RECENT BLOG POSTS
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Purchasers are sometimes surprised when they find out home inspectors don't test smoke detectors - we only report on their existence or lack thereof.Well, a state senator in Virginia decided, "I've got a solution for that. Let's make it law that home inspections must include testing of smoke dete...
08/02/2022
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By this time, we all know the hidden dangers of flipped homes, both by homeowners and flipping companies. We recently inspected a home with some specific renovations by the homeowner to make the home more appealing compared to the aged materials in the rest of the home. In the case of th...
05/05/2021
We've been thinking about these pre-contract (what we call "Walk-Thru") inspections for some time now, as the over heated market in Washington DC has created a situation where sellers' agents will convince a seller to refuse a contract with a home inspection contingency because they know the...
09/13/2020
Ran across this objective review of home inspectors by the Washington DC Consumers Checkbook (checkbook.org) performed in 2018, and was surprised by the results of a blind test of 12 inspectors abilities to locate 28 obvious problems. A rare inspector (like Rainman) will find everything in a...
08/05/2020
Anyone who recalls the famous Legionnaires Disease outbreak in a Philadephia hotel in 1976 knows the fear that a deadly disease outbreak can create when the source is unknown. We're suffering through a similar fear due to the Covid-19 virus outbreak. A recent article on AccuWeather.com i...
05/15/2020
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It seems everyone loves the look of natural (or simulated) stone around and inside new homes. With all new materials used and which become popular in new construction, we rarely have prior knowledge how they will perform over time. New high-tech materials and new design and installation procedure...
02/12/2019
We commonly get the question, do you test or inspect for mold? For these buyers or homeowners, there are typically four questions we ask that determine if testing is appropriate: 1) Is mold visble? 2) Is there a mold or musty smell in the home? 3) Is there or has there been a lon...
11/12/2018
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It's that time of year that requires home inspectors to enter the hottest part of the home...the Attic space. And a good number of attics are not vented. Venting of attics is not only important to reduce energy consumption and the associated costs of heating and, mainly summer cooling, b...
06/20/2018
I've run across several basements recently that have had the typical "interior perimeter waterproofing", with the basement block walls in really poor condition, including peeling paint, cracking parge, and mineral deposit leeching.. This has given me reason to put more thought into the inspection...
06/07/2018
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For our Virginia Realtors, I wanted to give an update on the licensing for New Home Inspections (called New Residential Structures - NRS). The definition of an NRS is: a new construction home prior to first tranfer of deed from the builder to the purchaser. Effective July 1, all Home Inp...
07/19/2017