Your New Home

Your New Home: Kick the Bricks!As a professional house and building inspection company, one of our primary jobs is answering questions. One of the most common questions we get is "Should I have my brand new house inspected?" It's a fair and honest question. The short answer is YES. But you expected us to say that, right? Let me tell you why it's a fair and honest answer.

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Inspect Before You Renovate

A professional building inspection by a qualified engineer can help you separate the NEEDS from the WANTS.The time has finally come. Your cramped kitchen and dining room is making way for the state-of-the-art dining and entertaining center. But first that wall has to come out. Is it load bearing? What about the electrical service – can it handle the SubZero fridge?

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Undertaking a Home Repair

Let's start by differentiating between a home improvement and a home repair. A home improvement, as the name implies, means improving something. It is usually a renovation to create more space, change the layout of the house, improve energy efficiency, or to make aesthetic changes. This report will deal with the simpler topic of home repair--basically replacing things that are worn out or fixing things that are broken. Here are some very basic rules to follow.

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Priority Maintenance for Home Buyers

There are so many home maintenance and repair items that are important; it can be confusing trying to establish which are the most critical. To simplify things, we have compiled a short list of our favorites. These are by no means all-inclusive, nor do they replace any of the information in a home inspection report. They should, however, help you get started on the right foot. Remember, any items marked as priority or safety issues on your home inspection report need immediate attention.

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Truss Uplift – An Uplifting Experience

Truss uplift has nothing to do with plastic surgery or under-garments. It is a phenomenon common in homes built with roof trusses as opposed to rafters. If a house suffers from truss uplift, the top floor ceilings literally lift off the interior walls in the winter. They drop back down in the summer. Needless to say, this is a tad disconcerting to the homeowner. At first glance, one might assume that the floors have settled. Actually the ceiling has gone up - sometimes creating a gap of as much as two inches where interior walls meet the ceilings.

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GFCI

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI)The outlets with the colored "Test" and "Reset" buttons are specially designed to better protect people than ordinary outlets. GFCI's have been used in houses since the 1970's.

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Carbon Monoxide

What is Carbon Monoxide (CO)?CO is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gasIt is a by-product of incomplete combustion (unburned fuel such as gas, oil,wood, etc.)Low concentrations of CO can go undetected and can contribute to ongoing, unidentified illnesses. At high concentrations, it can be deadlyWhy is it Dangerous?If there is CO in the air you breath, it will enter your blood system the same way oxygen does, through your lungs. The CO displaces the oxygen in your blood, depriving your body of oxygen.

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Vermiculite Insulation

Vermiculite InsulationWhat Is It?If you have never seen vermiculite insulating an attic, you may have seen it in potting soil. Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral worldwide. When heated rapidly to high temperatures, this crystalline mineral expands into low density, accordion-like, golden brown strands. In fact, its worm-like shape is what gives vermiculite its name. The worms are broken into rectangular chunks about the size of the eraser on the end of a pencil. In addition to being light, vermiculite chunks are also absorbent and fire retardant.

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Household Glossary – Building Technical Terms Explained

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Wet basements

The words are all-too-familiar to many homeowners. It is said that more than ninety-eight percent of all houses have had, or will have, basement leakage at some point.

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