In the last week or so, two customers have commented on their Kansas City home inspection and the service they received from Complete Home Inspection. One left a very detailed and thorough comment on "Angie's List" about his detailed and very thorough inspection - http://completehomeinspectionkc.com/kansas_city_home_inspection_012.htm.
And the other sent a simple and direct E-mail following her Kansas City home inspection - "Miki: I was really pleased with your work and hope to work with you again. Thanks."
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing and more, we do it all for you. And, according to our customers, we do it pretty well, too. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Thanks for the follow-up
Following the August 3rd blog post below about the effects of the Kansas City drought on your foundation, we received a great E-mail from a reader. The E-mail read in part -
"Good morning, I read your article called, "Effects of the Drought," published online on Aug. 3. It was a great article and (I) have questions if you don't mind my asking. Being a Louisiana native, I'm unfamiliar with the solid clay soils of the area and with droughts, for that matter. I hear about watering foundations and such, but I don't have a basement or a crawl space. I'm on a slab...No one ever talks about this kind of home construction here...nor can I find information about it online...Thanks for any insight you can provide to me. I can not find any information on this anywhere and people I've spoken to don't know. I get mixed answers, but no definites."
We answered her specific questions for her by return E-mail. This is a great example of why it's so important for you to be with us during your Complete Home Inspection. You get the chance to ask the questions that are important to you. You get to find out how the systems of your potential new home operate, how to change filters, how to light pilot lights, and more. It's your chance to pick a brain that's been doing Kansas City home inspections for more than twenty years now.
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com. Get your questions answered and make yourself into a smarter home buyer.
"Good morning, I read your article called, "Effects of the Drought," published online on Aug. 3. It was a great article and (I) have questions if you don't mind my asking. Being a Louisiana native, I'm unfamiliar with the solid clay soils of the area and with droughts, for that matter. I hear about watering foundations and such, but I don't have a basement or a crawl space. I'm on a slab...No one ever talks about this kind of home construction here...nor can I find information about it online...Thanks for any insight you can provide to me. I can not find any information on this anywhere and people I've spoken to don't know. I get mixed answers, but no definites."
We answered her specific questions for her by return E-mail. This is a great example of why it's so important for you to be with us during your Complete Home Inspection. You get the chance to ask the questions that are important to you. You get to find out how the systems of your potential new home operate, how to change filters, how to light pilot lights, and more. It's your chance to pick a brain that's been doing Kansas City home inspections for more than twenty years now.
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com. Get your questions answered and make yourself into a smarter home buyer.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Effects of the drought
As the drought continues in the Kansas City area, here's a home owner's maintenance tip for you. Water your house's foundation. That's right. It probably won't grow at all, but watering the dirt against the foundation might help keep cracks from forming and water from seeping into your basement. Assuming it ever rains.
How much should you water? That's a tough one to answer. It's like tightening a plastic fastener. The instructions always say "Don't overtighten". In other words, when it breaks, then you know that you've overtightened it. When watering the ground around your foundation, you want the soil to be damp. Not wet. Not soaked. Damp.
Keeping the soil around your foundation damp keeps it from drying out and moving away from your foundation. If the soil shrinks away from the concrete, it opens up a channel between the earth and the concrete. And when we finally do get some rain, guess where the water will go - straight down that new opening between the dirt and concrete and, perhaps, into your basement. Damp soil will instead stay up against the concrete and will then absorb the eventual rain water as it did before the drought.
Keeping the soil damp around your foundation also helps avoid the "elevator" effect of the soil. When the soil is very dry, it compacts, which can cause the house to settle. Dry soil also shrinks and gets lower on your foundation, causing a negative slope that will route future rain water towards the house. Then rain can make the soil swell pushing against your foundation. That shifting, or heaving, up and down puts stress on the concrete and can cause cracks to form.
So, the grass may be dormant or burned up. The flowers may have already wilted. But remember to water the ground around your foundation. A rule of thumb is that if the plants against your house are watered, then the foundation should be fine.
Then, just pray for rain.
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.
How much should you water? That's a tough one to answer. It's like tightening a plastic fastener. The instructions always say "Don't overtighten". In other words, when it breaks, then you know that you've overtightened it. When watering the ground around your foundation, you want the soil to be damp. Not wet. Not soaked. Damp.
Keeping the soil around your foundation damp keeps it from drying out and moving away from your foundation. If the soil shrinks away from the concrete, it opens up a channel between the earth and the concrete. And when we finally do get some rain, guess where the water will go - straight down that new opening between the dirt and concrete and, perhaps, into your basement. Damp soil will instead stay up against the concrete and will then absorb the eventual rain water as it did before the drought.
Keeping the soil damp around your foundation also helps avoid the "elevator" effect of the soil. When the soil is very dry, it compacts, which can cause the house to settle. Dry soil also shrinks and gets lower on your foundation, causing a negative slope that will route future rain water towards the house. Then rain can make the soil swell pushing against your foundation. That shifting, or heaving, up and down puts stress on the concrete and can cause cracks to form.
So, the grass may be dormant or burned up. The flowers may have already wilted. But remember to water the ground around your foundation. A rule of thumb is that if the plants against your house are watered, then the foundation should be fine.
Then, just pray for rain.
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Nice to hear
Our customer wasn't able to attend her Kansas City home inspection so she asked a friend, Charley, to be there for her. He's in the home remodeling business and would be the one doing any fix-up work for her on the house. A few days after her inspection, Charley called and left this message:
"I went through the report you sent to your client. I'm calling just to tell you that I'm very impressed with your work. You're very thorough, not only when I was there, but looking through this report. Like I said, I'm just super impressed with your detail, with your knowledge and your thoroughness. We don't always hear that from people that are in the trade, as I am. I just thought I'd pass that on to you. Good job."Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. And we apparently do it very thoroughly, too. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, http://www.completehomeinspectionkc.com/.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Two more reasons for a Kansas City home inspection
As you wonder if it's really worth it to have a Kansas City home inspection before you buy a new home, consider two things that happened this past week. Both may have been things that you wouldn't notice as you look at the big picture of the house: moving into it, who gets which bedroom, and all of the other things you need to think about. But both could be deadly for you and your family.
1) The seller of the home was a home builder. So you might assume that everything in the home would be fine and that an inspection would be unnecessary. But, during our inspection, we discovered that a natural gas line had a valve on it that is designed to be used with LP gas instead. That's very dangerous. And it's probably not something you would notice yourself. Additionally, that same natural gas line did not have a "trap" installed to allow the particulates in the gas flow to safely settle out. Instead, the pipeline went directly into the gas appliance, taking the impurities along with it.
2) Another home included a bedroom door with the handle installed incorrectly. The lock on the handle was on the hallway side of the door, not inside the bedroom. Instead of being able to lock people OUT of your bedroom, people could lock you IN your bedroom. That could be tragic in the event of a fire. Again, it's something that you probably wouldn't notice on your own.
It really pays off to have a certified professional do your Kansas City home inspection. Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, http://www.completehomeinspectionkc.com/.
1) The seller of the home was a home builder. So you might assume that everything in the home would be fine and that an inspection would be unnecessary. But, during our inspection, we discovered that a natural gas line had a valve on it that is designed to be used with LP gas instead. That's very dangerous. And it's probably not something you would notice yourself. Additionally, that same natural gas line did not have a "trap" installed to allow the particulates in the gas flow to safely settle out. Instead, the pipeline went directly into the gas appliance, taking the impurities along with it.
2) Another home included a bedroom door with the handle installed incorrectly. The lock on the handle was on the hallway side of the door, not inside the bedroom. Instead of being able to lock people OUT of your bedroom, people could lock you IN your bedroom. That could be tragic in the event of a fire. Again, it's something that you probably wouldn't notice on your own.
It really pays off to have a certified professional do your Kansas City home inspection. Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, http://www.completehomeinspectionkc.com/.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Your Kansas City home inspection
Sometimes, in today's litigious society, it can become frustrating the way businesses always seem to cover their rears when it comes to disclaimers and fine print in contracts. For instance, we talk about how your Kansas City home inspection lets you know the condition of the property "at the time of the inspection". But that only makes sense. We can't predict what might happen to the property in the future. We can only see what it's like now, and perhaps some evidence of what happened to it in the past. Clients are amazed when we uncover evidence, in an attic for example, that the house had had a fire at some point in the past.
We also talk about not being able to inspect certain aspects of the property because we couldn't get to them. We can't remove drywall to check behind it, for instance. One home seller had moved most everything from the house into the garage, making the garage impossible to completely inspect. So, while it may sound like some legal double-talk, we're simply telling you that what we can see, what we can get to, and what we can investigate, will be completely inspected. But sometimes, we run into this - This kitchen sink drain pipe showed evidence of a leak:
But the sink above it, made it impossible to completely investigate.
No, we don't do dishes.
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.
We also talk about not being able to inspect certain aspects of the property because we couldn't get to them. We can't remove drywall to check behind it, for instance. One home seller had moved most everything from the house into the garage, making the garage impossible to completely inspect. So, while it may sound like some legal double-talk, we're simply telling you that what we can see, what we can get to, and what we can investigate, will be completely inspected. But sometimes, we run into this - This kitchen sink drain pipe showed evidence of a leak:
But the sink above it, made it impossible to completely investigate.
No, we don't do dishes.
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Yes, even a brand new house
It's easy, with a newly constructed house, to think that there's no reason to have Complete Home Inspection inspect it for you. Think again.
Here's the attic in a new house we inspected recently -
No insulation at all. Now, is that something you would check as soon as you move into your new home?
Probably not. Instead, you'd be wondering why it cost so much to cool and heat your new place.
In another new construction, we couldn't get the kitchen sink spray hose to extend from its resting place. We found that the dishwasher's drain hose and the spray hose were tangled up under the sink. Further, the dishwasher was susceptible to backflow from the sink's garbage disposal because of the way its drainage hose had been placed. Again, you don't usually move into a brand new house and immediately check under the kitchen sink. Why not have Complete Home Inspection do that for you?
Yes, your builder's warranty covers things. Yes, you have a year to make a list of what needs to be repaired. Getting a Kansas City home inspection from Complete Home Inspection BEFORE you move in gets you a jump start on that list and allows you to get many of those things fixed before you take occupancy.
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, new construction inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.
Here's the attic in a new house we inspected recently -
No insulation at all. Now, is that something you would check as soon as you move into your new home?Probably not. Instead, you'd be wondering why it cost so much to cool and heat your new place.
In another new construction, we couldn't get the kitchen sink spray hose to extend from its resting place. We found that the dishwasher's drain hose and the spray hose were tangled up under the sink. Further, the dishwasher was susceptible to backflow from the sink's garbage disposal because of the way its drainage hose had been placed. Again, you don't usually move into a brand new house and immediately check under the kitchen sink. Why not have Complete Home Inspection do that for you?
Yes, your builder's warranty covers things. Yes, you have a year to make a list of what needs to be repaired. Getting a Kansas City home inspection from Complete Home Inspection BEFORE you move in gets you a jump start on that list and allows you to get many of those things fixed before you take occupancy.
Whole house inspections, condo inspections, new construction inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.
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