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.