As I'm approaching the 1yr anniversary of the purchase of a home in NC (constructed in mid-2005), I hired a local inspector to provide an independent assessment of the condition of the home. The builder's warranty expires on July 10th.

One thing the inspector did not check was the performance of the bathroom fans...he checked to see that they worked but did not have an anemometer or other meter required to measure air flow.

What is the code requirement of sizing of residential bathroom fans (I'm guessing 1-2 cfm fan size per sq ft but the ceiling height in the bathroom is 10' so there's lots of volume here)? Our master bathroom fan does not keep steam from forming on the mirrors and clearing the mirrors and shower doors of steam takes 15-20 minutes after finishing the shower.

I've summarized the punch list for the builder with some photos at Open Warranty Issues -Lot 1039 Sconset Village
I hired an inspector based on the advice from this forum...too bad I didn't do so when we purchased the home last year. If you see anything on the list or if I've said anything that is no accurate please let me know.

As to the fan, I have a meter to test it with later this week. Steve D

Looks like your complaints to the builder should have been mailed from an attorney's office.

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Critical Home Inspection Services
www.Home2Spec.com

Things are still amicable and the builder has a strong reputation in the Carolinas. It's merely a punch list to get the items in under the warranty period.

This is the first time I've ever gone through this process. Is it normal to send post-purchase inspection reports from an attorney's office? SD

Mechanical fan needs to be 20 cfm continuous or 50 cfm intermittent or greater. Even the cheap ones provide this, I don't think they make them less than this. If you are under the IRC this is all that the builder would be required to install. If the bathroom has a window that opens, a fan is not even required. Room size does not come into play with a bathroom vent fan. Common sense and proper placement however is not covered with the Codes!

A vent fan will not keep the steam from forming in a bathroom. It will help to get rid of the humid air but I have never seen one that can keep up with the amount of moisture that is produced by a shower. About all you can do is to take shorter showers or lower the water temp.

FYI, home inspectors do not test for airflow. Unless you specified this to the inspector this is not a normal thing for inspectors to do. I bet that if you asked 100 home inspectors if they even had an anemometer or knew what one was you might have 5 who would know what it is and only 1 might have one.

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Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

Steve
A cursory look at your "fix" list reveals many legitimate problems and some that are not. However, as a consultant I would spend a fair amount of time evaluating your list, but that takes time and time is money. I recommend you retain a qualified construction consultant (code certified) and have him/her perform a thorough evaluation of your new house including everything on your list. Personally I would like to have seen more photos, i.e.; water heaters located in the attic, master-bathroom whirlpool tub, and both the attic and foundation crawl spaces.
PS: I echo Scott's advice.

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Jerry McCarthy
Construction Consultant
www.expertbuildingconsultants.com

I agree with Jerry. A good number of your concerns are very minor in nature and some should have been covered under your contract with the builder. i.e. The scuttle hole attic entrance. This is all that is needed. If you wanted a pull-down ladder this this should have been in the contract with the builder.

You have several good home inspectors in your part of NC that could help. Look for one with experience and knowledge, now is not the time to go cheap. Expect to pay in the area of $175-$225 per hour for an inspector with this type of knowledge base and skill. Based on the size of your home I would say that it would be about a 4-6 hour job for most inspectors.

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Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

I did retain an inspector (referenced his name, license number and contact info at the top of the page) and he was the one that caught some of the more serious issues. He charges by the square footage and not the hour...still he spent approx 3hrs doing the inspection and I had a report emailed to me by the end of the day.

Some issues (like a gas leak in the crawl space) have been fixed and are not on the list. I know some of the issues are minor but my wife made me put them on the list. Things like nail pops and drawer slides are covered under the homeowners warranty and are on the punch list.

As to the photos, I'm in NJ right now but will be returning to the home in NC on Wednesday...I'll try to get some detailed photos of the water heaters.
SD

.
Hey Steve,

To heck with the WH.

WE want to see what you've done with the Garage.

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It Might have Choked Artie But it ain't gone'a choke Stymie!
Billy J. Stephens HI Service
Memphis TN.

This might be your Post purchase report, but, You have apparently had some minor issues with the builder that have been inadequately addressed such as the $900 bill for the attic stairs.
The builder has your money and other projects to work on.
Ask him for a face to face sit down. Get him to commit to a time frame for all repairs. Have him put it in writing. and, if his response is less than satisfactory, yes, I'd get an attorney involved.

Nothing like an attorneys letterhead to get your attention.


Edited to add the following;

Look at this post:
How would you reply/ respond to this?

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Critical Home Inspection Services
www.Home2Spec.com

I won't be tearing apart the garage until I down there full time to see the project through to completion.

I don't know of any home inspector who checks "the performance" of any fans. That gets way ... WAY ... *WAY* ... beyond what is reasonable to expect a home inspector to check. If you want that done, you either should be asking for an HVAC person, or, a construction consultant leading toward litigation, and then you would need to specify that you would like that checked - WAY TOO MANY other big things to check for to make the best use of your money.

Of course, though, if you want it done, a construction consultant or HVAC person 'can' check it for you. Typically, something like that is only done if you have a specific problem and that is suspect as a cause.

Scott gave the minimum ventilation requirements, and code is only minimum.

You would not want a fan in your bathroom which would be capable of keeping that from happening? I think they are called 747's or something like that.

If the bathroom is large, you would want several exhaust fans (however, one el cheapo builders model at 50 cfm would meet the minimum requirements).

Question: How cold do yo keep the house and how hot do you use the water, for how long? Keeping the house cold lowers the dew point when you use hot water, causing the water vapor in the air to condense on the mirrors and glass more than if those items were warmer. The longer you use the hot water, and the hotter the water is, the more moisture there will be in the air to condense on those cooler items. There is also a good possibility that condensation is forming on the bathroom cabinets too (and you just have not noticed it).

The location of the fan could also be part of the problem. It is only required to be 'in the bathroom', but if it were 'near the moisture source' (i.e., near the shower, but *not* over the shower), then it would be more effective than if located far away from the shower.

Also, if you have a separate toilet room, that requires its own exhaust fan.

As Jerry Mc. says:"A cursory look at your "fix" list reveals many legitimate problems and some that are not. However, as a consultant I would spend a fair amount of time evaluating your list, but that takes time and time is money. I recommend you retain a qualified construction consultant (code certified) and have him/her perform a thorough evaluation of your new house including everything on your list. Personally I would like to have seen more photos, i.e.; water heaters located in the attic, master-bathroom whirlpool tub, and both the attic and foundation crawl spaces."

I see items in those photos which may not have been addressed (or may have been and were just not noted in what was made available to use).

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Ormond Beach, Florida
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

There's a lot of talk about lawyers and litigation here. I'm not going to retain some $200/hr lawyer to fight for a new $80 fan.

The whole purpose of my post to find an appropriate way to go forward to my builder with facts gathered by me and a licensed home inspector for coverage under a New Homeowners Warranty. I'm a firm believer like most of you that a picture is worth a thousand words but data from a reliable scope or meter is useful in troubleshooting a mechanical component.

I have an Airflow TA45 thermal anemometer and can take some measurements but a simple tissue or smoke test will confirm is there is minimal draw.

Your point about the AC (room temp is 73-74F) is an excellent one (I owe you a beer for that one). We have no AC in our bathroom in NJ and the fan does a good job of managing the condensation.

There is a separate water closet (toilet room) and it has its own fan.

Here's the fan I use at home....1320cfm @ 4.4" static pressure. The 1.5hp direct drive motor is isolated from the air flow. Even combustible fumes would be isolated from sparks (arcing) in the motor.

The room also has 400cfm of filtered and dehumidified make-up air from a Thermastor APD. SD

That is understood ... on that one issue, that would be a no-brainer, but, considering your other issues ... ???

You also asked for "What is the code requirement of sizing of residential bathroom fans" and Scott provided that, but, as is typical, minimum code compliance does not produce the results you are looking for.

Minimum "code" and usefulness is not always the same.

And that is a very good starting step, one step that not everyone takes.

Sometimes, though, you need to do more, and at this point you do not yet know what other steps will be needed, and you will not know that until you get the builder's response. At that time, though, you may need to seek other options, options we were suggesting you could use, options only you will know when and how to use them (we are not aware of all of the particulars).

Except that you are not trouble shooting a mechanical component, you will be trouble shooting a system which is not functioning as you wanted, but which is may be functioning as designed and intended.

50 cfm is minimal draw. If the damper on the exhaust fan is open, that fan should hold a tissue up against it. If it does not, then the damper may be stuck closed, or there may be another problem with the duct from the fan, such as the duct being bent back on itself too sharply, partially collapsing the duct, or at least reducing its effect internal diameter. If flexible aluminum duct was used, it likely could be crushed in one area.

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Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Ormond Beach, Florida
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

I thought Steve and his tribulations sounded familiar! He has been battling this for a while with this builder.
Attic Water Heaters - Scuttlehole Access only

Steve, that is one heck of a vent fan for that bathroom! Heck, I bet my wife could suck her hair dry with that thing by just standing under it! Kind of reminds me of a "Tool Time" episode with Tim Allen.

If you do get to the litigation point, Don Lovering out of MA would be a good person to contact. He works in NC as well. Commercial Inspections Massachusetts | Massachusetts Home Inspection | Roof Covering Inspections

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Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com

Thanks Scott........actually, that fan is the one in my garage at home for source capture. The big can you see in the photo above is a large muffler to silence any exhaust noise before it goes out the roof.

OK Steve, you are going to have the folks on this site drooling on their keyboards when they see that picture!

Last week somebody posted a picture of hobby airplane being built in a garage and all they could talk about was the epoxy coated garage floor!

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Scott Patterson
Spring Hill, TN
http://www.traceinspections.com