Most of us can remember the movie “Vacation,” where Chevy Chase is much more interested in getting to Wally World than almost anything else along the way, as they drive across country. The scene where he spends less than 5 seconds taking in the Grand Canyon is epic.Home inspections can be a bit
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11/23/2017
Home inspectors have a lot of fun sharing house horror pictures that show how poorly things get installed in homes and “fixed” in homes, but I am concerned with an over emphasis on defect recognition in inspection training. It can leave inspectors unable to truly communicate what is actually goi
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11/05/2017
Most of the time, in report writing, it is advisable to be as clear and to the point as possible.When reporting on issues discovered in the home, we want to describe what the issue is, what the consequences will be if nothing is done, and what repairs should be made and who should make the repair
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10/17/2017
How long have we been building houses? A lot longer than we have been air conditioning houses.Well we have certainly done things to keep warmer and dryer for thousands if not 100’s of thousands of years–but we have also done things to keep them cooler as well.As a designer/builder for most of m
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07/22/2017
There seems to be a general misconception among some home buyers that the hiring of a home inspector is the completion of their due diligence, when in many respects it is just the beginning—or at best just part of the process.The home inspector will expose the concerns, but often they will not be
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07/04/2017
People love to install pull down stairs as the means of attic access, Stairs tend to make the attic space more useful as one is not teetering on a step ladder to get things up and down.Before I go further in this discussion, I want to state that attics are for insulation–not storage or other pur
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06/12/2017
A common mistake that home inspectors make when inspecting single family residences is related to opinions stated about the requirements for separation between the home and the attached garage. Their comments often leave them “out on a limb” when repairs are called for and a builder or repair per
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05/12/2017
This is a rant that has been simmering for a few years.However well intentioned, I think the whole notion of thermopane windows is misguided. When I started building houses in the mid 70’s the idea had really taken hold as people became interested in conserving energy and improving the comfort of
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04/11/2017
If you have a vented crawl space, and you live in the maritime Northwest, you do not want to even THINK about closing those vents in the winter.If I ask the average homeowner which season, winter or summer, will moisture levels be generally higher in their vented crawl space, most will say, Winte
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03/31/2017
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