Whatcom County Home Inspections (King of the House): Scenes From This Old House

 This Old House -- a famous song and a  famous expression. As a home inspector, I see lots of old houses. The one below was a classic example of a 100 year old plus farm house that had been built and lived in over all those years. The modifications and repairs were not always, in fact seldom, done right and the maintenance had fallen by the wayside over the years as well.

Sometimes people ask: "Why would someone pay an inspector money to report on such obvious problems?" I do not always have a good answer for that. With many homes the problems are subtle enough that it takes an inspector to find and report the issues. At this house I think the fellow knew many of the problems going in, however, I was able to provide specifics, such as what pest was working in the crawl space, what condition the beams and joists were in, etc. In this case, the client decided against buying the house. He had hoped it would be a fairly simple remodel and the problems were way beyond that. He learned that from the inspection, although the problems would be apparent to probably anyone here at AR.

Front                                                  Knob and tube wiring

Siding closeup                                        Front porch

Roof                                                             Two stories, only source of heat

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham Home Inspections