An experienced home inspector in Austin, Texas should always observe the electrical wiring conditions and inform his client of potential or existing hazards. Aluminum wiring can be hazardous if it is not repaired by a licensed electrician & maintained periodically. Your ASHI home inspector that you hire should guide through the process so you can hire an electrician to evaluate the aluminum wiring prior to the purchase of the home. Listen to your ASHI home inspector, he is your friend. Call us for your next home inspection.

CPSC Safety Recommendations For Aluminum Wiring In Homes

The Commission has received numerous reports about home fires that have been attributed to the use of aluminum conductors in branch circuits. Many of these fires have been the result of overheated terminals involving aluminum wiring and a receptacle or switch. The Commission currently is evaluating the data presented at the hearings by consumers and representatives of industry and government and conducting additional tests at the National Bureau of Standards to better understand the failure mechanism. Further action by the Commission is dependent upon a finding that aluminum wiring is either a substantial product hazard or poses an unreasonable risk of injury to consumers.

An estimated two million homes and mobile homes have been constructed using aluminum wiring since 1965. To assist consumers who live in homes with aluminum wiring to reduce the potential risk of fire and the possibility of dangerous overheating, the Commission suggests the following precautionary steps. CONSUMERS WHO HAVE NOT HAD THOROUGH ELECTRICAL TRAINING SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO INSPECT THEIR HOME WIRING SYSTEM OR MAKE ANY ELECTRICAL REPAIRS OR ADJUSTMENTS BEFORE SEEKING EXPERT ADVICE. SERIOUS OR FATAL ELECTRIC SHOCK COULD RESULT. If you are not certain or if you do not know whether your home is wired completely with aluminum, ask a knowledgeable electrician or other qualified individual to make the determination. If aluminum wiring was used, have the electrician or individual check the connections on heavily loaded and constantly loaded circuits to determine if the electrical connections have been made properly or show evidence of deterioration.

Trouble signals associated with aluminum wiring problems include:
* warm switch or receptacle face plates.
* strange or distinctive odor or the smell of burning plastic in the vicinity of a receptacle or switch.
* flickering of lights not traceable to appliances or obvious external causes.

IF THESE TROUBLE SIGNALS ARE PRESENT IN YOUR HOME, SEEK EXPERT ADVICE IMMEDIATELY. If it is necessary to replace wall switches and receptacle outlets, only devices which are designed specifically for use with aluminum wiring should be used. These devices are labeled CO/ALR on the mounting strap.

Proper installation of the CO/ALR device is critical. The work should be performed only by a qualified electrician or individual familiar with the techniques of using aluminum wiring. Proper techniques include the ability to remove the wire insulation without nicking the wire, to wrap the wire with proper distance and direction around the terminal screw, to tighten the screw with the proper torque, and to position the wires within the outlet box to avoid loosening the terminal connection. Complete installation procedures are available at no cost by writing to Aluminum Wire Installations, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C. 20207.

Pigtailing.
A technique called pigtailing is sometimes used to improve aluminum wiring connections. Pigtailing involves connecting a short piece of insulated copper wire between the aluminum wire and the switch or receptacle connecting terminals. Although this technique may be an acceptable practice for new installations, the addition of more wires and splices into existing outlet boxes is not generally recommended.

“Older homes may have receptacles which are damaged or which, otherwise, may have deteriorated over the years. In one case of a damaged receptacle, a woman suffered severe burns to her hand as she was plugging in a floor lamp. Part of the plastic faceplate of the outlet had broken away, allowing the prongs of the plug to bridge from the electrical contacts to the grounded strap, resulting in intense electrical arcing”. An experienced home inspector that is an ASHI member should be your choice when you hire the person to inspect the older home you want to purchace. Is saving $100-200’s really worth risking your life when antequated outlets wiring could be faulty.

ASHI HOME INSPECTOR - Austin, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander & Round Rock

Homes with pier & beam foundations in Central Texas must be ventilated properly to increase air flow, reduce moisture accumulation, wood rot & mold growth.  Vapor barriers covering the ground in crawl spaces prevents rising moisture.  Wood piers should be elevated on concrete blocks.  Good drainage around all exterior of home must be observed.  Not observing these tips can prove to be costly to your home & your health.  Hire only an experience home inspector that will take special note of these items.�

From my experience as an Austin home inspector, water penetration through windows is the second leading source for leaks. Knowing how to prevent water penetration through windows & doors is just as important as preventing roof leaks. Protecting a window or door from water penetration is not difficult, but it takes a little effort & a skilled contractor. Pan flashing at sills & thresholds & “Z” flashing at headers is the practical approach. If you are building a new home, ask your home inspector observe carefully how the windows are wrapped.

Flashing A Flanged Window
A few minutes of time and a few dollars of materials can prevent expensive headaches. There’s no such thing as waterproof siding. Over time, moisture will work its way behind even properly installed siding. Housewrap provides good protection against the moisture that does get in, but it must be detailed properly at windows and other penetrations to work.
Sill pan flashings prevent water from running down the window jamb below the sill into the structure. SPF’s divert all water away from the structure.

Your ASHI Home Inspector is a reliable source to detect the “Builder Time Bombs”. If you are thinking on skipping on the home inspection, then consider the alternative of living in a house where defects could cost you thousands & headaches are like bombs going off in your head. Let your ASHI Inspector be your bomb detector while you rest & relax.

Poor construction practices are common in many areas during the home construction. Keeping water out of the house is not about adding more caulk, but installing the building components correctly, not cutting corners. A skilled home inspector can detect flawed problems before they become your problems.

With construction defect lawsuits all too common, home builders may be challenged to demonstrate that every reasonable effort was made to ensure construction quality. Many builders believe they have a sound quality system in place, yet few builders have proof of their efforts. Good intentions, committed employees, and competent trade contractors without a documented system cannot convince anyone that their quality practices are sound or applied consistently. However, a formal quality assurance system can meet the legal challenge.

With dozens of trade contractors using thousands of building components, documenting sound construction practices can seem like a paperwork nightmare to any builder. Records should be kept as simple as possible. A look at how attorneys use the documentation helps focus on the right information. Often, plaintiff attorneys use state-of-the-art practices to establish a reference standard of performance. In 1987, the U.S. Department of Commerce established ISO 9000 as a national standard for quality assurance (QA) systems. In many industries, attorneys try to make the case that anything less than ISO 9000 quality practices is negligent. An opposing attorney is likely to expect documented evidence of the following: Well-defined specifications, including architectural drawings, materials, construction details, and workmanship tolerances; Detailed work procedures; Sound processes to qualify field personnel who carry out the work; Evidence of job site quality inspections that foresee possible problem areas, including existing conditions before work began, compliance critical work procedures, and a completion inspection that verifies compliance with job specifications; Qualification of field personnel who perform inspections; and A system to correct defects and prevents them from recurring.

These are all elements of a sound QA system that can be documented by a manual of policies and procedures. The NAHB Research Center publication, Quality Assurance System for Wood Framing Contractors, can serve as a model state-of-the-art QA system for residential construction. It provides guidelines for QA procedures based on ISO 9000 quality management principles. It is applicable to all types of trades, with specific guidelines for framing. A word of warning: No QA system is better than a deficient QA system. Documented weaknesses are a liability.