Water heater closet storage: clearance, access, and the cite

The water heater closet quietly becomes a storage closet — paint cans, holiday boxes, a mop bucket — until an inspection turns it into findings. Storage packed against the heater blocks access to the T&P valve and shutoff, hides leaks until they are expensive, and in the worst arrangement puts combustibles against a fuel-fired appliance. The NSPIRE walk here is two checks in one: the heater itself (T&P discharge run, leaks, corrosion) and the space around it (can the inspector — and your tech — actually reach everything?). Clear the closet on every turn and photograph it clear. What is the strangest thing your crew has found stored against a water heater? — Admin