04/28/1994 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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present evidence as to what he has found. After that Mr. Duffy should be given the opportunity to cross examine him, and then the board members can ask questions, then briefly it should be indicated why he is bringing it to this board. In response to Mr. Gareau's questions, Mr. Kettle advised that he has been a building inspector for the city of North Olmsted for the past 6 years aud had been a carpenter and general contractor for the last 41 years. His duties as an inspector of the city of North Olmsted includes making structural, heating, and electrical inspections. During 1992 and 93 Mr. Kettle, as an inspector for the city of North Olmsted, did have occasion to inspect the home at 5321 Whitehaven Avenue. Both before and after occupancy, he did note certain violations after these inspections and reported them to the Building Commissioner: The B vent was touching the roof sheathing, this vent is the one which exhausts the gases from the furnace, and the manufacturers specifications and the code xequire it to be 1 inch away from the pipe. The city of North Olmsted operates under the Cou.ncil of American Building Officials Code (C.A.B.O.) and this situation was not in conformity with that code. Mr. Kettle notified Mr. Simmons of these violations by letter. Other violations included the attic access which was 21 by 20 instead of 22 by 30 which is required by code; the anchor bolts which should be 6 foot ou center in the foundation were not installed. When the house was inspected originally it was pointed out to the contractor that some of the anchor bolts had been installed, but some were missing, The contractor advised that they had run out of them; but they were getting some more and they would be installed. Mr. Kettle stated' that he never went back to see if they had been iustalled. The way the house is constructed'there is a possibility that these could be installed now. This requirement is also a C.A.B.O. code. Further, the clearance on the stairs should be 6 foot, 8 inches of head height walking down the stairs, on the lower part of the stair going from the first to the second floor the angle of the step and the nearest obstruction is 6 foot, 4-1/2 inches. He clarified that tlus is at the bottom of the step on the first floor going to the second. Also the stairway to the basement had less than a 6 foot, 8 inch headroom, and was approximately 6 foot at the bottom of the steps. The contractor was advised of this. He stated that when the house was first built, they had found that there was not enough attic ventilation, aud more was added, but apparently not enough was added. The code requires 1/150th of the attic area must have that amount of ventilation, both in the eaves and the upper part of the" roof. The upper part seemed to be sufficient, but there was not enough in the overhangs. The result of this could be condensation in the attic area. He did find condensation in the area of where the exhaust fans blew out, and there was mildew on the sheathing. But this was corrected and vents were added. He had also noted that there was not enough clearance between the vents going through the roof. He just found out about the insufficient ventilation recently, but except for that, the rest were brought to the attention of the contractor in a memo to the Building Commissioner which was forwarded to Mr. Simmons. Mr. Kettle has re-inspected this property, the most recent time being the day before the meeting and stated that to his knowledge, nothing has been corrected. He also advised the Building Commissioner verbally that that nothing had been done since the previous inspection. He has not cliscussed these issues with Mr. Simmons since he made his last report. Mr. Duffy, attorney for Mr. Simmons, then questioned Mr. Kettle. Mr. Kettle advised that the house was occupied at present, that an occupancy permit had been issued, and that he and a retired inspector, Mr. Sanker, had done part of that final inspection; but he was not a.n electrical inspector at that time, and he did not know who did the electrical inspections. The occupancy permit was issued in March of 1993, but the owners were given permission to move in because some items could not be completed at that time of the year. He believed that the Foxes took occupancy in late 3