Inspecting Vintage Homes
Course outline
By
Stephen Gladstone, Stonehollow, Inc.

Course description:
This two-hour session presented by Stephen Gladstone will cover inspecting vintage homes and evaluating conditions found in home inspections of older equipment. The goal of the class will help to show how to recognize and understand the subtleties of inspecting older home and how to properly report your findings both verbally and in your written report. In many areas of the country older homes are common in the marketplace to have experienced upgrades and modernization which can add to the difficulty and complexity of the inspection process. Older materials no longer known to be reliable or that may have become deemed dangerous will be discussed as well as suggested remedies. Structural as well as cosmetic issues will be discussed. While meeting minimum code requirements that may have been in play years ago, some of the vintage home building techniques and commonly found components are from a time long gone and no longer desirable. Asbestos, lead, urea-formaldehyde, pesticides, and other health related products will also be briefly discussed.

Goal:
Upon completion of this class, students will be more knowledgeable regarding Vintage Homes and will feel more confident they are understanding and seeing the signs and symptoms of potential vintage home maladies. They will be more apt to appropriately verbalize the issues, make suggestions and fill out their reports guiding their clients towards a better understanding of the issues. Students will learn the difference between mediocre understanding and optimal knowledge transfer to the client.

Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of the course students will be able to demonstrate a working knowledge of:

1. Reporting per standards about Vintage homes.
   
2. Identify Components to describe and proper deficiency description
   
3. Describe Modalities and evidences of failure
   
4. Common vintage “defects” and reporting them.
   
5. Explanations about discontinued building techniques, defective materials and systems and when to point these out.
   
6. Marketing your business so that you can use this knowledge as a vintage forensic inspector.
   

Books and Handouts:
PowerPoint Presentation by Stephen Gladstone

Available text : Graphic Standards Field Guide to Home Inspection, Stephen Gladstone John Wiley & Sons Jan. 2010

Evaluation:
Class participation

Class Schedule

Timing: 2 hours

Class Presentation:
PowerPoint presentation by Stephen Gladstone

Outline:
Embracing the vintage home 10 minutes

1. Styles (colonial, saltbox, craftsman cottage, Victorian, etc.)
   
2. Sources of information
   
3. “These homes were built to last” (some have)
   
4. Setting expectations; old homes need more maintenance and repairs
   
5. Many years for alterations, DIY, abandoned systems, obsolete systems, materials now known to be problematic
   
6. What do you really need to know?

Standards and minimum requirements 20 minutes

1. National Standards of Practice
   
2. Codes, what codes? Dealing with the “Was it code when it was built?” question.
   
3. Threshold levels of unconventional tolerances
   
4. Threshold tolerances for sag, deflection, out of plumb, frame movement
   
5. Older, larger lumber vs. new, smaller lumber; is bigger really better?
   
6. “Time Proven”; if it’s still there does that mean anything?
   

Describe, detect and direct 20 minutes

1. Stone foundations, rubble, limestone, brick, etc.
   
2. Wood in soil foundations
   
3. Common sidings & backings (asbestos, shingles, tooled weatherboard, beaverboard, homasote, etc.)
   
4. Old roof coverings, Dutch lap organic shingles, asbestos, slate
   
5. Old fireplaces, no lining, unreinforced, no damper
   
6. Old heating, steam, gravity air, coal, wood
   
7. Old plumbing, drum and centrifugal traps, lead, brass and galvanized
   
8. Balloon framing, fire and draft stopping
   
9. Thermal envelope (or lack of)
   
10. Old wiring, fuses
    
11. When to recommend upgrades
    

Photographs, common conditions and reporting 30 minutes

1. Grading, grade level at siding
   
2. Old retaining walls, below grade garages and rooms
   
3. Garage under house
   
4. Steel and Aluminum Siding
   
5. Asbestos siding
   
6. Slate roof
   
7. Internal Gutters (“Yankee Gutters”)
   
8. Free-standing room heaters
   
9. Steam boilers & safety controls, Hartford Loop
   
10. Stone foundations
    
11. Gravity furnaces
    
12. Old attic framing, sags, lack of bracing
    
13. “Mixed Vintage” systems
    
14. Additions
    
15. Oil appliances
    
16. Converted fuel appliances
    
17. Innovative plumbing repairs
    
18. Knob and Tube wiring
    
19. Push-button switches
    
20. Fused services
    
21. Obsolete services
    
22. Obsolete Plumbing
    
23. Cast-iron plumbing
    
24. Old house WDO – many years for bugs to take hold
    
25. Low ceiling heights and other reduced clearances
    
26. Old stucco with steel lath
    

The site presentation 10 minutes

1. Setting expectations
   
2. Explaining old house tolerances and nuances
   
3. How much ancillary information to provide?
   
4. Upgrade vs. immediate need vs. safety hazard vs. maintenance
   
5. Repairs can be complicated
   
6. Mixed vintage systems
   
7. Abandoned Systems
   
8. Potential for anything exists
   

Vintage homes and your business, old homes and proper reporting 10 minutes

1. Developing old houses as a business
   
2. Do inspectors charge more?
   
3. Setting expectations for clients in your marketing materials and web site
   
4. Things to exclude but advise clients to explore
   

Vintage Inspections and health safety related issues with old homes 20 minutes

1. Lead paint, lead plumbing
   
2. Asbestos was in many building products
   
3. Bio-organic growth (mold-mildew)
   
4. Stairways (steep, not 26-inches wide, tread depths, rise), winders, headroom
   
5. Old framing, no fireblocking
   
6. Old framing, lack of structural connection – wind/seismic weakness
   
7. Receptacles and lack of GFCI, locations
   
8. Knob and tube wire
   
9. Rails and guards
   
10. Venting and ventilation
    
11. Cross-connections
    
12. Sewer vents and house traps
    
13. Unvented room heaters
    
14. Dumbwaiters
    
15. Old decks
    
16. Creosoted wood
    
17. Lack of escape egress
    
18. Old fire warning or suppression devices
    
19. Lack of firewall at attached garages
    
20. Underground storage tanks (not just oil!)
    
21. Abandoned wells and septic tanks
    

Bio:
Stephen Gladstone has been inspecting homes since 1983 and is the President of Stonehollow Fine Home Inspections a multi-inspector home inspection and environmental testing company. He is licensed in CT, NY and MA. He has served as President of both the Southern New England and Coastal CT. Chapters of the American Society of Home Inspectors & was ASHI’s National President in 2004. Steve was Managing Instructor and Campus Director of Kaplan Professional Schools (ITA) in New Haven & Manhattan for 6 years. And is the Managing Instructor of The “ASHI School” in Stamford. He has written many articles for local papers, has been nationally interviewed in Reader's Digest and The Wall Street Journal, featured on “Ask This Old House” tv show and many syndicated radio shows. Steve is a contributing author for the ASHI® Reporter and many other periodicals. His newest book “The Field Guide to Home Inspections”, was published. He has produced & hosts his own Saturday morning radio show "Around the House with Steve Gladstone" in CT & NY for the past 11 years. He is a Supervisory Pest Inspector, Infrared Thermographer and Nationally Certified Radon tester. He lives in Stamford CT.

Stephen can be contacted at: Steve@Stonehollow.com

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