Martin Downs, Property Inspector

02/05/2022

I guarantee that whatever “Home Inspector Joe” does on HGTV, home inspectors Martin, Dale, and Vince are a lot smarter, more entertaining, and (obviously) more attractive. Book your real, not reality-TV, inspection with Twin State Inspections today.

https://twinstateinspections.com/about/

With a construction background and a sixth sense for safety, Home Inspector Joe Mazza isn't letting anybody move into a risky property. Along with designer Noel Gatts, Joe helps families find and renovate their perfect — and perfectly safe — new home.

01/15/2022

In preparation for tonight’s deep- sub-zero temperatures and brutal wind chill, I re-weatherstripped my main entry door (which, being in New England, of course opens to the kitchen, around back, off the patio). This time I used the best weatherstripping there is: old-fashioned spring bronze. I think it’s called spring bronze because it’s a strip of bronze of the same gauge metal that would have been used for spiral springs in antique machines. It is nailed in place and then bent in a vee shape. The bent metal is flexible but has enough tension to hold it firmly in place against a door or window sash. That makes it completely fill a gap even when the door or window is wiggly and also if the gap width varies a lot along the edge. When I say completely, I mean *completely*. I used to be able to see a lot of daylight between this door and the door frame, and it had a significant draft coming through. Now it is super tight and even with the wind chill already dipping into the double digits below zero, I can feel no air around the door. The best thing about spring bronze weatherstripping is its durability: The metal never loses its tension; it resists corrosion; and it is not dependent on adhesives that break down over time and fail; and it is very hard to dislodge or damage even under constant wear and abuse. If you find it in an antique house, don’t replace it! Modern weatherstripping products made of vinyl or foam or rubber are ok, but they don’t have a long lifespan. It is said that spring bronze lasts 100 years or more, based simply on the observation that it’s often found on 100+ year old windows and doors, still completely functional. Further info: https://www.oldtownhome.com/2014/1/15/Installing-Spring-Bronze-Weather-Stripping-for-Antique-Windows/

01/12/2022

A home inspection isn’t all about looking for peeling paint and leaks: Fire safety is a crucial part of it, and if you’re buying a single family house, your home inspector is likely to be the only one to check for fire hazards before you move in. Are smoke and CO detectors working and properly placed? Are heating appliances vented safely? Are heat sources clear of combustable materials? Does electrical wiring pose a risk of starting a fire? Are necessary fire barriers where they should be? If there were a fire, could you and your family escape to safety?

A lot of clients I work with come from parts of the country where newer tract developments dominate and houses tend to be uniformly similar in age and style; so they may take compliance with modern fire safety standards for granted. Chances are if you’re buying a house in the Upper Valley, that is not the case. The housing in our area is among the oldest in the country. In Grafton County, for example, more than half of all homes were built before 1980; and one-quarter of houses were built earlier than 1940. That means as a home inspector I am especially diligent about looking for missing fire protection and unsafe conditions. Such defects are very common, but they’re usually simple and inexpensive to fix.

Check your smoke alarms, be careful with space heaters and have an escape plan.

01/04/2022

Many houses in our area built in the late 1970s through the 1980s have these vintage Berko electric wall heaters, powered by 220 volt circuits. These heaters can be very nice on frigid winter days for keeping areas warm around drafty doors, windows and places like stairways where baseboard heaters aren't installed.

However, many homeowners never clean electric wall heaters, and indoor air quality suffers as a result. These heaters, for example, are in my own house. They are about 30-40 years old and appeared to have not been cleaned in a very long time. Opening them up and cleaning them allowed me to keep using them while breathing a lot easer.

An important note of caution: Before opening up a heater like this, always find the circuit that powers it, and switch that circuit breaker to OFF. These particular heaters have exposed electrodes that can touch the metal wall cabinet and cause a dangerous arc flash! Many of the cabinets of the heaters in my house bear scorch marks at the point where the unshielded electrode touched the cabinet.

Despite their age, they are quite reliable and last a long time. Many homeowners assume they should be replaced because they have a bad smell due to being dirty, or think they are not functional because the circuit may just be switched off at the electrical panel. But with a little bit of careful brushing and vacuuming they can be cleaned up good as new!