Water heater was back drafting. Ran to car got Carbon Monoxide tester. Elevated level around draft hood. All were there to see, Realtor clients. Warned them of the danger. Needs to be addressed.

With all due respect Bob, how much else must be done to warn the client this is an issue? If there is access to the flue interior such as cleanout cap, great. If not, we do what we can. While finding the blocked flue would have obviously been best (if possible at the time of inspection), it seems David provided enough warning to all present at the inspection that the issue needs to be corrected. Even if he had been able to show them the flue was blocked, there is no guarantee the client would have jumped on the issue sooner. They apparently ignored all other warnings and report verbiage.

Believe me Bob, I'm all for exceeding the standards when the situation allows. I'll try to get a peek in any chimney I can and remove any hood cage cap to look down a chimney. But without seeing the setup for the WH flue pipe, I don't think we can say David didn't do enough to warn his clients (even if we could see it, it sounds like he gave them sufficient warning). There is only so much we can do. If all our overtures, verbal warnings, written warnings in the report, etc. go unheeded by the clients and the realtors who are supposed to be looking out for the buyers' best interests, who is to be faulted?

A sad fact of the inspections we perform is that many issues we find and state need correction never get addressed. Case in point, I performed a checkup inspection for a past client on the same house I inspected for him two years prior. While in the basement, I opened the hinged cover to the service panel to see the white "X"s I place on circuit breakers that are wired with undersized wires (fire hazards). I opened the panel and lo and behold, nothing was corrected inside the panel and the same fire hazards existed.

Some people unfortunately just don't get it and there is only so much we can do to make them understand the gravity of a situation. If calling an issue a fire hazard or carbon monoxide hazard doesn't make them take action, who is at fault?