Rick Harrington's Blog

A great deal of my inspections of late have been for heat loss or cold rooms here in the Columbus, Ohio area.  What I have been finding the biggest issue is the misunderstanding of how to treat the crawl space. If you have vented your crawl space to the exterior then all walls and floors contacti...

It's been a few years since we had a dog due to hectic schedules and being empty nesters. A few months back we went to the local shelter and this little guy choose us to go home with. No matter how bad the day gets... he is waiting with a tail that doesn't quit and energy that just demands attent...

Last week I did an inspection for a person that found their dream home and had been so excited that this was the one.   A house in their budget that suited all their needs. As I was inspecting and explaining the issues as we walked the client said that the repairs needed were far over the budget ...

Short answer is yes.... The dryer when running can exhaust about 200 Cubic Feet of air per Minute to the exterior of the house. Where does it get this air?  Inside the house.  The house will need to equalize the pressure inside to outside so air is drawn in from the outside to make up the air tha...

Winter is just around the corner and all the utilities are raising their prices far faster than we are raising our income. What can we do about that... a number of thing come to mind but what we all need is the BIGGEST return on investment. The 2 biggest things are to keep you furnace clean and m...

As we start to see more and more home less than 10 years old hitting the market there is a trend that I'm seeing in the Columbus Ohio area.  The grading around the house is negative in many areas.  What is negative grading?  This is when the ground surface slopes toward the foundation wall. This ...

As I understand it, having links to other sites is good for page rankings.  (Blogs also) I'm trying to link up to those in the real estate industry to increase my exchanged links. I apologize to those that I offend by offering to exchange links on this blog and hope I'm not breaking any rules. If...

This client complained that they would have a negative reation when working out and thought there was mold somewhere in the home.I was contacted to do an Indoor Air Quaility test.I also used my Thermal camera to check for suspect areas. This is what I found.What appeared to be a normal wall was v...

To the inspectors out here.Are you checking Supply Air and Return Air temperatures when furnaces are in operation?  If not, how can you tell if it is raising the temperature of the air within the range indicated on the furnace? This is probably not in any SOP but it is a very easy check to determ...

Hopefully everyone is starting to get more business as the people escape from their winter hibernation !!!I'm doing well and having fun.  There are a few inspectors in my area cutting their fees to get the business and I can't or won't do an inspection for $175.00.But, on a positive note.... let'...