ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2008
Every year I will be driving home and hear on the news that it will get below freezing during the night. Last night was one of those for me! Note: Obviously this is long past true for some of the country. When I hear that temperatures will dip below freezing, it reminds me to get into my fall...
10/30/2008
Some problems in a home can be a ticking time bomb. This, my fifth of six posts regarding What I'm Seeing Now in new home construction, eventually will be a big problem. A true ticking time bomb. Or bombs. There are actually two things: Drywall screws used to secure toilets. Properly install...
10/29/2008
They say to never say never. Well, in this fourth of six posts regarding new construction I am going over one more thing regarding insulation. What I'm Seeing Now is something that you should never trust - that everything that should be insulated, is insulated. For example: 1. Corners. Some carpe...
10/27/2008
Sometimes home inspectors say things that might sound trivial, but they aren't. This blog entry is one of those things. It is the third in this list of What I'm Seeing Now: Bath tub overflow drains. This is something that might seem insignificant, until someone takes a bath! Then, suddently, w...
10/26/2008
This post continues with What I'm Seeing Now and my list of typical pre-drywall problems. You will recall that I will list six in total. This post treats the second - weight transference and support. Structurally, how weight is transferred and supported in a structure is critically important. ...
10/25/2008
In Northern Virginia there is still a lot of new home construction. New homes are a great source of business for me. People often ask me if this or that is a good builder. My answer is: it depends on the supervisor who is on site every day, and on the quality of the subcontractors. All the b...
10/21/2008
There are so many foreclosures and short sales! And they are owned by banks. There are usually local realtors who have been asked to list the house and manage the listing. To sell the house, a selling agent contacts the local listing agent and works through that contact. It might be that 50% ...
10/19/2008
In Northern Virginia I have been doing many home inspections on foreclosures (and more recently short sales) for over a year. Years ago, foreclosure meant "trashed," with people so mad they left the house taking all they could and damaging what they couldn't. At the outset of the recent foreclo...
10/17/2008