A lot of people don't realize that pretty much all Water Heater manufacturers specifically state that insulation blankets are not to be installed on the water heater. I just happened to be in the position to take this picture, and thought it would be a good example of the warnings that they put
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10/20/2009
Do I need to add any commentary? The bathroom vents were also going into the attic. (ok... I must.... somebody isn't going to get it... plywood shouldn't look like that... when warm moist air is blown from bathrooms and kitchens into the attic it can cause mildew to form on the sheathing...) ;)
10/20/2009
This is a first... the home owner's dog really liked me. Well... ok... that is a first too. But, I have never had a dog demand to go into the crawl space with me. I think he did a great job, considering that it appeared to be his first venture into Dante's Crawlspacio. Sparky notified me of a
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10/20/2009
Getting off the highway on my way to a home inspection association meeting I ran into (pun) this... The kid, shown in the picture, was attempting to explain how reasonable his accident was to the police. I don't think they were buying it. Somehow in a busy off ramp he drove his car up over the
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10/20/2009
Will They Extend the Tax Credit? Are We Trying to Push Off "The Inevitable"? Are We Still Benefiting from the Sub-Prime Crisis? The Times of Trenton just released and Op-Ed piece on the possibility of extending the tax credit. Written by Staff Writer and Executive Vice President of the New Jerse
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10/18/2009
This is actually a very minor issue compared to some of the things that I have found on new homes. Granted, if somebody wants to take a gamble and not have an inspection on their new home, they are likely to have less serious issues than on a home that is older. The key word there is "gamble".
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10/18/2009
We often perform inspections once, twice, five times on the same homes. This might happen over the course of a few months, or after many years. This was the case with a house inspected in SW Washington a few months ago: we had inspected it about 6 years before. What is funny about our job is t
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10/18/2009
In the right corner of the picture you will note a mount of dirt that extends from the ground to the large beam. This was found on a home a few months back in Portland, OR. It is a Moisture Ant nest. When I have seen Moisture Ants before I hadn't seen anything like this, but they appear to us
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10/18/2009
The New Washington Law and Home Inspection Advertising Home Inspectors who didn't not receive their license by September 1, 2009 are not allowed to advertize themselves as licensed home inspectors. While somewhat vague, the DOL Home Inspector division is already making home inspectors who don't
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10/18/2009
The Washington State Home Inspector's Standards of Practice (found HERE) say nothing about appliances. Nothing. They don't say that you have to inspect them or not. The Standards don't define what "appliances" would need to be inspected, and what ones would be skipped. They simply say ... not
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10/18/2009