HomeFront Inspection Master Denver Home Inspector, Sewer Inspections, Thermal Imaging, Radon, Mold

The

HALL OF SHAME

I really enjoy being a home inspector. On a daily basis I help people with their decision whether to purchase a home. The information I gather during an inspection is very valuable in making that decision. Sometimes I find some unique discoveries. These discoveries are what helps keep my job as an inspector very interesting. Some of these discoveries are very dangerous and some are just funny. Here on this "Wall Of Shame" page I would like to share some of these unusual findings. Enjoy.

This is an old Westinghouse circuit panel still in use in a garage.

Here we have an electrical nightmare and a potential fire hazard.

There are too many violations here to mention. However, I will highlight a few.

All the individual wires should be inside the panel for protection.

You will also notice that there is a Main breaker and 4 circuit breakers. Also notice how many wires enter the box. Look at the next picture to see how they fixed that problem.

Each breaker is supposed to only have one wire connected to it.

To fix this problem they illegally connected 2 wires to the first breaker and 3 wires to to the forth breaker.

To get 220 volts they took 3 - 3 conductor romex wires and connected the 3 conductors of each romex wire to each side of the panel to get the 220 volts and the third 3 conductor romex to the neutral.

These wires are not connected to any breaker. This is a potential fire hazard.

To complete the 220 volt wiring they used cable ties to fasten the outlet to a shelf support. I guess they didn't think to use the 2x4 to fasten it to.

This is why it is so important to get a home inspected prior to your purchase.

A Newly Remodeled House

This picture is from a house an investor fixed up. AKA a Fix & Flip.

Fortunately the buyers chose Homefront Inspection to inspect this house.
This was an older house and the electric system was not grounded. The investor installed False Grounds in all the outlets in the attempt to fool the inspectors that don't use the proper equipment to find this kind of defect.

You can clearly see why it is important to use the correct equipment. The device I use clearly indicates the false ground. The other took that most inspectors use indicates that the wiring is correct. This is a major safety defect would have otherwise been overlooked. False Grounds are illegal.

This was found in the same Fix & Flip as above.

This furnace is in the crawlspace of the house. The end of the pipe is the exhaust pipe for the furnace. This is a problem because it is like piping your cars exhaust into your house. The buyers of this house may not have survived the first night do to carbon monoxide poisoning.

The other problem is the furnace is laying on the dirt. It should be on a cement slab.

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