Please, join me

For your Kansas City home inspection, it’s best if you follow me through the house during the inspection. Some home inspectors prefer that you show up at the end of the inspection, or not at all. I disagree. Having you with me allows you to see everything I’m seeing, to ask your questions as we go along, and to learn about all of the features of your potential new house. Simply reading the inspection report does not inform you as well as having you witness everything does. And if you follow along during the inspection, the written report will serve as a great reminder of what you’ve already seen and, perhaps, want to address in your negotiations.

My typical home inspection takes only about ninety minutes. If your schedule allows, it could be the most important ninety minutes you spend during your home-buying process. So, plan on it. Let’s go through your house together and see what we find. It’s educational. And, it can be a lot of fun.

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.

But, it has a new roof

Don't make the mistake of concluding that, because the house you're looking to buy has a new roof, the roof doesn't need to be included in your Kansas City home inspection. Recently, I inspected one half of a duplex that had a new roof installed over both sides of the duplex. The half that my client was buying had no ventilation installed with the new roof. Soffit vents had been installed, but there were no other vents in the new roof. The other half of the duplex had a vent installed, but a wall separated the two attic spaces from each other. So, none of that ventilation would reach my client's half of the duplex.

The original roofing had wood shingles and that type of roofing is, essentially, self-ventilating. Perhaps the roofer simply replaced what was already there instead of realizing that new venting needed to be installed. Regardless, an unvented roof leads to many problems, including the formation of mold. So my report says that yes, it has a new roof. But the new roof needs to be fixed. Without an inspection, my client would have felt secure in the knowledge that his new house had a new roof. But when problems began showing up a few years later, he wouldn't have been quite so happy. And checking the roof ventilation is not something you're likely to do when you're looking to buy a house. That's why you hire me.

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.

Your air conditioner is under attack

It's easy to think that you can just let your dog out into your backyard to do his business and everything will be okay. But, Fido might actually be ruining your air conditioner. These photos show damage caused by dog urine to an air conditioner in a recent inspection. This type of damage is found in about one Kansas City home inspection each month.

The acid in dog urine disintegrates the aluminum air flow tubes on your air conditioner's compressor unit, reducing the flow of air that cools the compressor while the air conditioner is running. Not only is your air conditioner now more likely to overheat, but this type of damage can also lead to a freon gas leak. So, while it's great to give Rover free reign in the yard to mark his territory, discourage him from treating your air conditioner like it's a fire hydrant.

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.

People are talking

It's fun to often follow the connections between my Kansas City home inspection clients. Last week, my client worked with a man who had me do two inspections for him. Years ago, I inspected the house he was buying. A few years later, he left town. Then, I inspected the house he bought upon his return to KC. When he found out that this woman in his office was buying a house, he told her to have me do the inspection because I was "very thorough". She told me this story and added, "He was right. You ARE very thorough."

Then, I was hired by a couple who had just seen me inspect the house they were selling. They liked the way I treated my client who was buying their house, and the way I treated them during that inspection. So now, they wanted me to inspect the brand-new house they were buying. They wanted me to do the same thorough job on their brand-new house that I had done of the one they had been living in, though they originally had decided that the new one didn't need an inspection at all.

That's one of the great things about Kansas City - it's a big city and a small town.

Also, this past week, two different clients replied by E-mail when they received their written home inspection reports. One wrote, "Thank you very much for your prompt and helpful report on this condo!" and the other, "Thank you for your thorough report. I feel comfortable in making this my new home."

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.

Reminders for Fall

It hasn't always felt like Fall yet, but the Royals were playing in something called the Fall Classic. So, it's time to talk about important steps to take this time of year.

It's very important to keep the rain gutters on your house free of debris this Fall. Letting all of the falling leaves clog things up will cause a lot of problems for your house's foundation. Clogged gutters and downspouts lead to overflows and back ups that can put water in your basement. The clogs keep rain water from flowing away from your house's foundation. It, instead, seeks out the cracks in your basement walls.

And, you should have your fireplace and flue inspected and cleaned. Whether it's the house you're living in now or the house you want to buy, creosote build up in a chimney's flue is very dangerous. Since it is out of sight, it's very easily out of mind, as well. When you have Complete Home Inspection do your Kansas City home inspection, I look at the fireplace, the chimney and the liner, and look up into the flue. If I see signs of trouble, that's when you need to call an expert to do a thorough fireplace inspection for you. Cracks, blockages, and creosote build-up are all going to cause you problems. So, for your safety and your family's safety, have your wood-burning fireplace checked and cleaned yearly.

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.

Thank you for your kind words

Thank you to the editors of the American Society of Home Inspectors' magazine, The ASHI Reporter, for their recent feature highlighting my focus on educating myself to be the best home inspector possible. Education has always been an important part of my life. And I see, every day, how important further education is to me as a Kansas City home inspector.

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.

New CSST certification

I am now certified to inspect CSST, Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing that is used to pipe gas to furnaces, water heaters, fireplaces and other gas appliances. That may not mean anything at all to you. You, perhaps, have never heard of CSST before now. That's fine. That's why you hire me to do your home inspection for you.

For decades, black iron pipe has been used to pipe gas to furnaces, water heaters, and such. Now, CSST is showing up in more and more residential, commercial, and industrial structures. CSST must be installed correctly to be safe. That's where I come in. I'm certified to check that the CSST is both grounded correctly and bonded correctly.

So, while it may not mean much to you, and it may be something you weren't even aware of until now, it could be an important part of your Complete 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, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.