Timely reminder about fireplaces

While inspecting a rental house for the new tenants last month, I suggested that the landlord should have the fireplace flue checked and cleaned. The landlord seemed to feel that I was just being picky but, begrudgingly, agreed to have it done anyway. The chimney inspector stopped by the house this week and told the tenant two things when he was finished: 1) "Congratulations, you win for dirtiest flue so far this season.", and 2) "You're lucky you and the previous occupants haven't had a creosote fire."

While it's always nice to be proven correct, the moral of this story is that you should have your fireplace and flue inspected and cleaned on a regular basis. Whether it's the house you're living in now, the house you want to buy, or a house that you're going to rent, 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 regularly.

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.

This won't happen to you

A horror story from my client this week is something that will never happen to you when you have Complete Home Inspection handle your Kansas City home inspection. While inspecting the house my client is buying, he told me about the inspection on the house he is selling.

First, the inspector told everyone - buyers, sellers, real estate agents - to just sit in the living room while he inspected the house. Then, following his inspection, he went out to his car for about thirty minutes and wrote his report while they waited. He brought the report in, gave it to his customers, made a few verbal comments, and started to leave. His comments included that he found five floor joists that were damaged and needed to be replaced. My client, who is the seller and a building contractor, asked to see the joists to be replaced. The inspector showed him one and was unable to, again, find the other four he had mentioned verbally and in his report.

Here's what would have been different if the people buying my client's house had, instead, hired me to do their inspection. First, if your schedule allows, I prefer having you accompany me during the inspection. This allows me to point out features, talk about how things work and how to take care of them, and talk about any problems I might find. There is no "sitting in the living room waiting for me to be done". Secondly, you have more important things to do while buying or selling a house than to sit around waiting for me to write your report. Your comprehensive written Complete Home Inspection report, including photos, will be E-mailed to you either the same day, or the morning following your inspection. (see the "Your Inspection Report" video - http://www.completehomeinspectionkc.com/kansas_city_home_inspection_013.htm) Additionally, floor joists don't get "replaced", they get supported, reinforced, "sistered", or repaired in some other fashion. For the inspector to say that the joists needed replacing shows his lack of knowledge.

It was gratifying to have my client talk about how much better his Complete Home Inspection was than the one done on the house he was selling. And it was unsettling to learn that someone calling himself a home inspector was treating his customers this way. Know that your Complete Home Inspection will be handled professionally, knowledgeably, and thoroughly. And enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your questions will be answered, that your report will be complete and easy to read, and that you'll learn a lot about your new house during your Kansas City home inspection.

Whole house inspections, condo inspection, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your own Complete Home inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

Insurance problem

October has been the month to find roofs that have asphalt shingles covering wood shingles. Sadly, I have to tell my clients that they probably won't be able to get homeowners insurance on that house until that roof is stripped and replaced. And for the seller, that means that no one will be able to buy their house until something is done about the roof.

For decades, it has been a common practice to cover existing wood shingle roofs with asphalt (or "composition") shingles when the house needed a new roof. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. Recently, after many storm related insurance claims, the major insurance companies made a business decision not to write new policies for houses that had asphalt shingles over wood shingles. It doesn't matter what kind of shape the roof is in.

Two, and sometimes three, layers of asphalt shingles are fine.  But, not asphalt over wood. Why? For the insurance company it just costs so much more in labor and materials to replace such a roof system if you were to make a claim in the future. The reason for that is shown here -

A wood roof has these gaps underneath the shingles to allow the roof to "breathe". Asphalt roofs instead need solid decking to go under the felt and shingles. So the asphalt-over-wood roof needs to be stripped to the bare rafters and started from scratch. That's where the expense comes in.

From the outside, the roof may look normal. But once I lift of the edge of the asphalt shingles, and also look in the attic during your Complete Home Inspection, then I know there are two layers, with the asphalt composition shingles over the wood shingles. And that means that the house may be uninsurable.

That's just another reason to have your prospective house inspected by Complete Home Inspection BEFORE you buy it. And for sellers, it's another reason to have your house inspected BEFORE you put it on the market. It's a great way to avoid last-minute surprises for either party, and get some peace of mind at a very hectic time for you.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-02222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

Radon gas at home

The danger of radon gas really hit home recently. My regular calibration test of the radon monitors I use showed that my house had a higher level of radon than before. Perhaps last year's drought caused the increase. Regardless, radon gas has been linked to lung cancer. So, I had a radon gas mitigation system installed in my house.

My husband works and works out in our basement, spending most of his day there. Seeing that the air in the basement was no longer considered to be healthy for him to breathe, we needed to fix it. Fortunately, radon is a fixable problem. Now, a small suction fan, installed in a pipe that goes through the basement floor, sucks out the radon gas from under the house and vents it to the back of the house. The system is a permanent part of the house and uses about the same amount of electricity as a clock radio.

Statistically, in the Kansas City area, one of every three houses tested is found to have elevated radon levels. When you hire Complete Home Inspection to test the radon level in your house, whether it's the one you live in or one that you're looking to buy, I'll use a continuous radon monitor that takes samples over a period of two full days. The test unit will be placed in the lowest livable level of the house. Windows are kept closed throughout the time of the test.  The test results are then averaged into an overall number for your final report. If the radon level is higher than 4.0piC/l, then it should be fixed, or "mitigated". And that's what happened at my house.

A Complete Home Inspection radon test costs $100. A radon mitigation system costs about $700-900 in the Kansas City area. If you are buying a house, test for radon as a part of your home inspection process.  If the test shows a high radon level, you might negotiate with the seller to correct it. If it comes in low, you have peace of mind knowing that you’re buying a healthier house.

In Kansas, radon testers and mitigation companies must be certified. I have been a certified radon tester for more than 20 years. And my husband is very grateful for that.

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 own Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

This might be over your head

The Seller Disclosure Form probably said that the house had a new roof - new decking and new shingles. Yes, but...

When I arrived at the house to begin my inspection, seeing bundles of new shingles piled up on the side of the house made me suspicious that the homeowner might have done the roofing himself. My client happened to be a former roofer, so he came up on the roof with me to check things out. Wow.

No "starter row" had been done when the shingles were installed. The valley between different levels of the roof was installed incorrectly with the shingles being cut improperly. The flashings were installed in such a way as to allow water to get under the shingles. In one area, no flashing was used at all, a glob of black tar was slathered on instead. And the new decking wasn't anchored properly, we kind of bounced as we walked across the roof.

It would be easy for you to read on the Disclosure Form, "new roof installed a month ago", and figure that everything was okay. But, you really wouldn't want a roof like this over your head. That's why it's so important for you to give your potential new home a Complete Home Inspection. It gives you the peace of mind that comes from knowing the condition of the property at the time of the inspection.

This was the second inspection I had done for this particular client. He and his wife decided not to buy the first house I inspected for them. There were simply too many things wrong with that property. Now, after looking at this roof this week, there's a good chance I'll be doing a third inspection for them soon.

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.

"Rehabbed" doesn't mean "fixed"

We've talked about the importance of having a newly constructed house inspected before you buy and the importance of having a condo inspected before you buy. The same is true for a house that has just been rehabbed. It's easy to think, since many aspects of the house have been changed, fixed, and updated in a rehab project, that you don't need to have it inspected. Think again.

Recently, my client was buying an "as is" property that had just been rehabbed. She hired me to find out just how "as is" it was. And she is very happy to have made that decision. The new granite kitchen counter tops looked great. But the brand new dishwasher underneath them wasn't connected to either water or power. And the dishwasher's power cord wasn't going to reach the under-the-sink outlet some four feet away. The brand new kitchen range, still showing most of its packing material, was plugged into a circuit that arced when turned on at the breaker panel. And the crawl space, an area you probably wouldn't visit when you're looking at a house, had drooping wires hanging down everywhere. And, a plumbing pipe that should be supported every four feet had, instead, one support in the middle of its nearly thirty-foot run.

So, though the house you're looking at may have been recently rehabbed, the work wasn't necessarily done by skilled professionals. Find out what shape the property is in before you buy. It could be the best you investment you make when buying a 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.

Air conditioners are killing furnaces

No, it's not a new horror movie, it's the Defect of the Week. And the current heat wave is really making it a critical issue. Check the drainage on your air conditioner. If the water flow is clogged, it can flood your furnace and kill it.

This week, even in a million-dollar condo, clogged drainage hoses or pipes were causing water to flood furnaces and floors. This unseen problem can cause all kinds of damage. Here's what to do. If you're looking to buy a new property, have Complete Home Inspection check out the property for you BEFORE you buy. My client buying the million-dollar condo simply said, "This inspection just paid for itself" when I opened the closet door to the air conditioner and found the drain pan overflowing, flooding the furnace and the floor, and starting to get the carpet wet. Their downstairs neighbor is probably grateful, too, as that water would have to eventually go somewhere.

If you're not in the market for a new home, check the one you live in now. First, see if water is draining out of your air conditioner's drain hose or pipe. Make certain that the hose/pipe is near a floor drain or whatever your system is supposed to drain into (for example, the condo on the fifteenth floor didn't have a floor drain). Sadly, simply seeing water flow doesn't necessarily mean that everything's okay. Remove the furnace's access panel and look for water. Remove the drain hose from the air conditioner and check for current or future clogs. Do everything you can to make certain that the water from the air conditioner is draining only into the floor drain or whatever.

As air conditioners have been running almost constantly lately, the condensation builds up rapidly. And, as you know, water will always end up going where you least want it to go.

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 own Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com. Your furnace will thank you.