Other Posts by: Paul Tooley

ANSWER: Disconnected furnace vent

It doesn’t take an expert to figure this one out. This furnace vent is obviously disconnected, which allows the discharge to vent directly into the attic space of this house. This can lead to unhealthy air quality for occupants in the house. The vent should be properly connected by an HVAC specialist.

First of all, I hear people say that "vinyl siding is a great maintenance-free siding". There really is no such thing. If you have to so much as just hose it down once in a while, it's not maintenance free. That being said, one of the more intriguing issues I have come up against when looking at a home with vinyl siding is heat damage. Sometimes it's as simple as seeing the gas or charcoal grill sitting up against the house and just knowing what the damaged is caused by. But lately, I have been seeing more and more strange situations.  

Technical Jargon is a forum used to provide more information on terms commonly seen in U.S. Inspect reports.

UST stands for Underground Storage Tank. USTs are simply heating fuel tanks that are buried underground. Their presence is usually determined by the existence of the fill pipe above ground.  The primary concerns with the presence of USTs are soil and groundwater contamination, fire risk, tank collapse, and high maintenance costs.

The two common fuels stored in residential underground storage tanks are propane and fuel oil. Propane vaporizes quickly and does not pose a groundwater contamination threat. This is why testing of underground propane tanks is not necessary in most cases. But fuel oil can potentially contaminate ground water sources--the source of potable water for approximately half the American population.