A Northern Virginia Home Inspector's Perspective

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

ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS

2014 

Pulling into the driveway and seeing the house from a distance, I saw the front siding was virtually underground, and thought, "When it it okay to bury siding behind soil?  Ever?" Getting out and getting closer I was pleasantly surprised.  It turns out that in this case it is okay! The image on t...
05/29/2014
This really was a pleasurable inspection - sure, there was stuff, but pleasurable. Obviously the design of the original house, front and back, brings to mind Mount Vernon, George Washington's inherited home.  Two more recent additions to the original house have been added on each side. Mount Vern...
05/28/2014
Here we are again - new construction HVAC - installed, supervised, inspected and approved. It looks great!  Very professional! This type of installation is getting more and more popular - the cabinet base on the side or the front is used to install an HVAC register.  Especially in areas where the...
05/27/2014
Would That We Will Be Able To Say "Free Enterprise Survives!"      "Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger they can shoot.  Others look on it as a cow they can milk.  Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon." Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) Winston ...
05/26/2014
Reading about my thermal camera on line this homeowner called me about using my camera while investigating a flat roof leak.  But, it wasn't what they thought! They had a couple of leaks actually, and couldn't locate any of them. Complaining of a moldy odor in the staircase from middle to upper l...
05/25/2014
On home inspections I always watch for poison ivy. And you have to!  When people buy houses sometimes it is growing all over the siding and the sellers don't know!  Someone buying the house can get in there, start ripping out the poison ivy and be rewarded with a huge problem in return!  When I s...
05/23/2014
This can happen when testing the plumbing in new construction - here the master bath shower. Builders never like to see this happen.  I have even been blamed in the past for making it happen!  But this is why we do the inspection! You would think that this shower had been tested, and examined, mo...
05/22/2014
With Free Enterprise There Are No Guarantees    "Capitalism offers nothing but frustrations and rebuffs to those who wish - because of claimed superiority of intelligence, birth, credentials, or ideals - to get without giving, to take without risking, to profit without sacrifice, to be exalted wi...
05/19/2014
Believe it or not, high-end, upper-level condos have to be checked for roof leaks! You would think that condo fees go toward not only regular maintenance, but immediate needs! But you have to look! The evidence might be slight. In this condo it was in the ceiling (the owner had tried to paint out...
05/18/2014
We home inspectors see this all the time - decks - not attached correctly, not supported correcly - dangerous. These photos are all from the same deck!  And it has been there a while. Example number one. The outside joist. The joists of the deck are erratically spaced, some 22" and some 24". They...
05/16/2014
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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.