Fun home inspection photos from 2016

It's almost time for home inspector Reuben Saltzman's annual "Top 20 Home Inspection Photos." First, here are some found along the way.

By hominspector

January 3, 2017 at 11:33AM
(Terry Sauer/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

It's almost time for my annual "Top 20 Home Inspection Photos" blog post, but I always have so many great photos to choose from that it's a shame to not share some of these other photos from the past year. For this post, I've shared some of our most popular photos that we've shared on our Facebook page that didn't make the final cut. These photos don't all fall into the category of home inspection defect; some are simply interesting photos or photos that made us smile. Some of these photos also came from other home inspectors.

Rubber washing machine hose about to burst

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Beam Stiffeners - those metal rods help to stiffen this wood beam. Interesting detail, not a problem.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

New basement carpet... mostly.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Minnesota crawl space - that's how we roll. Insulated walls, concrete floor, plenty of headroom, and a mechanic's creeper for effortless navigation.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

"Here's Johnny!" - I know this looks fake, but it's not. This is our best "accidentally creepy" photo of the year.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Creepy Photo of the Year - If we have an accidentally creepy photo, we must also have an intentionally creepy photo. This is that.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

"It's Alive!" - this is a combination boiler, gravity furnace, and forced air furnace in one.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Tight Quarters - some people complain about not being able to open the fridge and the dishwasher at the same time. To those people, we say "could be worse."

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Moo. A home inspector in Connecticut shared this photo of how to hide two fuel oil tanks. Nobody will ever know...

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Must be a safe neighborhood, because that's the button for the garage door opener mounted outside the door.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

How it's supposed to be done - The siding around this stairway was installed almost perfectly. We had several comments on our Facebook page from people who felt that this wasn't the most attractive installation, but there's really no other way to do it right. I personally thought it looked good.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Melted Vinyl Siding - The photo below is courtesy of Boston home inspector Donald Lovering, and is the best example of melted vinyl siding from reflected sunlight that I've ever seen.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Everyone loves neat work.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

More neat work, same house.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Fire Grenade - we found several of these old fire grenades in the attic of a large, old house in Edina. It's a glass bulb filled with carbon tetrachloride, and was supposed to be thrown at the base of a fire to help put it out. They were withdrawn in the 1950s because the chemical is toxic, and heat from fires can apparently turn the chemical into phosgene gas.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

This retaining wall was shot. Someone got the shaft.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Sprinkler on the Roof - the most common guess on our Facebook page was that this was someone's home-made evaporative cooler for the garage.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Salt blocks in water softener - courtesy of another home inspector here in Minnesota, Lanny Freng of InspectionWorx. These salt blocks are apparently made for water softeners, and they apparently work, but it still struck us as odd.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Six handrails or one guard? Not a bad idea. A handrail for every height.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Good to know.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Can you have too many solar tubes? No, you can't. Solar tubes rock.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

What. Is. That? Scroll down to see the explanation.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Upon first glance, the T&P discharge tubing for this water heater looks to be completely crazy, unsafe, and nonsensical... but not so fast.

A home inspector in San Jose, CA shared this photo with us. This installation was actually based on water heater installation requirements published by the city of Palo Alto.

When water heaters are installed in basements or crawlspaces, this city allows the T&P discharge tube to be plumbed UP and out of the house, provided there is 3/8" refrigeration tubing spiraled to the floor or to a drain. Here's the diagram from those installation instructions showing how it's supposed to work:

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

It still seems crazy to us, and the home inspector who took this photo says there was actually no discharge tubing going up and out, so this is still wrong. Nevertheless, it's interesting to see how people do things in other parts of the country. It's also a helpful reminder that just because something looks crazy and unusual doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong.

Look for our "Top 20" blog post in the near future; we're having our website modified / redone to make it load faster, and I don't want to publish that blog post until the coding is complete.

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