Flip-itty-doo-dah, again

Some houses marketed as having been "newly remodeled" are in the process of being "flipped" - someone bought a distressed house at a bargain price, did some fix-ups, and is now selling it to make a profit. That's fine, but you really need to make certain that the remodeling and the flipping are being done correctly. And the best way to be certain is to schedule your Complete Home Inspection before buying such a house.

Twice in one week, houses listed as having a "New Kitchen" had dishwasher problems. In the first, the "New Dishwasher" was just that, "new". It had been taken out of the box, slid into the dishwasher slot under the "New Granite Countertops", and left there. It wasn't plugged into electricity, wasn't connected to the water supply pipes, and had no drain pipe installed. The "New Dishwasher" was actually a "Useless Dishwasher". You wouldn't discover any of this until AFTER you had moved in and had a dishwasher full of dirty dishes. The second house had a "Newly Remodeled Kitchen" with a dishwasher that had power and water, but no drain pipe had been attached. You wouldn't have discovered that until water began running all over your kitchen floor.

And, the second house also boasted of a roof that was less than a year old. No need to inspect that, right? Sadly, the new roof had been installed over the two existing layers of roofing. Most, if not all, insurance companies will not give you homeowner's insurance on a house with three layers of roofing. In this case, the less-than-a-year-old roof, and the other two layers, will have to be stripped off and yet another new roof will need to be installed.

So, even in the case of a house being flipped, it is critical for you to schedule a Complete Home Inspection of the property BEFORE you buy so that you'll know condition of the house at the time of the 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.

Defect of the Week

Even in the midst of this heatwave, your Complete Home Inspection will include a thorough furnace inspection. The furnace is the furthest thing from your mind when the heat index is over 100 degrees, and that's as it should be. Furnaces are still on my mind, though, and that's why you hire me. Two different furnaces in two different houses this week, were found to have serious problems.

In the first case, the seller of the house had the furnace serviced by a technician last September. So, with the current heat wave and with the technician checking it out less than a year ago, there was probably no reason for me to be thorough, right? Look at the hole I found in the furnace flue pipe. Plus, the furnace was contained in a small, closed room that offered no secondary combustion air. That means that deadly carbon monoxide would be spilling out of this pipe anytime the furnace kicked in.

In the second case, my client was a boilermaker by trade. When we checked the furnace in the house he was looking to buy, I noticed that the gas burner remained lit for only about ten seconds. When the electronic igniter went out  (as it was supposed to), the burner went out, too. This happened repeatedly. Ten seconds of heat just isn't going to cut it in February in Kansas City. Since he has been in the heating business his entire life, he was impressed that I found the problem.

The things you wouldn't even think to check when buying or selling a house are the things that I pay the most attention to in 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.