Home inspection in Downers Grove, Illinois answers questions about plumbing systems

Last month on a home inspection in Downers Grove, Illinois I was faced with a clients question about his “dream” home’s plumbing system.  This could be a potential costly issue depending on the age of the system and if any upgrades were made. There are basically 3 different systems in a home. The first is the water supply; which gives you your water ( hot and cold). The second system is tied to the third. This system is called waste and venting, which works together but could still operate without the venting but not advised.
There were 2 issues that needed immediate attention at this home inspection in Downers Grove.  Both items were what we call “defective”.  That doesn’t always mean that the repairs will be expensive. In this case,  the repairs would be some what costly due to the severity of the repairs needed.
The 1st item that we found at this home inspection in Downers Grove was the water piping.  The water piping was 87 years old and made of galvanize piping.  Generally galvanize pipe has a life span of 50 years. This homes piping system had lasted longer than the average galvanize system.  The “tell tales” of galvanize piping issues is generally seen at the fitting connections.  There would be pitting and rusting. The more severe the rusting , pitting and possible leaking the more severe the damage to the piping. Galvanize pipe corrodes from the inside out.  In this case, leaks were seen in the pipe walls.  My recommendation was to upgrade  the water piping system to copper.
The 2nd issue found at the home inspection in Downers Grove was a missing condensate drip leg used in the gas supply for the water heater.  This is not a costly repair but a nessecary one to prevent the corrsion of the water heater tank. There is moisture in gas and it needs somewhere to go or it will burn at the burner under the tank and cause the tank to corrode.  By adding a drip leg this will eliminate this concern.