Real estate blog entries tagged with home inspectors in connecticut ct by James Quarello, Connecticut Home Inspector (JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC)

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home inspectors in connecticut ct: Safe Harbor - 08/03/11 12:52 AM

Blue and white nudged away, the waters smooth in the cove. A whisper brushes on the stillness, stealthily up the spine. Sun light defining edge of gray, darkness settles down. Better to be in safe harbor, when gray has come around.

James QuarelloConnecticut Home Inspector2010 - 2011 SNEC-ASHI PresidentNRSB #8SS0022JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC

To find out more about our other high tech services we offer in Connecticut click on the links below:
Serving the Connecticut Counties of Fairfield, Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven, Southern Litchfield and Western New London.
… (11 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Layers - 08/02/11 12:41 AM

Layering is a good practice in many instances. For example when it’s cold out side dressing in layers is always advisable. When it comes to home construction or more specifically to the installation of certain components layering is desirable…to a degree.

The most common and I believe the most recognizable layered element on a home is the roof covering. Most often this would be asphalt shingles. Here in Connecticut two layers of shingles are allowed on a roof. Meaning a second layer of shingles can be installed over the first, older layer, but on the next go round all the … (12 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Pump Me Out - 07/21/11 12:40 AM

One of the biggest fears I find with anyone buying a home is does the basement have water. No one wants water in their basement, not even a teeny bit. I personally have had two homes that have had water in the basement. It ain’t no fun.
The other afternoon I was inspecting a small cape in an area near the water, as in the ocean. The house was not on the water but in close proximity. While walking around the outside I find a pump installed at the front corner of the home. Interesting, I have only seen this a … (11 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Dipping In Your Toes - 07/20/11 12:39 AM

Summer has settled into Connecticut over the past week. The continuous hot and humid weather make for a lazy daze. Finding a nice shaded spot next to a cool running brook is about all the exercise expended in the heat of the day. Pull up a log, dip in your toes while watching the trout and frogs frolic listening to the stream sing its babbling song.

James QuarelloConnecticut Home Inspector2010 - 2011 SNEC-ASHI PresidentNRSB #8SS0022JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC

To find out more about our other high tech services we offer in Connecticut click on the links below:
Serving … (13 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Was It That Easy? - 07/15/11 12:35 AM

Problems, we all have them every day. Most are fairly small and easy to fix. Others drive you to the edge of insanity. We all have things that get under our skin, that really tweak us or "push our buttons". I have a love hate relationship with technology, most notably with computers.
I have been struggling with a finicky computer for a few weeks. It will work fine for a while and then....BAM, I get the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death). And not just once, it recurs several times, I do this, I do that and it seems to be fixed. … (13 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Half Right - 07/13/11 01:54 AM

Many, many homes in Connecticut have brick and mortar chimneys. Many of these chimneys also have problems. A good portion of those problems are due to what has been going up the chimney. In Connecticut many homes use oil for heat. Before that coal. I still find old coal burning boilers in use that were converted to oil burners way back when.
Modern chimneys are built with clay flue liners. Before that, no liner, just the brick. An older home, a hundred years or more, will almost assuredly have an unlined chimney. Over those hundred plus years of burning coal and … (9 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Condo Blindness - 07/12/11 12:34 AM

One of the more prevalent reasons I believe people choose condo living is the burden of maintaining the exterior falls on some one else. No painting, cutting the grass or shoveling snow. That sounds good to me. What I find many times inspecting condos is some things on the exterior are attached things on the interior, meaning they are the homeowners responsibility to maintain. Stuff like A/C compressors and heating vents. This can be a problem because the home owner may often be under the false assumption some one else is also taking care of these things too. I think people … (15 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Summer Fireworks - 07/06/11 12:17 AM

The Fourth of July has just past, a day intrinsically associated with fireworks. All summer fireworks are constant, found under the warm blanket of a summer nights sky, exploding in brief, booming brilliance. Yet near the ground others inaudibly reside in sun baked meadows, forests and back yard landscapes, blooming bright colorful. Ooooh.....

James QuarelloConnecticut Home Inspector2010 - 2011 SNEC-ASHI PresidentNRSB #8SS0022JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC

To find out more about our other high tech services we offer in Connecticut click on the links below:
Serving the Connecticut Counties of Fairfield, Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven, Southern Litchfield and Western … (12 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Crowding Control - 07/05/11 12:41 AM

One of the most unpleasant parts of attending a game, concert or other event, is getting into and especially out of the arena. Everyone is of course leaving all at the same time. You shuffle through the building, squished together like sardines in a can. Once you break free from the dense mass of humanity, you feel relieved and unfettered, the giddy high from the event returning.
Being crowded when working is just as unpleasant, actually even more so, than shuffling along with an event crowd. It can also be dangerous.
During a recent home inspection I opened the door to … (32 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Out of The Can Or Out of My Mind - 06/28/11 12:38 AM

Each of us has a job we do. I believe some of us like or even love or jobs and the rest do what they do for a pay check. I also feel no matter what job there is to do, there are those that will put forth their best effort and others who just get it done.
Talking with a real estate agent yesterday, she related how her clients had chosen to use another inspector instead of someone very near and dear to me. She had contacted me over a concern that had popped up during the inspection. I inquired … (13 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: House Make Up - 06/22/11 11:56 PM

As every guy knows most women wear make up. And most every guy knows the process of applying said make up takes a bit of time. The whole routine of painting, checking and reapplying and rechecking, all very time consuming. Now I used the word painting, because in essence that is exactly what is going on. I have even heard the ladies refer to putting on make up as painting my face. When it comes to homes, painting gives everything a fresh clean look. Often the home is painted prior to sale. Like make up, paint can also be used to … (74 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Cover-Up - 06/22/11 01:28 AM

In the wild, both hunter and the hunted use camouflage to fool the other by blending into the surroundings. Trickery and deception are the keys to survival. In the world of real estate are these same methods sometimes employed? On a recent home inspection I was tricked into believing something I saw was not what it appeared.
As I began walking the roof of this two story house, I looked around and noticed to my left the chimney and rising over the ridge a second chimney!? It was a metal chimney or vent. Having walked the outside and through the first … (14 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: The Gentleman's Club? - 06/20/11 01:46 AM

Finished basements are not all that unusual, the accoutrements however can at times be unique. Often times these spaces fall into disuse, especially as the owner's age. What was once the bee hive of the homes activity has become more or less a ghost town under the house. Very often there is a bar, the owners obviously into entertaining and making this a designated adult play room.
Any time there is imbibing, the inevitable call of nature is sure to follow. They say you do not buy beer or wine, but rent it. And so a quite often a bathroom is … (13 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: How Tough Is The Market? An Inspectors Perspective - 06/19/11 01:29 AM

Selling houses these days is tough. Many languish on the market for months, some even years. Since I don't sell homes for a living, I don't pretend to know the details of why one home may sell quickly in a "bad market", while another sits like a goose on an egg.
What I see and hear from my perspective as a Connecticut home inspector is basically two things;
Homes priced right and nice, clean homes sell quickly.
One new twist I have noticed in my business is the HUGE increase of sellers getting pre sale home inspections. I think I have … (44 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Off Or On? - 06/14/11 02:18 AM

In the world of home inspections you are either an on site or off site report writer. I was an on site reporter, now I am an off site reporter. Since I have the experience from both sides, I can say that off site report writing provides my clients with a far superior report.
Now if you put a bunch of home inspectors together in a room, you will get a different opinion on report writing from every one. I know because I have been part of this discussion many times. Basically the good and noble argument for doing a report … (14 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: It's Saturday, Time for A Little Fun - 06/11/11 01:09 AM

Since it's Saturday morning, no one really wants to exert themselves too much right of the bat. At least physically anyway. I'm sure by now most of you have had your morning infusion of coffee or what ever gets your motor running and the fog from your mind has lifted.
Here's a little brain teaser, nothing too hard, but we'll see if you can spot the problem.
Take a look at this stairway. Yes it is somewhat lacking in TLC, but what is the major no, no that the builder of these stairs should have known was a problem.
Have a … (14 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Crystalline - 06/10/11 02:03 AM

In the course of performing my job as a Connecticut home inspector, I spend a lot of time in basements. You might call me a cellar dweller. Basements can run the gamut from beautiful finished spaces to dank, cob web draped, creepy spaces. One commonality to most of the unfinished spaces or at least when some of the walls and floor are visible is efflorescence.
From Wikipedia; In chemistry, efflorescence (which means "to flower out" in French) is the loss of water (or a solvent) of crystallization from a hydrated or solvated salt to the atmosphere on exposure to air.
Now … (13 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: An Easy Way In - 06/09/11 01:29 AM

Storage space has to be one of the most sought after features in a home. You never seem to have enough, especially when you have kids. The garage is always a designated storage area in any home that happens to have one. Many times there is no room left for the car.
The garage is an area of interest to me as a Connecticut home inspector. I'm not concerned about its storage potential, but for one with the fire protection.
A garage that is attached to or part of the home should have fire protection. In Connecticut the code defines this … (21 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: Among The Green - 06/08/11 09:36 AM

The sun has wended its way back to the northern hemisphere, passing the equator some months ago. Each day its angle moves higher in the sky on its journey to the Tropic of Cancer. It seems the sun has shoved the white of the winter away and splashed the landscape a vibrant green. Yet if one looks around the heavy hand of old man winter can be glimpsed among the green.

James QuarelloConnecticut Home Inspector2010 - 2011 SNEC-ASHI PresidentNRSB #8SS0022JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC

To find out more about our other high tech services we offer … (11 comments)

home inspectors in connecticut ct: The Feet Know What The Eyes Can't See - 06/07/11 01:54 AM

You're walking down the side walk along your street, gazing about, taking in the sights and boomp! You stumble. You look around to see what caused this interruption of stride. You see that your toe caught a rise in the walk that your eyes never saw. Your feet have detected what your eyes were unable to see.
Part of the reason for that is our stride is basically run on auto pilot. It is really quite even and consistent, so when an undetected variation in the terrain occurs, you stumble.
This science of the stride is the reason why stairs need … (42 comments)

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