Home Safety: Carbon Minoxide (CO) and the Home

When a home inspector enters the garage they usually commence by saying that home safety is the number one priority when choosing a home. Then we look first to the garage mandoor to see if the automatic man door closer is attached.  This is often disconnected so that the home owner can enterthe home living space without putting down bags of groceries or to prevent the door from closing and banging the person on the way in. The picture above illustrates just that.

In Ontario the Ontario Buiding Code (OBC) states that garages must be gas proof, hence the door closer is a home safety item mentioned.  The garage mandoor is however usually the least expensive exterior door to install here so it is not surpising that door sweeps can fray of are sometimes missing.  This door is no longer resistant to gas entry.  You will also find that there will be homes that have the exterior casing missing.  So where the door frame ends and the drywall begins there will be a crack that will allow the toxic gases that can appear in the garage to migrate into the building envelope.  Many inspectors will not comment on or feel to check if the door sweep is still good or that door trim or casing should be installed to help seal a garge to home wall.

Garage walls and ceilings can be altered over time.  Cables get added for media purchases, alarm systems, and  electrical upgrades.  Most of the time the holes made are not caulked or foamed to seal these holes.  Hand tools and garden tools get humg, shelving is installed, outlet boxes are added, pucks dent in drywall, and all of these and other changes create holes in wall spaces.  Some people add new garage attic hatches, and not all of these larger holes will have attic doors even though attic spaces to the main living quarters are not disconnected, especailly on older homes.  Most inspectors will see this as it is more obvious.

Garages are also left unfinished most of the time.  They are taped and mudded, but not painted.  Bare drywall is not resisstant to gases, these toxins can pass through this porous layer.  If they are primed and well painted a skin foms to resist gas entry.  Motor vehicles that idle with the gargage doors open, and even if it is just removed from the garage space can still set off a Carbon Minixide (CO) detector inside the home. So whether you are buying a new to you home, or even a new home, painting the garage is essential to home safety and specifically CO entry into the living space. And this is rarely mentioned by home isnpectors while inspecting the garage. 

So when you are making that home purchase look for this in the attached garage space regarding CO entry: automatic door closers that are connected, doors sweeps that still seal at the door threshold, trimed mandoors on both the exterior and the interior( and caulk the seams on the exterior as well), that wall and ceiling perforations are sealed, and that walls and ceilings get painted to actually from a skin on the garagae wall and ceiling surfaces.  There are more CO safety measures here that meet the untrained eye. 

A trained home inspector is also a good looker!  

Kurt Weinberger - home inspector for EnerGREEN Home Inspection Services - serving Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford, Miltion and Mississuaga.  Your kitchenrwaterloohomeinspector.ca, reached at 519-888-0852 or kjweinberger@rogers.com.