In honor of Halloween I wanted to repost what was not only a great haunted house home inspection story, but one of the more plausible ghost stories I've ever heard. This is from the veteran inspector Marshall Hall, from our Connecticut branch. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween.
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The Things that Haunt Houses
As a home inspector I have been a nosey guest in thousands of houses. Most have been in New England where for some years I supervised up to six home inspector colleagues. Even though some of those houses were specifically disclosed by the seller to be haunted, in only one house (yes, it was a gothic old house) did I personally experience what might have been a paranormal event. You will have to read this to the end to get to that if that’s what you are really interested in. For me, it was just an odd anomaly compared to what really haunts old houses.
I am not a psychic. I look for ghosts of a different kind in old American houses. To me, “ghosts “are simply the discernable details or clues that reveal the history of an old house.
Many or most of the very old houses here, say over 200 years old, have been re-muddled to such an extent over the years that it can be hard to figure out what happened when. That’s what I love to do: analyze old houses. To me, all houses are “haunted” with things or concepts that moved in over time.
This blog is not the venue for a long account of the various and sundry ghosts of history in old houses but here’s one important point: the 1840’s were seminal. That’s when the advent of cast iron appliances and radial saws drastically revolutionized the way houses were built or subsequently modified.
Original New England antique houses, typically of massive post-and-beam log construction, did not have kitchens. Instead, they featured a rather imposing fireplace in what was called a “keeping room”. That fireplace, often central to the house, was for both home heating and cooking. When the cast-iron wood or coal stove imposed itself, the logical way to take advantage of this technology was to build a new addition at the rear of the house. This was the advent of the now ubiquitous kitchen as well as the saltbox style of architecture so common to New England. Essentially, the saltbox style is a colonial with a bump-out kitchen in the rear. That’s where kitchens came from. The ghost of those kitchens past now haunts virtually all houses, even new ones.
I think the next most important haunting, one which definitely spooks our newer houses to this day, came in about the 1950’s. That was the advent of modern electronics starting with the television.
Antique houses typically featured rather small windows for at least a couple of reasons. First, smaller windows translated to less heat loss. Secondly, the architectural effect of a small window is to draw one to it from within thereby imparting a dynamic sense of more spatial dimension to the room.
The television has exactly the opposite effect of a small window in that it doesn’t look right unless you obey the imposing focal distance of the thing. Instead of drawing you to it, it pushes you back to a couch located well away from it. If you put a television into the formal parlor of an antique house, you get an immediate contradiction between the television and the original design of the room. You are both pulled and pushed around in the same room. The result is spatial tension.
The obvious solution was the theretofore-unknown “family room” addition all of which, even in old houses, seem to feature larger (even picture) windows that often contradict the original architecture of the older building to which it is attached.
No wonder that living rooms and formal parlors have lost ground to family rooms in remodeled old houses and new construction alike. A ghost from the 1950’s is stalking most of our homes. Further, with the advent of computers, more and more people want an office space in the house.
Okay, I mentioned the possible paranormal experience at the start of this thing. Here is my account of it.
The house was a gingerbread Victorian built in the 1880’s or so. The grounds were over-grown and the peeling green paint on it reminded me of a bumper-sticker slogan: Imagine Whirled Peas. The house was on the market as an estate sale. That translates as the owner had passed away recently. I was inspecting the place on behalf of absentee out-of-state clients. It was a warm October afternoon. The leaves had mostly fallen from the old trees in the yard and Halloween was near which led me to the thought that even the most stalwart of trick-or-treaters would have been loath to approach the place. Gothic enough for you?
The real estate broker was one with whom I had worked with many, many times in the past. She trusted me to be alone in the place and given that my clients did not plan on attending the inspection, she opened up the house and left me alone with the understanding that I would secure the place when I finished my inspection.
I came in through the rear kitchen entrance leaving the door wide open while I made a couple of trips back and forth to my vehicle as I brought my various equipment into the house. I set up my laptop computer and printer on the kitchen table and began my data-entry preparations for the inspection.
Although there was no noticeable breeze outside, the kitchen door suddenly and loudly slammed shut as I sat at the nearby kitchen table facing the door. That got my attention but when two separate dead bolts on the door clicked into closed positions about a second later, I was totally focused. I was left with the distinct impression that the door had been slammed and then locked with a palpable sense of anger.
Surprisingly or maybe predictably, I simply became very calm. That is probably my natural response to an emotional outburst by any second party. After a few moments, I got up and unlocked and then re-opened the door. I sat back down and waited awhile. The door remained open. I then unlocked two other exterior doors in other rooms. Nothing untoward happened while I was there during my subsequent two or three hours in the building. Nonetheless, my emotional impression of what happened in that kitchen remains to this day.
Attendant to my inspection, I placed a continuous radon monitor machine on a small table in the first floor hallway. It was a Radonics brand machine of proprietary design by U.S. Inspect, my parent company. These machines have fairly sophisticated anti-tamper features built into them. If you move or otherwise tamper with the machine, it will record it as well as the time of the tamper. The machine was left there for three days and nights during which time the machine registered tamper activity at about 2:00 AM each night it was there. The real estate broker told me nobody had been in the property during the entire time between my visits.
Could the radon machine tampers be explained away? Maybe. Perhaps the old steam boiler fired up at about that time every night causing the floor to vibrate. Old houses can be that way. I don’t know.
As Hurricane Bill stands (or rather rotates) poised to rain the east coast out this week, I'm reminded that once again hurricane season is upon us. June 1 through November 30 is the official Atlantic Hurricane Season (with its peak from Aug-Oct), so this is a great time to make sure we are all prepared for anything mother nature may throw at us over the next few months.
Here are some Hurricane Home Preparation Tips for you and your family. Remember that safety comes first and to always heed all warnings issued in your area, following proper evacuation procedures as necessary.
If you are evacuating your home:
Turn the pilot light off on your water heater and furnace, then turn off the gas line valve near the appliance and, finally, turn off your gas at the meter. This will reduce the probability that a tree falling on the roof will break an active gas line and create the chance for a spark to cause a fire. Turning off valves working from the appliance to the meter will make it easier to reignite on your return by reversing the process.
Turn off your master water supply
DO NOT Turn off your master breaker. You need power for the alarm and refrigerator.
Unplug all fixtures or small appliances that can be accessed.
Bring into the garage, or otherwise secure all movable exterior items such as small plants in pots, lawn furniture and pool equipment.
Fill all vehicle fuel tanks.
If you have time trim all branches or heavy bushes that could damage windows.
Take with you:
Food and snacks for two days
Two gallons of water per individual
Clothing for one week
First aid kit
Medications for 30 days
Flashlights and spare batteries
Cash
Important documents (wills, insurance, licenses, medical and bank records as needed)
Pet care items
Tell a neighbor that is staying where you are going and how to contact you. Exchange numbers.
If you are staying: (Highly discouraged if you are in a storm surge area or near the immediate path of the storm):
Increase food supplies to 3-7 days--preferably non-perishable food items.
Fill up your propane tank for your grill or buy two sacks of charcoal.
Insure that you have a functional fire extinguisher. ABC type will work on any fire. Remember, with down trees and no reliable phone service 911 may not be an option.
Increase water supplies to one gallon per person per day.
Adequate toiletries, diapers and special items to last at least one week
One flashlight per individual and one spare set of batteries per light
Increase cash on hand.
Battery operated radio
Toys books and games
Tools
Clean and fill the tub the night before land fall. This water will be used for pets and flushing toilets.
Do all of your laundry before landfall. You may not have a chance for a week or so.
Take digital pictures of your home and each room. This will support future insurance claims.
Store your valuable papers in a waterproof container or bank vault
Fill bags with ice from your ice machine
Back up your computer data and store it in a safe place
Additional steps for family safety:
Discuss hazards that could affect your family (storm surge, rising water, down power lines).
Determine a safe escape route and two meeting points if you have to evacuate your house unexpectedly. Have a contact person out of the area that each family member can contact if you are separated.
Locate the safest room in your home. Pre-stock with pillows and blankets if room allows.
As a home inspector I have been a nosey guest in thousands of houses. Most have been in New England where for some years I supervised up to six home inspector colleagues. Even though some of those houses were specifically disclosed by the seller to be haunted, in only one house (yes, it was a gothic old house) did I personally experience what might have been a paranormal event. You will have to read this to the end to get to that if that’s what you are really interested in. For me, it was just an odd anomaly compared to what really haunts old houses.
I am not a psychic. I look for ghosts of a different kind in old American houses. To me, “ghosts “are simply the discernable details or clues that reveal the history of an old house.
Many or most of the very old houses here, say over 200 years old, have been re-muddled to such an extent over the years that it can be hard to figure out what happened when. That’s what I love to do: analyze old houses. To me, all houses are “haunted” with things or concepts that moved in over time.
This blog is not the venue for a long account of the various and sundry ghosts of history in old houses but here’s one important point: the 1840’s were seminal. That’s when the advent of cast iron appliances and radial saws drastically revolutionized the way houses were built or subsequently modified.
Original New England antique houses, typically of massive post-and-beam log construction, did not have kitchens. Instead, they featured a rather imposing fireplace in what was called a “keeping room”. That fireplace, often central to the house, was for both home heating and cooking. When the cast-iron wood or coal stove imposed itself, the logical way to take advantage of this technology was to build a new addition at the rear of the house. This was the advent of the now ubiquitous kitchen as well as the saltbox style of architecture so common to New England. Essentially, the saltbox style is a colonial with a bump-out kitchen in the rear. That’s where kitchens came from. The ghost of those kitchens past now haunts virtually all houses, even new ones.
===
I think the next most important haunting, one which definitely spooks our newer houses to this day, came in about the 1950’s. That was the advent of modern electronics starting with the television.
Antique houses typically featured rather small windows for at least a couple of reasons. First, smaller windows translated to less heat loss. Secondly, the architectural effect of a small window is to draw one to it from within thereby imparting a dynamic sense of more spatial dimension to the room.
The television has exactly the opposite effect of a small window in that it doesn’t look right unless you obey the imposing focal distance of the thing. Instead of drawing you to it, it pushes you back to a couch located well away from it. If you put a television into the formal parlor of an antique house, you get an immediate contradiction between the television and the original design of the room. You are both pulled and pushed around in the same room. The result is spatial tension.
The obvious solution was the theretofore-unknown “family room” addition all of which, even in old houses, seem to feature larger (even picture) windows that often contradict the original architecture of the older building to which it is attached.
No wonder that living rooms and formal parlors have lost ground to family rooms in remodeled old houses and new construction alike. A ghost from the 1950’s is stalking most of our homes. Further, with the advent of computers, more and more people want an office space in the house.
===
Okay, I mentioned the possible paranormal experience at the start of this thing. Here is my account of it.
The house was a gingerbread Victorian built in the 1880’s or so. The grounds were over-grown and the peeling green paint on it reminded me of a bumper-sticker slogan: Imagine Whirled Peas. The house was on the market as an estate sale. That translates as the owner had passed away recently. I was inspecting the place on behalf of absentee out-of-state clients. It was a warm October afternoon. The leaves had mostly fallen from the old trees in the yard and Halloween was near which led me to the thought that even the most stalwart of trick-or-treaters would have been loath to approach the place. Gothic enough for you?
The real estate broker was one with whom I had worked with many, many times in the past. She trusted me to be alone in the place and given that my clients did not plan on attending the inspection, she opened up the house and left me alone with the understanding that I would secure the place when I finished my inspection.
I came in through the rear kitchen entrance leaving the door wide open while I made a couple of trips back and forth to my vehicle as I brought my various equipment into the house. I set up my laptop computer and printer on the kitchen table and began my data-entry preparations for the inspection.
Although there was no noticeable breeze outside, the kitchen door suddenly and loudly slammed shut as I sat at the nearby kitchen table facing the door. That got my attention but when two separate dead bolts on the door clicked into closed positions about a second later, I was totally focused. I was left with the distinct impression that the door had been slammed and then locked with a palpable sense of anger.
Surprisingly or maybe predictably, I simply became very calm. That is probably my natural response to an emotional outburst by any second party. After a few moments, I got up and unlocked and then re-opened the door. I sat back down and waited awhile. The door remained open. I then unlocked two other exterior doors in other rooms. Nothing untoward happened while I was there during my subsequent two or three hours in the building. Nonetheless, my emotional impression of what happened in that kitchen remains to this day.
Attendant to my inspection, I placed a continuous radon monitor machine on a small table in the first floor hallway. It was a Radonics brand machine of proprietary design by U.S. Inspect, my parent company. These machines have fairly sophisticated anti-tamper features built into them. If you move or otherwise tamper with the machine, it will record it as well as the time of the tamper. The machine was left there for three days and nights during which time the machine registered tamper activity at about 2:00 AM each night it was there. The real estate broker told me nobody had been in the property during the entire time between my visits.
Could the radon machine tampers be explained away? Maybe. Perhaps the old steam boiler fired up at about that time every night causing the floor to vibrate. Old houses can be that way. I don’t know.
Summertime is in full swing and chores are probably the farthest thing from your mind—however, planning a maintenance schedule for the year is a great way to take care of your house now, while helping to reduce the need for major repairs down the road. There's no need to tackle it all at once, though. So, below are some great maintenance tasks for the summer months. Doing your home maintenance bit by bit is a great way to accomplish it all, but over time so that there's plenty of room for BBQs, pool parties and relaxing too.
A Home Care Checklist for the Summer Months
Exterior Walls: Cut back and trim shrubbery touching exterior walls.
Roof: Cut back tree limbs touching or near roof surface.
It's still raining here in northern New Jersey—and seeing as though things don't look they like they are going let up anytime soon—I was in the mood for a follow-up to Monday's Watch and Learn rain-related post.
Watch and Learn—Check the state of your gutters by safely observing their function during a steady rain. Are the gutters properly connected and functioning? When water leaves the downspouts, where does it go? Check to see that the grade is directed away from the foundation, properly sending water away from the home...More about Watch and Learn.
Look for Leaks—A rainy day is a great time to look for leaks and areas where your home needs protection from water penetration. Look for water drips or water stains in the attic. If you locate a water drop, trace it to its source. Also, look carefully to be sure you cannot see daylight anywhere through your roof. Repair as necessary.
Fix Drips—The only droplets you should hear today are outside your home. Check faucets and valves for drips or leaks. Replace washers in dripping faucets and address other leaks as necessary.
Address Indoor Safety—Too damp to work safely outside? Turn your attention to keeping the interior of your home safe and secure. Test smoke detectors, alarms and carbon monoxide meters for proper function and replace batteries.
Clean Dryer Vents—Did you know that fires can occur when lint builds up in a dryer or in the exhaust duct? Lint can block the flow of air, cause excessive heat build-up, and result in a fire in some dryers, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. So, clean behind the dryer, where lint can build up, and disconnect the duct to remove any build-up. Be sure to reconnect the ducting to the dryer and outside vent before using the dryer again!
Check Grout and Caulk—One way to extend the life of your bathroom is to regularly check tile joints, tub grout and caulking. Replace and repair the areas as necessary. Consider replacing old caulk with mildew resistant caulk.
Get Organized—Locate all appliance manuals, review the warranties and note the suggested maintenance. Take the day to address some of those items or to come up with a maintenance schedule to take care of things throughout the year.
Take Inventory—In the event of a fire or other disaster, an itemized list of your valuable belongings will be vital. Try inventory software. It makes it easy to update your list over time and many will allow you to store your information online for safe keeping.
Create a Home Maintenance Schedule—Above are just a few of the home maintenance tasks you can do in your home. Use U.S. Inspect's Home Maintenance Checklist as a guide to plan out a schedule for the whole year—rainy days and sunny days alike. Doing a little bit at a time, makes the job easier and ensures that everything gets addressed as necessary.
Relax—After all, isn't that enough work for one day!! I don't know about you, but I'm a new mom and sometimes a rainy day is simply a great excuse to lay back, curl up with those you love, and just enjoy your cozy home! Now that everything is in tip-top condition, relax. You deserve it.
As you may have noticed, we're new to ActiveRain. Everyone has been really nice so far, and we love the community. We just wanted to introduce you to a few of our social profiles around the internet so you can connect with us.
Knowing what some of the usual situations our consultants discover during an inspection allows you to be a well-informed buyer. Over the years, and borrowing on over a half million inspections, here’s what we’ve discovered as the top 10 defects in most homes. Repair and replacement costs for such items could cost you thousands of dollars!
* Roof leaks due to poor flashing and / or roof material failure due to poor installation
* Water penetration in the basement or crawlspace due to poor surface water control
* Electrical safety issues due to age of home or homeowner alterations
* Deterioration of the interior wall material behind shower and tub surround areas
* Safety concerns associated with improperly installed decks, stairs or railings
* Heating unit and distribution system problems due to age and workmanship or alterations
* Structural concerns due to improper construction and/or alterations, or excessive unbalanced load
* Fire safety issues related to fireplace chimneys
* Wood deterioration caused by termites or other wood destroying organisms due to local environment or conducive conditions
* General fire and safety issues with home ownership
U.S. Inspect strongly encourages home buyers to attend the inspection with our consultants. In our 2 to 3-hour walking consultation, you’ll learn all about your new home—first-hand information about the condition of the property, how the house operates, where the main shut-off valves to the utilities are located, and much more. And if defects are discovered during the inspection, we’ll explain the possible cause as well as your options to have those defects corrected. With U.S. Inspect, you’re guaranteed to make a well informed buying decision!
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.
Turn the pilot light off on your water heater and furnace, then turn off the gas line valve near the appliance and, finally, turn off your gas at the meter. This will reduce the probability that a tree falling on the roof will break an active gas line and create the chance for a spark to cause a fire. Turning off valves working from the appliance to the meter will make it easier to reignite on your return by reversing the process.
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