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Home Standards: Providing a Higher Standard of Service
What’s the R-Value of Blue Jeans?
How well is your house insulated? Insulating a house in all the right places can have a huge impact on energy bills. At a minimum, insulation should be inside walls and in attic spaces. During a home inspection, we can report on the areas that are visible and make...
A Tale of Two Sewers
By: Inspector David Six Recently, while doing an inspection report, I noted that the sewer cleanout plug (shown in photo) had been changed. This is an indication that someone has either had to snake or in some way check the sewer line to the street. While relaying...
Moisture Concerns from Window Wells
I periodically read in disclosure statements that water has entered the lower level through a window well. This normally happens in older homes, where the well does not have a drain system installed. In heavy rains, the window well may fill up and start to leak into...
Lead Water Pipes in Omaha
The lead contamination problems in Flint, Michigan cause many of us to wonder about our own water. There is good reason to be concerned. After all, the problems that lead poisoning can cause children are profound and possibly life changing. There are lead pipes in the...
Human Nature and the Brick
While inspecting a roof, I saw a brick near the furnace flue. I made my way over to investigate. I reached down to pick it up and realized it had been tarred to the roof. I came to the conclusion that the homeowner had put the brick there to secure the flashing...
Flashing Between Siding
When you see stacked vertical siding, you must have a piece of metal flashing between the two pieces of siding (commonly known as drip edge) to keep out any possible water penetration. If not, you will usually find soft/deteriorated siding at the...
Ducts in a row
In the photo there are two vent openings on the living room floor. One is a supply vent and one is a return vent. When vents like this are so close together they aren't very efficient because they just cycle the air from one vent to another and not through the living...
Structural Anomalies
Recently, while inspecting the floor framing visible from an unfinished basement, I spotted something that 25 yrs of experience around lumber had never presented to me. I have seen several different types of defects in wood joists such as insect damage or wood decay....
Radon is Here to Stay
Radon is Here to Stay By Steve Vacha Radon is here to stay, literally. The uranium dropped off by the glaciers millennia ago is buried deep in our soil. As many of us who have been around awhile know, nothing in our environment stays the same for long. Uranium...