Salem, Oregon Home Inspection Blog

I have been working for myself for a little over a year now and I must say that I love my new boss!  I was a home inspector in the Willamette, Valley in Oregon for a little more than three years before I was financially able to pull the plug and take the leap. That "training period," was incredib...

A vast majority of plumbing vents I see during home inspections in the Salem, Oregon area are sealed with a heavy rubber boot.  These are great little things.  The soft rubber is able to mold to most any angle it is forced into and still create a tight seal.  As the summer sun beats down and rais...

  2:30am  Instantly awake!  All of the smoke detectors in our Salem, Oregon home are going off.  BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!!! For close to 30 seconds then they turn off.  I jump out of bed and run into the hall between the kid's and our room ready to assess the situation and get the kids out of the house....

Radon is a radioactive gas that is produced when uranium degrades.  Uranium has a tendency to geologically 'hang,' with granite and other igneous rocks.  This is significant due to the fact that the geology of granite and other minerals can be mapped.   The EPA has a fantastic resource for genera...

I have not determined the exact percentages for how often I see this flashing is installed incorrectly during a home inspection, but it is probably more than 5% here in Salem, Oregon.   It must seem like a good deal to put the metal on the top.  Maybe it seems like a good thing to cover the edge ...

 Home owners are very creative people.  This is especially true of people from previous generations. If I had a nickel for every automotive part used in plumbing repairs that I have seen....I would have enough for a happy meal....maybe. Recently while diligently checking a home's heating system d...

We do get a fair amount of rain during the winter months in western Oregon.  All of that precipitation can sometimes lead to a high water table.  That is one reason there are so many crawlspaces in this area.  If water does come up out of the ground it is hopefully safely covered with a nice plas...

Being an inspector equipped with a highly advance thermal camera I have been called upon to find quite a few leaks.    Leaks can be very frustrating and challenging.  Our modern, climate controlled, super insulated and immaculately finished homes do not respond well to storm water on interior sur...