[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's Around the House. Now, we've been talking about the problem out there in the quartz countertop industry, and it's getting banned in Australia. And so that has become a big deal. And some of the part of the deal that we're running into here is workers, of course, getting hurt like we were talking about with silicosis.

[00:00:25] Eric Goranson: But the problem they're running into is that they're going after engineered stone, which is typically 90 percent or higher of Silica compared to cheese. Even some of the stuff that's jam packed with it is 45 percent or less. And then you're dealing with some of the centered or the, what they call the slab porcelain.

[00:00:46] Eric Goranson: When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered. This is Around the House. Welcome to the Around the House show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and [00:01:00] education. Thanks for joining us today, man. It's been a crazy week.

[00:01:03] Eric Goranson: Here in Portland we were making the national news and especially my little city here on the outskirts as we had hundreds of trees down. It was definitely funny that I had just done a whole show about being ready for natural disasters and here we are with a state of emergency and everything else and I worked out pretty well.

[00:01:19] Eric Goranson: So you always learn a few little things. I'll call it a 90 percenter. It was nice to be ready and then to be able to go around and help my neighbors out and make sure that they were in good hands as well. If you want to be a part of the show, or if you have a question, you're taking on a home improvement project, you can always give me a call at 833 239 4144, 839 239 4144.

[00:01:42] Eric Goranson: Today, we are going to take on a heavy subject here. But it's something that you might not heard of, and it's something that's happening down in Australia, but usually when these things happen, they work their way here. So it's a great time to talk about it. And the question is, are courts countertops going to be the next asbestos containing [00:02:00] material type thing?

[00:02:01] Eric Goranson: And no, I'm not saying the courts countertops have asbestos, but is it going to be the next thing that everybody freaks out about? It has an issue with. Let's first start about what's going on down in Australia. So Australia will become the first country to ban engineered stone countertops. Who will follow is the question.

[00:02:19] Eric Goranson: And this is from the Guardian. There's a bunch of different stories out there. This one seemed to be to be written really well from an Australian perspectives that I wanted to hear. So really what we're getting into, there was an Australian worker who was working in a stone fabrication shop that developed silicosis, which is a debilitating lung disease in 2015.

[00:02:39] Eric Goranson: And so they figured out where it came from. So all of a sudden get to 2023 and everybody pushed together. And as of July 1, 2024, all of those countertops are going to be banned. All of the courts countertops are going to be banned in Australia. They said it's [00:03:00] too hard for the people to work with it. And to be honest, that's not the way I would look at it, but that's their opinion.

[00:03:08] Eric Goranson: And Australia has the right to do that. But. This is interesting. So there are in Australia, just as an example, there are about 10, 000 stone masons in Australia that work with it and a hundred thousand in the U S. And so there's a lot of people working with the product. And so that's what they're talking about.

[00:03:26] Eric Goranson: And so here's what's happening is you're seeing companies that are using this and machining it in a dry fashion. And I'm talking about them sitting there, not with water, but just dry cutting it. And the employees are getting silicosis. So all of a sudden in Australia, they realized all of a sudden that we're seeing that silicosis climbing there.

[00:03:50] Eric Goranson: Kind of what we saw with asbestos after asbestos was used and stuff, and now they're jumping in to really start to curb this and the way they're going to do it [00:04:00] is they're going to ban the product. And. Between 2010 and Australia, actually, no, sorry, there was a study here, largest U. S. study in the material released in July found silicosis has claimed lives of several stonemasons, and a lot of them were in California, and you're seeing it in Texas, but now it's climbing.

[00:04:20] Eric Goranson: The best estimate based off, and now this is from the U. S. University of California, uh, they're saying that their best estimate based off the data in the U. S. and Australia is that probably 15 20 percent of the people that work in the field have silicosis or will develop it. So, they're trying to fight through this.

[00:04:39] Eric Goranson: Now, here's where I think the issue is. And I think what the big issue is that we've seen lazy practices by stone fabrication shops worldwide. And now let me explain what lazy practices are because this is a big deal. What we're seeing out there is people dry [00:05:00] cutting this material. And so what's happening is they're getting out there with grinders or cutting it.

[00:05:04] Eric Goranson: There's no water involved. They're not wearing dust masks. There are consuming this stuff into their lungs. And it's causing some serious health issues. And if you've ever seen anybody out trying to cut this stuff, you'll understand it is like a cloud of dust. And the problem is this dust comes into your lungs and causes significant damage.

[00:05:25] Eric Goranson: Now there are hundreds to thousands, and I don't know the numbers, but I'm going to say thousands of stone fabrication shops out there that are doing this product the right way. They're using water, they're using machinery, they're not cutting on the job site with a dry saw out and creating a cloud of dust.

[00:05:43] Eric Goranson: And they're doing a pretty good job of dealing with everything wet so that their employees don't receive any of these issues. And that's the right way to do it. But the problem is that you've got lazy people out there that are continuing to dry cut. If I walk into a good stone [00:06:00] fabrication shop, they've got a CNC machine, they've got a beam saw, they've got a water jet, they've got things to cut the materials correctly.

[00:06:08] Eric Goranson: But the problem is, and they've got polishers, they've got all these wet polishers and people are doing it correctly. Now, if I walk into these cheapest chuck on the block kind of place, They're cutting it, but they're polishing it all dry. Now, when these fabricators show up to cut out a cook or a sink or anything else, I'm seeing clouds of dust.

[00:06:31] Eric Goranson: And those are the problems right there. So that's what's happening. And so really, unfortunately, what you're going to see. Is you're going to see these people that were either not trained or lazy or don't care, take a complete product that is affordable, probably one of the most affordable countertop products out there.

[00:06:52] Eric Goranson: And they're going to sit there and take it off the market for this. I'm going to throw this right back on the fabrication people out [00:07:00] there that aren't doing it right. And they are the ones that I'm going to put the blame on for creating a situation where they're putting their workers in some extreme harm.

[00:07:09] Eric Goranson: And there are, like I said, thousands of probably great fabricators out there that really care for their employees and their people around them. And we're seeing this take this industry down in Australia. And as we know, if it happens, Australia, what's next, California. And then when California happens, then all of a sudden we're seeing the EPA get involved or OSHA.

[00:07:35] Eric Goranson: And all of a sudden we've got bigger issues. So those are the things that we're starting to see now with this. And that becomes a major, major problem. So I'll be the first to say we've got to have worker safety, but let's not blame the product. Let's blame the companies that are out there fabricating.

[00:07:55] Eric Goranson: And why don't we go through and inspect them, make sure they're doing things correctly. Let's see if we can [00:08:00] protect those workers. So everybody can have some affordable countertops here because it's a very inexpensive option. So it's something to really think about. And those best practices are out there.

[00:08:10] Eric Goranson: People have been following it for years, but we just need to be able to figure it out because I tell you what, some of these people out there are doing a really. Horrible job of doing this now. Here's the thing now. Let's get into the details here We're gonna have to go out to break here in a minute, but I want to talk about here There's a lot of other countertop options as well.

[00:08:31] Eric Goranson: Now if they end up doing banning, we'll talk about that in a little bit But what I'm worried about here is that some of these best practices and stuff aren't being followed and the reason why they're targeting These quartz countertops is a great example, is that they are about 85 to 95 percent silica dust.

[00:08:54] Eric Goranson: So, when they're cutting it, you are just nailing it right into somebody's lungs. [00:09:00] Now, if you were cutting many of the granites, you're only talking about 15 or 20 percent. So, we're talking about how that's really pushing in a huge, huge area of dust into people's lungs, so that dust is going to be much more hazardous to their health.

[00:09:18] Eric Goranson: That's a really big deal. So when we come back, I want to talk a little bit more about what's going on here and some of the alternatives, as well as some of the differences between where materials are coming from, and we'll do that just as soon as around the house returns Don't go anywhere.[00:10:00]

[00:10:14] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Around The House Show. This is where we hope to get the most outta your home through information. Hey, if you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online. com, and you can find out more about the show there, including All of my tv clips and videos that i've been doing we have been doing a ton of stuff for the television show And we do uh, gee six or seven segments a week and we are coming up on Our one year anniversary, so you do that times 52 weeks and guess what?

[00:10:42] Eric Goranson: We got a lot of videos sitting over there And you can find that easiest place is just to head over to around the house online. com And you can see the videos there. And of course then you can just head over to a Playlist basically and you can find it all there And we've got them in two different spots, but you'll find out if you go [00:11:00] to around the house online.

[00:11:01] Eric Goranson: com as well as, uh, the phone numbers over on the website as well, but if you do need to get ahold of us, you have a home improvement question. 8 That's 44. Like I said, I'm still playing catch up from this last week because thanks to all you calling in, but we have been jammed here with bad weather and I've got.

[00:11:24] Eric Goranson: Internet back up so we can start addressing all of these. So if I haven't called you back yet, stay tuned. I will be doing that shortly. Hopefully by the time this airs, I've gotten back ahold of everyone. Now, we've been talking about the problem out there in the courts, countertop industry, and it's getting banned in Australia.

[00:11:46] Eric Goranson: And so that has become a big deal. And some of the part of the deal that we're running into here is workers, of course, getting hurt like we were talking about with silicosis. But the problem they're running into is that they're going after [00:12:00] engineered stone, which is typically 90 percent or higher of silica compared to cheese.

[00:12:09] Eric Goranson: Even some of the stuff that's jam packed with it is 45 percent or less. And then you're dealing with some of the centered or the, what they call the slab porcelain. That's down in the under 20%. In many cases, I don't know if I haven't seen any studies where it's higher than that. If there is, please send it over.

[00:12:26] Eric Goranson: Cause I haven't seen it. But, really, this is where the issues are coming, and, unfortunately, the quartz is one of the least expensive. Now, some of the issues that I do have with quartz And a lot of it has become as, as some of the imports that are coming into the U S that are the, the knockoff one, shall we say?

[00:12:45] Eric Goranson: And so what we're seeing is we've got all the different great brands out there and I'm not going to go through and name them on name them off because this is not a commercial for that. But they're all the brands that you see out there. Now, when it gets a little sketchy [00:13:00] is when you're seeing the stuff that's getting imported in, maybe it's a house brand for a company, they've named it their own, or it's some of the brands that are coming in out of Southeast Asia.

[00:13:10] Eric Goranson: And I have no problem with materials coming out of there. What would I prefer to be made here in the United States? Hell yeah. Absolutely. But the problem that we're seeing is a stuff that's coming out over there is we don't really have a great source of where all of the raw materials are coming from.

[00:13:28] Eric Goranson: And the problem that you see when you're building things out of an area that we don't have control of is you don't know what's going on. Where that stuff's coming from was just a toxic waste dump that now they're pulling the silica out of that to put into that all the minerals to go into that courts countertop.

[00:13:49] Eric Goranson: Those are concerns of mine. When you have a U. S. company, you have a much better chance of them dialing in and having a very consistent And clean stream of [00:14:00] materials coming in. So be careful when you're ordering Stuff and you're like, ah, it's 10 cheaper. I'm going to take the 10 One it's not going to be the same quality as we and two You just don't know what's going into that now One thing that I want to make sure and talk about here is that all quartz countertops are not the same Now you're seeing stuff with high Material content, you know, where it's got very minimal binders in it, that's usually a higher grade product.

[00:14:34] Eric Goranson: But when you start to get into the budget brand stuff, that's where I start getting worried about it because there's materials that are going in there when you don't know what it is to, they've got lower quality binders. Slates like a low quality epoxy, shall we say, and this really isn't a proxy that they're using, but the materials that they use to bind it together, if it's got more plastic in it, basically.

[00:14:58] Eric Goranson: That's a lower quality [00:15:00] product and it's going to be more susceptible to heat and all the other things that we see. So these are things that I really want you to be careful with. I am not a big fan of these Low end imported stones like that or fake stones and the same reason is why I don't like the stones The countertops coming out over there as well.

[00:15:19] Eric Goranson: You just don't know what's going on Now there was this huge battle a number of years ago when quartz first came out that quartz some of the quartz companies Started to spread rumors in the media, and I'm not going to name names here because I don't want to get drug into some legal thing, but basically there was a whole news story that went out and hit the newswire.

[00:15:41] Eric Goranson: Saying, hey, there is radon in granite by quartz, and I thought it was a pretty low blow at the time. I thought, wow, that was, that's not cool because there's not really any science that stands behind that. And if radon was coming in, it would be so tiny. It would just not be an [00:16:00] issue. What would be a bigger issue would be chemicals that were maybe soaked into that granite something like that.

[00:16:06] Eric Goranson: I'd be more concerned about. But really that was just a marketing ploy to get some bad news for the granite industry. And ironically, this is what's coming back. Now, if I was a quartz manufacturer, how I would do that in the United States. Is I would say, I'm only going to sell this to my certified installers as of June 15th or something.

[00:16:34] Eric Goranson: Name a date. I don't care. And then what I would do is I would make sure that they're all using the best practices to do it. And I'd have those reps popping in, popping out. And I would want to see pictures of the shop. I want to make sure that everybody is a quote unquote certified installer. So they're not hurting or even worse, killing workers.

[00:16:54] Eric Goranson: And if those reps went around and dealt with those, I think we could nip this in the bud pretty [00:17:00] quickly and the courts would be an option for people out there. Now, I'm seeing, you know, when I dug deeper into the subject, when we're talking with people like. I'm not going to name names on this, but I just wanted to, I talked into a bunch of industry experts and we'll leave it at that because they're attached to companies that I just, I don't want to be naming names here because it doesn't help the story and I don't want to tie them into this subject.

[00:17:24] Eric Goranson: But talking to people that I know, they were saying that Australia, some of the side story is what happens when people want to get rid of those courts countertops. They might have to go in and abate those, which I think is excessive because if you break it, it just snaps. It's not like it's this big dust cloud.

[00:17:42] Eric Goranson: It's not like it's, okay. Asbestos with in drywall, dust that you're standing or something crazy like that. This is just a hard material that if it breaks, if they're doing demo day, it's not that big a deal. Does it need to be abated my mind? No. The other issue that we see with people with [00:18:00] silicosis. And we'll talk about this coming up into the next hour here.

[00:18:05] Eric Goranson: We're not gonna do the whole show on this, but we're seeing issues out there. You're gonna see this now with construction workers that are doing earthquake retrofits. They've had for a number of years now. Rules for drilling into concrete because concrete has it to granite has it too. All right. When we come back We're going to talk about the best ways to handle this so you can do this safely Just as soon as around the house returns don't go anywhere

[00:18:53] Eric Goranson: Welcome[00:19:00]

[00:19:14] Eric Goranson: back to the around the house show This is where we help you get the most out of your house through information and education. Thanks for joining us today If you want to track me down give us a call at 833 239 4144 That's 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. Appreciate all of you listening on the Talk Media Network out there.

[00:19:35] Eric Goranson: We are having a great time bringing this show to you and we got some great stuff coming up ahead. You just hold onto your seat. If you wanna track me down, give us a Callie, if you wanna track me down, give us a call. 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 40. That's 833 239 4144. And we've been talking today about, uh, the quartz countertop ban that's coming to Australia.

[00:19:56] Eric Goranson: And is this really going to be the next asbestos? [00:20:00] And I wanted to go back here, if you're just joining us, to really where this comes from. So, silicosis, and this has been seen for a number of years. This isn't something new. And it's something that you really saw change in concrete workers. A number of years ago, people that are out there drilling, fastening and cutting concrete.

[00:20:24] Eric Goranson: I don't know about you, but I can't tell you how many times in the last couple of years I've been driving down the road. I'm cruising through a construction project and there's somebody there with a hot sock cutting through into a sidewalk or a curb and there is dust everywhere. That dust everywhere, that is one big fat OSHA violation.

[00:20:46] Eric Goranson: That is something that if there was somebody driving by, they'd be over there getting the name, job site information. There'd be a fine coming that way in many instances. Because you can't do that anymore. And that's the reason why a lot of these [00:21:00] saws now come up with water attachments to them. So you can keep the water on it.

[00:21:05] Eric Goranson: One, it keeps the blade blast longer, but two, it controls that. And so you're seeing that now, if you're going to be working this, and this is something you can do, you can get. A lot of silica dust in you from just drilling into concrete. And yes, I know there's people out there going, oh, it's beach sand, who cares?

[00:21:24] Eric Goranson: I get that. But there's people dying. There's workers dying. And it's documented. There is no debate that this is killing people. And it's something that I want you as a homeowner, if you've already got some lung issues, or if you're somebody out there working in the trades. Tens of thousands of you listen to this on the radio that are trades people out there.

[00:21:44] Eric Goranson: So I want you to know that you should be asking questions about this to make sure you're safe. Now, a number of years ago, 5, years ago, you started to see the tool companies dive into this vacuum attachments [00:22:00] for their SDS drills, vacuum attachments for concrete grinders going into HEPA vacs. And there's all these things that came out of that whole table one, which we're not going to dive into that because it's super boring radio, but we're going to talk about that at some other time when I can figure out how to make that interesting.

[00:22:20] Eric Goranson: But here's the thing. This is 1 of those things that if you're drilling into concrete, maybe you're putting up a basketball hoop. Just get some water. Get a hose over there. Keep it wet. If you're cutting a hole in concrete to put a footing in. Get that rental tool, hook the hose up to it. If you're drilling a hole in your countertop to put a soap dispenser or garbage disposal or a glass rinser, just get it wet.

[00:22:47] Eric Goranson: Keep it wet. Make your tool last longer that you're cutting with and you're not going to have to worry about that. It's the dust that gets you. So that's the thing I want you to really pay attention to. [00:23:00] Because those are the things that can really get you in trouble. Now I think we're going to see coming out, we're going to see You know, some of the people you really worry about in this industry, for instance, people that work for foundation companies, many times those employers will send those kids down there, male, female, down into the crawl space.

[00:23:22] Eric Goranson: And they're attaching that foundation to the footing, the basic or the footings to the posts, to the sill plates, all that stuff. And they're having to put in expansion bolts. Or bolt in an epoxy bolt in, depending on what the engineer said, they're having to bolt this stuff. So they're down there drilling 40, 50 holes.

[00:23:43] Eric Goranson: I tell you what, there's a lot of people down there when no one's looking, they're drilling away and it's uncomfortable in a crawl space to wear a respirator. It's uncomfortable and hard to drag a hose from a vacuum system all the way over there. Keep it hooked up to the saw or the drill [00:24:00] or whatever.

[00:24:01] Eric Goranson: Those are the people I'm the most concerned about. I get it with the con with the countertop workers, but this is where we're going to start to see that. So again, if you've got friends, family, spouses, anybody out there, just make sure they're safe. Make sure they're operating it correctly. Now, one thing I wanted to talk about here, this is an important one.

[00:24:23] Eric Goranson: If you have hired a countertop company to come in and do your fabrication and you see them out in your driveway, your back porch, and they're dry cutting that slab, tell them to stop, get on the phone. That shouldn't be happening. They should be out there using water. And because here's what happens when you do a countertop, for instance, many times, because let's say you're putting in a double sink, double bowl sink, most common thing in kitchens today, or a big single seat doesn't matter.[00:25:00]

[00:25:00] Eric Goranson: What they will do is they will cut out most. Of that sink, but they'll leave a few tabs on there because that will actually make that stronger right there because you don't want that little front and a little back to break when they carry that in there. So they'll leave the piece in there, set it in place, or they'll cut it out in the field before they carried in.

[00:25:22] Eric Goranson: So the problem that you run into with that when they do that. Is if they're not out there cutting it with water, that's where the problem is. And then all of a sudden you got that silica dust. Maybe it's in your grass, maybe it's on your plants, maybe it's around there. That stuff goes everywhere. Same happens with people out there that are repointing chimneys, that kind of stuff.

[00:25:42] Eric Goranson: They need to be using vacuums. They need to be doing all that stuff. So if they're up there with a grinding wheel, there better be a dust attachment to it with a HEPA vac on the other side. Then you've got something that's going to be healthy for you and everybody else. I know people that have gone out of town and said, hey, I'm out of town.

[00:25:59] Eric Goranson: I've got this mason [00:26:00] coming by. And they came in, ground out all the stuff, re pointed the whole chimney out of the 1930s house. They got back Sunday night, looks good, goes, oh man, there's a lot of dust everywhere. What's going on? They weren't there to see it, nor did they have a camera system to see. Monday morning, Ocean Spectre comes up, starts looking around going, who did the work here?

[00:26:23] Eric Goranson: Cause there's a lot of dust. Now they couldn't find them because they weren't there during that time. But if they had seen it, that would have been a whole job site stop and a whole big mess. Here's the thing I want to talk about here at the end of this one here, this segment and going into the next one, what are some better materials?

[00:26:45] Eric Goranson: If it's a concern for you now, it's only a concern for me. This is up to everybody. If I've got a bad installer. Don't you're not going to have any risk in your house that I've ever seen. There's not a study that shows that I've looked [00:27:00] That says you have any risk of this being in your house. You're not grinding on it.

[00:27:05] Eric Goranson: You're not cutting it You're not doing any of those things. So that's what i'm worried about with all of that So make sure that you've got that but you've got some other choices out there The other choices you have out. There is real stone Granite that's going to be under 45 I would stay away from quartzite, which is different than quartz quartzite is a natural stone.

[00:27:29] Eric Goranson: That's one that's high in silica dust. The centered or porcelain slab, I think, is a great option. That's down in the low under 20 percent silica dust. So, these are all great products out there that you can use and are very durable and will last a heck of a long time. Just like the other materials I put in the porcelain slab porcelain, I put in the stuff.

[00:27:57] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, I love that stuff. It has [00:28:00] performed, it has taken everything we've thrown at it. I even dropped a beam when I was setting it on my kitchen outside, my outdoor kitchen. Dropped it off my shoulder, knocked me off the ladder, landed on the countertop, didn't break it. That's pretty solid.

[00:28:14] Eric Goranson: And, if it'll take that abuse, it's going to take anything you can throw at it, which I like. If you want to track me down, give us a call at 833 239 4144. That's 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. Alright guys, we'll wrap this up. When we come back, when around the house returns don't go anywhere.[00:29:00]

[00:29:09] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Round the House Show. This is where we. Hope you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining me today. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online. com. We were just talking about the potential ban of courts, countertops in the U S and we've hit that and talked a little bit more about it than I probably needed to, but I wanted to see if I could get you out as much information as possible.

[00:29:33] Eric Goranson: And now next up here in the show, I wanted to talk a lot about in this last segment of this hour. To make sure that we've got you covered when it comes to home inspections. And this can be the wild West in some areas and pretty dialed in others. Now, home inspections, what I'm talking about are people that are out there inspecting that home bar prior to you purchasing it.

[00:29:57] Eric Goranson: And this is where you can run into problems. And we're gonna [00:30:00] have a guest on later on this month to talk in more detail about this. But for everybody out there, that's maybe thinking about buying a house or you're working on it, maybe interest rates are starting to get a little bit better. Let's talk about that for a minute, because there's a lot of weight that people put on the home inspector.

[00:30:17] Eric Goranson: And unfortunately, these are people as good as they are that don't have x ray vision. So let's talk about this for a minute. Here are my best practices. And when you're buying a house. And you're thinking about doing it and you want to go through the home inspection. This is what I want. I see you do. And this is something that you as the homeowner, especially if you're a little bit handy, should be involved in.

[00:30:43] Eric Goranson: So first off, order your house inspection, make sure you talk to your realtor. I don't want the one that's going to give the glaze over the realtor likes that. That's good. Beautiful little maintenance issues. Don't worry about it. I want to make sure you got somebody good coming out there. [00:31:00] Now, here's the problem with good.

[00:31:02] Eric Goranson: There are states that have licensing programs where they have to take classes and education. There are states that any fool can be a home inspector. And I want you to figure out before you go through this process, which, where you live and what the rules are, because here's the thing in most, if not all cases, if you're paying a home inspector, 600 bucks to come out and do an inspection.

[00:31:29] Eric Goranson: What's their liability? 600 bucks. There's not much there. And usually those contracts, there is nothing you can go after on that. And if you have a big problem that gets missed, guess what? That can be a problem. So here's what I would recommend through your inspection process. If you are worried about these things that I would make sure and go this way about it.

[00:31:58] Eric Goranson: So what I would do, call [00:32:00] in your home inspector, have them do their thing. See if you can get that house for a day. To have a home inspection done that I would call in these other people. I would make sure you bring in and you're going to have to pay these people. This is not a free inspection, but find out what it's going to cost for them to come out.

[00:32:21] Eric Goranson: I would have that home inspector come out. I would have an HVAC person come out that you trust and take a look at it. I would have a roofing company that does repairs. Come on, take a look at it. I want them to get under the hood on this thing deep. I also want to make sure that if you have a foundation issue, any kind of a crack, older house.

[00:32:50] Eric Goranson: I would not mind having a foundation company come out and give an inspection as well. If there is one single crack, I would bring an inspection, have an inspection done by a [00:33:00] foundation company and see what happens. That way, you know what's going on and you get a good idea because here's what it comes down to when you're looking at a house.

[00:33:12] Eric Goranson: What are some of the biggest ticket items, brand new roof, new HVAC system, and dealing with water in a basement, water in a crawl space, or a damaged foundation. Those are three of the big ones right there. Now I would lean on your home inspector to make sure to go around and double check the doors and windows and drains and all that stuff.

[00:33:35] Eric Goranson: In my area, and this is part of the thing I want you to understand. Some states, some areas, some wherever you're at will require a pest inspection done. That's another one that I would have done. Make sure that you don't have any other issues. And then if you're worried about an old home, if you've, this house is built over 30 years ago, would not be bad to have a sewer line inspection.

[00:33:59] Eric Goranson: If it's [00:34:00] not included in your deal, like in my state, a sewer inspection is part of it's required for the bank. That's required of the process. You always have a sewer inspection, just as in my area, you have to have a rate on expect inspection as well. So I would check all of those things. Make sure you got it way dialed in.

[00:34:25] Eric Goranson: And you're going to be good to go. But here is the bad part. There is limited liability for any of these people. If you bring in a pest inspector to come in, they look around. I don't see anything. Two years later, you're getting ready to do a remodel. And so he goes, gee, do you see that crawl space with all that termite damage?

[00:34:50] Eric Goranson: You might get 600 bucks out of them. You might get 200 bucks out of them, but you're not going to get them to fix it. So that's where the issue rises. You can't [00:35:00] fully lean on these people. They're going to give you their best professional opinion. And that is not always foolproof. None of these people are going to be opening up walls and taking a look inside.

[00:35:11] Eric Goranson: So they have no idea what's going inside those walls. They walk into a house, they're there for a couple hours and they're going to give you your best bet. So the issue is if you have an older house and I'm talking built before 2000, the older the house, the higher the risk, there's more risk. Because of building the way they built the homes, the way they, we have more years of chance of termite infestations.

[00:35:42] Eric Goranson: Building science has come a long way over the last 20 years. It sure caused some problems early on, but they've got it dialed in, but these are all things that I want to make sure that you understand, and quite frankly, you can't blame the inspector on it. They missed something. And I completely [00:36:00] understand it could be a 20, 000 kit for you.

[00:36:04] Eric Goranson: But that's why I want to have other professionals to come in double check that before you do it. And then while you're at it, while these people are working, just make sure you contact your building department wherever you are and check the square footage of the building compared to what's on the listing.

[00:36:24] Eric Goranson: If you are a year long listeners, have you been listening to this show for a couple decades? You've heard me preach that before, but so many times people and closing a porch, finish a basement. Do an attic, convert into living space. And they're saying, Hey, we're selling you a 1700 square foot house. But guess what?

[00:36:43] Eric Goranson: The building department, who's the only official person of how many square feet you have in that house says you have a thousand square feet. You just paid for 700 square feet. You didn't get. And that's where that gets expensive. And if you're at three, four, 500 bucks [00:37:00] a square foot on an expensive house, you're getting taken to the cleaners.

[00:37:03] Eric Goranson: And so is your bank. If someone didn't pull a permit on this, the building department doesn't know about it. If the building department doesn't know about it, that space doesn't exist because if you go pull a permit to do a remodel on one of those spaces, they're going to go, Hey, you got to bring that up to 2024 building code.

[00:37:22] Eric Goranson: Cause nobody's done that before. This is a brand new look. And if that's a second story where somebody put in, took an attic and made it into a bedroom or a master bedroom and a bathroom or a finished basement with a nice cool area and you pull a permit to do something right down there, unknowing, this could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars because I've seen it myself.

[00:37:44] Eric Goranson: I've seen it happen. So do your due diligence with that. But when you lean on that inspector, make sure that you realize their liability. And I'm not a lawyer, not pretending to play one on TV either. [00:38:00] But if you read through the fine print, they tell you what their liability is. That's where you're going to get burned.

[00:38:04] Eric Goranson: And I don't want to see that happen to you or anybody else. So make sure those things are followed and you're going to be okay. Cracks in a foundation are not a big deal. If they're dealt with correctly, these are all things that can happen. But the problem is where it gets expensive is if all of a sudden you realize something has been settling.

[00:38:23] Eric Goranson: So if you've got multiple cracks, maybe that's where you bring in the structural engineer before, during your inspection period to make sure they've got it dialed in. That way, you know that I don't have to go in and put helical piers in and support part of the house at 2000 bucks a pop or whatever costs in your area.

[00:38:41] Eric Goranson: I don't want to see you get stuck with a 30, 000 foundation bill when you just bought your dream home and somebody missed it. So that's the big part. Just realize how well you can push this all together, find your dream home and get it. I just don't want to see you get burned. By getting the wrong people are not [00:39:00] enough people out there All right, everybody.

[00:39:02] Eric Goranson: I gotta run. I hear the music in the background. It is time to go Thanks for tuning in the round the house If you want to see us head over to around the house online. com Some of you will catch our two on the radio coming up And if not, you can always catch it on the podcast player on any podcast player.

[00:39:16] Eric Goranson: We'll see you next week Thanks for tuning into around the house. I will see you next time