Ceiling tiles, do you lift them?

[Stephen Lagueux]

Ceiling tiles, you're damned if you lift them and you're damned if you don't

Acoustical ceiling tiles will often be the material of choice in the basement. Relatively cheap and easy to install, the typical weekend warrior will chose to do it himself but will often hide or cause critical situations in the process.

Some might say it's not within their scope of practice and that if you lift one you have to lift them all. Others will say that they don't touch them unless there are visible clues such water stains.

Personally, I like to know what I'm dealing with so I'm in the camp that will lift one here and there to have a general idea of the structure above, rim joist insulation, wiring, plumbing etc. I will snap a few pictures and go on with the inspection.

How far do you go to have a look at what's going on above?

[Jerry Simon]

Always, without fail; lift a few here & there.

I've found cash, guns, drugs, dirty magazines, plastic trays to catch leakage, thousands of rodent droppings, beer cans, you name it.

Not to mention open electrical junction boxes, mold, framing problems, yadda yadda yadda.

Uhmmm - why are you damned if you do lift them?

[John Dirks Jr]

I especially lift the ones that are under front stoops, deck ledgers, sliding door thresholds and all that high potential water intrusion or typical WDI infested areas.

[Stephen Lagueux]

Uhmmm - why are you damned if you do lift them?

Well, it's just a figure of speech. Some might argue that if you lift one here and there, you could still miss something and if you lifted one, you should've lifted all of them and by not doing so increases your liabilty.

[Jerry Simon]

Uhmmm - why are you damned if you do lift them?

Well, it's just a figure of speech. Some might argue that if you lift one here and there, you could still miss something and if you lifted one, you should've lifted all of them and by not doing so increases your liabilty.

I hear ya. Sounds like complete crap preached at a HI school. . .

[Neal Lewis]

Like John, I lift them in key areas. And, I say in the report I lifted a few but can't lift all them and that there could be stuff going on I couldn't see.

[Marc]

I always lift at least one. The more I find, the more I lift.

Client is depending on you to find what there is to find.

Marc

[Ben H]

Uhmmm - why are you damned if you do lift them?

I always get that crap in my eyes as I fight to put it back down.

[kurt]

I hear ya. Sounds like complete crap preached at a HI school. . .

Yep. No one is going to be punished for looking.

We're supposed to look. At least, I thought we were.

[Jim Katen]

Uhmmm - why are you damned if you do lift them?

Well, it's just a figure of speech. Some might argue that if you lift one here and there, you could still miss something and if you lifted one, you should've lifted all of them and by not doing so increases your liabilty.

Buncha crap.

Missing problems increases your liability. If you lift them, you reduce the risk of missing problems.

Refusing to lift them falls under the heading of attempting to cover your butt at the expense of your client's butt. My first rule of home inspections is, "cover your client's butt and yours will be covered automatically." Lift the tiles. The only reason not to is laziness.

[Bill Kibbel]

You don't have to lift all tiles to see almost everything.

Get on a stepladder so your head is above the entire ceiling.

[kurt]

Then, take a picture. Or a couple pictures.

[Scottpat]

I lift a few take a few pictures and move on. As others have said you will not be let down with what you find!!

[stubrooks]

I do it and use the camera when possible. I had one ceiling where there was not enough room above the tiles to get my head up there but the camera caught a bad plumbing connection. I hate putting them back in place. They seldom such fall back into place and I spend too much time trying to reset them without breaking them.

[Bill Kibbel]

I hate putting them back in place. They seldom such fall back into place and I spend too much time trying to reset them without breaking them.

Rap on the metal grid with your knuckles. Most of the time the panels drop right in.