A Northern Virginia Home Inspector's Perspective

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Home Inspector - Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - 3380-000723

ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS

2012 

The phone call was from someone I have heard from before to perform a thermal imaging inspection, but began, "We never had a leak in this room before."  This was my first hurricane-related call, coming the day after!  It was still raining hard during the inspection! They had been waiting for the ...
10/30/2012
I have begun a few posts with that phrase, but last night it was a dark and stormy night - really! It was so stormy the dog was upset all night, looking at the windows.  I had to let her out the basement door to relieve herself before bed, which is not the routine, but she ran out, quickly did he...
10/29/2012
"The power of population is infinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population increases in a geometric ratio, while the means of subsistence increases in an arithmetic ratio. The number of mouths to be fed will have no limit;  but the food that is to supply...
10/29/2012
We have been in our house for fourteen years last month.  In that time I have never bothered to look in to check our sump pump!  Understanding that we are expecting perhaps 10" of rain in 24 hours (!!), it got me thinking.  So, anticipating the hurricane, I decided to check my own sump pump. It's...
10/28/2012
It's an older house.  The buyers wanted a lot of new.  So they had landscaping done, a new roof, new siding, and new windows installed.  That's just on the outside.  Inside "she" got a new kitchen, and "he" got a new basement room, including a bar area with a new, great, hand-made, old-fashioned,...
10/27/2012
From this yard I could look out and see the high Blue Ridge Mountains, yes ... but drains should not be the high point. We have two sets of mountains here in Virginia - the Alleghenies (Blue Ridge) and the Shenandoahs.  I have seen, and climbed, the Rockies out west.  And for two years I lived mo...
10/26/2012
Again, on new construction, you just want to grab the guy and say, "Get real!  You can do better than this!" This is what we saw coming around the back side of the house. This is a guy who knows purple primer should be used on PVC tubing. This is a guy who does not understand aesthetics. I notice...
10/25/2012
Sounds almost like a title for an article in Scientific American - "Major Termite Infestation and a Really Big Queen." This house is 250 years old, a duplex, which was common then, and had been lived in by an elderly gentlemen.  A son is living there now, trying to get the house ready for sale. A...
10/24/2012
One of the things that attracted this couple to this builder in this neighborhood and buying this style home was that this builder participates in "green" construction techniques and this couple would be helping this planet. Well, is your builder an Energy Smart Builder?  This one is... Click the...
10/23/2012
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Adam Smith (1723 - 1790) This simple, yet profound, statement is typical of the thinking of one of the most prominent and influential economists in worl...
10/22/2012
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Jay Markanich

Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia
local_phone(703) 330-6388
smartphone(703) 585-7560
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An experienced home inspector's look at current home inspection events and conditions along with his useful recommendations.