I performed a home inspection today on a house that had just been previously inspected by another inspector. I noticed right away that he (or she) had marked defective items such as doors, windows and receptacles with blue painters tape with information on the tape as what the problem was. Unless I'm missing something here, I don't believe an inspector should do this. I have seen many inspectors mark receptacles or windows with a small dot sticker and I understand the purpose is so the items are more easily identified, but I still think this is wrong. The time it took for the inspector to mark all these pieces of painter's tape could have been time spent describing the locations in the report. I have always been able to write in my reports the locations of all these items and if I feel I can't effectively describe the locations, I take a photo to clarify. I have always believed you should leave the house in the same condition as you found it and not with a bunch of stickers stuck to walls and windows. Even though painter's tape was used, you never know when it could peel off loose paint and texture. I couldn't help but wonder if the inspector would have done this if the house was occupied, I know I would be angry to come home to a house with blue tape stuck all over.

I did not want the buyer showing up and seeing it, so I went through and removed all 20 - 30 pieces of tape. I felt the inspector should have made a trip back to remove it all, but I didn't want my client showing up and seeing it and may have figured out that the house was recently inspected and the deal did not go through, that may scare some people. I'm sure some inspectors do this marking so the buyers know where all the items are, but what happens if the deal does not go through? Someone has to remove it, after all the house still belongs to someone else and we should all respect their property.

Kent Keith

Fort Worth / Dallas Home Inspector