inspectors: The Dark Side of Ivy
- 03/07/12 11:28 AM
Ivy can look beautiful on house walls and brick chimneys, if maintained. The thick, green texture gives your home a woodsy feel. It can provide a canopy over a trellis or pergola.There is a dark side to ivy, though. As the ivy tendrils (a slender, whiplike or threadlike plant strand specialized to anchor and support vines) dig deep into brick; it can actually grow through the brick and mortar, damaging your home and chimney.Ivy had fully engulfed this chimney. From the roof, the home inspector could barely make out the spark arrestor/raincap assembly on top; and could not see the … (6 comments)
inspectors: Don’t Miss A Step
- 11/10/11 03:40 PM
Home inspectors see cracks in concrete surfaces at nearly every home inspection. This backyard concrete patio developed a large crack within a few years of installation. What happened? Cracks of this size are typically caused by a combination of things: - expansive soil - poor drainage - no reinforcing steel - poor installation Expansive soils contain a lot of adobe/clay and swell when wet… Not good for a concrete patio poured directly on the ground…. A bed of gravel or sand helps ‘float’ the concrete above the expansive soil. If there’s expansive soil and the gutter downspout discharges … (1 comments)
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