House Detectives

Speaker 1: [0:09] Hello, hello, and welcome to the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is Christian Awesome with the Awesome Nossum Group, and I am here with the beautiful…

Speaker 2: [0:17] Charlotte Reynolds.

Speaker 1: [0:19] The beautiful Jason Solari. Oh, sorry. I didn't say that.

Speaker 2: [0:21] You can't call yourself beautiful. The beautiful- You have to be dubbed by someone else. And Jeff Keller.

Speaker 1: [0:25] Not so

Speaker 3: [0:25] beautiful. To be clear, my mom calls me beautiful as well, so,

Speaker 1: [0:28] okay. So today is a very special episode. We have not had a guest on this podcast yet, and I think we're starting it off the right foot with one of our favorite people in the industry, Mr. Jeff Keller- Wow … of Alkai Inspections. You can send me the check later.

Speaker 4: [0:47] I already have. I just Venmo'd

Speaker 1: [0:50] you. So this is, this is gonna be an episode all about home inspections, and we're kinda gonna explain why you'd wanna do one, but also some of the pros and cons of doing it and, and kinda what to expect. So before we get started with Mr. Jeff Keller, I wanna ask Charlotte and Jason, you two agents, I'm gonna ask you a couple rapid fire questions. I need some answers quickly. Hope your brains are up to speed.

Speaker 2: [1:19] Are we competing?

Speaker 1: [1:20] Definitely.

Speaker 2: [1:21] Always. Is there a prize?

Speaker 1: [1:22] Prize is- Yeah, winning … winning, yeah.

Speaker 2: [1:26] I'm not playing.

Speaker 1: [1:30] All right. Are you ready?

Speaker 2: [1:30] Yep.

Speaker 1: [1:31] True or false, a good inspector will tell you at least one issue found with a house.

Speaker 2: [1:38] True

Speaker 1: [1:39] She's correct.

Speaker 3: [1:40] She beat me.

Speaker 1: [1:41] She totally beat you. Where were you? Messing with the sound levels or something- … Mr. Producer? All right. Two, should you always get an inspection on a house?

Speaker 3: [1:50] Yes. Yes.

Speaker 1: [1:51] Even new construction?

Speaker 3: [1:52] Yes. Especially.

Speaker 1: [1:53] There you go. Good job. Uh, why would you bring a marble to a house? Many reasons.

Speaker 3: [2:01] The most logical being to see how level the floor

Speaker 1: [2:04] is. Mm. Smart man. Where are you at, Charlotte? Geez.

Speaker 2: [2:09] Sorry.

Speaker 1: [2:09] All right. Multiple choice. During home inspections, what percentage of Seattle area homes do we find to have or had current, or have had evidence of rodent activity? 5%, 15%, 35%, or over 50%?

Speaker 2: [2:26] Over 50%.

Speaker 1: [2:28] Yep.

Speaker 3: [2:29] Yeah. I mean-

Speaker 2: [2:30] I cheated.

Speaker 3: [2:30] Anywhere my ex lived-

Speaker 4: [2:34] Jeff helped me on that one. Unless you read The

Speaker 3: [2:35] Seattle Times, it said it's 20%. Are you serious? I feel like it's, like, three-quarters of the houses we

Speaker 4: [2:39] look at. It's, it's, it's two-thirds to three-quarters.

Speaker 3: [2:41] Yeah. It's

Speaker 4: [2:42] a lot. They have the history or, or activity now.

Speaker 3: [2:45] Yeah. It is funny showing houses with people. As agents, we see it, uh, rodents, uh, like what we're saying here- Mm-hmm … almost every house, and e- clients are like, "Oh, no. W- I can't look at this house because of this. It has a rat infestation or a rat trap or something."

Speaker 1: [3:00] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3: [3:00] And we come from a, like, oh, no, every-

Speaker 1: [3:02] Every house has

Speaker 3: [3:03] this almost like, it's an- Yeah … amazing when it doesn't, you know? Yeah, exactly. It's fu- it's funny this discussion that we always have to have with clients.

Speaker 1: [3:09] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [3:09] They were here first.

Speaker 3: [3:10] Yep.

Speaker 1: [3:10] Mm. Mm-hmm. We're kinda taking over their area. That's what you think. Uh, all right. Couple more. Hm. Let's see. I'm gonna ask Charlotte this. What is a sewer scope?

Speaker 2: [3:23] A sewer scope is when you put a camera down the sewer line to check for problems, like cracks, like blockage, and anything like that.

Speaker 1: [3:30] Okay. Jason, what are some clues that would tell you that you need to get a sewer scope done?

Speaker 3: [3:36] Uh, audit. Uh, so things draining really slowly. Um, w- potentially weird noises, like when you're flushing, um, the toilet.

Speaker 1: [3:46] Hopefully only when you're flushing.

Speaker 3: [3:47] Yeah. Maybe even like a gurgling or if you have, uh, smells, that's not necessarily a sewer scope issue, but more of a plumbing issue. Um, and then I guess what I always look for is in the yard, like how many plants there are and trying to understand where the sewer line goes, and if the sewer line is around a lot of plants, you know, roots like water and that's what sewer lines carry, so.

Speaker 1: [4:12] Mm-hmm. As well as other stuff.

Speaker 2: [4:14] That's logical.

Speaker 1: [4:16] All right, uh, last one. Should you intend, should you as a buyer attend your home inspection?

Speaker 2: [4:23] Yes.

Speaker 3: [4:25] Yeah, it's funny, uh, I talk to agents in other areas- Mm-hmm … like outside the state-

Speaker 1: [4:30] Mm-hmm … Speaker 3: and, uh, and even in the areas, e- every agent's a little different here, but I think it's always good to have the client at the inspection. Yeah. I mean, it's not necessary. It's not like you can't get one done- Mm-hmm … without being there. But the fact that, that you can be there and ask questions is very important. I mean, what's your opinion on that, Jack?

Speaker 4: [4:49] I, I think the best way to attend it, if I were a buyer-

Speaker 1: [4:52] Mm-hmm … Speaker 4: is to be on site, but not follow the inspector around. Oh. I think it's really hard to be, understand what's going on when an inspector's doing an inspection. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [5:00] And the questions are gonna get you confused more than really give you any answers. Help you. So there's a filtering process that goes on when I'm looking at a home-

Speaker 1: [5:07] Mm-hmm … Speaker 4: or any inspector is, and at the end of that, I can break it down to more reasonable amount of information so they can go away knowing something- Yeah

Speaker 4: [5:14] and remembering it.

Speaker 1: [5:15] Yeah. And I think that's a good point. I mean- I'll, I'll also explain this. There are two different types of home inspections. There's a pre-inspection, which is when you're literally just following the inspector and walking around and getting a verbal report of the house. This is, this was more common when it was a very competitive market and there were multiple offers, and you had to waive your inspection contingency. You didn't, you still got an inspection, you just got something called a pre-inspection. That's when it's a little bit more important to follow the inspector, or at least somewhat lag behind him, let him do his thing, or her thing, and, and then ask questions. But during a, a full inspection where you are, and I'm pointing at Jeff, podcast listeners- uh, you are gonna write a report for the client, and you are gonna be able to read the entire thing. But at the same time, you need to do your stuff, look through the house, go in the crawl space, go in the attic. We're not gonna follow you in there, at least if… Some people do, but that's pretty rare. I think we've had one person ever that in my 15-plus years go in the crawl space with you. Um-

Speaker 2: [6:25] Really?

Speaker 1: [6:25] Yeah.

Speaker 2: [6:26] That is so weird.

Speaker 1: [6:27] It was a little awkward. Yeah, yeah. He wanted a massage though, but… No, I'm just joking. Um- I stay behind and clean u- up any of the pieces that fall.

Speaker 4: [6:38] That's true, you do.

Speaker 1: [6:41] And by pieces we mean rodent droppings.

Speaker 4: [6:43] And so, but, but it does, getting back to kinda what, um, Christian said before, and Jason too, it's really important to have them there so that you can grab them and walk them to something and see, show them that there's- Mm-hmm this is, this is something I want you to see regardless of the amount of pictures I take or how much verbiage there is. It's great that you got your hands on it or eyes on it with me.

Speaker 1: [7:01] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [7:01] Because you may have some questions that I may not even think of that-

Speaker 1: [7:04] Yeah … Speaker 4: matter to you, so. Yeah. That's it. Very true. What, um, Jeff, what are some important but very inexpensive safety fixes that, that homeowners should look for, or home buyers should look for? What are some things that, that don't really cost a lot, but definitely need to be paid attention to?

Speaker 4: [7:26] I think things like, well, on a deck. Loose railings on a deck, so common. Especially if a home's 20 years old, no matter what you'd use for fasteners, even the correct way per permit or per code to, to build it, um, it probably has never been touched.

Speaker 1: [7:39] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [7:40] And so just a quick look at how to either reattach, add attachment, or just tighten the bolt, the carriage bolts you have on the post. I just saw that the other day on a house built in 1993. It was really loose. All it took was just tightening up the bolts. Hmm. Um, in the kitchen, things like, you know, we always test the water temperature. Te- water temperature is extremely important. There was a case a couple years ago up in Lynwood where a woman was killed by hot water in her shower.

Speaker 2: [8:03] Hmm.

Speaker 4: [8:04] She fell, grabbed the handle when she slipped, and it turned on the hot water blast, or full blast on her, and it was 143 degree water. Oof. So she passed away because of the burns. Oh. So it's really important to know the water temperature. We are looking for 120 degrees. If it's 105, you're not getting your clothes clean or your dishes clean or you clean.

Speaker 1: [8:22] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [8:22] Um, not as easily anyway. So it's im- it's important to know that, that we get a… We have safe, but ef- but effective water temperature. It's also really important, one of the things we see over and over again is the anti-tip missing from the oven's range top.

Speaker 1: [8:35] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [8:36] Um, that prevents it from tipping over if somebody, a kid, steps on the door, or if you lean against it or pull against it because you're falling.

Speaker 1: [8:42] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [8:42] Um, super common, and when you demonstrate it to a buyer, it's so easy to show them how quick it is to flip over. I mean, it just- Yeah … takes nothing to flip it over, and then all the contents of the stove top are laying on top of you doing the

Speaker 1: [8:53] Yeah, exactly … thing. You got a giant pot of boiling water and you tip it over, falls right on top of you when you're

Speaker 4: [8:59] on the ground. So, you know, that's a 15, $20 deal and 15, 20-minute fix. Mm-hmm. And, and the water temperature is simply just adjusting on your water heater.

Speaker 1: [9:06] Yeah. That's like if you have one of those tankless water heaters, they generally have the thermostat right on there. Yeah. And it's just-

Speaker 4: [9:13] And it watches your

Speaker 1: [9:13] LED literally a display. Yeah. Yeah, and it tells you what temperature it's at.

Speaker 4: [9:17] And it's important to know that if you, if it shows 120, you're s- you're likely not delivering 120. Mm-hmm. So you go to the spots that really matter most. If you have a utility sink, or a lot of people actually test the water, the hot water right out of their, uh, washing machine.

Speaker 1: [9:30] Hmm.

Speaker 4: [9:31] Um, or the, in the sink of course, or a bathroom. Mm-hmm. And just use a thermometer and a glass and fill it up with hot water and let it run and see how hot you can get it.

Speaker 1: [9:38] That's a good, good tip. I never thought of that. So anti-tip device for the stove/oven, uh, and then hot water, just make sure it's not over 120 degrees when it's coming out- Right of the faucet. Two simple ones. That's… Those are the super simple… The hot water's basically free.

Speaker 4: [9:56] Yeah.

Speaker 1: [9:56] And anti-tip's 15, 20 bucks. Yep. And 20 minutes of screwing in two pieces of metal to the floor.

Speaker 4: [10:03] Right.

Speaker 1: [10:03] Or- Or d- … depending on what the- Depending

Speaker 4: [10:04] on the style, right.

Speaker 1: [10:05] Yeah, depending on the style.

Speaker 4: [10:06] Available everywhere.

Speaker 1: [10:07] Yep.

Speaker 3: [10:08] Another thing that will be called out in most inspections that I've been on is always the location and presence of smoke detectors and CO monitors, right? Mm-hmm. Jeff, can you explain what that is supposed to be and w- the importance of having that?

Speaker 4: [10:22] Yeah, and it's, it's also important to note that they keep changing that. They're adding more and more protection all the time. So excuse me. So the, you have to have a CO detector in an open space of each floor. That has to be somewhere oriented toward, if you're on a sleeping floor, oriented toward the bedroom-

Speaker 3: [10:39] Okay … Speaker 4: doors. Um, typically there's a bedroom hall upstairs. You put it in the center of that. There needs to be a smoke detector in the open space of each floor. So a lot of times those are together as a combination detector. Um, the bedrooms, each sleeping area in the house, it doesn't have to be a designated bedroom, but just a likely sleeping area in the house, um, needs to have a smoke detector, and those should be oriented toward the door, but not up against the door. Typically, they talk about a three-foot area of dead air- Hmm … in a corner or next to a door- Hmm … and stay outside of that area. Interesting. Okay.

Speaker 4: [11:09] But it's so y- th- but they're also moving to, like if you have a basement furnace or water heater that's gas or oil, uh, fired, to p- have a smoke detector, CO detector no closer than five feet from that and no further away than 20 feet to give you s- an, a little bit of an alarm from the basement that you may hear on the main floor.

Speaker 3: [11:27] Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 4: [11:28] Um, so it's, that's kind of the basics you-

Speaker 3: [11:31] Yeah. That's a good overview. It always gets called out, and people are always like, "Oh, no." And, and it's, it's similar to the water temperature, the w- the hot water temperature. It's just such a simple thing. Such a

Speaker 1: [11:42] simple and inexpensive fix.

Speaker 3: [11:43] For sure.

Speaker 1: [11:44] Yep.

Speaker 3: [11:45] Another thing that you've been bringing up a lot is, uh, anti-siphon. Um, installing anti-siphon spi- on the water spigots ca- On the hoses. On the side- Yeah … on the hoses, yeah. And, and so, so- Can you explain the

Speaker 4: [11:56] benefit of that? Yeah, so typically in the '90s they stopped using a, a non-anti-siphon device. So the device is built into the plumbing in the '90s. Um, and you can tell when it's p- when it's built onto the outside of the house in the hose bib because the hose bib will have a screw-off cap on top, and you'll see there'll be another piece on top of the h- typical hose bib. If you don't see that, then you have to assume, even though you may not be right- Mm-hmm there could be a backflow valve, but you have to assume that there's no anti-siphoning. And the little $5 device will keep ba- water from backing into your house if the water pressure in your house is less than it is in the hose. So if you have gravity, like you're spraying Roundup, and it's connected to your hose, and you have a bit of a grade in your backyard, and you're spraying it, and then all of a sudden out in front of your house there's- they're working on the w- the water line, or the, the fire department's testing the water line, testing the hydrant, and the water pressure to the house drops below the water pressure that's created by you being up on the hill, um, that water in the hose backs right into the domestic water. So you're… Next time you turn on the s- sink and pull out a glass, you're drinking Roundup and water.

Speaker 3: [12:58] Mm-hmm. Yum.

Speaker 4: [12:59] So… Yeah. So, and there's, and there's a great video that they showed us when we were going to school about it, wa- sh- watching a guy go down on one knee

Speaker 1: [13:06] Ugh.

Speaker 4: [13:07] After he drank it, but-

Speaker 1: [13:08] Ugh.

Speaker 4: [13:09] But, uh, the, the point is, it's such a simple $5, uh, five-minute hookup. And just a little quick hint, um, when you go to find one, Home Depot sells them. Nobody at Home Depot that works there knows that they sell them. So you have to go to where the black iron gas pipe is, where the gas line is sold, and you have… and, um, s- and stored, and all the accessories. And in there, there's a small little box, and they're in there. Hmm. For some reason, that's kind of the spot. They don't really have a facing that is typical in the plumbing area.

Speaker 1: [13:37] Hmm. Interesting. I know I bought some on Amazon, and it was actually kinda hard to find them even on there.

Speaker 4: [13:42] Yeah. And they're… And it, it's such a great little device, and, you know, you'd think it'd be-

Speaker 1: [13:46] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [13:46] You'd think it'd be actually be up by the register.

Speaker 1: [13:48] Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4: [13:49] Quick pickup.

Speaker 1: [13:50] Yep. But it was, like you said, like six or seven bucks. It was not expensive.

Speaker 4: [13:55] Yeah. Simple deal.

Speaker 1: [13:56] Yeah.

Speaker 3: [13:57] So what do you look for… I guess this is a question for everyone, even myself. What do we look for with good inspectors? What makes an inspector a good one? How can you pinpoint the, find a good inspector?

Speaker 2: [14:12] Yeah, I think that it's important for the inspector to be, like, really communicative during the inspection, and actually reacting to things that they're seeing in the house, and communicating that, you know, to the buyers while they're there, which is why I always recommend that the buyers attend the inspection. Um, that first-hand knowledge and getting that directly from the mouth of the inspector, I think is the most valuable thing.

Speaker 1: [14:35] Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a good one. I would say, too, that they just need to be able to really be a good educator on what is happening. Because anything wrong with a house for a buyer, whether it's their first house or fifth house, you find an issue, it can sound scary sometimes, and to know that it's not necessarily as scary as it sounds. Like the rodent thing, it sounds scary, it sounds gross, but a lot of houses have it, you just have no clue 'cause you never go in your attic or your crawl space. You just don't know that they're already sharing the living space with you. Uh, well I guess not your living space, their living space. So it's things like that, and having the inspector be able to go, "Hey, this is super common. This is not a big deal. It's not an expensive fix. This is how you fix it. Problem solved. Move on." That's super important in my opinion. What about you, Jason?

Speaker 3: [15:31] Yeah, I mean, I've worked with a few inspectors. Jeff, who's sitting here, is incredible. Yep. I'm sure you can already tell just from how he's describing things. But, um, the communication piece I think is really important, like what Charlotte mentioned. Honestly, I think transparency- Mm-hmm … being honest. Oh, yeah. Um, just direct and honest. That's what, uh… There's so much emotion oftentimes during inspections because, um, the buyers are standing there and they clearly like the house, and, um, just being direct and saying what the issue is or saying, "You know, I'm not the expert on this. We need to call an expert for this." Mm-hmm. Or whatever it may be, just being transparent is the, uh, makes it a lot smoother in addition to that communication piece, for sure. I worked with an inspector once, um, my clients, I, I recommended Jeff Keller, and they went, "Okay, but we saw this, like, five-starred person on Yelp." And they called him up and scheduled an appointment with this person, and, uh- I met the inspector at the house, and the, it was this guy, and he just went through the house and just kind of nodded his head. Like, "Mm,

Speaker 1: [16:38] okay,"

Speaker 3: [16:39] and just moved on. And I'd stop him and go, "Wait, wait, wait, this is a pre-inspection. You're… Like, you have to tell us what-"

Speaker 1: [16:46] What

Speaker 3: [16:46] you're finding … you just nodded at. Like, what's goi- And, you know, he would… I'd force it out of him, uh, but even when he, he would try to explain it, he just could not speak to what he was looking at- Mm-hmm … really. And so the clients were just left very confused, unsure about the house, um, and it was all in all a, a pretty bad experience for them, and they didn't get much out of the inspection.

Speaker 1: [17:09] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3: [17:10] Needless to say, they did two, I think two more inspections, and they definitely chose Jeff after that. Because they, they were like, "We can't u- This is crazy." Yeah. "We'll listen to you this time, Jason." But, um, but yeah, so, uh, uh, being able to speak to things, very, very important.

Speaker 1: [17:24] Mm-hmm. Do you have any ideas on that, Jeff? I

Speaker 4: [17:27] mean- I think w- w- you know, the biggest thing for me, and I have a lot of inspector friends-

Speaker 1: [17:31] Yeah, exactly … uh, good, good friends who are inspectors That's why I wanted to ask you, 'cause you're not just gonna speak for yourself- And- … but you have a lot of inspector friends.

Speaker 4: [17:36] Yeah, and I think what we share together when we talk is that we really wanna make sure everybody understands that sticks and bricks, it can be fixed.

Speaker 1: [17:42] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [17:43] You mentioned that earlier, but even going further in more detail is that, um, there's nothing I've seen in a house short of that one or two house a year where I just say, "You guys pack up. Let's go."

Speaker 1: [17:53] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [17:53] Because sometimes it just, it… I just explained to you the story about one up in Everett.

Speaker 1: [17:57] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [17:57] I mean, it's just not gonna work. Yeah. It, it's impossible. So most of the time it's something, as bad as it looks, as crazy as it sounds, and the words you have to use to describe it scare people, but you say, "Don't end the conversation or end this paragraph without starting a new one explaining what can be done."

Speaker 1: [18:13] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [18:13] And then the guys that I know that do that, you know, they seem to have a better rapport with their clients.

Speaker 1: [18:19] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [18:20] Both brokers and buyers.

Speaker 1: [18:22] Yep. I would agree with that. Yeah. Yep, anything can be fixed. Um, and there are, like you said, there's h- definitely houses sometimes where we're in the inspection, we're like, "Yep, nope, we're done." Like, we're- And- … 20 minutes into it, and we're already done.

Speaker 4: [18:36] In this part of the world, it's usually because slope and slide.

Speaker 1: [18:39] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [18:39] It's usually a structural, because this, this house isn't staying where it was built.

Speaker 1: [18:42] Yep, and you could fix it, but it's probably more expensive to fix it than it's worth.

Speaker 4: [18:49] And like we talked about e- earlier also is that, you know, who's gonna pay for that? Mm-hmm. If the seller can't and all you're getting is a discount, how are you gonna pay for it?

Speaker 1: [18:56] Yeah, you still gotta have cash to pay for

Speaker 4: [18:58] it. Right. Right.

Speaker 1: [18:58] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [18:59] And that's not often the case with the price of houses around here. Exactly. People are barely getting in 'em. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3: [19:05] Yeah, it can be difficult. I know this is really random, but you always mention this, and I, it, I think surprises a lot of people because they realize pretty much every shower they've ever been in is not finished. So something you do when you go through a house is you go to the shower, and you turn on the water, and you're looking for what in terms of the impact of the water on the tiles?

Speaker 4: [19:27] Well, looking… If it's, if it's ceramic, we're definitely looking for the grout. What, what's, how's the grout reacting to water? Um, and what happens if you have a brand-new house, and you, we mentioned earlier a brand-new house is being inspected, they don't seal the grout very often. Mm-hmm. That's really rare because the people that install the tile, once they, once they install the grout and wash the wall, they're gone. That's the last thing they do before cleaning up and going to their van. So that grout is not ready to be sealed yet. It's not cured, so if you were to put sealer over it, it can do what's called milking or whiteout. Ooh. Essentially, moisture comes to surface, and it dries with the s- with the sealer. It's really common, especially if you use an acrylic. But so what we always tell people is check with water. Pour the water against it, whether it's onto a, a counter, in, on, into the floor. You know, whatever you have to do, just get water in contact with it for a couple of minutes, and then turn it off and let it sit, and see if it gets darker-

Speaker 3: [20:16] Mm-hmm

Speaker 4: [20:16] darker than the rest of the grout. That means it's full of water.

Speaker 3: [20:19] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [20:19] So there's a really simple product, and, and Jason I think actually has some, invested some money in this company, so he can tell you what the name of it is, but- … it's a really good product that very easy to use. It's just like applying water to, to the tile and grout. What's the name of that product?

Speaker 3: [20:34] The Impregnator.

Speaker 4: [20:35] Oh, that's right. The Impregnator. It's also called 511, but I can remember better. Best

Speaker 3: [20:40] name ever for a product. It's just such a, it- it's a inside joke that we have with all our clients because every inspection, it's just- … Jeff does the water test, and then he's like, "Jason, what? The Impregnator." And it's just such a random product name. It

Speaker 2: [20:54] ac- And he says it like that every

Speaker 3: [20:55] time. Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: [20:56] And it is for sale at every hardware store because it is really good product. Mm-hmm. And the professionals use it. It's a great product.

Speaker 1: [21:02] And it's simple to do. Very simple. You literally just wipe it down on onto the tile and- And,

Speaker 4: [21:07] and so what you're, what you're doing is you're m- making a big prevent… You're helping to prevent a really big repair because damage from water getting behind tile is a huge problem. Mm-hmm. And you'll never know it's there until pi- tile starts popping off.

Speaker 1: [21:19] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [21:20] And once that happens, forget about it.

Speaker 1: [21:21] Yep.

Speaker 4: [21:22] You're peeling it all.

Speaker 1: [21:23] Yep.

Speaker 4: [21:24] So the grout is not intended to be waterproof. What's behind your tiles is, is supposed to be waterproof, but that's goes down to just the quality of the workmanship when they- Mm-hmm … installed it.

Speaker 1: [21:32] And also how old.

Speaker 4: [21:33] And how old it is, because a lot of times in the old days, they'd use products that now everybody looks at and says, "Oh, that'll never work."

Speaker 1: [21:39] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [21:40] The Elastomeric-type products are just water board. I mean, this just doesn't work. I've seen so many houses where you pull off the four-and-a-quarter ceramic, and it's just green board- Mm-hmm … behind it. So, I mean, you need to do everything you can to defend yourself against opening your wallet.

Speaker 1: [21:53] Yeah, exactly. Uh, I got a question in terms of foundation. So as agents, we're always looking for any major issues, red flags that we need to keep an eye out to protect our clients from getting too invested in a house when we're just looking at it for the first time. Even if the floor plan makes perfect sense if we find something that's horribly wrong with the house, we're gonna tell them, "Hey, let's move on." Sometimes there's things that look horribly wrong that really aren't, and a lot of those happen in the basement or the crawl space or the foundation wall, really. Some of those are a lot of white dusty powder and cracks. Those are the two things. So maybe explain, with cracks, just kind of explain what are ones that not… you don't have to worry about, and maybe the difference between the ones you do need to worry about.

Speaker 4: [22:46] Well, for sure there's gonna be cracks in a foundation. Just from curing it gets cracked.

Speaker 1: [22:50] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [22:51] So, and those typical vertical cracks is what we call in a report a typical crack. You don't need to worry about them, but you do need to monitor everything. You always need to check, and we, you know, we always talk about an annual inspection of your house. Just walk around and look at everything that's visible. You should go in your crawl space once a year, even if it's just a quick look. You should look in your attic once a year. So part of looking in your crawl space is has that crack changed from last year?

Speaker 1: [23:12] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [23:13] The… So those are pretty common and typical, and typically not a problem. Where you look for a problem, where you see a problem is when you see displacement. So the foundation cracks, and then it moves. The both walls move independently of each other.

Speaker 1: [23:25] Hmm.

Speaker 4: [23:25] And often what you see is a V crack. So if you see a V crack on the side of a house, go around to the other side of the house, you'll probably see the same V crack.

Speaker 1: [23:32] Mm-hmm. And the house is making- So

Speaker 4: [23:33] by V

Speaker 1: [23:33] crack what you're seeing is-

Speaker 4: [23:36] Wider

Speaker 1: [23:36] on top … literally wider on the top. Yeah.

Speaker 4: [23:38] Yeah, anything more than a quarter of an inch that's a V crack i- it's something you need to look at because consider if it's 15 feet or 20 feet from the back of the house and it's a quarter inch difference here, what's it gonna be in the back of the house?

Speaker 1: [23:49] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [23:49] Pretty simple math, right? So-

Speaker 1: [23:51] Yep … Speaker 4: um, those are important to, to… Then you start looking at structure and what has to be done. Now, there are lots of ways to arrest that, and often that's all you need to do. You don't need to lift the house back up. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [24:02] But there's also, uh, push piling and pin piling that you can, uh, and put in the house. In fact, you and I saw some down by Northgate.

Speaker 1: [24:09] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [24:09] Um, where you essentially you, you go, get down to the bedrock. There's a certain amount of tension or a certain amount of torque based on the style you use if you're gonna screw them in or push them in. Um, and then you know you've hit solid ground, bedrock, glacial till, whatever's underneath there. Um, and then from that point you can add a, a hydraulic lift, and they'll run the lifts all the way along the foundation, bolt it in the foundation, lift it back up, and secure it there- Mm-hmm … if it's necessary. So they can be fixed, and that, a lot of houses are 25,000, $30,000 for that kind of a fix.

Speaker 1: [24:40] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [24:40] If they just have to go stop it, it could be half that.

Speaker 1: [24:43] Okay.

Speaker 4: [24:44] Um, the other thing you're… it's really important to see if you see any horizontal cracks when you're in a basement.

Speaker 1: [24:48] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [24:49] Especially a really old house on the street side where the main porch is.

Speaker 1: [24:52] Hmm. ' Speaker 4: Cause that porch is the one giant piece of concrete. Mm-hmm. And they always dip into the yard. Yep.

Speaker 4: [24:58] And when they do- The front

Speaker 1: [24:58] of it tips towards the street away from the house.

Speaker 4: [25:01] Right. Yep. And the bottom of it pushes against the foundation, and often- Mm-hmm … it'll crack the foundation horizontally. That makes

Speaker 1: [25:06] sense, yeah.

Speaker 4: [25:06] And you go look at it from the side and you see there's a bow in it.

Speaker 1: [25:09] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [25:10] So that's a very dangerous situation because that is a failed foundation right there. Mm-hmm. But often that means, and, that somebody will come in- Say, "Here's how we'll hold it where it is." They can do a buttress.

Speaker 1: [25:20] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [25:20] Essentially something to hold it right where it is. Um, and it's fine. And typically that means also they do something with the porch-

Speaker 1: [25:26] Hmm … Speaker 4: to stop the effect. But, you know, the horizontal and the V cracks with any displacement at all are the ones that you say, "Okay, we need to get, we need to dig into this." Yeah, this is a bigger deal than- A

Speaker 4: [25:35] much bigger

Speaker 1: [25:35] deal … just a regular old crack.

Speaker 4: [25:36] Right. Right.

Speaker 1: [25:37] Yep. Um, and then the other thing that I mentioned too in the, in the foundation is just the white dusty material. What is that? Just explain that.

Speaker 4: [25:45] That's called efflorescence. Okay. And that is the deposit of salt that's left on the surface when water's moving through the concrete, pulling the salts out of the cement mix in the concrete- Okay and they're just drying on the surface when the water evaporates out.

Speaker 1: [25:56] So that's just saying that you have water entering the basement.

Speaker 4: [25:59] Yeah, and water goes right through concrete.

Speaker 1: [26:01] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [26:02] Unless you have a waterproofing system on the outside or you do a waterproofing system on the inside, water's gonna go right through it. And we've, you've b- had customers, all you guys have had clients that have had, you know, things that were fixed with work done from the inside.

Speaker 1: [26:15] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [26:17] Where you can use… There's actually a live crystal system that you can, you can put, apply to the concrete, and it'll go inside all the concrete little fissures and cracks.

Speaker 1: [26:25] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [26:25] And it'll grow in there forever.

Speaker 1: [26:27] Yeah, this is one of my favorite products, other than the impregnator, of course. The… Yeah, it's literally you paint on live crystals to the cement foundation wall, and when water touches it, it grows into that hole in the cement. It is- For-

Speaker 4: [26:41] it's a forever fix … forever. If it's that style of- It's crazy if that style of leak, it'll… it's a forever fix. And you have some clients-

Speaker 1: [26:47] Yeah … Speaker 4: um, that you just saw when we were playing bubble boy. Yeah.

Speaker 4: [26:51] Bubble

Speaker 1: [26:51] soccer for our client appreciation

Speaker 4: [26:53] party a couple weeks ago. Yeah, and Jason, Jason, thanks for that boy in the bubble part too. Oh. I saw. Sh- sh- sh-

Speaker 1: [26:58] sh-

Speaker 4: [26:58] sh- sh- Um, so they… But they had a seeping wall.

Speaker 1: [27:01] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [27:02] Uh, because they had, uh, grade back to the back wall. There was no, uh, waterproofing. They had some, which they used to use in the old days, damp proofing. So it meant, okay, it'll kind of stop the water. It'll, it'll want to persuade water, but it doesn't totally stop it, and that was to code when that house was built. Hmm. So that water coming through, there was no way to stop it from behind without a lot of excavation and a lot of work. Wow. So the, so putting those crystals on the surface, I talked to him after- Mm-hmm … what, two years?

Speaker 3: [27:26] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [27:26] And he said it's dry as a bone.

Speaker 3: [27:27] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [27:28] So.

Speaker 3: [27:29] Yeah. What's that called?

Speaker 4: [27:31] Uh, Kristal is the name of the company.

Speaker 3: [27:33] Oh.

Speaker 4: [27:33] Creighton, Creighton and Kristal with a K.

Speaker 3: [27:35] Hmm, okay. It's not that- Good to know … it's

Speaker 1: [27:38] not crystal.

Speaker 4: [27:38] No, it's- Yeah … it's not… Yeah. Darn. That's what I was thinking of. But so, so the k- Yeah, I know. So one thing, one thing we'll say about that, though, it's not really a DIY product.

Speaker 1: [27:46] Yeah.

Speaker 4: [27:46] Um, it's not hard to install, but you definitely need to have some experience. Um, w- uh, when we were in the contracting business, we did a lot of it in below grade parking garages, um, and in elevator shafts. And y- you, you need to learn how to do it.

Speaker 1: [27:59] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [28:00] So it's not expensive, the labor for it's not expensive, but definitely have somebody do it for you. Yeah.

Speaker 1: [28:04] Well, I think this was super valuable. I hope-

Speaker 2: [28:08] Yeah, I learned a lot.

Speaker 1: [28:09] Yeah. I mean-

Speaker 3: [28:10] I learned a little too Even for people not even looking to buy or sell a house, just somebody to maintain their current properties.

Speaker 1: [28:14] Exactly. I think this was helpful for everybody.

Speaker 3: [28:16] Yeah. We tried to poi- uh, pick out things that would apply to all, just home- residences- Mm-hmm you know, in terms of like, uh, even if you're renting, now you hopefully have some information about y- your water's really cold. Well, now we have potentially the solution there, so- Yeah,

Speaker 1: [28:32] exactly. Turn the faucet up. Turn up the water heater. Yeah.

Speaker 3: [28:35] 120, don't go past it.

Speaker 1: [28:37] Yeah, you don't wanna burn yourself. That would be bad. So thank you everyone for, uh, listening. Jeff, thank you very much. You're very welcome. Thanks. Uh, if anyone wanted to reach out to you, where could they find you?

Speaker 4: [28:47] They could call me-

Speaker 1: [28:48] Okay … Speaker 4: at 425-233-1361, or they could reach us at office@alkiinspections.com. Or just go to your website, which is?

Speaker 4: [28:58] alkiinspections.com. That's where the office is.

Speaker 1: [29:04] Awesome. Well, thank you, uh, everyone, and thank you Charlotte and Jason. Yeah. Uh- Thanks, Jeff. It was great … and thank you, Jeff.

Speaker 4: [29:11] Thank you.

Speaker 1: [29:11] And, uh, yeah. We'll, we'll see you next time. Bye.

Speaker 2: [29:15] Bye.

Speaker 4: [29:16] See you.