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Home Inspector San Diego – The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company

Archive for June, 2010

New Law Regarding Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Home Inspectors will start checking for CO detectors after passage of new Disclosure Laws

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California Senate Bill 183 was signed into law to regulate the installation of Carbon Monoxide detectors. The law is a two-part law that requires an update to the Transfer Disclosure Statements used in a real estate transaction, and puts into law the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010.

The first part of the new law requires that as of July 1, 2011, Transfer Disclosure Statements (TD forms) include a line item regarding the presence or absence of a Carbon Monoxide detector in the same manner as Smoke Detectors, for all residential units that are sold. This applies to just about all types of occupancies from single family owner-occupied and rentals, to multi-family housing. If the property is being sold, it must now include a CO Detector if the dwelling has gas appliances, fireplaces, and/or attached garages as described below.

The second part of the law enacts the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010 which requires that all residential properties, not just those being sold, be equipped with a Carbon Monoxide detector when the property has a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, fireplace, and/or an attached garage. All single-family homes in structures with 1-4 units (owner or tenant occupied) must be equipped with a detector on or before July 1, 2011.

All other multi-family residential units must be equipped with a detector on or before January 1, 2013, not just those being sold.

For rentals, the Carbon Monoxide detector must be operable at the time the tenant takes possession. A tenant is responsible for notifying the owner or owner’s agent if the tenant becomes aware of an inoperable or deficient carbon monoxide detector within his or her unit. The owner or owner’s agent must correct any reported deficiencies in the carbon monoxide detector and will not be in violation of this section for a deficient or inoperable carbon monoxide detector when he or she has not received notice of the deficiency or inoperability.

The bottom line is that ALL SINGLE FAMILY residential dwelling units as of July 1, 2011 must have a CO detector, even those that are not being sold. All other dewlling units (multi-family, dormatories, hotels, motels, etc) must have CO detectors installed by January 1, 2013.

Carbon Monoxide Detector

Expect to see this new inspection item in your home inspection report. Home inspectors will be required to report on the presence or absence of a working Carbon Monoxide detector just like they report on Smoke Detectors, and water heater strapping.

Home Buyers and Sellers will also see this new requirement on Transfer Disclosure Statements. In addition to Smoke Alarms and strapped water heaters, sellers will be required to disclose the presence or absence of a working Carbon Monoxide detector starting July 1, 2011.

Details of SB 183

This bill requires that Transfer Disclosure Statements (TDS Forms) include a line items for Carbon Monoxide Detectors just like Smoke Detectors. This applies to homes intended for human occupancy that have a fossil fuel (gas or wood) burning appliance, fireplace, and/or an attached garage.

The remedy for failure to install a device is actual damages not to exceed $100, exclusive of any court costs and attorney’s fees. The Bill revises the statutory Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement to require the seller of a one-to-four residential property or manufactured home to make certain disclosures regarding carbon monoxide devices, smoke detectors, and water heaters, and requires the owner of a rental dwelling unit to maintain carbon monoxide devices in the unit (as of January 1, 2013).

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010

Details: As of July 1, 2011, Carbon Monoxide detectors will be REQUIRED in all houses (1 – 4 units) if they have any of the following:

Any gas appliances such as a gas stove, gas furnace, gas fireplace, gas water heater, etc.
A fireplace (even if it only burns wood, pellets, or any other material).
An attached garage (even if there are no gas appliances in the house!). Cars continue to emit CO even after they are shut off.
ANY rental dwelling that meets the criteria listed above. Yes this means that if you own a house, condo, or townhouse that you rent to another human being, you are REQUIRED to install Carbon Monoxide detectors.
As of January 1, 2013, ALL multi-family dwellings including multi-family dwellings that meet the criteria listed above will be required to have Carbon Monoxide detectors. Even those that are not being sold will be required to have them just like smoke detectors.

Be sure the home you are buying or selling is safe. A qualified home inspector will provide the information you need to feel confident about your home buying decision. Don’t compromise when choosing a home inspector. Be sure to ask if they will check for this.

You can read the entire new Carbon Monoxide Bill here.

The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company feels that Carbon Monoxide detecors are as important, or more, than a traditional smoke detector. We will will add this as an inspection item effective immediately. We want to get this information out to buyers and sellers. Most Carbon Monoxide detectors cost $50 or less.

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Tags: Carbon Monoxide, Disclosure
Posted in Health and Safety | 52 Comments »

The Care and Feeding of your Disposer

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Simple tips to extend the life of your food waste disposer

There are a few misconceptions about disposers. First, they are not “Garbage Disposers”. They are “Food Waste Disposers”. You would be surprised at what we sometimes find in the disposer which prevents it from working. For some reason we find a lot of rocks in disposers. If you have a fish bowl, please wash it in another sink.

One of the most common items we find during a home inspection is a failed or failing disposer. It is one of the most over-looked, and under-appreciated appliances that we use.

These are the most common defects:

Damaged or worn rubber strainer
Rust at the cutting plates
Rust at the mounting flange
Rust at the body of the disposer

The rubber strainer is a safety item. It prevents items such as a fork or knife from falling into the disposer, or worse being eject from the

Rusted cutting plate

disposer. The rubber strainer is a replaceable item that should be in good working order. The picture at right shows a worn rubber strainer, and rusted cutting plate. If this reminds you of your disposer, you should consider having it replaced. This disposer is on its last legs, and could actually be dangerous. When the plate is spinning, a utensil could fall into and be ejected from the disposer causing injury.

The cutting plate is the part you see if you look into the disposer. It is a spinning plate with blades on it (1 in picture). When the disposer is turned on,

: Cutting Plate

the spinning motion causes the food to be thrown the the sides of the disposer where the blades chop it into pieces small enough to be washer away. It is important that you clear the disposer after washing dishes by running it. If you fail to do so, the food debris will sit on the plate. This trapped moisture will eventually rust the plate, and damage the disposer. Always run the disposer after washing dishes to extend the life of the unit, and reduce the odor from the disposer. Also, look at the plate periodically. If you see heavy rusting of hte plate, or the sides of the disposer (2 in picture), it may be time to replace the unit.

Rust at the mounting flange can be caused by a poor installation or a torn washer or strainer. Water is actually leaking from the sink to the outside of the disposer. A ruste mounting flange can eventually fall apart, and becomes difficult to remove when you need to replace the disposer.

When the body of the disposer is rusted, you need to replace the disposer. If it isn’t already leaking, it will shortly. Check that the rust isn’t coming from another source, but most often the disposer is at the end of its useful life.

Cleaning

Everbody has had a disposer that smells. It is really unpleasant. Often people will put a wedge of lemon down the disposer to mask the odor. We recommend against this. The lemon rind is too tough for the disposer to deal with, and you can actually damage the blades. The smell is caused by old food debris that is stuck to the inside of the disposer. The best thing to do is to use a still brush to clean the inside of the neck of the disposer. Use a disinfectant, and really scrub the inside. You’ll notice an immediate improvement.

Philippe Heller is the president of The San Diego Real Estate Inspection Company which provides home inspections to the greater San Diego county area, Temecula and Murietta.

Posted in Health and Safety | No Comments »