Friday, July 11, 2014

Melted siding, damage to cars and fires from low "E" windows

For many years myself and other home inspectors have been noticing vinyl siding warped and melted similar to that in this photo. We have been scratching our heads attempting to determine why. It appeared in many cases that it was in a corner near a window and was being caused by reflection of sun off of the window. With research you will find much worse issues with larger damage and damaged to cars parked in adjacent parking lots and even causing fires.

http://www.ncdoi.com/OSFM/Engineering_and_Codes/Documents/TempRules/140610ResidentialLowEGlazingEffectiveJuly2,2014.pdf
Here is a link to a very interesting news report from WRAL TV:
If your home or condo is experiencing this you need to pay attention to the information provided above!

4 comments:

  1. I see this from time to time during inspections and have always wondered the cause, I mean it is obviously heat damage presumably from the sun but its not always even in the sunniest portion of the property, magnified reflection from a window makes sense.

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  2. I would have never guessed that that was from sun reflecting off the window. It takes quite a bit out of your home value and curb appeal too. Since that's what home inspectors are looking for, how would you best prevent that problem? You can't just take the windows out. There has to be some way to preserve the value of your home from that sort of damage.

    Gerald Vonberger | http://ppinspect.com/InspectionServices.html

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  3. I never would have guessed that was caused by the sun! I wasted so much time trying to figure out where the water was coming from, since I thought that's what was damaging the siding. And this is why building inspections are so important. It's impossible to know what you're getting into otherwise.

    Jenn | http://jha.com.au

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