ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2011
2
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Jay's Saturday morning haiku - 1 The English form of the traditional Japanese Haiku includes any or all of the following: The use of 17 syllables, in the form of three lines, with 5, 7 and 5 respectively. Some haiku may employ 10 - 14 lines, but 17 is traditional. The use of a season in the poem...
10/21/2011
When this house gets a better grade, I'll give it a better grade. Why? Because grading is everything! WATER IS THE KILLER OF HOUSES, INSIDE AND OUT! A bit hard to see from this picture, fully one half of this driveway, and all of the front sidewalk, drains water toward the house. You can see t...
10/20/2011
"We've Never Used The Whirlpool Tub, So You Don't Need To Check It." That's what the note said. These sellers had left a note for the buyers with information about this and that. Buried in the list was the mention about the whirlpool tub. Do you think I: 1. Believed the note and didn't check t...
10/18/2011
"He is base - and that is the one base thing in the universe - to receive favors and render none." Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) This is a poet choosing a word that describes what he wants to say. Look up the word "base." It is a noun and an adjective. In my Oxford Dictionary there are nine de...
10/17/2011
46
Comments
Sometimes the job isn't done until it's done! Some things take more than one step and this time Flipper forgot Step Two! Step One was to install a new water heater. And it was done well - there are a few things to look for and they were present. Okay, it was small and really inefficient, but new...
10/16/2011
25
Comments
On pre-drywall inspections it isn't often that you see best practices - shower stall waterproofing. Shower stalls are one area where so many installation mistakes are made, or the wrong products used, you just know it is a problem waiting to happen. When it comes time to have to repair those pro...
10/15/2011
Doing inspections with a thermal image camera is a bit art and a bit science. In this house I was called to find one problem, but found another instead! This house had a basement with moisture problems in the past. A company was called to fix them and dry out the basement. It seemed to have wo...
10/15/2011
16
Comments
One thing builders have to do is install a lot of doors. It's always a good thing to see Best Practices in door installation! Particularly when it comes to entry doors! One thing I see a lot of are entry doors installed with three shims on each side and finishing nails. If I had to give that a t...
10/13/2011
84
Comments
What to say when you find that caulking, the universal plumbing repair, was used to fix plastic CPVC plumbing? Entering the REO the agent said to my clients and me that the bank will do nothing more to repair the house? I asked, "Nothing more?" "Yes, there were many plumbing problems and the bank...
10/12/2011
20
Comments
How often have we complained about cold air near and around windows and doors? It could be that upon installation, the Best Practice - window and door insulation was not employed. On a new construction, pre-drywall inspection I ran across something that I really like to see. Proper insulation a...
10/11/2011
Rainmaker
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2,017,631
Jay Markanich
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia
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An experienced home inspector's look at current home inspection events and conditions along with his useful recommendations.