Not sure the sport bottle you drink from or the container you ear your lunch out of is safe? There has been a lot of hype in the media lately about this. I did some digging and found a great article written by Mimi Brodeur of Newhouse News Service that explains what those numbers, and others, really mean to the average consumer.
J.B. Anderson
J.B.Anderson Inspections Inc.
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Some hard plastics may pose health risks while some lightweight plastics are recommenede for a single use only and some plastics are problem free. When it comes to plastic bottles, the clue is the number that lies at the bottom of the container inside the triangular recycling symbol
Number 1: Polyethylene terephthalate (PET). A lightweight plastic that is used to make a slew of beverage bottles from soft drinks to water. PET bottles are intended for SINGLE USE because PET is known to break down with use and therefore cannot be properly cleaned. The concern therefore with PET products is not so much that they contain toxins, rather, the buildup of bacteria due to infrequent or insufficient cleaning. Scratches and imperfections in the plastic may host bacteria. The good news is that these plastic bottles are the most viable for recycling.
Number 2: A high-density polyethylene (HDPE) made from petroleum, this plastic is pliable, opaque and versatile. Its many uses include sport bottles, cloudy milk jugs, cereal box liners, trash and shopping bags, shampoo and cleaning supply bottles to name a few. There's low risk of leaching, and it's also curbside recyclable.
Number 3: Along with Number 7, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL plastics. These containers should probably be set aside for nonfood usage. Number 3 has been deemed the "toxic plastic" in many circles due to the softeners (DEHA) that with long-term exposure are carconegic. PVC is sometimes found in food containers, and often it is used in making plastic wrap.
Number 4: Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is the plastic material used for bread bags, frozen-food bags, and squeezable bottles, It transmits no know chemicals into food and it is recyclable.
Number 5: Polypropylene (PP) is not as recyclable as number 1 and 2, but this plastic is another good option when choosing safe, toxin-free food and beverage containers. This omnipresent plastic is used in yogurt containers, syrup bottles, straws and medicine bottles.
Number 6: Polystyrene (PS). Like its name implies this material is used in making Styrofoam. It can also be found in plastic tableware and take out containers. This plastic MAY LEACH STYRENE COMPOUNDS, a possible carcinogen.
Number 7: A clear, hard, shatterproof plastic that is made with polycarbonate compound called bisphenol-A, which is a synthetic hormone. IT MAY POSE SERIOUS HEALTH RISKS. The popular and colorful Nalgene water bottles were a good example of this reusable plastic. The Nalgene company has replaced these water bottles with a bisphenol-A free version. Studies conducted on laboratory animals revealed that even small amounts of bisphenol-A may be linked to breast, uterine and prostate cancers.
Recently I was out on an environmental consultation and asked to evaluate for potential moisture intrustion and mold. I have been performing these type of consultation services for years so I was happy to assit this client. What I found was a musty odor and moisture intrusion in the lower level of this lakshore cabin property. To complicate matters the dwelling was an "Earth Home" type with a wood foundation and waterproofing was failing. The air samples and lab report confirmned the presence of an extremely elevated mold spore condition. In this case the prospective property owner had the dollars to remedy the situation and things were moving along smoothly. I left providing a valuable and helpful service to our client.
When I got home I got to thinking about the countless people out there who encounter situations such as these and are left to fend for themselves; 39 states allow property insurers to exclude mold and fungi from homeowners policies. Policies vary greatly in other states, typically available as an additional rider with very limited coverage. The article below is an interesting alternative to this problem.
If you suspect moisture intrusion and mold are present in your home contact us today to perform a forensic moisture intrusion and fungal survey. We use a FLIR infrared camera and Tramex moisture meter to qualatively and quanatively evaluate your home and determine the extent of damage, if any. If you have had cleaning and mold remediation activities contact us for a clearance inspection.
Corinne Purtill The Arizona Republic Nov. 30, 2007 12:00 AM
A bad mold infestation can cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix and can turn a home into a den of wheezing, coughing or worse.
However, homeowners insurance companies in Arizona exclude mold from coverage. As a result, some Valley homeowners say they have had to abandon houses and belongings they believe were making their families sick.
Some of those families are hopeful a bill to be introduced in Congress early next year could help others in similar situations. Sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the "Melina Bill" would create a national insurance program to protect homeowners against major losses as a result of mold. The program would be similar to the national flood-insurance program already in place. It also would mandate mold inspections in public housing and certification for mold inspectors.
Mold experts say it could help protect Americans from a threat to their health and homes.
"The individual homeowners in the United States are facing terrible risks in their financial situations because of the lack of being able to get mold insurance," said Chester Leathers, an environmental consultant and professor emeritus of microbiology at Arizona State University.
Excluded in policies Arizona is among 39 states that allow insurers to exclude mold from homeowners policies. Policies vary in the remaining states.
Payments from a covered incident such as a burst pipe may be used to treat mold. But generally, mold is considered "a maintenance issue, and therefore that's not the responsibility of the insurance companies to handle that particular event," said Ron Williams, executive director of the Arizona Insurance Information Association.
Conyers first introduced the U.S. Toxic Mold Safety and Protection Act in 2005 after a staff member's daughter suffered serious lung damage as a result of indoor mold. The bill failed, but Conyers will reintroduce it in January with modifications, his communications director, Karen Morgan, wrote in an e-mail.
It's unclear exactly what the new version will look like.
Mold tied to ailments Up to 20 percent of the population is allergic to one or more molds, Leathers said. Studies have found extensive evidence linking mold exposure to breathing problems, congestion, irritated eyes and skin irritation.
Arizona's dry climate is no safeguard. Plumbing problems, leaky roofs and humidifiers all can cause indoor mold growth.
Some Valley residents believe mold made them seriously ill.
Luz Fuenzalida's puppy chewed through a pipe in her Phoenix home in November 2001. The next day, she said, she and her two sons, ages 11 and 13, began suffering headaches and nausea. An environmental consultant later found mold as a result of the leak.
The family moved out two weeks later. In 2003, a pediatrician wrote Fuenzalida, saying both boys tested positive for high levels of Aspergillus flavus, a type of mold that can colonize in the lungs. It also produces aflatoxin, a carcinogenic toxin. Lab results from 2004 showed Fuenzalida also had abnormally high levels of aflatoxins in her body.
Fuenzalida's home still sits empty. Once she made a link between her family's health and mold, she never went back. Her insurance company will not cover her losses, she said, and she could lose the house.
"I never in my life thought (mold) could do what it has done," she said.
Scientists, however, say they can't prove a link between mold exposure and serious health problems. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that although indoor mold is a health concern, there is no solid evidence that it causes symptoms such as lethargy and memory problems.
As it is now, there are few options for Valley residents with mold problems they can't afford to fix.
Mary Buchberger, 59, abandoned her possessions and sold her mold-infested Phoenix home after she and her adult son became sick.
In January 2006, Don Herrington, epidemiology bureau chief at the state Department of Health Services, responded to her written complaint with a letter saying that, although he was sorry for the family's struggles, there was nothing the agency could do.
"In Arizona, there are no regulations pertaining to mold, hence, the government agencies within Arizona have no authority to intervene in mold issues," he wrote. "It seems that the most likely way to pursue your desire to help yourselves and others who are faced with a similar concern is through the legislative approach."
I recently inspected a 40 year old Rambler type home and encountered a situation where the attic access was located through a small removable access panel in the ceiling of a closet. While this is commonplace in these types of homes, the hard part is that often times the closet is packed full of clothes and other personal affects. I'm not a big fan of moving peoples clothes and personal items. In fact, our policy is that we don't move anything because of liability concerns and because it puts us in an everything or nothing situation whereas people may ask, "well you moved stuff in the closet so why didn't you move the stuff from under the sinks" or, "Why didn't you move the stuff off the shelves in the utility room to see the walls." The fact is that fully occupied homes present challenges for property maintenance and home inspectors. Home inspectors are not movers and movers and not home inspectors. Now that we have established that, lets get back to my original thought.
In this case I explained to my client that our company, and probably all home inspectors, do not move personal items such as this and therefore I would not be able to evaluate inside the attic. Everything seemed to go well and then I received a phone call about a week later from the client asking us to come back to the property on Saturday and inspect inside the attic because the items had been removed. My response was yes we can certainly respond, and consistent with our inspection agreement the return trip fee will be $$. After a few moments of silence the flood gates opened up, "Why should I have to pay you to come back again to inspect something that should have been inspected the first time?". I explained again that we categorically do not move personal items; after all, even the most plain looking items stored in a battered old cardboard box could be a priceless family heirloom. I have been inspecting properties and homes since 1999, and in over 2,000 inspections this is the first time I have had such a situation come to a boiling point. In the end the client did have us come back out. Since then we have updated our reports to repeat the statement of our preinspection agreement that our inspection fee includes one trip to the property.
I recently came across this article from Allied Home Inspection School about inspection expectations. Its a good read and I agree with most of it. Take a look for yourself and weigh in on this topic for yourself.
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The days of people asking their father-in-law to inspect a house before they buy it are over. Homebuyers now understand that there is a lot of money at stake and a certified home inspection is the only safe bet. Despite this fact, however, there is still some uncertainty about what homebuyers can anticipate when they hire a certified home inspector. Here are some of the basics that homebuyers should expect from someone who has received professional home inspection training:
Standards of Practice: Good home inspectors will give homebuyers the standards they follow, either from the state or from a professional home inspection organization. They will then go over what will be included in the inspection. When the home inspection is over, the report should include a description of:
The property's classification (age, size, location, condition)
What inspection methods were used (probing, visual, measurement and research)
Problem areas/deficiencies (the evidence doesn't need to be conclusive)
The possible consequences of these problem areas
Unsafe areas that will require a third-party inspection
Limits: There are also a number of things a certified home inspector isn't required to do. Those include: determining the market value of the property, offering any kind of warranties or guarantees, entering the under-floor crawl spaces, or inspecting detached structures other than garages or carports. These are just a few examples; clients should come prepared with their own questions.
Inspection Agreement: This is what home inspectors think of as their "contract" with homebuyers. After going through the standards of practice, the homebuyer's expectations, the home inspector's restrictions, and any other items unique to the situation, homebuyer's must sign this agreement before the home inspection begins. The signed agreement should generally include:
Name of the certified home inspector
The property's address
Date of the inspection Cost of the inspection and the method of payment
Information on dispute resolution resources
Finally, homebuyers shouldn't expect a home inspector to assign blame for defects. Their job is to identify problems in the house, note them accordingly, but not to pass judgments.
The demand for energy-efficient construction has significantly increased in recent times. Developments in the field of energy, together with the demand for pleasant indoor environments, have resulted in ever-greater significance having to be attached to both the function of a building's thermal insulation and air tightness and the efficiency of its heating and ventilation systems.
Defective insulation and tightness in highly insulated and airtight structures can have a great impact on energy losses. Defects in a building's thermal insulation and air tightness do not merely entail risk of excessive heating and maintenance costs; they also create the conditions for a poor indoor climate. Lets us know dig deeper into the insulation factors encountered in buildings.
A buildings degree of insulation is often stated in the form of a thermal resistance or coefficient of thermal transmittance, the former being expressed in an "R" value and the latter in a "U" value. However, the stated thermal resistance values rarely provide a measure of the actual energy losses in a building. Air leakage from joints and connections that are not airtight and insufficiently filled with insulation often gives riser to considerable deviations from the designs and expected values.
Certification that individual materials and building elements have the promised properties is provided by means of laboratory tests. Completed building have to be checked and inspected in order to ensure that their intended insulation and air tightness functions are ACTUALLY achieved; enter infrared technology and thermal imaging inspections. With a basic understanding of the difference between laboratory certification and actual performance of building materials we will turn to field analysis of buildings using infrared and thermal imaging equipment.
In its structural engineering applications, thermography is used to study temperature variations over the surfaces of a structure. Variations in the structure's thermal resistance can, under certain conditions, produce temperature variations on its surfaces. Leakage of cold or warm air through the structure also affects the variation in surface temperature. So by now you may be thinking, what does all this mean? To bring theory into alignment with practice this means that insulation defects, thermal bridges and air leaks in buildings enclosing structural components can be located and surveyed to better understand the ACTUAL performance.
That being said, thermography itself does not directly show the structure's thermal resistance or air tightness; it is a qualitative analysis tool meaning visual depiction of surface anomalies that will need further investigation (quantification) by means of additional measurements and analysis.
Of equal importance is the inherent fact that accurate thermographic analysis of buildings relies on certain prerequisites in terms of temperature and pressure conditions across the structure. Generally, the greater the temperature difference between the exterior and interior (Delta T) of a structure will yield the best qualitative information. Details, shapes, and contrasts in the thermal image can vary quite clearly with changes in any of these parameters. The in-depth analysis and interpretation of thermal images therefore requires thorough knowledge of such aspects as material and structural properties, the effects of climate and the latest measuring techniques. For assessing the results of measurements, there are special requirements in terms of the skills and experience of those individuals taking the measurements. The picture below shows a comparison and infrared view of the ceiling in a kitchen below a second story bathroom. The picture validates a toilet that was leaking through the floor flange, although no water was visible in the bathroom area.
That's just a quick taste of several aspects of Building Science. For more information or additional assistance feel free to give us a call or send an email.
Education is often viewed as the answer to social problems and historically speaking Americans place much importance into a quality education. This is probably because that unbeknownst to many, education transmits the culture from one generation to the next when it socializes the young into the basic values, beliefs, and customs of the society (Lauer and Lauer 2006). Therefore a problem exists when undesirable social problems exist and therefore permeate into the educational system to be inevitably passed onto other generations.
One can say that education is a gift of posterity; that probably helps explain why American's have a sense that education is both a problem as well as a solution (Lauer and Lauer 2006). Therefore when education is in trouble it is viewed as a serious matter because education, through its inherent socialization function, is the foundation of American life. Illiteracy has therefore, and continues to be, a recognizable threat to the American values and beliefs held as idealistic, yet Illiteracy is a product of the failure of efforts to educate our children, a product that survives through various socioeconomic and social stratification systems and festers within the very institution created to eliminate its existence. For example educated people usually are the political and corporate heads that accept and maintain the institutional policies and practices that can contribute to social problems of the nation (Lauer and Lauer 2006).
While speaking of illiteracy many will reference a lack of basic education as the precipitating factor. While this is true in many countries, including the United States, many true illiterates reside in developing countries outside the United States. These countries place education second to other life skills such as planting food, hunting, and finding adequate food, clothing, and shelter. Other constraints may focus on cultural beliefs such as gender inequality; women may not be allowed to receive an education because due to the cultural role of motherhood. In other countries the social stratification system may push education above members of the lower strata. This is evident in the United States where education has become a way for members of the upper strata to pass their privilege to their children through education at prestigious Colleges and Universities.
In my opinion, the scourge of functional illiteracy poses the greater potential threat to future generations in the United States. The US. Department of Education has studied literacy rates of adults extensively and has documented evidence that 20% of American adults are functionally illiterate. Functional illiterates can read words but they cannot comprehend their meanings, synthesize information or make decision based on what they read. Equally alarming is that growing trend where the marginally illiterate feel most comfortable receiving information in a visual format, relying more on television than print for information.
At the same time that American's skills are declining, entertainment, computer and telecommunications companies are creating new, technologically advanced methods to amuse and educate us. Sadly, in the excitement about the information superhighway, businesses are ignoring a troubling fact- a substantial number of Americans are not intellectually capable of using their technologies. In my opinion business that sells a product or services that require a user's ability to exercise cognitive skills will face a shrinking market share over the next generational cycle.
No other industrialized country treats literacy with such contempt as the United States.
Be an educated buyer or seller and have a property maintenance inspection completed prior to your purchase or just before your property is listed. Be an educated consumer and verify the education, credentials, and experience of your inspector.
Lauer, R & Lauer, J (2006) Social problems and the quality of life (10th ed)
Here in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul area of Minnesota we, along with may other people in the Midwest United States, get to experience quite a few thunderstorms each year during the summer months. Mild thunderstorms bring with them rain, a few cracks of thunder, and some fanfare in the form of thunder and lightning. Further up the proverbial sleeve of Mother Nature are those thunderstorms that have a distinct ability to take things up a notch and go from mild to wild. If a mild thunderstorm is like a violin soloist performing in front of a small crowd then these thunderstorms can be likened to a full symphony in accompaniment with our violin soloist complete with the full percussion section of lightning and thunder. To what simple phrase then do we use to describe these magnificent storms, Severe Thunderstorms. Over the years I have had the opportunity to attend many of these performances, I have great respect for their conductor, and therefore I am not satisfied with such a simple rendition to describe a performance of this magnitude. Effectively immediately, I have coined the following to describe a severe thunderstorm: an unexpected short-lived period of dynamic excitement.
Yes, these thunderstorms can provide quite a bit of excitement due to their ability to harness the natural forces of nature. Although their duration may be relatively short lived by many accounts, their destructive force will have a lasting affect on most people's lives. Recently us Minnesotans have experienced an unexpected, short lived, period of dynamic excitement (here we go again) by means of heavy rain, thunder, lightening, damaging wind and hail. Although the affected areas only experienced these conditions for less than an hour, the impact was noticed immediately. By the next day reports from the local media outlets had contributed to wide spread knowledge of the situation. My friend Michelle at American Family Insurance said her telephone began ringing before the rain had stopped falling. My telephone was ringing as well, my wife's mother had damage to her vinyl siding, a vehicle in the driveway and some downed branches. It was then that the question of hail damage to the roof came up. The insurance company had been contacted and the answer would come soon enough.
By now, maybe you are asking what the point is to all of this. Well, hang in there cause here it comes. We arrived to help clean up branches and leaves from the yard, when the question of hail damage to the roof came up. Somehow I knew this question would be asked and I had packed my trusty Little Giant® ladder in the truck. I proudly pulled out the Little Giant® and looked at this 8-year-old composition shingle roof. The singles looked like many I had seen before, a few areas here and there with some worn granules but nothing serious. I waited to share my findings with her until after the insurance company adjuster arrived; which occurred just after I had finished my descent from the roof. After spending about 15 minutes on the roof, the adjuster came down and explained the process to my mother in law. I was just within earshot to hear that his synopsis. The roof had sustained hail damage and would need replacement. He continued his explanation of the claims process and included vinyl siding on three sides of the house along with the mailbox, flowerpots, and an automobile (that would be covered under a separate auto policy).
While this was a pleasant surprise for my mother in law, and I did share in her enthusiasm, privately I was baffled to some extent. Sure, it looked like a machine gun had pierced the vinyl siding and the car in the driveway looked like someone had hit the hood repeatedly with a ball-peen hammer. The roof hardly had a scratch, if not for the other damage I would probably have passed it along as normal wear and tear consistent with an 8-year-old roof. After all, during my career as an inspector I had looked at hundreds of roofs that had looked much worse than this one, even similar to the hood of the car in the driveway. The difference however was these other roofs were not accompanied by other obvious damage commensurate with hail. My mother in law pulled out a picture of the hail on the ground after the storm, which she showed me after I had looked at the roof. I could not believe my eyes, this rood had been peppered with marble to golf ball sized hail had hardly any noticeable damage. Not even any dents on the valley flashing and steel exhaust vent. This got me to thinking about hail resistant shingles and roof coverings. Below is a picture of another roof, not my mother in law's roof. Aside from the loose shingle, take a look and see how many damaging impacts you can find.
There are hail-resistant roof coverings and shingles. These products have Class 1 through Class 4 hail-resistance ratings, 4 being the highest. Ratings are established by the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). The ASTM standard involves dropping a steel ball from a pre-determined height and measuring the damage the roof coverings have sustained. My mother in law had no idea what type of shingles were put on the house 8 years ago so I am unable to determine the significance this may or may not have had in this situation.
So what standards do insurance adjusters use when determining the significance of hail damage? I am not an insurance company adjuster, here's what I know though. Many times hailstorms produce visible damage, but the damage is fairly irregular and sparse on the roof. Many insurance companies employ various strategies that attempt to produce an accurate assessment of the overall condition of the roof while taking into consideration the potential sporadic damage that can be inflicted. Many adjusters will measure a 5 foot by 5 foot section of the roof and mark it with chalk that contrasts the color of the shingles. This area is photographed and then the chalk is used to identify each hail impact area. This process is usually done in three separate areas. Then the average number of hail impacts found in the three areas is multiplied by 4. This calculation will yield the average amount of hail impacts per square of roof.
Here's where it gets's dicey: How many impacts constitute a new roof? I have heard its somewhere between 5 and 10 damaging impacts per square although each insurance company has its own standards that it will follow which also takes into consideration the age of the roof coverings. I have seen roofs that had sustained a great deal more damaging impacts than other's that had been denied.
If you believe your roof has sustained hail or wind damage contact your insurance company as soon as possible. If you believe your roof has sustained damage and your insurance company has denied the claim give us a call we can help.
Selling a home and leaving is a stressful event. To help relieve that stress, sellers and buyers typically have "moving parties," "last parties," "first parties," or "housewarming parties." Or they move hurriedly so they don't have to take too much time off from work or use up vacation days or sick leave. Given this process we have learned that it is very possible for damage to occur to the property after the inspection has occurred and prior to occupancy of the new owners. The actual days of moving, in my opinion, are when most post-inspection damage occurs, and usually it is by the guests (or movers) helping the owner (seller or buyer) move, so the owner may not even know anything about the damage that has occurred. In both these instances, sellers like to say, "Your home inspector must not have seen that." Buyers like to say, "Our home inspector missed that." Homeowners rarely damage something during escrow and file a claim against their homeowner's insurance policy because, hey, they think it's not even their home anymore. They think you own it. Why should they fix something that belongs to you? Most sellers actually do not understand (or do not care) that they still own the home during the escrow period and should continue to take care of it.
Here's what we know, though: Windows and window screens, and doors and door screens, are easily damaged during the escrow period and during the move-out/move-in process. Lights, switches, outlets, etc., can be damaged or fail. Because of the location of water supply and drainage pipes in our sink cabinets, where we start cramming things immediately upon move-in, plumbing pipes are easily damaged during the escrow period and during the move-out/move-in process, possibly causing loose pipes and leaks. My personal favorite is a garbage disposal that mysteriously doesn't work when the buyers move in. A re-creation of events following the inspection and prior to occupancy of the new owner will most certainly reveal a situation where in the heat of the moment one hurriedly empties the refrigerator of its final food contents and then realizes that the last bit of trash has been taken out. In an attempt to hurry along the typical search for a suitable trash container is abandoned and a much simpler process is selected; tossing the food down the disposal in the kitchen sink. Unfortunately, certain things such as pumpkin seeds and the husks from corn on the cob are not suitable for food disposals such (yes I have seen this done) and will play havoc with the motor of the food disposal. Lights, wall switches, and outlets (electrical, telephone, and cable) get a lot of use during the escrow period, during the move-out/move-in process, and for those various parties, and thus are easily damaged. In other words, by the time the buyer is completely moved in, there could be anything that just isn't right or isn't the same as it was on the day of the inspection. That, of course, is the nature of real estate.
So how do you remedy all thispost-inspection damage? There are a couple of ways. First, we believe the purpose of your final walk-through is not only to make sure that any requested items have been repaired, but also to make sure that additional damage, deterioration, and destruction beyond normal wear and tear has not occurred. We recommend a careful, slow, and thorough observation with your Realtor and your inspector at your final walk-through to ensure your satisfaction. Recognizing this, our Premium Inspection Service includes the re-inspection of seller repairs to make sure they were done and/or done properly, attendance with you at your final walk-through, and a 30-day personal follow up.
In closing, always attend a final walk through inspection and at a minimum request your real estate professional in attendance. When you have had your own moving parties, walk around your home and check for damage caused by your guests. You're very likely to find some; in many instances, your guests may not even know that they caused damage.
In The Twin Cities Minnesota Area the number of foreclosures is increasing. Many times these properties are distressed due to lack of maintenance during the redemption period. Often times the homes suffer damage such as frozen water pipes or are just plain neglected. These homes can sit vacant for many months while the foreclosure process proceeds. Some of these homes are put back on the Real Estate market with little or no repair work and listed "as is" with the seller (the bank) disclosing no knowledge or damages or previous repairs. buyers must be cautions when proceeding with this type of transaction, the best advice is to hire an independent home inspector who will perform an objective evaluation of the major systems and components of the home.
A vacant residence presents its own types of problems. Although vacant residences typically are unfurnished, meaning that we can see virtually everything, residences that are vacant for any period of time can be expected to present problems upon move-in. Some structural and mechanical components and systems that have not been used on a daily basis can be expected to fail upon first use. A home is meant to be used, meaning that a fully functioning home requires proper use, care, and maintenance. When a residence is vacant, there is no one to do regular monitoring and maintenance.
Think about the "haunted house" in your neighborhood or city when you were growing up. It was vacant and dilapidated, and deterioration was continuing on a daily basis because no one was around to take care of it. Same thing with any vacant residence, new or used. Deterioration is an ongoing process; it does not quit simply because a residence is vacant. We recommend that, before moving in, you compile a list of qualified service personnel (plumber, electrician, appliance repair, etc.) and telephone numbers to assist you in the event of any emergency. The new childrens movie Monster House brought back memories of the mysterious run down haunted house in our neighborhood for me.
Don't buy a Monster House have it inspected and leave the monster to us.
Go ahead, ask away. While I don't claim to know everything I can generally find the answer in a hurry by consulting with my other 9,000 colleagues across the country by posting a question on our inspections message board.
Go ahead, ask the inspector!
Let's cut through the rough waters of inspections tied to real estate transactions by asking questions and sharing our collective experiences.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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