Salem, Oregon Home Inspection Blog

Thermal Image/Infrared Home Inspector Saves Salem, Oregon family from House Fire

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:26:17 -0500

One of the major events in my life that drove me into the home inspection industry was learning of thermal imaging/infrared and the benefits of this technology for home inspections.

I was doing a home inspection the other day on a very nice, and newer home here in south Salem today. The home had very few minor issues but one thing popped out when I used the thermal camera to scan the master bedroom.

The circuit did not appear to be hot enough to cause a fire however there was no significant load on this circuit and it should not have been heating-up. As it turns out there was a loose wire in the heated outlet in the picture. The heat was produced because of the looseness/resistance of the connection.

Just another issue that can be easily resolved with the help of thermal imagining/Infrared.

Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321 jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

"Always on the cutting edge"

"SIGNS" of the Times that get this Salem, Oregon Home Inspector Noticed

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:31:19 -0500

This whole on-line world can be a little overwhelming, especially to someone that has just discovered blogging and the power that it can wield. What is the world is this all about and how does it work are great questions and will help to improve your understanding of on-line marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

I was telling my father about my on-line marketing and how it was effective at driving business and contacts to me for very little money. I was telling him that my blog and FaceBook are serious tools that allow me to be found when I am doing other things (like home inspections!) He mentioned that he really had no idea what I was taking about. So I started to think about my understanding of this on-line world that I have so-far been able to leverage.

    I watched the movie, "I love you man," the other day and I got to thinking about billboards. In the movie, the real estate agent's friend puts up all kinds of silly billboards for his friend. The advertising was very visible and really got the agent noticed.

   I told my dad that blogging and networking on-line was kind of like that. I put up a billboard in cyberspace every time I write a blog or post a comment. The freeway on and off ramps are controlled by search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). If you are looking for, say a Home inspection in Salem Oregon, for instance, you would drive your car into cyberspace and ask one of those engines to show you where to go and the applicable billboards.

    Now to back track a little; the way a search engines work is by continually cruising around on those freeways. They all have little robots or spiders that are driving around looking at billboards that are being erected in cyberspace. They take note of these billboards and catalog them according to what is on the billboards and where the billboards point. The more entries the spider robots get in their catalogs that point at one place, the higher they rank that location for those terms.

    Of course that is a very down and dirty explanation of things and there can be a significant amount of refinement and development. That is a basic idea of how Search Engine Optimization works. The point of this; is that blogging and on-line social networking is very inexpensive compared to real world (as opposed to cyber-world) advertising. For much less than $1000 dollars a year I have easily doubled my business and done my fair share of puttin' my name out there where it is going to be seen.

Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321

"Always on the cutting edge"

Google Docs, For the People!! A program that has helped this Salem, Oregon Home Inspector be more effective

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:59:20 -0500

Google Docs people!!

    The computer programs that I have been working with lately have opened my eyes to the world beyond MS. As I struggle to make MS products work correctly I have been realizing that my thriving, thorny garden of irritation for MS can be hacked at by all sorts of free and fantastic products

   One of the fantastic little products that I have started using is Google Docs. ...Um, can you say, "suck-it MS-Word?" Not only does G.Docs work every time, it is on-line so that there are no formatting issues when I cut and paste a blog that I have written and to which pictures have been added. Did you read that last part? Yeah, things just cut-and-paste like you think they should, weird huh?

It is important that you take warning from this post. As of today there are about 10 previously written blog posts on my computer that are locked in a bizarre ms Word purgatory. I can only partially open them and I cannot highlight to cut-and-paste. For me, there is little hope. But for all of you that read this, please do something today. Put down that widows pacifier and try the solutions that were created for the people!!

Salem, Oregon Home Inspections, Thermal/Infrared, pest and dry rot, Mold

What to Expect when you're Inspecting: The Start of the Home Inspection in Salem Oregon

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:45:47 -0500

Every inspector is different but I like to get everyone on the same page at the very start of the inspection.

I am not a building inspector. Despite the similar sound of our job titles I do not inspect for code compliance. (although most codes address safety issues that I will educate my clients on) I do not work for the county/city/local municipality. Unlike most government workers I suffer liability for my actions and recommendations. I work for my clients expressly, I only have their interests in mind and I make every effort to produce the highest quality home inspection every time.

I will find stuff on this house. Every house has things that could be improved and adjusted. New homes are just as bad and a lot of the time even worse than a home that has had the benefit of being lived in. I compare your prospective home to a perfect home, and there is no such thing.

My job is to educate you on your how your new home works. You should attend as much of the inspection as possible. You will get more information out of me if you are standing over my shoulder when I find something worth noting. We can quickly talk about what is wrong, what most likely caused it, how you can fix it and how you can prevent it in the future. That kind of comprehensive discussion can be difficult to accomplish in even the best inspection report.

Thanks for the pictures Melina.

Salem, Oregon Home inspections, pest and dry rot, mold, leaks thermal imaging

If you like what you learned here please consider Perfection Inspection Inc. for your Salem, Oregon Home inspections, pest and dry rot, mold, leaks and thermal imaging

The break-away Crotch?

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:38:39 -0500

I do love disposable coveralls. The crawlspaces that I frequent seem to be places where critters relieve themselves and where they decide to die. All of that feces, urine and dead carcasses add up to some pretty disgusting crawling and it can be challenging to bring my coveralls in the house after crawling through a litter box.

Overall the disposables are totally sufficient, especially after I belly crawl through one of those litter boxes that people call their crawlspace. All of the disposables however, have one fatal flaw:

The crotch.

I don't know if they mean to build them with a "break-away crotch" but being a home Inspector that is not one of my requirements.

salem, Oregon Home Inspections, Pest and dry rot, NACHI certified, Mold

What to Expect when you're Inspecting: Disclaimers

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:39:41 -0500

You have gotten an offer accepted and scheduled with the best and brightest home inspector in town. Now it is time to check out his legal disclaimers.

Home inspectors as a rule do not accept liability. It sounds funny, but in truth it is a defense against what we couldn't see. That means that home inspections are a visual snap shot. We inspectors do our best to not miss anything but depending on the environment (read: boxes piled to the ceiling), the time of the year (hard to look at a roof under snow) or even a lazy or forgetful seller (they cover up stuff due to lack of proper knowledge) some things can be very hard if not impossible to see.

I frequently read about the poor couple that bought the turn-of-the-century home and had an inspection, only to find out later that the walls were full of rot and termites. The media has a neat little way of tilting the story. It is never mentioned that the finishes and accessible areas of the home showed no signs of damage in the walls under the windows. It is never brought up that the window sills had been collecting water for close to a century before being repaired and they forget that the poor home owners learned about the damage only after they actually started destroying the home's walls to do remodeling.

I explain to my clients that I am an inspector, they are paying me to spend 2 1/2 to 3 hours with them and I will do my darnedest to not miss anything significant but I will not buy them a new home even if I do turn out to be a human being. There is always the possibility for things to be going on under the surface but most of the time there will be indications of those things.

When I bought my first home, I was amazed at the home inspection. The dude spent 45 minutes in my 1950's fixer. He did a very poor job and missed some major things. In my previous post I suggested getting out their and shopping inspectors, something that I did not. I let my agent schedule the inspection for me and I came away with a very bad taste in my mouth for the home inspection industry as a whole. A little less than a year after that I heard about thermal imaging and home inspectors that were using it to help with a more in-depth education for their clients. I knew that it would not be hard if my last inspector was the guy that was my competition!

That first home inspection experience ensures that I do my best inspecting every day for every client. Even though my disclaimer says that, "...its not my fault and you agree.." I try to make it a personal goal to not miss significant issues.

Of course everything is negotiable. I had clients recently ask me to adjust my disclaimer. That is just fine but realize what you are getting for around $400. If you expect a home inspector to suffer liability the price of the inspection must change. If you increase liability you increase risk you increase price. I am thinking around $5000 might justify my liability but on second thought I want to be a home inspector not a defendant, please go find yourself another inspector...

Salem Oregon Home Inspections

What to Expect when you're Inspecting

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:26:00 -0500

A top notch, local, Salem, Oregon area agent, my friend and web guru Melina w/ Tomson Burnham LLC had a great idea for a series titled: What to Expect when you're Inspecting. Cute and clever and she said she would let me use it for a series.

I figured I would start from the beginning of the home inspection process within the real estate transaction and go through it step by step.

Get your Home Inspection scheduled

So first things first: you just received notice of an accepted offer and you have a certain amount of time to get all of the applicable inspections and make negotiations. If you are working with a good agent they will give you some names of home inspectors that they know do a good job. Check these guys/ladies out. Check their website, read their blog, and give them a call. Learn about their experiences and what makes them better than the other inspectors. Talk to them about your new home. Find out how they communicate. I wish I would have done this when I bought my first home. The guy I hired to do my home inspection gave me a lot of grumbles and, what I now call the "home inspector shrugs." A home inspection is not like a loan. With a loan, the numbers are what you need to focus on. Everyone plays with the same numbers. A home inspection is a very personal thing and for the same number (price) home inspections can range from a gobbledy gook mess of check boxes and confusion to a clear, concise description of the repair and maintenance issues within your new home and can actually be a future owner's manual. Besides the report, how is the inspector at educating you? If the inspector grunts, shrugs a lot but you saved $50....maybe that isn't the best place to save a couple bucks.

Once you have found your favorite inspector and you have confirmation on your deal you should get on the internet and book yourself an inspection. Most of the time buyers negotiate a 10 business day window, however, if you find yourself dealing with the bank you might only get 5 calendar days to get your inspections. If you are hoping for a really great inspector during the summer months and you only have 5 days.......good luck. 10 business days gives you two calendar weeks and should be enough time to get your all of your inspections done but you need to start immediately if not before your offer is accepted. I have been at least a calendar week out since April and I have had to do my share of referrals to other good, but not quite as good, home inspectors in the Salem, Oregon area.

So you need to make a choice, really good in-demand inspector or mister inspector guy that can fit me in tomorrow. It is up to you and who knows, that short notice guy might just do a good job for you.

Salem, Oregon Home Inspector's first video!!

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:28:03 -0500

Alright, time for me to jump on the band wagon. I am doing some trials on adding videos to my inspection reports so that may be in the future as well. Thanks for watching. This video will soon be on the welcome page of my little Salem, Oregon home inspection website:

Die Furnace! DIE!!!

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:39:46 -0500

Most home maintenance items are very simple. In fact most are so simple it is easy to underestimate the importance. If home owners would do these routine maintenance items my job might be severely limited. One item in particular I often say gets done when people move in to the home and when they move out: it's the furnace filter.

How great it feels to take a deep breath. To feel the stretch of the lungs as they fill with air. It is refreshing and satisfying.

Now imagine a restriction in your airway, never being able to take a full breath. Imagine needing twice the breaths for the same amount of air. Picture yourself trying to survive with just the minimum air for respiration.

A little dramatic, I admit but it is very similar to how your furnace feels. Most forced air systems use a big fan to suck air in and push that air over a heat exchanging device and then blow that newly conditioned air throughout the home. The thermostat, usually located centrally in the home, calls for heat the furnace starts heating up. When the brains of the furnace decide the heat exchanging area has heated up enough the fan turns on. It is now the fan's job to pass air over the heated area and blow that heated air throughout the home.

It is my job to look at furnaces and filters every day and as a general rule: people change their furnace filter when they move in and when they move out. When the filter is dirty the fan is forced to work much harder. Less air is moving over the heat exchanger so more energy is used. This also shortens the life of the entire unit.

Change your filters at least every 30 days in the cooling cycle and 60 days in the heating cycle at least. It will save you money on energy, extend the life of your system and give your poor furnace a welcome breath of fresh air.

I'll fix it myself!

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:29:00 -0500

I do love my job. I was chatting with another home inspector the other day and we chuckled that if it wasn't for creative home owners and contractors not doing their jobs properly we would be out of work. On a recent home inspection here in Salem, Oregon I popped my head into the attic space of a vintage 1950 home and discovered a very creative, green aspiring tenant. At first glance the attic felt unusually warm and moist. From the outside the gable vents appeared to be large enough and should have kept this attic effectively ventilated however the current renter had some other ideas. He told me that he had been in construction for years and was currently unemployed.

This vintage home had a minimum amount of insulation and the gable vents were covered with plastic!! All of the warm moist air coming up out of the home was being trapped in this unheated, unvented, ideal mold growing limbo. The roof sheathing was covered with a soft and fuzzy patina, very artistic but not very pleasing for home maintenance or air quality.

The moral of the story is those openings in your attic and there for a reason and very important. They are not there to make you suffer when it is time to pay the heating bill. Insulation should be used on HEATED surfaces. Your attic is not a heated space. The floor of the attic is next to a heated space and this is the only surface that should be insulated. The rest of the attic should have enough vents to keep the attic as close to the exterior temperature as possible. This will vent excess moisture, cool the roof system and provide a good environment for maintenance of the structure of the roof.

Multi circuit wiring is not as cool as it appears

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:12:42 -0500

I do enjoy reading most of Charles' posts. In fact I like what he has going on I intend to borrow some of his ideas (imitation is, after all, the highest form of flattery). A while back he posted a pretty good post on multi-circuit wiring and I would like to give my own take:

A material and man-hour (read MONEY) conservation technique I have recently noticed more and more is called multi-circuit wiring. The purpose of this technique is to save money on wires and man-hours by pulling only one wire for two circuits.

Seems like a good idea and there are definitely a fair amount of contractors that agree. During normal operation of most circuits no significant problems will be noted. However if too many watts are added and the circuits are not wired to opposite phases, the circuits could be prone to overheating.

The issues come from the neutral wire. With a single circuit wire there is a black wire for the hot, and a white wire for the neutral. For simplicity sake let's look at these as the supply=hot(black) and the return=neutral(white) for the current respectively.

A 15amp circuit should use a 14 gauge wire for supply and return. That means that if the maximum amount of power (allowed by the breaker) is called for, the wire on the supply and on the return are both thick enough to hold all of 15 amps or 1800watts at 120 volts. [(15amps)x(120volts)=1800watts]

Now let's save some time and materials during installation by running a multi-circuit wire. This wire has two supplies and only one return. Remember each one of the 14 gauge wires are designed to hold 15 amps but now you have two wires that could be called on (if improperly wired to the same phase) to hold all of 15 amps and only one 14 gauge return/neutral wire for 30amps! (15+15=30amps) Also if the neutral is experiencing over current in this manner the breaker will not trip, because breakers only protect the hot/supply wires.

The authorities that say this is ok are betting that there will never be a situation that causes both wires to call for the entire load at the same time. As a home inspector here in Salem, Oregon I am paid to be a "worst case scenario," guy. It is my job to alert my clients to, not only issues, but also potential issues and educate them as best I can.

...Another Thing I don't want my Competition to learn about.

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:51:04 -0500

You all know about Facebook. It is not like it is a new and exciting breakthrough in technology. I apparently have been living in a cave and I have only recently discovered the magic of Facebook.

When I first started my career as a home inspector my boss was a very talented marketer and he taught me some very useful tactics. One of my very favorite tactics he called, "Top of Mind Awareness." The idea is to stay in front of your target audience. (whether they like it or not!)

My target audience was and is real estate agents. I found 50 or so agents that I wanted to work with and I started calling. I left message after message and did manage to meet with a few. The others I hadn't met with yet my very talented boss told me to call once a week.

He said, "Just check in and ask how they are and if there is anything you can do to help them out." I tried and tried to call these folks weekly, but my attention wandered and I found myself missing weeks worth of cold calls. It does take a real shift in ideas to realize that every "no," was one step closer to a yes.

A few years later and I have a fair amount of agents that do refer me regularly. Now a new problem arises. How do I stay in front of my favorites when the market is slow and they aren't calling me every other week? You guessed it: Facebook.

Not only am I keeping tabs on my core referral base but I can also make contact with new agents. I can converse with them without being obtrusive and I can make sure that when they think of an inspection they think of me, while only being a little bit annoying.

If you are a home inspector in Salem, Oregon do not believe what you have just read. If you are an inspector in other parts of the world, you better get on Facebook and start networking before your competition does!

The 'rub' of "Custom Cabinetry"

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:32:30 -0500

The foreclosure boom has done more than weeded out the agent pool. It is also creating a real blank spot in the histories of a large number of homes. With out the disclosures of the previous owners there are fewer and fewer explanations for issues that might have been easily remedied

I was doing a home inspectionon one of these bank owned homes in Keizer, Oregon the other day and came upon a little oddity that I just couldn't help but speculate over. As the drawers in the cabinet were pulled the drawer slides (not just any slides by the way, these were high quality full extension slides) would bang into the doors after about ½ inch worth of travel. Every single drawer was installed with this same issue. This little "oops" rendered the pull out shelves utterly useless.

The section of "custom cabinetry," work had me envisioning a the home owner, (most likely a contractor or builder as well) behind on his bills and sweating away as he installed upgrades here and there in hopes to quickly attract a buyer before things went south.

Of course it was too late, and at that point and the market around him was crumbling as he tirelessly tried to bail water from his sinking ship.

His loss, my clients gain. My client knew his way around a tool belt and looked forward to the finishing touches he could put on this home that had some very nice features. And at the price he was paying it will be a very nice home for his family very soon.

Aspenwall's is open (did I mention FREE ice cream!?)

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:36:08 -0500

I guess the owner does this every year when he opens but this is the first year I have heard about it: Free ice cream!!

That's right boys and girls. The best farmers market/morphed restaurant has opened for the season and is giving away free ice cream cones.

My kids and wife and I have been partaking in the soft serve for the last few years, since we moved to West Salem, Oregon, and it is worth the price even when it is not free.

Last year the little market did some renovating and added a restaurant. I have only been a few times but it is definitely worth checking out if you are headed home from the coast and like delicious food.

Check them out this week!! I think the free ice cream ends on Friday 4/24.

Ok, Electrical Gurus: what's up?

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:55:48 -0500

This switch panel was in a 1950 home I inspected in Dallas, Oregon. I believe the home owner and all of his renters were all budding electricians. This panel is kind of scarry and I was glad to be done with the electrical part of this inspection. Let's see what you think:

Not all vent systems work the same

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:20:48 -0500

I had the pleasure of inspectinga very creatively remodeled home here in Silverton, Oregon today. This in particular had me scratching my head:

The exhaust vent for the master bathroom was tied directly to the plumbing vent system. I guess they are both "vent systems" however they do very different jobs. The plumbing vent is built to hold water, so any condensation or rain water or bugs can all go down the drain no problem. The exhaust vent for the master bathroom may begin to have issues with most of those things.

Very creative "custom" remodel job anyway.

What are You Doing to show your Support for our Troops?

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:40:26 -0500

Operation Love Boxes is a program that has given me extreme pleasure. My friend, John Baker, a great local agent and philanthropist, and his church and local community, started the program in November of 2005.

The idea is to fill standard boxes to the brim with candies, granola, stationary, wet wipes, small books and anything else that might be handy for a solder that hasn't seen home in a while. The boxes are sent with a domestic flat rate for very little postage. These are just simple things, from home, to remind our troops overseas that we love, miss and support them.

I have only been involved for a few months now and the thank you emails that we have received have been incredible. I urge you to check out the website and start your own Love Box Operation. It is easy, view the video here.

Operation Love Boxes is having party to stuff, address and send DVDs on Wednesday the 18th (tomorrow). The DVDs tell the Operation Love Boxes story and tell how to start your own operation.

If you are in the Salem, OR area and want to help out please come to:

2339 State St, Salem, Or 97301 on 3/18/09 @ 6-8pm.

If you want to start your own Operation Love Boxes please go here: www.LoveBoxesForOurTroops.com and view the video,

Or call/email John Baker:

john@nedbaker.com

(O) 503-364-6797 ext 302

(F) 503-364-6798

Toll Free 877-893-6797

Please Re-Blog this one to help spread the word.

..Yeah, but what has ActiveRain has done for Me Lately?

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:38:35 -0500

I have been on ActiveRain for a little over a year. In that time I faded in and out of posting blogs.

It was hard. The focus was just not there.

I didn't think that I had anything to write that anyone would want to read.

Melina Tomson got me here and I would see her, and she would be talking about her blog and how wonderful it was and how it was really neat the way people would read her blog and it was like they already knew her. She said she would go see them with a listing presentation and they would say,"...We already know we want you to list our home. No need for the presentation."

I would get inspired and light-up my own little blogging world. I would post and comment and post and comment. I would see my rank in Salem, Oregon climb and feel satisfied and a little very hungry for that next spot.

Then my focus would fade. I would get busy with work and family and other things in general.

When I wasn't posting, I did try to get on to ActiveRain to comment as often as possible. Even without posting, the networking brought me in contact with some wonderful local agents that I would not have otherwise had the pleasure of working with.

That seems to be another nice thing about ActiveRain: the caliber of people. Every single person that I have met here has been the best of the best and the only kind of professional that I want to work with.

In about the 9^th or 10^th month of posting on and off my brain started to wrap its reluctant fingers around SEO and Blogging. My ActiveRain Blog started popping up on the 1^st page of Google! (my website was still a couple pages back) I started really seeing the bigger picture of how this infuriating world of Search Engine Optimization works.

I began my endurance training. I was still a flash-in-the-pan blogger but my flashes were getting closer together. I even started to get calls and emails from people that had been reading my blog (go figure).

ActiveRain provided me with information. More information than I knew and still know what to do with.

Last month I had the pleasure of finding one of my posts entirely plagiarized. I began my Web Log journey thinking that I really didn't have anything interesting to say, but when I read my words with someone else's name on them, it felt like I had just had my house broken into. ActiveRain was in my corner again and all of the information I needed to squash this issue was a few clicks away.

I have been telling other agents in the area about ActiveRain for a while now. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm for this virtual neighborhood of extremely knowledgeable professionals that welcomed me and let me learn as much as I wanted.

I seem to be the only Home Inspector in the entire state of Oregon that has gotten a clue about blogging and I have been very reluctant to tell other inspectors in my area. I am professional enough to know that there is plenty of room (and money) at the top; I just kind of enjoy my current monopoly. If you are an inspector you really owe it to yourself to get on ActiveRain and keep with it.

If you get on ActiveRain for the SEO stay for the networking. Both have paid me big dividends here in Salem, Oregon.

The Three Lucky Ones

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:44:32 -0500

These three additions to my landscape are 30 year old Rhododendrons. My neighbor decided he did not like them and was going to trash them. I took my pick out of 10 different plants and these three and two others will live another day. They look great where they are I am just curious what color the flowers turn out to be. I guess I will only have to wonder for a few months.

How Does your Garden Grow?

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:08:40 -0500

Yesterday was the third day in a row with sunny weather. That is pretty unusual in March on this side of the Cascade Mountains. With the benefit of the sun rays for warmth I started turning over my cover crops in preparation for the later spring plantings.

Two years ago I harvested my first ripe tomato in mid October, and vowed to do better the next year. I discovered two books, written by the same author, that were a tremendous help. Anyone on this side of the Cascade Mountains that wants to grow their own vegetables should read these books: Gardening West of the Cascades and Growing Vegetables When it Counts both by Steve Solomon. These books cover gardening from general to specific and most importantly ideas for the Westside gardener.

Many books have been written about how-to grow vegetables. A majority of these books have been written by people in other parts of the country and even other parts of the world. There is a huge amount of useful information available however sometimes there are some specifics that can be confusing for gardeners on this side of Oregon. In most other parts of the country starting seedlings indoors on a sunny window sill is common. There is one big problem with that here: we don't get enough sun light. Starting seedlings requires artificial light. We just don't get enough sunshine to grow stout plants early in the year.

Last year I harvested my first ripe tomato on June 21st. With the help of lights and cloches I hope to repeat my luck with early season veggies again this year.

Oregon State Standards of Behavior for Home Inspectors

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:54:18 -0500

To improve the home inspection industry in Oregon the Construction Contractor's board (CCB) has defined a set of standards for home inspections. This standard encompasses not only what a home inspector is to view but also certification process insurance and bonding and also our standards of behavior.

The "standards of behavior" gets interesting because it states, "No Oregon certified home inspector shall give any gift, rebate, kickback, or anything of value, including but not limited to any payment of money, to any person for the purposes of obtaining an engagement, referral or preference selection to perform a home inspection. However,...this rule shall not apply to items of nominal value given as part of an advertising promotion of general distribution."

That previous statement leaves a lot of questions unanswered so in December of 2008 the CCB further defined what the previous statement meant with a question and answer format. For you agents in Oregon please read it here: Home Inspectors frequently asked Questions

What got me thinking is a comment on one of my posts that referred to getting paid at closing. The comment stated that in Kentucky home inspectors are prohibited from being paid at closing to ensure that the home inspector's pay check does not rely on the deals consummation.

I am going to write the CCB licensing program manager today and get her thoughts on this issue. I like Kentucky's restriction and think Oregon should have a similar statute. Stay tuned, I will let you all know how it turns out.

The Only thing between the Subfloor and certain Destruction

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:26:46 -0500

Places that water is present are generally layered. If one layer of protection fails there will be a second to prevent damage. This is true of properly constructed roofing and exterior components but not the other area in the home that sees a lot of water: the bathroom.

The seam between the bathtub and the flooring is especially vulnerable and is sealed with a flexible caulk. The subfloor is usually an engineered particle board and can be very sensitive to water exposure. The purpose of the caulk seam is to try to seal this joint as the two different materials move independently. The more water the seam sees the more likely it will open up, and particle board acts like a sponge that expands as soon as it is exposed to moisture.

I see grout used between the tub and the floor often, on home inspections, but it is not a very good solution. The tub is made of a different material and the grout will fracture and break.

Caulking is the best but it will need to be maintained. That means when it fails the caulk should be removed and a new, fresh seal should be applied. Seriously, when the caulking joint opens up, it is time to get in there with the razor blade and remove the old caulk. This should be done before damage to the flooring occurs.

Do not put this little maintenance item off unless you want some major changes to the flooring. If you want a comprehensive list of things in your home that you "ought to get around to," in the Salem, Oregon area, call me.

Heating Oil Tank Program in Oregon

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:28:23 -0500

The presence of oil tanks is an issue that can rear its ugly head on an inspection every now and then. Thankfully the Oregon DEQ is doing something to help.

The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) here in Oregon, has a program to help keep track of those oil tanks that may have been forgotten.

The site is: http://deq12.state.or.us/fp20/

If excavation or redevelopment is planned you can find information on known and suspected Heating Oil Tanks (HOT). Information on: if the site has received a closure letter for the decommissioning, assessment and certification of a HOT is available.

If a HOT is present there may be contamination of the surrounding area and a cleanup may be required. Decommissioning, assessment, and cleanup must be performed by a DEQ licensed HOT Service Provider.

For you agents out there check out this publication: What agents should know about underground oil tanks.

Leaks cannot hide from me

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:15:31 -0500

Manufactured homes are wonderful if you know what you are getting. They are supremely efficient. They are so tight you actually have to be aware of this to ensure indoor air quality is not compromised. They do have some downsides apart from the obvious fact of poor appreciation.

The roofs of many manufactured homes are relatively low slope and the interior ceilings are often vaulted. Both of these conditions add up to shorter than average roof life. Failure to the roofing materials and leaks can be chased and individually repaired if they can be located. Without an accessible attic space finding and fixing leaks can be tricky. Enter thermal imaging.

The other day I had the benefit of doing a Pest and Dry rot inspection here in Salem, Oregon after a different inspector had done most of a home inspection. Apparently his client had decided to end the inspection right before he inspected the crawlspace. I did get to see the other report and did not see any issues called on the roof. During my inspection I found three different issues with the roof. Right away I noted a very cool spot in the dining room. Surprise, surprise the cool spot was wet. At this point the leak could be repaired with minimal damage to the related building components.

This is just another example of the wonderful world that Thermography/infrared exposes.

Special Homes

Jim Allhiser Salem, Oregon Home Inspector (Perfection Inspection, Inc.) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:58:02 -0600

I have a special place in my heart for manufactured homes. I am fascinated by the building techniques. In many respects they are much better than stick built homes.

There can be a huge advantage when something is built in a humidity and temperature controlled environment. Sight-built homes are exposed to inches of rain, freezing temperatures, heat waves and wind. All of this temperature and humidity fluctuation equals expansion and contraction and building materials that fit good one day and have big gaps the next.

Manufactured homes are built at stable temperatures and humidity. The sheer volume of lumber that is purchased ensures higher than average quality. When these homes are assembled they are actually so tight they have to add supplemental ventilation. These vents artificially pull fresh air into the home. With a sight built home this fresh air infiltration is accomplished automatically through the openings in the framing and cracks around windows.

One down side to manufactured homes is that there are parts that are lighter and a less durable than sight built homes. With an eye trained to look for these vulnerable areas, and subsequent maintenance paid, these homes can be supremely efficient and comfortable.