Introduction The following is a paid program and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff or management of visionary related entertainment.
Clint Hansen Hi, you've reached Clint Hansen with Maui Luxury Real Estate broadcasting on 11:10 a.m. 98.7FM 96.7FM KAOY radio group. You can also find us on our website mauirealestate.net. Most people are starting to follow us on mauirealestateradio.com. We have all up to the minute vlogs and information about buying real estate, of course, on mauirealestate.net. We have great search features. Want to talk about again some more 101s associated with the first purchase or any purchase for that matter and inspections are a very large part of that process. You want to make sure you know what you are buying. And this goes for all properties and it's not necessarily just a buyer thing too. Sometimes, sellers decide to inspect the property before they list things onto the market so that there's not as many red flags or concerns for the buyer coming up. That way they can have a licensed contractor go and address those issues and disclose them properly and people won't be fearful of moving forward with the property. Good did. Head things off. Today, I have Beau Petrone of A Sound Mind Home Inspection. He's with me today and I wanted to introduce you. He's one of the guys that I like to recommend on all of our home inspections whether you'd be a buyer or a seller and tell us a little bit about yourself and your qualifications.
Beau Petrone Well, aloha. Thanks for having me Clint. The pleasure to be here.
Clint Thanks for coming.
Beau Yeah. Beau Petrone Company is the Sound Mind Home Inspection. We've been operating since 2003 here on island and offer services all throughout Maui County And I made the transition from construction into the inspection industry starting in 2002 and then went full-bore in 2003 when we opened the company and really enjoy what we do. We get to see a lot of amazing properties. All sorts of living situations from rentals to homeowners. And it's really... It can be a lot of fun.
Clint Yeah. And you know the funny thing is 2003, I remember that I had my license at that point. I was still pretty fresh faced at that time. I've had my license now 17 years and I remember you walking into the Coldwell Banker office and you know talking about what you could do. And there's been other inspectors and my mom's like, yeah yeah let's let's try out. And we've been very impressed with how thorough you are in the process but more importantly it's not just going through and you know having that breadth of knowledge and experience. It's also you're always there to kind of help walk people through afterwards those follow up conversations are often more important than the actual inspection themselves. And I really just want to say thank you for that. It's been valuable to the people who have given you a call to get that help.
Beau Yeah. Thank you it's been a real pleasure working with you and your family for all these years now. It's amazing how fast the time goes by and how we've grown both of us in the industry and it's an ever evolving industry. It really requires USSD agent and myself as the inspector to constantly learn and grow with this industry as the building industry is constantly growing and evolving as well. So we try to do everything we can as inspectors. I'm a multi inspector company now. We've grown into four inspectors that help serve Maui County.
Clint That took you a really long time [laughter] to come up to them when they'd to because you we were a one man machine for a long time and it's you know you had to say no to a lot of people that we're looking for your inspections. But the main thing is it took you a long time to find your team.
Beau That's right.
Clint You know it was... I know you have a strong set of qualifications you know. Same way that's hard for us to you know get agents into our office. We don't want to you know... We want to make sure we have very ethical intelligent hardworking committed people.
Beau Absolutely.
Clint I've noticed you've been doing the same with the people that you've been hiring over time.
Beau Thank you. Yeah. You know one of the things is currently in Hawaii there's no requirement for state licensing something that we've been pushing for within the industry but cautiously because we want to make sure it gets done.
Clint But not over-regulated.
Beau Yeah, absolutely yeah. There's definitely a double edged sword there potentially. But I think there is you know advantages to having license requirements but in the meantime what we do require of our inspectors all of our inspectors have come with some sort of pre-certification for the home inspection industry. Whether they got it from a university or an online educator. We take that and then we take them and train them in the field which you know could take anywhere from about two to six months depending on their construction background certification levels and how familiar they are with Hawaii's construction industry. And then beyond that, we actually require them to obtain a secondary certification level through ASHI which is the American Society of Home Inspectors. The most recognized national organization currently within the industry.
Clint Now, you mentioned that there's currently no county or state licensing required for home inspectors. And you've been working toward that end you know meeting and communicating with it on some point. Now, that being said, is there something that people should look out for when they're choosing a home inspector that you would recommend? Obviously, you mentioned that ASHI is a really good example. But you know perhaps or some other licensing or you know obviously giving them a call and feeling them out is important. But are there any certifications that are you know potential options?
Beau Right. You know I think it's always smart to do your background checks and you know we're very fortunate here in Maui that is still a small enough community where we can really utilize that word of mouth referral basis that so many of us you know use within our businesses to obtain our business. And you know But Maui is small enough to where you know I kind of think it weeds out you know the inspectors and or you know whoever within their own industry you know [laughter].
Clint That word of mouth gets around a few people do a few silly things or miss some very obvious red flags and they're not there for that much longer. But we like using you and we haven't had any issues coming up. I've had a couple people expect you to do a little impossible digging sometime [laughter]. I know stuff underneath the foundation that had no signs or you know digging way back into a wet wall to see a bundle of wire put together with duct tape or something. But you've caught so many things that I've been just absolutely blown away by. What are some things that you look for when you're going for an inspection some. You know the general ABCs associate because you're looking for mechanical, structural. You know those kinds of just basic signs so people know and can go in with their eyes open.
Beau Right we do follow the ASHI standards of practice for the industry and we have all that information available on our website. And we really encourage you know home buyers, sellers and anybody really involved in the real estate industry to educate themselves with the industry standards so that they have a better understanding of what is required of their home inspector prior to getting involved in the inspection. However, we do pride ourselves on going above and beyond those standards but we do understand that they are there also to help protect the inspector for some certain things that could be unforeseen and in during the inspection process that we just you know couldn't get to or be able to see or determine.
Clint The unknowns of everything.
Beau The unknowns. Yeah, of course, we're not Superman. We can't see through walls and ceilings and floors and stuff. Though, we do offer a lot of extra services beyond just the standard home inspection which is our most common service that we provide. But we do also specially inspections as you know mold testing as well.
Clint That big four letter word.
Beau Yeah, the four letter word. We get more into that of course. But thermal imaging services so that we can actually determine some subsurface items and issues that we wouldn't be able to do without utilizing those types of camera.
Clint Yes, the predator view my favorite camera [laughter] that you have.
Beau They're very cool.
Clint They are. It's amazing you can see your own footsteps and any sign of effervescence or water really just pop out and it's really good for a quick scan of an area. And I just was blown away how you can capture images in the whole nine yards.
Beau You can even see your heat signature reflection in the mirror [laughter]. They're really... They're really pretty cool.
Clint You know when it comes to those inspections and looking for those red flags what are some you know as you're saying it's good for both buyers and sellers. And I do you know talk to some of my sellers especially in situations where there might be a few more material defects in a home to go ahead and get that inspection right up front. So that you know you can address those problems and minimize it. So out of it, what do you think makes up you know the majority of your inspections? You know I'm assuming that a) it's before purchasing you know representing buyers some are sellers but you know this is not just old homes, it's new brand new construction so can you tell us a little bit like your general client list?
Beau Sure. Yeah, it definitely you know real estate inspections from the buyer side is probably our number one.
Clint The bread and butter.
Beau Yeah, absolutely. We do a lot of work for you know new home buyers, investors, and so forth. Sellers you know we probably get about 10 to 20 percent of sellers trying to be proactive in performing an inspection prior to listing which we do encourage. I mean that can really help you guys eliminate some unnecessary unforeseens prior to the inspection. Unnecessary red flags. Things that could be taken care of rather easily for low cost, low dollar costs for the seller to get the property to a better stage prior to listing. So I think that that is one area that could be utilized more by sellers certainly.
Clint I've been noticing that too. I've had wonderful experiences with that. You know recently, I had a seller that I represent do that and they went through and they identified a bunch of potential problems and actual problems throughout the property. They got a repair list together. They had it addressed with a contractor and then provided those repairs as well as the full inspection which was lengthy to the buyer and they actually waived their inspection. I don't recommend that if I represent a buyer. I typically want to have a follow up to make sure things are done properly. But it just goes to show you if you're willing to head things off at the pass, it really behooves you now the seller as well.
Beau Yeah, I think you know the seller using that in conjunction with their disclosure. It just shows that they're trying to be forthright in their sale and I think it gives more confidence to potential buyers coming in and working with them. So I think there's big big pluses there you know. But our main goal really you know through these types of inspections for real estate is to try to highlight you know any big cost all our items. You know things that you know maybe like a roof replacement or you know plumbing issues, electrical concerns. You know for us you know safety is the number one. Are there safety issues that pose threat to you know a homeowner tenants?
Clint I bet you've seen some wonderful horror stories.
Beau [Laughter] Unfortunately, too many.
Clint Black wiring and burns spots. Can you tell us some of your horror stories maybe something that sticks out on your mind.
Beau Well, you know the other day we were inspecting a home down in the Pakakala area and this was a multi-unit property that obviously had a lot of nonconforming structures and additions.
Clint Very common in Maui and Hawaii in general.
Beau Yeah and we see it everywhere.
Clint Everyday.
Beau That's just one neighborhood in particular. But this this was an older property as the construction started in the mid 50s and probably had gone somewhere into the 90s by the looks of the construction methods we were seeing.
Clint Is that one of those series catalog homes or something like that?
Beau No, this was pieced together as you go [laughter].
Clint All right.
Beau And what they had done on one of the homes is they had brought the electrical service. They piggybacked off of the front house. We'll call that the main house and brought the electrical service to the Ohana with no service disconnect. So there was no way to turn off the electricity from the main disconnect [crosstalk].
Clint Shut the whole system off.
Beau ...panel to the Ohana Yeah and then they created their own to 220 league by bridging the service lugs. So that's a big no no especially when they're running 220 volt appliances along with a lot of other electrical circuits.
Clint Just all lumped together. No ground fault interrupters or arc fault interrupters or anything like that?
Beau Yeah, nothing not into that nature. And you know obviously, this had been rented out for many years. Fortunately, you know it hadn't burned down yet or you know caused any major injuries to anybody but it certainly is a scary scenario and too oftentimes, we come into you know rental property seeing very unsafe living conditions and that's a concern for us as inspectors that you know that people could be potentially hurt in their living situation and have no idea that that there's even a concern there.
Clint And that's what some of the older homes. You know 1950s you'd certainly expect to see quite a few you know issues arising. You know hopefully they brought it to code or at least at some point had a little bit more modern technology applied. But most people don't realize it's also a really good thing to go through for brand new construction. Can you tell me some of the things that you've seen? I know that most of them go relatively clear but have there been you know without naming specific projects or names [laughter] but you know can you tell us a little bit about what can help unforeseen problems?
Beau Well yet in new construction, people often think oh why do I need a home inspection it's brand new. They passed all their county inspections. And that's true. They've gone through the process with the county to get signed off and to have it in the passover state to the home buyer or owner. However, you know the county particularly in production build outs doesn't have the manpower to oversee every single aspect of the build out and phase and oftentimes may only be checking a certain percentage of the build out. And so they're not looking at free single electrical panel or you know every single framing. So, Yeah.
Clint They're not [crosstalk]
Beau Yeah. They you know make sure all the fire blocking is in its appropriate locations throughout you know every single structure. So things can get overseen and then also...
Clint And proper drainage too.
Beau Right. Yeah and in particular production buildout, we have you know many many bodies on site. It's hard to just oversee everybody and make sure that every little item and job is being completed as it should. And so we can come in and provide that third eye to make sure that these little items that get left unattended at the end of the job like missing electrical covers in the attic. I'm sure you've seen that come up on many reports or a defective appliance. You know oftentimes appliances get installed but they weren't fully tested.
Clint Cutting into the beams to install air conditioning.
Beau Yeah, right we see that. Notch trusses. Cut trusses. And of course, anytime you're cutting into a framing system that should be reviewed at least at a minimum by a general contractor if not an engineer.
Clint Yeah and Truss Systems Hawaii is fantastic. I've had them come out to jobs and you know just talk about the framing that needs to go in place real simple solution. No big deal. But you know having the proper knowledge and information to notice that in the first place is essential and you know thank you you've been important in every step of that process and other you know inspections.
Beau Thank you. Yeah. No. We'd like to be there and you know again you know being the third eye for people we now understand that oftentimes our clients can't be here on island or be able to attend the inspection because of work schedules, family schedules and whatnot. So we take our job very seriously and we conducted with pride and I'm very lucky to have a team that really enjoys what they do.
Clint Yes. So you really turned into a machine now. You've got your you know your answer service. You've got your you know accounting you're booking and everything is so smooth now.
Beau Thank you.
Clint And just to remind everybody I'm here with a Beau Petrone of A Sound Mind Home Inspection. I'm Clint Hansen with Maui Luxury Real Estate. You can visit us on mauirealestate.net and or come to mauirealestateradio.com. Beau Petrone is number is 808... Actually you know what once you give them your main number, you can talk to so that I can call Eric if they wanted to schedule. Schedule an appointment to come see their home.
Beau Yes. Eric, our Director of Operation handles all of our scheduling estimate and quotes out of the office. He's a great contact. Also very knowledgeable. 808 879 4166 is the office number. However, if you do have inspection question, you can always feel free to call me as well and that's 808 870 0593.
Clint Yeah, imagine that the owner and inspector of the company giving out his personal number. He really is hands on and we'll help you through every step of the process. Going back to some of the new construction and you know going through and and seeing unforeseen problems, is there are other like government contracts you've had or state buildings or something along that line because I know there's a lot of unique things that you've done throughout your history.
Beau Yes, we've worked with the county and inspected county buildings for them and we also do inspections for the county as actually inspectors. So if you're looking to convert your property to a short term vacation rental or B&B or condo minimizing the lot. We can help through that process as we are certified actually inspectors which is a requirement of the county to perform those. But yeah, I mean we're really willing to do anything. We do a lot of residential but we get involved with commercial. We work with mainland companies that help determine defective floor situations.
Clint Insurance.
Beau Insurance relocation inspections for certain companies. So we have a broad range of services though real estate is really kind of our bread and butter where we stay most active.
Clint Yeah. You know we're needing to when these turn over these properties. It's not just about protecting the buyers and sellers. It's about protecting ourselves too. And that's why we're really really diligent about recommending people with a breadth of experience that you have--the knowledge. And more importantly, you're really there to back your product. I mean every time you know I've had an issue going forward or something you know that people need more information. You know while you're always there to recommend us a specialist or per-- you know person you can give them a good general understanding of that property and the issues that could you know potentially be seen. Again, I want to go back to that for letter word. Mold. So, we are in a tropical environment. There is mold everywhere always.
Beau That's right.
Clint So you want to talk about some of the things you've seen.
Beau Well, I think you made a good point. We live in a tropical environment and there's mold all around us. It's part of living in Hawaii. And we can't get away from that. Of course, we're all different on an individual basis as far as our immune systems and what can affect one person to the next we could be completely different. Our main concern, of course, is the black mold family. This is the one that is more associated with causing potential serious health adverse effects to one individual's immune system. And again, we can all be affected differently but they are typically a bigger concern than a lot of the environmental growth that we may have around various parts of Maui that may also be potentially hazards to some. They can cause allergic reactions with some individual immune systems but the black mold is really the scary one. That four letter word that we hear so much. Mold you know.
Clint Not necessarily dangerous but it could be you know. That's why some people get it tested like.
Beau Right.
Clint I've often seen them in the where the dishes go away.
Beau Yes right. It... ...clost. The little yellow spotting is almost everywhere.
Beau Yes. And that's very commonly seen throughout Hawaii. It's because it's in our environment and it builds up on surfaces over time. So I think that you know with any mold concerns you know, of course, we're there as inspectors to help highlight these concerns during the inspection and help advise you to the next path, what you need to do, remediation, testing, or both. And that's our goal is to try to help lead you down a path that's really most cost effective and gets you the results and information that you need. However, you know for the most part people just need to educate themselves on how to better maintain their homes particularly, when living in environments in Hawaii where we have these growths all around us because mold just needs really two things. It needs the cellulose which is you know plant matter all around us: woods, materials in...
Clint Abundant.
Beau ...our home. Yeah, it's everywhere and moisture and obviously with Hawaii's raised humidity levels. This is a perfect environment. We have all these items there that the mold need to feed on and grow. So doing a few things like utilizing the proper type of cleaning products in the home that are effective in destroying microbial and mold fungal type growths for one. And lot of times, we get duped into believing that we should be wiping everything down with these Clorox wipes and bleach.
Clint No, wipes [laughter]. That blew my mind as well.
Beau Yeah, you know and well, they do a really good job on marketing products. So you know here in the states in particular but there are better products that are more...
Clint Specific to mold.
Beau ...effective. Correct. Yeah, better for the environment and much better for your health as far as a cleaning agent using on a regular basis. Borax is a great one. You can use it also in your laundry to help break down mold build up that might accumulate in linens and you know stored items in your closets that you don't use that often. You could pull those out. Give them a quick wash. Use some borax and just destroy any build up that might be there. Also, vinegar solutions. Food-grade hydrogen peroxide is a great one. You can use that in your kitchen and food areas to clean up and it can destroy microbial growths. It breaks down plant matter at a molecular level. It's really effective against mold.
Clint Vinegar?
Beau No, hydrogen peroxide.
Clint Okay. All right.
Beau Yeah.
Clint What about ozone generators?
Beau Yes.
Clint I've heard things about ozone generators.
Beau Yes and dehumidifiers. You know great ways to keep the humidity levels down low. Air scrubbers to help clean the air to help pull some of those spores that are floating around in the environment out of there just to have a healthier sleeping environment. You could put them in your bedrooms. So when you're sleeping at night, you're ingesting less throughout your body. And that certainly can help reduce allergy concerns.
Clint And that's particularly important in the Haiku areas to have those quality air control systems to have the dehumidifiers there. You know obviously quality construction is a very first step but making sure that a private place is dry and you know you have ventilating air can really prevent a lot of issues there. That's right. You know homes that could be just closed up for a few days and the moisture. The general moisture levels can rise. We have some natural wood cabinets or something along those lines and [crosstalk] that's the recipe.
Beau We'll especially right. And you've seen you know how some of these hurricane seasons have gotten so many levels way up. And if people were gone traveling for the summer in a way for extended periods of time, those mini levels can really build up quickly within the home and cause all sorts of adverse conditions to arise. So regarding molds and fungal type growths. So if you are going to be gone for long periods of time you know if you have an AC system that you can keep running and cycling the air keeping the house a little bit cooler and dry would certainly help you know but you may also consider putting in additional dehumidifiers and air scrubbers within the home.
Clint Yes. Two personal stories with mold. I'm actually allergic to mold myself. It's fortunately just a mild allergy so I can normally just get away with a runny nose or something along those lines. But when I was initially going to college at Willamette University, I chose a dorm room that was unfortunately a previous fraternity. It was closed for a couple of years. They threw some paint on it. A couple of new mattresses and it was good to go.
Beau Whatever it was there [laughter].
Clint Yeah. I went down and love the university and talk about I mean centrally located to Oregon. I love the people there.
Beau It's beautiful area.
Clint I'm not really a city kid you know it wasn't my place. It didn't fits with me so well but the environment and the mold that was there [laughter] ended up destroying my health. I was waking up in the middle of the night with headaches. My stomach completely shut down. I couldn't like I'd put food and I'd feel it in there and it wouldn't go through. I had this constant fogginess that wouldn't get cleared up and I actually attributed it to the train that was not but like 400 yards. Every night a train that was like 50 car lengths would go by at least once but sometimes three times then I we're talking. Midnight 2:00 in the morning. 4:00 in the morning. It was absolutely brutal. So I took medical leave. I ended up coming here. That's why I've had my license forever. I did end up graduating with my B.S. in Business Management minor in Psychology from Southern Oregon University. Much more beautiful, dryer, better weather area. It's like 40 miles above California.
Beau Go Raiders.
Clint Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And but that really taught me the respect for mold and I didn't even know it was until my roommate would have his friend stay in my bunk because it was a dormitory. You know you got two beds to every room and he had a much more adverse reaction. He'd wake up and blood would be pouring out of his nose and have just like stumbling over migraines and that's when they tore out the wall and found out that mold was there you know. It would have been nice if the dormitory had somebody like you to go there and probably point out some obvious signs that as layman's don't notice.
Beau All right and you know if people are feeling you know these symptoms so they kind of was a speaking of... It's almost oftentimes like you're feeling like you're coming down with a head cold on, [crosstalk] fogginess you know headaches, itchy watery eyes, popping ears, sore throats, raspy throat, things like that, congestion in the lungs certainly could be due to mold-type growths within your living environment. We do offer testing services that we can come in and perform air settlement tests to let you know what's floating around in the air. However, we always encourage surface level testing when at all possible. So if there's anything visual, it's always best to get a sample directly of the visual growth air settlement test can be a little inconclusive because...
Clint Depending on what they do if they open it up all that.
Beau Right. And even if we have a closed environment. So let's say we close up the house what we require is a minimum 24 hours prior to air testing to have the house completely sealed up as best as you can. So doors and windows all being closed to help create a controlled environment. But the home is still like a living person essentially. It's breathing throughout the day.
Clint That's why you want [crosstalk] to have that air movement... still environment.
Beau Correct. Yeah. And so if we go and take a test in the morning and one in the afternoon and one at night, they're all going to show different results. We'll still probably see a majority of the same type of growths coming up in the lab results but the count levels could be very different from day to night. So it's hard to say sometimes if we go in and we make a test of what those results come back. Is that really you know at the levels that is affecting this person in a negative manner? Whereas if we get a surface sample it tells us exactly what that growth is you know and gives us a better understanding of its growth that you know could really potentially be harming somebody in a negative way.
Clint Yeah absolutely. Back to those ozone generators, I only just recently discovered them. And I do it as a kind of a prophylactic. I have little girls. I have a six and a seven year old daughter.
Beau Yeah beautiful little girls. Yep.
Clint They come out of the shower sopping wet. They're getting better at it actually. They're very good. Then they tend. You know when there's a transition between the bathroom and the carpeted bedroom.
Clint Positioned between the bathroom and the carpeted bedroom. They often just come right out. They don't want to be on that cold floor or you know deal with the mat [laughter] and they're dripping and getting that carpet soaking wet. So I've been actually closing off the room making sure the pets out because you know it's not good to be breathing just straight ozone. They use them in a variety of machines like those two cleans for people's cpap masses and this is a more industrial scale. And I actually got mine used off of craigslist and it works wonderful. It makes the whole room smell like clean laundry.
Beau Right. They do [laughter].
Clint It's kind of intense at first.
Beau Yes.
Clint So I air out the room before my kid goes in and stuff like that. But what does it do like it triple or turns an 02 molecule with 03 so when it bonds with you know living stuff it breaks it down?
Beau Right. Yeah. You've basically nailed it in a layman's term for the scientific method. And that's exactly what it is doing. It's cleansing the air molecules to make it a better living environment. However, like you said you need to be careful because if you are running it for long periods of time it can actually be harmful to your health as well. So you need to make sure that you're understanding how to run the device.
Clint How it works.
Beau Yeah. And for what period of time.
Clint You don't just try it on while you're sleeping in our closed room.
Beau Exactly and they're great for eliminating odors within homes but they do kind of leave like it's like being in the laundry room or something. It is a unique smell but it can be harmful and in fact, if you've walked into a room that's had one running for a long period of time, you'll feel like it's almost zapping the oxygen.
Clint And that's exactly what its doing.
Beau Yeah yeah.
Clint It's bonding with your blood as opposed to the O2. So yeah, it's really important that you guys understand that if you're going to be getting or renting one of those or going through a service that you don't want to just be hanging out in a machine with them you know ozone generator.
Beau Absolutely.
Clint Because it's not good for microbes. It's not good for you.
Beau Right. But you can get rid of smoke odors if you had a tenant in your property that was a long term smoker and that smoke can just impregnate the walls and porous materials, curtains, things like that but they can be used to help eliminate odors and they work. They're very effective.
Clint Actually, when the fires were happening out in Wailea when that transformer exploded, there was quite a few people that was leasing those machines.
Beau Oh sure. Yeah.
Clint In their services and people available you know sometimes management companies have them themselves and will offer a service so that that you can you know take those smells away so it's really important. Other things that I wanted to point out or talk to you about is, of course, you've mentioned electrical but roofs you know you have a little drone that you guys use to help inspect those things. And what are some signs or issues that you see commonly?
Beau Well, you know Maui it's boy, we just have such intense...
Clint Hot, windy, wet.
Beau ...weather at times. We get it all really I mean look we had snow up on Haleakala for six days this winter and they've had hail in Hana before [laughter]. So you know the thing that we just deal with a little sunshine and rain. It's just not true. And in particular, the high winds. The high winds can be very damaging particularly to a certain type of roofing materials. So first thing, it's you know really important for homeowners to do annual maintenance checks on their roofs and walking around the home and trying to catch things before the rainy seasons or the windy season. And you know we're coming in the hurricane season.
Clint Oh, yeah.
Beau So this is you know the time that we want to do that stuff guys. Get out there and take a look at everything before these storms start approaching our islands and creating high winds and heavy rain conditions potentially.
Clint We have some of the most consistent weather in the world but it's really you know we're ruled by microclimates. So just the change of direction of the wind that doesn't normally come can you know adversely affect an area you know. I'm sure with the rain a couple of nights ago there's probably somebody that didn't see it coming and was suffering from issues you know.
Beau I think one of the most common roof leak issues we have are of plumbing boots where our waste plumbing vents yeah penetrate through our roofs.
Clint They dry out with their crazy hot sun.
Beau Right. Most of them that we see have a weather seal that's created by a rubber boot we say and that rubber boot is basically the flashing they create the watertight seal around the waste pipe that pops up through the top of your roof the vent out the sewer gas. They just get old and dry and they start to crack and split and then eventually deteriorate and any time it rains, you can just have water traveling down that pipe into your attic space wall cavities, ceiling cavities, and such and eventually or if it rains enough heavy enough for a long period of time, you may get some water damage cost and or mold in the attic space or wall cavities as well, things like that that could arise. So we see that quite a bit and depending on the grade of the boot you know usually about three to five years is the lifespan on many if they're in a place like Kihei where they get a lot of sun exposure.
Clint Yeah. People don't realize that after ownership. It's not like Oh great. You know I've got a home and so I'm going to be selling on it. Yeah. You have regular maintenance and you want to definitely check those boots and get them changed out. Of course, that's not the only thing the components of a roof. And one of the biggest things I understand is actually underlayment. A lot of people think of the roof tile as keeping the you know everything out but it's really the quality and thickness of that underlayment, right?
Beau Yes, your roof is only as good as the underlayment and I can't stress that enough if you are going to replace a roof. Spend the extra dollars on the underlayment and that's what that's what you're paying for not the shingles. That's right absolutely. But there are a lot of roofs particularly you know back in the 70s 80s and earlier that we saw being installed without any underlayment at all. And these were you know metal roofs and ceramic tile roofs that were common concrete tile roofs even. And that's pretty scary because especially with a tile roof, they're never watertight. With the heavy wind and rains that we get at times, you can have water driven right through the tiles and without any underlayment. There's just no secondary barrier of defense. You're going to get water in your attic and in the home and potentially could cause a lot of damage. We don't see that method being used really any longer as most roofers and contractors know the importance of underlayment and they're going to require it.
Clint I was actually surprised at my own home. We have a roof over a roof and I've showed a few people and they had no idea. They're like what is going on. And I brought a licensed roofer out. They looked at it. They're like no actually you know for the age of the building, this is probably the only home I've seen that was done properly like they actually did the underlayment. They did appeal and stick and then they put the tile on top of it and after putting the batons down and all that and you know those tiles are really there just to protect the actual roof itself they don't provide a whole lot.
Beau No. Yeah yeah yeah. The concrete and ceramic tiles--they look beautiful. You spend a lot of money to have a look but they are probably one of the least functional types of roofing materials available in our market. So you know depending what you're looking at. You know first for a look for the home. There are architectural asphalt shingles out there that can provide you know a better look than some roll camp asphalt shingles type applications. You have metal standing seen which I am a big advocate for. I love metal standing.
Clint I love-- clips all right on to [crosstalk].
Beau Yes. The PV installations. Very easy. I think they look good. They're very effective. They can be used with you know rain catchment systems as well. Very effectively. So there's a lot of pluses. Maybe the minuses are they going to maybe make a little more noise in the rain. So if you have a well-insulated attic, you're going to hear a little more of the rain pounding at times. And they do require some ongoing maintenance of re-ceiling seams at various locations of roof junctions but other than that they can last a very long time and be a very effective roof covering.
Clint You know I just found out a new roof material I didn't even know existed. So my listing on 808 Kupulau that license bed & breakfast I have up in Maui meadows and it's a metal roof that is actually just like cupped same way that you see one of those concrete shingles but it actually has a composite material in addition to that.
Beau Yes.
Clint So you know you have the benefit of the long longevity of a metal roof, the relative lightness and durability and come the insulating properties of the composite.
Beau Yeah, the composite tiles.
Clint I was blown away that something like that existed obviously. Have to be a little bit careful when you're walking on those things because they can dent but other than that, the house is amazingly cool like I was surprised that normally some of the coolest places I go into are you know the shake shingle roofs. You know a wonderful job of insulating the home. Sometimes, people think those are you know antiquated but this seems to be really popular actually.
Beau Oh, well shakes...
Clint ...by choice.
Beau Yes. Shakes when installed properly can-- and maintain properly can still have a [crosstalk] long lifespan. However, oftentimes, they're installed and then never maintained in particular here in a place like Kihei where it's extremely hot. Most throughout most of the year and we do get some heavy rains at times. The shakes gets wet. They swell up. And then they dry out immediately because it's sunny the next day and that can cause curling and cupping and displacement cracking of the shakes and so they require a little more oiling or ceiling to help reduce that water damage that can occur due to the inconsistent rains that we have but consistent sunny weather that we have here. Whereas if we were in someplace more wet you know out towards Hana and Nahiku, parts of Haiku where they're getting more consistent rains.
Clint Not drying out. Wetting up.
Beau Yes exactly. Yeah. They stay swollen and they actually are more effective that way as a roof.
Clint Or just staying dry like in Kihei you know being an insulator.
Beau Yeah yeah. Again you know with maintenance they can still last a very long time in Kihei and of course we still see some that look original for probably 30, 40 years ago over here and [crosstalk].
Clint Yeah. That being said moving on to the next thing. A lot of people in Kihei are lacking gutters. You know they don't even think about it. And that's of course another potential point of intrusion as well. You don't think about anything. It's the end of the roof. Water falls off. No matter. No care. You know just don't worry about it. Can you tell us some of the issues associated with that?
Beau Well, yeah. And you know Kihei again. We're known to be the drier side of the island but when it rains it rains and it can rain the extremely hard. And the amount of water that comes off of our roofs at times here can be very damaging to the surrounding grounds and footings of our structure. So adding gutters to any home regardless of where you're at here in Hawaii can be an effective -- yeah yeah yeah-- effective way to defend the home and help prevent a needed maintenances because what happens is the water comes off of our roof. It's not only causing potential erosion issues to the grounds but we also have water deflecting back onto the structure and then that's causing potential moisture related damages and issues to arise even potential water intrusion penetrations into the house at the base of our walls. So by adding gutters and down spouts and routing the water away from our home we can reduce a lot of those issues for rising over time.
Clint So the next step is, of course, our favorite photovoltaic. As you know my brother Darrell. He's at Pacific Energy.
Beau That's right.
Clint He installs and monitors, maintains you know. He's often correcting some other people's work for off-grid systems and or roof issues. You know you've got to be really careful about who you're choosing for solar because sometimes you're just you know banging nails when it's not a clip and metal system.
Beau Right.
Clint You know making the issues were they would have previously not because they missed a beam. What are some things that you've noticed and when solar ends up getting installed and causing complications with the roof?
Beau Well, unfortunately, you know there's a lot of companies out there performing this type of service these days as it could be you know very lucrative industry. So we've watched a lot of people jump into the industry that might not have had an extensive construction background prior to doing so or the companies have evolved and become so big that they just have poor oversight on all of their employees outperforming the installation work. So we do see damaged roofs all the time after you know insulation of PV systems more commonly observed in you know roof: concrete tile roofs, ceramic tile roofs and maybe shakes more than you know asphalt or metal roofs and because you know they're walking around with these panels you know having to put them in place and it's very likely you know that even somebody who's well versed in walking roofs and installing these systems could still you know crack or break a tile.
Clint Yeah, no matter what and they actually have you oftentimes sign a waiver whether it is a photovoltaic company, whether it's a tenting company because a lot of these things really tend to avoid.
Beau Yeah, they're moving around heavy stuff up there and you know it's likely that some damage could be caused. So to have an inspection after the installation.
Clint Precisely. Yeah.
Beau Types of materials or after tenting of a structure for termites is a wise decision.
Clint But you can prevent those issues just simply by putting a little you know seal up there when a nail goes through the wrong place and you know also looking out for a wiring issues or putting a fan out of commission you know.
Beau Right. Yeah yeah. Look what's going to happen.
Clint Start banging around up there.
Beau Yeah yeah. People bump in this stuff or they set something down on your solar water heating panel and...
Clint Start leaking.
Beau Yeah. We've really seen it all.
Clint Next thing, I actually it was I wanted to talk to you a little bit about. You know moving further down the line to the lower sections or inside the house, you go through and actually checks appliances too, right?
Beau We do.
Clint You're not an appliance repair man but [crosstalk] you look for functionality.
Beau Correct. Yeah. We're still looking for it. You know any sort of excessive damage or deterioration of the appliance body itself. But we'll test also for basic functions so we're checking your freezer and refrigerator compartments for proper temperatures. You know if they have ice machines and water dispensers. We're checking for proper function looking for leak-related issues. Same with your stove ovens. We're checking for basic functions. Did the elements respond? We'll run it on the bake mode you know usually 350 check to see, hey they get up the temperature.
Clint Sinks.
Beau Yeah extra fans are they working. Making loud noises, vibrations things like that. Yeah. Dishwashers. Are they installed properly or the drain lines installed properly? Did they run through their cycles? Did heat elements respond? So we get a lot of information back regarding those. Though I do stress to all homeowners that if you are buying appliances spend the extra money on the extended warranty.
Clint Oh yeah. You'd be surprised they really do seem to crap out just after a couple.. Just right after that normal warranty period so...
Beau Unfortunately, we see it too often.
Clint Especially being on an island here, things are getting you know.
Beau And these appliances [crosstalk] and you go out and you spend 2,500 dollars for a refrigerator and it starts to leak you know a year or two after you bought it. Yeah and caused damage to your nice wood floor that you just installed. Yeah. There needs to be some sort of recourse and that extended warranty policy or purchasing a home warranty policy.
Clint Really worth it.
Beau Yeah for the house could be you know a good way to protect yourself.
Clint I actually got an interesting story there. So we had an instant hot water here and we fortunately had a licensed contractor install it. They actually did get the extended warranty on that instant hot water and then about a two cent piece broke on it and it started shooting water out of that over a course of about 12 hours.
Beau Oh yes [crosstalk].
Clint There's a water fall coming down the stairs. Nobody was there. It just happened to be a time when the tenants were gone.
Beau Oh, lucky.
Clint And [crosstalk] it was close to I think 40,000 dollars...
Beau Oh, boy.
Clint ...in replacement. Fortunately, because that extended warranty and the contractor's license was in place they had the receipts. They had everything covered. That's one of the reasons we stress licensed contractors and make sure...
Beau Absolutely.
Clint ...those things are covered and it was completely paid for. We literally didn't have to write a single major check.
Beau And there you go. That's the benefit of spending a little more. They'll just have that added layer of protection for you and your home. Can we touch a little bit on the water heater real quick?
Clint Yeah, actually they made me aware of that fact. That's something I was telling my listing presentation the other day. I got a new one coming up on Walaka. This beautiful one bedroom one bath and Walaka apartments at just under 500,000 and they literally had to put that new bladder in and you know and replace the hot water and they were not aware that they were supposed to get permits. You just taught me this.
Beau Right. So Maui County does require homeowners to pull a permit any time they are replacing a water heater. Not just adding a new one or relocating it but if you're just replacing an old water heater, they want you to pull a permit. Now, they will work with homeowners and they do after the fact permitting with these. No additional fees involved.
Clint Is that like a paperwork filing through the license guy or is an inspector actually have to come out though?
Beau They will probably send the inspector and the reason being is that this is considered a safety appliance that have safety components on them that they want to make sure being installed properly and to be honest with you we probably see somewhere up to maybe 30 to 40 percent of water heaters being installed improperly. So it is a serious thing and especially with the new water on demand systems and electrical water on-demand systems.
Clint Yeah, those tanks-- greatest in a condo. Save you a little room.
Beau Absolutely, they can be great for added storage purposes. They may be more cost-effective for you insert living situations but they most of the time require an electrical update as well. So you need to make sure that they are being installed properly because we see many of them being installed without the proper electrical service to them so that can pose a potential safety issue as well.
Clint So we're moving down the line: foundation, concrete, spalling, railings. Tell us a little bit about what you do. I know you give a little shake test and look for those issues.
Beau Right. So we have you know here in Hawaii you know extra rain conditions salt air. The moisture and the salt together can be very corrosive and damaging to structures. And we also like to irrigate a lot of things. Make everything look green and grow our flowers and our fruit and whatnot. Well, this tends to affect our structures in adverse manner and we can get what's called spalling at the perimeter foundations due to exposure to that moisture and salt air. Also, maybe in condo situation, you've seen on lots of lanai areas. At the end of the perimeter of those lanai, some concrete flaking off and exposing potential rebar and metal support systems there. It can...
Clint And they're always looking for those signs.
Beau Yes, absolutely.
Clint ...making the buyer or sellers aware.
Beau A lot of times it's not detrimental to the structure but if it goes unattended for long periods, it could cause some structural issues to arise and pose some high dollar cost.
Clint Yeah. And cracks are common. Settling happens all the time but you know the difference between a spalling one or water penetration and the size and scope. It's why it's important to have a professional there.
Beau Yeah, we probably see it in 40 percent or more of structures just because of our our weather and climate here.
Clint Even new ones, right?
Beau Yeah, that's right. Potential heating.
Clint And last but not least you know we talk about you know proper maintenance of a home. You know you're not there to make these repairs or go through and but typically it's good to recommend a license. Obviously, it depends on the size the scope or issue. Many of them can just be preventative. My favorite, of course, is always cleaning up the yard maintenance around it.
Beau [Laughter] Right.
Clint Preventing adverse things you know.
Beau Yes, we like to work with licensed contractors that have good history. So we put together good referral list out of our office that can be helpful for our clients [crosstalk] that do have repair needs or maintenance needs. And we keep tabs on them. So we're getting bad feedback. They're not going to be on our lists. We're going to get go find somebody else but I think it is you know important that homeowners try to utilize license people when they can. It gives them...
Clint Additional protection.
Beau Additional protection. Exactly.
Clint You know sometimes though they don't do the right thing. They don't put the permits in for the water heater even though [crosstalk]...
Beau That's right.
Clint ...permit. So this is Clint Hansen with Maui Luxury Real Estate. You've been talking to Beau Petrone of A Sound Mind... What is it? Sound...
Beau A Sound Mind Home Inspections.
Clint Thank you. Goodness.
Beau It's a tongue twister.
Clint Yeah. You want to give that phone number?
Beau Sure the office number is 808 879 4166 and you can visit this on the web at asmhi.com.
Clint And this is Clint Hansen with Maui Luxury Real Estate. Broadcasting on 11:10 a.m. and 98.7 F.M. 96.7 FM the KAOY radio group. You can always find this at mauirealestate.net or just go to MauiRealEstateRadio.com to get a copy of the transcript as well as recordings so that you can go through it again. That's like to put videos in there so don't forget to call me either 808 280 2761. Aloha.