The menace is there, almost in plain sight, but not quite -- slightly concealed. It is not unlike a tightly coiled rattlesnake waiting to strike, except the snake will give you it's telltale warning, a rattle, that your life might be in peril. Not so with the danger that is lurking at the house
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03/16/2008
A home inspector seldom specifies something as a code issue. There are legal reasons for this. However, that does not mean that an inspector does not know a number of codes and is looking out for violations, especially with safety issues. Unless a major renovation is underway, codes are not retr
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03/13/2008
A reference was made today, in a blog, to the home inspector as a storyteller. I look upon writing a report in much that manner. While not always possible, it is my goal to get the point across, good or bad, with detailed descriptions and interesting photos. Where possible, I try to use the term
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03/13/2008
The photo below left is an example of the way some people vent exhaust fans from bathrooms, laundry rooms or even range hoods. They duct the fan to the attic, but instead of having a proper hood on the roof, they tie the duct in the general vicinity of a roof vent. One problem is that, often the
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03/13/2008
You might argue that a skylight does not "think". That well may be true but I would argue that if a skylight could think, this one would be thinking about leaking. I know a roofer who says that there are two types of skylights: "Those that are leaking and those that are going to leak." If this
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03/13/2008
Lights, and determining if they operate, can be problematic for the home inspector. In old homes, and new homes, there might be combinations of burned out bulbs or missing bulbs. Also, light switches are unidentified (as in not labeled) so sometimes when a switch does not operate it can be hard
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03/13/2008
Gas and oil furnace manufacturers recommend that a furnace have professional service by an HVAC professional each year. That applies to a new furnace, after it has been in for a single year. That does not mean that it should be run for the first five years, then it gets on a regular maintenance
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03/12/2008
If you have ever been in a new home and saw that 24 hour timer on the wall of the bathroom or the laundry room, then you are probably looking at the 24 hour ventilation system. These systems are designed to be set to operate automatically. This is done with one or more fans. In the simple system
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03/10/2008
It is pretty common, in older homes, for buyers to notice or speculate that floor slope is present. This can be caused by many factors, from settling to wood destroying organism damage to workers that did not spend too much time looking at "level". An inspector, or anyone, who wants some idea of
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03/10/2008
The photo below, from a recent home inspection, is a classic example of the attic insulation being poured in around old knob and tube wiring. Knob and tube wiring, at least in the modern day, is problematic even at best. Many insurers do not want to insure homes with old knob and tube wiring and
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03/10/2008
