Investment propertyWhich Homes Have "Exotic" Materials?
Some homes built in the last 20 years are built of materials that are labeled “exotic” by the Home Inspection Industry.
Some of these components are those that are so new that they have a limited history on which to base a judgment about their life expectancy. Other “exotic” products have been the subject of class action law suits.
It is the duty of a home inspector to attempt to identify the existence of “exotic” components, and report them to the buyer. According to the Uniform Home Inspector"s Code Book™ “exotic materials” are defined as follows:
Exotic Material or Component: Any building material that has only the manufacturer"s claims or guarantees of its performance and no empirical evidence regarding life expectancy. Some examples are spray foam roofing, polybutylene piping, HPTV piping, high efficiency furnaces and boilers, & pressed board siding.
Exotic Material Standards: The standards by which a product or material is deemed exotic are:
If it is not referenced in applications specified in the 1970 Architectural Graphic Standards.
If it has not been in common use for 25 years in U.S. residential construction.
Using these criteria, many more products could be named that are currently being used in residential construction such as other forms of plastic water supply pipe, “particlecrete” - simulated slate roof tile, and EIFS stucco. The Home Inspector is responsible only for identifying these items, not trying to judge their relative efficacy or durability.
Some of the components that can be currently classified as “exotic” are:
Composite roofing made to simulate tile or slate;
Composite (not wood) siding or any kind of pressed board siding;
Polybutylene plastic , (PB), piping;
PEX plastic manifold-type plumbing supply pipes;
CPVC plastic water supply pipes
Exterior Insulated Finish Systems of all types, aka: EIFS simulated stucco;
Metal roofing made to simulate clay tile;
High efficiency furnaces or water heaters – In particular, their combustion chambers and their plastic exhaust vent pipes;
Any other gas appliance that uses a plastic pipe for exhaust venting;
Spray foam roofing.
In your market place you may have other products in common use that qualify. Don’t be bashful about asking your home inspector to identify these products. Although the home inspector is not responsible for predicting how well these products will perform, s/he should alert the consumer and Realtor® to their existence.
The dichotomy concerning exotic materials is that they can be serviceable at the time of the inspection, but the home inspector has no basis on which to make a judgment about their durability. Indeed, some of these new products have a history of failure and corresponding class action law suits against the manufacturer.
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Duty of a Home Inspector:
A Home Inspector shall inspect a home’s visible and readily accessible components for “material conditions” or “material facts” and report them to the buyer as it affects:
Value,
Desirability,
Habitability, or
Safety of the dwelling.
Material Fact - A fact that would be important to a reasonable person in deciding whether to engage or not to engage in a particular transaction; an important fact as distinguished from some unimportant or trivial detail.
The "Lectric Law Library™
A Home Inspector makes his/her judgments about the condition of the components of a home based upon a visual evaluation of the durability and serviceability of each component.
Source: Uniform Home Inspector’s Code Book™