkening of the hall floor-boards are definitely moisture-related, but this is not likely the result of plumbing leakage. A more probable cause is seepage of ground moisture through the concrete slab, possibly at small hairline cracks. This sometimes occurs when the installer of the wood flooring lays the boards without placing a moisture-proof membrane on the slab surface. You can talk to a wood-flooring contractor about possible repairs, but new replacement boards will most likely not match the existing ones. Another solution is simply to disclose the problem to the new buyers when you eventually sell the home. Buyers have differing reactions to disclosed defects. In fact, buyers are often willing to accept defects that are honestly represented, especially if the house is to be remodeled or redecorated anyway.

Dear Barry: We installed new hardwood flooring on our concrete slab floors about 12 years ago. Last winter, we began to notice darkening and buckling of the wood flooring in one area of our hallway. A contractor made some holes in the nearby walls to see if there was any plumbing leakage, but he found no pipes in those walls and everything was dry. So now we have two questions. Should we replace the bad floor-boards before selling the house? And if we leave the floor as it is, will this scare off buyers? Miriam

Dear Miriam: The buckling and darkening of the hall floor-boards are definitely moisture-related, but this is not likely the result of plumbing leakage. A more probable cause is seepage of ground moisture through the concrete slab, possibly at small hairline cracks. This sometimes occurs when the installer of the wood flooring lays the boards without placing a moisture-proof membrane on the slab surface. You can talk to a wood-flooring contractor about possible repairs, but new replacement boards will most likely not match the existing ones. Another solution is simply to disclose the problem to the new buyers when you eventually sell the home. Buyers have differing reactions to disclosed defects. In fact, buyers are often willing to accept defects that are honestly represented, especially if the house is to be remodeled or redecorated anyway.