home inspectors in connecticut: Stamp of Approval
- 10/07/15 11:43 PM
Rubber stamped; a phrase that characteristically has a negative connotation meaning an action or product hasn’t been scrutinized for quality, safety and or appropriateness. On the converse side, a stamp or marking can mean that exactly those qualities are present. Construction material ratings and standards are very helpful, providing consistency and a level of safety when a structure is built or repaired. Construction grade wood products come from the factory with stamping that identifies their quality, use and strength. With plywood or OSB an APA (Engineered Wood Association) stamp denotes quality, product design use and performance.
While walking the roof of an … (6 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: The Weight of Gravity
- 06/06/14 09:50 PM
There are a four basic physical forces in the universe which govern all things great and small. Two of these forces I would believe are familiar to all humans, electromagnetic and gravity. We are all intimately acquainted with gravity. It is the force that adheres us to the earth and causes us to hit the floor when we roll past the edge of the bed. Surprisingly it is the weakest of the four basic universal forces.
Gravity acts on everything with mass and it is theorized it can even act on light. What this very simply means is the more the mass of an … (34 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Fact or Opinion
- 01/26/14 08:16 PM
I find as a home inspector people look to me to provide them with information on the condition of the house they are in the process of purchasing. By its very nature a home inspection is based on both facts and opinion. During a home inspection, and after when writing the report, the inspector will attempt to provide opinions, when a judgment is needed, that will, should be based on available facts.
The difference between fact and opinion can be said this way;
In general, an opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement about matters commonly considered to be subjective, i.e. based on that … (44 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Avoiding the Back Draft
- 01/13/14 08:40 PM
During the Viet Nam War, draft dodging was a hot topic among the countries youth. Avoiding conscription was encouraged in some circles, with those that refused to serve looked upon as counter culture heroes. Certainly a divisive and emotional time in American history.
Being a home inspector, the word draft has a completely different yet important connotation.
A nice hot shower or a long soak in a warm tub, which ever your preference, would not be possible without a water heater. The water heater design has been basically the same for decades. A large tank for holding the water and a … (11 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Measuring Up
- 01/01/14 08:55 PM
When I take my kids to the amusement park there is one important sign they pay close attention to, the height gauge. You know the ones that are at the entrance of all the rides usually with the exception of the kiddie rides. The sign will say something like, you must X inches tall to ride. If you don't measure up, you can't ride. Or worse, you have to go on with mom or dad. No one wants to do that!
Measuring is fundamental to houses. Without measurement a house or for that matter just about anything could not be built. … (13 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Solid Not Sturdy
- 12/19/13 08:18 PM
Words are unique in that they can cause understanding or create confusion. The English language is peppered with words that sound exactly alike, are spelled differently, with often entirely dissimilar meanings. Coarse and course, wait and weight, heel and heal. To add a little more spice, the meaning of words changes depending on use. To further complicate language, certain words are interpreted as basically having the same meaning, yet actually have different definitions.
Two words I find frequently used while inspecting are solid and sturdy. Now these two words would appear to mean about the same thing. In fact one definition … (39 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Total Immersion
- 12/13/13 09:04 PM
Watching a good movie, reading a good book or engaged in a passion, one can become immersed. All peripheral distractions fade as your attention becomes focused with laser like precision.
When inspecting a house I can become deeply engrossed in my task. This not a detriment. Being focused is how the not so readily apparent issues can be discovered. For it is the not so obvious that my clients pay me to find, the subtle.
Water heaters are present in every house. They are not unlike the heating system or electric panel. They reside in some out of the way … (28 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Decks, Diving Boards and Cannon Balls
- 10/10/13 09:26 PM
I would suspect anyone over the age of five is familiar with a diving board. A springy plank meant to propel the swimmer high into the air for a splash landing in the pool. Looking at a diving board, it's a simple and ancient design, essentially a lever and fulcrum.
A lever is arguably one of the oldest tools known to humankind. By setting a sturdy tree limb atop a rock, placing one end of the branch under the object to be moved and then applying force to the opposite end of the limb, the force exerted can be multiplied. In … (27 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Terrorists and Your Uncle Bob
- 09/30/13 09:12 PM
I bet your wondering what does your uncle have to do with terrorist. Hopefully nothing unless he happens to be working for the FBI. As we have witnessed with way too much frequency, terrorists are not always the smartest or most adept people. It can be said they have just enough skills and knowledge to be dangerous.
And so it may be with your Uncle Bob.
Everyone knows or has an Uncle, friend, sibling, family member who is handy. You need something done around your house, you call this person or perhaps they willfully volunteer their services. This person makes it all sound … (31 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Going, Going, Someday Gone
- 09/01/13 10:09 PM
It is said the only thing constant in life is change. Without fluidity in our environment, the cosmos, nothing at all would happen. Everything, from a bacteria, a planet, to all the vast universes, are all in a perpetual state of change. We humans have been able to figure out quite successfully how to manipulate our environment. To stave off change, not to stop it. For that is certainly(?) impossible.
The process of our successes is historically fraught with failures. For without disappointment there can never be triumph. Through trial and error techniques are derived that work. That stand up to … (13 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Noxious Gas Alert!
- 05/10/13 10:32 PM
There are all sorts of potential hazards present in our homes. Subsequently industrious companies have invented warning devices. The most recognizable is probably the smoke detector. Fire warning devices are not extremely new, they have simply become inexpensive and above all else easy to install. I would attribute this in part to the improvement of micro electronic circuitry.
The new kid on the home hazard alert front is the carbon monoxide detector, first entering the market around 1993. The hazards of CO have been known for sometime, since the 1800s. Early detectors were quite cumbersome and refined to special applications. These … (8 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Obviously Obscure
- 04/22/13 09:30 PM
Every job or task has many subtleties. When you watch someone who is good at doing a particular thing, a great musician for example, they appear to play their instrument with ease. Nothing could be further from the truth, great talent also requires a great amount of work. Through repetition a task becomes second nature.
In the process of inspecting a house, some defects, even to the untrained eye, are glaringly obvious. A bad roof seems to be the number one component spotted by most prospective home buyers. The roof is a strong focal point for buyers. So it was no … (19 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Taking a Peak
- 02/14/13 09:06 PM
When approaching a house for the first time, one will first take notice of the general appearance of the dwelling. The landscaping or lack of is what often initially draws the eye. Followed by the siding, trim and color scheme. Next perhaps a cursory glance to the windows. Finally the eye will be enticed briefly towards the roof, note how it plays off the rest of the house and move on. The entire assessment happens in just seconds.
When one lives in the house, the accounting becomes part of our perceptual background. Routine draws more of ones attention else where. … (27 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: To The Laboratory
- 10/15/12 09:59 PM
Tis the season for ghouls, goblins and ghosts. Yards are adorned with grotesque, freakish creatures from beyond the grave. Or at very least the back of someone's attic. Large spiders and pointy fanged bats seem to be ready to pounce from every tree branch. Witches and animated skeletons lurk behind every corner.
It's a graveyard out there!
So when I entered a garage the other day and saw a trap door in the floor, I couldn't help but conjure up images of Igor and Dr. Frankenstein in a creepy laboratory working over a huge, lifeless body. Beakers bubbling, electricity snapping, the … (15 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: It's The Little Things
- 08/09/12 09:52 PM
It is said the devil is in the details. I couldn't agree more. Quality work is found in the little things, the details the person has taken time to add or complete. The details in the house's construction are what I look at when inspecting. There are times when I have just stop to admire someone's work, it has been done so exceptionally well.
One detail that is very important in house construction is wood to ground clearance. It is considered so important the distant to ground can be found in the building codes, a minimum of 6 inches … (11 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Roof Strata
- 05/30/12 10:03 PM
Geologist, archeologists and certainly a few other ologists I'm forgetting, look at layers of rock, soil, or what ever in order to determine the stuff that their ology is compelled to determine. Sometimes I feel like a houseologist. No I don't wear one of those head lamps, but I can see where they would come in handy. What I do, like those people with the fancy professional titles is look for evidence in order to piece together a hypothesis. By the way, hypothesis is often a fancy way to say wild ass guess.
Take for example the other afternoon inspecting a … (13 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: I’m No Expert, But…
- 03/19/12 09:47 PM
Home inspectors by definition are generalists, not experts. You even might call us expert generalist. Or perhaps not. The thing with being a generalist is that one must know a little about a lot of things. It is almost a full time job in itself keeping up with all the bits and pieces of knowledge to be a well informed generalist.
Some of the ways to keeps up with all the information in this profession and to stay current is by attending seminars, going to home inspector meetings or reading up on various topics. Reading is always a good source … (51 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Copper Conundrum
- 02/23/12 07:45 PM
I would speculate that most homeowners rarely if ever climb onto their roof. If they do, it is probably to clean their gutters. Most home inspectors on the other hand climb on to the roof with regularity. Of course not every roof is safe to climb or within reach of the inspectors ladder. It is usually assumed the reason the inspector traverses the roof is to inspect the covering. While that is true, it is not the only item on the inspector’s checklist with regard to the roof area.
One common item for scrutiny is the plumbing waste pipe vent flashing. … (8 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Slipping Helplessly Away
- 01/12/12 11:06 PM
Have you ever felt something slipping away? Like a relationship going sour or your favorite sports team losing an important game. You’re helplessly aware of the situation, but powerless to halt the inevitable. It’s an ugly feeling.
The same kind of emotion can be felt when we purchase a product that is expected, stated to last a certain period of time and fails miserably short of the mark. Like everything manufactured, some things are made better than others. Differences in quality are most often understood when a product is purchased. Yet once in a while something goes wrong at the plant, … (7 comments)
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home inspectors in connecticut: Contemplation
- 12/13/11 07:11 AM
In life there are many times through out the day when decisions must be made. Most often we have simple choices to make, like what flavor ice cream to chose. Every so often a more weighty decision happens upon us, for example should we let our child go with friends away for the weekend. These kinds of decisions are not made spur of the moment. Information must weighed, then contemplated and finally a decision rendered.
When inspecting homes these two basic scenarios can occur over and over again in the few hours of the inspection. I would guess that at least … (8 comments)
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Rubber stamped; a phrase that characteristically has a negative connotation meaning an action or product hasn’t been scrutinized for quality, safety and or appropriateness. On the converse side, a stamp or marking can mean that exactly those qualities are present. Construction material ratings and standards are very helpful, providing consistency and a level of safety when a structure is built or repaired. Construction grade wood products come from the factory with stamping that identifies their quality, use and strength. With plywood or OSB an APA (Engineered Wood Association) stamp denotes quality, product design use and performance.
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