There is now a requirement for the inspector to look at the installation in the following categories.
1. Did the contractor clean up around the house? To verify this, the inspector stood in front of my house and asked me if the crew had cleaned up.
2. Are the flues intact? The reason given for the inspection was that in some roofing situations, the flue pipes had been knocked loose. The danger of CO is very real when that happens. I get that.
We have a natural gas furnace and a natural gas water heater. The inspector went up the pull down stairway and could easily see the flue from the furnace. The water heater is near the garage and observing the pipes through the attic from it requires walking across the ceiling joists then crouching down and moving to the right about 15 feet. From there, the flue pipes are easily visible. I know. I did it while the roofing crew was here. I was the one that installed the flue so I know exactly where it is and how it is strapped.
The inspector is not permitted by the Town to walk on the ceiling joints. The best that he could do was to look at where the flue connects to the top of the water heater. Because of Town code, a metal ring surrounds the flue so it isn't possible to stand beside it and look up to verify the status of the flue. No attempt was made to look at the roof from the outside to check if the flue that extends beyond the roof line was in place and looked like it was coming out at a reasonable angle. A flue pipe that is bent off to the side is a sure sign that something isn't correct in flow.
So in my case, the $150 fee did not accomplish the purpose set forth by the Town. My water heater flue could be lying in the attic and my family and I could be at risk for CO poisoning and death.
I do understand that there are good roofers and bad roofers and that no every home owner is as familiar as I am with how stuff works and what makes it safe. But I find this situation all too typical. There is a hue and cry about a terrible safety exposure to the public. Plans are put into place and money spent (from tax payer dollars) and the original purpose isn't accomplished anyway.
An isolated case? Not really. I put up a 1,500 square foot shop two years ago. There were multiple "inspections" and I was present for every one. I was my own electrical contractor and hung the electric service from the meter base in. Other than a cursory look inside the building twice (both of those took less than 2 minutes), the only real inspection was the my GFCI would trip. Noone checked that the physical dimensions of the building met the approved diagram or that the building was assembled per the drawings. Two of my neighbors pulled permits for their similar sized buildings more than 5 years ago and never had final inspections. Because I have a separate electric service to that building, I had to have a final inspection before the Town would give permission the the electric company to set my meter.
I understand that, at some level, inspections should be done. I'm positive, however, that my Town's current level isn't close to a correct one. One of the inspectors told me that the Town's estimate is that they only are involved in about 30% of the work that they are supposed to inspect. All the rest is done without permits or anything. Most of the reason for that underground construction is that the Town has gained a reputation for being unreasonable to deal with. So for 3/4 of the homes and businesses where that work is being done, there is no "protection" of any kind. Miraculously, the buildings that aren't inspected aren't falling down or burning up.
Once again, it is the law abiding citizens who try to do the right thing that are punished. I just makes me wanna
The electrician came out the next day and took care of it. He simply removed the duplicate ground. He gave me the wire and lug and said just reconnect it after the inspector left and then he'd call the power company to re-energize.