ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2010
16
Comments
"Capitalism is the belief that nobody is wise enough and knows enough to control the lives of other people. When each person buys, sells, consumes, produces, saves and spends at will, 'the miracle of the market' enables everyone to benefit." ...
11/30/2010
30
Comments
On new construction there are times when you can look at something and not be able to tell what the problem is! At times you have to look at things a long time and still can't see exactly what is going on. Things look out of whack, but sometimes, when many things ALL look out of whack, it is har...
11/28/2010
64
Comments
When a large part of the exterior of a house is covered with a faux stone veneer, there are many locations each of which has its own method of protecting prior to the mortar application. There are inside and outside corners, vertical and horizontal trim members, windows and doors, etc. Suffice ...
11/25/2010
26
Comments
Forget the Pilgrims and the wondrous meal they had celebrating the first Thanksgiving. It is all made up and mythical lore. It's a great story for school kids though! But it never happened. The First Thanksgiving was in fact a presidential proclamation, by none other than George Washington, in...
11/25/2010
15
Comments
After coming inside from the very interesting outdoors of my favorite new construction, was was greeted at the doorway between laundry room off of the garage and the kitchen with this. At first glance it looks like a stain. But it is not. Remember, when a builder calls to schedule the final inspe...
11/24/2010
27
Comments
Not sure what is going on here. Yes this is the brand new kitchen cabinet over the brand new kitchen sink in the brand new kitchen of a brand new house! Yes, to answer your next question, you have seen this house many times recently! This is a new construction inspection, one of the most instr...
11/23/2010
63
Comments
OK, I may be a Led Zeppelin fan and this post may not exactly be going to heaven, but it might just keep someone on this earth for a while longer! One very useful, and potentially very dangerous, thing in our houses is the attic access ladder. So why this post? Because I find that they are seldom...
11/23/2010
20
Comments
"Capitalism is based on self interest and self esteem, it holds integrity and trustworthiness as cardinal virtues, not vices. It is this superlative moral system that the welfare statists propose to improve upon by means of preventative law, snooping bureaucrats and the chronic goad of fear." ...
11/22/2010
Water is THE killer of houses, inside and out. The outside of the house comes with an exterior "skin," which is supposed to keep that water OUT of the house. That skin develops in different forms, shapes and materials, and all combine, ostensibly, to keep the water out. Thes...
11/21/2010
31
Comments
New construction inspections are always a challenge. And for many reasons. There is a lot of countervailing stuff going on. The supervisor thinks he has built the perfect house. Sometimes he tells me that. The builder doesn't want me there. Sometimes they tell me that. The client has been ...
11/19/2010
Rainmaker
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2,049,943
Jay Markanich
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia
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An experienced home inspector's look at current home inspection events and conditions along with his useful recommendations.